The Summer is off to a great start!

Every year when May rolls around, it never seems to fail the Summer just creeps up on us and then BOOM all of the sudden it is the 4th of July! I have always kind of looked at the 4th of July as the "half way mark" of Summer......what a bummer that is!

We have had a great time already this summer! Although it seems as though the weather has been kind of a downer lately....lots of clouds and chilly days has prevented us from spending much time at the water park :( We always seem to find "something" to keep us busy!

**Boys will be Boys......right?**

It was one of those slllloooww motion type of things...."Carson your brother is right......THERE"

THUNK! Kaedin gets smacked square in the middle of the forehead with a golf ball!

Thank goodness he was ok, and poor Carson felt horrible!

Bring on Exhibit "A"

**Last day of school 08/09**

We always do something fun on the last day of school.....sometimes it's "Congratulations" balloons, or a water fight. This year I decided to do a Sundae bar for the kids! Delicious!

Exhibit "B"

*Happy Fathers Day 2009**

We had a lot of fun on Father's Day this year. I was torn at first, my mom and brothers were treating my dad to an afternoon at the twins game, however my husband had a race and of course the kids wanted to spend the day with him.....we compromised! The kiddos and I drove down to spend the day with daddy and cheer him on as he showed his stuff at the races! Unfortunately, the weather didn't hold it's end of the bargain and we got rained out! It was fun getting sloppy and wet at the "mud track", and it ended up being an early end so that I was able to meet up with MY daddy for dinner!

Trying to stay dry!

Dinner with 4 of his biggest admirers!

Dad and his gang....we're all grown up!

**Welcome our newest family member.... Lolita Maria Otto....aka "Lola"**

We recently decided that it would be a good idea to add a new puppy to the family! We had been searching here and there but just were not able to find a match. One Sunday afternoon I happened to be browsing the Star Tribune online just for the heck of it and came across an ad for a BRUG, this sparked my interest because I had never heard of such a breed before but assumed it had to be something mixed with a PUG.....Justin and I drove down to Hartland, MN and couldn't resist coming home with our new little love! Lola has been a fabulous addition to the Otto family, Oliver ( our lab/sherpei mix ) is quite protective of her when other dogs are around yet wants nothing to do with her when it is just the two of them. I forgot how much work a puppy really is! Much more work than a newborn baby.....she is worth it! We absolutely LOVE our new little Lola! Her name fits perfect already....."whatever Lola wants.......Lola gets"!

** Carson's New Digs**

Out of the blew at the mall one day, Carson sprung on me that he has been thinking about getting his ear pierced! WHAT? Since when? "Well, since we have been at the mall", I just laughed and we kept walking. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Carson kept asking me if he could have some "bling"? I told him that this was a decision he needed to sleep on.....

He slept on it and well, the above picture tells all! We'll see if it last longer than just the summer, and I hate to say it but it is really cute! It just fits his personality!

**Happy 4th of July**

We had a great 4th of July weekend this year! Being that the 4th was on a Saturday this year, Justin had Friday off and we were invited to our friends, The Tushie family's home for a pool party. We had an amazing time complete with amazing food, a pool, yard games, fireworks, a bonfire, and best of all fabulous company! We couldn't have asked for a better kick off to the weekend! On Saturday we spent the evening with my 3 brothers, their significant others and my parents at the "rents" house! We had a great BBQ, bonfire and LOTS of fireworks! The only thing missing from the weekend was Linds....she spent the weekend with Kaitlynn at her cabin :(

Me and Lou celebrating the 4th!

Carson showing off his patriotism!

Sparklers!

The Summer is off to a great start.....cannot wait to see what the rest of the warm weather will bring to us!

God Bless & Warm Regards.

Jessica

xoxoxo

Step One......start with today???

I dunno it just sounds good. I am feeling some major guilt about not keeping up with my blog. I feel like a real loser that my promises to myself from the beginning of the year have not been kept. OH WELL! Not gonna be to hard on myself, then I would be breaking yet another promise! LOL! I have thought so many times over the last 2 months about how I needed to "blog this" or "blog that" and just never committed to doing it! HUGE BUMMER! Things have been chaotic as always ( hence the title of my blog ) and we are just treadin along lovin life! As I mentioned in my last entry, so many things have happened since the last time I was on here that it would take forever and ever to write it all out so yet again, I am going to just throw in a few bullet points! In five, ten, fifteen years when I read this, it will be just enough to bring me back! :)

*911 We have a "Break" in the Otto house!
Carson is the first family member in our house to be sportin a cast! He was playing basketball at recess and rolled his foot just the right way to break a couple of bones! HUGE BUMMER!
Poor kid had just started his La Crosse season and it has now quickly come to an end. 8 weeks and 2 casts later he is now fully healed (**knock on wood**) and ready for a busy Summer!

