The Collings Family

HOLY COW! That is all I have to say...I've completely abandoned all other TV and pray that the writers strike ends before my precious 8 epi's of Lost are over.

Technically Tuck's birthday is in 25 minutes on the 28th, but Sunday is the only time that I can find to update this thing! It has been a wonderful 2 years with this little tike. He is a major source of joy in this family. My labor and delivery with him was exactly 60 minutes. A fitting start for such an active kid! Tuck is named after his two grandpas William "Tucker" Collings and Robert Carlton Ence. One of the many things I love about Tuck is that he is 100% obsessed with trains. He is my first child to actually be obsessed with a toy---it is so much fun. He carries 4-5 trains with him wherever he goes and has all of the Thomas characters memorized . He loves his daddy more than anyone in this world. He wakes up every morning with the same questions, "where daddy go?" and ends his nights with "lub you dad "

This is a picture of Liza with her grandma Liz. They have some special connections: both a girl, both 4th in birth order, both born on Saturday, October 6th. I called my mother at 7:00 AM on her birthday to inform her that we had a very special birhtday present for her! She was 2 weeks early and so it was completely unexpected!

We went to tuck Eden and Luke in one evening and this is what we found. Yes, they do love each other!

Cousins in Utah: Landon, Tucker, Luke and Cameron. Angels in the snow!!

My mother took some family pictures while we were in Utah. What would I do without her? She makes our clothes, takes our pictures, decorates our homes...sometimes I wonder if she is really my mother- I didn't get any of her many talents!

I was going to write a funny little blurb about our past week however, I just received news that President Hinckley, the prophet of the LDS church passed away about an hour ago. I had a very tender place for him in my heart and loved him very much. I am sure that he is having the most amazing reunion with his sweet wife right now.

Should we just re-name the month of January "Cupcake Month"? We have three birthdays and an anniversary all within 20 days of each other--- what were we thinking? Actually, that's the problem, we weren't thinking! Last week we went through 5 boxes of cake mix, 1 brownie mix and a pie from MC. On second thought, maybe we should re-name the first week of January "temptation week" My family is doing a "biggest loser" challenge as part of a new year's resolution. I have sworn off sweets for one year and this birthday party food is testing every ounce of my self control. Eden had a mock slumber party on Friday and Luke took a couple of friends to Chuck E Cheese the following Tuesday. Note for the future--parties away from the home are A LOT less stressful.

So Nat (my sister in law) inspired me to make bread too, however, it didn't quite turn out like hers. You don't even want to know what Dave said it looked like (but knowing him, I am sure you can guess...)It was tasty but I need some help in the cosmetic department. LOVE THE KITCHEN AIDE! I told Luke that I was turning into Betty Crocker. He said "No mom, Betty Crocker is a cake that is so easy that you only need one hand to make it. Teenage kids like me can do it by themselves."

We braved the winter weather and set off for Utah to celebrate New Years. We had a great time and the kids loved the snow. They tried sledding for the first time --I wish I had a picture:(...Dave took the camera but spent the whole time consoling Luke after a botched first run! We always have such heavy hearts leaving our family in Utah...we just never know when it will be the last time we see some of our members. This is a picture of our Ence grandparents (great grandparents for my kids!)

This was the 10th attempt at getting a picture with the kids in their new Christmas Eve outfits! Celebrating Christmas at the Moultons. The kids are decorating cookies while the men watch funny clips of Bush on the computer!