just a bunch of love and a little craziness

Sugar Plums part 3

2012-01-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to spice up our trip to Temple Square to see the lights. We decide to to take tracks downtown to the Gateway where (Thanks to Grandma Allen for the McDonalds gift cards) we had dinner and walked around a little. We then headed up to temple square. We enjoyed the lights and the nativity scene and then we jumped back on tracks and headed home. The kids loved it. The trip was short and sweet. That's pretty much the only way our family can do things these days. Short but meaningful and the kids all expressed how fun it was and how grateful they were for the fun evening.

Sugar plums part 2

2012-01-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about Christmas- new Church clothes. Growing up, my mom made sure that she made all of the girls new dresses for Christmas. Now with my own family, I do the same except we are overloaded with ties, sweaters, and white shirts. At least I get to make one dress- Jocelyn loved her new dress, thankfully- 3 patterns put into one and some of my own for the ruffles, it turned out exactly how I pictured it in my head. They all looked dashing in their new clothes.

See ya next year, sugar plums!

2011-12-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

The end of Christmas for some is a sad occasion. For me- not so much. Even though I walked around the house singing "I cried the day that I take the tree down"- thank you Michael McLean- inside I secretly couldn't wait to get everything put away and back to normal. I may have been a little hasty I realized when Ben exclaimed as he walked in the door from work-on Wednesday, confronted with a house completely back to normal "oh my, you really couldn't wait, could you?" NOPE! We had discussed doing it on Saturday- I couldn't wait! Yesterday the outside lights came down- back to normal. AAHHHh! now I can breath and move on to other projects. But for now, here are a few of our fun times this last month. Lots of pictures- just a warning but of course they are all cute!

Ethan's first band concert. He was stressed but did well. He plays percussion.

Riley lost his very first tooth. i wish I had video of his face when it was pulled out and told there was a little bit of blood in his mouth. He FREAKED! It was hilarious and a little traumatic for him. Nothing the tooth fairy couldn't fix.

Ethan had a project for school- design a pair of shoes out of cardboard and duct tape. He had a blast making them- complete with tread and laces.

One of Will's favorite places to play...

Will surprised us all by getting two teeth. We found them at his well check Dec 1st. He is the first kiddo in our house to get teeth before turning 1. He wasn't even fussy or anything while they came in - I never even knew!

Jocelyn got away with 2 new cute outfits this season. This one was for her school choir concert and was really fun to make for her. The snowglobe turned out soo cute.

This years Jingle Jam was actually enjoyable. Owen did great watching the kids and when he did the - I got my eyes on you signal to Carson and Jake- I couldn't help but snap a few pictures. They thought he was pretty funny. I had a hard time finding Jocelyn. never thought she'd be on the top row. Riley was cute as ever, a little elf.

Jake's 6th grade class put on a puppet show- A Christmas Carol- he did great as Marley.

The kids had their Christmas piano recital and they all did amazingly! Ethan played the theme from the Office, Jake played Haul of the Mountain King, and Jocelyn played Jolly ol Saint Nicholas.

We're thankful for targets and so much more!

2011-12-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was easy going for us this year. Thank goodness- last year put us over the top with our crazy trip to washington. So this year was spent at home. There are so many things to be grateful for and I was grateful to spend it with my cute husband and kids. I made a bunch of pies, yummy rolls, and everything else to trim out our turkey. YUMMMM! The day was full with a parade, a dog show, sling shots and targets, lots of eating, kids in and out of the house, more eating, more sling shot action and then more eating and then bed for everyone except me. I headed out to start my shopping with mom and Laura and then home for a short nap and out again at 6 am for a few more things. Shopping was a success!

The kids lined up to shoot the elusive targets!

Bonnie and Derek and kids came over the day after Thanksgiving just for the chance to eat some more and play games.

Our Christmas season full of recitals and traditions is well underway. This week is amazingly busy for us- Jake's Christmas choir concert was last week and then tonight, the choir sings at the Joseph Smith Memorial building.

Last night we finally were able to decorate the family tree downstairs. It was fun to unwrap each ornament and talk about why it was picked and when. This year the kids did great again picking out their new ornaments that reflect their personalities.

Ethan picked out a mixer- he became quite the baker this year!

Owen picked a train- no surprise

Jake, a motorcycle

Riley picked a soccer ball- he played great this season

Jocelyn picked out a cupcake, to go along with her halloween theme of being sweet!

Ben and I picked out a robot santa- I love it because it looks vintage and completely different from our previous santa ornaments, Will, who could not stay awake for all the fun - a blue onesie ornament to start his collection off.

It was a fun evening of decorating and listening to the prophet. Unfortunately near the end of the devotional Owen hit a pillow into one of our stockings, hanging so nicely which caused the stocking and the heavy holder to fall on him, resulting in this

We bandaged him up after the bleeding finally stopped but as I was headed into work I just kept getting the feeling that he needed the staples. After talking to the ER Doctor, I called Ben and he brought Owen into the Hospital. He was sound asleep until they started cleaning the wound- very fast I might add and less than a 10 seconds later he was crowned with the staples. Not too happy and after we took the pictures to show him he just said "no staples". not a happy camper! Funny thing is as I was hanging the stockings up a couple of weeks ago I said "do not touch these stockings, they will fall on your head and you will probably need to have staples" No Joke!!

A lot of stuff!

2011-11-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

This time of the year is soooo busy for our family! School starting is the kick off to the busy season, followed by three birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and soon to be Christmas. Here are a few things that have consumed my life among all the work, cleaning, running kids around and just good old spending time together.

The weekend before conference and also conference weekend we spent in the canyon surrounded by the fall colors. We had picnics and found tons of caterpillars and of course had to throw rocks in the river.

This cute girl turned seven!! She had a great birthday- chuck a rama for dinner and gift cards to Crazy 8 and Claires! She couldn't wait to get to the mall! It always amazes me how careful the kids are when they are spending their own money! She found some cute stuff!

Soccer ended- whew! Jake and Riley had a good season and we look forward to the spring when it picks up again.

This cute boy turned 7 months just a few days ago, on Thanksgiving.

Super Heros were made.

This super hero receives his super strength from ketchup!

Halloween came and went- fun for all. Owen loved trick or treating and the older boys headed out twice and scored big! Riley settled for a pirate costume when I procrastinated and no power ranger costumes were left at any store! His comment - "just make a mask you know how!" uh, no I don''t. Jocelyn was a cute cupcake - yeah for cute costumes! Poor Will! He just was ready for bed!

Our annual trek into the wilderness for the perfect tree luckily went nothing like Lampoons chrsitmas. Althought the truck almost got stuck! Fun was had by all lots of sledding, hot chocolate and snacks, while the men- and Jake went scouring the mountain side for that perfect tree. Ben and Jake did great and our tree is up and decorated- yeah!

So while the tree is up and presents have appeared under our tree, the kids are way excited and so am I. Stockings are hung, lights put up outside......there are still so many things to get done! But......
Are you ready for summer?

Not a Fan

2011-10-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

Poor Will is so not a fan of his first taste of real food. Our cute little boy is growing up too fast! This past week, after being in denial of his true age (almost 6 months) I finally gave him a bit of cereal. I'm not sure if it's the taste or texture yet but hopefully he will learn to like solids. He is still a really cheerful baby and only cries when hungry or tired. How did I get so lucky? He is content to just lay around or sit in his bouncer or bumbo. As long as he can see what is going on he is happy. Which is why the kiddo doesn't know how to roll over yet. Well actually this week he has learned to go from belly to back, occasionally. I'm not worried it will come I just think it's funny he has no desire to move. He's just content.

The End

2011-10-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day weekend we decided to give a big farewell to summer by having a bbq, playing night games, making smores and sleeping out in the tent. I honestly would have loved to go camping somewhere in the mountains but since selling the trailer- sleeping in a tent doesn't appeal to me anymore. I'm becoming a softy! But Riley kept asking "where are we going to go hiking?" so it made me miss our trailer a ton! We had a fun night and the kids loved the surprise I made for them- night bowling, I put glow sticks in water bottles. They worked amazingly and after a few rounds of bowling the kids played hide and seek with them. It was such a cool effect to see patches glowing around the yard. Once it got late Ben and the kids (with their glowing water bottles) got comfy in the tent and I headed inside (don't judge- I need one good night sleep before starting my graveyard shifts on the weekends!).

