Mexico

On veterans day, Jared and I hopped on a plane (without kids!!) and headed to Mexico.  We booked this trip as a celebration for our 10th anniversary this past May.  We waited a few months for Atley to be a little older before we left her.  This trip was all I had hoped it would be and more!  We relaxed on the beach, ate whenever (and whatever) we wanted and did whatever we wanted without worrying about a schedule.  It was great to unplug and spend some time together!

First glimpse!

Beautiful beach

Watching a storm roll in

Dressed up and ready for dinner

Our "Aniversay" dessert.  This makes me laugh every time I see it!  

Jared and his tiny mug of espresso 

Gourmet dinner night!

Beach selfie

One of my favorite things about our resort was that we could snorkel for 1 hour free each day.  We just had to walk up to the snorkel/scuba shack on our beach and check out the equipment.  And then about 200 yards down the beach we could snorkel and see several sea turtles, a reef with lots of fish and we even saw 2 or 3 stingrays.  It was amazing.  By our last day, we had decided to check out scuba diving.  We tried it out in the pool with about an hour lesson and then decided to go ahead with the real deal.  Our instructor took us to a cenote about 10 min away and got suited up.  Speaking of suit...Jared and I are fairly certain that we had the same size of wetsuit.  It was quite comical watching Jared get into that thing.  I didn't glide into mine easily either... Anyway, that, in itself, will be a memory :)!  I think we would both scuba again.

Suited up and ready to go! (Note the XS on Jared's sleeve!)

Our scuba location- it was only about 20-30 feet deep, and we were down for about 45 min

Jared and I with our instructor, Francisco, back at the scuba/snorkel shack at our resort

 The area we stayed was called Akumal.  It is known for sea turtles.  Jared and I took a walk down the beach a ways and saw a couple turtle nests.  It was at the end of the nesting season.  So I'm not sure if there were still eggs here or not.

Checking out the rocks

Our resort is the white buildings you see.  Jared was checking out something in the rocks/seaweed

Turtle nest

Basketball Boy!

Ethan played basketball again this fall.  And he loved it just as much as he did the past 2 years!  Every game he got better and better.  And during every game he had a smile on his face!

He always hustles!

Ready for the pass

A little defense!

One of several baskets from the year :)!

Nora is the best cheerleader around!

Cutest baby on the court!

Silly Nora watching Ethan

Sometimes she watches...sometimes she plays games with Callynn :)

Another basketball season in the books!  

Fall Random

Sorry I've been MIA for almost a month!  I've gone through my pictures from the last few weeks for a catch-up post.

Oct. 28- Happy Atley girl!

Oct. 29- Abby and I went with my dad to a dental conference in St. Louis

Oct. 31- Nora got "The Book With No Pictures" for her birthday from Abby and Alex

They LOVE it!  It's hilarious! 

Nov. 2- Nora's last tumbling class, doing a "back flip"!

Nov. 3- Nora is almost as big as the puzzle!

Nov. 6- Jared made me a birthday brownie!  Nora thinks I'm 6 years old, so my brownie had to have a 6 :)

My birthday dinner at Monicals (with a couple extra kids!)

Nov. 7- Nora's first time getting her nails done!

Beautiful girl!

Spooky Birthday Party

We had Nora's birthday party on Saturday (the 31st).  We had a fox, scooby-doo, Princess Elsa, Princess Belle, 2 medieval princesses, 2 medieval knights, phantom of the opera, a league of their own baseball player, Hero (from Big Hero 6), a wolf and a skunk in attendance!  I think all the kids had a great time.  Or at least I hope they did!

We started with snacks and cupcakes!

Snack setup

Spiderweb brownie

Clementine/grape pumpkin patch

Spooky birthday cupcakes

Nora (the fox) and neighborhood friends

Cupcake time!

Happy 4th Birthday Nora!

Playing pin the spider on the web!

Decorating masks

Nora is into it :)

Present time!

Such a fun time we had!  Along with Nora's friends, Grandma Karen & Grandpa, Grandma Terri & Pop, and Dustin & Amanda came too!!  We are so blessed with great friends and family!  Thanks to everyone who made her day special :)!

Trick or Treat

Trick or treat night was last night (Halloween night).  The weather was awful, but that didn't stop the fun had by our fox and wolf.  The skunk and I stayed home to hand out candy.  The amount of candy we have in our house right now is obnoxious!  It's crazy!  WAY too much candy over here!

Cute little skunk, watching out the window :)

Nora is ready to go

It was a soggy night, but Ethan didn't care. 

A wet fox came to trick or treat at my door!

Haha!

Dried off and checking out their haul.  

Happy Halloween from the Collier kids!

Boo at the Zoo 2015

Our annual Boo at the Zoo trip was on Friday night.  We went with our neighbors, the Paulsons, and had a great time!  The weather was great and the kids came home with quite the bucket of goodies.
We went for woodland creatures this year.  I don't know if they will always coordinate, but it sure is fun :)!

The Fox, Skunk and Wolf

Tails :)

Ethan, Zach, Atley, Nora & Liz at Boo at the Zoo

Getting some candy from Minnie Mouse and Yoda

Ethan- petting a chinchilla 

Checking out a giant pumpkin

Crazy wolf!

Happy fox!

Liz and Nora on the carousel

No hands Ethan on the carousel