Christmas 2011 Utah

Here are some pictures from our trip to Utah. Sorry some of the pictures look blue. I think I had the camera on the wrong setting.

We arrived in Provo the day after Christmas and the kids enjoyed Grandma's Christmas wonderland. Here is Nathan showing his baby doll the ice skaters spinning around.

Abby and Maddy enjoyed the Nativity set and little Christmas village.

We opened Christmas gifts that night. Nathan insisted on showing all his presents to Great-Grandpa Donaldson.

Nathan was super excited when he got Clifford for Christmas! The girls got some beautiful wind- up music dolls that they like to listen to as they go to sleep at night.

Jared holding our new nephew Haven who was born just a week before we arrived.

The kids had fun visiting the Bean Museum and watching the reptile show. Maddy and Nathan even touched the snake, turtle, and lizard.

We did a little shopping at the mall and the girls enjoyed the big tree house and the dinosaur skeleton jungle gym.

We celebrated by dad's birthday with a scrumptious shepherd's feast.

Dinner in the kid's room

After the feast the children acted out the Nativity. Abby and Maddy were angels and Nathan played Joseph and a shepherd. Nathan of course had to have his baby doll as baby Jesus.

The angels singing

After we finished the program the kids all went downstairs and got into Grandma's dress up and put on their own play. Here is Abby dressed as a mean witch who becomes nice.

We went to the children's museum in Salt Lake the next day.

Nathan loved the balls the best.

Maddy loved playing in the water.

Grandpa Donaldson with Abby and Claire.

Nathan enjoyed pretending he was Bob the Builder.

All the kids had fun sitting in a real helicopter.

Here is my dad in front of a company that he is part owner of. It does home theater installation and home automation. We had a lot of fun sitting in the big theater watching CARS and eating popcorn in giant comfy reclining chairs.

We were able to meet with our best friends from PA school and visit the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.

Afterward we took the kids to temple square to see the visitor's center and the lights. The experience was especially enjoyable because the weather was unusually warm for December and we were able to enjoy the lights without freezing.

I was able to meet a few of high school friends for lunch that I hadn't seen in about 5 years. It was great to see them again and catch up on their lives.

We spent New Year's Eve at my parents' cabin having sushi and hot chocolate and playing games.

We were excited that we had so much time to spend with my Grandpa this trip. I got to spend a day in the car with him as we drove to and from my cousin Laura's mission homecoming in Logan. We also had him up for dinner a few nights and then he treated us to a nice lunch at Brick Oven.

The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins. Nathan even learned how to say Jacob and Mary's names. Mary was especially helpful in watching them so that we could have more time to visit with Sarah and Gordon.

A few things we did that I don't have pictures of: I met with Breeanne, my ASL rooommate. I met with Amanda, my former mission companion. I visited with my cousin Amy and her new husband. My mom watched the kids so Jared and I could go to the temple together. We met with my cousin Reed, his wife Charity, and their 6 kids. We also went to the Legacy center with Claire and my mom where the kids had fun swimming. The kids also enjoyed lots of snuggles and reading time with Grandma and rough housing with Grandpa. We all had a very enjoyable trip to Utah and Idaho and now we must get the kids on the more boring life routine away from family. We wish we lived closer, but are happy we were able to visit as much as we did.

Christmas 2011 Idaho

We planned to spend Christmas in Washington because Jared was on call but we found out at the last minute that he was free to leave. So we packed up in a few hours and arrived in Boise at about 8pm Christmas Eve. We were able to hear Eric perform some beautiful organ music and then the kids hung their stockings, set out cookies and milk for Santa, and went to bed.

Abby on Christmas morning.

Maddy opening her stocking.

A very happy little boy on Christmas morning. I think he was the most fun to watch this year because he is old enough to enjoy Christmas morning, but young enough that he didn't remember what to expect.

Nathan had fun playing cars and Legos with his boy cousins. It was a nice change for him after hanging out with his sisters all the time.

The girls jumping with Christmas excitement.

Grandma Collett with a delicious Christmas dinner.

The kid's table full of hungry kids ready to eat.

Abby performing Jingle bells and Angels We Have Heard on High.

We left Boise the day after Christmas but came back and spent a few more days with Jared's family on our way back from Utah. On our trip back we enjoyed ice skating with Kevin and Katie, a movie night at Eric's house, and Sunday dinner with the entire family followed by triva challenges. Jared also enjoyed visiting Bryan's shop and doing Saturday tinkering with his dad. What a great time.