Kinda where I left off...

2011-10-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

The end of the summer was a busy one for us. Ethan headed to scout camp (yellowstone) with Ben. Gone the WHOLE week. I honestly about died when Ben volunteered- after years of being in the YM, I was looking forward to a camping free summer. I'm glad he went it was a great experience for both of them.

While they were gone Jake had his 11th birthday. I surprised him with a trip to seven peaks with a few of his friends- seriously a huge surprise. He woke up and was eating breakfast when I casually asked him where his swimming suit was so I could wash it. I placed his pass and swimsuit by the front door and at 9 o'clock Pam came by to get him - just stared at me and then jumped in his suit and was gone. Afterward they all ended up here for pizzas and water balloon fights. After home for dinner they again grouped back up here for a movie. Talk about a birthday- full from beginning to end and he's said it was awesome! Music to my ears!

Now that he's 11 he moves on to 11 year old scouts and he is sooo excited to with his friends again. He received his Arrow of Light.

We headed to the Salt Lake County Fair so that we could take advantage of all you can eat Fat Boy Icecream. Yes - all you can eat - which means I will not divulge how much I ate but oh were they good! Jake alone had 4. We all ate enough for it to be worth the 2 bucks per person and everyone was happy. The fair was ok Ben referred to it as ghetto and I must say the Grant county fair actually puts it to shame. But at least they had good ice-cream!

Ethan is in 7th grade this year and started one day before the other kids-sevvy day. He was asked to be on the leadership team and is also a techie for the school play. I love to see his excitement when he gets to be involved with things, especially when he has to try out for something. He was chosen to be a techie for the play after writing a paragraph , among other things. How could you not be chosen when you end your paragraph with "cuz baby I'm a firework". He keeps us entertained.

Jake and Jocleyn started school the day after Ethan. Jake is in 6th grade with Mrs. Overy (Ethans last years teacher) She is already findingg out that Jake and Ethan are complete opposites- I tried to tell her, I think she was surprised at just how different they really are! Jocelyn is in 1st with Mrs. Andersen (Jakes 1st grade teacher)- she's already finding out that Jocelyn is a lot more talkative! She is very social and has a lot of friends.

Riley started kindergarten a week late (torturous) and has Mrs. Crockett (after being passed between different times and different teachers numerous times) we found out on back to school night who his real teacher was and the correct time. What a hard thing for him to be bounced around but he is adjusting well and learning fast.

He turned 5 the day before school started. Talk about cutting it close. He picked golden corral for his birthday dinner ( they love the icees). He had an awesome star wars lego birthday party. The kids played games (starwars bingo, find princess leia, musical chairs and dress up, complete with princess Leia hair. Riley had picked the perfect assortment of dark side and jedi candy and each kiddo went home with a lightsaber and a star wars cup full of candy of their choice. Riley was pretty happy with it all and still talks about it.

Owen is still Owen -home with me and occasionally not taking his naps! I need these more than he does. He is currently obsessed with Diego, and after watching the Diego halloween , he has decided to be a bat for halloween. Just like Diego. He was finally tested for his speech delay and was pretty far behind but of course insurance won't cover services for him- we now have some decisions to make. But he improves everyday and I practice with him daily, so much that now if I try to get him to pronounce something he says kkkkk, like he is practicing, even if the word is not a k word- it's pretty funny. Owen also had a birthday and is now a three year old, things can only get better from here. Right?

He helped me make cupcakes- he put on the sprinkles and toy story decorations. He picked Mcdonalds for his birthday dinner and I am happy to say no incidents with other kids- see, getting better already! He still keeps us all on our toes- by now we're getting pretty exhausted!

So far behind...curse our hard drive!

2011-09-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am falling behind on blogging (not the only area in my life right now) But with blogging I am SO FAR BEHIND. I blame it on our computer- no really. Normally I am against blaming things i/e the kids, my job, sleep, having an infant, laziness. This time I am making the exception. Our hard drive is full-completely full! So after scouring the ads for a great deal we broke down and purchased some external memory mainly for the amazing amount of pictures that have taken up our large internal memory. So in the next few days as I make sure everything has transferred, I will again have access to my pictures and start blogging again. As for now I will try to refrain from thinking of all the birthdays, vacations, first days of school, milestones and just randomness, that I have not been able to blog about yet. Maybe I'll just go enjoy other blogs for the time being- oh poor me :)!

Fathers,Stars,Stripes,parades, and Cowboys=Summer!

2011-07-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

Ben had a great Fathers day this year- at least I like to think he did. A new grill w/ a smoker, an amazing book about fathers and a nap after church. How could it have been better? Ethan had the cutest idea during church and as soon as we got home he began on his surprise. He outlined everyones foot on a piece of paper, each one inside of the other- from smallest to biggest. The result was something that will be treasured and loved forever as a reminder of our large family and love of his dad.

The 4th of July was postponed at our house for a few days since I had to work on the 4th. The older kids did stay up on the 4th to watch the Thanksgiving Point fireworks from the backyard, but the good stuff we saved till Friday. Glow sticks have replaced sparklers at our house and the kids love it especially when I get pictures of them in action. It's so fun to watch the kids be entertained by fireworks although the tanks tanked -they don't make them so they roll anymore- the spinning ones with the long bangs at the end made up for it. The kids had a blast and haven't stopped talking about what they are going to do for pioneer day fireworks.

Lehi roundup came and went this year without much participation from us. We did go to the parade because Ethan helped in pulling the ward float. It was hot and busy and frankly I only stayed so the kids could get some candy.

I'm pretty sure that each cowboy has a particular way that he wears his hat and Owen has a way of his own- he stores his bread in his hat! I'm not sure why- I've stopped asking why a long time ago when it comes to this kid. What I do know is he is full of personality and is darn cute! As far as the bread goes he wanted some for a snack and happened to wear his hat most of the day and in his mind maybe it sounded like a good idea.

Are You Ready?

2011-07-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

Harry Potter! 'nough said!!!!

What a Blessing

2011-06-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Will in his blessing outfit and the blanket that Bens mom made. I can't believe how he is always alert and smiley. His first smile was on June 1st and his first giggle was the day he turned 2 months old (June 24th). I can't get enough of this sweet boys cooing! It's like he has so much to say and just can't get it to come out.

Oh Washington!

2011-06-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

This years Allen family reunion was jam packed with fun and not so much fun! What a trip! It was so fun to see Ben's family again. We had a great time at Banks Lake, grand coulee dam, water skiing, slide shows, pinatas for both kids and adult, the annual talent show and great company with great food. Ben had fun hiking and boating with his fam and it was fun to see the laser light show at the dam- something I haven't seen since I was in high school. The kids had a blast with their cousins playing miniature golf and texting and just good ole' sittin' around. Owen felt like he had to defend all of his stuff from his cousin Courtney, and Riley just had fun following the big kids around. Jocelyn loved painting her nails with her aunts and cousins and giving hugs to everyone! Sunday was very special - we all headed to church in Ephrata where we blessed Will. All of ben's brothers were present- a first for one of our kids blessings. Afterward we headed to the cemetery to see Bens' dads grave and take family pictures. We also stopped in to visit Jamie- Ben's best friend. I warned my kids that Jamies mom was so sweet that we would probably be offered everything in her house to eat. Sure enough we left with bags of snacks, a quilt! and some lotions for me! My kids were impressed with how giving she was and what a great grandma she was. I don't think they would mind visiting her again. We had fun seeing old friends. Vacation-What more could you ask for? We actually got more than we asked for when a few of our kids became sick again. What is it with washington and the Allens that make us sick????!!!!! Owen was hit the hardest with severe stomach cramps and diarrhea. He was just plain miserable! The only good thing was he laid around and I was able to keep track of him! But oh did it stress Ben and I out- we were sure we were headed to the emergency room! The ride home was eventful to say the least. It's been a week and a half and he still is recovering. Poor guy! Why is vacation so exhausting??? Fun and exhausting! Now back to real life and work for me- yuck!

