A Family Affair

Moab

2010-09-26T14:14:00.001-07:00

In June, we got to take a trip to Moab. We left Axle and Atticus with my parents and met Frank's mom in Moab. The five of us rented a yellow jeep and took to the trails. We did a trail called Hell's Revenge. It was very scenic and fairly scary in spots. However, my expert driver husband knew the trail and never put us in any danger. (His mom might argue otherwise!) By the end of the trail we were all sweaty and ready for lunch in the shade. After that we wanted a less intense, cooler trail and so headed for Cane Creek. The funny thing is that of the six hours we were driving that trail we only saw water for about thirty minutes. It was hot! We went over some boulders that I know were not meant to be driven over! The trail had so few markers that for several of the hours we thought we were lost. On one particular spot the jeep tipped so far to the side that Sydney let out a high-pitched squeal that made us all start laughing.
The little water that we saw of Cane Creek

On Hell's Revenge

Frank or "Driver" as his Mama calls him

Toward the end of the Cane Creek Trail. Perhaps the scariest thing we've ever done lies beyond this rise. The trail was narrow with many boulders, with a steep cliff on the right and a sheer drop on the left. We all got out and walked while Frank navigated the dangerous stretch. Nobody warned us of the intensity of this trail! Frank's mom got a t-shirt printed to say "I survived Cane Creek!"

Who's the Man?

Summer Photos

2010-09-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of some of the fun things we did this summer:

Atticus keeping cool at the Highland City Fountains.

You can't see it, but Gretel is smiling as they take away two picked over VW's from the back yard. The guy came back for a third car the next day. Hooray! No more eyesores!

Colin was invited to go to Washington with his Grandma. They drove there and he got to fly home. First time on a plane. Great times with Grandma and poochie!

We got to visit the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum and loved it! Too bad we won't go back until we get another free pass! ( $8 a person adds up fast)

Sydney earned some money babysitting little Sofia. She got a taste of what a baby sister would be like. As if she didn't want one enough already!

Colin turned 11!

The family worked together to stain our bench, deck chairs, deck, and the fence. Wow, that took alot of hours and alot of stain. But, it looks great back here!

The smiles and good cheer were overflowing as we pulled weeds and tried to get the back yard presentable for a Westech barbeque we hosted!

I am so glad I gave in and got the trampoline repaired this Spring. It never ceases to provide fun and thrills. This is Atticus being bounced by the bigger kids. He didn't even get hurt on landing. They were jumping off the shed roof for awhile till a neighbor got hurt. Now they jump off the ladder, instead.

Birthday Bashes

2010-05-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

Sydney wouldn't feel it a proper birthday without a party including all her girlfriends. They went on a service scavenger hunt, doing small acts of service for the people in the neighborhood. They also played charades and ate homemade pizza. In the picture above Sydney is stoked that she blew out all 13 candles, but the friend on the right is pointing out that she missed one. Haha! Colin also played DJ and kept the girls dancing while the pizza baked.

What a beautiful cake, eh? Sydney and Mom made it together.

Atticus turned 5 and it was a beautiful day for an outside party. The little guys ate cupcakes, played red light green light, duck-duck-goose, and jumped on the trampoline. Colin stayed home and was my assistant. He really has a knack for being silly and making people laugh!

Paint Party!

2010-05-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

Sydney built this flower box with a little help from Dad. The fun part was painting it with her friends. It was over so fast that they expanded their "canvas" to one of Dad's cars! Too bad the car is going to the junk yard.

Grandmas are Great!

2010-03-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

We got Frank's mom for a whole two weeks in February! There's nothing like reading books on Grandma's lap. She was such a hit with Axle and Atticus. She went on bike rides and walks out in the cold when noone else wanted to go. She even made a plastic bag kite with Atticus one day. He held onto it and rode his bike up and down the sidewalk a hundred times.

Atticus got an official BMX racing bike and a helmet. He wore it non-stop for a week after we bought it, even while he played Sesame Street games on the computer. He loves to race around the dirt BMX track and the trophies he gets are taking over his room (every kid under 5 gets one after every race).

I love having Mary Margaret stay with us. She is very happy, positive, and always willing to help. She helped me slice and dry 52 lbs of apples while she was here. She won't give up her California sunshine to move to Utah, though. We've tried but cannot tempt her enough!

Mary Margaret sent a big box of slot race cars that a friend of hers found. They tried them out at a little place in Salt Lake. They stayed inside for 10 minutes max and came back. Frank said it is truly a dying sport.

