December

So, Happy Birthday to me today. . .

Yeah--I'm pretty much feeling old--ick. But it's a good excuse for a day off, right?!

We celebrated Kacey's birthday at a Jazz game last weekend and hit IHOP afterwards. He's 22 now--eek---that makes me ancient (although I'll never be as old as Donny). He's delivering pizzas for Dominos and gearing up for his girlfriend, Lanae, to head back to BYU-Hawaii on January 5 (boohoo). He couldn't wait til Christmas and gave the family a Wii a couple of weeks ago. We're loving it, but now need therapy for carpal tunnel, tennis elbow and the like. Kacey's helping out with our local coalition, the Youth Empowerment Team, and trying to help kids avoid drugs. We're training some youth to do presentations in the spring (Kody and Krystle are part of the group, as well).

We enjoyed Krystle's choir concert this week and she boobed over the fact that it's her last Christmas concert at the high school. She's plugging away at the credit union and busy with various club activities. She also cleans for a lady and I'm trying to get on that list, as well.

Kody is working at McDonald's now and loves being the ham of his shift. His car is on it's last leg, so he's in the market for a vehicle if anyone knows of a great deal. Toad's really enjoying his dental hygiene classes at school and gearing up for his career as a dentist.

Keaton is totally loving wrestling even though he hasn't mastered the moves yet. He gets frustrated when he loses, but he's hanging in there. He's also playing percussion in band at school and loves his bells.

Moises is doing well in school and scouts. He and Keaton went with Kacey to a hockey game last night and loved the brawl that broke out (they said even the ref got put in a headlock). Mo also had fun buying gifts for the whole family with money he saved from his paper route.

I had a blast at the Billy Joel concert the end of November---he's the man! It seems like every one of his songs reminds me of someone in the family--it was great.

Merry Christmas to all! Love ya!

Random. . .

I heard about this "tag" thing and thought I'd share seven random things about myself:

1. As a child, I wanted to grow up to be Kelly Garrett from Charlie's Angels. My friends and I would play Angels all the time. We had an old Javelin parked beside the house that made the perfect car for chases and I had lots of purses and gadgets to play the part. Those were the days! I still think Jaclyn Smith is gorgeous.

2. I've overcome my horrible (childhood) fear of bees! I used to run screaming from anything resembling a bee, but with some self-imposed exposure therapy and positive self-talk, I can now look a big old fat bee sqare in the eye without increasing my blood pressure the slightest bit. Yeah me!

3. I am writing a book. . . or procrastinating it, at the very least. It will be titled "Obstacle Illusions" and will contain brief chapters promoting positive self-esteem and empowerment in order to overcome all those daily and lifelong obstacles blocking our successes. I'm hoping that my bff, Susan Woodruff and I will also collaborate on a book and travel the world discussing it and empowering women. (Don't stress ya'all, I will remember you, the little people!)

4. I saw the movie Titanic more than a dozen times in the theater and several more times on video. It was EPIC for me and I secretly drooled over Leonardo DiCaprio for many moons (he made my heart go pitter-pat in that movie).

5. I twist my hair when I'm bored or tired. I've done this since I was a little girl. I also like to twist Krystle's hair.

6. I love for everything to be in its place. Dougie was very surprised the first time he came to my office because of how organized it is. It just makes sense to have a designated place for EVERYTHING and to put it back there when you're finished with it. My home would be equally organized if I could only train my husband and children. They are always rolling their eyes at me as I rant and rave, "Where are the scissors? Who moved the stapler? Why can't you guys put things back?!"

7. I am still very close with my very best friends from elementary and high school: Susan Woodruff Carlson, Jenny Smith Walker, Carolyn Olsen Morrison, and Becci Carr Battaglia. There's nothing like reminiscing with them about the old days and sharing new events from our daily lives. Friendships are important to me.

Aside: When I asked Keaton about something random about me he said I should mention my "supermodel walk" that I use to get to the bathroom when I really gotta go---good to know what my children remember me for. . . (sort of reminds me of Mary's "oh my neck, oh my bunion!)

Spoooky . . .

It's downright scary how long it's been since I've updated this blog---so sorry for the inconvenience. I do have a life, ya know! We've been juggling all sorts of activities and deadlines at the Ayotte household and now we're crossing our fingers for slooooower times.
Football is finally over and now we actually get to have dinner together (sometimes). Keaton's team lost out in the first round of the playoffs (in three inches of snow), but he doesn't feel too bad because So. Ogden went on to win the mini-bowl. Kody suffered another concussion and missed the last week of his season, which ended poorly. Now we're on to basketball and wrestling. . .
I've presented numerous topics at local seminars, but this week I had my first experience as a "key note" speaker for an IRS conference--it went well and I earned some dough for Christmas. All the talk about the IRS prompted Moses to dress up as an IRS Agent for Halloween. . . everyone will figure out who he is because he'll take 40% of their candy and leave without saying thank you (HAHA). The practice is booming as well and I'm still teaching online psychology for the college.