Ben and I survived on these......

His own network show

2011-06-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Ethan's big night to redeem himself. Yesterday he made a banana cake that has been lovingly deemed by his dad as the banana miscake! The thing didn't rise-not a bit! and the flavor was by far not favorable! So today he decide to try again and Success! So tonight during night games with the neighborhood kids a debate ensued. His chocolate pudding bundt cake was awesome and as of 1/2 hour ago won a bake-off against cookies from the girl across the street. How cute it was to watch the group of kids chant and argue (nicely, but loudly) over which was better. I've gotta say so far I love the pre-teen stage! It's anything but dull! Who knew that boys could be as moody as girls????!!!!

What I love

2011-05-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

I love...
Last minute projects that turn out great and make my kids happy!

I love....
Seeing these two cousins together (only 8 days apart and Easton is so tiny compared to Will)

I love...
Seeing Riley sing his little heart out for his preschool program...here comes kindergarten

I love...
New church clothes (the kids looked great on sunday in their easter clothes- only 5 weeks late!)

I love...
sewing for my cute girl!

I love...
my cute husband (not so much the facial hair!)

I love....
that Will has started wearing the cute bibs I made for him... I dislike the reflux that gives him a reason to wear the bibs!

I love
the school dance festival.... this year was great weather and three kids to see...kinda excited to see Ethan move on to jr high!

I love...
this cute guy

I love....
how gentle all my kids are with the baby especially Owen

Will

2011-05-25T09:15:00.001-07:00

Baby Will is now a month old. How time flies when I'm not in pain and waiting for a baby to come! I attempted to take these pictures of Will when he was 2 1/2 weeks old. I think they turned out cute but really how could they not considering the subject!

Before the baby...

2011-05-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

Before our cute little Will came into this world, Ben and I were hard at work refiguring the bedroom situation in our home. I came up with a blog inspired idea. Sometimes those kind of ideas are hard to convince Ben that it would be easy to do- especially if I need his help. For those projects that don't require Ben's help, he is unable to refuse the changes and actually most of the time he likes what I've made or done to the house (Thank goodness!). A while ago I found a great website for building the beds and decided to show them to Ben and off to home depot we went. The new beds required help from Ben and he was actually up for the challenge. I had to adjust the plans for Owens toddler bed and I added my cowboy flare but I love the way it turned out! Rileys bed is almost finished- I just need to paint it black and I have some great ideas for his room. Hopefully I can get it done soon.

Too many kisses???

2011-05-04T18:15:00.001-07:00

Maybe it's all those kisses Will has been given- or maybe he felt he needed more?! I love the expressions newborns have and I also love how Will has begun to get chubby and change already. His cute little outfit was given to him from his aunt AmyLyn and I was excited for him to wear it on his first official outing- his cousins blessing day. He looked so cute! Totally kissable!!!

Happy Easter!

2011-05-03T12:51:00.000-07:00

What a great Easter! We were blessed to have our second Easter baby! Ethan was our first born on Easter conference sunday just over twelve years ago! Everyone kept saying how cute it would be to have another Easter baby and I guess our little guy just wanted to be as cute as can be! So here he is
William David Allen
5:45 am
7 lbs 14 oz
18 1/2 inches
We were a little surprised how fast he came into this world- the epidural kicked in on the first push and looking back I should of just said "forget it the hard part is over" and had him natural!!!! I guess warning the nurses of how fast things can progress wasn't taken seriously enough!
Here's a little about how things went: After a day of unsteady contractions I was resigned to the fact that he was in there until my induction that was scheduled for Monday. Around 1 am Owen climbed into bed with us and woke me up and thats when I noticed the contractions. What's new I was contracting every other night or so. So I headed downstairs to find something entertaining to watch on tv until the contractions stopped. Let me just say that Harry Potter #7 is not a good "contracting" movie. It was just irritating! I decided to do something with my hair- just in case- and around 3 am I woke Ben up to let him know it was time- he just laid there! So after a couple "are you awake"s he got up!!! I guess by number 6 the excitement has worn off for my husband! Mom came to the rescue and we arrived at the hospital just after 4. I was surprised they even wanted to triage me and yet they did. Once we were in a labor and delivery room I noticed that my pain was way worse and that maybe I should warn the nurses about how fast I go once I hit a 5. They didn't seem too concerned until the anesthesiologist came in to work his magic and he gave the nurses a little warning, as well, that maybe I was further along than what they thought! Yup a 10! After a couple of bolus epidural injections, doctor Liddle showed up and three pushes later I was asking when I could go home.
First picture

Proud daddy!

The cutest visitors ever! I was a little sad I wasn't able to be with them at home on Easter. I never get to have Easter off because of work and I was actually looking forward to being home to see the kids look thru their Easter baskets. They were pretty cute at giving me a run down of what they got from the easter bunny. They were also excited to bring Will his Easter bunny that we had picked out the day before "just in case" he was an Easter baby!

Owen was a little hesitant on what to do with the baby and pretty much just looked from afar.

Heading home

Once we got home Owen warmed up a little and now loves to hold Will and when he cries Owen says "ok baby ok baby"
Just to let him know he is ok. It's pretty cute to see how gentle he is with Will. I was expecting a lot of jealousy.

On Tuesday we were suprised to find out he need bilirubin lights. A couple of our kids have needed these in the hospital- but not at home. It was a long 2 days and nights!!!

It's now a week later and things are still getting settled. Pretty much it's just crazy around here! It was nice to have Ben home for a week and I miss the extra help! Will has his good nights and bad nights- he's a typical newborn. The kids are all helpful and love him a ton. I love him a ton too. I find myself just holding him and staring at him just because and saying in my mind "you will never be this little again" He is loved beyond belief!

Before it gets crazier...

2011-04-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

Thought I would catch up before our new little one comes into this world (hopefully soon). Riley and Jake were both able to be different people for a day at school. Riley had to pick, recite and dress up as a nursery rhyme. He picked Humpty Dumpty. So we designed our egg costume complete with the crack and yolk and Riley did perfect on reciting the rhyme. he was a little dramatic when Humpty fell but it was dang cute! He is a crack up (no pun intended)!
Here he is with his friend Austin.

As for Jake, he was able to dress up as Neil Armstrong for the fifth grade wax museum. He did great on his report and seemed to have fun during the wax museum, it's a lot easier to sit around when one of your best friends is right behind you!
Jake and Wes

An event that deserves it own post- Ethan turned twelve! Crazy! He is so excited to be in young mens and with the twelve year old scouts! He's changed so much this year. Recently he has decided he likes to read (sometimes), He did phenomenal on his volcano written report and doesn't seem to mind homework as much! The late night hugs after I think he is asleep are still appreciated and he has a way of always having some song or rhythm coming from his mouth. Happy Birthday Ethan!
Ethan wanted a new bike for his birthday

He also wanted cheesecake, so I whipped up a batch of mini cheesecakes that were loved!

Happy Birthday!

2011-03-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

I've put off doing this post partly because I don't have much time these days and also for a loss of words. In the beginning of March my cute, dear, sweet husband turned the big 35. This year was particularly hard for me to create a great birthday for him considering the lateness of my pregnancy and 5 kids to keep me exhausted. I had great and wonderful intentions for this day for him but he patiently and gratefully accepted costco cheesecake for dessert and itunes giftcard and a day backpack (because he never has enough camping stuff-curse those scouts!) for his presents. I would have loved to go out to lunch with him but instead he settled for his work buddy Travis. I did give him a lunch time phone call just as him and travis were headed to rc willey in which they stated they were off to find the beds! How can I compete with that? ;)

The 76 on his cheesecake is the year of his birth and also because we unfortunately do not own a 3 and a 5 from prior birthdays.

