thanksgiving and such...

*warning* picture overload!
Our Thanksgiving was great and relaxing. Perfect trip. We took the plunge and drove out to New Mexico to visit John's family. We spread the driving down and back over two days - so it wasn't too much for the kids. I almost think Zane's favorite part was getting to stay in hotels on the way there and back. Zane and Lily had sooo much fun playing with their cousins. We will miss them. We survived the trip with only a minor illness which I think is just fabulous.

After playing outside all bundled up. There were a couple days where it was quite chilly. We're not used to the cold weather!

Baby Trent and cousin Savannah. He's getting so big already! So glad we got meet him.

The newest cousin - Ava - and aunt Charity. Just a week old in this picture. What a beautiful little girl!

Cookie decorating at grandma's house with the boys. Grandpa was quite the artist - very impressive. Such a fun tradition.

Decorating with the girls turned into more eating than decorating. Yum!

Time away from Rock Band, and other video games to just visit. The best part of the trip.

Silly Lily's squishy face. Who knows where she got this - but she does it all the time. Too funny.

Zane and Grandma and the binoculars he played with the entire time we were there. Even slept with them a few times. Hmm... christmas present idea?

Lily studying baby Trent. She was so cute around the babies, and really didn't have too much of a problem with me holding them either. Very good to know! She will be a sweet older sister I'm sure.

Totally zonked out on the way home. Zane had a fever, and wasn't feeling well. Zane never ever takes naps - so you know he must have been sick!

We are all home, getting over the sickies, and trying to get the house back to normal so we can decorate for Christmas. Can't wait to see more family over the upcoming holidays. Love you all!

family photos...

guns up!....

Here's what I call the alien picture.Nice profile.
Get your guns up! Yup, we have a Texas Tech fan in utero!

It was very very obvious that he was a boy.

However, I will not share that picture because it is a little indecent.

Enough said.

bugged...

Well I have these cool ultrasound photos that I've been trying to upload all day long. For some reason my computer has decided it doesn't want to upload photos. Anywhere. Blogger. Facebook. Nothing. It's quite annoying. I would describe the photos to "you", but somehow I don't think that would really work...

It's A....

Boy!!
Pictures coming soon....

ducks, drives and parent teacher conference...

Last Friday, Zane was dying to go to the park. So on the way, we decided to stop and 'feed' the ducks at the golf course by our house. The second we pulled off the side of the road to park - the ducks SWARMED our car. It was quite hilarious. They know what happens when someone stops apparently! Zane and Lily had soooo many giggles and screams feeding the masses of ducks. I actually took a video, but all you can hear is ducks squaking and bad camera work from me trying to help Zane avoid being eaten by the ducks that were swarming him to get at the bread in his hands, with an occasional squeal by Lily. Sounds amusing, but it's really not. We will definitely have to go again soon. (and don't tell me how bad it is to feed them in the first place, I already know)

On Saturday we decided we were in the mood for a drive, and we have been wanting to head out to the Mt. Trumbull area. It's just a neat area, and if you keep going you can actually drive to Tuweep a point on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon that you can pretty much step right out to the very edge of the canyon. No rails or anything! (We won't attempt that until our kids are much older - and when I have forgotten how terrified of heights I am). Of course, we knew we wouldn't make it all the way out to Trumbull - it's 60 miles on a gravel/dirt road - which translates to almost 3 hours of driving. But we made it about 35 of those miles! We came to a meadow like area with some really huge cows standing right on the side of the road. So fun. One day we will make it the whole way.

(Just noticed that Zane is wearing the same shirt he did the day before - probably slept in it, and I didn't care enough to make him change on Saturday.)

Today was our first parent teacher conference with Zane's teacher. We are all so lucky that he has such a great teacher. She understands that he may not appear to be listening because he already knows what they are talking about. She said that she will give him a special spelling list once the other kids are working on their words so that he can work on words that are a little harder, and learn the "spelling rules" and things like that. Also, we can request he be moved up on his reading level anytime. He needs to work on his writing because he tends to get "sloppy" (because he gets bored with it I'm sure) and "creative" and he tends to visit too much to finish his work. Great job Zane! We love you!

twinkle twinkle...

