Goodbye GHS

Hard to tell, but this first picture is of the caps being thrown in the air. Jessica finally graduated last night from High School. The ceremony was supposed to be held outside on the football field, but the weather didn't cooperate. We ended up in the new gym inside the high school.
Jessica looked so great. She looked so official with all of her extra tassels; she had a tassel for JATC, Dental assisting, science, and art, and they gave each graduate their diploma and a medal. I got a couple of really good videos, but I have had such a hard time uploading them, I'm just posting pictures. After the ceremony we went outside (it had stopped raining) for pictures of Jess with all of her friends.


After graduation Jess came home for final goodbyes to Sage. She and her family packed up during the day, and left right after the ceremony. Then she went to an all night graduation party (lock-in) at BUDDY'S, which is a bowling alley, they had bowling, rock climbing, movies, arcade, and all the pizza they could eat. The doors were unlocked at 6:00am, and she came home and slept.

I actually did really well with my emotions. I only cried a little bit, but today the bishop's wife brought by a gift for Jessica, it was the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh the Places You'll Go". I read the title and started crying. I know, weird things set me off.
It was nice having Sage's family come stay with us for the week. The kids had so much fun with their cousins. It was fun to have Sage and Jessica graduate together, they have done so well this year with finishing all that was required of them. And of course hanging out with my sister Jamie and her husband Marty is always fun.

Kaylea's Jr. High Graduation

Today Kaylea graduated from Jr. High School. This means she'll be in High School next year, and getting her driving permit in November. It's hard to believe she was only in first grade when we moved here. Now she's going to high school. Lacey came with us to the ceremony, she took the pictures of Kaylea getting her certificate. I'm really proud of Kaylea and all she has accomplished these past couple of years in Jr. High.

Kaylea and Lacey after graduation.

Completely humiliated

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Holiday. I did for the most part. I spent the morning at home, kind of being lazy. Helping Jamie and her family get out the door. Then I went to my brother Lee's house. They had a Philipino barbecue that tasted amazing. It was fun to hang out with family. They all had decided to go to the movies at the Gateway, so I hitched a ride with them.

About a year ago Steve and I invited Steve's brother John and his wife Molly to go out to dinner with us. John's schedule is so crazy, and Steve has been so busy with work and his calling, that we could never get together, even after several attempts. Well, Memorial Day was the day, we finally got together. John introduced us to an amazing authentic Italian pizza restaurant. I really enjoyed the food, and the company. They brought their son Carter, who is almost 2 years old, he's great entertainment. Well, the meal was finished and we were just talking around the table, I had a drink of pop and some of it slipped down the wrong pipe. I don't know if you've seen in the movies where people spew a drink out of their mouth and it sprays everywhere, but if I was an actress, I would have received an oscar for this performance. I sprayed the entire table, my husband, and I'm not sure how I missed John and Molly. When the waterworks had ended I was so embarrassed, I couldn't believe what I had just done... what do you do after that? (I'm not allowed to go out in public anymore.) Sorry John and Molly, I'm still extremely embarrassed...

Seminary Graduation and family time

I can tell this is going to be a long week for me. Every time I think about Jessica graduating, I get choked up and teary. Yesterday was the first event in a long week of events coming up. Jessica graduated from seminary. We had Jamie's family come into town because Sage is graduating too. After church we had a family open house where we had food and let people come and congratulate the girls. It was really nice to see everyone. Then we went to the Graduation. Steve was presiding over the service and was able to speak at the end. He did such a nice job, the spirit was so strong. I had so many people come up to me who were really touched. I really am struggling with the fact that my daughter is an adult. I need to remember to drink plenty of liquids, because I have a leak in my eyes... I should get that checked. Anyway, I'm so proud of Jessica, she's worked so hard, and is such a good girl. I think she'll do amazing things in the future. She's planning to go to USU in the middle of June and find a job, then start classes in the fall. I really think this will be a neat experience for her, but my house will be so quiet without her here all the time.

Young Women Presidency

I have officially been in the Young Women's Presidency for a year, it has been so much fun. I really love the girls I'm with, and our advisor, Jamie, we have such a good time together. I am in charge of the 14 and 15 year old girls, we spend time together on Sundays, and Tuesday nights. I am definately lucky to have the best group of girls in the Stake!