*Peityn Turns 12! 4~30~1997
No way is my lil Lou Lou 12 years old! It honestly seems like it was yesterday that I was holding this little tiny princess in my arms. Every single detail of the day Peityn was born is still so fresh in my mind, it seems impossible that so many years have passed.
Every year on the kids birthday's we let them choose where they would like to go for dinner, this year Peityn chose Olive Garden, we had a great time. Every birthday since Peityn was born, I have bought her a beautiful bouquet of Hot Pink Tulips.....here is #12

After a long discussion on the appropriate age to end the birthday party fiasco's, Peityn and I decided that this would be her last big HOO-RAH! We agreed that she would invite 12 girlfriends over for a sleepover Luau.....17 girls later we were having a blast! (**small sense of sarcasm in my voice**)
*Go Reds!

Peityn decided that she would like to play softball this year so, we signed her up! Here are a couple picks from her first game!

I will be the first to admit, her skills blew me away! My lil 2 left foot princess is pretty darn good!

*First Camping Trip of the year

Memorial Day Weekend was our first camping trip of the year. Only thing missing was Lou. She decided to stay back home to spend some time with her cousins that were in town from AZ. Justin had a race weekend at Millville and we had a blast! Justin has just a couple things in his life that he is madly in love with and he puts all of his efforts into maintaining and nurturing these things on a daily basis.

a) His Family

b) His Dog

c) His Dirtbike
Not sure if that is the order or not but..... you get the picture :) I bought Justin a new dirtbike back in April, it was really exciting to watch him enjoy this crazy a$$ sport!

Daddy and his pit crew....I am sure that Carson is giving Justin the statistics in the picture above.

*Kaedin's First Track Meet

The first of many more to come! Kaedin had his first track meet! The Kindergarten track meets are run quite differently than the older grades. The kids had a blast and all went home with 1st Place ribbons!


*Class of 2021
My baby isn't so much of a baby anymore.....he is now a BIG 1st Grader! September will be a HUGE change of pace for me with all of my kids in school full time. What oh what will I do?
Man this year flew by! It seemed like just yesterday that I was moping around my house, tears flowing down my cheeks because my last baby just got on the bus for his first day of school!

Getting his diploma from Mr. Town! What a Big Boy!

*Double Digits For The "C-Man" 6~7~1999
Carson turned 10! June 7th was Carson's Birthday and unfortunately I was caught in an airport all day!

Daddy made up for it by taking the kids to a movie to pass the time! Carson's restaurant of choice was Jakes where he feasted on his favorite.....chicken wings!

Carson was spoiled this year...daddy was in charge of getting his gifts. He was showered with a new bike, golf clubs and bag, a baseball mit and a putting mat! Now he wants dad to buy his gifts every year!

God Bless & Warm Regards,

Jessica

xoxox

Holy Buckets! WOW!

Ok! So this is B-A-D! It has been well over a month since I have posted any type of entry at all!

Life has been nuts and I have been loving every single minute of it!

I would be typing for hours and hours if I decided that I was going to try and catch up on everything the last month has brought to our beautiul life, so I won't! :)

Here is a few of the high/low lights!

*Carson had his first real "away hockey tourney" up in Brainerd at the end of Feb. We had a

great little mini vacation! The hotel that the team stayed at was so cute and quaint. It had a great "up-north" feel and was just what the doctor ordered ( well other than a tropical beach and 80 degree wheather of course ) for a quick little cure of cabin fever!

