The Colletts

Welcome to the World!

2012-01-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

Wow! That was a rough pregnancy! I didn't post much! Well, Welcome baby girl! We are so glad to have you here! She is now 2 months old!

Prego Pictures!

2011-08-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is! You have to say I look pregnant now! :) I feel huge already, but I know it's only out from here!

I look amazing in all these pictures (NOT!) but I guess I just had to take them! Wouldn't want any kids to feel left out :)

one- this would be about 3 months:

two- this would be 4 months

three- the more obvious- 5 months!

I should have picked the same shirt... hind sight is always better, even when I've already been through this once! :)

2011-07-05T22:03:00.001-07:00

Collett family party at the Living Planet Aquarium!

Enjoying Daddy's game- that's right, broken thumb and all Mike will still play. And here he is pitching for two games in a row!

SHARING!!! Do you see that? That other little boy has my boy's Lightning McQueen and it isn't because he stole it, its because he was given it and they played for 10 plus minutes each with one car! That's right, the boy CAN share :)
At the Zoo! Mommies and babies!

Hanging out in Duchesne with Jessica. We love to take two vans and a 5 seater for our excursions! That's how many kids we had!

Why doesn't someone control their children? :)

Happy Father's Day ties! So cute!
and an extra tiny baby one in case baby number two is a boy!

Mater!
Some people will do anything for advertising!
(In Roosevelt)

Update!

2011-06-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

I know I'm slow. But that's life! If you didn't know yet- I'm pregnant! That's a really good reason I'm slow to update, because I barely have the energy to take the pictures, let alone to look at the computer and put them on in some sort of order! :) Well, here's life as we know it!

Trip to the Gateway Children's Discovery Museum with playgroup! Last time to be all together! They loved it! The boys are all the same age and love hanging out.
And getting worn out!

"New" bed. He's been falling/accidentally climbing out of his crib so we just decided he was a toddler and ready for the toddler version of his crib. A few less screws in the bed and it was a toddler bed! (we took off the front). He took a few days to adjust to his 'space' being too big and open, but now he does well. He only fell off once and cried. Now he sleeps through anything... :)

(he is asleep in both these pictures, just the flash making light)

He loves books so much that he falls asleep while reading them. He really does love them. We sit in the livingroom and say, "go pick a book to read!" and he runs all the way to his room and grabs one of his favorites! Then comes up to us, turns around and backs up to sit in our lap! It's adorable! This is one of the few 'assignments' that he can complete. However, he does things on his own too. The other day he saw a bowl and spoon on the floor in the livingroom (we are so clean!) and he just picked it up and walked into the kitchen. We figured he'd put it on the floor, but no, he put it in the sink! had to reach onto his tip-toes but he made it!

Finished!!! Before and After :)

2011-04-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

So close to a finished kitchen! (and a big update!)

2011-03-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

We have been working on our kitchen for a month or so now, painting bits and pieces as we can. Of course I had to start with my favorite red accent wall (painted a lovely Glidden "Red Delicious" ). It was all very exciting, and after 3 coats of paint looked red enough (apparently red is very impossible to paint on and this is a common amount of paint for a red wall). Now this "wall" is finished, and it's surrounding areas. :) I am so happy! And I love the beautiful dozen red roses that Mike bought me to add to this picture! (don't look too close, he bought them just a bit before we could get the picture :) The curtains were my finishing touch that I just finished sewing before the picture was taken around 11 pm. (sewing is very difficult with a toddler).
And for those who haven't seen- these are our new washer and dryer! Toddler is in love with them, as you can see. And I pretty much am also! :)
Well, lets see. Why don't I update on things other than the kitchen. As you've all seen or heard-Baby is no longer- he is Toddler! He can walk! We are so proud of him and it makes life SOOO much easier! I know you all say it will be harder and I'll look back and wish he would just sit, but there is no looking back! I have loved every minute of it! He can play around the house with me, and my favorite is he can play outside with me. Thank you fenced in yard! I just close the gates and we play/ garden for hours! Yay!

Oh, I guess I should mention the cuts that come with walking. Well this (below) was our week. Hmm, "Scar"-like cut over eyebrow that's healing now is from running into the railing on Monday. The big gash that goes from nose, over lip and into teeth is from crashing into the cedar chest Thursday, and the newest cut across eyebrow is from slipping while on hardwood floor into a wooden toybox. Owie! He takes it so well!

Speaking of gardening, I've been getting started! Maybe I jumped the gun on a few things, but my seeds are in their tiny pots in my greenhouse (ready to be rushed inside should it really get cold again!), my carrots and onions are planted with the help of my tiny downstairs neighbor! :) Thanks K! And today I took a few hours to get rid of grass in my strawberry beds and planted raspberries next to the strawberries. All this after a lovely class about pruning from my sis-in-law Katie at Olsen's Greenhouse! So fun! The flower beds are slowly being cleaned and readied for their beauty (the beauty I thank the previous owners for since I only clean the beds!)

The sun makes me happy. That's all I can say about that!

Along with gardening and walking fun are babies! Not mine of course, but my sisters'. Chelsy had her sweet boy(above) and Jessica is so very close! We've had fun with visits to both houses to help out and keep them entertained (if you know someone who's miserably pregnant- go entertain them right now! They will love you! Just make sure they don't have to do anything but sit to have the fun! :). But Toddler can only handle so much of their lovely girls before he just gives up and comes running to me! So we had to take a little break from the visits :) We'll come out of our yard boundaries soon! :)
Seriously- how much of this can one little boy handle?? :) He doesn't mind the princesses too much tho! :)

All of these activities are spoken of without mention of Mike. That is because he's not around much... to no fault of his own. It's the government and those taxes! He's still working at a tax firm and as you all know April 15th is coming up, and as many may not know, March 15th is even closer and that's the deadline for business taxes... or something like that. So Toddler enjoys his daddy from 7-8am and that's about it till the weekend, and now until Sunday since Mike work's Saturdays too. But he does get to play sometimes- as shown above :)

Well, I did say sewing with a toddler was difficult, but it's even harder when you are trying to sew his new favorite blanket made with his favorite, and the softest material ever! So I did this in the evenings when he was asleep. Otherwise he comes and rolls up in the fabric while I'm trying to measure or cut! Now he's attached...
And doesn't often let go! :) (he is eating the blanket while hugging it, not crying)

Playgroup with Alene's sweet baby! 6 months younger than Toddler, but competing with him for size! :) We're trying to get together with old friends. Especially since we have so much time to ourselves now that daddy's not home much.

