Our very Merry Christmas!

What a great Christmas we had. It was one of my favorites only because I didn't have to work and I was able to be home to help Ben in the evening and then to see, or hear is more like it, the kids when they got up-at 3:50 in the morning. Santa has it right at our house and leaves a new movie for the kids to watch while mom and dad can sleep in a little. This year he left two-which were both watched before 7:30! The kids had to pick 3 things they really wanted from santa this year. Ethan picked a tribot and nerf gun, Jake wanted -every bionicle in the world-he settled for six- and a nerf gun.


Jocelyn wanted twin baby girls, a stroller and diamond castle barbie and carriage.


Riley wanted McQueen, a choo choo train, and spongebob.


Owen settled for shoes and a toy.


I just wanted a cute scarf and a few clothes which Ben did great with. I suprised Ben with a hotwheels belt buckle and shirt. I know I know- a belt buckle!!! But a couple of weeks ago he came home from work and said on hotwheels.com there was a amazing belt buckle he wanted and I immediately said no way!. All I could think in my head was some cowboy in roper jeans with a huge belt buckle!!! I could tell he really wanted it and I just kept saying no(nicely and laughing of course!). So the week before christmas I signed up on the hot wheels website which means he got his belt buckle and I will forever be recieving emails about the latest hot wheels around. It's all for love!!!

It just made my christmas to be able to suprise him. Every year I get him something that totally suprises him. One year I got him a long board that I had my brothers friend design with M.C.Escher art work on it(One of Ben's favorite artists). I may have topped it with the belt buckle-crazy I know!!! For me, I really don't care what I get for christmas I just like to suprise the kids and Ben. This year we suprised the boys with digital cameras and they have loved those. It was just a great Christmas.
After presents and breakfast we went to my parents for dinner,pie,the annual white elephant exchange, the candy bar game and just lots of talking and laughing. We were all so exhausted. The kids crashed on the way home. We have been so blessed with everything this year and want to let our family and friends near and far know that we love and appreciate them. We love you all!

Allen Traditions

Our holiday traditions start a few weeks before Thanksgiving. A few of the adults get up at an unheard of time the first weekend in November and sit in the freezing cold to buy christmas tree tags. This year Ben had the honors since I had a newborn baby to feed. I kinda missed the crazy conversations we can have when we're all shivering and tired and bored. It sounded like fun-they went out for breakfast this year. Usually we just settle for donuts and Halloween candy-it helps to keep us awake.
Of course our traditional Thanksgiving feast-this year at KristyAnns house-was lots of fun. We ate a ton and then devised our plans for shopping the next morning. Last year we ad matched at Walmart at midnight and did the 5 am sale. This year we just met up at 3:30 and we were able to get everything we wanted. Laura, mom and I saved a ton of money. Thanks to mom who goes along just for the fun and helps Laura and I by standing by a pallet of toys for an hour and has quick reflexes to grab what we need. It's a blast.

That afternoon we usually all go up to the mountains and cut down our trees. This year Ben took the boys and met up with Scott,AmyLyn and Andy. The rest of us stayed home since we weren't sure if there was snow for the kids to play in while the men and AmyLyn tromped off for an hour or more to find the perfect tree. I mean what do you do with 9 kids and no snow in the middle of no where. Turns out there was snow but Laura and I were glad we stayed behind to let the kids play at my house. Next year will be easier. Ben brought home a great tree about 11 feet tall and this year -since I bought an after season fake tree last year- we have the real tree upstairs(mine) and the fake one downstairs (the fams) Let me tell you It has been fun but twice as hard to get two trees decorated.

Another tradition is we each get a new ornament every year. This year I thought it would be fun to get disney ornaments since we went to Disneyland in the spring. We got some cute ones and hopefully will get them hung tonight.
We also took our annual trip to temple square to see the lights last Saturday. It was a quick trip and I promised the kids to come back during their winter break. They love to visit everything there. We walked through temple square, ate yummy cookies, and then stopped by Mcdonalds on the way to my work. We ate dinner in the break room while I fed Owen and then poor Ben (the kids were acting crazy by then) took the kids home for bed.
The best tradition of all of course has to do with food. My dads toffee. Yum! Last week my parents watched our kids while Ben and I went to his christmas party at Sundance. My dad made a couple batches of candy and left one for us. We have almost eaten it all gone and I think this year I will have to make myself a batch.

Our family is getting big enough that this year I will have to make lots of cookies and fudge and right now I am cooking up my first batch of chex mix-Grandma Princes recipe. I don't think we'll have a problem eating it all.
It's been a busy season already and I still have cards to make, Jocelyns christmas dress to make, gingerbread houses, presents to wrap and I haven't bought anything for Ben yet. Luckily I'm done buying for the kids!

