Tubing at Soldier Hollow

Last night we took the kids to Heber City for some tubing at Soldier Hollow. A girl in our ward reserved a two hour block for us to go up with some other families in our ward for a big family home evening night out. This is a really fun place to tube and the best part was you didn't have to walk up the hill in order to tube down it.

This is Luke on the pulley that gives you a ride up to the top of the hill.

A lot of snow ball fights would take place on the trip up to the top.

Cody enjoying the night

Britt and Savannah didn't want the night to end, unless there was hot chocolate!

Jess and Tyler snuggling to stay warm.

The family at the top of the hill, getting ready to race down

After a few turns down the hill we discovered if you hook up with other people (so that you have more weight) going down the hill you go a lot faster. So the last few trips down, Clay and I would go together and then the last time we all hooked up and went down as a family (minus Jess of course). Everyone has their own tubes, but one person hangs on to all the loops that connect each tube and then you fly down the hill. I took a video of when we went down all together.

Happy Anniversary!

It's mine and Clay's 17th wedding anniversary today! I can't believe I have been married for so long. At times it seems like it was just yesterday we were at the LA temple getting sealed to each other, but then other times it seems like a lifetime ago.

We had a fun day just being together and doing the things we love to do. We ate lunch at our favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse then headed to the mall to do some shopping. Yes, Clay actually likes to shop and picks out clothes for me better than I pick out clothes for myself.

We ran into my cousin Jill and her husband Scott at the mall. It's crazy because for the last few weeks I have ran into Jill so many times. Mostly at Costco, but now the mall. It's fun to have family so close around you and to be able to see them so often.

After the mall we headed over to see if we could visit with my SIL Kym at her house, but she wasn't home and since we were so close we decided to go to Park City instead. We went to the outlets up there and scored on some great after Christmas deals. I swear we ended up buying more clothes today then we did for all of Christmas.

After a long day of shopping we had worked up a big appetite and needed some good food. So we went to our next favorite restaurant Tepanyaki's. Thankfully because it was only Clay and I we got in quickly, but were seated with the family from you know where. I don't want to be mean but this family didn't have any manners at all. They ordered so much food and ate with their mouths open, the entire time. It didn't help that they were all terribly over weight and their grooming skills were very lacking as well. But the worst part was when the mom who was sitting next to her 12-14 year old son leaned over and picked a zit off his face, then examined it...closely! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It almost made me vomit! Clay and I just kept saying to each other "Just don't look at them, keep your eye on the cook". When we left the restaurant, we couldn't help but start laughing. It was seriously like a bad movie. We kept looking for the hidden camera's, but there were none. This family was real!

All in all it was a great day! I need to express my deep love for my wonderful husband. He truly is the love of my life. I can't imagine a life without him in it. He is so selfless, caring and mostly a great husband and father. He makes me feel so beautiful and is always telling me what a great mom I am, even though I don't always feel that way. I love you Clay!

Christmas Day

Christmas day started bright and early at 6 a.m. I was thankful it wasn't any earlier, since the kids told us that they had been up since 4:00. I don't believe they were up that early, but who knows with kids.
It took only an hour and we had Christmas unwrapped. The kids begged me to make their favorite breakfast...orange rolls.

Brittany and Savannah got all new bedding for their beds and tons of clothes.

Cody got exactly what he wanted from Santa- everything Eagles!

Even an Eagles tooth brush and key necklace

Cody hasn't taken the jersey off since he got it!

I love this picture of Jess- she unwrapped her gift from Aunt Courtney and it was a book written by Glen Beck. Jess has no idea who Glen Beck is and was a little puzzled, at first.

We laughed so hard when we saw the last picture that she decided to go a little over board and acted seriously crazy when she opened her next present.

Britt with her new pillows for her bed.

Luke was thrilled with all his gifts this year. The two favorite were his tool box, with real tools and of course his Bakugans.

The blankets my mom made for all the grand kids were favorites of all the kids!

The funny part of the morning was when Luke, not waiting very patiently for his turn to open his presents, yelled out " It's not very fun watching other people open presents!"

