Is this our Boy?

We raised a complete ham!!!!

Christmastime!!

Christmas 2011
What fantastic memories!! My parents go to spend Christmas with us and get to enjoy watching Jadeyn marvel in the wonder of Christmas. It was so much fun to have them here and every day was special!
About a foot of snow blanketed everything soon after they arrived so we truly had a white Christmas and got to tumble, sled, throw snowballs and even build a snowman!!! My parents brought me my treasured sled that has so many memories attached to it. They just don't make 'em like that anymore!!
Christmas Eve we traversed through Longmont's neighborhoods taking in the sparkling lights and by the time we got home Jadeyn was too wiped out to even realize we were setting out cookies for Santa!















Christmas morning was a joy just watching Jadeyn get so excited about every toy! The themes this year were Star Wars and Nerf Guns!!!

We celebrated my mom's southerness by dining at Lucille's Creole Cafe and enjoyed a spectular southern breakfast with all the fixings!

Merry Christmas 2011!!

(Click on photo to see more clearly and in focus!!)

Happy Holidays!!

We can’t believe that 2011 is coming to an end. What a wonderful, fun filled year. Here’s the quick summary (hopefully we won’t bore you!).

This was the wild year of 4-wheel drive trails and exploring Colorado. We bought our Polaris RZR 4 in March (and in case you don’t know what a RZR 4 is, just Google it, buy one, and join us!) Throughout the summer we put on many miles traversing the incredible mountains of Colorado. We were amazed at the incredible scenery and experiences off-roading offers. In August, we even went to a Colorado RZR Rally with over 60 RZRs attending and driving the trails together.

Our first major excursion in our RZR was in Moab surrounded by the red rocks and brilliant blue skies. We drove all over the Moab trails along with Kevin’s parents. What amazing scenery. We had beautiful 70 degree weather, but wouldn’t you know it that heading back over the pass to Colorado we had a very frightening drive through a blizzard, the highway closed and we had to spend the night only halfway home!

One of the most spectacular places we visited was the Alpine Loop (Lake City/Telluride) where in one weekend we summited five peaks above 12,000ft in our RZR. In four days we went over 300 miles! We discovered wildernesses of wildflowers that took our breath away and magnificent lush green mountains! Jadeyn is in heaven any time we take the RZR out. He shouts (Hit the gas!! T-Rex is coming!!) cheers and has no problem falling completely asleep while bouncing down the trail.

Speaking of Jadeyn, who is now 3.5, Jadeyn’s passions are: cars, sharks, the RZR, mermaids(!), Star Wars, Cheerios, JUICE and tickle / tackle time! (He also just told me to add in licorice!) Nothing brings him more joy than shouting “I’m gunna take you down!” and then every innocent bystander had better be prepared to be tackled! Jadeyn continues to be the light and energy of our lives. He constantly reminds us every day that he has to get his energy out. But when he says it, it sounds more like “I hafta get my injury out!” Kevin usually obliges him by wrestling and chasing his around the house.

Our coaster trip this year took us to Busch Gardens and SeaWorld to enjoy the thrill of the rides and the Florida sun. We met up with some Optometry buddies Brian, Kasi & Payton Miller which was a ton of fun! You can’t go wrong with getting away in the wintertime with friends and going somewhere warm.

We also had a wonderful time going to the Johnson family reunion in June, and were lucky enough to stay in a condo with Rebecca’s parents and Rebecca was able to spend time with her three sisters. Fun memories. In July, Kevin and Shawn of course had to put on a huge fireworks show for the family in Wyoming. This year was the biggest yet: talk about lighting up the Wyoming sky!

Rebecca had a lot of fun with her craft projects this year all except for one REALLY expensive project. She started working on it one morning and a few thousand dollars, surgery, a huge screw, three casts and crutches later, she finally finished the project. She had stepped of the porch onto a rock and did a nice Jones fracture on her foot and had surgery on her birthday! It wasn’t fun, but we didn’t let it stop us for a second: we were out that very weekend on the RZR, camping and fishing. She designed a nice strap system for the RZR to keep her cast suspended and we simply chucked the crutches in the back!

