Christmas in the Cottam house

I would just like to say I love that Kyle and I are just like two little kids...Christmas shopping at the Cottam home has been finished for some time. (since Thanksgiving) AND...we have been watching and waiting...shaking gifts, taking wild guesses (that was me) and making a couple of very accurate guesses (that was Kyle). We taunted each other, teased and randomly brought it up throughout the day. Thus it was always the topic of conversation. The question is will both of us give in?

Lets just say that we are just like kids...no patience what-so-ever...but yet, we are adults that get to choose when to open gifts! Patience didn't win out. Christmas came last Saturday...

Christmas Pictures

One of the favorite things about Christmas time is the Christmas cards...And because Kyle and I change so incredibly much, we thought (and by we I mean I) that it would be a wonderful idea to have new photos taken. Thankfully I know a photographer...(who is the best and did a wonderful job!) aka, one of my student workers named Jami! Realize that we had a time crunch, and only had a two day window. Day one: no snow. And I just had to have pretty snow pictures...not out in the yucky brown! Thankfully snow came on the night in between day one and day two. So day two we had these taken.

The second half of this story is that Kyle had the great idea to have some of them taken up at the SUU cabin...which is very picturesque...but also up the canyon=very cold! If you look closely in the cabin pictures you see small signs that show you how cold we were. Perfect example here:

I didn't think that we would be walking very far from the car...and I didn't want to get my coat wet. So I thought of the best idea! I would leave the coat in the car! Right...great idea Megs...Here is where Kyle hands me his coat, which looks great on me if I don't say so myself, being the gentleman that he is and freezes himself. I felt so bad.

Next: Please note in the next picture how dark the tips of my fingers are. That is because they were bright red!

I really wanted to have a picture of us walking out in the snow...cause if I was going to postpone the pictures because of no snow then I needed to do some in the snow! I think that they did turn out pretty cute...even though Kyle didn't want to hold my hand in them cause his hand was so cold...obviously I won that one though.

And here we are running after all the pictures were done. Yes, we were that cold. (Did I mention that we were cold?)

And the moral of this whole long story: the best pictures come in the last ten minuets. And after all the pictures that Jami took...here is the winner for the Christmas cards:

Halloween 2008

What a great time of the year! Obviously it is one of my favorites. I deck out the house, carve pumpkins, get loads of candy...and yet only had 2 sets of trick-or-treaters...but it was all well worth it!

This was my window and new wreath that I made!

This was my cool stair idea! I had to light up the stairs somehow! So I made milk carton ghost...ghosts not pumpkins!

These were my two pumpkins...trick-or-treaters and a pirate ship!

Kyle was a used car salesman...we found the awesome suit at DI for like $8! So worth it! The sad part is that that is his real tie! Lol...And the car is a transformer, bumblebee actually!

Chicago

We finally have new news to report on! For our 4th anniversary we took a trip to Chicago! For the first half hour I was in shock because of the size, sounds and traffic of the city. Kyle did amazingly at driving in the big city, and actually enjoyed it! Once we checked into our hotel, "The Silversmith" which had the train that ran right next to our window, we went to visit Cassie, the sister of one of my student workers Karleen, who works in the Aon building. (The Aon building is the second largest building in Chicago!) She gave us a tour and took us to the 80th floor to check out the view! I took a picture of her building just to show how far up we were!

After taking in the view she kindly drove us to Navy Pier where we spent the rest of the evening. They have loads of fun shops, not very many restaurants, and a really cool ferris wheel! It was really cold though.















The next morning we walked to the aquarium...which was farther than we thought it would be, but it was a beautiful walk!

The coolest part of the aqaurium was the shark tank...

but I kept looking for cool turtles too!

Afterwards, we walked through millenium park...which has the reflective bean (public art) and the huge faces that actually moved. They really were creepy. They blink and move their lips. Apparently in the summer time they spit water at you.














And then....WICKED! It was amazing! The moment that we left we wanted to see it again, which we will when it comes to SLC.

The last few days we spent in Terre Haute, IN where we used to live. We did get a bit lost on our way out of Chicago, but not on the way back to the airport. I have realized that I miss the people but not the town! We went back to our old ward and got to have an "Amazing Race Sunday" with one of our favorite families the Greens.

Annette, Gayla, Kacie, Mary and Me

I figured it was just about time to post a new blog, yes I know the last date was a year ago. But here is the new news in the Cottam household.

Kyle's year is coming to an end as the semester closes. He still has baseball games and track and field, but his schedule is no where near as busy as he has been this past few months! He is getting ready for summer games in June, during which his schedule will be crazy once more. He was released from his calling as YM Pres. this past month, and has had a few weeks off. This past week he was put in as the ward clerk, which should be a good new experience for him, even though it is not as exciting as YM's. He has applied for a job at the U, which may or may not happen. Either way we are happy with where we are and what we are doing in life. We should know more about that the first part of May.

I am keeping busy with work and church. Our YW's Pres. is getting released this week, but I was called again to 2nd counselor. It should be interesting and a bit difficult I'm sure with the change of presidents. I'm going to try and keep an open mind so the new one can make this "her" presidency. The official news from the doctor's office is that I get to get some more tests done! (If this is new news...I have been having some kidney problems...4 infections in 5 months.) He said that there is a blockage in my left ureter, and that it is not attatched correctly causing the problems with my left kidney. I get to have some blood work done and another one in radiation. We'll know more in a few weeks....Hopefully....

The biggest news of the Cottam family is that we have been searching for a house here in Cedar. We have found some that we really like, that are new homes being built just west of the city. They are two stories, 3 bed, 2 1/2 bath homes. Kyle is most excited about the 2 car garage. We have made an offer, but that is now on hold with the job opening at the UofU.

As you can tell there has been a whole lot of changes...and many things still up in the air. Time will just have to tell, but once again we are happy with whatever happens...