The rest of the day was spent playing with the new toys, playing phase ten, our new favorite family game and taking naps. I have to say this was one of our families best Christmas. I can honestly say there was no fighting with the kids. Our homes felt peaceful and full of love. I'm so thankful that we were able to have such an incredible Christmas season. We felt sad that we weren't able to spend this Christmas with any family. We really miss both sides of our families during this holiday season. But know that we were thinking of all of you and love you all so much!

Getting ready for Christmas

This past week has been filled with last minute trips to stores and fun family traditions. On Saturday, Clay and I took the kids to lunch at the Pizza Factory. Every year, the last weekend before Christmas we take the kids to lunch and then to the mall to pick out presents that the kids will give to each other. Each child picks a name of one of his brother or sisters and that is the person they will buy a gift for. At lunch they were trying to ask questions to the person they were buying for (with out being to obvious)to see what they wanted for Christmas. Luke wasn't talking at all during lunch he was just dancing around in his seat. When we finally asked him what he was doing he told us that he was "dancing to the Madagascar song (I want to move it, move it)". Clay and I both looked puzzled at each other because the music playing in the restaurant was Christmas music. We asked him where he was hearing that song and he said "it's in my head". That is our Luke!

After lunch we braved the mall in Orem and took the kids shopping for their secret Santa gifts. The older girls took off on their own and Clay and I took the boys around. Luke of course didn't want to look for a gift for Savannah, he wanted to look for gifts for himself. But after some persuading, he got into the spirit of it and found a cute gift for his sister.

We had a fun day picking out gifts for everyone and after we were done we headed home.

After the mall the kids wanted to make the gingerbread house that I bought from Costco. They had a good time trying to make it look exactly like the picture on the box. I kept telling them they could decorate it any way they wanted too. But they still stuck with their original plan.

After the gingerbread house was done they all put on their winter clothes and headed to the back yard for sledding. For those of you who haven't been to my house we have a huge open field in our back yard with a giant whole in the middle of it. It's great for exploring during the summer time and best for sledding in the winter. It's so nice having it right in the back yard too, because I can just look out my back windows and know where they are at all times.

Sunday was crazy with Church and our choir performance both in Sacrament Meeting and later on that night for our Stake Christmas program. I have been so fortunate to have moved into two great stakes that have incredible stake choir directors. The first one was in Cedar Hills, our choir director was Steven Kapp Perry. He is extremely talented and singing in his choir was always an amazing experience. Here in Highland our choir director is Brother Riplinger. If his name isn't familiar it's because he is a little older than most of us. He is in his 80's I would guess. He used to direct the Mormon Tabernacle Choir back in the late 70's-early 80's. This guy is so talented it makes me sick. He can play just about any instrument, sing all four parts in the choir (no joke, even soprano), and writes and arranges most of the pieces we sing. He picks extremely hard music, but it's so much fun to sing and preform.

The next few days were pretty uneventful, just doing the normal stuff, nothing too exciting.

Today on Christmas eve, the kids spent the morning helping me get the house clean and ready for Santa's arrival that night. I did some cooking for our Christmas eve dinner and the kids spent the day tracking Santa on the Internet. Using NORAD and google earth you can see where Santa is all day long on Christmas eve. We also danced around to Christmas music, ate yummy cheese and crackers, and did some more sledding. In a few minutes my SIL Kym and her husband Martin will be coming over to visit for a while before they head to the airport to pick up Martins daughter.

Kym and Martin just left and it was fun to have some family to visit with on Christmas Eve. We decided to not eat our big dinner tonight since we snacked so much when they were here, so we will just save it for tomorrow. After Kym and Martin left the kids got in their pajamas, brushed their teeth and we played a fun family tradition game that we played every year with my family. It's the white elephante exchange game. The kids love this game and it's always fun to try and get the crazy present that you want. This year the big trading presents were the fireworks and the glow bracelets. Of course the screaming monkey boomerage was also a hit!

Time for bed because Santa will be here soon, and I'm so tired!