In September we ventured out on our first trip alone without Jadeyn. It was heartbreaking to leave him, but its nice to have two Optometrists in the family. Jadeyn got to stay with his cousins, while Kevin’s brother and wife joined us for an Opt conference in Vegas. We hit the town, the shows and truly enjoyed ourselves.

Anyway, what a year!! We didn’t even talk about work, which is going great; but who wants to hear about work!?! On to having a wonderful 2012! Remember play more, work less!!

Love, Kevin, Rebecca & Jadeyn Cottrell (oh, Dozer & Newt too!)

Luke Skywalker!

For months Jadeyn has been a bit obsessed with Star Wars and he was extatic to be able to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween!! And what a handsome one he was!! I made his costume out of a Karate Gi, some scraps of cloth, a modified belt and an awesome new LIGHT SABER!!!!
He was the cutest little Jedi Warrior out there!!

October Snow

An October Snowfall

An October Snowfall blanketed Longmont with 14 inches of snow just before Halloween. It was spectacularly beautiful, and at the same time tragically devastating. Ay least 25% of the trees which hadn't lost their leaves couldn't take the weight of the heavy snow and branches broke all over the city. We lost our 20 foot Silver Leaf Maple when both main trunks snapped off at about 8 feet! I went out at 5:30am to shake off the rose bushes to preserve them as much as possible. It was beautiful!


But, even more lovely was the following day when every inch of vegetation was coated in a heavy yet delicate layer of frost. Jadeyn and I ventured out to the Golden Ponds at 21 degrees and played and took pictures for about an hour. Then headed back home to snap some great ones in our own front yard. Here are some of our favorites.

What a nice Dr. Daddy

Las Vegas Vision Expo West

Well, we just had to take advantage of the Vision Expo and had to force ourselves to take a trip to the playland of Las Vegas!!! What better excuse to visit Las Vegas than to have a Optometry Conference there? So off went the two Optometrists in the family with wives in tow and children left behind to play in the bright lights of Vegas! Me and Kev, Shawn and Stephanie. We had a great trip. Our little munchkins were left in the good hands of Stephanie's brother and sister and since it was all cousins together, they had a blast and we knew that they'd be happy. So with the kids taken care of, the parents could play. It was officially our first time ever away from Jadeyn, but we knew he was in good hands.
Kevin and Shawn did two days at the conference and built up their CE credits and really did enjoy it. Stephanie and I hit the town and the shops and then joined our men for the delicious buffets and evenings on the town!
Kevin has always wanted to stay at the Paris Hotel on the strip. It was the perfect place to stay: very elegant, conveniently located and the atmosphere was sweet!

We made sure that we had our evenings packed with food and shows. We ate at several buffets and then walked it all off on the strip. Kevin cracked us up at one buffet. Now he doesn't look like a guy who could take down eight desserts in one sitting, but try he did!



















Our favorite show was Le Reve. By far one of the most amazing shows we have ever seen. The entire show took place above, below, on and around a 10,000 gallon pool. Performers twirled above, dove into, submerged under and flew all over the stage. It was breath-taking. We would see it again several times in a heart-beat.



















While our husbands attending the Vision Conference, Stephanie and I hit madame Tusseau's Wax Museum and had fun taking pictures.





←You're going down Johnny Depp! → Me and Frankie!! Now this is one man that I would have loved to have met!

Me and Steph Uh, not too sure what to say about this next one...

Our last night in Vegas. Kevin and I couldn't imagine going to bed so we took one last evening to wander up and down the strip and take in the sights one last time. We people watched, watched the street performers and peddlers, the fountains and simply enjoyed the perfect 75 degree evening. What a perfect end for a great trip!