The Craziness that is the Cottam household

We have officially moved into our house! And can I just say that I love it? :) Here is how the weekend went:

Friday: Friday was our big packing/moving boxes day...We took like six trips from the apt. to the new house. Also Friday was the day that Sonnett moved in with us, and can I just say that she and her dad were LIFESAVERS! They drove down in their truck, so we utilized their services! We got the majority of the boxes moved that day...I was very surprised with how much we could fit in our Subaru :)
Saturday: Saturday was the "official" moving day. We were supposed to borrow our neighbor's moving truck, but we couldn't get it to start! Not the way that we wanted to start out the day...so I called a few friends that I served with in YW's. I love the fact that there are people in your life that you can call and at a moment's notice they drop everything they are doing and rescue you! Terri came with her truck and Rochelle lent us her trailer. It was a perfect fit! The move in only took about a half hour (Since we don't have that much furniture! That and there weren't any stairs!) We spent the day getting settled and I got started on my talk. Kyle was the official home decorator and even hung the kitchen decor!

Sunday: What an emotional day! I spoke in sacrament meeting, and when brother Farnsworth said I was speaking and that we were moving I just started crying! Thankfully I got through the talk (which I went over my time...and I was worried about not having enough!) And then the RS lesson, which I was introduced as Meaghan "the traitor" Cottam, which went well. And then we attended the BBQ for ward choir.

Monday: Monday was just a busy normal day at the office, but that night I went to a dinner for my co-worker Kathy who retired. We went to the Garden House! Yummy! I had salmon (which I got grief from Kyle about when I got home cause I ate the whole thing) It was so good just to sit and talk...good food and good friends! I totally ruined Kathy's present...I was so embarrassed! We got her an engraved jewelry box and three sets of Lia Sophia jewelry...and like the awesome person I am, when she started opening the different boxes I shout out "Which set it that?!" (So she knew what else was in the box! Everyone started laughing so hard at me...Valeena captured the moment perfectly!

Can I just say that Lindsey is such a great boss?! She ordered one of each of the desserts and had them bring out 10 spoons for us to share! It was AWESOME!

Tuesday: What a crazy day! I was in charge of the retirement party for Kathy...which was for over 200 people! I'm glad that it is over, but really sad that Kathy is gone! We had such a great turnout! Just to show what when into this party:

Here is the display:

Here is the Veteran Day Program posters that I made...Kathy put on this program since 1988.

I made a sign-in book...

Me and Kathy:
The office:
Valeena and Netta:
We had a special guest that came...Kathy loves Tom Selleck. LOVES Tom Selleck. Please note that this is really the body of Elvis and the head of Tom...but I think that it turned out looking pretty darn good!
This was her reaction when she saw him!
Karleen came down to visit! I was so happy!
Why is it that when it rains it pours? All in all, great things happened, but I am just worn out! I think that my stress level will go down significantly when I have all of the boxes unpacked and can actually find what I need at home. :)

Julia's Wedding/Trip to Denver

We headed on the road last weekend for my cousin Julia's wedding in Denver CO. Kyle and I drove to Green River WY...and met Daddy, Ma and Carrie there. We beat them there by about an hour and a half, and it is such a small town that I didn't have reception on my cellphone, so they didn't know where to meet us! Finally they decided to think like Megs...where would she be? THE PARK! And sure enough, that is where they found us! We continued on the road, snugly joining Carrie in the back seat (I am really glad that we are a close family). We had some good laughs, mostly from playing name that tune off of Carrie's Ipod...no one else could hear the music...so they had to guess from Kyle and my's singing. Some...well most of the songs we didn't know...which is where the game got funny! Once we got there Aunt Sandy fed us dinner and we headed to the hotel to crash. The next day was just a day to relax...we got up and ate breakfast with Papa, swam, went shopping, swam again, went to dinner with just the adults, and stayed up late playing games with Carrie, Amy and TJ. (Where Kyle and Carrie had a rival, and everyone was convinced that Amy and I were cheating. Which we weren't. Just because she wasn't going to win, she figured that she might as well pass on what I needed!) The next day was the wedding! It was a Lutheran wedding...which I had never attended one before. It was beautiful, but really long! (After the actual wedding they had a full communion) We sat on the third row...so one would think that I would have gotten to see it all...but I had Daddy and Uncle Hank in front of me. So I saw NOTHING! Thankfully about half way through, Kyle traded me places which helped. Then we headed straight to the reception, which was at a country club up the canyon. It was beautiful! They had a beautiful view and the decorations were wonderful. Dinner was good...the best part being the yummy salad dressing (I know weird...but it was so good!) Then all of the traditional toasts, cake stuff and dances. We were one of the first to leave...and that was at 10:30. I was so tired! We got on the road early the next morning and headed home. It was nice to be home. :) Here are some of the photos, I forgot to take pictures most of the time, I'll just have to get Amy's!

HOUSE!

Last Tuesday we got the good news that the bank accepted our offer on the house! We have to close by June 30, 2009, but we are hoping to close sooner than that! Here is what it looks like!

From the front:

From the back:

Out the back door: Note that it is on a 1/2 acre...the property line is where the fences change colors!

The entryway:

View from the front door: (On the left is the garage door and then the stairs...then the hallway to the laundry room and master.)

The front room:

The kitchen:

The other side of the front room:

The master: (Showing the walk-in closet)

The master bath:

One of the other two bedrooms:

The other bath:

The great room above the garage:

From the other side:
The garage:

Hair Cut

Last Friday I finally got up the nerve to cut my hair...but of course I couldn't go just half way! I decided that if I was going to do it, I would donate it. It really was a fulfilling process, the best part of it being when I actually mailed off the envelope of 14 inches of my hair. It just felt so good. It is definitely true...when you give to others you really get more in return. Here are the photos! The before:

The after:

Crazy Week!

This may sounds silly, but I am thankful that it is Monday! :) Last week from a mixture of grades being due, my phone ringing off the hook, a work conference, learning cake decorating, and organ and piano playing it was a crazy week! Let me start at the beginning...Have I even mentioned that I hate it when grades are due? It is probably one of my five worst days of the year! (Although thankfully this time I did not get yelled at...serious blessing there!) And because grades were due things were just crazy in the office. And on Friday we had a work conference...and had a guest speaker come in who spoke about time management. He laid everything out that you did at the office in a four quadrant grid. Number one and two were on top of three and four. The top row was labeled as important and the bottom row was labeled as not important. Then the first column (which was numbers one and three) were listed as urgent and the second column was listed as not urgent. So basically what is in box one is important and urgent, two: important and not urgent, three: not important and urgent and box four: not important and not urgent. Box one had things like putting out fires, emergencies, etc... Box two had planning information, and meetings. Box three had phone calls, voicemails, emails, interruptions, etc..and box four had personal stuff. I couldn't help but think (and then comment) that my ENTIRE job was in quadrant three...nice to know that my job isn't considered important at all! Lol...my boss afterwards came back and clarified that yes our jobs are important!

And the last part of the week...which was basically all of my free time was learning the art of fondant frosting! How fun it was! But my arms got so sore from mixing all of the dye in...Here are the photos!