I did try to make him one of his favorites for dinner- homemade rolls- just as I finished the dough, the electricity went out! Arrrgh! It turned out to be a good thing. The kids rounded up posters and I pulled out the craft bucket and they went crazy each making a part of a birthday sign. Just as it was time for the rolls to bake the electricity came on. Hooray! Ben settled for one of his favorite things- cheese on a nice warm roll. The kids on the other hand were dreaming of chuck a rama! Too bad!

Randomness

2011-03-16T12:38:00.001-07:00

So much has been going on a our house - so much of it blogworthy I just don't have the energy to get everything done and also - It is just not comfortable to sit at the computer for too long these days! But that being said here is some complete randomness that is happening in our home and I'm grateful for it - time has flown by and I am counting down my last 6 weeks (hopefully less) of pregnancy.
Back in February Jocelyn and Ben attended the daddy daughter dance at school. From what I heard it was quite the time! She looked adorable in the skirt that I had once worn for a road show and has now been readjusted to her size. Can you say "one halloween costume already done!" I am way ahead of schedule!

She also was able to dress up as her favorite book character for school. She picked Fancy Nancy. This is her interpretation of Fancy Nancy - red hair and all!

Owen is still keeping us busy- today he swallowed a penny and about 2 minutes later used green marker on the entire wall going down the stairs! Oh my! He still doesn't talk much but his actions seem to fill the void!
Arrgh matey! One of the things he does say(go figure!-he creates havoc just ilk a pirate!)

A couple of weeks ago Ben took the 4 older kids up the canyon for some sledding (he had already gone up earlier in the day with the young men and the next few days he was feeling the burn!) Here are a couple pictures he took- for some reason he took none of Ethan and Jake but they had just as much fun as these two.

We are also getting ready for Jake to head to the state science fair next week. Him and one other girl from their school were chosen. He's pretty excited and the fact that they are giving away 60,000 dollars in prizes really got him going! Great job again Jake!
Also just a few things of cuteness from the kids. Last night as Ben and I were discussing baby names -again!- Jocelyn out of no where stood by the fridge where the ultrasound pictures were and interrupted us by saying, "what if it's just a finger or something?" meaning the boy part on the ultrasound. Ben and I busted up laughing - the girl is in total denial of another brother. So sad!
Also yesterday Riley and Jocelyn were playing the Wii and Riley comes upstairs mad and says"Jocelyn is not following my commandments!" cutest thing ever! But he was pretty upset.

Be Mine!

2011-02-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

Each year the kids make their valentine boxes- usually over the top if you ask me - this year was no exception. Although I am partly to blame. Minions. Again I came up with the idea but had no energy to follow through with the construction. I left it up to Ben. They turned out great!

Jocelyn didn't have to make a box and was a little disappointed but a new valentines shirt I made for her came in second.

Riley was able to have his first valentines party at preschool and loved it! He was so excited to give away his bakkugan valentines.

Congrats!

2011-02-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately and the thought of a science fair project completely overwhelmed me! So I left it up to Ben- I found the project and he was willing to carryout the experiments with Jake. Of course what boy/man would turn down burning things. Jake was excited to round up household chemicals to see how fast they could burn, so excited that I had to put my foot down on a few things! The excitement paid off though and Jake along with twelve other 5th graders were chosen to go to districts. I'm so proud of his (mine also - come on, we all know parents have a lot to do with this stuff!) accomplishment and we'll head to district March 1st. Great job Jake! (I'm just glad it's done!)

Also a BIG congrats to Jocelyn! She finally lost her two front teeth! SO exciting for her- not so much for me! She's growing up and has now entered or will soon enter the awkward teeth, before my parents pay for braces years! I am happy for her though she has been waiting since last November when they started to become loose and it has taken FOREVER for them to fall out! I think tooth fairy money has something to do with it too!

He consumes my day!

2011-02-16T11:59:00.000-08:00

Lack of personality is not a way to describe our Owen! Mischievous, busy, crazy, rambunctious, moody, smart-too smart!- the list could go on forever. He consumes my day most days and I wonder sometimes how I get anything done! I have started to document a few of his personality traits and just looking at the pictures make me exhausted all over again. We love him - oh boy do we love him and he is surviving right now just on cuteness alone!

It's hard for even me to resist fresh bread! When Ben first saw the bread he asked "who got into the bread?" why even ask? Latley who or what did something to anything, is answered by the look and everyone knows the answer!

Owen decided to go to work with Ben this particular morning and he did a great job getting ready- complete with Rileys shoes and Jocelyns gloves.

This day, I found him three times on the back porch dressed like this - without shoes! Riley can't even get the sliding glass door open!

I never spend too much time doing laundry or this is what happens, costco peanuts+playstation=very quiet Owen!

Who doesn't wear sunglasses in an evil spiderman costume while eating snacks and watching a movie- I know I do!

Each week I go to work and the er staff never fails to ask me about Owen and his latest adventures. This week I didn't disappoint them telling them about my 5 pound weight being chucked down the laundry chute! Luckily the ironing board survived and he had already broke the iron the week before! So no additional damage was caused, just another great story to entertain those who don't live within these walls!
So there you have it- some of these pictures were taken on the same day believe it or not and pretty much everyday I wonder how I will survive and yet I do. As for Owen to survive - he just better stay cute!

If you give a mouse a cookie.....

2011-02-09T12:45:00.000-08:00

So today I feel a little like the mouse in the book if you give a mouse a cookie, although it would probably be titled - If you give a mom a light bulb. The book would go something to this effect.
If your wonderful husband picks up much needed light bulbs at Walmart then mom will see them (while cleaning up the breakfast mess) on the kitchen counter the next day and decide to change lightbulbs in kids room before putting them away in there rightful place. But as she is changing light bulbs she will notice how dusty the ceiling fans are and begin dusting each room in the house. As she is dusting she will notice some of the dust land on a bed and realize that the sheets need to be changed and continue to go room to room till all have new sheets. While she is changing sheets she realizes she has fallen behind on the laundry for the day. She goes downstairs to the laundry room to start a load and passes another light that needs bulbs! So after laundry she grabs more light bulbs and while changing lightbulbs she notices the picture on the wall next to her needs to be fixed(thank you kids) So she will hunt around in the garage to find some more picture hangers and while out in the garage she will have to walk over some recycling (thank you kids again) and of course have to take it out to the garbage and while back inside finishing the picture - her 2 year old will whine a little and she will sit and watch sid the science kid (for as long as she can stand it) and look around the room and realize the t.v. needs dusting too!
So this is just a sample of my jumbled morning- One of those days that you get a lot done but it doesn't even look like you've done a thing! I have a love/hate relationship with those days! Of course there were more things that were done - Jocelyns room is finally clean to my standards- not hers and snacks,lunch,school,breaking up sibling quarrels and much more. But now I get to sit and sew - Yeah! maybe this day has potential..... after I start another load of laundry!:)

More Joys of the Season....

2010-12-30T15:06:00.000-08:00

Just a few more things that filled our lives during the Christmas season before Christmas actually arrived.

This years Christmas Ornaments. Ethan- as always a snowman, Jake- as always some star wars guy, Jocelyn this year picked a candy, Riley- picked out a cute race car, and Owen not having a choice yet but still liking his ornament, got a gingerbread one. Ben and I stuck with our santa theme from the first year we were married but this year while in Yellowstone we picked up a cute santa in a canoe.

The annual Jingle Jam at school gives me mixed feelings. I love to see the kids sing but uugghhh!, the parking, my other 2 kids not in school yet being completely bored, the other crazy parents trying to get photos of their kids, and not to mention that it's during naptime and usually the millionth time I've been to school that week. (yes just a little exaggerating, just let me have it!) This year was no exception as well as my three kids were the last three to sing! Owen was losing it by then but it was still fun to see the kids sing. Jakers was less than enthused. Ethan is in choir anyway- he loves to sing-all day!. Jocelyn was soooo excited to finally participate and looked quite worried until she found me in the audience. They all did great! and yes, I did enjoy it. What parent doesn't?

