Raymond Comets/Purpose

I guess I had to face the inevitable and get back to blogging sometime. I've been neglectful of my little blog and hope to be a bit better at it. My Mom, of all people, said that her and my sister were wondering why I hadn't blogged for so long. I guess that's a clear sign that I need to get back to it...lol



To start off, Christmas was great. It was really quiet and we got some really wonderful gifts. Tanner was spoiled as usual and he's really enjoying his gifts. We've had a busy New Year already. We went up to Calgary to attend Matt's Grandma's 90th birthday at Heritage Park. We had the brunch there which was heavenly and really yummy. The new year also brought Tanner pneumonia *insert eye roll*. Let's just not talk about that o.k.? Great. I am leaving this week for Las Vegas to go to a Chiropractic Seminar with the office I work in. I am WAY excited! I'm actually kind of giddy about it. I am really excited to learn some new things and just expand my knowledge. Matt's been really busy as he's had to work extra hours in the morning as the head custodian at the school was sick in the hospital. It's been a long week for him and I'm glad he'll get some sort of break while I'm gone. We attended our first Sugarbowl Tournament and it was pretty good I thought. Which brings me to my first deep thoughts of the year.

I do not claim to know basket ball as an expert and I don't even know all the rules but as far as I've seen this year so far, our team is okay. I think it would be hard to be on the team this year after they've had so much success with such amazing players in previous years but they seem to be getting some flack for that. I only saw a couple of games last year and yes they were really good but I think it discredits the team this year when people say they aren't as good as last years team. Well of course they're not! They have new 'star' players that have different strengths than those of the 'star' players last year. They also have new coaches. I think it's unfair to compare the team this year to any in the past because so much has changed. I have my own feelings/opinions about the team but, overall, I can see that they are really trying and they are doing the best they can in the moment. Like all teams on or off a court/field, there's always room for improvement. I imagine it is hard to remember all that you've learned when you're on the court and the adrenaline is running through you and all you want to do is win. It's only the beginning of the season and we have some really good players that I think will only get better. I'm glad that I didn't see a lot of games last year because I think it gives me a new and fresh perspective on the team that we have now....not the team that we had in the past. I am excited to watch the team this year and hopefully they make it to the championships but if not, I hope their efforts won't go unnoticed because they are coming out of the shadows of a former team of champions.

Happiness is

Friends and family

Work

Hugs

Hot showers with my music blarin'

Secret Pixie gifts

Love

Advice

Cleaning

Service

God

Tanner

Matt

A humidifier

Motrin

Water

You

Me

Snow falling

Getting cards in the mail


What are you happy about today?

Being an only child

The other day I was imagining the reasons it would be so nice to be an only child:

-If your Mom got you a cereal you liked, you wouldn't have to worry about your sisters/brothers eating it. OR taking the last bowl of it when you really wanted it.

-you can have your pick of seat in the vehicle

-you can do your homework with no distraction with one on one help from your parent.

-you don't have to worry about your sibling walking in on you while changing

-you can snuggle with your Mom and Dad in the bed without it getting crowded.

-you can have a bath all to yourself

-you have no one to blame your mis-deeds on...except if you're tanner and you have an imaginary brother named banner.

-siblings won't wreck your stuff

So there you have it. My list of why it's great to be an only child. There is also some non great stuff too but lets look at the good : )

I made stuff from Pinterest!

For my work Christmas party, I attempted to make a couple things that I had pinned on pinterest. I was in charge of games and instead of buying or making things to give away as the prizes, I made treats. I have been wanting to try these couple of things so I thought what better time to make them.

This is Candy Cane Popcorn. Easy. I just got some of the candy cane Hershey kisses and melted them (with a double boiler) and then poured it over popcorn. This is really easy and it is a good alternative if you don't have candy canes but want the flavor of peppermint.

This was suppose to be White Chocolate Almond bark popcorn. It did NOT turn out very well. Matt over-cooked the chocolate and when we tried to melt white chocolate chips...it didn't end well. Luckily we saved some of the white almond bark and we used what we had left. You're supposed to follow the directions on the package but I got mine at Bulk Barn so there was no instructions and I didn't know exactly how to melt it. We...I mean I salvaged what I could and it was edible but there are big chunks of Candy Cane coated with over cooked chocolate. If you want to see the original go HERE

The only difference between the 2 kinds of popcorn, really, are that the bark has Almonds in it and real crushed Candy Canes. The 1st kind is just plain.

These are SUPER easy. Just get pretzels, place a Candy Cane Hershey kiss on them, place them in your oven at 170 for about 10 minutes. When they come out, press an M&M into them. Let cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy! I tried to do this last year but I over baked them and they didn't turn out very good. The kiss won't melt totally but they will be soft enough to put the candy on top.

