Dear Family and Friends,

Well Christmas is finally upon us. We thought that we might be golfing on Christmas, but boy oh boy the weatherman was right for once. Last night the snow began and it didn't stop until early this morning and when it was done we had at least 10 inches on the driveway. It was absolutely beautiful and I didn't even mind shoveling it. Yah I know, I wouldn't want to do it every morning! But Pam and I have pretty much gotten everything ready for our solo Christmas. Of course Pam and Erin decorated our beautiful tree almost a month ago and it is still wonderful to look at, especially at night.




During the next couple of weeks Pam continued decorating in the house and outside and I finally got on the ladder and put the new lights (LED) on the gutters and they look pretty good.





This morning I finally got some warm clothes on and went out to survey the whiteness. It was just beautiful and you hardly wanted to make a mark in the snow. As the cars and trucks went by it was so quiet. But I finally began shoveling and this is what everything looked like this morning.













With the path around the north side of the house Sidney now has a path to the deck or I should say under the deck. But he has pretty much enjoyed the garage for the past few days as it has been quite cold. We have even let him in the house on and off!!!

We have enjoyed just looking outside and seeing everything so white and beautiful. I would imagine that Denver is getting the storm today. We surely hope every one has a great Christmas Holiday and that you are enjoying the messages and music of the Savior and this special time of the year. Pam and I were able to see the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Devotional a week ago and it was magnificent. Well have a wonderful time in your individual homes and we will miss you all. Look forward to visiting with the family on Christmas Day!

Post Halloween--Pre Thanksgiving

We have looked at this corner of the basement for about 16 years and have discussed this and that and looked at cabinets and hardware, but with the current renovation spurt, this corner finally got its due!


We thought we found cabinets we wanted, but when we went to Provo to buy them at Home Depot, we found they were only available by special order and became quite expensive. We did find some "put together" cabinets and they looked quite nice, so we purchased a sink base and a drawer pack and after putting them together and instaklling them in the corner they looked nice.


We have ordered a rolling cart that will go on the wall to the left and on which we will put the microwave. Here are a few more pics that feature the cabinets.



While this project was going on we received the wonderful news from Travis that big changes were going to happen on the 8th of November when he would be ordained and sustained as the 2nd Bishop of the Roxborough Ward. Of course we wanted to be there, but had Stake Conference that weekend. Fortunately for me it was a broadcast conference and upon checking with my area seventy advisor, he assured me it would be all right to miss the broadcast and be with my family.

So following the saturday adult evening session, Pam and I boarded the VUE and headed to Denver. We had a great drive and arrived around 4:00 am sunday morning. After a quick nap we got up and dressed for church and slipped into the back of the chapel and sat on the last row without anyone noticing. President Walker made the change in bishoprics following the sacrament and then after the sacrament meeting we joined the rest of the family in a classroom where Travis was ordained a bishop.

Later that afternoon we spent a wonderful afternoon with the gathered family at Travis and Jennifer's home. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Erin, Weston and Kate there.

Yup, the Chargers were playing...I think the game was football...




It was wonderful to see all the grandchildren (and their parents). I know that Drew, little Alex, Kali, Megan, Andrew, and Haley were there, but they were just blurs most of the afternoon.



Of course we couldn't be together without food! Thanks Jennifer for the wonderful taco meal






After we were all fed and happy we returned to visiting and enjoying the afternoon.



Pam and I spent another couple of days in Denver and enjoyed visiting with each of the families but it had to end sometime, and for that it was Wednesday morning. We left at 8:30 am and had a very enjoyable drive home. The weather was beautiful and the high mountain passes were spectacular as was the Glenwood Springs canyon. We arrived home about 4:00 pm and found all well at home. Yea, Sidney was still there! He isn't smart enought to go anywhere else.

Thanks family for the wonderful visit. Sorry Erin and Weston---we missed you!

Winter's Here...