The kids have been practicing hard this year for their piano recitals and did great. Jocelyn was so cute and nervous. She did great. i love her cute little ughs she does when she messes up and starts again. It brought back flash backs from the primary program last year. This time when the chuckles from the audience started she carried on!- No tears! I was so glad! Jocelyn played We wish you a Merry Christmas, Ethan played Carol of the Bells, and Jake played Deck the Halls. I must admit I have loved listening to them practice and become really great at these pieces. i think it also gets them excited to play every day pieces. Jocelyn has since learned "I love to see the temple" yeah to not having to remind them to practice!

Gingerbread houses with the cousins were done again this year at Grandmas house. The kids had fun decorating and devouring their candies. Owen ate his entire house- crackers included, just after we got home. The other kids unfortunately took days to eat theirs. Once I started baking for Christmas dinner they were tossed out!

This year I procrastinated on Christmas church clothes for the kids. Luckily it all came together in the end. Yes, I did make Jocelyns dress and I don't think I will make one like this at the last minute again. It was a little involved and not just the simple dress pattern. It didn't help that the company I ordered the nylon from made an error in my order, but were nice enough to 2 day ship it to me, Thank goodness! She loved it and that's all that counts!

'Tis the season

2010-12-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

Jam-packed already, the holidays have been in full swing at our crazy house since before we left for Washington for Thanksgiving. I was determined not to get behind this year and have done fairly well so far. The weekend before Thanksgiving, we headed up for our annual trek to find the perfect Christmas tree ( a little less dramatic than the Griswalds process might I add) Ben and for the first time, the older boys headed up into the woods while the three little kids and I stayed behind to sled and have fun. Fun was had - Jocelyn and Riley found a great hill to sled on and eventually Owen got in on the action. Riley was our one casualty with a few scrapes from a crash - nothing that a few snacks and hot chocolate couldn't cure! It didn't take long before the boys returned with a great tree and joined us in a little fun before we headed home to sink our perfect tree into a large bucket of water in the garage. Decorating was going to wait till after our vacation.

The first week of December, Ethan had a choir concert at the Joseph Smith Memorial building so to make the best of it we also walked around temple square and enjoyed the lights and nativity. It was a great night - a little rainy but not crowded and not too cold. As always we went out to eat and I headed to work while Ben took the kids home to bed. What a great husband!

The blues at Thanksgiving

2010-12-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

Just a few highlights and photos from our ordeal of a Thanksgiving but totally worth it!

The Allen brothers at their best- watching football!

Lots of cousins to play with.

What's a Thanksgiving without olive fingers on someone?

Lots of games were played- I was even able to play a game without the kiddos around!

Melissa looking through the ads- we had fun staying up all night and I must say it was easier with the spread sheet she made- yes a spread sheet! Who would have thought? We got some great deals!

We were able to finally meet Gray. What a cutie!

Connor has grown fast and I don't mean tall!

Jakers all smiles for turkey!

As far as the ordeals- This was our weather for the drive up and back! We expected the Blues to be like this but not the whole way! Our 10 hour trip took 17 hours (thank you to eight new movies - the kids did great!) The road was closed on the way home at burley to ogden! We had to go up to pocatello- adding about 2 hours to the trip! We counted 32 slide offs, a jackknifed semi, and a pickup teetering on the edge of a guardrail! The weather was cold (-10) while we were there and Chuck and Lora may never have us back- We froze their pipes and happened to get some kind of stomach bug which most of us were throwing up! (Thank you Mcdonalds in pendelton- the half that didn't get sick had chicken. No one outside of our immediate family got sick! Also a thanks to Laurie who called to tell us that alarms were going off in our house back home! Once we made it home we were confronted with a car that wouldn't start and the alarms that tripped the breaker in the house and took some doing to get them to stop! Going to work that night was actually relaxing! So after re reading all of this and thinking back on it - yeah I would do it again. We had some great times with Ben's family and crazy enough it did feel like a vacation! So Happy Thanksgiving- two weeks late - was yours as memorable as ours?!!!!

Catch up!

2010-11-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

Pine wood derby happened months ago - Jake took 4th place and got the skinniest car award. Next year -his last year for pine wood derby - he is hoping for top 3.

Riley's first day of school pose- what a cheeser- he LOVES preschool and has learned a lot - it amazes me!

We've had really great weather this fall up until the end of October- the kids have enjoyed it. One windy evening Ethan decided to use grocery bags for kites ( a little on the ghetto side!- we can afford kites- I promise!) Of course they had to include the neighbor kids in the fun and they were entertained for quite a while. Although I need to apologize to the other neighbors for the few bags that got away and landed in their trees!

In September, Owen turned 2, Not a big deal- he started the terrible twos at 11 months and hasn't eased up. He has a love of trains and loves to say whoo, whoo with his arm in the air and also "all aboard". Pretty cute. He keeps us going from 6 in the morning till we can't take it anymore and we put him to bed!;)

Whoo! Whoo!

Ethan had his 6th grade rocket launch- went so well that he had to scale the fence to retrieve it! My brother Scott was able to come only because Ben and him were headed to the smashing pumpkins concert- again. I think that makes 4 times?!!!

Ethan also ran for student council and made it! He was soooo excited!

UEA weekend Ethan went camping with the scouts so we decide to do a little bit of outdoor fun ourselves- we headed up the canyon to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. Although Owen was a little too excited about the fire and kept stepping in the river while he was throwing rocks. We had a great time!

Jocelyn turned 6 in October and requested a saturday at the mall with lunch and Build a Bear. She also picked a guitar cake- no princesses here! She also asked for fake nails and the new barbie movie. I can't believe she's 6. -sigh- not little anymore!

Rileys Pick

2010-11-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Riley helped me pick our new background! What do ya think? We are a little excited about the new Harry Potter movie coming out- midnight showing here we come! That's it for posting -Riley is taking over the computer again. If you read this Ben- a computer of my own would be great for christmas!!!

Arrgh matey!

2010-09-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

Our cute Riley has had a big month! Turned four and started preschool. He has been so excited about both and for his birthday he followed in the steps of his dad and tried to stretch his birthday into a birthweek! We had a great family celebration at Pirate Island pizza- his choice of course. I'm not sure if we'll ever go again- mediocre and expensive pizza that was barely ate because of the pull of all the games to be played. The kids had a ton of fun- Riley having the most luck- lots of tickets and a stuffed bear from the claw game. Lots of fun! For the past month each time I have asked what he wanted for his birthday and each time the reply was- star wars mighty beans!- curse those infomercials! At one point I said I wasn't going to get them for him and the biggest crying fest followed, crocadile tears like his feelings had been hurt. Oh sad! So guess what he got! Thanks to target for stocking them! His only other request was a scooby doo cake- luckily Ethan asked for the same thing when he was Rileys age so I just did the same thing. He was pretty excited!

B.T.S.

2010-09-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

BACK TO SCHOOL! Oh how I love this time of year- not only because my kids go to school and I get a break, but because of the newness. New clothes,new shoes, new backpacks, new school supplies, new haircuts, new teachers, new friends and this year a new hour or two of silence. Ok not so new but it has been a few years that I have had at least one hour of the day devoted to silence - blissful silence! Ok so officially I haven't gotten there yet- Riley starts preschool next week - but still way less fighting and noise going on at this house and I love it! This is Ethans last year in elementary and Jocelyns first year-sniff,sniff. They grow so fast! Ethan and Jake so far have been in school a week and are in the swing of things with homework and activities. Jocelyn started kindergarten yesterday and could hardly wait for the afternoon to come. She took most of the morning deciding on what to wear, we walked her to school, she hung out with the fox, lined up, gave me a kiss and was gone. She loved it! She loves her teacher and made some new friends. The only complaint was that there was a girl wearing cuter clothes than her!!! Oh my!!! Let it begin!
HOORAY FOR SCHOOL! NO MORE BOREDOM!

Not the greatest picture but we were trying to get their shirts to change color in the sun!

What a grown up! Super cute!

Ben's back to school picture! For some reason he has bought a lot of new clothes lately and this morning as he took the tags off his Goonies shirt I teased him saying "Nice that you could get some new school clothes. Should I take a picture of you too?" which he replied with (seriously I might add) "Not until I get my new shoes" Oh my!!!!

