It's All About Emilie

My sweet little girl just turned 8! This of course is a very special birthday. Emilie has been so excited to be baptised. She was counting down the days. I was also looking forward to getting some beautiful pictures of my little doll in her white dress. As you can see she is absolutely beautiful (prejudices aside...she is adorable)!

Emilie was baptised by her Daddy. Thanks to all who came to support her on this very important day!

Emmie's birthday comes at such a fun time, just 4 days before Halloween. So of course we have to have fun with it! She picked her meal (a family tradition), I just spiced it up a bit.

We figured that since she was going to get baptised on Halloween that we might as well have a huge Halloween party afterward. What a fun excuse to PARTAY! Lots of yummy fun food. I wish I would have thought to take pictures of all the fun Halloween goodies. We had a costume contest, which was won by Amber's fiance Jon. He was the cutest call girl I've ever seen!

We carved pumpkins, learned the Thriller dance, went trick-0r-treating on a hey ride, and just had a blast!

In picture:

Greg and Sherilynn Goodworth (Octomom and Scarecrow), Alex Hansen (Death), Jeff Collins (the Nun), Steve and Mandy (Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb), Tate was Bumblebee, Tyler a skunk, Talon (that scary masked skeleton thing), Taden Gunn (as himself), Me (a Gypsy), Grandpa Collins (SCARY monster), Grandma Collins (witch), Cameron (the Grim Reaper), Brant (an injured hockey player), Steph and Russ Hansen (Frankinstin's bride, and a Punk rocker), Savanah (a kitty cat), Stetson Gunn ( Who knows what that is!!), Madison M. (Super Woman), Jon and Amber (the Call girl and his Pimp), Alison G. (Santa), Grandpa and Grandma Hyer (Weirdo and Flapper), Emilie (devil), Stephanie and Maurlee (herself and a princess), I can't see Caden or Ports, but they were Death and an Army guy. Also not in picture...Jacob and Justin. Leilani's Family and the rest of Carries Family (left early...Party Poopers!)

May I Have this Dance?

Pause the music at the bottom of the blog so you can hear the music they were dancing with :0)

Key the music! Anytime music is playing, these kids love to dance. They are so dang cute!!! I'm glad I thought to record it since I've never seen them dance like this before!

Nice Lashes!

Just thought I would show off my lashes (compliments of Latisse). I love them!!! If you don't know what Latisse is, google it... It is a RX that you can get that actually helps you grow your eyelashes LONGER, THICKER, and DARKER. Can't beat that!!!

Happy 12th Birthday Caden!

Caden is now a Deacon! He is so excited to now go to young men's and to be able to pass the Sacrament. He did such a great time on Sunday. Cade is such a good boy, one of the best! He is also very excited to be in middle school. His favorite class is band with Mr. Goodworth. He says he is going to make band cool :0). He is starting on the Trumpet. He will do great I'm very sure. Cade is a very smart boy and excels in school. Most everything comes easy for him. He is also a great help around the house and also a great babysitter. Love you Caden!!!

14th Anniversary!

What a wonderful 14 years we have had. We both marvel at how much more we love each other since the day we were married. At that time it seemed impossible that it could be stronger. We are the perfect match in all ways. Thanks honey for the wonderful day you gave me on Sat. We had so much fun! Also, thanks to Leilani for taking the kids for the weekend so we could have some nice alone time!

Is this all we did all summer? Pretty much!

In the past the Collins Family has gone to Lagoon for a wild and crazy day of rides, however this year we decided to go to Bear Lake. We all had so much fun.
Calub is the Little Mermaid, Talon build the Logan Temple, Caden created his version of the Bear Lake Monster, and Aimee, Calub, and Josh built great castles!

We were the only ones willing to try water skiing...Caden, Talon, Holly, Jeff, and Russ Hansen. The rest are a bunch of babies!