And of course I've still been doing Zumba!! Yay! This is our February party that was a BLAST!! Here's me with Alene, Teresa and a ward friend Megan. I won that hat, skirt and a CD from the fun prizes at the party. Now Teresa comes with me regularly and it's a blast! To anyone who has always wanted to try it- come with me! It's free the first time! And if you want to sign up it's only $25 a month, but if you sign up this month I get a free month, so I'll totally split it with you and you'll get a half-off month!! Yay for the cheapest but best Zumba around!!! (Seriously, my teacher Chantelle is the BEST!)

Well, you can go ahead and take a month to read this... because its probably going to be awhile before I post again! :)

Yay!!! He can WALK!!!!

2011-02-28T17:15:00.000-08:00

Super cute! He won't even let me help him get up to stand now!

We have been walking with him holding my hands for MONTHS now! All his friends can walk like pros, but he just wasn't interested. All the sudden he tried to walk while we were at the store 4 days ago, and today he tries again- then just walks around the house like a pro! Yay!

Christmas and snow!

2010-12-28T14:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning!

Baby like's Daddy's new "toys" too!
"Wow! Look at this train!"

"Hmm, mom I don't like this cold wet stuff!"

From scratch Gingerbread House!!

2010-12-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

I did it- i finally did! I made my very own Gingerbread House from scratch! These are the steps. I guess it's best to wait a week before construction, after baking. My lovely neighbor gave me the recipe and said to let the pieces dry for a week or so before putting them together. So above and below: day 1

Below: day 5- I couldn't wait any longer! She also suggested using melted sugar to glue the pieces together. This isn't for the inexperienced (that's why I had such a hard time!) it makes a mess and eventually burns even off the heat. But it really does stick well! My other addition would be to use a knife or other straight cutting tool when cutting the pieces from dough, then straightening them once they are cooked and before they are dried out. My house was so lumpy!
Day 6- Gave up on the melted sugar and put the roof on with Royal frosting once the sides had dried. Dont try to put the roof on before the sides dry! What a mess! :) it doesn't take a day, i was just lazy~
Now the decorating! I made this a family event. Much more fun that way! Baby wasn't much help, but did enjoy the candy! Hmmm, we are bad parents! :)
The finished product! Yay! See our family in cookies? We had a lot of fun!

Listen to mom

2010-12-16T11:17:00.001-08:00

Make way!

2010-11-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

Don't get in this kiddo's way when he's on his new trike- he waits for no one! :) He LOVES this thing! And he is GOOD at it! He can turn and maneuver through the halls and rooms of our house! Unfortunately he did take a tumble today, outside (there have been many tumbles inside) :( Poor baby! But he just keeps getting back on!

Laughter is the best medicine

2010-10-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

Cutie update! :)

2010-09-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

This sweet kid just keeps growing up! I like to update our screen background with a collage of his faces, so I figure I'll put it on here too! This shows his faces, plus his fun Hungry Caterpillar costume that he wore for the baby contest, and his "Mama's Little Allstar" red outfit! :)

Dinosaur Museum!

2010-09-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

We decided to brave Two Buck Tuesdays at Thanksgiving point-- I think it was worth it! Fun! We got to go with a little of both sides of the family. So many babies!

"Um, Mom?? Can't you see what's behind us?!?" :)

"I can!"

Cousins!

Binkie babies!

Fun at the farm too! Baby getting his fingers nibbled on by goats
Time to go home! :) Long, fun day!

Seriously???

2010-08-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

So, I have a "salsa garden", thus I will make salsa! Well, all the websites with wonderful recipes have comments on them like, "I made a double recipe of this today and I'm going to make another tomorrow!" "They are such great and easy gifts for friends" etc. Well, I'm not sure who these people are but they are probably the same people who say things like, "oh, my hair just looks like this when I wake up!" and "My house is always this clean!"

This was my experience of making salsa....

Day one:
Lug 5 gallon bucket of Roma tomatoes inside.

Wash in large colander-fulls and get the water boiling for some peeling fun! (turn off water, go get crying Baby, nurse, feed snacks in high chair, start water again...)

Start putting tomatoes through peeling process, actually quite fun! (stop, get Baby out of high chair, put in walker, talk and sing repeatedly while peeling and chopping)

Tomatoes look disgusting once peeled!

Day 2
Realize that half a bucket-full isn't going to make even close to 7 quarts of peeled, chopped and de-seeded tomatoes-- go and pick everything that resembles red in garden.
(put baby to bed)
Start process again. Peel, cut, core, chop, wait for water to boil, chop onions, cry, chop garlic, (stop, get crying baby, nurse, put in high chair... etc) peel, cut, core and chop more tomatoes---realize that these are not getting even close to 7 quarts- divide the recipe by 4/7 (that's fun!)
(put baby to nap-- two hours have passed)
Chop jalapanos, burn fingers (even with gloves!) try to nap through burning fingers, get frustrated. Start throwing everything in chopping machine, get frustrated after 6 hours of salsa... husband comes home and takes baby then helps cook and can all....

4 quarts of salsa. Yes, seriously.

See what I mean?

Can he get any cuter?? :)

2010-08-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Adventures of July. Yes, these pictures are straight from the camera with no touch-ups. Even that huge scowl in the top center! :)

2010-06-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

Our Memorial Day celebration- we were all sick, so we took a walk down the street to a little plot of grass called "Little Chicago" and enjoyed the outdoors for a minute. We are really exciting! :)

Baby's favorite place to be- in his Bumbo, sitting up high so he can see what Mommy is doing!
(yes, very dangerous, but he screams on the floor, so we watch him carefully!)

Look at how this baby has grown!

