Merry Christmas 2020

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas! We hope that you are happy and healthy and that you feel the love of our Savior at this beautiful time of year. Here's an update from our family. Although our family vacation to Yosemite got cancelled due to COVID-19, we were still able to visit family in Utah and Idaho, and we had a great time hiking and exploring Arizona. We also watched the entire first season of Little House on the Prairie, did all our puzzles, and played every board game we own. Summer was definitely the hardest part of lockdown because it was too hot to go outside (50 days of 110+ degree weather) and all the pools were closed. Luckily Mary was able to take the kids up to her parents' cabin for a few weeks to keep them from going stir crazy. Now that cooler weather has finally returned, we have enjoyed getting out in nature again. Despite the struggles of lockdowns, we feel that it has been a good year and we have much to be thankful for.

Jared is busy as a 3rd year dental student and with work projects around the house. Right now he is building us a beautiful new patio. When Jared gets free time he enjoys hiking and reading. He also has fun building catapults, flying paper airplanes, and exploding volcanoes as an activity leader for the 9 year old boys group at church. 

Mary loves being a mom and homeschool teacher. She teaches a homeschool ASL class, and she has enjoyed brushing up on her signing skills. In her free time she enjoys swimming, rollerblading, hiking, playing basketball, and reading.  

Abigail (14) loves Jefferson Prep (her new charter high school). She has great teachers and she's been able to make some nice friends. Abby is an excellent student and she enjoys her band and Japanese classes. She spends her free time reading and practicing her instruments.

Madeline (13) is homeschooling again this year. In addition to her regular classes, she has started learning ASL. She enjoys reading, art, and rollerblading. She also fills our home with beautiful harp and piano music. 

Nathan (11) is happy to be homeschooling again. He excels in math and enjoys his homeschool drama class. Nathan is making a lot of progress on the piano and he has started learning ASL. He loves building with LEGOs and reading.

Audrey (6) loves kindergarten and her teacher Ms Armentrout. She also enjoys reading, art, and playing the piano. She is curious and loves to learn about everything. She informed me that when she grows up she will be an artist, a violinist, an Irish dancer, and a pediatric dentist. 

Brooklyn (3) attends a developmental preschool where wonderful teachers and therapists work with her on speech, social skills, and sensory processing. We are amazed at the progress she has made in just a few months. Brooklyn now knows all her letters and numbers and she can even write her name. She enjoys playing with DUPLOs, her stuffed tiger Roary, and her big sister Audrey.  

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Love,

The Collett Family

November 2020

A NEW FRIEND

We got new neighbors. Audrey and Brooklyn are thrilled to have a friend next door.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

The kids have been busy with turkey crafts.

Our thankful tree.



I had these two cute little turkeys crawl into bed to cuddle me on Thanksgiving morning.

Each of the kids chose two dishes to help make with mom or dad. 

The spread. We have a lot to be thankful for. We have home, family, friends, and the gospel. We are safe and healthy, and have lots of good food to eat. We are truly blessed.

HOMESCHOOL NATURE DAY

We had fun learning about desert plants and doing leaf rubbings before hiking to the top of Thunderbird M

untain. Brooklyn climbed most of the way herself.

WWII

Nathan and Maddy have been learning about WWII. For her project, Maddy did a Power Point presentation on Native American code talkers and Nathan did a diorama of the D-day invasion at Omaha beach.

PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK

The Painted Desert

The Teepees

The Blue Mesa

Giant Petrified Logs

Beautiful petrified wood everywhere!

METEOR CRATER

The crater is the world's largest and best-preserved meteorite impact site.

We were excited to see Meteor crater, but it was pretty crazy standing out in 80+mph wind. Nathan had to hold his glasses and mask on the whole time.

Brooklyn absolutely loved the wind!

The had an indoor venue where we could take pictures as if we were outside.

The meteor is similar to the surface of the moon, so the Apollo 11 astronauts used the meteor for simulations to prepare for their moon landing.

Fun times!

Happy Birthday Maddy!

 We have another teenager!

