Collett Family Reunion 2011

Over Labor day weekend we celebrated the first Collett Family Reunion with Jared and his siblings. Luckily accommodations weren't too hard to figure out since all of Jared's brothers live in Boise. We had a lot of fun activities and we really enjoyed our time together.


Here are the kids having fun jumping on the tramp at Grandma's house.

Nathan kept saying "monk, monk, monk" because he loves the song about the monkeys jumping on the bed.

On Friday night we had a nice Sloppy Joe, corn on the cob dinner. We cooked s'mores for dessert. It took a while to get the fire going so Jared's dad took out a heat gun and used his own method of roasting marshmallows. After burning and unevenly roasting our marshmallows on the fire we decided that Neal's method was far superior.

The next morning after enjoying a delicious crepe breakfast cooked by Jared, we all headed up to Bogus Basin Ski Resort for lunch. After lunch Amy helped all the kids do a craft where they make necklaces with their names on them.

Nathan and William bonded by playing in the fire pit together.

After crafts the kids all went on a treasure hunt that the uncles had put together for them.

Here they are finding the treasure.

The grandkids were very excited to each get their own box full of candy.

After Bogus Basin we came back and enjoyed yummy snack food for dinner while we watched the Boise State vs. Georgia game. BSU played really well. During the game Nathan and William had fun playing with cars together.

As usual, the girls enjoyed playing princess with their cousins.

The next day we all competed in a game called "Minute to Win it" with JoyAnn as the judge. Here the challenge was to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without using your hands.

It was kind of disgusting to watch.

Thanks to Kevin's sucking action he won hands down. At the end of the post I have videos of the girls and the kids competing as well. Unfortunately our camera ran out of batteries after this task so we couldn't take any more videos. The next task was to get an Oreo cookie from your forehead to your mouth without hands. It is actually much more difficult than it sounds.

Gotta love Jared's pirate look.

For this task you had to knock over 5 empty 2 liter soda bottles with a yo yo tied to the back of your apron.

The last task involved bouncing golf balls into a Tupperware container sitting in a bucket of water until it sunk. Obviously this was a favorite one with the kids. We had more challenges planned but unfortunately it turned dark before we could finish them. I guess those will have to wait for the next family reunion. Jared's cousin Carrie won the adult prize and Kaitlyn and William won the children's prize for highest score. Jared's mom made everyone happy by giving everyone participation prizes.

On Monday morning the kids all headed up to Lucky Peak Reservoir for rides on Bryan's boat. They had a great time, especially when Uncle Bryan let them take turns steering. After boat rides everyone came back to grandma's for lunch. JoyAnn showed us a fun slide show with pictures of the boys as they were growing up.

Here we are with Jared's parents.

Eric and Amy's family

Craig and Jessica's family

Grandma and grandpa with all their grandkids

We had a fun reunion and were sorry to have to go.

Viewer discretion is advised for the following videos:

August 2011 Update

Finally!


This is a picture of the day I have been waiting for ever since we decided to buy this house. Jared tore up the nasty carpet in our dining room. Carpet in dining room + kids = bad idea!

Here is Jared putting in some tile. We were excited to find some tile on sale at Lowes for .62 a square foot and since our house is built on a concrete slab we didn't have to buy any backer board. Now for the hard labor part.

Nathan painting for the fist time. He did really well because he is very good at observing people and copying their movements exactly. He mimicked the way I cleaned the brush after each color and even some of the brush strokes I was doing.

This month my parents finally succumbed to the cute letters from the girls begging them to come visit. I don't have too many pictures since I am still waiting for my dad to send me the ones he took, but here are a few. They flew into Spokane and we spent 3 days in Coeur d'Alene enjoying trees, mountains, and lakes, which was a nice change from our usual view of sagebrush. Here are the kids swimming in the Spokane river. It was nice and warm and shallow enough for them to play in.

While the kids played, Grandpa decided to take a nap. Here he is on the picnic table listening to his Kindle read him the scriptures while he sleeps.

Grandma and grandpa spoiled the kids by taking them to the Northern Idaho State Fair. Abby and Nathan enjoyed seeing all the animals but Maddy informed us, "I don't like animals that are alive because they are too stinky!" Here is Maddy pretending to be a horse.

Abby baaaing like a sheep.

Maddy picking apples. They had a fun play area for the kids with a bouncy house, arts and crafts, kiddie cars, etc. Afterwards the kids went on the Ferris wheel and kiddie rides. Best of all, we ended the day with some delicious huckleberry ice cream.

Nathan with his bear friend at the house in Coeur d'Alene.

On Sunday grandpa grilled and grandma cooked us a delicious dinner.

Nathan was scared of him at first, but Grandpa managed to win Nathan over with horsey rides.

On the way back to Tri-cities on Monday, we stopped for lunch at Riverfront park in Spokane. Here is Nathan enjoying a carousel ride.

Little Miss Enthusiasm

Sweet Maddy riding with mommy.

Nathan climbed to the top of these cement blocks, stood up, and proudly said "Cheese."

All the kids just before we headed back home. We had a few nice relaxing days with my parents before they went to visit Ruth in California. On their last day the kids put on a recital and puppet show for my parents and we enjoyed a nice dinner out.

The day after my parents left, Abby started her first day of Kindergarten. You can see the nervous excitement on her face. After a week of school she loves it!