Just a couple I couldn't help but post...

Ava nailing Aidan with the hose, she definitely got busted for this one!
Ava and Aidan trying to hold the rainbow. So cool.
Look at the water coming out of the hose! So cool!
This is my favorite, they're looking at each other!

Only 2 days left...here's the Collette 411...

K crazy to me, the kids plowed through a HUGE bowl of edamame. It must be their 1/8 Japanese kickin' in:) Seriously they hardly touched their, in my opinion, bomb-diggity lasagna.
Ava got braids one morning and now it's an every morning to do list item. Mostly because she loves the waves...

We made bran muffins! Doing this after baths was a bad idea:) Ava kept calling them brown muffins! " Come on Aidan, get serious about this. We're trying to make Brown muffins for mom and dad...", she'd say. Talk about a funny little girl.

More Fun in Texas!

Little sidewalk chalk shout out to Derek & Steph! Sidewalk chalk was a HIT!

Chuck E. Cheese and Aidan got a little intimate. haha. A few mins before this he was crying terrified of him. Talk about a change of heart<3
I'm the best Auntie in the world, the whole Chuck E. Cheese fun place could hear me "Come on kids, shoot em' down! Shoot em' up Ave! Get them!!" Steph is gonna kill me:)
The three amigos...eating my favorite food, even at Chuck E. Cheese it's pretty decent! Haha!

Steph would be so proud! These are my fave pics so far...

We play games a LOT...

Hide and seek is Ava's fave right now, and this ultra-creative hiding spot is her favorite one, every time she hides in fact. And if I can't manage to see her by some insane camouflage....

Aidan to the rescue, again, every time:)
This is her "found ya" hairstyle, it's all the new rage!
Ava trying her best to count and not cheat every time...

...but, it just as hard not to peek at Aidan's always clever hiding spots, every time!

SAN ANTONIO & MY FAVORITE 2 KIDS!

So Steph & Derek's anniversary was yesterday, August 22. I swear it was just a little bit ago that I was so mad that Steph had decided to leave me forever for some guy:) I was the ripe age of 17 and thought I was so very smart and knew what was best for me and my BFF and it could not be this Derek kid from Idaho. Well, it is 6 years and many life events later today and I couldn't be happier about how things have turned out and where they are going for their cute family. (Except maybe the fact that they are in Texas and not my next door neighbors:) So, Derek surprised Steph with a cruise out of Galveston, TX for their anniversary they are going down to Cozumel, Mexico for 5 days and who got to come down and watch the babies? ME! When she asked me I was so excited, I don't have kids yet, but they better look out because I don't know how I could love any kids more than Ava and Aidan. So, the next week of posts you can plan on being ALL about them! A little side note, I came alone because Bill has to work, but he is coming down on Wednesday and I am seriously counting down the hours. Not to get all cheeseball on you, but I hate being apart. He makes me feel safe and happy and I love traveling with him because if you know me, I DESPISE flying. I have a big problem and when Bill is there I can at least cry into his shirt instead of embarrassing myself by crying out loud into my hands when I'm alone. I can usually get an extra pack of biscotti or peanuts with the hysteria, so that's an upside! Haha.

Put the house on the market! Lots of work to do!

The backyard fence and the patio before they got attacked by me:)
...And after! Doesn't look like much but seriously, hours of digging in the dirt, dust and bugs. I stained the porch! The Jim Tiner in me came out in full bloom.
We wanted to replace our 1980's lighting for our pictures Ryan the realtor was going to take Tuesday morning. This lighting story took all day on Monday and into the night... I tried to paint the old ones and that didn't go over so well:) We got two cool new ones. The first one was a breeze, the second one was at the highest pitch of our roof, like 25 feet in the air. In order to reach it we needed our Island, the kitchen table, and a 8 foot ladder on TOP of it. Bill is only scared of a few things in this world, one being mice ( wish I coulda got a picture at Girls Camp of him jumping 6 feet every time he saw a mouse. It makes me tear up laughing thinking about it!) and the other being heights. So my little light fixture hero was on this ladder on a table ALL night. We went to Home Depot 4 times on that day because we would get the light in finally and it wouldn't light up. Finally they gave us a nicer light for the same price because I pitched a small fit right before they closed. Every time I had to to brace the ladder I would giggle to myself silently so hard it hurt my abs because I could feel him twitching. Then I had to go up the ladder at one point, and I never laughed again, that was so high! I felt really bad:(

Old one I tried to paint brown. No bueno. And Ugly.