Porter had his 5th Birthday! He got a Gameboy and some games from us and Grandma and Grandpa Collins. He also got $6, which he is very excited to spend. He chose Pizza for dinner, always a favorite for him!

Porter is such a fun little guy. He always has a way of making me smile and laugh. Port's best friend is Carson Goodworth. They LOVE to hang out and do so almost on a daily basis. He is also my pickiest eater. I think he only loves meat and sweet...He at least isn't gagging anymore when I make him try new things. One baby step at a time. I am hoping by his next birthday that he will at least eat a few veggies and fruits! Porter is a great singer, however he requires some bribery sometimes to do his best singing. He loves to sing How Firm a Foundation. He is also great at choosing the right...well most of the time anyway :0)

Love you Ports!!!!

Parades and Beaches, What fun!

This is a picture from our 5th parade we have done this summer! The the
me was "Back in time 2009". I didn't know that this parade was on Monday, I thought I had a full week to get ready for it, but no I had 1 day, and what can you do on a Sunday to get ready?? So after cramming my brain for a little bit I thought, Big hair 80's would be so funny. I was totally laughing my butt off as I was getting us all ready. It was like stepping back in time with my hair :0). I wish I would have got a better pic of Talon, he was halarious! Under his jacket all he had on was some big necklases. Isn't Brin a doll! Anyway, our float theme was "Then...Now, Bear Lake ROCKS!!!" We had 80's music blaring out a speaker, and we got some pretty good laughs as we went by! :0) Too Fun!




This is Brin's new cousin Tyler. Mandy and Steve are his foster parents. They have just been given the go ahead to adopt this little cutie. I am so happy for all of them. He will be very loved and cherished in thier family! The other pic is Carrie, Mandy, Ty, and me :0)

Janice, Julie, Meg, Sherilyn, and some of our kids

Want to Make a Bet?

I bet you cannot read this post and not laugh out loud. I stole this from a friend and had to post it!

BANNED FROM WAL-MART...
This is why women should not take men shopping against their will. After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunately, my wife is like most women - she loved to browse. Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Wal-Mart:

Dear Mrs. Gilbert,
Over the past six months, your husband has been causing quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against Mr. Gilbert are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras.
1. June 15: Took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they weren't looking.
2. July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.
3. July 7: Made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women's restroom.
4 July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, 'Code 3 in Housewares... Get on it right away.'
5.. August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.
6. August 14: Moved a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.
7.. August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told other shoppers he'd invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department.
8. August 23: When a clerk asked if they could help him he began crying and screamed, 'W why can't you people just leave me alone?'
9. September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.
10. September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.
11. October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the ' Mission Impossible' theme.
12. October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his 'Madonna look' by using different sizes of funnels.
13. October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through yelled, 'PICK ME! PICK ME!'
14. October 21: When an announcement came over the loud speaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed, 'OH NO! IT'S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!' And last, but not least...
15. October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, 'Hey! There's no toilet paper in here!'

Sincerely,
Wal-Mart

Haha! You snorted admit it!

Time for new family Pics

I still need to get to our family pics, but for now here are the kids. See more of my favorites on my photo blog.

Maple Dell 2009

We had another great year with Jeff's family. We go every year to Payson Canyon and camp at Maple Dell, a boy scout ranch. We were not able to go up this year on Friday like we always do, so Neil (Jeff's dad) got us a hotel room so we could swim and have fun. The next day he took us to the Dinosaur Museum at ThanksgivingPoint. We all had a great time, especially the kids!

Jannie and Mom found a very distant relative that passed down the "cankles" that they lament having.

Big Fish! All my boys wish they could catch one this big!

Brinley's first time fishing. Porter caught a fish but didn't want anything to do with it once he got it. Talon caught his fish early in the morning, it jumped into a row boat full of water and he spent the rest of the day scooping water out of the boat and trying to catch the smart fish. Finally All his hard work paid off and he caught the poor fish for a second time.