Just a few pictures...

2010-05-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd update with a few new pictures. This is Baby with his cute new outfit from our renters! They are so sweet to us! And below he is doing one of his favorite things- standing! He can't do it alone of course, but he loves it when we stand together! Plus he is getting pretty close to sitting on his own! He's such a tough guy! (yes, my hair is looking really special here...)
And he LOVES food! We've just recently started giving him 'solids', a little baby cereal and such, but he loves to sample the things we eat and has become very good at GRABBING EVERYTHING! :) This is a fruit leather- he makes a mess, but screams when we take it away! That's our sweetie! :) 5 months!!

New hair!

2010-04-12T19:13:00.001-07:00

The time has finally come... the after effects of pregnancy (and my sisters) have convinced me that I need a new hair style for awhile! So, after over a decade of refusing to have anything but long hair I've taken the plunge and chopped off my hair! I had my doubts the whole time, and of course I don't know yet if I'd do it again, but here it is! It's a fun change!

Of course Jessica had to do a little photo shoot after she chopped my hair, so the above photos are from the photo shoot, the below photo is my first attempt to do my own hair! :) Plus I took it on my phone camera so it's got funny coloring.

Kudos to Jessica of course for the amazing job she always does with our hair!!! :)

It's never too early...

2010-04-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

To make sure the guys have some bonding time...To take your baby to the Easter Bunny...or to the Easter egg hunt...
(especially when they really enjoy it!)
and it is definitely never to early to teach your kids the importance of listening to the apostles!

Roll Over!

2010-03-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, as we were having a little fun tummy time Baby suddenly fell over, or so I thought! So I tried it again, this time without any pillows under him. Low and behold- he has rolled over! :) I have limited memory on my camera so the clip is short.

House

2010-03-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

ok, by request I have posted some footage of our new home. It's a mess and the video isn't the greatest but here ya go! At least it worked!
Maybe later I'll get some of outside.

Yes? What can I do for you? :)

2010-03-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hello daylight savings time!

2010-03-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well, it would have been nice to know/remember about it BEFORE we got to church one hour late yesterday! We drive in and wondered what on earth was going on to make the parking lot so full! Then when we came in there was already a speaker talking! We were so confused! We got a new bishopric so we thought maybe that was why there were so many people there, but when the Stake President stood up and announced the closing hymn we knew something was up. Finally it clicked with Mike. He looked at me and said, "3 words- Daylight Savings Time!" Awkward! I guess it has to happen once in your life right??

Happy 3 months baby!!

2010-03-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, look at that drool! "See Grandma?- I can do tummy time!!"

Dad says I'm a cool dude!

Cousins! Alex had a fun time babysitting! Baby was pretty cool with it too :)

So cute! Look at my cute teddy bear!!

3 Month elephant pictures! So big!

The Amazing Sleep...

2010-02-21T17:56:00.001-08:00

Last night was so amazing! Baby wouldn't go to sleep at Chelsy's house (where I was because Mike went snowmobiling with his dad and JT, so I watched the kids and the Olympics with mom then with Chelsy, Phil, Mica and John later) so it was almost 9 PM before he would fall asleep, then I went home. He stayed asleep in the car and when I got home so I just put him in his room in his car seat. At 3 am I awoke because I could hear him "talking" to himself, but he never asked for me! So I didn't go in! Then at 5 I awoke to his hiccups, but he still didn't ask for me, so I went back to sleep! It wasn't till 6:30 am that he let out his yell for mommy and I came running- fully rested from almost 8 hours of sleep! He got 9.5, but I went to bed a little later! Yeah for long sleeps! Then I fed him and he even went back to sleep till 8:30 so I could sleep in before church! Yeah!
(the picture is of another day- he is waiting patiently for me to come pick him up from bed after he woke up from his nap! He's in his new crib in this picture! Its from my phone so it's not so great. He's such a good kid! )

Lemon Chicken With Asparagus Over Rice

2010-02-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just have to make something exquisite for myself when I'm home alone with baby... :)

Sweet baby sounds and smiles!

2010-02-04T09:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry this doesn't work all the time. You need to have been looking at my blog for a few minutes before it will work! Don't click till then! :)

Quick update

2010-02-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, i need to post more pictures and be better- but I have this lovely baby that needs my attention! :) Yes, you all know! :) Well, here's a quick picture of my big boy! And if you didn't hear- we are blessing him this Sunday! Hope to see you there! :)

Happy Birthday Mike!

2010-01-15T12:45:00.000-08:00

Our baby sitter- who was only suppose to have to sit in the house to watch our sleeping child. Many of you will understand the significance of this picture :)

So big!

2010-01-15T12:28:00.001-08:00

one month (so big!)

going home from hospital (so small)

first elephant pictures

1 month elephant picture

Welcome to the world baby!

2009-12-21T13:21:00.001-08:00

Here he is! They just don't come any cuter! :) He is a great baby- eats, sleeps and poops really well for Mommy! ;) Thank you again to Chelsy who came and did an amazing photo shoot for us!

Our Greatest Gift! Merry Christmas early to us!

Look at that smile! He loves to smile for Mommy (Daddy hasn't caught many). Maybe it's involuntary, but it happens enough that I'll count it! :)

Our nursery- by Chelsy :)

2009-11-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Chelsy was a WONDERFUL sister and came over when I was about to die (we had a little scare for awhile that baby was coming sooner than later- only lasted about a week :) I guess he just wanted to get ready so he's fully in position (dropped) but not coming yet!). She came and unpacked all my baby things, moved everything else from the room, decorated, organized and fully readied me for baby! Here's the tour!

Welcome to baby's room...

"Noah's Ark" all ready and filled with animals!

Who's trying to sneak in the back there??? Ha ha ha...

Dresser all organized and labeled by age/size! Noah's Ark poster and trinkets.

Closet (no more green light- Yuck!) all organized with blankets, bath stuff, bags etc!

Our reading/rocking/feeding corner! Cute! :)

Thanks Chelsy! We both love it! Plus our bedroom, living room and pretty much whole house (pictures will come when it's actually clean, not just decorated)! She saved us from our poor decorating skills (who say's it's not decorating to leave it wherever they dropped it upon move-in??)

