The Yoopers

Winter is here!

2011-01-02T16:53:00.003-05:00

The twins and their snowfort!

The Christmas tree had to share a room with the computers this year.

The girls at Whitman Hill.

Craig's birthday

2010-10-25T10:47:00.002-04:00

Craig's 43rd birthday. He wanted to celebrate by going out to dinner at Pizza Hut!

School Spirit

2010-10-25T10:41:00.003-04:00

The girls have been enjoying football season at the high school this year and they really showed off their school spirit for the last season game.

Wilderness Resort

2010-09-27T13:41:00.003-04:00

Joy & Josh

The Thinking Craig

Aubrey & Rachel riding the killer butterfly!

One of the 4 indoor waterparks.

The wave pool

Lauren, Rachel & Aubrey preparing to go tubing down a slide.

Joy, Matt & Josh just before zip lining through the trees!

The gang

Our chauffeur

Sara's Arizona Summer

2010-09-27T13:22:00.004-04:00

Carnival Caper 2010

2010-06-12T21:23:00.004-04:00

Rachel & Avery
Scotti & Aubrey

Aubrey, Mrs. Anderson & Rachel

Lauren and her friends.

Joy & Aubrey

The move...

2010-06-12T21:14:00.004-04:00

A glimpse at the move. So happy it's over! We have vowed NEVER TO MOVE AGAIN!

Matt at the new house.
Sara carrying one of the cats to the new house. Good-bye 429 E. Michigan.

One week and counting...

2010-05-20T13:58:00.001-04:00

until we move. The new address is 416 N. 4th street, Marquette, MI 49855. Our phone is staying the same. We get the moving truck on Saturday the 29th. Pictures to follow.

Spring snowstorm

2010-04-09T10:12:00.002-04:00

Our walk in Marquette

2010-03-28T20:07:00.009-04:00

Last week after work one day, the girls and I decided to take a walk and explore downtown Marquette a little. Here's a few things we saw...

The Father Maquette statue.

Here's a sunken dock that Rachel discovered.

We are moving!

2010-02-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

Stay tuned for the new address!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-28T20:19:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pics we snapped at Christmastime this year. Aubrey showing off her new presents (hat, gloves, socks, and jammies).

The stockings filled by Santa.

Sara's gingerbread house creation.

Our fireplace roaring away...

Uncle Paul's funeral

2009-12-20T20:57:00.003-05:00

December 2nd, we lost a beloved family member, Uncle Paul Olson. Fortunately for us, we live close enough so Aubrey and I drove to Minneapolis to support Aunt Carolyn with her loss. Here are some of the family members we got to visit with. Uncle Ray and Aubrey
Uncle Harold & Aunt Shirley

Uncle Ray and Aunt Carolyn

Rachel Kelley, Valisa Higman, Bob Titus and Debbie Hill

Green Bay

2009-09-12T21:39:00.004-04:00

Today we decided on the last minute to take a drive (3 hours) down to Green Bay and see the sights...this is what we saw...

The kiddie train ride...

Lambeau Field

The Cheese-heads!

and we actually went to a Chuck E. Cheese (1st time in 7 years!)

Where has the time gone?

2009-07-14T21:21:00.004-04:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted...a lot of things going on now that it's summer. We are officially moved into our new rental. It's a little cramped but a LOT less money so we are managing. The home is older (circa 1950's) and a little outdated but we are getting new toilets on Thursday so YIPPEE! The old ones leak so lucky us!

We spent the 4th of July down with Uncle Ray in Escanaba and had a wonderful time! The kids can't wait until next year! Here are a few pics of the festivities!

Yes, he is taller than me now!

Sara riding to the park.

Craig sending his greetings.

Sara enjoying the beach with the rest of the gang in the water.

Our little cookie.

Aubrey Rose in all her glory!

Josh on his way to the park.

The gang

Hot Soup - Week 11

2009-05-09T12:37:00.002-04:00

Here's what Rachel's foot is looking like these days. She's able to swim again, wear socks and shoes and even is playing on the softball team!