A little belated..

2010-08-17T13:17:00.001-07:00

So I am just getting around to posting Jakes birthday. He turned ten on the 2nd and by far this was one of the easier birthdays. i am so glad that Jake is for the most part and easy going kid. (jocelyn and Ethan can somehow bring the not so easy going part out of him) Anyways Jakes birthday began with scout day camp, which he came home to a birthday sign on the garage that the kids and I made. Oh he opened his present just after I got home from work at like 7:30 in the morning, he couldn't wait. He pretty much got what he wanted- bionicles and starwars legos. The same starwars legos he had tried to win off of ebay and lost:( The bionicles were a hit also. As for his cake he just said "I want it green with rocks and starwars guys"- easy ! Thank You Jake! After dinner at chuck-a-rama (his choice) we went home, sang and had cake. Low key my favorite kind of birthdays- I like our family birthdays just because we are all together and have something to celebrate- birthday parties can just get too crazy!- thats next year:(

Jam packed!

2010-08-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

This year we had our summer vacation with both sides of our family jam packed in a little over a week. Lots of fun but -Exhausting! to say the least. We started off with Bens family in Yellowstone. Ben and I were in charge this year and we found an awesome cabin to comfortably fit us all. The hot tub and pool table were a plus also. The first day we spent a long day in the park and the second day we spent cruisin west yellowstone. The kids loved the park -old faithful, the hot pools, waterfall, and buffalos. Although Riley wasn't too impressed with the buffalo when one came up next to the car and let out a few bellows. He rolled his window up so fast! Funny that he picked a stuffed buffalo as his souvenir. Back at the cabin we chilled in the hot tub, played pool, played games, talked alot, and sat by the fire nightly and exchanged memories -some so funny I was sure every animal in a 10 mile radius was scared to death from all the loud belly laughs! The family slide show was a hit as well as the talent show. We found out that Bonnie and Sara are due to have babies about 2 weeks apart! and we enjoyed cute little Connor who was only a few weeks old. What a cutie! The kids had tons of fun with their cousins. It was so good to see everyone. Ben misses his family alot and it was fun to just hang out with everyone.

After 4 days with the Allen fam we headed off to Bear Lake to be with my family. We arrived a day before everyone else and spent the day at the beach. Everyone arrived and we had a great family dinner, played games, play dough and just sat around and talked. The next day was spent at the beach. The cousins had fun digging paths in the sand,swimming,chasing a fish that was stuck in our little bay( I almost caught that sucker and yet he literally slipped thru my hands and I did lots of screaming and jumping-yuck!) Laura and Mark brought jet skis and we all had a blast with those. Owen and I even had a chance in the tube with Ben pulling us. Too much fun. Really. I'm also pretty sure that when your skin starts to go beyond red to a purple - you should probably just get out of the sun! Ouch! Luckily the kids were smothered in sunscreen and escaped without too much sun burns. We were exhausted when we returned home and quickly cleaned everything out and washed the truck and trailer and basically fell into bed! We had the best jam packed week ever and the kids loved it. Riley has since asked numerous times if we can go on vacation again. In a while, I'm still too tired!

AND WE'RE OFF!

2010-06-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally begun, bbq's, backyard swimming, whining, camping, boredom, scraped knees, more boredom, popcicles, and ultimatley me going crazy already! Here are a few pics of what's been going on...

Memorial weekend we had nice enough weather to plant a garden and have a hot dog roast in the back yard- complete with smores( the best way to start off the summer!

The next weekend Ben took the boys-minus owen- on a campout. Just for fun and partly because the week Ben heads to camp with the scouts also happens to be fathers and sons- the boys were totally bummed so Ben tried to make up for it. They had a blast hiking and finding topaz and lizards. They also found a new food to roast-oreos! I guess they were good because they ate the whole bag!

While Ben was gone at scout camp the boys and I decided to build Bens father day present. After heading to home depot with the three little kids to purchase the wood( an experience in itself!) I put Owen down for a nap and the building began. Ben and I have talked about extending the landing in the garage to make room for more storage and and our pile of shoes that seems to accumulate right in front of the door. So to suprise Ben I decided the boys and I could do it- they were thrilled at the idea of using the nail gun and other tools- not the saw! Owen took an amazingly long nap and were were able to get most of it done. We headed to home depot this time with more kids(pulling out my hair started about now) we bought the railing and when the kids were asleep for the night Ethan and Jake and I tried to finish, but ran out of screws! I was really losing it by now so we all went to bed. After a quick trip to smiths in the morning for screws, we were able to finish just before Ben got home from scout camp. He was shocked and I think it was the best reaction I have ever gotten from him as far as fathers day goes. He better watch out the next time he goes out of town - the addition to the kitchen we have been dreaming about may be next!

Thanks for being such a great dad! We love you!

Also this week we were able to have nice enough weather to get the pool out! Yeah summer is finally here!

We have also been trying to make it to our neighborhood wacky wednesday activities. It doesn't always happen but the kids enjoyed the trip to bridal veil falls. They had fun climbing(Etahn going way too high for me!) and playing in the water and having lunch with friends, thanks Holly for having your camera handy!

Last night we were able to go to my parents for a bbq and to visit with a friend that we met when we lived in Iceland. David was a single young guy at the time but time has gone so quickly and he is now the father of 6 with grey hair and yet still has his same sense of humor. Unfortunatly I didn't get a picture of him but he does make and appearance in the background! Urgh I need to get better at taking more pictures at get togethers!

Owen pretty much spent most of the night by the cooler - lemonade is his choice of drink I guess!

Addi

cousin Ben

cousin Annie

Boston and Laura

I have nothing to do!

2010-05-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

I really wish that every once in a while I could say "I have nothing to do today!"- my kids get to say this whenever they want and I think they are starting to catch on that maybe they shouldn't, because it is usually followed by a list of things spouted out by me- a list which is mostly filled of chores I haven't gotten to. Being a grown up can really stink! Things have gotten crazy busy around here - some of it self inflicted but those don't count.

Jocelyn was so excited for her preschool program. She did great with all of her songs and now is ready to go to kindergaten in the fall. We have loved her preschool teacher and now Riley is ready to take her place this fall.

Jocelyn also had her spring dance rectial. Her class danced to the songs, popular and beauty and the beast. She was so dang cute! She loves dance and her friends but has informed me that she would like to do cheer next year- how can I say no- she's my only girl!

The end of the school year brings about the dance festival. Ethan and Jake did great- hopefully I can get the videos downlaoded at some point they are pretty funny. The younger kids had fun watching the boys dance.

Yeah the end of soccer! Last saturday were the kids last soccer games and each day I am still going over in my head who has practice or piano or scouts or dance- Thank goodness I can check soccer off my list. Although the season is over I have really loved watching the kids improve in thier skills. They are still deciding if they want to keep going next year.

Jake had his 4th grade rock concert last week and who can resist a whole concert about rocks! We all came home singing songs about sedimentry rocks, its the second year in a row we have seen this concert so the songs are being memorized by all the kids- too funny!

Jake also finished his last project of the year- Kane county poster. You can't tell but he told me about the poster part of the report the day before it was due- I was a little suprised but we pulled it off. Like the font we used? Jake didn't really like it until I told him the name of the font was bleeding cowboy and then he was all for it! Boys are wierd!

I have also been crazy busy finishing Jocelyns new room(almost done), refinishing a dresser for my room, and planting the garden and sewing of course! Laura- here is a peek of the dresser- we haven't had time to move it into the house yet- hopefully tonight after Ben's meetings! But for now here you go-

As Always....

2010-04-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

As always I have fallen behind, so here's the catch up. Easter was celebrated to the fullest at our house and then some! I love conference not only for the inspiring talks and the spirit we feel in our home, but also because it means I can stay home after the sat grave shift and enjoy a sunday with no running around. This year was even a bigger event with Ethans birthday. He was born on Easter conference sunday, so 11 years later here we are. It brought back so many memories. He turned 11! Oh my! He was so stinkin excited. Since he is going to be with the 11 yr old scouts, Ben and I thought we would splurge and equip the kid with an awesome back pack(Ben couldn't stop talkin' about it) and a good sleeping bag. Tonight they will be put to the test on his first scout campout. We'll see how good the stuff works through this crazy snowy weather. I must admit I'm a little worried that he will stay warm and be safe! I'm sure all will go well- I'm just being a mom!