Finally finshed basement apartment!

2009-11-19T09:05:00.001-08:00

This would be a whole lot cooler if I'd gotten the "after" pictures before the renters moved some of their things in, but I'm slow so this is what I have! Mike has worked SO hard this past week to get everything finished (I'm not the biggest help, but I sure try!), and we had many WONDERFUL helpers the first few days who got us a HUGE jump-start on the cleaning and painting! THANK YOU!!

The Kitchen: it's hard to tell in some of these pictures. All the walls are newly painted. this one has the new heater vent and the stove is installed (. Plus it's a WHOLE lot cleaner (thanks Mica and Bob for cleaning the fridge! What a mess!)

One of the Bedrooms: New paint (toasted oatmeal) and baseboards

The Living Room: by far the most dramatic with it's new
tan-tinted walls and non-Clifford-red door! :)

Our renters have moved in and like the new features :) They were so patient with us while we worked clear until move-in day and during! They were also good to see through the mess when they came to see it- paint tarps, everything in the way, still needed cleaning. We're excited to have them here! :)

Baby Shower!

2009-10-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Janet (Jeni's mom) and Teresa were so gracious to throw me a baby shower on Oct 17th. It was so much fun! Here's the run down...

Mom and me :) Mom loves to take pictures with me!

Look at that adorable cake! A baby buggy!

The artist showing off the center- blue with Jello! Mmm!

Those who attended...

And my greatest prize? I came away with adorable squeekie shoes! He he he! Thanks Amber. Mike loves them! :)

Bobby is home!

2009-10-22T10:21:00.001-07:00

We went to pick up Elder Hale at the airport this past Friday. He was so excited to see the signs we made for him!

And to see all his nieces and nephews in shirts/onesies/bibs that said
"Elder Hale is my uncle!"

Here's the whole gang!

Me and My Gekkika! We ate at Wingers on the way home, one of Bobby's favorite places!

Meg likes to say "Gumsy" all day long-even when she is in Arizona and nowhere near me. But somehow she still knows that Gumsy is my "name". Strange child :) But isn't she adorable!?

2009-10-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated anything for a long time. I've been working with Mike at his accounting firm as the receptionist. It's fun, but it's pretty much over (it was a temporary position) which I'm glad for because now I'm sick, and so is Mike, and so is my whole family!

We're pretty sure my sister brought the swine flu up from Arizona with her and contaminated the rest of the family (but we can't be to upset-she's got the worst of it!). I've been VERY cautious keeping me and baby safe, and even have spent the past 2 days only looking at Mike from the other room or at least other side of the room :( I think I may just have a cold, but he definitely has what the others have! Yucky bug! I can't wait for everyone to get through with it so I can feel safe again!

So I'm sitting in bed, eating soy pudding (yeah, my soy milk had a recipe! Don't try to use soy milk in regular pudding! :), waiting to get better. But I think about packing all day because we are moving also!

I guess I should announce our exciting news for anyone who hasn't heard- we are buying a house in Spanish Fork! We should be closing at the end of this month so we will be moving soon. It's great and we have a 2 bedroom basement apartment that we are going to rent out- so if anyone needs or knows someone who needs a 2 bedroom apartment... ! :) Let me know!

That's all for now, I'm going to sleep again. I will post pictures later (yes, my belly gets bigger every day now!) :)

More preggo pictures and my curly hair!

2009-09-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

I've had some requests to add some more pregnancy pictures. Here's a little synopsis of my weeks. I'm looking a little the same, or maybe smaller in the last two- maybe I got a little out of control on the eating before the 24th week! :)

4 weeks.......19 weeks......24 weeks......28 weeks (new)

This is me in my dress that still fits! Maybe it was supposed to be for preggos?? It always did fit a little funny, don't you think Mica? :)

Same dress, but this is showing off my curly hair. It's a little wild, but no "triangle head"! :)
Funny face, but it was better than the others. This is my hair curly and straight. I didn't pull it back or anything yet for this picture.

...and they came two by two. I think I'm obsessed!

2009-09-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know I was so generously given my nursery theme: Noah's Ark. I say given because Mike's cousin was so nice to give me an almost entire nursery room set! Everything including bedding, decorations and accessories. That was probably a good thing because I can never choose, but since I have it, I'm going with it! She gave me this cute wagon and said that the first person who had it had put two of beanie babies in it to make it Noah's Ark themed even more. I liked that idea and went for it. Chelsy and I went shopping at DI to get started and I've been looking for doubles ever since. I just had to show off my collection so far!

This is what we have so far (spread out so you can see) with buffaloes, blue jays, black bears (yes, Chelsy, I got another black bear so we weren't mixing breeds with the polar bear!) rabbits, pelicans, cows, foxes, ducks, moose, squirrels, lobsters, crabs, and kangaroos! I still have a lonely black lab, white tiger, polar bear, rhino and flamingo. Aren't they so cute!?!

PS- If anyone knows a really good way to clean/disinfect a beanie baby-let me know. Some of these need a little help :)

And I couldn't leave out the bargain I got today at yard sales (that included some of the above mentioned beanie babies!)
A Fisher Price Noah's Ark! How much better can it get?? :)

Open view:

Egg Drop Ramen?

2009-09-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you know, but I don't really "follow" recipes. I mostly just look at a bunch, decide what sounds good and put it together at will. Well, my "will" tonight was to have ramen so after searching Google for "ramen recipes" and reading a bunch I decided that veggies, ramen and egg sounded good together. Egg sounds gross you say? Not if you do it egg-drop soup style! :) Well I had to research (on Google of course!) how to properly "egg-drop" and found it was quite complicated, but About.com gave me answers. After sauteing my frozen veggies (I like them to look cooked), adding water and cooking my ramen with oriental sauce, I took out all the solids from my soup and performed what I would have to say was a magnificent job of "egg-dropping". One minute of rapid stirring and then returning all my solids gave me a delicious ramen meal! So much fun! :) so random...