Carson's team took 3rd over all in the tournament and ironically enough the 3rd place game was played against Burnsville! HA! We had to travel all the way to Brainerd to play a team less then 15 minutes from home!*March 1st was my birthday! I love birthday's, as a matter of fact I am quite the little girl when it comes to them! I think that everyone should cherish their special day, why not? After all it is YOURS! I turned 31 this year and yes, I know that I am still very young, however this year felt a little strange. I really liked being 30, it was perect. Young enough to still "feel young", yet old enough to feel a little more respected. The girls made me signs, one attached to the headboard of my bed, another at the bottom of the stairs, the next was attached to the coffee pot ( which of course contained a beautiful pot of freshly brewed coffee) and the last was hanging in the fridge where I had to go to get my cream! :) The last sign contained a beautifully written letter from each of the girls! Of course I cried, I am truly blessed with 2 amazing daughters! Kaedin seranaded me with an outstanding version of "Happy Birf-day" from the top of the stair case, and Carson played it on his recorder for the first time ever.....he did it perfectly the first time I might add! What did I ever do to deserve this? My lovely morning was followed up with my favorite Sunday morning ritual ( that NEVER happens might I add ) Justin and I had a delicious breakfast, just the two of us, at Perkins! DIVINE! My husband, bless his heart is not one to "surprise" me with gifts. He always seems to claim that he has no idea what I want or NEED. I asked for a Dyson vacuum, however he said that would only give me ammunition for future arguments......I guess I would have to agree. Instead, we ventured off to Target, and to my "surprise" we walked out with a new ipod touch! It was a great birthday! Couldn't have asked for better! So far, the 30's are the place to be!

* The next day unfortunatley was not that fantastic! Justin had to have surgery. I won't go into much detail on this one. But I am happy to report, that after 3 full weeks of pain and suffering he is now fully recovered! Poor Love!

*Peityn was in her first middle school play, "Willy Wonka". She had a small role only being in the 6th grade, but every big star has to start somewhere! She was very dedicated to the long hours of rehearsal that were required and truly loved every minute of it! We are so proud of our little "diva". I cannot wait to see her continue with her acting and signing career!

* VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!! The annual Pure Romance convention was held at Casears Palace in Las Vegas this year. I would be lying if I didn't say that this year was some what bitter sweet for me. I felt as though nothing could top last years "festivities". 2008 was a bit of a different year for me business wise. Although my sales and recruiting were not tremendously lower then the year before, they certainly did not match up to what I had accomplished in 2007. We had a lot of life changing experiences in 2008 and of course those things to precedence over working my business 100%. This is just one of the many things that I love about my job, not many have the flexibility to fall back a little bit, yet still be able to maintain a fantastic income to contribute to my family and my "habits". Again, I am so blessed! Although I cannot say that I earned a car this year, I still had an amazing time! I did however receive a beautiful coach purse from my Pure Romance sponsor, a coach ring and a new peice of Tiffany jewlery ( remember those "habits" I spoke of lol!) Oh and did I happen to mention that I won a mere $2,000 on PENNY SLOTS! HA! We had a great time! I love being able to see all of my Pure Romance friends from around the country! Our Welcome reception was themed 80's night and of course our beautiful banquet was nothing short of an Oscars party! It was a blast!

* This pretty much brings me current! The kiddos are on Spring Break this week and although it is only Monday, things seem to be going smooooth as butta so far! I am sure we will be spending plenty of time at the YMCA to run off all the extra energy we have by the end of the week!

God Bless and Warm Regards,

~Jessica

xoxox

A Lovely Weekend

Friday night was my last party for the busy busy season. It definitely ended with a BANG! These girls were fantastic and it ended up being a $1600 party! Love it!

Saturday morning was Valentine's Day and as I had posted in my previous entry, we usually don't do much. Not this year, my husband gave me a beautiful diamond heart necklace.....it was so special. Funny thing is though.....I got him a puzzle. Hahaha! I thought that we could have some great together time with a 1000 piece puzzle and a glass of wine. Oh well, he still loved his puzzle.

Unfortunately Lou Lou was still sick so she again spent most of the day in bed :(

Kaedin had a great time playing in between the 1st and 2nd period of the High School hockey game. It was precious! The HS boys lined up as the boards and both teams went full boar! When one team scored the crowed cheered and the "big boy" buzzer went off! Kaedin felt like a super star and was really bummed that it was just a short 10 minute game.

We hurried up to get Kaedin undressed from his hockey gear to run off to the Inver Grove rink for Carson's game. He was so nervous my poor boy :( They were playing Apple Valley and the last time they met on the ice Eagan won 9-0 so this time around the coach decided to switch things up a little. He wanted the players to experience different positions on the ice to have a greater appreciation for what goes on on the entire rink. That being said Carson had to move from Left Wing to Defense. He was not liking the idea and actually was trying to get out of even playing at all. We encouraged him to do his very best and to take it all in. I reminded him that it is a full circle, once you play that position you will have a better understanding of what your defensive line goes through also. He did it! There was some very obvious confusion during different shifts, but hey that's ok! It was a learning experience! With one minute twenty-seven seconds left in the 3rd period, Carson got a hold of the puck back from the point....he did a one timer and....HE SCORED! It was hilarious, Carson had no idea it went in! He surprised himself.....a true proud moment.

