The Collings Family

17 years and 7 months ago I left my home and moved to the great Northwest.  There have been so many opportunities to move back as a single adult, married and then with children, but it never quite felt right.  For whatever reason, Dave and I feel very strong that this is our time.  Dave has been working from home for the past two years and we don't know how much longer that will last. So where to next?  We don't really know. One of the reasons we felt so inspired to leave at this time is Tucker's eligibility to get into the dual immersion chinese program.  About the program: Utah Chinese Dual Immersion In the Utah Chinese Elementary Immersion Programs, instruction is divided between two high quality, creative classrooms: one English and one Chinese. Students enjoy the advantage of two caring, qualified teachers. The English-speaking teacher uses half of the instruction day to teach English language arts and other elements of the curriculum; the Chinese-speaki...

Today we had our annual Christmas card photo shoot with our trusty Nikon and a timer. Next time, I really need to get my act together in October and hire someone!

All of my Sassy Mei peeps decided to up and move out of the beautiful state of Washington. They all claim it was "job related" but I secretly know it was the RAIN that drove them away! After months of deliberation, Cadie and I decided to ship Sassy Mei off to Utah with her. I have desperately missed my music and am already thrilled to use whatever spare time I have to practice - the question is, for what am I practicing? hmmm...still trying to decide;)Anyway, Sassy Mei was my first little start up company and I will miss working with the most amazing women in the world. I will NOT miss the endless hours spent marketing, managing and reconciling though...So, for all of you in Utah, Sassy Mei will be making a debut next November somewhere in SLC. Next subject - PINTEREST. I've heard this site was addicting and thus decided to not go there. Last week I took a peek and that was the end of that. Makes me want to do all sorts of things that I just don't have time to do. L...

First day of school for Liza. Just had to insert that picture of her with the dog. With all of the other kids gone,she has directed all of her attention to poor Sophie. I am not sure if Liza views her as a rag doll or a baby! So sad - but this may be the only picture I got of her 4th birthday. More to come (hopefully...)

With all the gecko craze, I completely forgot to fill you in on the first day of school. I just read a phrase that completely describes how I feel about my stage in life: "the days are long but the years are short." How is it that my baby is already in 5th grade? Seriously??! Eden has Ms. Pierce and Luke has Mrs. Garmey for a 2 year loop. Eden had her for the last two years and absolutely loved her. Luke is also fortunate to have several close friends in his class - pictured in this one is our neighbor and church friend Jackson. While Tucker did not start on the same day, we stopped by to check on his class Capped off the night with a trip to U Top It. Never seen so many odd ice cream toppings in my life. Took a bite of Luke's and almost gagged :(-)! Here is a picture of Tucker at the beginning of his first day Kindergarten: ...and this is how we ended the day - nothing like a trip to the ER! Poor kid slipped and fell into an open dishwasher where a sharp little knife...

Two months ago we added a new member to our little family - meet Jack: Luke has been asking for a lizard for just about as long as he could talk. This summer, he saved and saved and finally had enough to buy a little leopard gecko. He named him Jack. One of the reasons we didn't want to get another animal was due to the hazards of younger siblings. Poor Jack lost his tail three days after we got him. But, he survived and thrived. That is until PetCo ran out of small crickets. So, what did the ignorant mother do? bought him cheap meal worms. Jack LOVED the meal worms but his tummy did not. Two weeks ago Jack stopped eating and pooping - he had an impaction. We took him to the vet and there was nothing that could be done. We read everything we could find online about sick geckos. I spoon fed him homemade apple sauce, rubbed his belly with olive oil and gave him warm baths. One day when I picked him up to give him a bath, Jack had a seizure - awful sight:( The seizure left him paral...