Chopping my hair :)

2009-09-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

Before the chop:

After the chop (and some styling from Jessica of course!):

Prego belly!

Jessica's photo abilities: Photo Shoot! :)
I'm so fancy!

24 weeks!

2009-08-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

I really feel like this baby has been sticking out just the same amount for the past month, but everyone tells me I'm showing a lot more so I decided it was picture time again!

Here I am at 22 weeks (about 5.5 months) I think he's just looking pointy!

Wow, ok. so if you take a picture of it, I guess I really do look different!
Here I am at 24 weeks (6 months??)
And my new haircut! Jessica is still sending me the "before and afters- I'll post them when she sends :)

I'll tell you what, nothing fits anymore. And by nothing, I mean I've pretty much depleted my pant drawer of pants that fit me, even with the fly completely undone! (thank you Tummy Sleeve!) And I've even retired one pair of maternity pants already (the jeans I'm wearing the the first picture).

Happy Birthday to Alex! :)

2009-08-27T19:20:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know my birthday was a little while ago, but I just got around to posting pictures!

Mike and me going out to eat at the Olive Garden. Mike just had me open all my presents a day early since we had so much going on the 8th. So we celebrated the 7th! Mike got me that shirt I'm wearing (can you see- I really am pregnant! ) and he got me a body pillow, sudoku book, jewelery and such. Happy Birthday to me!!

This is mom and me at the play "Fantasticks"
(mom loves this picture :)

Hale family celebrating my birthday with dinner!
Homemade pizzas!

and Chocolate Cream Cheese Dessert!

The Collett family celebrating my birthday- and Braiden's, Austin's, Ellie's, and Amberly's birthdays! :) I don't have a picture with me in it because it's a lot more for the younger kids than for the adults :) Here is Braiden opening all of his presents!

It's a BOY!!!

2009-07-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

His leg. Hmm... reminds me of my "other kids" ( the frogs!)

Can you see? It's a boy! :)

Maybe it's an alien? This is his face!

His arm. Cute little arm. I"m pretty sure he just moved it in front of his face, so that round thing to the left is his belly.

The news is in- it's official! He's a boy! And there is only one :) Everything looked good in the ultrasound. Except he wouldn't move the right way to give us the typical ultrasound picture. Oh well, he's ours and these are the pictures we got!

Finally a bump! and kicks! :)

2009-07-22T09:54:00.001-07:00

I know you have all been waiting for this moment (though, anyone who might have been waiting and actually watching the blog is probably already in Utah or on their way to visit for the 24th! Yeah!) but I can now post pictures of my belly, because I actually have one! Ok, most of you still are telling me I don't, but I won't have any of it. And now I've taken some every few weeks because I seem to change every day!

As far as kicking-- the first kicks I felt were on Mom's birthday when Dad and I were driving to Provo to get her present. This little guy has been quite a kicker since then! It is the most amazing and unusual sensation to experience! But so much fun too! :)

1 month
(ha ha, like anything would show!--except a little gas maybe! )

4 months
(Chelsy said I had to take one, even though I just look chubby!)
4.5 months
these pictures are hard to take since you are supposed to 'relax' to show your belly, but my relaxed stance locks my knees back! ??

4.75 months.
You can't even tell me that's not a stomach! :) he he he

2009-06-30T12:59:00.001-07:00

Absentminded doctors frustrate me. Of course, many things frustrate me right now. I have a very small patience level. I also could do for a nap and more food. Guessed yet? A nice body pillow and more Unisom also would do wonders. If you haven't guessed yet- We're Pregnant!! :)
Yes, I know, you are all going to kill me for waiting for so long! But I got this brilliant idea that it would be so much fun to wait until we knew what we were having (boy, girl or alien) and then put this adorable picture up with little Baby Collett in the middle! As you can see-- there is no Baby Collett in the middle. That's because of my absentminded doctor. On our last visit he said that on the next visit we would do an ultrasound and check out all the organs- thus finding out what we were having. Well, after an hour and a half wait to see the doctor (emergency delivery this morning) we heard the heart beat again and were sent on our way. I questioned him and he wouldn't fess up to the mistake. Oh well, Mike can verify, he really did say that. So we scheduled our ultrasound for 4 weeks away and left, disappointed.
So, although I am 4 months pregnant, I look exactly the same (sorry to anyone who takes offence to that) so I didn't bother taking a picture. I could stick it out, but that's just lunch, or gas. Either way, it's not very accurate, so I left it out. You can just look at the same picture that's on everyone's blog :)

Our Kids?...

2009-06-18T11:28:00.001-07:00

I just love going through everyone's blogs and seeing what their kids are up to. Well, these are our "kids". Every day I wander outside with some popcorn, moldy bread or yucky cherries and feed our lovely chickens. Today I didn't have to go far! And then I come inside and open the delicious jar of crickets to shake a few into the frog tank. Yup... that about sums up our feedings. Then I just have to get about to feeding myself... Always a bigger chore than our "kids" :)

Ha ha ha. No the chickens are not ours. They are the neighbors. Something sad must have come to their duck friend because he doesn't come around anymore.

Shower with the frogs??

2009-06-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

If it's not already bad enough having a rash and a sprained ankle, Mike just loves new adventures. Today we discovered that he showered with the frog! Ok, not like he knew. I wanted to clean their tank yesterday but only got around to putting them in a bucket with some water. I put the bucket in the bathtub for safekeeping overnight (we aren't always with-it during the night). Good thing I did though because this tricky girl, affectionately named Jasmine as a tadpole by her previous owner, got out of the bucket! When I took the bucket out of the bath for Mike's shower the other frog was hiding so I figured they both were. It wasn't till Mike was brushing his teeth that I saw a funny dark spot in the back of the tub... what could it be? :)

This is a close-up of Jasmine in her hiding place under our bathtub backrests :) Cleaning
Today I decided it was time for a tank cleaning. This is Jasmine and her unnamed friend in their new setup! (She only has one friend now since I lost one during our trip to AZ) :(

Isn't she just precious?? That's my baby! :)

Delicious crickets in the pickle jar to the right! We'll see how they like this. Right now they are just freaking out. How am I supposed to know what they want??

