First Track Meet of the Season

Sage's Race.

Sage and Zach before the race.
Sage ran the 800 meters and the mile. I think she really enjoys track. She used to run cross country, this is a little bit different, but lots of fun.

A hug before the meet

This is Phillip, the missionary Jessica has been dating.

Jessica and Phillip

Just before the race, HI JESSICA!

Great form!

She's so fast!

Jessica ran the mile, the 4X100 relay, the 800 meters, and the 4X400 relay. She won the first 3 races, and came from behind in the last race (the relay), she helped her team go from last place to second place. I think she's feeling really good this year.

HAPPY EASTER!

This first picture is me, Jess, and Steve next to the daffodils that Great Grandpa Collings gave us for Easter. I can't believe he already has so many blooming.

You know, Easter changes as the kids get older. The Easter Bunny hasn't visited us for a few years, the kids have slowly stopped going to community Easter egg hunts, and life is almost normal. We really enjoy getting together with family, but today, Easter Sunday, we had a very calm, relaxing day. We went to church like usual on Sunday, and after church decided we couldn't let Easter go by without decorating eggs. So the kids and I used egg dye, google eyes, pom poms, and glitter glue and made some pretty cute eggs. It's really nice not having to help anyone, I actually made a few of my own. Stevie hid the eggs for Conner while Jessica took a nap, and Kaylea took a bath. Then we had dinner and watched "The Work and the Glory" 1 and 2.

Dad was encouraged by Elder Price, the Area Authority Seventy in this area, to bring the family together, and talk with them about the special things he and I got to experience when Steve was called as the Stake President, then he encouraged him to give each of us a blessing. We had a nice Family Home Evening, I think the kids really appreciated the things that were taught. It kind of ended Easter on a spiritual note.

Jessica was invited to spend the evening with Phillip Young and his family. He is the RM Jessica has been dating. Dad had 2 missionaries to set apart this evening, which he really enjoys. All in all it was a really nice Easter.

Collings Easter Party

We just got back from a family Easter party at Steve's parents house. Steve and I picked up his Grandparents, Fred and LoaJean. It was such a nice afternoon. We were able to catch up on everything everyone is up to. Marc and Victoria's family, and Adam were missing, we were sorry we didn't get to see them, but it was fun seeing everyone else. Steve and Jessica both had to work today, so they didn't make it either. The kids got to have an Easter egg hunt, and played a balloon game. They had a lot of fun playing on the swing set, and passing the football around in the back yard. I got a lot of really cute pictures! Actually Kaylea took most of them, she should be a photographer.

Conner's first stitches

It's hard to believe, with as much energy as Conner has, he has never had stitches...until now. We are right in the middle of spring break, which means my kids stay up much later than me. Apparently, Conner was jumping on his bed at about 10:30 last night, came down on the floor, and knelt on a piece of glass. The glass was a piece of broken light bulb. I'm not sure how long it has been there. Well, he came upstairs and got band-aids out of the first aid kit. Two band-aids couldn't stop the bleeding, so he came to me. It was obviously too deep to just put a band-aid on, so Conner and I took a trip to the emergency room. He is very proud of his new battle scar.

This is my kids favorite video

Hockey Tournament

Tonight for Family Home Evening we decided to have an air hockey tournament. We had an amazing time, and in the end found out that Dad is the ultimate air hockey champion! Here were the standings as of 8:00 tonight. Dad in first, followed by Steve, Conner, Jessica, Mom, and Kaylea took up the rear. She is actually pretty good, but didn't have a lot of motivation tonight. Family isn't always the funnest to hang out with, but Kaylea was our photographer, and she got a lot of intense pictures. This is our family with our HOCKEY faces on!

Happy Easter/Birthday!

I've come to realize I have a pretty amazing Sister in law. She invited the whole family up for an Easter party at her home. Before we came at noon, she ran a 10K, and had a sick daughter to deal with. She barbecued chicken, stuffed plastic eggs with candy and made little easter buckets for all of the young cousins. I'm not sure where the ambition comes from, but Casi, you amaze me. We really enjoyed the time we spent at your home yesterday. Conner loved being able to hide easter eggs for the younger cousins to find. It was nice to see everyone again.

An amazing sushi chef

Tonight Tera and Erick offered to show us how sushi is really made. We had Erin and Brayden, and Tera and Erick come spend the evening with us and make such amazing sushi. I'd like to say I learned something, but all I learned was that I need Erick to come over more often and bring his sushi ingredients with him. We had such a fun time. The girls, Joey, Bailey, and Gabby got to dress up in real prom dresses and high heeled shoes, and the boys, Corban and TJ got to fight over an amazing car (I actually had a car and a dump truck, but you would never know it, that car is really amazing I guess!). Thanks you guys for filling my tummy with yummy food, and my blog with fun memories.

I love America!

Conner's 5th grade program was titled "I love America". He did such a good job! He did the "Boot Scoot Boogie" line dance, and got to dress up like someone in the Air Force. He sang so good, and actually memorized the Preamble to the Constitution. Great job Conner!!

Conner turns 11

Today is Conner's 11th birthday. We celebrated it yesterday. Last year he had a big birthday party with a bunch of friends, so this year was his family party. Steve and I took Conner to Tepanyaki with a friend. Tepanyaki is a chinese restaurant where they cook the food in front of you. They flip things, and throw things, and light things on fire. I think Conner really had a fun time. Steve's parents and Grandparents met us there, it was really fun to spend time with them celebrating this cool kid of ours. After dinner we took the boys to see College Road Trip. It was such a funny movie, we were laughing out loud.

Caitlyn's having a baby!

We had a baby shower yesterday for my sister-in-law, Caitylyn. It was really fun to see family members I haven't seen in years. Marcia's brother Tom's wife Elaine, and her daughters, Shelly, Cathy, & Candy were there. Marcia's sister Debbie and her daughters Stacy, and Brooke were actually the one's to put on the shower, they did such a great job. The decorations were amazing, the food was great, and we had a really nice time. We played a really cute game; it was actually the memory game, but depending on what baby shower words you found, you got a really cute prize to go along with it. Caitlyn has about 6 weeks left, and looks so cute. We are really excited for them. It's a girl, and will be named Zoe (we think).

B-ball Party

Conner's basketball team decided they wanted to have an "end of season" party. They planned it for Friday night. Steve had planned to go to the temple with the Stake Presidency, so I got to be in charge of it. I recruited Stephen Jr. and his friend LaRon Johnson. They came over and just played basketball for a couple of hours. Sage and her boyfriend went to Tooele to purchase pizzas for the party. I think they had a really good time. I got some fun pictures. One with Conner taking the ball down, and the other with Stephen blocking a shot.

Conner to Garret, Skyler with the rebound