Christmas 2011 Washington

Abby and Maddy visited Santa at the library. Nathan was too scared to get near him even when Santa offered him a candy cane. I guess it's good he won't take candy from strangers.

We took a family trip to Beaver Bark so the kids could see some real reindeer.

The loved going inside and seeing all the pretty decorations and the huge fish they had swimming in the indoor pool.

Abby and Maddy dressed up as angels and sang Christmas songs with the Primary at Richland Gardens (a retirement center in our ward). Maddy is usually very shy and rarely sings in Primary so I bribed her and Abby with icecream if they did a good job. Maddy surprised us by singing louder than everyone else.

The kids "helping" to decorate the gingerbread house.

Abby really wanted a Christmas tree in her room so she made one out of Duplos and then found some ribbon to make her room more festive.

People were encouraged to dressed up like Nephites for the ward Christmas party. Our kids had their own ideas on what they wanted to dress up like.

Here is a picture of the beautiful wooden spoons and spatula that Jared made as Christmas gifts this year.

The finished gingerbread house!

Merry Christmas 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas! We love taking the time to catch up with all of you. Here’s what we have been up to this year:

Jared continues to enjoy working at Kadlec Neuroscience. In his free time he likes reading, rollerblading, biking, and studying French. Most of his free time, however, has been taken up by serving in the Elder’s Quorum and on home improvement projects. He spent spring and summer landscaping our backyard, and has spent this summer and fall tiling our master bath, dining room, kitchen, hall, and guest bathroom. He is looking forward to a new year with hopefully not quite so many projects.

Mary stays home with our three darling children. She enjoys doing homeschool pre-school with Nathan, reading lessons with Maddy, and homeschool with Abby in the afternoons. In her free time she enjoys rollerblading, biking, and reading.

Abby (5) is growing up and learning to be more responsible. She is very enthusiastic and gets super excited about birthdays, holidays, and vacations. She enjoys school (she started Kindergarten this year), playing with her siblings, swimming, riding her bike, and reading. She is learning to play the piano and is doing well. Her favorite things are Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Ponies, and princesses (she was Ariel for Halloween). She is a good big sister and a wonderful helper to her mom. We love having her in our family.

Maddy (4) is as sweet as ever. She loves to play with her siblings, go to the park and library, and do arts and crafts. She loves books and is learning to be a good reader. Her favorite things include everything her sister likes, as well as cats (she insisted on a cat-themed birthday party) and babies (she dressed as a baby for Halloween). Her sweet smiles and snuggles continue to warm our home.

Nathan (2) learned how to walk at the beginning of this year, and he has been busy getting into everything ever since. His favorite things include cars, tools, Clifford, Bob the Builder, firemen, and dogs. He likes to be mommy’s helper with his little vacuum and by “helping” her cook and do laundry. Most of all he likes to help dad by digging in the yard, or by using his toy tools to help with projects around the house. We love our little man cub.

As far as trips go, we went to Boise in March for Jared’s brother’s wedding, and then down to Utah to see Mary’s family and the Carl Bloch exhibit at BYU. In May went to Boise to celebrate Jared’s birthday and to see the musical Wicked. In June we took a family vacation to the Oregon coast with a stop at the Portland zoo on our way home. In August we met up with Mary’s parents in Spokane and spent several days in beautiful Coeur d’Alene. We went to Boise in September for a fun Collett family reunion and again in November for Thanksgiving.

That’s what we’ve been up to this year. We hope you and your families are well, and that you enjoy the beautiful Christmas season filled with the peace and joy Christ brings.

Love, The Colletts

Thanksgiving 2011

Our little pilgrims and Indian.

Making toilet paper roll turkeys at Grandma Collett's house. The kids put down the things they were grateful for on their feathers.

Nathan was the first one seated. He was ready to eat.

The table was beautiful as usual.

The feast.

Grandma Collett once again outdid herself with all the delicious pies. (We even had two more not pictured.)

We enjoyed a delicious dinner with family and spent the rest of the time relaxing, eating pie, playing games, eating pie, watching movies, eating pie, shopping and eating pie. Did I mention eating pie? Amidst all of our gluttony we did take some time to remember the blessings the Lord has given us. As we looked back on the year we realize how richly blessed we are. Abby and Maddy have grown tired of all our FHE lessons on gratitude, and now if we ask what they are thankful for they say, "everything," so that they don't have to come up with a list of specific things. Some things Nathan told us he is grateful for are food, cookies, ice cream, dogs, trucks, his basketball, and cars. Above all Jared and I are most grateful for our Saviour and our sweet family.