Luke's kindergarten Christmas party

Today started off so terrible, first I woke up to find my walls covered in some kind of sticky clear drink. I asked Cody what it was and he told me that Jessica and Tyler had chased him around the house last night, while we were gone at the Temple, squirting him with juice boxes. It was everywhere, and I could only imagine where it was that I couldn't see with my eyes. Jessica had stayed home from school "sick" so I went to her room and asked her what happened. She told me the same story, except that Cody was involved in the squirting as well. I was so mad that my eldest daughter and her 18 year old boyfriend would do something so stupid. She got mad at me for yelling at her and stormed off to clean up the mess. After sort of cleaning it up she got dressed and started to walk to school. Clay got in the car and took off after her but she refused to get in the car. A few minutes later my relief society president called to tell me she saw Jess walking to school and pulled over and gave her a ride. So I win the most terrible parent in the world award today. During all of this Luke decided he didn't want to get ready for school, so after asking him 20 plus times to get ready I just gave up. When his ride came to get him I told them he wasn't going and that is when Luke exploded. He threw the worlds biggest tantrum, screaming and yelling and slamming doors. It was a great morning. Thankfully Clay was home during all of this so I had him to lean on during the whole morning mess. Clay got Luke ready and took him to school just in time for him to make the Christmas program they were singing in. Luke found his class and was able to go up on stage and sing his Christmas music.

After that I had Luke's class Christmas party. I'm the room mother for his class so it was my responsibility to put this party together. I was able to find a Santa suit from one of my neighbors and my wonderful husband agreed to play Santa for our party. Here is Clay walking in to the party. The kids eyes just about popped out of their sockets when they saw him walk in.

During the party we split the kids up into groups of six. The first thing they did was to decorate gingerbread men.

Then they played some Christmas bingo.

I didn't get a picture of the next station and that was our craft time. We had them make a reindeer out of a lunch sack.

Here is Luke sitting on Santa lap. He told me that he thought Santa looked like his dad. "They both have brown eyes" he said.

Here is the whole class right before Santa had to leave the party.

The best part was when Clay left the room, the entire class followed him out the door (the outside door). They wanted to see if he came in his sleigh and they wanted to see the reindeer. The rest of the school was outside for recess and they all ran to see Clay. Because the kindergarten rooms are separate from the rest of the school the rest of the school couldn't get to close because they was a fence around them. They started chanting "Santa, Santa, Santa". It was so cute, Clay was a total star for all of this. He later told me that he had to stop and say hello to some kids that were getting dropped off for afternoon kindergarten.

After the party we met up with my brother Tom who was in town for the day on business. We met him for lunch at JCW's, of course. We showed him the pictures of Clay playing Santa and he said that it looked like "Santa was using just for men on his eyebrow's only." If you look closely at the pictures, Clay's dark eyebrows are sticking out over his white hair and beard.

So even though it started off being a pretty terrible day, it ended with a great party and spending lunch with family.

Piano recital

We got the privilege last night of being able to go to Brittany and Savannah's piano recital. They both played well, Brittany a little better than Savannah. But in Savannah's defense she got her music last week that she played that night and Brittany's been practing her music for months. Clay didn't record all of Savannah's piece (don't ask me why) but we did get Brittany's entire song. I'm so proud of both my girls. They practice so hard everyday and both play beautifully!

Explaination

I have been asked by a few people, how Cody split open his head. I guess in all my excitement about telling what I did after he got hurt I forgot to explain how he got hurt. We have a lot of boys Cody's age in our neighborhood and thankfully they loved to run and play outside. Well, the boys were playing "army" and were running around our house, when Cody decided to run around one way and another kid decided to run the opposite way. As Cody was circling the house, running towards the front yard one of his friends was in the same path but circling around to the back yard. They collided and because this boy was so much shorter than Cody the top of his head hit Cody's eyebrow (which according to Clay is the weakest part on your face), which resulted in Cody's eyebrow splitting open. The other boy didn't get hurt at all.
I also forgot to mention that we got Cody's EEG test back from Primary children's hospital. The one he had taken right before thanksgiving to check to see if the seizure he had was just a one time thing or something more serious. Well, it came back normal. I can't tell you have relieved I was that we don't have to deal with another medical problem. Dealing with Savannah's diabetes is enough for me right now.
I'm going to go plow the driveway for the second time today and then get back to wrapping the last of the Christmas presents! I'm finally starting to get excited about Christmas now that it's snowing.