Zane participated in the school's storytime festival last night. He chose to do the nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Yeah, I know he was aiming high. Of course, he didn't recite it, he sang it. If I'd thought about, I should have had him do "Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat" from Alice in Wonderland, very entertaining!
It's sort of hard to hear him in this video, but enjoy!

evolution maybe?...

Zane and I have very interesting conversations at bedtime. After the usual, story, prayers, songs, the conversation went like this:

Zane: Did we used to be gorillas?

Me: (totally taken aback) What? Where did you hear that?

Zane: Spongebob (his answer for everything - he watches it a little too much I'm afraid).

Me: Well some people think that we started out that way. But we know that Heavenly Father made us to look like him. Do you think he looks like a gorilla?

Zane: Yeah, he started out like a gorilla, and now looks like us.

I never thought I would have a conversation about evolution with my 5 year old. No more Spongebob (ha!).

ni-night lizards...

I walked outside on Saturday past a bucket that holds various outdoor toys. I heard something shuffle around in there. It sounded MUCH to big to be a bug, so it definitely freaked me out. Of course, I made John look to see what it was.

Poor little guy must have scaled the house and then fallen in and couldn't climb back out. Who knows how long he was in there.

Lily is starting to use words more and more. We love to play this game with her.

Zane: are you ready for ni-night? Lily: (shaking head) noooo

from zane...(he typed this himself)

i want to be a chef everyday I HAVE A COLD ANd I AM scared of monsters IM Done

trick or treat...

What a great Halloween! I got Lily's costume finished at 11:30 the night before, yay me! I was worried she wouldn't wear it, because when she tried on the hood she was pretty upset about it. She doesn't even keep a ponytail or clip in her hair and throws a fit when I try to brush it, so I was pretty nervous. By the afternoon all dressed in her costume, she wore the hood just fine! Zane was an awesome Ironman - and loved to flex his muscles for everyone.

John took off for a minute from work to head over to the elementary school for the Halloween Parade. Zane was very excited to see us there. I remember doing those when I was a kid - and so I wanted to be there for him.

We started off the afternoon festivities by going to John's office to "trick or treat". Zane loves those little plastic pumpkins for trick or treating but I always throw them away because I hate having them around. I tried to get one this year but was too late, and they were gone. So we spent some time when we got back making treat bags out of pillowcases and some orange cord I bought. Zane drew a great picture of a haunted house complete with a ghost, and a storm at the top with lightning. He wrote "ooooooooo" and "scary scary" on it as well. I was quite impressed. I need to take a picture of it.

Then we headed to the annual neighborhood hot dog/chili dinner. It's a lot of fun to see all the kids (and some grown ups) dressed in their costumes. Then it was off trick or treating around the neighborhood. I'm not a big fan of the t or t-ing here because we have no street lights, and no sidewalks - but our neighborhood is pretty calm and there aren't a lot of kids. Last year we actually didn't get a single trick or treater at our house. Of course, we are up on a hill - and I imagine kids don't want to trek up our driveway. However, I think we might have got a half a dozen last night. And - for all you "northerners" just to make you jealous - I was trick or treating in my flip flops, tshirt and capris and was QUITE comfortable. Love the fall in St. George!

I didn't get a good picture of the pumpkins here but Zane did a Squidward (from Spongebob, his favorite) pumpkin complete with a big nose and of course John did the standard Double T pumpkin for "Lily". Go Raiders! (sidenote: they are ranked 7th and play UT ranked 1st tonight at home - watch it, ABC 6:00 pm MT)

My Ironman and his haul for the night.

An adorable (and somewhat saggy and baggy) pink elephant.

sweet tweets part 2....

Well all I can say is the best part of the trip was not the boutique! There weren't many shoppers, and I was sorta stuck in the corner of the basement. It's all good because we had a very interesting trip: complete with a car accident*, drug test in West Valley in the middle of the night, a beautiful set of nails, and a wonderful spinal touch massage. Oh, and of course, shopping! Thanks Steph for my nails and putting us up, and Heidi for fixing my ankles, holy cow, I owe you!

