totally MIA

it's always such a bummer when people neglect their blogs - i mean, my blog list has way too many people with 1 year ago, 6 months ago, etc. as their latest update.  but that's the track i seem to be on lately! 

it's not that i haven't been doing anything blogworthy ... well, maybe it hasn't been all that exciting, but i have at least been doing things this summer.  i have just gotten into this bad habit of leaving all the picture-taking to my husband, which means we don't have any pictures of the day-to-day things we do (but great images of the formal things, of course) :)  so by not taking any pictures, i feel like it's too lame to blog about things - because let's be real, who likes a blog with no pictures?  once in awhile, sure, but all the time?  boring!

so, if pictures are a must-have for you, you have my permission to skip onto the next blog on your reading list.  i will completely understand :)

ok, i haven't blogged since mid-july.  let's see if i can remember anything that happened since then...

weston went to ukraine, of course.  so that sent kate and me to monroe for a week, spent with my parents and my sister, johanna.  she came out for a break from life (by herself!) to relax, read, and reset.  we spent the week doing a lot of talking, some eating, watching mom & johanna get their hair done, making way too many visits to wal-mart i'm sure (it seems like we have to make a daily trip there because we are always in need of cereal, avocados, more ice cream, etc.  we just can't ever seem to get all of the items in one trip).  we went to a wedding and helped with a reception, visited and had fabulous food with the cartwright girls, attended a baptism, and cleaned out my gross car.  thanks for your help with that one, johanna!  we tended to a stray, limping dog that showed up the afternoon of the 24th.  we called animal control to rescue him and, while waiting a couple of hours for them to show up, johanna took great care of that poor dog - she even gave him a slight grooming session!  we all had a scare when my dad had an early morning visit to the ER and left with a broken leg and walking boot, but were relieved to hear of his clean bill of health a few days later.  it was quite the week!  and, naturally, not a single picture to show.

i had a few very uneventful doctor's appointments since my last post.  very uneventful.  what is it about prenatal checkups?  we go to the office, wait forEVER, see the nurse who checks your weight (grrr), blood pressure, baby's heartrate, and measures your belly.  then you wait for another long period of forEVER, all to see the doctor for about 90 seconds.  "how are you feeling?  do you have any questions?  well, hang in there and call me if you need anything!"  don't get me wrong, i have a fabulous doctor, but it's sort of a huge waste of time (unless of course there is a problem - then i'm ridiculously grateful).  good thing they treat kate so well! 

my oldest nephew, spencer, came to utah for a couple of weeks at the end of july/early august.  he stayed in monroe for a week and then came north to utah county for a week.  we got to play host to him for a few days and i'm guessing it was a love/hate stay for him (maybe hate is strong, but it's the phrase...)  love because i'm sure he LOVED hanging out with weston, picking his brain about photography and music, going on his first skate "shoot" (getting kicked out by the cops and everything - how exciting!), and going to a concert his last night here.  hate because for about 10 hours a day, he was stuck at the house with kate and me - running errands with us, going to a kid movie, and hanging out in the heat of our house.  sorry it couldn't be more exciting during the day for you, spence, but you seemed to handle it well :)

we spent several days in monroe at the beginning of august for our 2nd cottle family reunion.  everyone made it this year!  we kept it pretty mellow, which worked out perfectly with a group of 23 and 2 on the way.  we held the reunion from thursday to saturday, allowing everyone to travel home on sunday.  my parents had a pretty full house for most of the week, however, with a few families coming to town early to relax.  thursday, once we were all there, we kicked the festivities off with some unofficial golfing and then spent the afternoon in the backyard on an inflatable waterslide.  there were field games like badminton and kubb (which i can't believe i missed out on!) and we ended the night with some delicious chicken alfredo made by mom.  friday was the official golf tournament.  my dad didn't think he'd be able to play (he is probably halfway through his boot-sentence on that broken leg) but he gave it a try and had a great game - he shot 3 over.  i had the best game of my life - i'm a little shy to play again because i don't want to ruin my streak :)  i shot a 51 which doesn't sound all the great, but you have to understand my goal (for over 2 years) has been to shoot 54.  i have yet to achieve that - until that friday morning!!!  it was so much fun to feel like i finally had my "game" back.  it's been a rough year with me and golf - in fact, i quit playing halfway through last summer because it was not fun and i knew i needed to take an extended break.  anyway, i was pretty excited.  that night the adults went to dinner and had a nice, relaxing evening all together.  saturday, we were to spend the day on the mountain at our property eating, playing games, and hanging out.  the weather did not cooperate.  after driving 30-45 minutes up, we decided it was time to turn around as the rain was not letting up.  the drive down the mountain was a little hairy - we were all sliding all over the place, the dirt road turned to clay with the water, and at one point weston thought we lost our brakes!  but everyone made it down safely and we set up "camp" in the canyon at one of the firepits.  lunch was delicious, prepared by tom, and after a couple hours, we all packed up and headed back to mom & dad's house.  everyone cleaned up and did their own thing (some of the guys went golfing or skating, the girl's relaxed and napped) and we all met up again for dinner (steak, with weston manning the grill, and all the yummy sides).  that night, we put the little kids to bed and had our family testimony meeting.  it was a great close to the reunion.  sunday morning, one by one all of the minivans made their way back to colorado.  and hopefully, mom & dad went to bed very early and slept very late on monday!  thanks for letting us all descend on you and for feeding and taking care of every last one of us.  you guys are the best!

i've been lunching and hanging out with friends as much as possible lately - trying to cram it all in before baby b shows up :)  which, unless my body decides to do something this time around, will be september 7th.  i have been working on a few small projects so maybe i can snap a few photos of those in the next little while and have a post or two with actual pictures :) 

if you actually made it this far, i owe you 2 things.  #1 - thank you!  you are a good friend for reading all about the uneventful life i lead!  and #2 - sorry this was such a long, drawn out post! :)  stay tuned for more posting - i am really going to try to be better.

until next time :)