Yes, that is a kitchen bowl in their tank :)

Sprains and Allergies

2009-06-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

Many of you heard of the strange allergic reaction that Mike got a few weeks ago. His whole body was suddenly covered in hives one day. That was awful. The doctor just said it was an allergy and they would have a really hard time figuring out what it came from. So he took some medicine and was better in about 3 days. (He wouldn't let me share the pictures:) Poor Mike, but it just keeps coming....

Mike plays softball every Tuesday and his team, the Greyhounds, is doing well with a 4 game winning streak. Well, hopefully they'll do just as well without Mike playing this Tuesday because these things don't heal in one week! (Much to Mike's disapointment)

He had an amazing hit, rounded first, went to second and decided to try for a triple. Well, with the slide and the guys leg in the way Mike didn't get back up (and he got out!) His buddys came over and helped him limp off the field with an already swollen ankle. Luckily they were almost finished with the second game, so he didn't have to miss too much that day! :)

Ok, these pictures decided to upload backwards, so the last one is the first day Mike sprained his right ankle. Then the second to last is the second day. The top three are all from the same day.

We are so done! :)

2009-04-28T08:14:00.001-07:00

Most discusting moment...

2009-04-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

So Mike and I are finished with school so we decide it's time for some spring cleaning. He tackles the kitchen and bathroom and I tackle the bedroom and laundry. Maybe I shouldn't have because now I'm a pet killer.

About 2 months ago my very first tadpole (this is him above, making his first change to legs) to change into a frog suddenly disappeared. I panicked and cleaned the whole cage looking for remains (do tadpoles eat their changed friends?) but found nothing. Now, 2 months later, I'm doing the sheets and curtains. My last load. I pull them out and of course they are all bunched together so I grab one curtain and pull hard to release the curtain and something... not sure what... some mass of animal flesh. That was all I knew it was at first- I knew this was no black fuzz. I screamed and Mike still made me deal with it. I got a paper and touched it to get a closer look. That's when I realized it was my frog. And that's when I wouldn't deal with it anymore!

Mike had to come in at that point and take him away and put all that nasty laundry back into the laundry room and remove all things that had touched the yucky washed and dried frog. Oh gross. I feel sick thinking about it....

Car Races

2009-04-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Mike and Nate raced our new remote control cars in the kitchen. Neither Mike or I were very good at controlling the cars well, but Nate was very good. We'll learn in time!

Traditions Ball

2009-04-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, I know. We are way lame and never change our blog. Well, if something exciting happened then maybe we would write something. But with school, school, school that's not very exciting. Now I'll put all that we've done since then.

This is Phil, Chelsy, Mike and me before the Traditions Ball at BYU. Doesn't Chelsy look so cute with her belly stuffed into Mica's dress? There were only a few choices she had that stretched that far. :)

How lucky we were to have our "personal stylist" in Utah when we went to the fancy dance! She sure is a 'special' hairdresser :)

Arn't we cute?

Aww! Where did I get that belly from? Ha ha ha! Yeah right I could still wear that dress if I really were pregnant!

Festival of Colors!

2009-04-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

Mariah, Alex and Teresa at the Festival of Holy Colors! So much fun covering each other in powdered paint! :)

Teresa's new hair color

Mariah, Alex, Alene, Alene's Mike and Teresa in front

The big cloud of colors above the Hari Krishna Temple in SF. There was a bigger crowd there this time than I've ever seen before! It was crazy! You could hardly breath in the middle of the crowd.

Tadpoles all grown up!

2009-04-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

This is one of the frogs sitting on the tiny tadpole's bag. I was afraid to put a tiny new tadpole in with the big frogs! (the new tadpole was from my friend who had kept her- her name is Jasmine- in a smaller tank. She never grew or changed at all, so my friend gave her to me).
Funny enough, its the big one that changed 2nd. Not sure why, but that one is younger than the tiny one. I think the big one is a girl. They say the girls are bigger.

This was when they were still partway changing! Just a little froglet- a funny tadpole with legs!

2009-03-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

If anyone knows how to fix a fridge that sounds like a stuck cow that would be helpful. Ours sounds like one. It works fine, except for the occasional freezing of Alex's Soy Milk.

2009-02-17T11:50:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, if there is anyone who still reads this, we don’t write very much. It isn’t that there isn’t stuff going on or that we don’t want to tell the entire internet the hidden details of our life; it is just that Alex is really busy with student teaching and I am very lazy. Also tax season is starting so you most likely won’t get anything from me anytime soon. However, if you ever wonder how I feel about the complexity of the tax code or if I want a “flat tax” to simplify the filing of taxes (which is debatable as to whether it will really fix anything,) please refer to the cartoon below, which I stole from a website.

Update: Alex is student teaching and I am working at B & K and going to school. We are both in our last semesters.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T08:53:00.000-08:00

Here I sit at work again, doing a whole lot of nothing at work. I would have hoped and expected so, since hopefully most people are thinking about their families and not their course work on Christmas Eve!
This picture by Liz Lemon Swindle hangs in our home above my favorite nativity by Willow Tree. I love collecting nativities, setting up many of them in each room of my home and just sitting there looking at them. I think they are beautiful and add that perfect Christmas touch to our home. Mike even bought me a really inexpensive nativity to put in the bathroom when I was having a bad day! He knew what would cheer me up! :)
But, sometimes I think I might not have the right attitude about the nativities. Do I like them because they remind me of Jesus, or just because they are beautiful? I tried to imagine my Willow Tree nativity without the Mary and Baby Jesus figurine. It would still be beautiful, but I decided I wouldn't want it if He wasn't there. Christmas wouldn't be fun if there was no Christ. That sounds funny, but what I mean is that we may not always be thinking of Christ when we are shopping, decorating, or giving gifts, but if we never thought of Him it would make Christmas empty. We need those moments when we stop to think and our thoughts turn to Him- the true reason for the season. It makes everything wonderful and peaceful even through all the crazy madness of traffic jams, crowded stores and empty pockets!
It makes me feel better that He really still is the reason for the season, but I'm just incapable of multi-tasking and I don't think of Him all the time. :)

Hello World!