And hey... check out my display...turned out pretty good I think. All I want to add is a cool folding screen behind to hang my AWESOME banner I made, and possibly use it to display as well.



*Here's the story about the accident (since I know you will ask me questions after my "cryptic" post):

We stopped for gas once we got up north, and as we were trying to change lanes to get on the freeway - we "glanced" off a big truck. No damage to him, just a little to our right front fender. Well, since we were in a company car, we had to wait for the police, and then Sara had to get a drug test. It's company policy that anyone driving a company car, and there is damage to the car (whether or not you are even in it!), you have to get a drug test. We headed over to set up for our show, while we were trying to get in touch with the company to find out where to get a drug test done. By the time that was all worked out, it was 9:30 pm and we had to go clear out to West Valley to meet someone that was coming in specifically to give her a drug test. She had 3 big chunks of hair cut out, and had to do a breathalizer (she passed, obviously!). It made for a very very long day.

sweet tweets...

I'm headed to Salt Lake to be a part of this boutique. If you are in the area, stop by and say Hi. (I can't guarantee I will be there the WHOLE time). Also the ad says it ends at 8 pm Friday - but really it's 7 pm!

in case you were wondering...

kraft american cheese slices + baby hair = not good

silly lily...

This week has been a busy one. I drove up and back to Salt Lake on Friday again to take a friend and her baby up to a doctors appointment. It actually was a lot of fun, and nice to get a "day off". We totally lucked out and were able to have my friend Stephanie do Glitter Toes for us while we were up there. Very nice of her, thanks Steph!

Lily has been making a really funny laugh lately. She makes a real gutteral sound, sort of like an evil laugh. Too cute. I have tried and tried to catch it on video - and this is the best I could do. Enjoy!

i have to admit, this is pretty cool...

baby #3...

I had another appt. yesterday, a little earlier than expected. The Dr. that I had with Lily changed offices, and at the time I found out I was pregnant, he was not taking any new pregnancies at the old office. And of course, the old office would not tell me where he was going or what was happening with him. (pretty snotty of them in my opinion!). So, I decided to just stick at the old office with a different Dr. Well, I got a postcard in the mail the other day from my original Dr. with his new office information and phone number and a note saying he was taking appointments. Yay! I called right up and they got me in the next day.

I was elated all day yesterday that I get to go to the same Dr. that knows my history and was so good with the pregnancy with Lily. He knew right away who I was and was glad I had found him at his new place. I'm so glad to not have to go back to that yucky old office too! (They were terrible there!)

So, the baby....I got another ultrasound and the baby looks great. I even saw the baby flip around (kinda weird when they are so tiny you can't feel it). The subchorionic hemmorages look to be pretty much gone. Yay! What a fabulous day!

halloween spirit...

This past Saturday, I woke up feeling like I wanted to go to Salt Lake. So I arranged with John to watch Zane and I packed Lily up in the car and headed up. I wanted to go up to see Sara's stuff at the Oh Sweet Sadie Boutique. I am doing the Sweet Tweets Boutique in Salt Lake in October which will be a similar type show, so I wanted to get a feel for what type of stuff is there and how it all works. I left at 10:30ish am, arrived in Salt Lake around 3, stopped by for a visit at (great) Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's house, and then over to the boutique. I was able to spend an hour at the boutique, help Sara pack up (I was very little help) and then a quick stop for dinner at Training Table (mmmm turkey bacon ranch and cheese fries). We made it home again around midnight. Lily was quite the trooper (with the help of a few lollipops).

So Zane and I made this candy clip-a-day today. He loves making stuff with me. He always tell me "Mom, isn't today a great day" whenever we do projects together. I must not do stuff with him enough! I stole this idea from a friends blog. What a fun idea huh!

Zane got his first "leveled" reading book from the school this week. It was level F. They start at Level A. From what I've heard they should be at Level F by the middle of first grade, mr. smarty pants. So far the books have been easy for him - and I don't know how long they stay at each level. But I'm not at all going to push it, because really - he's in Kindergarten.

it's time to come out of the closet...