Ward Breakfast Christmas party

This Saturday we braved the terrible snow storm and went to our ward Christmas breakfast party. We had a yummy breakfast casserole and Cinnamon rolls (that had no Cinnamon on them). Our ward put together a cute, but very long, program in which we sang Christmas songs, the primary reenacted the nativity story, we had a cute Christmas story read to us and then last but not least, Santa came. I forced my boys to run to the front of the line, since we had about 300 people there and I knew if we didn't get to the front of the line we would be waiting forever!

Luke was so cute and I loved watching his eyes light up when Santa came walking into the room. Cody asked for an Eagles jersey, with McNabb #5 on the back (he is the quarterback). Of course this is all new to me and I'm already done with Christmas shopping so I hope Santa really does bring him one!

This is Santa disagreeing with Cody. He told him he would be better off asking for a Chargers jersey instead.

Jessica of course was hanging out with Tyler, and didn't feel like sitting on Santa's lap. That is why she isn't in the picture with all the kids. The best part about that morning was I found out this Santa is a guy in our ward and the wife agreed to let me borrow the Santa suit for Luke's kindergarten Christmas party that I'm in charge of. I'm going to have Clay dress up as Santa and come let the kids sit on his lap during the party and then have him read them a book. I'm so happy!:)

Cody, Cody, Cody!

Well I thought it was going to be just another normal day around the Collins house, but boy was I wrong. It started off just like any other day, getting the kids ready for school, working out, picking up car pools, homework and then letting the kids play until dinner time. Well about 15 mins. before the kids were supposed to come inside Cody came screaming into the house and Brittany started screaming for me to come and see Cody. Cody was covered in blood all over his face and hands. I pulled his hand off his head and saw this huge gash above his eye brow. I knew instantly that he needed to get to the emergency room right away. I grabbed some paper towels, told him to hold it tightly against his head and put him in the car and headed to the American Fork Hospital. On the way to the hospital Cody kept telling me that he was tired and wanted to fall asleep. I didn't know if he had a concussion so I kept talking to him in order to keep him awake. Half way to the hospital I noticed he was sweating, a lot! He had beads of sweat dripping down his forehead and on his upper lip as well. And I noticed he was looking really pale. Thankfully, the hospital wasn't to far away, and even though it seemed to take forever to get there, it actually only took about 15 mins and we were there. We parked in the emergency parking and I walked him quickly into the Er. No one was in the waiting room and they were able to get us right in. I told them about Cody looking pale and sweating a lot and the doctor reassured me that it was a symptom of shock and that he was going to be just fine. The best part of the night was when they asked Cody how this happened and he pointed to me and the nurse said "your mother did this?" I looked shocked and Cody said "no, but my mom can tell you what happened". The nurse asked Cody is he would tell him what happened, of course, because now he was suspicious of me and he wanted to hear it from the kid not the mother. Cody explained what happened and everything got cleared up. Next, the doctor began to numb Cody up quickly, even though Cody was starting to freak out about having a needle stuck into his head. Cody has this fear of needles and starts to freak out pretty bad at the thought of having a shot (Jessica is the same way). But with my help and the help of a nurse, we were able to hold him down and after the first few shots it was numb enough he didn't feel it any more. It took 13 stitches and two rows of stitches to close up his head. Cody was a angel during the whole stitching process and by the time he was done was feeling a lot better. I was shocked because it only took an hour from the time he got hurt to the time they were done stitching him up. I was for sure we would be spending hours in the emergency room.
When he saw himself after it was over he asked me if he was still going to have his stitches in his head for Sunday. I told him he wouldn't get them out until Tuesday, and he said "Yes"! I asked him why that was so exciting for him and he said "I want to wear my black suit to church on Sunday, that way I'll look just like James Bond". I guess he saw a part of the movie James Bond when he had stitches in his head and of course he was wearing a black suit. I laughed and told him all the girls will think it's awesome that you have stitches, "it will make you look tough!" Cody is hoping he gets a scare out of this cause that will look cool too!