The kids got a lot of candy in their Easter baskets- Ethan and Jake got watches as well, Jocelyn got some new jewelry, Riley a bat and ball, and Owen a new ball-he won't let anyone touch the sparkle ball and I must admit it is a little fun to lay with. I also attempted an Easter picture a couple weeks ago and this is the best one out of like 20! As soon as it warms up a bit I want to try again. It's just so much work to get them all happy and cute at the same time.

Spring break was so much fun for us. We did something new and headed to Goblin Valley with the trailer. Mom and Dad and Lauras family came also. The kids loved it! The first night was a little cold and windy(bummer) but the rest of the week was beautiful. We all got sunburned. We were able to hike(partially) a slot canyon and then the next day we went to Goblin Valley and just let the kids run around. We are definitely going again- thanks Laurie for you tourist info!

More recently Ethan and Jake had Greek week and one of the days was crazy hair day. My kids don't seem to have a hard time with this.

Shoes at our house are not safe with Owen around. There is not a time of day that this kid doesn't have shoes or a hat on. He thinks that he can go outside if he has shoes and a hat- doesn't matter if he's still in jammies or not.

Ethan was part of his schools production team - Monkey Business- they met quite often and finally the hard work paid off. Ethan did great and was very entertaining. He does a great Willy Wonka. He may have a future in acting!

Kinda dreading it....

2010-03-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

So this past saturday the kids started up with soccer again. They were all excited to see their friends again and play soccer. I was unable to go and see them play but Ben said they did great and he took a bunch of pictures. I have to admit I am not looking forward to the crazy practice schedule but at least practices haven't overlapped with anything except for Jocleyns dance class. She will just have to miss the first half of soccer practice I guess. If that's the only conflict, then I will manage! But now that means not only there is something going on each day but now there are 2 and 3 things each day and saturdays are full of games- oh how I will miss my shopping time for the next couple of months!

Jake

Jocelyn- she towers over everyone she plays with or against!

Ethan- played goalie for the last half of the game.

Also, last friday the fifth graders had their wax museum. Ethan was Albert Einstein, and a great one at that! I was surprised when he picked Einstein only because he is so into the space program, I thought he would pick an astronaut. Guess what he will be for Halloween?
This is his friend. She was Annie Oakley. Ethan tends to have a lot of girl friends and I think they are all adorable! What a lucky kid- one day the boys will be jealous of how he has a way with the girls- lets just hope thats a few year off from now!

One last hoorah of the season!

2010-03-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last week we woke up to this-

yeah! snow!!! The kids have been asking for snow and since we had bought 2 new sleds weeks ago the snow looked like it would never come. So we did a little of this-

and this

and some more of this.

Owen giggled the entire way down ,every time he went down. It was hilarious!
The kids had tons of fun and I didn't have to find something to entertain them on their day off of school. It worked out perfect that Ben had the day off too.

Later that day Ben took Riley to the car show. Riley was so excited-as much as Ben was- Doc Hudson from Cars was there and Riley was ready with his own little Doc Hudsons from his collection.

Also Jocelyn announced a couple weeks ago that she had a loose tooth and finally-finally it came out. With a little help from me "I'm just going to wiggle it" and it was out. It was barely hanging on anyways so don't think I just yanked it out! She had to share the news with everyone she came in contact with. Oh my baby girl is growing up and I'm not ready!

Also she had a nursery rhyme day at preschool again and this year she did Jack and Jill. She did great and I was thrilled I didn't have to make a costume- I just had to search for a bucket in the garage! Easy enough!

Valentines

2010-02-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

Each year the idea for valentine boxes gets bigger and bigger. This year was no exception- I had to say no to a few ideas! Ethan and Jake still came out with some pretty great valentine holders. Jake took a spin on Ethans last year idea of a monster. He put his own twist on it and I think it turned out darn cute. As for Ethan of course a -space shuttle. Also turned out darn cute - loved the red stars shooting out the back. I love having a box of creative goodies in our closet that the kids can use to create amazing things. BUT next year I'm thinking about sending them to their valentines party with a brown bag with a red heart colored with marker on it. Less stress and mess!

Jocelyn luckily made her valentines bag at school. She had a fun party and came home with fun dip. Who invented these???? They should be strangled or made to follow around every kid that is happily sucking up every bit of colored sugar, to clean up after them! That would teach em'!!!

Riley couldn't be left out of the sugar rush so the kids gladly donated to his cause. Can I just say I have loved my new camera for pictures just like this!!! It is so fun to take pictures of everything - it's hard to stop!

Ethan died and went to heaven!

2010-02-23T12:51:00.000-08:00

This is what Ethan has been waiting for all his life! A Science fair! He loves loves LOVES science. He could hardly narrow down what experiment he would do for this years science fair. Really it was cute to see his face light up with the prospect of doing an actual science experiment. After a long week of searching and thinking we decided on "Does a peanut have enough energy to raise the temp of water". Ben and Ethan took a Saturday and burnt peanut after peanut to find out the results. Of course since they were boys with flames, they had to test other things too-jelly beans,goldfish, pecans,walnuts and other things also. They really got into it. For once we were also ahead of schedule on everything that was due but still spent the night before (or at least Ben did- I crashed on the couch next to him!) cutting out the flames for his display. I think it turned out great and Ethan couldn't stop talking about how good it looked! I love to see him get excited about learning. Things have turned a corner this year with finding out about his dyslexia and disgraphia - he is a much happier kid and I love to see anything to do with school make him happy. Way to go Ethan - You did great!

Oh the joys!

2010-02-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

Again I have fallen behind on the blogging. I just can't help it. There are so many things that pull me away from the computer and then when I get a chance to sit alone without someone bugging me - it is late at night and I get caught up in reading other peoples blogs. So here is what has been consuming my life for the past month

Yes, that is a leapster- This was early on in the battle and it seemed to help him sit for awhile with the leapster- pretty good progress for a kid who absolutely hates being without clothes!
Riley has been the hardest by far! I finally decided he would have to be forced into it and then the bribing started. He now has a sweet collection of lightening McQueen cars. Luckily we are now only giving out starburst for rewards. It was getting expensive!
He has been doing great lately. One left to go- I hope Owen is easier!
Other than that we have all been very sick at our house ranging from flu to sore throats to ear infections. Lots of fun. We haven't been this sick at our house in a long while- guess we were due for it. So now that everyone is better and Owen isn't cranky and following me around all day, I have started to deep clean every crevice in our house. I can't believe how much I have let go since Owen was born. So in between all that I am still finding time to sew and do crafts. Again which is why the blogging suffers. Gotta go the boys will be home soon and I have been doing valentine parties at the school today so my house looks like a tornado hit it. I'm hopin' to celebrate Valentines with Ben tonight and won't be able to do that with a messy house. So AmyLyn now who's ocd? LOL!

Another project done!

2010-01-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

So glad I got this done! I told Laura about it weeks ago. Someday my life will calm down and I will be able to start and finish a project in one day (sigh) one day- seems so long away!. Last year after a soccer game Lone Peak was having a huge garage sale and I spotted a stack of these shutters- big and small ones. We bought them all for a great price and payed for them with the last of our grocery money till payday- priorities my friends and not to worry, food storage got us through! Anyways it was fun to make and I'm thinking now I should antique the A more and also the shutters. I also need to get some fabulous updated pictures to hang on it. Finally one of my basement walls has something on it and soon the others will too- creative juices are flowing!!! (oh man I really dislike that saying- sound so messy!)