Grandma didn't spend all her time reading "The Truck Book" as it appears. She herself got through 4 out of 5 books of "The Lightning Thief" series. The deal was whoever read the first book got to go see the new movie. She got hooked and I had to tell her to put the books away and go to sleep several times after midnight! We love Oma and are sad she can't stay with us more often.

Short trip to Bethlehem

2010-01-07T07:20:00.000-08:00

In Highland this time of year you can take a trip back in time to witness the Nativity. What a beautiful reminder of the birth of the Saviour. The whole family enjoyed it, despite the cold weather.

My sister Lindsey and her cutie, Emme. Her big cutie Thomas was at home recovering from an apendectomy. One thing I look forward to every Christmas season is the chance to pull out and dust off my violin. I love to play duets with Lindsey on her flute. We played for my sister-in-law's R.S. lesson, and I got to play in my ward also. My grandpa has stopped threatening to take my violin back if I don't play, but he is happy when I can tell him I did play!

The camels were awesome, so big and loud!

Its been a snowy Winter this year. Sydney and Colin got inflated truck inner tubes for Christmas and have been able to use them a lot already.

Not a proper Christmas without some attempt at a gingerbread house, right? This was a kit so required very little work on Mom's part, just cleanup.

One of our traditions is to open a present each night for a few nights before Christmas. One night this year we all got marshmallow shooter guns that Frank and I made out of pvc pipe! Another night we got the Knock 'em Sock 'em Robots game, along with Apples to Apples and Scrabble. Scrabble has been our favorite so far. We stayed up late playing with Sydney and Colin a couple times, until they got so tired and silly we had to send them to bed.

Grandma and Grandpa Collings have made it their tradition to give the grandkids new pj's on Christmas Eve. Don't they look cozy?

Although we opened several gifts before Christmas, we saved at least one big one for Christmas morning. They were almost drooling!

Frank took Colin snowboarding on Christmas day. They froze and Frank's board broke on the first run, but they had some good bonding time! I took the rest of the family over to my parents for dinner and some games. This is my dad and my brother, Chris.

Thanksgiving in Reno

2009-12-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with family in Reno. We got to do some fun things and spend time with people we don't get to see often enough. Above is Frank's cousin, Lily. She is a bit younger than Sydney and they have a ton of fun together.

One of the chief reasons we made the trip was to visit Frank's dad, Frank, and his wife Ruthie. She had been in the hospital but was at home by the time we made the trip. They have a one bedroom apartment or we would have stayed with them. Instead, we made them breakfast on Thanksgiving morning and tried not to wear poor Ruthie out. We hope she will continue to improve in her health.

We got to camp out 6 nights at Frank's Uncle Harry's house. That is him playing the guitar for my boys, some song about breakfast! He let us stay as long as we wanted and kept us fairly entertained, too. We swam in his pool several times, played billiards, ping-pong and watched UP on a huge home theater screen. It was better than Best Western!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was spending time at Frank's aunt Marilyn's house. That's me between aunt Rhianna and aunt Marilyn. Marilyn had the whole group over for some delicious barbeque and some good laughs. Rhianna also had us over and both women made us feel very loved!

Frank reading books to Axle and Johnny(Rhianna and Jim's boy) in their matching flannel pants.

We thought we should spend time on an educational fieldtrip, so we went to the Harrah's automobile museum! Pretty fun, especially the car we got to touch.

Uncle Jim's old fire truck was better than any museum, though. He gave us a ride around the neighborhood, and invited us to ride in it for the Reno Thanksgiving parade (we passed on that due to the blizzard).

Sick and Tired of Being Sick

2009-10-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Sydney is on her fifth day of being very sick. Today she was shivering uncontrollably for 10 minutes or more and then broke out sweating from the fever. She has been fighting fever off and on, and now Axle and Atticus have the bug, too. Axle has a croupy cough and Atticus complains that his forehead hurts. My poor kids. We're hoping Colin will resist it since he had the flu a few months ago. I have been lucky to stay healthy most every time my family gets sick. Maybe the Lord realizes that I have to take care of everyone else! Looks like everyone gets out of fasting and going to church tomorrow. I doubt I'll hear any complaints about that, though! Except from Atticus, who loves his class and his teacher. Axle likes to "play toys" too.

Afternoon Splash

2009-10-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

There is a drain on our street that doesn't exactly drain. After a big rain storm we get a big flood! This day, the sun came out before the water went anywhere and everyone came out to play. Parents would do numerous drive-by sprayings and the kids all screamed with delight. That is Atticus riding his bike through the deepest part. Needless to say, he and Axle went straight to the bathtub after the fun!