Spring in the UP

2009-05-09T08:05:00.004-04:00

So the weather has finally started to warm up and Craig had to take advantage of it and play with the girls at Picnic Rocks Park. It had to be in the 60's but the water was still frigid. They had a great time remembering back to October when we had gone there to play in the sand before the snow came.

Baptism Day

2009-05-09T07:55:00.004-04:00

I remember back when the kids were little and we were still adding to our family, thinking that baptism day for them would be so far off. Well, reality has set in and our final child, our little Lauren, was baptised on May 2nd.
As you can tell by the picture, the entire family wasn't able to be there due to extenuating circumstances, but she was lucky enough to have been baptised the same day with her good friend, who just happens to be named Lorin too!

Old Time Photo...

2009-05-09T07:32:00.002-04:00

The last time we had a family picture officially taken, Lauren was still in pull-ups, so when we visited the wonderful Mall of America during out Easter trip to Minneapolis, we just couldn't resist having these taken of our brood.

Skipping Stairs, part 2

2009-05-09T07:30:00.003-04:00

So, turns out Lauren's 15 minutes of attention came to a quick and painless end as we saw Dr./Bro. Blotter a few days after the fall and he told us that there was no break and that the temporary cast was coming off. YIPPEE!

Skipping stairs...

2009-03-27T09:21:00.002-04:00

...we all have done it, right? How many stairs can you skip? Well, Lauren was asking herself that same question last night and decided to see. "Three" she figured, but what she didn't count on was her hand slipping as she skipped said steps. Head over heels she went down the stairs and ended up on her back on the landing. Initially she was pretty banged up, her arms were scratched and a little bruised, and she complained of her forearms hurting. I figured, well of course your arms are going to hurt, you just fell down the stairs! They didn't look obviously broken to me and she could squeeze my fingers so I was going to just put her to bed and see how she was in the morning. Mr. Mom had other thoughts on the matter and off to the hospital they went.

Now 9 times out of 10 I am right about the kids and their injuries or lack there of. This was that one time when I was wrong. They took 8 films in the ER and found something that may suggest that she broke her elbow near a growth plate. So they wrapped her arm in a temporary cast, put it in a sling and gave Craig instructions to call Dr. Blotter for him to take a look at it. Lucky for us, Dr. Blotter is also known to us as Brother Blotter, the Young Men's President at church, so Lauren was quite thrilled to know that she would get to see his office in the near future. She was eager to get up this morning and go to school to show off her newest accessory to anyone who noticed.

Hot Soup - the video

2009-03-24T09:20:00.006-04:00

Rachel took this video at Dr. Geissler's office (the platic surgeon) on day 2 when he broke open the blister to allow it to drain. It's pretty gross...

Hot Soup - week 4

2009-03-24T09:15:00.004-04:00

So, week 4 has come and gone and we are continuing to watch Rachel's foot improve. We have stopped going to hydrotherapy every morning, thank goodness! I still have to change the dressing but it's much easier now as the deepest part of her burn has begun to sprout new tissue buds (previously white, now red spotted) and the other parts of the burn have healed over with new, glossy skin. It's been quite a process to witness!

Her cute little toes seemed to have weathered the burn the best. They never lost their nails either, which is common in burns.

She was able to join Aubrey yesterday at softball try-outs and did FANTASTIC despite having to wear her slipper instead of a shoe on her foot. I guess the old saying of "Time heals all wounds" is especially true in her case!

Hot Soup - week 3

2009-03-14T11:25:00.003-04:00

Today is 3 weeks since the incident known as "Hot Soup" occurred. We met with Dr. Geissler yesterday who stared for a few moments at her burn and said, "Well, we've come this far, might as well just continue with what we are doing." Fine with me! He did say that we can stop the whirlpool treatments (YIPPEE!) and that he'll check her again in a week. According to him, burns are supposed to heal completely in 3 weeks and hers hasn't. I asked if because of this, it was considered a 3rd degree burn and he said no, just a deep, severe 2nd degree. So, today marked the first day Rachel felt brave enough to join her sisters out in the snow. Luckily Daddy's boot was a perfect fit and she, Aubrey & Lauren frolicked in the front yard slipping and skating on the ice. What a welcome sight!