I really appreciate the ladies I work with. Each one of them works so hard to make each girl feel special and loved. I couldn't ask for a better presidency to be in. Thanks for all you do ladies.

Kaylea, our next track star!

I'm sure pleased with Kaylea, they have a Junior High track meet once a year, the kids don't even have any practices. Kaylea decided she wanted to run the mile. The race was on Wednesday, on Monday for family night we went to the track and helped Kaylea figure out a good pace for the time she wanted. On the day of the race, she had a stomach ache, and wasn't sure if she'd be able to run. The picture of her at the begining of the race you'll see she's been crying. Well, she won it with a time of 6:35, and beat the 2nd place runner by 14 seconds. I wonder how she would have done if she felt well. Great job KAYLEA!

Zoe's blessing

Sunday we got to see Zoe's baby blessing. Adam did such a nice job, and it was really neat to see all of the Priesthood holders, I'm always amazed with what neat men are in this family. Zoe is such a sweet baby, she looked so cute in her blessing gown. After the blessing we went to Dave and Marcia's for lunch, and had a nice time hanging out with the family.

He looks good in a suit!

Steve received an email from President Lawrence, his first counselor, telling a funny story. I thought I'd just copy it down.

President Collings,

At the father and sons (campout) I was telling Brother Durfee about how we went out as a family hunting for geodes and didn't find any and how disappointed the kids were. I went on to explain, that at a rock show I purchased cut geodes and as a surprise from "Santa" put them in each of the kids socks.

In telling this story I didn't realize that McKay (his son) was sitting there listening, and then asks, "So dad...does that mean Santa isn't real?"... Well I decided it was time to spill the beans.

So when I got home I told Heather (his wife), and we decided that we better let Madi (McKay's twin sister) in on it as well, and since I told McKay, she would let Madi know.

As told from Heather...

She asks Madi if she really believes that Santa can really fly all the way around the world and deliver all those packages to all those kids in one night. Madi responds. "Nooo." Heather says "So he must have helpers right?" To which Madi says "yep." Heather then asks, "And who do you think those helpers are?" Madi responds, "President Collings." At this point I hear Heather laughing out loud, and so I come into the room to see what is going on, and she explains what just happened. Well this gets me laughing. Madi, then in trying to explain herself says, "Well, he does look good in a suit!!!" At this point it put Heather and I into tears...

Thought you might enjoy that. I know Heather and I did.

Bill

Jessica's final High School Run

A hug and some advice from dad for her final race.

Jessica walks to the starting line for her final 800 M run, at the state track meet.

Jessica competed for the last time in High School. She went to the State Track meet at Brigham Young University. She has had a great year, and this race was no different. Jessica placed 5th at State, and will receive a sweet medal for her race. Her time for the 800 M was 2:22. Her team also placed in the medley relay where she ran the 800 M too, they placed 7th. It is a bitter-sweet day; it's hard to imagine Jessica graduating, she says she still wants to run track at Utah State University next year. She's great.

Historian... I think...

When it comes to Student Government, our family has not had a lot of luck, kids have run, but NOBODY has won ANY office. Kaylea decided to change all that. This past month Kaylea ran for Freshman Historian. She is so good at taking pictures, and would really enjoy having an excuse to keep a camera with her during ALL of the school events she attends. We thought Historian would be a perfect fit. On Friday, May 9th, Kaylea was told that she won the Primaries, and would be in the final election. She would find out on Monday. Well, Monday morning I got the phone call... There was a tie! AAAAHHH! The school wasn't sure what to do, they said they would call the High School, and depending on what the High School said, they would do one of two things. They would either let both girls be historians together, or they would flip a coin to decide the winner. After several hours of the Jr High School trying to reach the High School, a decision was finally made. There will be two Freshman Historians next year, and Kaylea will be one of them. Kaylea came home and said she was disappointed, but would really hate to lose to a coin toss. So I guess it's for the best. YAY Kaylea!

Guess Who's an Aggie!

On Monday, May 12, 2008, Steve began his College days at Utah State University. He is enrolled in 3 summer classes, and six classes during his junior year. This will be a total of 30 credits. He is planning on taking 30 more credits his senior year, and graduating from High School with an Associate of Science Degree. If anyone can do it, Steve can. He has been working for Turf-it, doing landscaping, which he will continue throughout the summer, and his classes will be at night. He has several friends in some of the classes with him, but was surprised that some older people are in his classes too. Steve has had a big month!