October has been an interesting month with visits and projects and hopefully this will update our activities. Andrew and his children, Jane and Reynolds arrived on the 21st from Salt Lake City, where they had dropped off Sarah who was heading north to Calgary, Canada with a friend. We were happy to have them for the rest of the week. Andrew and I got to play a couple of rounds of golf and the weather was perfect. Jane and Reynolds got used to us (we think) and had the run of the house. Here are a few pictures of a few minutes before bedtime in our bedroom.








Andrew left for Denver on Sunday after sacrament meeting and Jane and Reynolds were with us for a couple of days and did very well. They certainly liked the nursery in Primary. On the following Monday, a member of our stake came and began a project of installing our new counter tops and back splash in the kitchen. We made the decision to do this last month and are finally around to it. The end result was beautiful and I hope you all like it. Pam does for sure.







Monday evening, late, Sarah and Erin and Kate arrived from Salt Lake. Sarah had spent all day Monday coming from Calgary to Salt Lake. She had a great trip and we were happy to have her with us for the week. Jane and Reynolds were happy to have their mother back. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate too well and it was quite cold. On Wednesday a huge storm rolled through and resulted in snow, the first snow of the season. The kids wanted to be out in so much that after breakfast we let them go and they had a little fun, although they were pretty cold and didn't associate cold with snow. But they soon found out.








So that's our hectic schedule. Andrew is going to meet us in Grand Junction this week end and we will give him back his family. Other than that we are doing well and I am preparing for Stake Conference in November--will be glad when that is behind me.

Early October

In late September, early October, Pam and I began a project of renewing the look in the front entryway. For those of you who know about the tile purchase, this is phase I. But the fireplace is still intact!! Anyway Brother Holmes from our stake was visiting me and we talked about the project and that is what he does for a living and with times being tough for construction I offered him this project. It took a couple of days to tear out the old and put down new sub-floor and then lay the time. Actually the tile looks wonderful as an entryway and really looks great with the carpet.
Well since that went so well we talked about the kitchen. Our counters are just not acceptable anymore and granite would look so cute. So here we are with the ground work of that project. Brother Holmes is doing that project for us also and we will have beautiful granite counters and a very attractive back splash all the way to the upper cabinets. The first thing we needed to do was remove the wallpaper from the kitchen and while the paper was strippable, it really wasn't and took quite a bit of work to get it off. But we ended up cleaning all the walls in the kitchen and kitchen nook, and then we painted the walls that are not tiled and light shade of green and it looks great with the flooring in the kitchen and the kitchen nook. I also moved several of the electrical boxes to make them more useful and put the cable outlet behind the TV on the shelf as well as an electrical box up there. With the wall exposed I could cut and adjust without concern for the wall since it will be covered with tile.




Last weekend while all this work was being done, we had the privilege of having Kate with us. Erin and Weston made a whirlwind trip to Sacramento for a friends funeral and we got to play host to Kate. She was such a perfect lady and made the three days perfect.





And finally, yesterday we celebrated Pam's birthday with a little trip to Fillmore for some golf and of course a visit to Carl Jr's. I know it's not like going to Olive Garden, or Cafe Rio, but when you live in Central Utah it's pretty special. Boy that $6 burger was pretty amazing. Anyway we had a great time and Pam played very well and the weather was just perfect. We hope everyone else is having good weather and enjoying this Fall time of year. We love you all.

Busy Week !!

We have had a very busy and interesting week betginning on the 12th of September. I was able to attend a special priesthood leadership conference in Manti with Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Elder Richard Hinckley and Elder Daniel Jones. It was a wonderful 3 hours of instruction held in the beautiful historic Manti Tabernacle.

Pam joined me that evening at the home of the Manti Stake President where he and his wife hosted a dinner for the stake Presidents and the general authorities. After a wonderful dinner and visiting Elder Christofferson followed us home and spent the night in our home. It was so enjoyable to visit with him and find out about his life and family and share our experiences also. The next day he presided at a special stake conference for our stake and we had a rich outpouring of the spirit as we heard from Elder Christofferson and Elder Jones.

