Happy Thanksgiving!

This year was the year that we have the opportunity to eat with Kenneys Family for dinner. It was so nice to relax and enjoy Turkey dinner with all of them. We are getting up there in numbers, but it was so nice to all be in one room. Thank you everyone for the delicious dinner. I love you all. Here are the pictures we took!!




Marcia and Kaylea

Dave and Kaylea

Me and Bailee

Molly, Tracy, Tori, Me, and Cait

Carter and Molly

Dave, Adam, John, Ken, Marc and Steve (laying down)

Maili's Program

Maili has the opportunity of having one of the BEST Kindergarten teachers I have ever met. Last week she put together a "Thanksgiving" Show-Off program for her two classes only. They sang songs about all the colors. They each said what they loved most about their families. Some of the kids said things like they liked that they go on vacation or that they play games together. Maili, however, said "My dada is funny" Kenyon (one of her best friends) said "I love my family because they take me to Olive Garden!" It was a wonderful evening and so much fun to listen to the things that Maili is learning at school. The last song of the day each student got to pick one person from their family to dance with them. Maili picked her big brother Kelton, which hurt Cameron's feelings, but it was fun to see Maili and Kelton dance together. Kelton pulled out a few steps from Dancing with the Stars and had Mai flying over the floor.

Cameron's Friend Party

Cameron wanted to have a big party for his friends for his birthday, so we had a few friends come over on Saturday the 22nd. Of course, that was the day of the U of U/BYU game and so Kenney and I were dressed in our respective colors and so as each of Cameron's friends arrived they quickly informed each of us which team they were rooting for. Kenney thought it was funny to play the BYU fight song several times which made all but 2 of the boys scream. We had some pizza and then we walked to the park and watched the extremely "friendly" game of flag football.

After an hour of listening to everyone changing rules, I decided to take them back home and have cake, ice cream and open presents

He scored with money, a rubiks cube, a magnetix dude, another flag football set, skittles, gum, a couple gift cards, a new football and a new soccer ball. Kaden and Kenyon took Cameron to the Jazz game the previous Monday for his present. It was great to meet some of Cam's friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMERON!!

My baby boy is another year older. Cameron turned 9 on Friday. It was such a busy day! With my calling in Stake sports once every 9 weeks or so, I am required to be at region tournaments. Unfortunately, that was this weekend. Thank goodness my mom and dad came and took Cam out for their special brithday dinner. Kenney, the kids and I spent the evening at the Stake Center referring, scorekeeping, and my very supportive husband was there in his shirt and tie as the priesthood leader. I can't thank him enough for being so wonderful to me. Anyway back to Cameron.... my mom and dad took him out for dinner at Maple Gardens and then they went shopping. Suzi and John were at the region games with us and they gave Cameron his present while we were there. John had bought him a U of U football! (I knew I liked him for somethin) Cameron and Kelton and John and Kenney played catch for a while and then we cleaned up! Cameron opened up his birthday presents when we got home. We gave him a couple new Wii games and a new book. He was really thrilled. I can't explain how much of a joy Cameron is in our lives. He has such a sweet heart and is so loving and forgiving. We went up to Kenneys parents house tonight for dinner. He got some blendypens from Grandma and Grandpa and was super thrilled with that!! I think he was more happy that Carter was there. The cutest thing ever was when Carter came up the stairs and ran to Kenney screaming "CHICKEN" Brinlee we can't thank you enough for Kenneys nickname! Thanks so much for everything. Hope you all have a good week!

Carving Pumpkins/Halloween

On Monday night we had our good friends John and Suzi Speth over to carve pumpkins!! After having FHE we showed the kids how to clean out pumpkins and the 3 girls were not so impressed!!

Kelton ewww gross

Allie and Cam cleaning pumpkins
John and Kylie cleaning pumpkins, Maili pickin her design Sup DUDES !??!

I took over Maili's pumpkin and carved a cat... sort of :) Kenney helped Cameron carve some sort of unhappy/transformer looking face. Allie wanted Dora... Suzi took over that project!! John took over Kylies pumpkin and started to analyze the situation a little too closely. His pumpkin was perfect. Apparently no one told him its ok to make a mistake or two!! He then helped Kelton carve a skeleton coming out of flames... ya he showed us all up! I didn't snap a picture. Dora didn't quite make it home but Suzi and I both took another shot and she carved a really cute spider and web. I carved the really easy face that I wanted to do originally for Maili :) They turned out really good. The next day I needed to fill that void of not letting someone show me up so I carved another pumpkin. It says Goblin Goodies Dusk to Dawn. John was impressed!!