Summer is Over

2009-09-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful Fall-ish day! I love the lowered temperatures and the chilly nights. I am excited to use my new quilt on my bed. Time to start thinking about Halloween costumes! I think I will have Axle be Max from Where the Wild Things Are. I'll let him carry around a plastic fork for making "mischief of one kind and another".

My garden has been a success and I am still harvesting tomatoes and green beans, plus a few cucumbers. I have done a lot of canning in the last week, including some peaches.

Sydney and Colin are riding their bikes to school every day. I am loving that! My days have been low maintenance without any carpooling to worry about. Starting tomorrow Atticus will be getting some one-on-one at the literacy center. They have volunteers work with the preschoolers on their letters and sounds. He is so excited to go to his own class. He was also invited to be part of a playgroup once a week, so he will not be at all bored this school year.

Sydney is enjoying Junior High. She is learning to play the flute and taking piano lessons at the same time. She thinks the after school dances are pretty cool, too. I must say she spends a lot more time in front of the mirror than she used to!

Colin almost got on to the Student Council but will definitely try again next year. I am so happy he wants to get involved! He is doing well in his BMX competitions. He just moved up to the intermediate class so will have to claw or pedal his way up to the top again!

Lava (too hot) Hot Springs

2009-07-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

We drove to Lava Hot Springs for Independence Day. Its about a three hour drive and everyone got to sleep most of the way(except for me, of course). When Axle was awake he exclaimed "horsey!" at least two hundred times as we passed by field after field of horses and cows. Who needs a dvd player?

The town was crammed with campers and tents, but we were lucky to get a spot after a cancellation. (They must have heard about the coming rainstorm). We got our brand-spankin-never-been-opened tent set up before the wind started bringing the dark clouds in. I should have got a picture of the tent completely flattened from the wind! Luckily, it wasn't time for bed yet so we just hung out in the van while it blew and down-poured. When Frank couldn't take all the togetherness anymore he tried to save the fire. The rain did let up enough for us to roast marshmallows. When we went to bed we found our bedding to be wet from our new apparently- not-so-rain-proof tent! I swore I would not do this a second night. (I also swore this tent was going back to Walmart.)

The next day was much brighter and we all got sunburned at the pools. We stopped at the actual hot pools first and couln't stand the 112 degree water, go figure! The olympic sized pools with slides and diving boards were much more our style. Colin and Frank braved all three of the diving platforms (18', 25', and a scary 33'). Again, no picture to prove it, but you can see how high they are in the photo of Sydney below. I did the 25' and was satisfied enough to call it good. Now I won't feel like I have to jump off any cliffs at Lake Powell this year.

By the afternoon, the clouds were rolling back in. I suggested we go back and take down the tent before the rain hit again. We were back on the road by 4:00. Talk about a short vacation. But, you know, it was what we needed and the kids are still talking about the fun they had! I was even happier when my husband agreed to eat at the Olive Garden on the way home. Yum!

Since we missed the firework show in Lava, I took the kids to Thanksgiving Point for their big show. Axle stayed home with Dad since he found the fireworks a little too loud.

13th Anniversary- Not such an unlucky number!

2009-06-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

We got to go to Park City for a weekend in May. It was such a fun two days for the two of us. We stayed at the Marriott, soaked in the hot tub and even got breakfast in bed! We rented these cool mountain bikes and took the chair lift up the mountain and rode down.(Up didn't sound like much fun for two old folks to try!) We went down three times, through mud and rain and shine. Frank told me I needed to absorb the bumps through the shocks and my legs, but I am going to bring my own big padded seat next time! We came away with only a few scrapes and bruises and lots of smiles. We also brought home fancy carmeled apples for the kids.

Sydney was left in charge at home, with a little help from Aunt Lindsey and Grandma. Sydney is a great mother when I'm gone. She adores Axle and he loves her almost as much as he loves me. (Sydney argues that point) Axle's favorite word is "Sydney". He can and does say almost everything he hears. "Marshmallow" is the cutest so far.

Family photos

2009-05-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

So its been 4 years since our last real family photo shoot. We went this weekend since Frank's mom was visiting. It actually went really well considering we were there for two hours. The photographer was great and got Axle to sit and smile time after time. She took 120 shots! So the hard part was whiddling it down to a package we could afford(she started out at $1000!) We spent more than we were planning but love every picture we got.

Axle is so much fun as he spouts new words every day. He now says thankyou, cheetoh, stinky, juice, bye-bye, blankie, milk. His very favorite word is uh-oh. We put away the highchair cause he wants to be a big boy and sit with the family at the table.

Today is Mother's Day. Atticus is at church cause he loves his class, while the rest of us are at home trying to get over Sunday grumpiness. I decided to keep everyone home till we could be nice and have a little peace before we go into the church. We're still here!