Business in the front, party in the back!

Jake finally got a hair cut! Yeah! But Ben and I couldn't resist as we started cutting to take advantage and expose Jake to the hair don'ts of the 80's. Sad thing is I just started chopping and Ben said that he had a hair cut like that when he was younger. So sad! He had hair cut flash backs. He admitted that years ago when I started cutting his hair he was scared they would look like the hair cuts his mom gave him when he was younger. Luckily I am pretty good at cutting it the way he wants. It was more for Ben's and my amusement to cut Jakes hair- we needed a good laugh at our kids expense-like we don't get that enough. Kids are just funny. Anyways Jake thought the haircut was pretty crazy and actually liked it. Too bad. He now looks completely different and has plans on growing it out again-The girls dig it mom! Oh my what a ladies man. Watch out girls!
Jake hates this shirt but I made him wear it to the ward christmas party - He refused to take off his jacket! He will be bugged I put it on here-Oh Well. This was before we started to cut.
During...


Every once in a while I see a kid at Walmart with either of these hair cuts and wonder what their parents are thinking!!

They missed me...

So Saturday I went back to work-Yuck! I was a little nervous and spent the day trying not to think about it and yet I kept going over routines, exams and passwords through my head. I was scared I had forgotten something and yet it was like riding a bike-the second I walked in the door things came back just as I had never left- even the saturday night drunks were there to welcome me back. It was a tough night and I started to wonder what in the world I was doing. I had 1 hour of sleep and headed to church which was a blur. I didn't even have my normal comments in our family and marriage class. I just looked at Bro Shipp and said "I'm not sure how we communicate!!!???" I think I failed that part of the class if you could actually fail a church class! Ben was great and let me sleep the remainder of the day and I think I fed Owen somewhere in between the sleep, but its a blur. Anyways I was dreading Sunday and last night but all went well and last night I didn't see a patient after 11 oclock so I was able to watch the Hills- yeah! What a guilty pleasure. I'm not sure why but I have to watch every week. I even got Ben hooked on it although he claimed in the beginning that it was pretty dumb. It's funny to hear his comments about Spencer now that he's watched almost the entire season.

A lot has been going on at our house so I thought I would post a few pictures-

Jocelyn finally got a hair cut. Last year I took her to the beauty school in PG and had her hair trimmed. About a week later she decided to cut her hair herself(what little girl hasn't done this?) anyways she ended up giving herself a bit of a mullet and since I always put her hair up I just decided to let it grow and not even try to fix it. Just lately it has been a pain to comb and put in buns so I convinced her to let me cut it-Ben was not happy when I started cutting but when I was done he liked it. It's so cute now when I blow dry it and I'm glad I can still do her buns.
Before....


After...


Owen is just over 2 months now and smiles like crazy! I love how he smiles and tries to talk. His little mouth moves constantly and only little squeaks come out. I wish I knew what he was thinking. Yesterday he had his 2 month check and he weighs just over 12 pounds. What a chubb! His shots didn't go well - I ran out of tylenol -so sad! He was pretty cranky when he moved his legs or someone touched him. Today is better and he's back to smiling.

Ohh! Twilight!

Yes, my sister Laura and I were one of those crazy women who couldn't bare to miss the midnight showing of Twilight. Ohh, it was good. I must say though that it followed in true fashion of every other book made into a movie- the book is way better! I did like it but I'm not sure that I loved it. It felt a little low budget and wasn't well developed sometimes but how can anyone cram such a good book into 2 hours. Anyways It was really good and I will buy it when it comes out on DVD but it was definitely no Pride and Prejudice! Watching the movie last night did make me want to read all 4 books again - get goin' Laura so I can borrow them again! Thanks for getting the tickets, it was fun!

Tagged-ugh!

Thanks to Amylyn for tagging me. I've never actually completed one of these even though I have been tagged many times before. So here it goes.

Eight restaurants I like to eat at-in no particular order,this was hard for me we don't go out to eat very often.
1 .Olive Garden
2. cafe rio
3. chilis
4. panda express-does that count?
o.k. so thats about it pathetic I know! We usually go out to Mcdonalds or
chuck a rama for the kids. But neither of those are really places I like!

Eight things I've done today
1. Fed Owen-twice
2. Did the dishes
3. Made lunches for Ethan and Jake
4. Made ham and cheese for Jocelyns breakfast-yuck! She gets it from her dad.
5. Two loads of laundry.
6. Thought hard about my talk for church this sunday. I'm a little anxious about this one!
7. Took Jocelyn to preschool.
8. Brushed my teeth.