My pumpkin!!

On Halloween our family and our other friend Jason and his son Sinjin went over to Suzi and John's ward for their Trunk or Treat. Her sister-in-law Tara came as well with her two kids Isaac (not pictured) and Audrey. Suzi then fed us all some fantastic cheese soup!

Kelton, Cam, Sinjin, Maili, Kylie, Allie, Audrey

Afterwards we went back to our house and scared trick or treaters, Kenney put on Maili's Strawberry Shortcake hat and would scream boo at the trick or treaters as they knocked on the door. It was scary even before he said boo!

Thats Kenney as Strawberry

Maili's favorite Trick or Treater stayed long enough for a picture. He had some candy to go get! Love you Brenden.

Maili and Brenden Vanderstappen

We let the boys go out and do a little more trick or treating while the adults settled down the girls so we could play a board game! THATS RIGHT I SAID WE... KENNEY HAS FOUND A BOARD GAME HE LOVES! Thank you John and Suzi for introducing Kenney and I to Settlers of Catan!! The five of us played until almost 2 am. It was a wonderful evening with good friends.

Nana Putt's Halloween Party

Nana had her annual Halloween Party a few weeks back. It was so much fun to gather together as a mass family! The kids were all dressed up really cute. Kenadee was a saloon dancer, I got to do her makeup and put on her fake eyelashes, I love that my nieces love that I will doll them up!! Jake was Jengo Fet (ya idk how to spell it), Brinlee was a witch and she had Nana do her makeup! Gracie came as a very powerful wizard while her brother Douglas came sporting a very cute devil costume! Clara was the most beautiful Feona I have ever seen and Chloe was sporting an awesome red wig pulling off Daphne from Scooby-Do, their brother Carter was tigger, but only for as long as he had to be!! Kenney's personal favorite was Zoe, she was a chicken (Can you guess why she was his favorite?)

I took my kids shopping a couple days before to pick out their costumes. We hadn't gotten 3 steps into the store when Maili spotted the Strawberry Shortcake, I could only pray they had her size!! Luckily they had one more in her size. Kelton and Cameron went the usual spooky dressed all in black outfits. Kelton was a skulzor and Cameron was a winged reeper. They looked pretty awesome all dressed up. Marcia made her delicious chili, we played a couple of really fun games. I think my favorite to watch was the donuts on a string. Watching Kenney, John, Todd, Adam, Mike (Cait's dad) and Marc trying to chomp those donuts off the string while avoiding kissing eachother was definately worth the sticky fingers. Maili didnt like that game because the donut kept rolling over her face and making her all sticky. Some of the kids had a sleepover at Nana's house. We had our primary program the next morning so we piled 3 unhappy kids into the car at 11 and headed home.

Here are some pictures. Enjoy !!!

Cameron Playing Keeper

Here are some shots of Cameron playing keeper at one of his games.

Soccer Season

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I just typed this and then forgot to hit publish and now it's gone!

Kelton and Cameron have started soccer again and are absolutely loving it. I am coaching both of them this year which is a ton of fun and a bit of a challenge.

Kelton plays every week at 9:00 am at Cook Elementary (the school by my mom's house..Call if you need directions)

Camerons games are as follows @ Syracuse Jr. High (just north of Antelope Dr. on 2000 W)
9/27 @ 11
10/4 @12
10/11 @ 1
10/18 @ 1
10/25 @ 12

Hope to see you soon

Maili however has decided that dancing is where she should be. We signed her up for dance at Rhythm Works Dance Studio by our house and she is doing a really cute routine to "Fabulous" from High School Musical 2 (duh!) Her recital is on December 20th @ Northridge High I'll keep you posted on times.

Pictures from Island Park

Mailis first day of School

I know I know... but here she is! And the cute little puppy is our new dog named Daphne Aleena. She's 8 months old now and well, we're working on the whole potty training thing!

Island Park

So the trip to Island Park was a huge hit not only with my kids but for Ken and I as well. It was so much fun to jam with the boys on Rock Star or just hang out with the girls in the kitchen or at "the puzzle."