The first picture is the "before" picture. You can't see it in the picture, but they pulled out long pieces of skin from his wound and had to cut it off. I almost passed out during that part.

This is a picture of the doctor stitching him up. Two rows of stitches, 3 in the first and 10 outside.

Here is Cody after it was all done. I wish you could see all the blood on his sweatshirt, but it is black.

This morning when Cody woke up his eye was all swollen and bruised. He still wanted to go to school to show off his head to all his friends. Around 11:00 he called and asked me to bring him so medicine because his head was hurting a little bit. He said "mom, can you bring about 10-15 pills that I could take while I'm at school". Once again I had to laugh, and I told him he would be in the hospital again if I let him take 10-15 headache pills.

Christmas Letter to Santa

Luke is my only child left that believes in Santa. Cody pretends like he still believes, but I know he is in on the secret! Today Luke wanted to write and mail Santa a letter to tell him what he wants for Christmas this year. Of course on the top of his list was Bakagons, which I don't even know what they really do. I did get them for him so he'll have to figure out how they work on his own, or with the help of his brother. This is Luke after he mailed the letter. He told me that now he is sure he will get what he wants! I love that I can read how he addressed the letter. It is so cute!
I didn't post about this earlier because the photo was on my cell phone and I needed the assistance of my daughter to figure out how to send it to me so that I could post the picture.

Cody had his EEG test at Primary Children's hospital last Weds. This is because of the seizure he had a few weeks ago. This test will tell us if it was a one time thing or something more serious. I haven't heard back from my Doctor about the results yet, but I'll let you know when I do.
The best part about this test was the night before the test Cody could only get 4 hours of sleep. We kept him up until 12:00a.m. the let him sleep until 4:00 a.m. I then woke him up, by pulling him out of bed, since he didn't want to get out on his own. The next two hours were torture! He was so tired I had a hard time keeping him awake. Plus he couldn't have any sugar or caffeine in his system so I couldn't use any of those resources to keep him awake. We watched a football game and I have to admit we both feel asleep on and off during those two hours. At six I finally just headed to the kitchen to make us some breakfast. After eating it was easier to stay awake. At the hospital they hooked him up with 26 electrodes and then wrapped his head to keep them all in place. Then for the next 30 mins. Cody had to fall asleep and let the test record his brain waves (that is why they have to be sleep deprived). He sleep the entire time and before he knew it the test was over.


After the test we called my SIL Kym, since we were up in her neck of the woods and we meet her for lunch. She took us to a great place called Trio, where we ate an amazing pizza, flat bread and salad. It was fun to be able to spend some time with her. She is due with her first baby next month and I know she will be very busy with her daughter and wont be able to do this kind of stuff for a while.

Ok I'm going to give in to my SIL's tagging this time, so I don't look like too much of a flake.
Here is goes...

6 Things I believe in....
1. I believe that teenagers were sent to this earth to rapily age their parents.
2. I believe that hot baths, massage's and yes, sex is a great way to end a terrible day!
3. I believe that no matter how many times my kids lie, scream and slam their door at me, I will still love them uncondionally.
4. I believe being the den leader of 20 wolf cub scouts just might kill me.
5. I believe chocolate is the answer to anything!
6. I believe with out a shadow of doubt that my family, especially my husband loves me.

6 Things I don't believe in...
1. I don't believe in diets.
2. I don't believe in ironing my husbands shirts, that's what a laundry mat is for.
3. I don't believe in early morning church, or really late church as well.
4. I don't believe in going out in public without my hair and make up on!
5. I don't believe in aliens. But I do believe in haunted houses, sorry Rachelle.
6. I don't believe I'll make it to the celestial kingdom. I just have too many flaws.

6 Things I'm not sure about...
1. I'm not sure I'll ever live somewhere long enough to feel like it is home.
2. I'm not sure if I'll make it through 5 teenagers. And Clay would have more if I let him!
3. I'm not sure if I'm a good mother.
4. I'm not sure if I'll ever be skinny enough to make myself happy.
5. I'm not sure if I'll make it through next year without going on anythere cruise.
6. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to cheer for BYU even if one of my sons (we wont name who) plays football for them!