We are expecting! Baby #3 will join the Collins family sometime around April 19th, 2009. I am almost over the sickies, still tired, but ok. We've already had one u/s and I have something called a subchorionic hemmorage (actually 2 of them). It sounds MUCH scarier than it is. Mostly the Dr. said he would keep an eye on it, but that I should expect to bleed. What???? That's not nervewracking. Sorry if that was too much information. At 10 1/2 weeks though, I'm feeling much safer to announce it to the world. Yay us!

What Zane has been saying lately:

Us: Zane, calm down, you sure are being hyper.

Zane: I can't help it. Heavenly Father put hyper into me.

Us: Why do you think he did that?

Zane: To trick you.

Niiiiiicccceeeee.......

bedroom re-do...

This weekend, we decided to re-do Zane's bedroom. It's needed to be painted since we moved in (ahem almost 3 years ago). He picked out a "car" theme, of course. We got these great wall decal stickers at Target, and it came with a LOT! We also moved the queen bed from the guest/craft room into his room. We don't really have guests visit us all that much - so it was really just taking up space in there. We are going to convert the guest/craft room into a play room/craft room - so I can be working in there, while the kids are playing. That room is still a work in progress.

Before: (this picture was taken at night with flash.
These were dark blue walls AND ceiling - it was actually really dark in there)








After: (ignore the wrinkled curtain, and the ceiling is white)






*Note: Zane put these stickers up. He lined them all up like they are on a highway. He said "They are going to Cedar City."




John and I got new glasses too. At my last eye appointment the Dr. said that blood vessels were starting to grow into my corneas, which is a result of lack of oxygen (i.e. wearing your contacts too long without taking them out). So, I decided that I would take a break from my contacts and stick with glasses for a little while. I'm going to miss my sunglasses though.

*my glasses have cool moons and stars on the sides and a bluish tint behind the tortoise shell frames (This is a terrible picture - in all my no makeup, no showered glory! It's actually quite embarrassing, why am I sharing this?)

in the mood for more video?

Lily's latest trick. Love the binky switch at the end. Classic.

2 years ago....

Here is what John was doing just 2 years ago:

Enjoy!

*edited to note: I didn't think about the fact that a lot of you don't know that John is a tenor. He is the high tenor in the quartet, so you can easily pick him out. He sings loud as it is... but to sing sooo high and not in falsetto - he had to up his volume even more. Also, so you know, I don't think this was their best performance of this song (to my music "snob" sisters - yes they go a little flat - and you know I mean "snob" in the nicest way because I am one too).

a nice start to september...

We spent Labor Day weekend shopping for a new bed. No, we aren't getting a new bed. Just shopping for one. Maybe one day in the not so distant future. We tried every kind out there, and our recommendation is an intelli-gel type bed in case you were interested. Then it was back to school and normal routine. All is well.

I had a WhichWatch boutique this weekend for my sister, and I also had a chance to try out my new display for my jewelry which I will be selling at a boutique in Salt Lake in October. Just wish more people actually came to see it. What can you do. But you should all check out my sister's watches because they are seriously awesome, and they are on sale only until the 15th! http://whichwatch.etsy.com/

Also, this past weekend - on Friday, John (well really it was Lily) managed to lose his keys at the store. Still haven't turned up. And this morning Lily managed to break his glasses. This is only funny (or not) because he just had his glasses replaced about a year ago. He lost his really nice pair in the lake. Ask John about that one some time. Even after that incident, he didn't learn that he needed to have a backup pair. So we spent the entire day shopping for glasses, and eye exams, etc. Of course I had to drive him everywhere, because he's totally blind. Yay for September!

And for random cuteness(to go with the completely random post): picture of me and the kids, and Lily in pigtails (that lasted about 20 seconds).

phoenix getaway...

