Jenna Rose

It's official Bryan's little sister, Jenna is getting married. Hard to believe she is old enough since I have known her since she was 4 or 5yrs old. We had a nice time at her bridal shower last night. Olivia and Chrystina did such a great job with everything!! All I did was play photographer, but that's not saying much.

This box made her blush!

See what I mean? She is getting married a great guy named Cragen and guess what...he loves to hunt!

Jeannette, Olivia, Jenna, Karen, Chrystina, and me...all the Collins girls.

Jenna was just 8yrs old when Bryan and I got married and remember her being at my bridal shower. Here is Emery, now almost 9 soaking up all the action, she even won a game.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Before things get a little busy around here, I wanted to make sure and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. It does seem like this very important holiday gets over looked sometimes with the all Christmas shopping and etc, but I love the chance to spend the day with family and really enjoying what matters most.

I do love my job!!

I love my job as a mommy, housewife, and babysitter. There are times when I feel a little overwhelmed, tired, unappreciated (just a few a of those), and maybe even under qualified for the job. But than my cute little almost two year old son, says "Hi Mommy!" everytime I walk in a room. My 3yr old beams with joy because she finally pooped on the pottie and will now get 2 stickers instead of 1. My toothless 7yr old shares with me that she bought an Ashley Tisdale poster for $2.00 from a friend at school (what??? I'm thinking), but still cute. Than there is my 8yr old, soon to be 9 and changing so much, but still has the desire to help and still has the best laugh. These moments out weigh all the others, and still there is one thing that makes my job so much easier, it is eternal companion Bryan. His littlest sister Jenna is about to be married in Jan. 2009 and it really causes me to think about our special day and all the years we have shared. The other day he brought me home a little bag of hershey kisses (candy cane ones, yummy)and it just made the day so much better.

Here are a few snaps we took a couple of weeks ago...we do it all for them.


(Thanks Lindsay for helping me make these look great...and inspiring me to try new things with photography.)

On the Move

Saturday was a beautiful day, weather wise. It was almost 80 degrees out here in Yuba. We can be so spoiled in California. We packed our day, with mostly outdoor things to do, which is so nice because sometimes I feel like even on the nice days we are in the house all day.

My good friend Lindsay took some family pictures of us. It has become somewhat of a tradition to take pictures every fall, and of course I love it because I am in love with this time of year and all the leaves changing. I will share those later...Lindsay is working her magic on them....thanks Lindsay.

After we had back to back soccer games with a primary activity thrown in the between those games.

So we finally arrived home around 3:30pm or so and of course the day was not done yet, the lawn needed some attention (Bryan's job). I would do it but everytime I touch the lawn mower it doesn't work right...that's funny. The girls willingly helped depoop the backyard, always exciting. We ended the day with a trip to Sams Club and the Pet store before heading home to take baths and go to bed. It really was a nice day.

Clothing Curse?

Ok...seriously I'm wondering if anyone else who has ever been pregnant felt like there maternity clothes were cursed? Let me clarify, my selection is limited of course, you wouldn't think this with having five kids, but it is. Of course it doesn't help that I don't like to shop for clothes and I definately don't like to shop for maternity clothes. It seems in the last week or so I have managed to ruin, yes ruin 3 shirts, shirts I needed that now I have to replace...it is starting to bug me, can you tell. Magically though it's a nice curse in some ways because at least the curse has only affected my own clothing and not the ones I have borrowed from my sister-in-law, Chrystina. Who I should mention is awesome and has way too many clothes in her home!! She is the one who has clothed Brody for most of his life thanks to her son being just a year older.

The Reason...

(Emery said this flower reminded her of a jellyfish)
I thought I would just take a minute and explain my title to my blog. I changed it soon after our church had it's General Conference in October. This is when our beloved President spoke to us about change. It was one of those talks that felt like it was given for me, the whole thing, not just one part, but all of it just struck a chord in my heart. Here is a glimpse of what he said,

"I begin by mentioning one of the most inevitable aspects of our lives here upon the earth, and that is change. At one time or another we’ve all heard some form of the familiar adage: “Nothing is as constant as change.”

Throughout our lives, we must deal with change. Some changes are welcome; some are not. There are changes in our lives which are sudden, such as the unexpected passing of a loved one, an unforeseen illness, the loss of a possession we treasure. But most of the changes take place subtly and slowly.

If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.

Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.”3 We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us.

Despite the changes which come into our lives and with gratitude in our hearts, may we fill our days—as much as we can—with those things which matter most. May we cherish those we hold dear and express our love to them in word and in deed.

This was just a great reminder for me, because I can get so consumed with all that is going on around me. I have been trying to make a sincere effort everyday to follow his words, because simply put he is right. Especially these days, there are a lot of things in the world that can be upsetting, so instead of pondering them, I'm just trying to find the Joy in the Journey.