Happy Birthday Kayla!

I did some digging over at mom's house this week, and this is what I dug up on Kayla! (You need to thank me Kayla, you know it could have been a LOT worse!)
Happy Birthday!!!

Truly, this is the epitome of Kayla!

I love you chica!!!

Zipidee-ay and hi-dee-ho!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Ashley too! And here's a cake in your honor! ...Mmm it was good! ;)

Hello from Missouri of all Places.

Hello Everybody,

My situation has been different from most of the contibutors to this blog. Instead of getting married and having children I have been collecting degrees and getting used to being the old man in the university ward, which is not nearly as fun. I graduated in 2002 from BYU with a B.A. in English. I have been in Columbia Missouri, a place I hadn't even hear of until I moved here, for almost 6 years going to graduate school at the University of Missouri. I received my Masters in English in 2004 from the University of Missouri. I am currently working on a Ph.D in English from MU with a primary emphasis in English and a secondary emphasis in post colonial literature and theory. Exciting stuff, I know. I know it is way too much school, and I am starting to get sick of school, after just 10 years of college, but I should be done in about a year. I just have to writie my dissertation and will start applying for teaching jobs at colleges in the fall. I have taught two lower level classes each semester for the past 5 years. I love teaching folklore and literature, and am ready to do it full time. I usually get back to Mormon acres a few times a year. However, I am not visiting Texas this year because I am going to Provo and Idaho falls the last two weeks of May to Visit Jeff and Lisa and to see Eric off at the MTC for his mission to Billings Montana. Right now I am trying to survive the last three weeks of class, or in other words, my own private grading papers marathon. I have included a few random pictures from my time at MU. Cheers.

My lil bro, Elder Larkin

Kelan reported to the MTC today. Mom seems to be doing fine so far, though she said they all cried. He called me just before arriving at the MTC to say bye and make sure we would be in touch. I barely made it through the call before crying myself. Co-workers for the most part knew what it was about and offered tissues and supportive words. I've got reasons for being a lil more emotionally about it and for finding it harder than I thought I would beyond the obvious reason, but it's along story. I'm super proud of him!

And yes, he's 6'5" and I'm 5'3"...

Some pictures from Shauna...

Ryan and I just went down to Houston last week and hung out with Jared and Abish. It was great! (We also hope that we'll hear from Jared soon on this blog, since Abish knows about it now!) They were superb hosts and we had a great time slipping back into the fun of staying up late talking and having a game night! It was almost like college days again!

These are our crazy kids! They thought it was hysterical when I zipped them into the suit case and pulled them around the house!

P.S. Kayla and Ashley, you should pass along to us the email addresses of everyone you have found. Maybe just do a mass email to all of us so that our emails aren't floating here on this public site for all those crazies out there who search out Mormon or Acres or something! That way I can send invites to my private family blog!

Randomness

Ok, one thing I forgot to mention last night in the updates is that Kelan is reporting to the MTC tomorrow for his Las Vegas West mission. My mom is bittersweet about it as it'll be hard for her without him around (he's been the man of the house for some time now), but happy and proud to have her son serve the Lord.

I was going to update y'all on Alana, but figured we should just invite her and have her do it herself.

Congrats to everyone on all their marriages and babies and other accomplishments!!!!

Going along with Kayla, there are quite a few of us in and around the Houston area. I'm on the south side, Jared's on the north side, Bethany's close enough, and I heard that Sam and Katrina are in the area as well. I say let's get them all on here too so we can all check our calendars and get together!

Also, how do we add dates to the calendar?

Utah Get Together?

Mwahahaha! My evil plot is working! ...okay not very evil, but still! It's so great to hear from everybody! Congratulations to Bethany and Lisa on the preganacies! Marla I'm so excited to hear that you're active again and dating a great guy! Jon, when you're in the Big Apple you need to go see The Little Mermaid on Broadway because Kay Trinidad is in it! (You could also bootleg a video and bring it back to Utah for my little girls to watch! haha!) And I love all the picture updates!

And I am realizing that there are more of us in the Utah-ish area! (Idaho Falls totally counts as Utah-ish, Jeff!) So I think we need a get together. I'm thinking maybe sometime late April or early May. We can get together and have lunch or dinner at a park in a somewhat central location. Let me know what y'all think okay?

Cottle Family

Hello fellow FlowerMounders! It is nice to hear about everybody and get updates. I hope you all continue to have fun. For those that really haven't heard anything about me I am married with two little girls. My wife's name is Marie and the girls are Makenna and Autumn. Makenna just turned three earlier this month, and Autumn is sixteen months. Both girls are my little princesses and remind Dad that they need to be carried and waited upon hand and foot. We are living in Morgan, UT and loving it. It is a little town east of Ogden and north of Park City. In May I graduate from the University of Utah with a degree in Finance. Marie graduated from BYU almost two years ago and keeps me motivated to get done with school. I am working for APX Alarm and will be managing an office in Long Island, NY from May until September. We are sad to leave our new home, but excited to go and experience the Big Apple. After that I'll decide if I want to go back to school some more or get a job that will allow us to stay home for more than 8 months. In case you are wondering about the pictures the one at the beach is in Cozumel, Mexico and the other is hiking in the mountains above Layton, UT. We will be driving through the DFW area on our way back in September so all you that live in or around Roanoke (my parents moved there) will have to clear a spot on your calender to have the Cottle's come visit.