Don't mess.
the apparatus



The final work! So cute! I love our two new lights! They almost cost Bill's life, Edgar the Home Depot guy's life and our marriage, but by midnight, look how it all came together. Awesome.

Girl's Camp 2009! Holla!

So a week or so later after Bill's family went back to California, I got to go to Girl's Camp for the first time in 7 or 8 years. I wasn't too far behind luckily so I wasn't totally the old fogie leader, we still played the cup game for those of you Butte Meadows Alumni! But, if you know me, it's only natural that my "cup" in the cup game was my Diet Coke can. My saving grace for these 4, yes 4 days without showering, sleeping, or eating healthywas this sweet little 12 ounce can:) Actually it was on the 3rd day, when Bill came to the priesthood leader for a night, THAT was my saving grace because there were tons of bear warnings and lots of sightings and I had a hard time remembering I was a leader! Anytime the YW president would give instructions about clean up or the next activity to the group, I'd nod like, "yes ma'am" and then remember I was in charge too and turn toward the girls! Haha. It was really fun to remember how Girls Camp was something I LOVED. Soooo much.

Yet another reunion, yes the 4th one in a row!!

So my family went home and in the mean time Bill's awesome mom Triss, flew out to watch Rosie the rottweiler (our cute dog) so we could be at my reunion. When Bill and I came home he would go to work and Triss and I spent the week together shopping, going to lunch, and redoing one of my bathrooms! It was so fun. Have I mentioned I don't have a job? That would be why I have so much time on my hands to do such things and hey, to start a blog! So the last weekend in July Liam and Jim drove out for the Carter family reunion. We had a fun BBQ in Orem and went to the Timpanogos temple for a session on saturday. Of course I forgot my camera (I have not fully attained blogger status apparently because my camera is not in my purse 24/7 yet. Dang it.) so I don't have any pics. But are some of the re-done bathroom. The previous decor was not my doing, in fact I hated going in that bathroom it bugged me so much! It had big white and poop brown stripes on one wall, two walls were all poop brown, and the last wall was just white and there was a nasty clear shower curtain. Nothing a little Tai Pan, Hobby Lobby, Lowe's ( boo Home Depot shout out to Triss & Jim! haha!) and Bed, Bath & beyond can't beautify!



So I had no "before" pictures of the bathroom, but this is pretty close I thought. A little bit of garbage and too much plain white walls:)



These are my after pictures! I painted 3 walls a light tan and the one on the right a darker tan. Bought some accessories at Tai Pan and Hobby Lobby, towels and a cute shower curtain at Bed, Bath and Beyond and a new mirror and voila!

Going on our 4th straight week of family reunions here...

So back down to Utah for the Furniss family reunion in Morgan. It was so hot that on the way back down the canyon we stopped and pulled a Bruce Tall Family move and went hiking along a river for swimming holes. It was so cold that it was hard to get in. Plus, the color was a terrifying hue of split pea soup. Slowly most of us got in and some went floating down the river and discovered it was dotted with boulders. I was crying laughing at Bill, Dal, Jordan and my Dad run into something big under the surface every 3 feet or so. It was pretty funny, especially when they got back in and went down again.

The boys forging the river...such warriors.

Mom & Prego Chels

The crew looking for a place to get in...
She's so cute pregnant. That's jordan behind her trying to talk himself into getting in. It took 3 hours or so, but he got in!

50th wedding and cabin week pics

So, remember me saying Steph rules at picture taking? Case in point. I LOVE these pictures that were actually snapshots. I framed them in my house.
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Cute Cute.
I don't actually like chocolate all that much, but these were amazing.
Um, this belongs in some dude magazine. GQ? I think Bill looks like David Beckham in this pic-no complaints here:)