Wednesday Pam went to a dentists appointment to examine an tooth that was giving her problems and Doctor Jeffries referred her to an endodontist in Sandy and we went up to Salt Lake Thursday morning and within two hours he had found two missing canals and hopefully fixed the problem she was having. We had also leanred earlier in the week that My Aunt Mae, my mothers sister, had died last weekend and the funeral was scheduled for Saturday in Logan, so we stayed up north in a hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.

As we tried to find the hotel we were blocked from getting to where we wanted to go by huge tents and other items that ended up being the set up for the Dew Tour stop in Salt Lake City.

As you might imagine we rushed right out and got tickets (just kidding), but young people were everywhere and parking around the hotel was at a premium.

Early Friday morning we went to the Distribution center and when done there went across the street and took a tour of the Humanitarian Center.


The tour was very enjoyable and we are amazed at the good the church is doing throughout the world. We were joined in our tour by a extended Tongan family and after the tour was over one of the ladies came up to us and introduced herself (becauase we had mentioned along the way that we had lived in Tonga) and she told us her name and asked if we knew Zola Larsen and LaVona Thomas. She was named for these two ladies and they happened to be wives of building missionaries in Tonga when we were there in 1957-1958. We had a wonderful few minutes with them and we knew her family very well and many of her relatives. What a small world.

Later in the day we did a searach for tile in several showrooms and it is amazing how many tile and stone stores there are in Salt Lake. Later in the afternoon we visited Lynn and Yvonne at their new home in Kaysville and had a wonderful time with them.

Saturday morning we headed north to Logan and attended the funeral service for Aunt Mae. Upon arrival in Logan I saw a sign on one of the stores which read "0 Days to the Top of Utah Marathon." I didn't think too much of it, but getting closer to the downtown area we came to a slow crawl as we came upon marathon runners going up main street. We were finally able to turn east and made our way to the chapel in time for the service.

As I mentioned, Aunt Mae was my mothers last living sibling, and so we have arrived at the end of an era. Uncle Art is doing fairly well but will miss his wife very much. He has a large extended family in the Logan area to help him adjust to the loss in his life.

Our week of fun ended as we returned to Monroe and to Sidney! He never seems to learn how to run away.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication

We have had a very exciting weekend here in Utah. Several months ago the first presidency announced that the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication would be broadcast on Sunday the 23rd of August in two sessions. And what was really strange, was that all church meetings on that day in Utah would be canceled so that members could attend either of the dedication sessions. I think it emphasized how important Temple's are to the Lord and that they truly should be the center of our lives.


Sunday morning Pam and I attended the 9:00 am session, but we had to be there much earlier. I was at the stake center at 7:30 am looking over everything. Our instructions indicated we should ensure our chapel was secure and clean and beautiful. We had done all we could to ensure all of those things were in place so that our stake center would be an extension of the Oqurrh Mountain Temple. People began arriving as early at 7:45 am and by 8:30 am the chapel was full and we were well back into the cultural hall. When we locked the doors at 8:45 am we had over 720 members in attendance.


It's always wonderful to see the Prophet and he arrived with a small party of dignitaries and right at 9:00 am the session began with President Monson conducting. We heard from Sister Lifferth of the General Primary Presidency, followed by Elder Paul Johnson and Spencer Jones of the seventy. We then heard a wonderful talks from Elder Bednar of the twefve followed by President Uchtdorf. Finally the dedicatory prayer was delivered by President Monson. Such a beaufiful and spriitual prayer. A multi-stake choir provided the music and they were beautiful.


In the afternoon I returned at 1:30 pm and we went through the same routine concerning the building, ensuring it was clean again and set up for another session. We had high councilors at each of three doors checking recommends or dedication tickets and by 2:45 pm we had over 400 in attendance. President Monson again presided and conducted and was joined by other general authorities and general officers of the church. We heard from Sister Silvia Allred of the General Relief Society Presidency, followed by Elder Paul Sybrowky and Elder Craig Zwick. Elder Zwick was Travis' mission president in Chile. Finally we heard from Elder Ballard of the twelve, followed by a wonderful, tender address by President Monson. President Eyring delivered the dedicatory address, which was the same prayer as in the morning. Again another equally wonderful choir provided the music.