Hot Soup - the continuing saga

2009-03-09T09:28:00.003-04:00

So after daily physical therapy whilrpool treatments at the hospital, we now are finally starting to see the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel"! Today is day 16 and we are down to going everyother day to therapy. During the past 2 weeks we rented a wheelchair to help Rachel get around at school, which has helped tremendously! We also got some crutches to get her up and moving but soon found out that crutches and ice aren't a good mix!
This is how her foot looks now (a little blurry). The spot in the middle is where she suffered the deepest burn and where we thought we may need to do a skin grapht. Thankfully it's healing on it's own. All the red skin is new tissue.

She has softball season starting in 2 weeks so this has been new motivation for her to get up and move. Today she and Aubrey raced down the hallway at the hospital on our way to PT. A welcome sight! Right now she still can't wear a shoe on her foot so she's been sportin' my LLBean slippers, which seem to work just fine! We are hoping to get a shoe on her foot within 2 weeks.

Hot Soup - Day 2

2009-03-04T17:51:00.005-05:00

So Sunday morning rolls around. I figure I'd leave Craig and Rachel at home in my bed to commiserate together since they were both less than 100%. I got ready for church along with the other kids. They were all intrigued by Rachel's burn and wanted to see how it looked so I gathered everyone in our bedroom so they could see firsthand what happens to skin when it is burned. I started to upwrap her foot and noticed something odd. Kept unwrapping and found that her foot had transformed into this...

It was amazing to me that her foot could change appearance so drastically in just 8 hours! The doctors said that it may blister but I wasn't prepared for what I saw. So, I took the kids to church, dropped them off and headed back to the hospital for them to take another look. They weren't too shocked at what they saw and told me that blisters are to be expected and that they wouldn't break it open in fear of introducing bacteria into her foot. The did, though, recommend that we see a plastic surgeon the next day and have him evaluate it.

Hot Soup

2009-03-04T16:34:00.004-05:00

Things were going pretty smooth for awhile. A few fevers here and there, a stuffy nose maybe, but nothing major. Then came that fateful Saturday night. Soup was on the menu for dinner, and I was trying out a new recipe given to me by a friend. Craig was upstairs in bed recovering from having his gallbladder removed, Josh and Matt were playing a board game at the dinner table with a bunch of guys from church and the girls were watching TV. I had just turned the burner off of the soup to let it cool and I began dishing it out to the kids. First was my girl Rachel, who is always eager to try new recipes with me. So I gave her the bowl and told her to be careful because it was hot. She said OK and proceeded to the other room. Next was Sara and I gave her the same lecture about the temperature and off she went to the kitchen table.

Then came the yelling, which promptly turned into screaming..."hot, hot...Hot...Hot... HOT...HOT!!!!!!!!! It was Rachel. Instead of choosing to sit at the table to eat her soup, she decided the couch was more comfortable. The TV was on and she got distracted by it as she sat down and spilled the soup on her leg and foot. When I entered the room I saw the couch littered with remnants of my cream of wild rice and chicken soup and Rachel on the floor trying to rip off her soup-soaked sock. As the sock came off, so did her skin and I knew that the situation had just taken a turn for the worse.

Sara immediately jumped into action and proceeded to tell us how to treat a burn (she had just completed her first aid training in health class at school), so I grabbed some gauze and an ace wrap and bandaged Rachey's foot and ankle up and we headed to the hospital.

This was the first real burn I've had to deal with in my lifetime so I felt a little like I was heading into uncharted waters, not really knowing how bad it was and what type of treatment we were looking at. When we arrived at the ER, I got the wheelchair and wheeled Rachel in. Luckily Sara came with us so she kept her busy while I parked the car. They rushed us through the registration process and took us into the trauma room. Her pain at this point was off the charts (a 10+) and she was very ademant that NO ONE TOUCHES HER FOOT! She can be very feisty when she needs to be and even though she was in shock still from the burn, she knew what was going on and watched everything they did to her. We tried to distract her by letting her play a game on my cell phone or listen to Sara's ipod which helped. At this point, the burn didn't look so bad so we figured it had been a slight second degree burn since she had a few small blisters and her skin did come off, but with a little time and TLC it would heal. The doctors thought this too and sent us on our way with some Silvadene cream with orders to change it daily and check in with our primary doctor on Monday.