I am really excited to make more stuff and will let you know when I do. Have you made anything that you've pinned?

O Christmas Time!

In the land of Collins', this is what's been up:

-we started our book advent calendar. How's it going? Good, other than Tanner doesn't really want to do the activities that go with the book. Oh well...we have a daily activity calendar for the month of December.

-if you are not on facebook, you may not know that Tanner has the chicken pox. Yes, he does. I am glad I don't have 4 girls who had them all right after each other and I couldn't leave my house for the WHOLE month of December (yes, that was my sisters and I). How lucky am I.

-Matt and Tanner have both had the flu in the last week. Yep. I'm not sure I've had it. I haven't vomited but there are some days I feel like it.

-my work's Christmas party is this Sunday. I am SUPER excited!!!! I get to do the games which I'm stoked about (not in a literal sense). I LOVE playing games. I live for them...well, that's an exaggeration but I do love them.

-my gift for the above mentioned christmas party is 'da bomb. This is my new phrase lately. Anyways, mine and Matt's gift are for sure the best.

-for the games for the christmas party, I am actually trying out a couple of recipes from pinterest. Yep, it's true. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

-I made a gift that I pinned on pinterest for one of my gifts. I can't post it right now (even though I am 99% sure none of the people I work for even look at my blog or even know I have one). I will post it after the partay!

-I am going to Las Vegas in January. Yes, you read that right. I, Mandy Collins, who HATES hot weather and going to new places am going to Las Vegas. It is for a seminar for work and we are all going. I'm not gonna lie...I'm kind of excited. I'm mostly excited for the new things I'm going to learn.

-Matt is seriously the HARDEST person to buy for. He doesn't want to buy movies he's already seen because "I've already seen them". He doesn't like books. He isn't a clothes horse like some guys I know. He's mostly in work clothes. He likes food. But he's kinda choosy about what he likes at certain times. Anyways, I got him something that I told him he will like.

-I went to Lethbridge today all by myself and it was glorious! I took my time and felt relaxed and it was great. No "Mom, can I have this" "Mandy, let's get this" "Can we look at the toys" "I'm going to just wait in the car".

-We'll be in Calgary at least once in the next 3 months with Doctor appointments for Tanner.

Other than that, we are ready for Christmas.

Christmas Book Advent

I came across a couple of blogs that shared some advents that they do. One of the ideas was a book one. I thought it was a great idea and have been searching around for activities to do with the books. We also have an separate activity one that we have done for the last 2 years. They are more traditional things like going to the ward party, sleep under the tree, go to the First Presidency Devotional etc. I thought I would share what I have planned for this year.

Every year, we get a new Christmas movie. I got this one. My sisters and I saw it as little girls and I LOVE it! It's more of a nostalgic one for me.

The activity with this book is to make paper birds.

I'm going to attempt to do a simple origami star with Tanner.

We're going to string Popcorn and put it on the tree.

No activity for this day...unless I can come up with one in the next week.

Paper Santa hats

Tie bows on the Christmas Tree

Make snow angels (either in the snow or hand print angels)

Make Cinnamon Buns

Go sledding or make tissue paper trees

We're having a Polar Express party...p.j's, hot chocolate and inviting some friends over and watching the movie.

Making picture frames

Making glitter stars

building a village out of blocks and playing a game

Making trees out of Sugar Cones and candy

Making snowmen with shaving cream

Making stables out of shoe boxes

going through our toys/clothes and donating what we don't use anymore

making antlers to wear

decorating gingerbread men

Reading the story of the Birth of Christ in Luke.

playing a game. similar to pin the tail on the donkey, except it's put the stable in the manger.

making who-pudding and watching the movie

having a Jerusalem Dinner

We are doing this book on the 24th and we are going to the Live Nativity pageant this night to remind ourselves the true meaning of Christmas.

Our Traditional yearly activities include:

-get a new cd

-go to the town's old fashioned Christmas

-put up the tree (or this year, the decorations around the house)

-write down our memories from the year

-take cookies to neighbors/friends

-write Santa

-have a p.j. party and watch a Christmas movie

-write goals for the next year

-Watch 'The Nativity Story'

-have a $5 dinner

-go sledding, build a snowman, go ice skating (we usually use all 3 over the course of 24 days)

-sleep under (or as close as possible to)the tree

-donate old (but good and not broken) toys and clothes

-drive around town and look at the lights (we usually do this closer to the 25th AND on the 24th on the way home from the Nativity pageant because most everyone has their lights on on the 24th).