With the Oqurrh Mountain Temple commencing operations today, it makes 130 operating temples throughout the church. I hope and pray that we all take advantage of temples near our homes and enjoy the work taking place within for ourselves and our ancestors. Pam and I made a commitment many years ago to attend weekly and for the most part we have accomplished that goal and plan to continue to do so. It has made a tremendous difference in our lives.

Cottle Family Reunion 2009 - Denver

Pam and I and Erin, Weston and Kate drove to Denver on Wednesday the 29th of July and joined other members of the family for a 3 day family reunion. Unfortunately Andrew was in Munich, Germany during this period and could not be with us. Johanna, Cynthia, Sarah and Jennifer put together our activities and it was a wonderful fun-filled reunion. Upon our arrival we made the rounds of the family and visited and enjoyed seeing everyone again. Erin and Weston stayed with Travis and Jennifer and Pam and I stayed with Tom and Johanna.

Thursday morning Jennifer and her girls and Sarah and her children and little Alex went to a swimming pool nearby and spent an enjoyable time while the rest of the family went golfing. We had two foursomes and played 18 holes at the Broken Tee golf course. The weather was suspect because it was cold and rainy but the 4 hours in which we played turned out to be very nice and we had a good time. That evening we all assembled at Tom and Johanna's home and enjoyed a wonderful meal of Tom's stuffed hamburgers. When we had all we could eat, we drove to Tom and Johanna's chapel and played "Human Foos Ball." A few of us had played before, but for the majority it was a new game, but a lot of fun and from the young children to an old man like me. We had a great time.





Friday our plans took us to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in downtown Denver. We began our odyssey through a number of venues around 11:00 am and spent 3 or 4 hours enjoying the Space Odyssey, Expedition Health, Edge of the Wild, South Pacific Islands and Australia, and finally Gems and Minerals. There was a lot more to see, but we were tired and called it a day around 3:30 pm. We drove to Andrew and Sarah's home and had our evening dinner and enjoyed visiting. To cap the evening off we walked to a nearby elementary school and played a rousing game of "Kick Ball" and stretched a few muscles. It must have been fun because only darkness caused us to end the game.








Saturday morning we all assembled at the Chatsworth Reversoir swim beach near Roxborough and had a fun-filled late morning and afternoon playing in the water, visiting on the beach and for several getting more sun that they needed. It was a perfect day at the beach, with a clear sky and temperatures in the 80's. We had lunch of hot dogs and chips and other trimmings and enjoyed the day.









Saturday evening was an Adult dinner at one of our favorite spots - "Texas Roadhouse." Spencer took care of some of the children in Highlands Ranch and Drew the others in Roxborough. Eveyrthing turned out perfectly and the 11 of us at the restuarant enjoyed the meal and visiting.

Sunday was the conclusion to our reunion and perhaps the best day of all. At 11:00 am the family met at the Roxborough chapel following sacrament and sunday school meetings and attended the ordination of Drew to the office of Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. Travis ordained his son and gave a wonderful blessing. Following the block of meetings we all met at Travis and Jennifer's home in Roxborough for the final events of our reunion. Travis and Jennifer prepared a wonderful meal and we ate and ate and ate some more as we visited and watched all the fun antics of the little children - in and out of the house, and up and down the stairs. They had endless energy. The girls had stuffed plastic easter eggs with candy and Tom and Johanna went outside and hid them all over the yard and then the children went hunting, starting with the youngest and finally with Spencer.

After an hour or so we held an adults meeting on the patio and discussed the future of our reunion and then the children joined us and we had a final devotional. I told about one of our ancesters - William Henry Cottle and their crossing the plains and eventual settling in Plain City, Utah. I then began a testimony meeting and one by one we heard wonderful expressions of love and devotion to family and the church from all the adults and also Spencer and Kali. It was a wonderful conclusion to a wonderful reunion. We look forward to 2010 in Monroe!