Lindsey had Sadie Hawkins and boy how things have changed since I was in High School ions ago. They no longer wear matching flannels and jeans....the entire group ( in Lindsey's case 34 people ) dresses up....kind of like a Halloween theme. Cute I guess, but Sadies is all about flannels and hay bales isn't it? Anyways she had a great time with lots of pictures to prove it!

After Carson's game we went to our favorite local restaurant for family, Jakes. Justin, the boys and I had a great dinner came home, cuddled up and watched the Wild have a horrific loss to the Senators..... I was asleep by 10pm.

God Bless & Warm Regards,

~Jessica

xoxoxo

Valentine's Day Rush!

It's almost over! Obviously in my line of work this is one of the craziest times of year for me! It is exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time! This year has been fantastic! This entire week has been go go go....everyone wants their goodies by the time the big V-Day rolls around!

It's funny though, as I am delivering products to my customers and taking orders over the phone and email, everyone seems to ask the same question.... "So what does the Pure Romance lady do on her Valentine's Day?" I think they are pretty darn shocked when I say "nothing"! Haha! By the time Saturday rolls around, I am sure the pretty little pillow will be calling my name at a very early hour.

Valentine's Day has always been such a Hallmark holiday to me anyways. Why do we have to have a special "day" to show the people we love really how much we do? Shouldn't this be a daily thing.....I know Justin and I share little quirky cards and fun little surprises on just any regular ole day. Ugghhh, bah-humbug I guess. I am sure Justin and I will go out to dinner ( with at least 3 of the 4 children of course ) and cozy up by the fire with a great movie....sounds good to me! The kids asked dad what he was planning on getting mommy for Valentine's Day and I LOVED his response " flowers".... "on Sunday"....my cheapo hubby! Gotta love it!

The kids are excited for their class parties of course! I remember the excitement of those fun days! Kind of a bummer though how much things have changed. Kaedin does not get to make a box at home....they make a special bag at school :( I loved having my own unique style of my very own Valentine's Day box. Carson went all out....he made the "Love Rocket" the picture does not do it justice, but him and Justin had a great time coming up with and building this together. The bummer for Carson though is that due to so many allergies in his grade, they are not allowed to bring any type of candy!!!! What the heck? I get it, but can't they limit it to certain kinds? That's half the fun of getting Valentine's cards....what kinda goodies come along with it. Oh well!

Peityn is invited to a girls V-Day Slumber party on Sat. but she just can't kick this nasty cold she has going on so I don't know if that will happen ( poor baby ). Linds has Sadie Hawkins that night so she will be off partying like a rock star with her buddies!

Just another Saturday night at the Otto pad.....

God Bless & Warm Regards,

~Jessica

xoxox

Spahhhhhh

This morning was a ME morning! It was absolutely divine! Peityn has a horrible cough so she was home, bummer but I think she also needed a mental health day....we all do every once and a while.

So, I took the boys to school this morning and drove as fast as I could to my spot......SOLIMAR Spa! Ahhhh it was lovely! The minute you walk into the door there is this immense feeling of peace and tranquility that comes over you. The music, the smell, the atmosphere.....it's perfect. I have been blessed with being able to visit some amazing spas in different parts of the US and other country's and although this doesn't hold a candle to those, it is a quaint little spa close to home.

I am obsessed with the amazing warm neck wraps that they give you along with the oh so comfy robe to lounge in by the fire place while you sip your cucumber water or hot tea and wait for your appointment. I cozied up in my goods and headed to the waiting lounge....."Jessica" a soft voice says... " are you ready for your massage?" "Of course" I replied and literally almost ran the poor tiny girl over. It never fails to amaze me though.....this girl was all of maybe 5' 2" and 110 pounds soaking wet. How in gods green earth were her little hands gonna work out the crazy ass knots goin on in my neck, back and shoulders? Well, she did! Amanda did a fantastic job and I will definitely request her the next time. After my 60 minutes of paradise, Amanda showed me back to the lounge with a fresh neck wrap and cup of mint green tea to wait for my next appointment. Mackenzie greeted me with a warm hello and I was off to the next escape.....my facial. Again, AMAZING! As Mackenzie was doing her magic on my face, I of course was letting my mind wonder.....I actually thought about how I was going to write my experience in my blog this evening. As I processed the experience through my head, I thought.....Hmmmm, I can't write this! It will sound silly for me to put this into words......but ya know what, I don't care! HA!