-make hot chocolate

-have a Jerusalem dinner

-go to the live Nativity Pageant

-get a new Christmas movie

UPDATE: I did NOT purchase all these books. Some of them were given to us, some of them are ones that I have ordered over the years from the school book orders, some were given to us. I did, however, purchase 5 of the more classic ones because Tanner didn't have, for example, the night before Christmas, The Polar Express and How the Grinch...

We still have about 15 books that were not used for this years advent. Next year, we'll switch it up and put them in the advent and take out some of the ones from this year.

If this is something you would like to do, I figure if you purchase a book each month (either from the book store or an online place) you could have 12 of your own books and then near Christmas, put a hold on 12 other books from the Library. That way you can switch it up. We love books at our house and so I am planning on buying new ones over the next year, but if you don't want to invest in books for yourself but want the fun of the book advent, you could get books from the library. I'm really excited to do this. I think it will be really fun!

Tanner's 8th birthday

Tanner's 8th birthday was a blast! These pictures are backwards but whatever...
Tanner got star wars lego 3 from my sister, Amy, and I think that was his favorite. He wasted no time and went downstairs to play it seconds after he ripped it open.





A star wars card from Amy. She always gives the coolest cards.

The birthday party! Tanner is not a fan of sparklers but my Mom found this '8' one and I didn't want a bunch of wax melted on his cake.

His friends making a silly face.

The actual day of his birthday, he wanted to have Chicken Noodle soup with Dad at work. Easy peasy.

We were all a little tired this day...can you tell???

Here is our amazing dinner that Tanner chose.

I also made these 2 wreaths. This one was for me.

This one I made for Erica (don't worry, I already gave it to her)

Matt organized games for the party and the kids seemed to have lots of fun.

Thank You

I just had to share THIS video and express my deepest thanks to everyone who ever helped us and prayed for us after we had Tanner. This really hit so close to my heart and I am just so grateful for everyone who helped us in any way during that time. Words don't even begin to come close to be able to begin to express my deepest gratitude. I will always be eternally grateful for friends, family and perfect strangers who showed us so much love and faith and support during a very challenging time in our lives.

I am also so grateful to those who show their love and support to us now, currently. My cup runneth over with gratitude for those who care for and love us in any and all ways.

We are so grateful to have the blessing of Tanner.



P.S. remember how I have a 9 year old son named Banner??? (for those of you trying to figure this out, Banner is Tanner's imaginary brother). Banner has a dog named Jam and he's a small black dog : )

Thinking out loud

I've been in a bit of a funk lately. Feeling really stressed out and easily irritated/annoyed. So I was telling someone about this and they asked why I was so stressed out and when I started to get into this funk. I can't really pin point it...I think it's just been a lot of little random stuff adding up...you know like a kettle building up pressure, except I know the pressure is building up. Anyways, so I was asked if I was regularly reading my scriptures and praying. I'm not at all trying to justify by behavior but I just haven't made the time. I use to be so good at this. We're good at family scripture reading and praying but I'm not that good at individual stuff.

Anyways so this is the response "You are in a state of rebellion". I never thought of my "state" as a state of rebellion. I mean, I always thought being rebellious was about being defiant and I don't feel like I'm being defiant. My attitude isn't "who cares, I don't want to read the scriptures or pray". I know I should, but like I said before I have CHOSE not to make the time. I get too easily distracted by wasteful things like Pinterest or facebooking or t.v. So I have decided to take a break and try to get re-focused on what's important and not be in a state of rebellion.

Not that I blog very often, but I think I'm going to wait until the end of the month to post again.

I have felt for about 2 weeks that I was going to crash and burn and I can feel it coming on so I just need to slow down and take it easy for awhile. So for the time, I bid you all well : )

Matthew Dear

(Photo by Kinsey Holt)

I try not to talk about Matt or our relationship on my blog for many reasons. Mostly because I try to be fiercely loyal to our relationship. No relationship is perfect and mine is not an exception to that, but it really bothers me when people complain about their husbands so publicly on their blogs or are disloyal to them by making fun of not just their spouses but men in general. What if for one day, we thought nothing about ourselves or what we wanted but of our spouses and how much they do for us. I don't do this on a regular basis but lately I have thought more and more during the day about Matt and what I can do for him and not myself. Matt seriously has so much patience. He never complains about helping other people, he makes Tanner's lunches every morning, he listens to my frustrations about silly things that in my heart I know don't really matter but in the moment get me frustrated, he is so good with kids, he can find just about anything I have lost, plus he just loves me for me. I'm so glad that Matt and I are married and that we get to grow old together.