So home we went.

Snowblowin' Fun!

2009-02-08T18:54:00.004-05:00

Who would've thought snowblowing could be so much fun?

Rachel, Aubrey and their friend Kayla.

Game Night

2009-01-29T12:53:00.006-05:00

Lately the weekends have become Game Night at the Collins home. It's fun! The boys round up their friends and ether play Risk or whatever video game they are currently obsessed with. The girls manage to disappear in the basement making forts and Sara...well, I"m not sure what she does, but she and Brittony seem to have fun!

Spaghetti and Cheeseburgers...

2008-12-29T21:56:00.004-05:00

Yes, you heard right, spaghetti and cheeseburgers. This was the answer I got from our oldest boy, Josh, when asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner. Whatever, Josh!

He's 14 now, a freshman is high school and us still as cool as ever (ask anyone at school or church) he has this amazing ability to adapt to his surroundings like a cameleon! Within the first week of school here in Marquette, he already had his "peeps" and was getting invited to parties.

How does he do it?

But I think what amazes me the most is even though his ego is obviously larger than his cranium, he still manages to be a decent kid...actually someone I enjoy hanging out with!

Josh, thanks for being you! Happy Birthday!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T10:53:00.006-05:00

Merry Christmas!

This year we did our traditional Mexican dinner on Christmas Eve with enchilladas & Spanish rice. Then we opened one present each. I tried something different this year as I teamed up the kids with "big partners & little partners" taking after the program at Bristol Elementary School. So, on the 24th, the kids got together with their partner and had a list of items that needed to get accomplished before we could enjoy the day together (ie: CHORES). This team approach went over well as nobody felt like like they had to do EVERYTHING by themselves and much to my surprise, the jobs actually got done! Hooray for Mom!

So after the house got straigtened up, Craig came home from work to have dinner with us and witness the present opening. I've been conditioned to begin dreading Christmas, thanks in part to my wonderfully ungrateful children who have become accustomed to getting everything they want in terms of presents. This year, I had them make clear lists of needs and wants, and as far as I can tell, they were richly blessed. Which brings me to my confusion as to why these wonderful spirits can still manage to squeeze out tears when the carnage is over and they are counting in their little head how many presents everyone got, and realizing they somehow got shorted. This even after we had a long discussion about the birth of Christ and read the scriptures and talked about the importance of Christmas and the significance of gifts.

Where did I go wrong then?

New ways to occupy my time

2008-12-20T21:55:00.003-05:00

OK, I'm not sure about you, but I have been finding these websites where you can upload a picture and put it on a dancing Santa or other character and make a video. Ya know what I'm talking about? Anyway, I have been having more fun doing this with pictures of the kids and friends! I've come across 2 sites, the first one was JibJab.com (actually I saw that Larissa had done a few videos with the kids and just had to try it out myself. Then I ran across myfacelol.com which is similar but seemed to be a lot faster and just as funny. Check them out...it's a hoot!

Good morning...

2008-12-19T09:42:00.001-05:00

This is the view from my front door this morning...SNOW! I personally love the white stuff. It instantly makes everything look so clean and pure. Like a cleansing of the earth. Truly amazing!

Ward Christmas Party!

2008-12-13T22:33:00.007-05:00

Yup...this ward LOVES their parties! What a blast we had!

Here's Craig and our two studly missionaries...

Rachel (not our Rachel) and Matt played Mary and Joseph...and they even used a REAL baby Jesus! Yes, Matt is 2 feet taller than Mary and they're the same age!

This is our friend Aaron...yes, he's a snowman!

That's Craig with Lauren's slinky from Santa!

Rachel finally had a seat on Santa's lap after numerous attempts to get out of it!

Aubrey and Santa...

Lauren was VERY intent on letting Santa know just exactly what she wanted this year.