This girl has MAGICAL fingers....not kidding! She was doing some crazy stuff to my face and it almost seemed like it was not normal ( in a good way ). Her fingers were moving in a rhythm like fashion over my cheek bones, around my eye lids and bridge of my nose.....there was this crazy eight thing that she did and it was just plain great! Only down side of it all was when she put the "blue light" on my face and warned me that there was beginning signs of sun damage.....DUHHHH I had just been to the electric beach the night before! :) Oh well.....i only do it once a year when I am goin on a trip.....although I took it into consideration, nothing was gonna bring me down at this point! After my appointment with her was finished, I decided to spend some more time with my best friend, the neck warmer and another cup of tea. I took a few deep breaths and enjoyed every minute of the peace......

The morning adventure had come to an end. I paid my bill.....and with a smile on my face because it was worth every, single, penny.... took one last deep breath of that earthy, friendly, calming smell and walked out the door.

I will say, I was totally and completely relaxed and nothing was going to take that away from me today. However, walking out of that spa into the "real world" is NOT a fun dose of reality.....

I think I will go back in 2 weeks, my birthday is coming up soon and what better way to spend the day?

Ahhhhh.....

God Bless & Warm Regards,

~Jessica

xoxox

Anniversary's, Birthdays and Life

This past weekend was a toughy. Friday was Justin's 36th birthday ( Happy Birthday Love! ) Being the busiest weekend of the year for me, I had to work. I felt really bad, but had asked Justin if he would mind weeks in advance. He is really not much into birthday's, so he encouraged me to go give the gals a little fun! :) Lindsey's best friend Rachel shares a birthday with Justin and this was a biggie for her.... SWEET SIXTEEN! Friday's are a short day for Justin so we had a little pizza party and sang happy birthday with a pan of cinnamon rolls since they are Justin's favorite and he is not a fan of cake. After he opened his gifts, which he absolutely loved, I was off to my party and Lindsey off to spend the evening with old friends to celebrate Rachel's day. Surprisingly enough there was no hockey practice for anyone so the 3 younger kids and daddy just spent the night playing street hockey ( it just never ends around here :) ). All and all I believe Justin had a good birthday. This day however is bittersweet. February 6th is the last day that Lindsey saw her mom. She was such a trooper in trying to stay upbeat for her daddy and best friend, but the poor sweet girl was hurting so badly inside. What do you say? Justin and Linds had a great conversation on the ride over to Rachel's house about "the day". He consoled her on the hurt and anger that she was feeling and let her know, that he knows exactly what she was feeling. I can't imagine, nor do I EVER pretend to know.

Saturday was the actual anniversary of Carrie's death and Lindsey spent the night with her grandma. They comfort each other without having to say a word.....it is a bond that only they can share and I think that although it hurts, it is an indescribable feeling that Lindsey and her have together. Something very special.

Carson apparently played the game of his life and unfortunately I missed it due to work. Justin called me on my drive and gave me the play by play and the excitement came right through the phone. I cried. Nothing to surprising, I'm a cry baby, but I could here how proud Justin was and could feel through his voice how amazing Carson was on the ice that afternoon! Way to go buddy, you have improved leaps and bounds this season and I LOVE watching you and being a part of your hockey journey ! Every single minute of it!

Sunday was LAZY.....Peityn and Kaedin "chilled in their jammies all day, Carson had a morning game and Linds was with grandma for the better half of the day.....I LOVE lazy days with my family.Simply. Love. It!

Monday came and although I promised myself I wasn't going to let this day get to me....it did a little. Subconsciously the feeling of pain surrounded me. This year marked 15 years since. Nothing I wanna talk about, just sometimes marking it with a quick note is sort of like the "period" or "exclamation point". It's done.

So we move on. It was emotional, it was tough. We cried a lot this weekend, but we also laughed and reflected. I love my life. I am blessed with such amazing people. My husband is my rock, my children are my spirit and I have an amazing soul that carries me through this beautiful chaos....our life!

God Bless & Warm Regards,
~Jessica
xoxox