We headed up at 10:30 on Friday (8/15 that is (yes I know I'm a little slow!!)) When I was packing up the Wii I noticed that we were two controllers and 3 numchucks short so after we picked up the boys from school they said that they had left them at grandma marcia's house, so one more stop :) When we got to grandmas house the side garage door was unlocked so we made another phone call to Adam and Cait to see if that was supposed to be unlocked, nope! So we locked it and we were off (with the extra remotes and the crock pot that i had forgotten to pack from my house! thanks mom!) We got as far as 40th Street when we got a text message from John and he asked to bring our MarioKart to play on the Wii because they had forgotten theirs. Ours unfortuneately had gotten scratched a few weeks prior, so we thought eh no big deal we'll just stop off and get a new one. YA RIGHT!! 5 stores later and no one had it. So we had given up and we were off....again! 2:30) Well we got as far as Inkom when we received a phone call from Marc and Tori... they had forgotten swimming suits. Good thing they left thier side garage door unlocked!! We swung by and grabbed those for them which was an ideal time for potty breaks! (thanks Tori!) So we're off!! (4:30) We stopped in Rigby to grab our groceries and headed up from there. Just before we entered Targhee National Forest the phone rang once again... "Where are you guys?? Dinner is ready!!" It was very comical! So as soon as we made that turn onto the road that lead to the cabin we were delighted to say the least! The cabin was absolutely perfect for a family our size. Plenty of beds, plenty of towels, plenty of couches, plenty of dishes, short, however, one loft!

Saturday we made the rounds of trying to jet (haha) down the Snake river and ended up having a delightful time getting splashed by ICE water from Steve. The guys took the annual golf trip late Saturday afternoon and the girls did the annual craft with the kids. The tie-dye shirts turned out awesome. It was fun to see Steve and Kaylea jump right into the "adult" side of tie-dye... HELPING rather than doing! Thanks you too!!

Sunday we decided to take the troops to go see Old Faithful. It was amazing trip and I enjoyed having Brinlee and Chloe in my car and getting a chance to was them interact with Maili. Cameron was dying to ride with Carter or anyone besides us! We timed it almost perfectly, only having to wait 30-40 minutes gave time for potty breaks and a quick lunch. We took the long way home... the EXTRA long way... (mental note: Short is good with small children!) After driving up through "prime bear country" Steve paid Chloe $1 to ride in my car... we got around the first bend before she informed me that she wasn't feeling too hot and was pointing at her mouth. Kaylea was such a great help pointing Chloes head in any direction except onto Kaylea. We pulled over and I helped Chloe get out and get a little cleaned off. Molly and John weren't too far behind us and Molly had a change of clothes and plenty of wipes to clean her off and help her feel comfortable again. Maili climbed back in the car with us and we headed back to the cabin where Todd and Denise had fixed a wonderful chicken dinner. Thanks you two!

The day ended with John, Todd and I doing laundry until all hours of the evening.

Monday morning we woke up and started the packing all over again. As we were packing and hauling things out to the cars the kids were wildly entertained making "Mad-Hatter" hats with Marcia (thanks mom!) In the post above this one has Maili showing hers off!

Thanks to everyone for letting us have a most enjoyable weekend away from home.

We love you and know that you love us.

Yahoo

So they finally switched me to a position where I have free time again at work! So I will do my best to blog more often.

I'm going to figure out how to do a slide show and post all of our summer pictures.

Love you guys!

Fire Alarms and Kids

So a good friend of mine sent this to me and I really thought it was interesting. (especially to my fire fighter families! ;-) Love you guys!)

It's a sad day...