Zane had this week off of school for assessments, so we decided to hop in the car and head to Phoenix for a few days. Just me (Abi) and the kids drove out and spent 5 days at grandma and grandpa's house doing a lot of swimming in the pool, shopping, and eating out. And we actually all survived the drive. Zane is a big help in the car. It was a lot of fun to spend time with family and take a break from the usual here. Although, August is not the best month to visit Phoenix, yikes! John took the time while we were away to finish up a little painting around the house too, what a great guy! Of course, I brought my camera, but somehow managed to not take a single picture - so here is a picture of Lily in her way super cute new nightgown.

Oh yeah and Happy Birthday to me! I just turned 29 again!

activity days...

Anyone have ideas for activity days? I'm one of the leaders in the ward - and we've got a few good ones, but thought I would throw this out for any suggestions. We have all the girls ages 8-11. Any good ones that your daughters have attended? Any great ones you have planned or heard about?

first (and second) day of school....

Zane is an official kindergartener! Yesterday was his first day but it wasn't a regular day - just a meet the teacher sort of thing with his mom. Doesn't count. Today he got to ride the bus all by himself and go through the real deal. He's so grown up now. He sat and waited for the bus for almost a half an hour, he was so excited. I think I will like this extra time to get stuff done around the house. It's sorta nice that Lily naps right at the same time he goes to school - so I'm pretty free. Yippeee! I really think that if it wasn't for school, moms would go insane. Go Zane!

makin' a splash...

We spent some time yesterday at the city plaza downtown. They have a big splash pad, and a small river type area with waterfalls and rocks all over to climb on. It is still so stinkin' hot here, and the kids loved it! We got a taste of Lily's first tantrums too. Haha! Anytime I would pick her up to try and get her to another area, she would go limp on the ground and scream....oh so fun! At least she loves the water, just like her brother. Super cute kiddos.

san diego with the girls....

It was sooo much fun! Really, so fun! Hehe. When we got there on Friday, we spent some time catching up and playing "jewelry and watches" and then we headed out for a little shopping and a movie. On Saturday we headed to Coronado Island and hung out at the famous Hotel Del Coronado. The beach was beautiful there. Soft fine sand. I did really love it - in case you couldn't tell. We ate at the little cafe right on the beach. Perfect.


That afternoon, we spent some time at the pool, then more shopping close by. The hotel we stayed at was in Del Mar, close to Torrey Hills and the Torrey Pines Golf Course (where the US Open is). I really liked the area, it was up in the hilly part of San Diego. You would have no idea that the beach is just a few miles away. Also, the San Diego Temple was just a couple miles south of where we were staying. We didn't realize that until we saw it right after getting on the freeway to Coronado. So, we had to stop and take pictures.
On Sunday, we wanted to visit the beach again, and decided on La Jolla. We spent some time picking up shells on Shell Beach by La Jolla Cove, and looked at Seal Rock, which had a "few" seals on it.

We stopped at a couple of shops, and got berated by a shop owner for picking up seashells from the beach - because somehow that is going to destroy the planet. Then we ate at the "soon to be closed" Hard Rock La Jolla. Very tourist-y thing to do. Fitting that the background says "Save The Planet".
Thanks girls for a fun time, and especially Mom for footing most of the bill! Love you, can't wait for next year (maybe?)!

swimming...

Zane just finished swimming lessons. He had a lot of fun. I was quite surprised at how comfortable he has gotten in the water. He was holding his breath under water for 5 seconds, jumping in by himself, trying to "swim" under water, trying to float on his stomach and back, and jumping off the diving board. He does need to work on his coordination though. He had a hard time trying to move his arms in a "back stroke" and definitely couldn't figure out how to do his arms and legs at the same time. Too cute. Any ideas to help with a 5 year olds coordination? Do you think Karate, Gymnastics, Soccer, Football? I would appreciate any thoughts...



On another note, I leave tomorrow bright and early for San Diego on the 2nd Annual Cannon Girls Go Wild in a so NOT wild sort of way Extravaganza! Yipppeeeee! We are so wild that we just MIGHT go ocean kayaking...oooooohhhhhh yeah!

Thank you John for watching the kids, I love you!