Maddy didn't feel like eating cake, so she had brownies with fruit and ice cream.

In order to avoid spreading Covid, we had a nice family party. 

Maddy was sad that Covid prevented her having a party, but her Dad made it up to her by using his military discount to take her (and Abby and Nathan) ice skating.

Maddy at 13:

Favorite Food: Chocolate  

Favorite Colors: Teal, pale blue, lavender, light pink

Favorite Books: Keeper of the Lost Cities

When I grow up I want to be: a harpist and a millionaire

Favorite Animal: small dogs and dolphins

Maddy is musical, hard working, intelligent, and kind. We love having her in our family! 

Happy Birthday Audrey!

 Look who is 6!

We had a quiet, family party for Audrey this year. 

Can you tell she loves pandas? She was thrilled with her panda Squishmallow and Outfoxed game from Grandma C. She also loved the panda slippers and parasol from Grandma D. 

Audrey told me, "Every cute little girl NEEDS a parasol!"

Blowing out candles!

Audrey's friend happened to have a birthday party the day before Audrey, so she got to celebrate twice!

Audrey at 6:

Favorite Foods: Pizza and all desserts

Favorite Colors: All of them!

Favorite Books: Fancy Nancy

Favorite Movie: Alice in Wonderland

When I grow up I want to be: A violinist, an Irish dancer, an artist, and a pediatric dentist

Favorite Animal: Panda

Audrey is artistic, curious, smart, and enthusiastic. We love having her in our family.

October 2020

GENERAL CONFERENCE

While watching General Conference I noticed such a stark contrast between our church leaders, who are calm, humble, kind and clear, and the people vying for power in our government. Our family really enjoyed listening to their wise counsel. 

BIRTHDAYS

We were excited to have Joseph and Nicole's family come to visit for a few hours. It was nice to catch up and celebrate Elle's birthday! Abby and Maddy also had fun celebrating their cousins Elle and Emily's birthdays on a Zoom birthday call later in the week. 

YOUNG WOMEN'S

The girls are thrilled that they can finally meet in person for Young Women's again.

The girls had several fun hikes this month in preparation for their backpacking trip. 

They hiked at Deem Hills and Thunderbird mountain.

They even saw this cool long-nosed snake.

Abby and Maddy had an awesome backpacking trip at Horton Creek with the bishopric, their wives, and all the Young Women.

Maddy's group did 150 acts of service, including heart attacking people's doors with positive messages.

TRUNK OR TREAT

They had popcorn and Halloween movies for the kids to watch while they waited for the candy collecting to start.

Many ward members went all out with the decorations.

Our trunk matched Nathan's costume.

JACK O LANTERNS 

Nathan carved this panda one for Audrey.

Maddy did the tiger one for Brooklyn.

She also did this cool one with Elphaba from the musical Wicked.

Jared did this awesome carving from our new favorite series, The Mandalorian.

BLOCK PARTY AND TRICK OR TREATING

Our neighborhood blocked off the road and we had a fun block party. The kids had fun jumping in the giant bouncy house they set up and trick or treating without having to worry about cars. Afterwards, they sorted their candy and watched Halloween movies projected on our neighbor's garage while the adults visited. Arizona does Halloween better than any place we have lived, and I think it's because everyone is celebrating the return of cooler weather.

BROOKLYN THE TIGER MOMMY

Brooklyn has a baby tiger stuffed animal named Roary. She treats it like her baby, so it only made sense for her to dress up like Roary's mom for Halloween. 

NATHAN THE RAVENCLAW

Nathan dressed up as a Ravenclaw wizard.

AUDREY THE BRAVE

Audrey dressed up as Merida from the movie Brave. She didn't even have to wear a wig! She got to wear her costume to school for storybook day on which she retold Merida's story for her class.

ABBY RAPUNZEL

Abby looked amazing in her Rapunzel dress.

MADDY BELLE

Maddy was a stunning Belle.

AFTER HALLOWEEN DRESS UP

Audrey was thrilled with the silly face she got in her Trick or Treat bag, and Brooklyn loved wearing the spider hat from Preschool.