A funny story, his first day in class another student, a "mother" came up to him and asked how old he was, he looked at her very seriously and said, "twelve." Her jaw dropped, "...really?!" He just smiled, "no, not really." I think he got a kick out of her reaction.

Eagle Scout

Steve finally earned his Eagle Scout award. We had an Eagle Court of Honor last night. I'm so proud of him for all of his hard work. It was a lot of fun celebrating his achievements. We appreciate everyone who attended. Grandma and Grandpa Collings, Great-grandma and Grandpa Collings, Adam and his family, Kenney and his family, Erin and her family, and our friends the Gowans, the Nelsons, the Tripps, and the Daniels. Steve's great-uncle Allen was the person who presented the award to him. It was a really fun evening. YAY Steve!!

RIP

Conner just got a new RIP stick. I think the reason it's called that is because it will cause instant death if you aren't EXTREMELY coordinated. It's like a skate board, but only has two wheels that rotate 360 degrees. He's the only person in my family who can ride it at all. We went to grandma Colling's house today and Uncle Adam rode it pretty well, but for the most part Conner's the MAN!

Region Track!

Jessica got to run in the Regional Track meet today. She did so well! We had quite a few spectators come to cheer her on; Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Debbie, Adam, Cait, and Zoe, and Kelton and Cameron. Thanks guys for being there, I know it meant a lot to Jessica. She ran two races, the 400M, which is 1 time around the track. And the 800M, 2 times around. She placed 3rd in both races. She is qualified to compete at State. It's a great way to finish out the year.

Scattergories Tag

I just saw that I've been tagged by Sandi

How it works: Scattergories

Erase my answers, enter yours, tag 10 people, post it on your blog, then notify them, including the person who tagged you."Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following.(They have to be real places, names, things.....nothing made up!)Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same first initial.You cannot use your name for the boy/girl name question.



What is your name: Tracy

Four letter word: tool

Vehicle: Toyota

TV Show: Trading Spaces

City: Taylorsville

Boy's Name: Trevor

Girl's Name: Tiffany

Occupation: Taxi driver...my second job

Something You Wear: Turtle neck

Food: Teriyaki Chicken

Something Found in a Bathroom: Toilet...thank goodness

Reason for Being Late: tired

Something You Shout: TAG!

I tag Kim, Lori, Casi, Erin, Jamie

Jazz Game

Steve was invited to go to the Jazz Playoffs game. He went with his good friend Paul Allen last night. The game was incredible, they won by like 20 points. I'm sure it was so exciting for them. They sat on the 4th row, right behind the Rockets bench. Steve never thought he'd trash talk anyone, but he really had fun with the Rockets bench. Whenever Mutumbo (sp?) would do anything wrong they would shake their index finger at him, I guess he does that whenever he does something good. Steve said that annoyed him. He said the Houston coach kept looking back and shaking his head at them because of their annoying remarks. This was the final game of the series, now they play against the Lakers.

Caught the bug!

I have often wondered when I would catch the Family History bug, well, this past week I think it finally hit. 20 years ago I worked in the family history department for the LDS church. I really enjoyed the work, but the stuff I did was after the ancestors were found, and while they were being processed to go through the temple. Family history has come a long way in the last 20 years!

We will be going to the Manti Temple with the Young Women during July. The girl's camp assistant has encouraged each of the young women to find at least one name from their line that they can take through. Last Tuesday we had our Ward Family History "specialist" come and talk to us about how to get started. I don't know how it was for the girls, but I was truly inspired! I came home that night and downloaded all of the information he told me to, from familysearch.org. I took so much time downloading each family that I went to bed REALLY late.

Wednesday I tried again to look at the church website, then I talked with my sister Jamie, I guess she does a lot of family history. She said just pick a name and Google it, I'd be surprised what I find. Well, I did it, and within about an hour, I had found a link to 3 more generations on the Daybell line (Steve's grandma). This is so fun.

Thursday I was a little bit crazy, I sat down at 10am, and didn't get off the computer til about 4pm. Jamie called me with a site she had found on my dad's line and we had about 3 more generations found. Most of these had already had their work done, but there was the link we needed to link them to our family.

Basically, in two days of research I have found 11 people that have not had their work done, and about 60 new family members. This ROCKS! I can't believe how addictive it is.