2008-12-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

We have not blogged for a very long time! We have a good excuse though--BYU. Need I say more? Well, we are done for the semester and rejoicing! It has been a long semester and I'll admit that we were crawling for the finish line. Now we just have one more semester and we are FINISHED!!! I love BYU, don't get me wrong, but when school is done, school is done! :) We think we got pretty good grades, but who knows and well, we are at the end of the line now, so we just need C's right? :) When all is said and done, no one is going to look at our grades right? Hmm... hopefully...

I am excited to announce that I will be Student Teaching in Spanish Oaks Elementary in the 6th grade next semester. It will be so much fun to teach in my hometown!
Speaking of teaching I recently did my practicum/cohort experience teaching at Meadow Elementary in Lehi. I helped in the 5th grade and had a blast! I love those kids!

I am really at a loss for what to Blog about. Our life has been school and now it's Christmas break. We will be staying home for Christmas and enjoying the break!

We did go to Arizona for Thanksgiving. That was really great. We drove there and were able to stay in a relative's winter home with most of the family. I'll post some pictures when I get home. As it is, I'm at work and doing nothing. I work at BYU Independent Study and we are moving buildings today so I am sitting here at the front desk waiting for anyone who may happen to come in, not knowing we are closed, to take a test. We are so nice to be here for our moving day, especially since today is the last day of Finals at BYU and everyone is wanting to finish their classes for this semester! :)

Peace out... or war in... either way.

Marriage

2008-10-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam..."

Our thoughts on marriage. . . (in regards to California’s upcoming vote). We think marriage is and ought to be defined as a union between a man and a woman. When we try to consider it something else, we are eroding and eventually destroying the meaning and significance of it. Marriage between a man and a woman is the way that God established it. Adam and Eve were the first to be married. Marriage between a man and a woman has continued down until now.

One more thought is that the only way that children can be created is between man and woman. There is no other way to create them. (If we quit having kids, the human race would cease to exist :)

Some may think that we are intolerant for saying such things, but we have the right as Americans to support what we believe in. We believe in marriage between a man and a woman and therefore we support Proposition 8 and hope that you will also.

We love all people, but will not support or condone the actions against God's will.

Here is a clip from members of our Church's leadership. They state it much better than we can. We also support what they say.

Ballaz!

2008-10-03T08:41:00.001-07:00

This is our amazing softball team. We made it 3 games of the Tournament! (we won 1) :)

Smalls impersonating Alex

2008-09-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Alex and I are part of a coed Softball team called Ballaz. (We don't know what it means either.) Alex usually plays left field and caught her first pop fly! We ended up winning that game. It was our second win of the season. She got the final out of the game . The whole team was very proud of her! Her catch was a lot like Smalls's catch on the movie Sandlot.

You only need to watch the first 30 seconds to get the effect.

On another note, we also had a team poster that hung in our dugout that inspired us to win. I have added it to the blog. It is courtesy of Nate Geslison. (I hope I don't get shot for violation of copyright.)

Thank you Nate and despair.com

My new haircut!

2008-09-29T12:40:00.001-07:00

I don't know if this represents my haircut well, but I wanted to do something different. So I went to the BYU Barbershop and got myself some new styles!

Before:

After:

I got some bangs and cut off about 4 inches. I know it's not too different, but I'm not that daring! I wanted something new, so Jessica helped me know what would be best. After about 1 hour at the barbershop the girl cutting my hair and I decided we had decided well and I was finished. Funny how hard it is to cut a few inches off! (ok, I just realized these after pictures look awful, I'm going to have to take some better ones when my new cut looks better!)

This is Mike and I because we are so cute! :)

One last view...

2008-09-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

Here is one last view of our tiny apartment. We just had to show this to really let you see how spacious it was! It looks a lot bigger now that it's empty!

This is our hall and the last door was our bathroom! The doors on right and left are two other apartments. Ours is just behind us on the left.

This is our half bathroom. The box on the right is the water heater, takes up about 2/3 of the room. We felt a little like we were always traveling... with our airplane sized sink!

This was our room. There is about 3 more feet behind the camera, and this is what we had for our bedroom, livingroom, dining room, and any other room you can think of besides the kitchen and bathroom!

Last Memories of Oregon

2008-09-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

Many of you may have heard by now that we have turned down the offer to work in Oregon after we finish school this year. That was really hard for us, but that was what felt right and (to Mom's rejoicing!) we are now looking for jobs here in Utah.
But here is one last look at our Oregon experience. :)

This is Alex and her kids at the park! We had a drummer teacher come to let the kids try many percussion instruments and have fun with rhythm. Aren't they so cute! :)

Alex and our good friend Ashley. Ashely's husband, Todd, was an Intern at Moss Adams with Mike. We had a lot of fun with Todd and Ashley. They were also in our ward!

Mike made me a special dinner with all the foods I like but he doesn't :) Way to take one for the team!

Where is all of this stuff going to fit?!? In the car! And if it doesn't fit there we'll do like the rest of Eugene...

...put it outside for free! It's gone by the next day! Bye bye microwave!

These are the beautiful flowers that Mike had waiting for me in the hotel room in Portland when I got back from Utah. The heart is a big sugar cookie that I made into a fruit pizza for Mike when he got back from the audit in Portland!

Good bye Oregon! :) :(

Utah trip!

2008-08-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

Well, as you may have known, I (Alex) just got back from a trip to Utah to visit my family and witness the sealing of my sister Jessica to her husband and baby! It was so exciting to see them become an eternal family! And of course, my sister Chelsy has done an amazing job of posting the wonderful trip. So in my laziness I'll refer you to her blog and you can see her more detailed posting on July 30 :) Thanks Chel :)

Youtube Stars in the making???

2008-08-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Recently at work a coworker said he saw Alex and me on youtube.com. I thought that was a little weird. So I looked it up and found out that if you do a search for Provo, Utah, we are the second listing. We have over 5,000 views. We are thinking about dropping out of school and quitting work to be Youtube Stars. . . Or maybe we won't, but we will keep you updated. Today is a short post, because Alex usually does most of the posting.