Last night while we were at grandma and grandpa Collings house enjoying father's day, our dear sweet Fetcher past away. We had taken him in to the vet last Friday to get his shots updated and with his little body as frail as it was getting he had a severe reaction to one or more of the vaccinations. We took him to get groomed last Saturday and he looked so cute with all his fur gone and a new little red polo shirt. The only picture I could find is this one that Cameron took not too long ago holding onto one of the kids Webkins. He started acting really weird on Monday to where he could hardly stand up and he started coughing and having a tough time breathing. He would lay down and shake and we were pretty sure it was just because he was cold after chopping off all his fur. By Thursday, he didn't look any better so I called the vet, he had me bring him right over and he told me that he was having a severe reaction to his vaccinations and gave him three more shots to help the reaction slow down. He told me he should be fine and looking better within 24 hours. Well, Friday rolled around and he was just stumbling more and more around the house so I called the doctor again and he told me that he needed to put him on some medication. I gave him his medicine faithfully for those 3 days. Fetcher didn't eat at all for this entire week long period. Kenney and Maili went camping on Friday night and the boys spent the night at my moms hous, so Fetch and I sat and watched a few movies together. He hardly moved unless I went to change the movie and then he would stare at me until I got back so he could snuggle me again. He never moved from that spot all night. On Saturday while the kids were all still gone, I took the opportunity to clean the house and Fetcher just followed me from room to room laying down as soon as we hit the room and then acted completely exhausted from so much exercise. Saturday eveing we went to spend time with my parents for Father's Day and when we got home Fetcher was sitting in the same spot we left him, curled up in a ball on the bed. We decided to watch Narnia as a family and Fetch assumed his regular position next to Kenney on the couch. After the movie was over, it was time to go to Dave and Marcia's. I took Fetcher outside to the bathroom and brought him back into the house. I layed him on the bed... or attempted to... he didn't want me to leave his side. As soon as I would lay him down he'd crawl ride back into my arms. Kenney and the kids came in the room and we all tried to calm him down, which didn't help any. I finally laid down on the bed and relaxed enough to lay down next to me. I rubbed his little head and kissed it and told him I loved him and we would be back soon... he turned his head back and looked at Kenney and I with his HUGE brown eyes as if he were saying please don't leave me. I touched him again and said it's okay baby, we won't be gone long. After having a good time at Grandma and Grandpa's we headed home. The kids raced in to see Fetcher. He wasn't on my bed nor was he responding to our calls. Kelton ran upstairs to find him and screamed MOM COME HERE !!! I ran up the stairs faster than I ever have. Fetch had crawled up the stairs and was laying lifeless next to the couch. My mom, dad, Lance, Mike, Shalie and Mykell came over to help us with a little funeral service in our backyard, the kids each put one of thier favorite things in with him. We wrapped him up in Cameron's "Buzz Lightyear" blanket, Maili put a little orange ball, and Kelton placed a little stuffed animal in with him. Fetcher just turned 11 on May 30th. He will definately be missed around our house. Thank you all for sharing in the life of our precious little Fetcher La Duka La Rue La Collings. We will all miss him!

REAL Salt Lake

So Ken and I landed some free tickets to REAL Salt Lake game this past Saturday and we couldn't find a sitter... so I did what any mother would do...I bought tickets so the kids could come along. We packed all three hoodlums into the car and headed down to watch the game. After parking in a VERY good parking spot on the EAST side of the field we climbed out and headed toward the gate. I remembered that the confirmation I received said that I had to pick up their tickets at Will Call which was on the WEST side of the field..............
anywho we got the tickets and the kids had a blast. Maili wasn't too excited about going to watch a soccer game but man o man she loved the cheering part. There was a group of guys that everytime the other keeper got the ball they would start chanting his name... Maili caught on very quickly and was soon ramping up "Hartman, Hartman, Hartman,..... YOU SUCK!" LOL, although maybe slightly on the derrogatory level.. absolutely adorable. The boys weren't too far behind her as soon as they could understand what the purpose was. It was a very delightful evening out with the kids.
Here's some shots I took with my phone. (oh yeah and thanks Region 1533 for giving Ken and I tickets! -- think we could get 5 next time ;o)??? )

Baby Zoe

Caitlyn sent me this picture today and I thought it was so cute. She is doing really well. She's 7 weeks old and as you can see adorable!

Thanks Caitie!

Baby Blessings GALORE!

I know I'm a little behind on updating my blog. It has been crazy at work and my laptop charger SOMEHOW (no thanks to my boys) isn't working.

I just wanted to congratulate both of my beautiful sister in laws on their beautiful babies that were blessed the last couple of Sundays. Mikol and Brian blessed little Kaitlyn Russon on Mother's Day and I enjoyed spending time at their house. Mostly because the BIG boys take the LITTLE boys down and entertain ... or rather let the XBOX entertain, them both for a while and it gives me time to chat with the ladies. Maili enjoys spending time with Becca and Anna so much, she nearly has heart failure when we leave. Kaitlyn is the best baby! I got to hold her for a good 45 minutes and she never once whimpered or moved until I gave her to her Uncle Kenney HAHAHA!! She definately got her mom's passive personality.

Caitlyn and Adam blessed little Zoe Collings this past Sunday. It was such a joy to watch how nervous Adam was as he carried his little angel up to bless thier first baby. He is such a sweet and loving dad already. Zoe is an absolute doll and looked so elegant in her little blessing dress. Cait she is perfect! I'm hoping to have some pictures soon (I stole the one of Kaitlyn from Mikols Blog). My camera is on the blink...and I mean that literally... it leaves green and blue blinking lights on every picture!! --Thanks Tracy for the pictures :)

I love you guys so much and I'm so excited to have these two brand new little neices in my family.