Christmas Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

This year has come and gone in a flash! I has been a year of trying new things and learning along the way.

Brett is still the administrator at Park West Skilled Nursing Facility and loving it. Even though his job can be very demanding at times he thoroully enjoys what he does. He is an inpiration to those around him. On top of family life and his busy career, he is the new Stake Secretary for our Stake. He's amazing!

Kim is constantly taking on more and more projects. Kim decided to homeschool Mackenzie and Madison this school year. It has been fun but very challenging. She is also the Primary Chorister in our ward. She loves music and children so this is a perfect fit for her.

Mackenzie is an independent and strong-willed 3rd grader this year. She has really enjoyed being homeschooled and being able to work at her own pace. She even gets to do school in her pajamas sometimes. She has also a great love for the piano. Not only has she been taking lessons but she is learning to play by ear and make up her own songs. WOW!!

Madison just turned 7 years old. My how times flies. She also enjoys homeschooling although she whizzes through her work VERY fast. We have recently decided to put her back in the Elementary school across the street. This will give her more of a challenge and mommy more time to help Mackenzie with her schoolwork. Madison is a very smart and talented young lady. She has taken a break from the violin even though she still loves it. Her violin teacher moved. While waiting to find a new violin teacher she will also be starting piano lessons in January. In Madison's spare time you will often find her creating some form of art. She loves art of all kinds.

Conner is still our loud and rowdy 4 year old. He brings lots of energy to the house. He has been excelling fast in the Christian preschool he's attending. We are constantly amazed at his progression. In his spare time he loves to have playdates with his friends, play cars, "Army", and any super-hero he can come up with. He still sees daddy as the ultimate Superman.

Ashlynn is our fun-loving 2 year old. We are often calling her our "parrot". She mocks everything we say and do. She recently moved into her big-girl bed and is currently starting to potty-train. She is lots of fun to be around.

We are truly blessed with a beautiful and loving family. Even when times get tough we are encouraged to contemplate on our many blessings. The gospel of Jesus Christ is our guide and our light. How grateful we are for our Savior and for His constant love. We pray that each of us will take the time each day to thank Him for their blessings and share the love of our Savior with those you come in contact with each day.

With all our love,
The Ottley Family

Snow Day Fun!!!

Christmas Prep Activities

Madison's 7th Birthday

Thanksgiving in Kennewick

Future Rock Star

Family Home Evening with Chadd and Tami

We love making S'mores in our super-big fireplace!!!

Stake Conference

Stake Conference today was great. It was focused on families and the sacred role mothers play in the home. I felt inspired to not give up when I'm feeling run down and exhausted from the daily life of motherhood. I am so blessed to have a beautiful and healthy family. We share many fun memories together. Everyday is a new adventure. We are so blessed.

Halloween Fun

Homeschool Friends

Zoo Field Trip

Father- Son Date

Conner and Daddy has a special time going to the local Cafe' where they played games and ate yummy pancakes (Conner's favorite food).

Wild Hair

Can you beat these wild hair-dos?

Twilight Adventure and Scare

This was a picture of a few of my girlfriends and I from the ward that went to the Twilight movie on Saturday afternoon. There were actually 12-15 women that went with us. It was full of laughs and fun times. After the movie was over, a few of us went to the food court in the mall to get some "Linner". This is when the scary part of the story happens. We had just sat down to eat our food when we heard to loud noises. The next thing we knew everyone around us was screaming and running for cover. Apparently just across the food court a gang fight broke out and two people were shot. We were hiding under the tables and surrounding ourselves with chairs for protection. It was VERY scary!!! After a few minutes the security starting evacuating EVERYONE from the mall. Two of the subjects were caught, but the actual gunman was still at large. They police and SWAT team by now were all over the place. They were going store to store searching for the gunman. From the time we got out of the building, to our cars, and out of the parking lots it was almost 2 hours later. Neadless to say, my friends and I are a little traumatized. This is what you see on TV or movies. It was too close for comfort. It was nice to go to church today and find comfort and feel the Holy Spirit. Boy am I glad I have the gospel of hope and peace.

Fever...Blahhh

Today we have taken it easy. Madison and Ashlynn have had fevers today. They have NO energy. We are concentrating on keeping them hydrated. Hopefully it is just a 24th bug and they will be better tomorrow. They both went to bed around 6pm.

Family Fun Center is our favorite place

Learning about Dinosaurs was AWESOME!!!

We Love the Science Center!!!

10th Anniversary in Hawaii

We love our Homeschool Group!

Our home school group is so fun! Ashlynn has been going to the preschool class and LOVING doing art projects and making new friends. Madison takes an Art class, a Math Games class, and Spanish. Her favorite of course is art. Mackenzie's classes are Geology, Messy Art, and Spy Class. Her favorite class has been Geology. She told me on the way home today that she wants to be a Geologist when she grows up. Conner is not in the home school group yet because he still goes to the Christian Preschool. He too really loves learning and playing. I have been totally amazed at how much he's learned at this new preschool. He will be reading in no time. We love learning!

Room-a-round-the-Rosey

Today the children helped me turn Madison's old bedroom into the playroom and we moved her bed up to Ashlynn's room. It was an all day project but we had fun working together.

Soccer Fun

Soccer season has been cold and wet but a lot of fun. Mackenzie, Madison and Conner all played soccer this year. All three of them had loads of fun and want to do it again next year.

To dog or not to dog, that is the question

I'm am excited to start sharing our family adventures. We never have a dull moment here at our house.

Our latest adventure was dog #2 (Cloe). She is a black and white Springerdoodle puppy. She is very sweet. Unfortunately I (Kim) have discovered that I am not a house dog person. I was very stressed and had much anxiety towards her. We have some dear friends in the ward that own Cloe's sister who have excitedly bought Cloe from us. They have agreed to bring the dogs over to play at any time. Mackenzie and Madison are taking it the hardest. Yet, they are starting to understand that mommies sanity is far more important than a dog. Some times we have to learn things the hard way.