Eight things I'm looking forward to
1. The holidays - especially the day after thanksgiving-Shopping!!!
2. Owen learning to giggle- I love love love when babies learn to giggle.
3. A long romantic vacation with Ben-no kids. We're planning our 20 year anniversary already.
4. Sunday to be over with and my talk completed.
I think that's about all I can look forward to. I pretty much am in the here and now until Owen gets a little older.

Eight things on my wish list
1. Our house to settle into some kind of routine-craziness doesn't count.
2. My house to be completely organized and clean
3. The last of the basement finished-retouch up the walls and hang closet doors.
4. A full nights sleep.
5. 1 more month off of work.
6. Happy kids! Rileys crying right now and yelling about seeing Mcqueen on the computer.
7. A date with my husband!
8. On my christmas wish list-the new cricut machine, a serger, and a lot of new non-maternity clothes.

That's about it. Now I have a ton of things to do to make my "to do" list shorter before Owen wakes up.
I tag anyone who wants to be tagged!

Blessing Day

Owen was blessed yesterday and we were lucky enough to have a lot of family come for the occasion. Afterwards everyone came to our home for mingling and lunch. Who can resist those yummy chicken salad crossaints and chocolate costco cake? It was fun to celebrate such a special day with our family.


Thanks KristyAnn for Jocelyns Hannah Montanna hairdo!
No really it was a big help and she loved it!


Owen-How cute is he?


The sisters chatin' it up!


Riley was a little tuckered out and crashed
while eating dinner just after everyone had left.


Darth vader even made an appearance.(Payton what a
cutie!-He ended up taking home the costume-Jake doesn't
know yet! Shhh!)


What a great Dad! Our kids are so lucky.


Ben's sister Bonnie and her husband Derek came.
Also Ben's aunt Laura and her family came. It was
really nice since we haven't seen them since Riley's
blessing.


Mark and Scott

UEA Happenings

With the kids out of school for the UEA/Fall break we made our annual visit to see the witches at Gardener Village. The kids love to do this every year and this year we had great weather and great family too. This year Gardener Village had a scavanger hunt for the kids. The kids had to find certain witches and write down where they found them to get a cookie at the bakery for 25 cents. Thanks to grandma who filled in everyones papers! We enjoyed a packed lunch, watching the ducks and fish in the pond, and a trip to the candy shop. Mmmmm! Samples of yummy fudge(Luckily Riley didn't want his so I got 2!) and I let the kids get a treat too.


Later that day Ben and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch next to the boys school and they picked out their pumpkins. Our pumpkins in our garden didn't do well this year. I was too busy growing a baby. Something had to be sacraficed!
Next year I'll do better. It's hard to spend money on something you know will be thrown away in a couple of weeks. They had fun running around with Riley chasing after them yelling "wait,wait!" We only gave them one rule for choosing their pumpkins and that was - they had to carry it back to the car themselves. Jake ended up rolling his all the way. It was fun and they have already thought of what they want to carve in them.




Jocelyns birthday was friday. I took her to grandmas so that she could see Jocelyn open her present. Earlier Jocleyn had said that she wanted polly pockets and barbie for her birthday so I told her about grandmas barbies that she has had since she was little. So when we got to grandmas that was one of the first things she asked for. I thought they would be deep in storage but not so grandma grabbed them from downstairs and Jocelyn and I had a moment with grandma looking through her barbies. Afterwards we went to walmart to get a few birthday things and of course to look at the toys. Jocleyn found wedding barbie-just like grandmas-and after a long decision between cheerleader barbie or wedding barbie- she picked wedding barbie. Just like grandmas she said. I had Ben pick it up for her later. She was pretty excited. She got what she wanted-barbie and polly pockets. She also got to choose which resteraunt to go to. She picked "the place where you pick your own food" which converts to chuck-a-rama. So after opening presents we all headed to chuck-a-rama for dinner. The kids all did great and we actually had a peaceful dinner. I guess it helps when Riley can have a plate of fruit and veggies and goldfish crackers! On sunday we sang happy birthday and had her purple butterfly cake. She is just so excited to be four.



Our saturday was full of yard work for Ben. He got alot done in the garden. The kids enjoyed the warm weather with friends. Also 3 years ago Ben planted a tree just next to our porch which I have never liked only because I knew it would get too big and block the house and also because when I sit on the porch I have hard time seeing into the cul-de-sac where the kids usually play. So finally after years of little comments from me and our neighbor Laurie-mostly joking about it being moved- he decided that it was getting bigger than he thought it would and it needed to be moved!!! With our neighbor Johns help, it was moved to the back corner of our lot. Hopefuly to provide some shade for the swingset. There have been a few of these big tree moments in our marriage and luckily we have learned to recognize them and laugh about them, and Ben usually ends up saying "I should have listened to you". Which isn't too bad to hear every once in a while!