Youth Temple Trip

2008-12-13T12:46:00.004-05:00

In November, the youth of the Marquette ward traveled to the Chicago Temple. Here are a few pics from their trip.

The Marquette Ward Halloween Party 2008

2008-12-13T12:27:00.005-05:00

Here's a few shots of the party...

Life is interesting...

2008-11-15T18:37:00.003-05:00

...wouldn't you agree? I've had some time recently to reflect on this past year and boy, has it been a doosy! I've endured quite a few life altering events this year. Many things that you wouldn't even experience in a lifetime, I've been through in a year. I guess I can't help but be thankful I'm still standing. Isn't there a saying that what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, or something like that. If that's true, I must be the female equivalent of the hulk, because I'm not dead...yet!

Carving pumpkins

2008-10-20T19:25:00.007-04:00

What happened to the good 'ole days when all you had to do was cut out 2 triangles for eyes, one for the nose and a jagged smile for the mouth and you were DONE?! Each year, the designs keep getting more and more complicated and I seem to spend more and more time on these darn jack o'lanterns!

I don't know how it is in your family, but I pretty much dominate the pumpkin carving process. It's one of my MANY shortcomings. It's just that I've seen what these 6 wonderful, creative, bright children have produced for the last 15 years when it comes to jack o'lantern designs, and (quite frankly) they stink! So, I've taken it upon myself to be the designated carver. I let the kids chose their pattern (as long as it isn't one of the expert level ones!), I even let them scoop out all the guts, but that is where their assistance stops and my insanity begins.

I know, I know..."just let go, Joy...let them create whatever they want..." I've heard it all before, but I just can't seem to relinquish my grasp on this one.

So, here are a few that I carved this weekend. Not one of my better years, but they're not too bad either!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

...and the birthday's keep coming...

2008-10-20T18:47:00.009-04:00

It's Craigie's turn this time...

Check out the view!

2008-10-12T23:48:00.007-04:00

Amazing views of Fall Colors atop Sugarloaf today in Marquette. Reminds me of our hikes up to Bristol Cliffs in Bristol, VT.

Where are we anyway?

2008-10-12T22:50:00.009-04:00

Who has ever heard of being able to walk on the beach, in shorts & t-shirts, in the UP of Michigan on October 11th?! Crazy, right! Not this year...it was 72 degrees and BEAUTIFUL, so we had to go out and enjoy it. Here's what we saw...

Haircuts!

2008-10-12T22:43:00.004-04:00

After countless mornings of brushing out their "bedheads", I broke down and took them for haircuts. Good-bye split ends!

Birthday season is upon us!

2008-10-07T12:09:00.005-04:00

October 1st begins the Collins Family birthday season. Fall is my favorite time of year and it can get a bit busy with so many birthdays. Sara started us off this year with a bang.

15 years old! You know what comes next...Driver's Training! YIKES!

Piano lessons

2008-10-07T10:34:00.006-04:00

As many of you may know, I have been dreaming of the day we could have a piano in the house. I prayed and prayed, saved and saved, even got so close as to put a deposit on one once, but it was just never meant to be.....UNTIL NOW!

The house we are renting in Marquette is amazing and I have finally been blessed with a piano that the owners left behind. It's been many, many years since I played last (15 at least) but a few days after we moved in, I peeked in the piano bench and found a beginners book. Of course, the kids all wanted to learn, but Matt seemed to be the most interested, so I began teaching him.

Now it's been a few weeks and on Sunday, we had our first recital.

The girls also wanted to perform, although they haven't had as many lessons as their brother.

The last hoorah

2008-10-06T23:06:00.012-04:00

The day before we left Vermont, we took some time to see our friends...

...these are a few of our favorite things...

2008-10-06T22:56:00.006-04:00

Shelburne Farms

Lawrence Memorial Library

And 2 of our favorite Vermont restaurants!

Here goes nothin'!

2008-10-06T22:46:00.002-04:00

OK....I've decided to join this whole "blog" thing...FINALLY! I got tired of having to send enormous emails to everyone just to keep them updated on what's happening with our family. And for those of you who know us, you know that it's hard to keep up with The Collins Family!