I hope to see my mom and grandma today to give them a hug. They are both great examples to me and I am so glad to have them in my life. Grandma lives only a mile away now. I try to go visit her and Grandpa more now but it is hard cause her house is not at all baby/child friendly. We will be going over once a week for Sydney to mow their lawn. She went for the first mow last week and insisted I come with her. When I asked why I had to be there she said,"Cause Grandpa scares me!" I laughed and said I understood!

New Hair-do

2009-04-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

Sydney let me cut her hair today! I wanted to donate 10 inches to Locks of Love but she wanted it to her shoulders or a little longer. She cried and complained that it was too short all the way until I styled it. At that point she finally admitted it looked okay and said Thanks, Mom.
Isn't she a doll? I also cut all the boys' hair this week. Its fun and saves me money.

We had a great Sabbath today(not always the case). Everyone went to church willingly and then Colin surprised my by bearing his testimony while I was in the foyer with Axle. Sydney took the sibling challenge and also bore her testimony. Frank taught Elder's Quorum and Axle stayed in nursery the whole time. Who could ask for a better Sunday? I love my family!

Frank built some great shelves in our garage this week! It looks better in there already. We may eventually get a car inside!

Atticus turned 4 this week. He had 6 cute friends over for a little party. They broke a pinata that Sydney andI made. It took them each about 4 hits before it broke! Sydney also had a birthday but has yet to have her party. She did get a male gerbil that she hopes will end up in many tiny gerbils running about!

All about Sydney (by Sydney)

2009-03-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

hi, my name is Sydney. I am currently 11 years old.

I will be 12 on April 18. I am sooo excited! I have three little brothers, Colin, Atticus, and AXLE!

Axle is currently my favorite brother. he doesn't take my stuff away, call me names like, a nimrod and such. He is just plain, and about the most perfect little angel there is!! I am almost in young womens. I get to go to young womens cap this year! I like to kinda plan ahead sometimes,

so I already have my b-day party planned! It is gonna be alot of fun! Me and my family moved not to long ago, and I really like my new house and neiborhood. I miss my old friends alot though. Which is why I am having my b-day party at my old school with all my old/and new friends. It has been sooo nice lately, and I am soo thankful that the snow is almost completly gone.

cute boys

2009-03-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Single Mom for a Week

2009-02-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

Frank took off for a work trip to Maryland this week. If he was having any fun whatsoever I might be jealous, but he's not. I am realizing just how much I like having him around. Its a tough job doing the parenting all alone, and I'm grateful this is temporary. We have survived the scout blue and gold banquet, two sleepovers and two BMX races so far. I made it through Sacrament Meeting but not Sunday School today. Tomorrow we go for FHE at Grandma's and then Frank comes home on Tuesday. Hooray!

The BMX race on Friday was actually quite exciting. Colin and I went while Sydney babysat Atticus and Axle. Colin took first place in the qualifier and then another awesome first place in the main event race! I was so thrilled I couldn't hold the camera still! Colin was on cloud nine. They say winning isn't everything but it sure does things for the self-esteem. The Saturday race got him a second place but the trophy was so huge he wasn't at all disappointed.

Sydney and Colin paid a visit to their old school on Friday. They were welcomed with cheers and hugs from everyone. I hope they eventually feel that loved at the new school. While waiting for them I drove around the old neighborhood. No sad feelings for me as I passed our small little house! I miss the friends but am so in love with my new house now.

Sunday

2009-01-25T15:26:00.000-08:00

A little more than two months till Axle gets to go into nursery! He's past the sit-on-your-lap-quietly stage and just wants to run. Not to mention that church starts when his nap usually starts. So Frank sacrificed (ha ha) and took the bubba home after Sacrament mtg for a nap. Axle also went down for a nap. Colin, being the good child that he is, also volunteered to go home and "help Dad".
Atticus is officially a Sunbeam! He loves class but doesn't yet love sharing time. But he stayed the whole time today. Hooray! He is also starting to draw the cute people pictures with the circle for a head and the arms and legs coming off the circle. Its so fun to see him learning new stuff. I don't see how people purposely stop after only one child. As soon as I get a toddler I start to miss having a baby around!
I haven't spent as much time sewing as I had planned. Instead I have been reading 4 different books at once. I wish I could say one of them was the scriptures, but I'll do better this week. I just finished the 3rd book of Leven Thumps, am starting the 3rd Eragon book and am trying to read a book about Marjorie Hinckley for a book club. I also started Inkdeath but put it aside since I own it and there is no due date on it. Colin is getting close to finishing Eragon. I will be very proud of him for reading such a big and pretty challenging book!

Time for another pet already?