It's girl time!

Lately Jocelyn has been very attached to me and being at home. We have played babies and barbies everyday. She doesn't seem to mind that she does all the work since I'm usually feeding a baby. Although it wears me out after so many hours of her chattering but at the same time she is so funny to listen to. She usually pulls the baby doll from me and says "ah cute, now she needs a shot I will take her to the nursery". And so it begins the poor baby endures every test that our newborn Owen endured thru his first few days of life. Including the circumcision- yes, I informed her that girls do not get that done she always replys "This baby does". Needless to say she has been very entertaining. So yesterday I was a little suprised when we didn't play babies. Just after Owen and Riley were down for naps she came down stairs with her container of hair clippies and announced "It's girl time". I was actually relieved to be doing something remotley differtent from playing babies- it has been feeling like ground hog day around here with repeating a babies birth everyday! So I turned on a movie for us and she went crazy. Luckily I have a hard head and can handle all of the combing and clipping. After she was done she wanted to take a picture. She was pretty proud of how good I looked. So I guess for all those times I have done her hair-cute or crazy- she has done the same to me numerous times. Oh the things moms endure to creates good memories!

They could be mother and daughter...

Yesterday Laura and I were talking on the phone and somehow started talking about the show on tv about the Dugger family. You know the ones with 17-and counting kids?!!! Laura mentioned how the oldest boy was engaged and how the fiance dressed and looked like the rest of the Duggers with her clothes and hair. It reminded me of some pictures I had of Jocelyn. These are for Laura- I told her I would blog them only because we were laughing so hard about the dugger hair that there was no way to explain how close Jocelyn looked like them also. On this day, I had put little buns across the top of Jocelyns hair and she thought she looked like Hannah Montanna which she may have in the beginning but in the end she just looked like mama Dugger. How funny! I wonder if Hannah Montanna looks like mama Dugger after a good long concert!!?! If only we had pictures of that!

Little fingers...little toes....

On Sept 16th at 3:14pm the newest Allen finally came into this world. Owen weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 20 in long. Pretty much the same as all of our other babies. The day before I finally asked my doctor to induce me-I was tired of being miserable and in pain. The next day the hospital called and said I needed to be there in 1 hour to be induced. I was a little suprised but excited. Things went smooth and fairly fast- one contraction. Ben teases how short the video is and I tease him about how hard his job was this time to hold my leg! We're just glad all went well. I was really worried this time for some reason. We're not sure yet who he looks like- a good mix I guess and we're not sure about the hair color. A little red and brown together like Jocelyn when she was born which grew in more red as she got older. No one can top Ethans full head of red hair when he was born. It will be fun to see how Owen changes and comes into his own personality. He's seems a little more fussy than my others but then again I do have 4 other attention grabbers to care for. For now things are a little blurry from lack of sleep and so much going on. I am so proud of Ben who survived a week of student council speeches and elections, the 3rd grade egg drop, soccer practice, piano lessons, preschool and a very cranky 2 year old. Not to mention he took the boys last night to father and sons. Everyone in this house now needs a good night sleep! I'm sure this is just the beginning of how crazy a house of 5 kids will be. I can't help but be happy and content with our cute family and our newest member.

Hiking and Happiness

Saturday I decided that we needed to take extreme measures to help our new little one into the world. What better thing to do than go hiking. I also felt that we needed to do something fun as a family before I had this little one, since going out, especially hiking, will not be done after the baby comes. So Saturday after Ethans soccer game(which he played goalie and did great), we went up A.F. canyon with Grandma in tow, to roast hot dogs and marshmellows and do some good old labor producing hiking! It was so much fun. We all ate like crazy(I had 3 smores,maybe more)and the kids played in the river and fished. Only one casualty-Riley kinda fell and rolled into the river-all in slow motion while my mom and I watched. Poor guy! Once the mud and rocks were cleaned off he was back for some more rock throwing in the river. After all the gorging on really unhealthy things, Ben convinced us to go up to cascade springs to hike. I was already exhausted but thought-anything to have a baby! I am so glad we did. My mom and I had never been so we were surpirsed how beautiful it was up there. The kids had fun running up the trails and finding bugs and fish in the water. It was nice and cool and really nice to have the kids entertained. We were all tired-Jocelyn and Riley fell asleep in the car and I was ready for a nap too. Of course no baby! just lots of contractions-which I'm getting pretty tired of, not to mention they hurt! I guess hiking is not the proven method to start labor. Darn! But what a fun day anyways.