May Highlights
- My brother left for his internship in New York- He is a graphic designer, and interned at Johnson and Johnson. We took family pictures before he left, first time with the babies!
I love them!
- We bought a new car! Zach and I haven't had a car payment in our whole marriage, such a blessing. But Zach found a really good deal on a Lexus IS 250, and we figured my 1997 Honda Accord had seen better days, and may give out any day.. so we decided to go for it. We love it!
- Started enjoying drives/hikes/walks/bonfires up the canyons! Utah is seriously so beautiful in the summertime. It's quickly become one of our favorite things about Utah, and Utah summers.
This is one of my favorite pictures, taken in the Little Cottonwood Canyon.
We also drove up to Silver Lake, it was my first time there.. because it was so warm in the valley, we ignorantly thought it would be the same there- nope! There was still snow! And I was in flip flops.. needless to say, it was too cold for my little feet, and I didn't finish walking the trail. I still got a couple of pretty pictures though!
- Celebrated my 28th birthday (this year was a harder one for me..) at the Cheesecake Factory. Zach knows how much I've been wanting a canvas print of a wedding picture and ordered it for me! He also bought me a 60 minute massage and foot scrub- perfect gift!
June Highlights
- My aunt Louise and cousins Daniel, Jennifer, Ansley, and Haley came to visit from GA! They have never been out here, so it was fun showing them around and so fun to spend time with them! I was able to take a day off work and go to the Salt Lake Temple and visit Temple Square with them. I miss my GA family!
-We got lucky and had MORE GA visitors! The Phillips family! My older sister and I used to babysit them, and have been good friends ever since. Their whole family came out to visit this year. We enjoyed a hike up to Donut Falls, barbecue, farmers market, and just hanging out! All the girls stayed at my house one night for a girls night and sleepover- we did pedicures, ate junk food, and watched chick flicks! I loved having them here!
July Highlights
- Of course we enjoyed the 4th of July holiday! I love summer!
- Some friends told us about a fun date night- the Moonlight Lift Ride at Sundance! They only do it once a month (during the full moon)- it's about a 45 minute roundtrip ski lift ride at sunset. It sounded fun, and we had never done it..so I planned a date night for us! It was relaxing, and such a fun date night. It is absolutely beautiful there, and the moon in pictures just doesn't even do it justice!
- Celebrated our niece's (Sage) first birthday!
She LOVED the smash cake. This little girl has so much personality. I love her! I can't believe she's one! She adds so much to our lives!
- Hannah and I went to Country Explosion! It is a 3 day event out in Tooele, but we only went on Saturday and saw Brantley Gilbert and Toby Keith! I love that I got to go with just her, enjoyed some quality Hannah/Kristen time.
August Highlights
- Zach went skydiving! No way I was going- but I went out with my dad to watch him :)
- Girls Camp! It was my second year as camp director in our ward. We went to the same place, but a different campground there. This year was AMAZING! Even with all the rain. Our theme as a stake was The Mansions You Are Building. Each ward was assigned a construction crew type job. We were the truckers, and think we got the best one! There was so much you could do with it. We had a lot of coming up with ideas. Our job as truckers was to deliver the gospel. In the months leading up to camp, we had our YCL's (youth camp leaders) make a cardboard semi truck. At camp, we used it to deliver goodies (our service project was homemade bubbles) to other wards there. The girls were awesome! The leaders, and Priesthood leaders were too. I just can't say enough good about it! When we asked the girls feedback, they said their least favorite part of camp was not taking a shower. We kept them pretty busy, but in the downtime, the girls enjoyed the typical camp traditions- hair braiding and eating junk food! One of the highlights of the week was canoeing. We were so happy it stopped raining and the sun came through for that day! Zach was able to come up this year as one of the Priesthood leaders. I LOVED having him there. Here are just a few pictures from our fun week:
- Celebrated our niece's (Savannah) first birthday!
We LOVE this little princess. She is hilarious, so smart, and absolutely beautiful!
- Celebrated Brian coming home from New York and completing a successful internship (without his wife and little girl for all but 3 weeks of the summer- they're amazing!) And, like all things in the Collier family, we made this a big deal! :)
- Hannah went through the temple! Such a sweet night, a special experience. It's the first time our whole family has gone through together!
Hannah made a goal to visit all the Utah temples thi year. As she received her mission call, she decided she wanted to accomplish that goal before she left. Heather, Brian, Hannah and I all were able to go to Logan one Saturday. That was so fun. It's not often just the Collier siblings hang out- so it was special.
September Highlights
- My cousins Karen and Rhiannon came to visit again! They have made it a September tradition to come visit us- I look forward to it every year! While they were here this year, we went to the Ogden Temple Open House. It was the last day- so glad we made it! It is so pretty!
- My sister Hannah left on her mission yesterday- I miss her like crazy already. She is so excited and ready to serve, so it made it a little easier to say goodbye. Last Saturday, she and I drove out to Vernal (about 3 hours away) to visit the Vernal Temple. It was the last one she needed to visit- and she accomplished her goal! I loved the trip with her, and so grateful I was able to help her accomplish her goal. We had so much fun chatting, laughing, telling stories, and listening to music. I love that sister of mine. I'm so proud of her, and who she has become. She flew out yesterday morning to the Mexico MTC. She will be there for 6 weeks learning Spanish and training on how to be an effective missionary. I call it missionary bootcamp. It is such an amazing experience, that you really can't have anywhere else. I'm excited for her! When she leaves there, she will head to San Antonio Texas and serve for the remainder of her (18 month) mission. She was able to email briefly yesterday and let us know she made it safely, and how she is doing so far. She was in good spirits and hadn't shed a tear yet. I will miss her, but love the work she is doing and so happy for her!!!
I love this picture (and she was smiling that big, not crying :) I'm surprised I didn't lose it.. I will have my moments for sure! Sending missionaries of is so bittersweet!
Zach is also back in school, as of Monday. This is his second to last semester, and I couldn't be happier! We can do it! As for me- I'm still just working full time. I'm enjoying working with the young women in our ward. I am excited for this time of year and the holidays coming up! Zach and I are going on a trip with his family to Pennsylvania in October- to visit his mom's family, D.C., but mostly for the Steelers gave. We are excited! And emotionally I'm doing better too- somehow I've learned how to deal with our trial more effectively recently. I still have hard days full of anxiety and sadness, but there are other days where I'm so tired of feeling that and just don't want to care. I'd probably be better off to do the latter- because everyone tells me that's when it happens.. ha, we shall see. I'm learning lessons in patience and trusting the Lord.
Life really is so great- I'll try and keep this thing updated!
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