Isaac's haircut

I got a chance to take Isaac to get a haircut this morning. He definitely needed one before going back to school after spring break. He and I were both very happy with how nice his haircut turned out! Isaac says he loves Floyd's Barbershop. :-)

Doesn't he look handsome?


- Paul

We used to have a life, but now we are swim parents!!

Yep, I found that bumper sticker online today, and it pretty much sums up our life. Isaac is joining the Smoky Hill Sharks for the summer team, and he is super excited. He practiced a lot with Ethan on Saturday during open swim at Safesplash. So, starting April 30th, Isaac will begin practicing with the Shark coaches. Ethan is on the fence on whether or not he wants to join the Sharks as well. We think this is a great opportunity for Isaac to be exposed to the competitive swimming world, and for both boys to meet kids their age in our community. We don't know anyone in our community with children our children's ages. Most of our neighbors' children are much older.

I personally hope Ethan goes for the summer team. This has been a hard year as he started learning to swim one year ago, and didn't earn a single medal all year with his year-round team. I think the summer team could give him the opportunity to have lots of fun, make new friends, and boost his confidence. We have heard that age 9 is one of the more difficult years for swimmers because they are competing with 10 year olds. Whatever happens we already know we have officially become a swim family. Chlorine, swim caps and goggles, Jammers, tons of wet towels, weekends cheering on the kids and many family memories to come.

We are swim parents!!

God always provides!!

David was sleeping, the kids were playing quietly, and I thought it best to head to Costco to grab a few things. I headed out and noticed the stop light wasn't working. I called Paul and found out that the house electricity was out too. I went on my trip not thinking anything of it. I decided to also stop by the grocery store for a few other items for the week. Little did I know, I was coming home with a van filled with groceries and no electricity. I found out only after I texted Paul about getting milk that he couldn't get through to IREA and there was no info on their website about an outage.

As I drove away from King Soopers, I started praying for God's help. I thanked Him for providing the funds for me to purchase the groceries, and asked Him to provide electricity so our food didn't go bad. I told God that I believed this was important to Him as He asks us to be good stewards with our resources and now I needed Him to help me do that. I then trusted God to come through knowing and I had no worries.

As I got to the intersection by our home, a police officer was still directing traffic. I turned on our road and immediately saw an IREA truck. Tears filled my eyes as I saw that truck knowing God quickly answered my prayer. See, God does care!! I know not everyone believes in God, but to me, that prayer answered was just one more example of how much God loves my family. I thanked Him as I pulled into my driveway for answering me so quickly.

We must now have faith and continue to pray for rain. I know rain is not in the forecast, but we need rain to help fight the wildfire in the mountains. As I have learned from Elizabeth's Cubbies verses, "even the winds and the waves obey Him." we need God to bring rain to the mountains. Will you join me in praying for rain? If God cares about my groceries how much more will he care about thousands if homes and wildlife? Please pray for rain!!

Winds and Wildfires

We had crazy winds around our house to exceed 50 mph! At one point this afternoon, our neighbor came by to warn me that part of my rain-gutter was readying to fly off. A fire broke out near Aspen Park - a long ways from our house. Went from 5 acres this morning to 200 acres this afternoon; now they're estimating 3000 acres.


Smoke has blown all the way into our area, along with ash falling from the sky. Reminds me of the wildfires growing up in San Diego. I took a couple shots of the smoke as we could see it from our home as it blew in. The whole house smells of smoke now.

We pray for those whose homes are in danger, and the firefighters and that are trying to save them.

Spring Break is Here!

We are excited that today is the beginning of the kids' spring break!! I am so excited to get a break from the taxi driving job I have :) David is feeling much better, and actually slept last night! It will be a very busy day, but we will enjoy the beautiful weather!! We are looking at 77 degrees here today.

Elizabeth has a teacher conference and swim lesson this morning. Then it is an afternoon of bike riding for her. Isaac's Africa themed party is today. They will make a special snack and have a parade with their homemade African shakers, drums, and masks. Ethan's multiplication ice cream party is this afternoon.

Last night at the boys' swim lesson, Isaac learned the butterfly! Paul said he stood up in shock and excitement that Isaac had it the very first time he tried it!! Isaac was so proud and told me all about it when he got home. I might as well get a swimming bumper sticker because it seems our family will be a swimming family for years to come.

Busy week with sick people

Last week Ethan, Elizabeth, and I were sick. This week it is Paul, David, and possibly Isaac. It has been a horrible cold season for our family.

On a positive note, Isaac has his first school field trip today. His class is going to the children's museum. They have been learning about Africa, and Isaac made an African shaker for his class project. Paul and I both helped make the paper mâché shakers. It was fun!

Elizabeth is as accident prone as her mama was growing up. She fell and hurt her head pretty bad this week. This morning she woke up and told us that her "egg" hatched. The huge bump is finally going down.

Ethan is excited for his multiplication ice cream party this Friday. He has been working hard to learn all the multiplication facts to 12. He passed each test with flying colors and gets to enjoy a big ice cream sundea to celebrate.

Next week is spring break! If you want to get together let me know. The calendar is filling up. I think we may need to plan a trip to the science museum to see the snakes and lizards. Park dates with bike and scooter rides are a must as well.

Happy Wednesday!!

Elizabeth accepts Jesus

Today is a very exciting day in the Otto household. Elizabeth and I just finished going over her Awana work for this week. We went to special day 4 which was about Easter. After discussing what Easter was all about, Elizabeth decided that she wanted to ask Jesus to be her forever friend!! Paul then talked to Elizabeth and asked her questions about Jesus to make sure she understood orrectly. After that, we prayed with Elizabeth to accept Jesus as her forever friend.

Our Blog - Starting Over

Hi friends and family!!

We are starting our family blog back up in hopes of getting away from Facebook, and allowing those not on Facebook the opportunity to follow our family. Here is what is going on in our life right now.

Paul works for GoDaddy as a database developer. He is also working hard to finish his master's degree in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis in Information Technology.

Sarah is a stay at home mom. She is busy taking care of our home and our four children.

Ethan is 8 years old. He attends 3rd grade at Cherry Creek Academy, a public charter school. Ethan also competitively swims with ACES swim club. Ethan's other love is nature and animals.

Isaac is 6 years old. He attends Kindergarten at Cherry Creek Academy. He loves playing computer games and riding his scooter. He too wants to swim on the swim team and hopes to swim on the summer team.

Elizabeth, the princess of the family, is 4 years old. Elizabeth loves preschool! Even though she is only 4, Elizabeth is the tallest child in her class. Elizabeth loves dressing up and riding her new princess bike.

David is 1 years old and our climbing monkey. Now that he can walk, David loves playing outdoors. He loves to explore, play ball, and go down the slide. We have recently begun keeping all chairs away from our table. If there is a chair nearby, you can find David standing on the table.

We hope this little update finds you all well. Those that have been on Facebook all know this information. Those that don't use Facebook, we hope you have enjoyed our update.