Mike

Here is a link of the World Famous video:

4th of July!

2008-07-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here we are after camping. It smelled of campfire out of the car and since we the only place available was a KOA we took advantage of their showers that morning! We are enjoying some cold Smores!

This is the back of Mike's head looking out over a cliff in a national park on the Oregon Coast. We were talking to a couple who tracks the birds here and they let us look through their telescope at a young Perigron Falcon sitting on a tree. As we were learning all about falcons the lady looked up and said "There is an eagle!" and just 30 feet above us flew a full sized bald eagle!! Happy Fourth of July to us! That was amazing! I had just barely put away my camera, otherwise I would show you all pictures!

This is in the same national park. One of the many Oregon Lighthouses, I guess they are famous for. It was neat to see inside. Also in this park was a tree called "Octopus Tree". It has 6 trunks that all jut out the base like octopus legs!

This is Mike after being attacked by the vicious-hand-eating emu. It likes the food, so it will get it however it pleases! I am feeding the pushy goats. They scare the sheep away, but they are fun because they will jump up or down from the fence at your command!

Saturday Market

2008-06-29T17:56:00.000-07:00

They have a large assortment of fresh fruit, veggies, and all sorts of other food. Not only that, they also have a large section of prepared food. On top of that, they have a lot of clothing, trinkets, and other things. Of course, all of these things are organic, even the clothes. They have non-dyed organic cotton. All of the fruits and vegetables look really nice, but they are all insanely expensive because they are organic. There is also a lady who reads tarot cards. I have never seen this in real life. They don’t have stuff like this in public in Utah. That is all for today.

Our Apartment

2008-06-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

Here is our home sweet home... for now anyways! This is our place, we are the big upstairs window and the one to the right of it. Our whole apartment is just behind that window and the little one is our tiny kitchen. The tiny bathroom is next to the kitchen and our full bath is down the hall. :)

You can see two blue buckets on the roof. Those are our tomato plants! We hope to get at least a few tomatoes before we go. One is a cherry tomato, we are crossing our fingers!

This is our street: 10th and Washington. Washington is a one way street. The one way streets are hard to get used to. Mike almost turned right on this street.... that's why I drive the most! :)

Goodbye to Buddy

2008-06-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

We said goodbye to Buddy this month (from Oregon). Mom and Chelsy took him to the Humain Society in SLC. They said he was calm about it and only resisted a little when they took him to the room with all the dogs in it. 13 years old and he's not used to being around a lot of dogs!I think he'll like the friend though.
Bye Bye Buddy!

These are pictures took of his last day at home. He had a happy last few days running around Mom's backyard and pooping all over the grass. :)

The following are just cute pictures of him.

Our 1 year Anniversary!

2008-06-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

We were lucky to have our anniversary (May 26) fall on Memorial Day this year, so Mike didn't have to work and we could go do something fun! We decided to go to the Oregon coast at Florence to see what there was to see. Of course it was rainy and cold, but this is to be expected. We had a fun time at the beach and hiking out on this rocky peninsula with a little green lighthouse on it and lots of pelicans and seagulls (thus the white "paint" all over the rocks! :)

We also visited a little restaurant/grill for lunch which kept us full all day and was the cheapest prices around. Restaurants here are nearly all around 10-20$ a plate! Pretty crazy. We got a huge meal for just 7$ each :)

There was a little place called "Old Town" in Florence that had little shops and gift places. We toured around there and then headed home. It was a fun day!

We caved in....

2008-06-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

Well friends and family, Mike and I have finally caved in. We gave into Facebook and we both signed up now. We felt like we might like to be a little more in touch with everyone! This is weird, it's like we just entered the technology world! :)

Retro Couch-- Free stuff!

2008-06-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

Lets just begin by saying we love Craigslist and their free stuff! I (Alex) have been diligently watching Craigslist for free furniture to fill our new tiny apartment. Well, to organize it is more the word, it is VERY full as it is VERY tiny, but we didn't have anything above 1 foot off the ground except boxes and our keyboard, and the whole floor was covered because it only stacks so high! (We moved to a new and clean place that is closer to Mike's work. It's about 1/3 the size of the old one, but so much nicer!) But now, thanks to the kindness and generosity of people who give away their stuff, we have an amazing new couch in Eugene representational colors, and a practically new dresser! And now we live a little more civilized instead of out of boxes and off the floor :)

Isn't this the most amazing pattern you've ever seen??
And it folds out into a bed so we don't have to sleep on the floor with our air bed anymore!

The guy said this dresser was a little wobbly and some drawers didn't work. He thought it could be fixed but said he wasn't very good with tools. Well, to fit in in our car we had to take it all apart. When we got back home and put it together it worked perfectly! At least that guy knew he wasn't good at putting things together! :) We're grateful! This is real wood too!

Apartments and Horses

2008-05-31T21:23:00.000-07:00

This is a video of our apartment. We call the apartment "Smokey Joe," because whenever we come in from being outside or walk into our living room in the morning, it smells like smoke. That is kind of a pain. We are hoping to move out on Monday or Tuesday into a much better apartment. Our new apartment will be a studio, with 1.5 baths. That most likely sounds weird to you as it did to me. Why a studio could have 1.5 bathrooms, I don't know. What happened was that the main bathroom is down the hall of the apartment complex. (Not very far down the hall, mind you.) Alex told me that the bathroom most likely doubles the square footage of the apartment. The best news however, is that it does not smell like cigarette smoke. That is something that we are both really thankful and are very willing to pay a little extra for these benefits!!

And now a word from Alex. . .
Well, we've had an interesting trip so far, as you have heard from Mike, but it had it's high points too. We stopped at Uncle Tim and Aunt Kathy's house in Washington on the way up (I've been to Washington now!) and because of our unexpected extended stay they let us ride their horses! This was Mike's first time to ride horses and my fourth? Not sure, but we both loved it! Here is Mike on Snubby and me on Bo. Our horses were very tame and well ridden, Uncle Tim's was a little feisty and tried to get him off every once in awhile!