2009-01-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

So we have tried guinea pigs, fish, parakeets and dogs. Now the must-have is a hamster. Its too small to cause allergic reactions, fairly quiet and easy to care for. So why am I not excited?

Sydney thinks life will end soon if she doesn't get another pet! She's willing to pay for it with her own money and swears she will take care of it. Guess we'll give it another try. I think I may talk her into a gerbil, though. They don't stay awake all night like hamsters and I think they bite less.

Axle, our current "pet", is getting too big too fast! He is exiting his babyhood and we are all sad about it. He can say "down, hot, hat," and "ahhhhh" at a high pitch which means I want that! He still steals toothbrushes and drags them around the house. So far none have made it into the toilet, only the garbage can (shhh don't tell Sydney).

I am currently starting on a new quilt for my bed. I finally bought the fabric and hope to begin cutting pieces tomorrow with the help of my sweet sister Lindsey. My hubby is out of town so I am getting lots of projects out of the way! One thing I am excited about is this shelf for displaying smaller quilts. I finally hung it in the kitchen. A little personal girl time is always fun but the bed is awfully big and cold with only one person in it.

We took a drive up AF canyon to Tibblefork Reservoir just before Thanksgiving. It was freezing! The water was iced over but you could still see through it. We let the kids venture out carefully! Atticus was in his usual attire: shorts and his beloved cowboy boots. Maybe he was supposed to have been born in California?

School Break doldrums

2008-12-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

Kids claim they hate school and wish it was summer vacation all year round. Then when they have a week or two off they can't think of anything to do! I make all sorts of great suggestions (shovel snow, clean the house, work on scouting requirements) but nothing sounds good to them!

We were having problems with certain children being disrespectful and disobedient, only made worse by the lack of school. We sat down and had a long lecture, laying down new consequenses for poor behavior. First offense means a loss of computer priviledges for two days, second is a loss of tv/video, third is a loss of friend time. Colin was the first to offend and we had a miserable day with nothing to do. The second day of his punishment he resolved to do all sorts of sweet things for Mom. He emptied the dishwasher, reloaded it, washed the remaining dishes and emptied it again later. He also shoveled snow for Dad and was extra nice to Atticus and Axle!

I started a "Yes Mom" jar. Every time someone is quick to obey or says yes mom I put a candy corn in the jar. Once its full they get to go to Jump On It. Atticus keeps asking me to tell him things so he can earn more candy corns! I have great kids, they just need the right motivation!

2008-12-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas Joy

Another year almost gone. Christmas was good this year. We didn't feel as pinched as in previous years. We were able to sponsor a small family through the Sub for Santa program. I had so much fun shopping for little girl clothes and toys!
Christmas Day was relaxing. Frank and I had time to wrap presents before anyone woke up. Well, except for Axle. He's always the first one up. After gifts and a yummy breakfast the kids went sledding. I shoveled snow, again. I have not seen this much snow for years! I can see why people buy snowblowers up here on the bench.
I was so excited when Frank surprised me with season tickets to the Hale Center Theater in Orem! Between the plays and the temple we have many dates booked for the next year. (We also have a cheap babysitter booked).
We invested in a new camcorder as a family gift. We kind of missed Axle as an infant and a year or two of Atticus. But, its never too late to record some memories. Speaking of memories, my parents had our old silent home movies put onto dvd as a present to their children. I can't wait to make my kids sit through all the boring footage of me as a child!

Loving the new house

We made it out of Provo finally. We were lucky to sell our little home, just in time it seems. We live in a wonderful neighborhood now with so many great kids running around. We had boys knocking on the front door the first day we were here because they saw some bike ramps and were wondering if a boy lived here now! Colin never lacks friends to play with anymore.
He still pulls the "I hate School!" thing on me a few times a week, but I try to explain that its not school but being unprepared that he hates.
Sydney doesn't complain about school much exceptthat it interferes with her getting enough sleep. She won't go to sleep before 10:30 and wakes up at 8:30. I would LOVE to get that much sleep!
Atticus is three but insists that he is six, because he is a "big boy". He's worn the same orange shirt and blue shorts every day for the last month, whether it is snowing or not! This is one of those "choose your battles" that I am not fighting. I have compromised and let him wear shorts to church every other week. Of course he forgets that he agreed and we fight it out when it is time for pants. Frank reminds us all often that Atticus is only three, not six, and needs allowances and extra love!Our last but not least is Axle. He makes everyone happy all the time! He loves to give open mouth kisses in the morning and I've found that's the best way to get Sydney to wake up happy! Axle is a great walker but is still getting the hang of shoes. He is funny to watch as he wobbles here and there.