In a 'fall'en state . . .

Greetings! I'm hoping the rest of you are feeling better than I am this week. I seem to have brought home a cold from Oregon--nifty souvenir. I am so loving the changes of fall, though. We drove the canyon on Saturday and the leaves are gorgeous! I must be an old fuddy-duddy because those types of things really float my boat. This week is Homecoming for Box Elder, so we're still ballin'. We're desperately trying to finish Krystle's room in the basement. Then I can have an office/guest room in her old room. She's chosen "Green Banana" as the main color with one wall striped green, pink, purple and turquoise. We're plastering the place with fun frames and pics--it'll be cute. Krystle and I are saving our dough for the choir trip to Washington DC this spring--that should be a blast (although she says we'll need a chaperone for me). She's doing well in school (being a senior hasn't totally gone to her head), featured on a billboard going up soon and working on an article for the local newspaper. Dougie hates it when I brag about him, so we'll see if he actually checks up on what I write here--This man is my hero! He is one of the most selfless and generous people I know. He is there for so many people. His insight into the problems of others and his willingness to follow the spirit in helping them find solutions is absolutely amazing. I worry if he gets any more 'perfect,' he'll be translated!

I'd like to brag a minute about my first-born child as well. Kacey is so back on track! He is dating a spiritual giant (Lanae Hunt--Dougie set them up) and they are quite serious. He's talking temple, folks! He's installing cement curbing again with our good buddy Kurt and also delivering pizzas at night. He plans to start at USU in January. Life is GOOD!

Oregon

Hey--I'm up in Portland for a few days at a research seminar. I stopped in at Deli's for a couple of days and then took a drive along the coast (stayed in Seaside--way cool!) and now I'm in Portland until Wed. I haven't been too terribly lost, thanks to Doug's GPS (and thank goodness they don't program those things to say mean things and smack me in the head when I screw up). Doug's holding down the fort at home and missing me intensely, I'm sure. I hear that Kody forced a fumble to save the Bees from going down six points and Keaton had numerous "pancakes" in his game. Kacey is back around and went with Krystle and her friends to a concert (Stray Light Run and others) on Friday night. Watch for family photos on the site soon--they're waiting for me when I return.

Peachy Times

Kacey left for Calgary Sunday morning (boohoo), but we had a very eventful week with him around. He hooked up for raquetball and tennis a few times, caught a movie with Krystle and me, met the girl of his dreams, and stayed up late playing games and chatting with the girl of his dreams. He'll be back in a month to pick up where he left off (and hopefully get into school).
Kody's JV team won this week, but the varsity lost. He didn't get much playing time for jv since he had concussion earlier in the week, but he had a great solo tackle in the varsity game. Keaton's team lost a close one on the "pasture" at West Haven (seriously, the worst field ever) and Mo's team got creamed again. We played games with Dave and Brett until late on Friday night and unfortunately Doug got lucky and edged out the win in Acquire (he always picks the lucky stocks). Krystle and I attended the Peach Queen pageant and cheered for the winner, sweet Celeste Wouden. The annual Peach Days event was splendid as Brigham City welcomed 80,000 visitors (Note to self: don't try getting a Scuba burger right after the parade ever again).
I'm heading for Portland, OR on Wednesday for a week. I'll visit Dad and Judy and my high school buddy, Becci Carr Battaglia. Then I'll attend a research prevention conference focusing on preventing underage drinking. The Youth Empowerment Team (a BC coalition I'm been helping out with for a few years) is footing most of the bill, so I'm very excited. I'm still teaching an online psychology course for Stevens-Henager College and they've asked me to participate in selecting new textbooks and updating the syllabi for social science courses--just one more project to keep me out of trouble, right?!

So, this is what blogging is all about, eh?! Pretty schnazzy, I must say.
This version of Ayottes is doing just splendid. School is back in and the house has come to order. Yippee! We currently have three boys in football, two teens driving, one pet fish, one house guest, no kids in braces, three fantasy football teams, five ringing cells phones, six blasting stereos, one psychotherapist and a partridge in a pear tree (okay, I lied about the bird).
Life is busy, but great. Kacey is home visiting before heading to Calgary, Canada to install more security systems. Krystle is a Senior in high school and making every second count. Kody gets plenty of playing time on the JV, despite his frequent injuries. Keaton grew four inches taller this summer and found his new love, football. And Moises is thrilled to be in fourth grade, Cub Scouts and football. Doug cheered on the Broncos in a pre-season game against the 49ers and wishes there weren't so many delinquents in Brigham City. And me, I'm just therapizing (yep, it's a word) the town and honing my Guitar Hero skills.