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 w...

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...

Memorial Day Always love visiting the National Cemetery on Memorial Day. We learned that the Mormons use Moroni as their religious symbol on the head stones. My kids got a huge kick out of hunting for them! Off to Lake Wilderness for some fishing and playing catch! Tucker's last day with Mrs. Cloud. What a wonderful 2 years we had with her. Tuck said he wouldn't miss preschool because he is going to be a Preschool teacher someday;) Ran the Green River Marathon with some friends. Gorgeous day in Seattle. This time only 1 minor blister. Luke's piano recital. He played Hedwig's Theme and The Happy Green Frog. He tells me that he was "made for the piano and the piano was made for him." Hope it lasts:() Boys went off to Father and Sons and we girls spent the weekend at Maple Valley Days. SO LOVE this weekend. So many fun things to do and see. Will never get sick of this park for as long as I live. This is one of the reasons we moved here. Just in...this hole j...

We arrived in NYC at 5:00 PM and ran. This was Dave's first time to the city and our goal was to see every tourist site within our 36 hour time frame. We walked and walked and walked and walked... BEST CHINESE FOOD EVER! WOW!! We ate here 2x and we were only in the city 2 days. Church across the street from ground zero. We unintentionally stumbled onto this church while trying to get a better pic of the site. Hands down the best experience we had in the city. George Washington's very own... This was the church he was inaugurated in.           New towers under construction... The memorial alter is filled with original posters and missing signs posted on the streets surrounding the site by their family members. CANAL STREET - so excited for this stop. Only ended up spending an hour here and 45 minutes of that were spent eating. We quickly realized that Canal Street doesn't even hold a candle to the Taiwan markets! Lady Liber...