The Collings Family

I am thankful for the blackberry bushes that run wild through our little town. Every year around Labor Day we go on walks and have a blackberry-picking-fest. Tonight we made the trek and came home with 4 bags full. I have Blackberry crisp baking in the oven right now - yum:)  Last night, on a whim, my neighbor and I took our girls shopping, to dinner and a movie. I am thankful for good friends that like to be spontaneous, and a daughter that loves to be with me.

It is no secret that I want to move closer to family. This year, my one and only sister, that lived only one mile up the road, left me:( I won't lie, it has been emotionally very hard. Not only is she my sister, but she was my best friend.  We would have loved to hop in our own moving van and follow them straight to SLC. However, for whatever reason, Dave and I feel like we are where we need to be with our family right now. Even though I know this, it is hard to swallow at times. My therapy? KSL classified home searches, complaining to my husband and friends, researching Utah school districts, mulling over scenerios on how to get rid of my house - uber positive, right? Today is the day that it is going to stop. I owe it to my husband, friends, children and extended family to stop this nonsense. I decided that I am going to stop focusing on what I can't have, and start focusing on what I can and do. My new therapy? I am going to write at least one reason I am grateful to be wh

Ence Family Trip Year 2: McCall, Idaho One highlight of each year is the annual trip we take with my parents, siblings and their children. We are now LONELY in Seattle and honestly soaked up every second we had with them. We randomly chose McCall due to the location - 461 miles from SLC and 463 from Maple Valley. After having been, we can't wait to go back again. My children said they had as much fun in McCall as they did at Disneyland :()! We left a day early to meet my brother Dylan for a night at Best Western and a day of swimming. My kids woke up at 6:30. They were the first to eat breakfast and the first in the pool .They swam for 4 hours straight. While they swam, I took a run around the quaint little town - no better way to get to know a place! For dinner we ate at the highly recommended "My Father's Place". Prices were high but the food was truly out of this world. I ate a bite of Eliza's hamburger and couldn't put it down - first one I've had