Ruckus at the Allens house

2010-01-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

This year we hosted New Years eve at our home and had a houseful of kids and adults. Mom and Dad, AmyLyn and Andy, and Laura and Mark and family. We had so much fun. After stuffing ourselves with yummy food that would not make an appearance again once our resolutions were made- we played games. AmyLyn and Andy taught us a couple of games. The first one- farckle. Lots of fun. Then we played golf(card game) Ethan and Jake got in on that one and we've played it a few times since. The kids had a great time also. Jocelyn and Addison got dolled up in makeup and Payton played video games. The older kids played a game of apples to apples. I didn't think everyone would stay till midnight so at 10 o'clock Ben lit the fireworks off the rock wall and whistles were passed out to the kids. Everyone stayed (except mom and dad)-till after midnight - and then left after we finished our game of golf. The babies were asleep and Riley had crashed on the couch. Other than that everyone else was suprisingly awake AND happy. What a fun New years. It's been a long time since I could enjoy the celebrations from either working or having worked the night before and not being able to stay awake to make it to midnight. I love that my boys are old enough now to play games with the adults (when we let them) that us as adults enjoy. I also like that the cousins get along and can play games on their own and have fun together. What a great family I have, so now bring on the New Year. I'm ready- I think. Lots of first for our family will fill this year and I'm excited. Don't worry I'll blog about them all!

Definitely making more of these!

2010-01-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

So this post is basically for my sis Laura who at this moment is making her first twirl skirt. Since I don't have the time tonight to run by and see her (you) Here you go- I plan on making Jocelyn a bunch of these for summer- they are just so darn cute and easy to make and she loves them- she actually wanted to wear the orange one today! Not to mention I have about a million more (ok maybe not a million) designs and ideas swimming around in my head. I still want to go get some gigantic rick rack for her apron but the kids don't make it easy to go to the specialty stores and I already used my 40% coupon at Joanns of course. Ahh if Joanns would just be like Roberts- a coupon per day- I would probably be in big trouble with all the fabric I would have. Have fun and call if you need anymore help.

How can I ever catch up?!!!

2010-01-01T14:39:00.000-08:00

O.k. so last night I was informed by AmyLyn that I needed to update my blog- yes, I know. Now could you please explain that to my five kids. For some reason each time I have sat down to blog, something else has taken me away. (just now I shooed Jocelyn away.) So yes I am very far behind, the holidays consumed me, Beware this may be a long blog.
Halloween was great the kids looked cute and had a great time trick or treating with friend and carving pumpkins.

Jocelyn finally was able to have her barbie birthday party. All those cute girls had a fun time and each went home with a barbie as a party favor. Jocleyn loved it. She has a lot of cute little friends. Lucky girl!

Thanksgiving we went to my parents and did the normal turkey dinner,games and the annual black friday plan of attack (which went great-mom,Laura and I got everything we set out to get-in order to do that we were at walmart at midnight after deciding toys r us was too busy)

All the single Ladies....

Usually we head up to the mountains later in day on black friday to get our christmas tree but this year to make everyone schedules work we went on Saturday. It was a great time. Each year we get better at finding the trees and this year it took just over an hour for the men and AmyLyn to return with the trees. The kids had a blast sledding, eating, drinking hot chocolate and watching a movie in our expedition. Ben picked out our best tree yet.

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas it was filled with recitals- piano, choir and dance. I can't believe how fast time went. We were able to visit temple square with my mom before christmas for Ethan's choir recital and we also went after Christmas with Ben's brother Matt and his wife Lisa. It was beautiful as always and I loved being able to go twice this year. The kids can never get enough of Temple Square.

Jocelyn and her friend Emma at their dance recital "I want a hippopotamus for christmas"

Our new ornaments - this year we let them just pick whatever they wanted. Ben and I stuck with santa,Ethan stuck with snowmen, Jake stuck with star wars, Jocelyn picked a mitten, Riley a candy cane, and Owen a gingerbread man.

We also were able to squeeze in our annual graham cracker houses at Grandmas. As always the kids loaded up their houses thinking beyond creativity and into their stomachs. Fun for all!

This is what we got as a sunday christmas picture-Riley and Owen crying. Oh well we'll try again soon.

Traditional pjs christmas eve.

Christmas was great, Matt and Lisa were fun to have for the holidays and it has seemed like parties continuously since they came. We had Bonnie and her family over a couple of times also for games and dinner.
Everyone got what they were wishing for. Ben a new tv and jeans, Me- a new camera -couldn't have come at a better time, Owen pulled the old one of the counter 2 days before christmas so now the pictures look like everyone is melting! Needless to say I am loving the new camera and keep finding excuses to take more pictures. Ethan and Jake both got nintendo ds and legos. Jocleyn got what she thinks is an american girl doll (can't bring myself to tell her it's not-maybe she can have a reall one after I see how she treats this one!) She also got a bunch of cute clothes for her doll that I have been making every spare chance I could get- pretty much consume my free time hence no blogging! Riley got a scooter of his own and Lightning Mcqueen geotrax, and Owen got little people farm and hoddies. I promised myself we would not go overboard this year but once presents were opened it seemed like a lot of stuff. Maybe it's the five kids=lots of presents!

Our Christmas Tree

Everyone in on the pictureka game.

Mat and Lisa were a blast to have for Christmas!

Fall fun

2009-10-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

October is one of our favorite times of the year. This year was no exception. Over the UEA weekend, Ben took some time off and we headed to Hee Haw Farms- our first time ever going there. The kids loved it. They especially loved the long slides, the hay ride, launching corn cobs, and the corn pit. They were not too excited about walking around in the corn maze. I thought they would love it but three year old legs tend to get tired and bored if not stimulated (lots of whining, which made us all more anxious to find an exit!) Once we were out the whining stopped-amazing how that happens! We were lucky, it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm and hard to believe it was fall.

Jocelyn turned FIVE this month! What a cute girl! She wanted a barbie birthday so of course I attempted the infamous barbie cake- turned out pretty good and she was so excited- she had to show it to all her friends while they were over here to play. She got a scooter (she really wanted one especially since she lost Jakes, sad thing is she got a pink scooter so Jake won't even ride it as a back up!) and a new helmet and then later that night before cake I let her open on last suprise- Miley cyrus CD! Been rethinkin and singing party in the usa since! Oh we just love her to death, Jocelyn that is -Miley some days we could do without but it is just too cute to see her and her friends rockin out to very loud songs! We still need to have her party-too busy to find a night to have it although next week is lookin up.

As for last weekend we had the annual Halloween party with my family. Lots of food,sugar,games,sugar,crafts,sugar,and more sugar! What a rush and just as we got home the crash. Thanks mom- the kids had a blast.

Me sewing away on costumes to have them ready for the afore mentioned Halloween party. Ethan still needs a hat for his potato head and Jocelyn thinks she needs a broom for her witches costume! Why are costumes never done!

Here's a sneak peek at the potato head- lookin better each day!

Music to someones ears

2009-10-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

So right now I am sewing Ethan's Mr potato head costume - complete with changeable body parts( it sounds cuter than what it may look) anyways Ethan and Jake are in the next room listening to a cd that Ethan got tonight at the library- Mozart! Jake is less than thrilled and just about a minute ago all was quiet while they are in bed listening to the cd, and then Jake says to Ethan "You owe me 50 cents for this!" I could hardly keep from laughing! They are such complete opposites sometimes- especially with music. Where Jake loves guitar hero 2 music- Ethan prefers music from high school musical, Paul Cardall and as of tonight Mozart. It amazes me they are from the same parents sometimes! Anyways Ben is at convention and I have been a single parent (at least it feels like it, for the past couple of weeks) and will be at least until Sunday. Conventions stink! We sure miss him but tonight a trip to Del taco and the library made it a little more bearable. Well, back to Mr. potatohead, not quite the male interaction I'm used to this time of night!

A few things I forgot...

2009-10-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Our cute little Rileybug turned 3 the end of August and of course we had to celebrate with Lightening McQueen. He is still (thank goodness) in love with McQueen. I love that he is still in this phase and hasn't quite gone to the dark side yet (star wars that is!) I know it will come soon and I'm ok with that I just like that he still likes the cute innocent stuff. So for his b-day we went to Toys r us to roam the aisles and pick the perfect present. It was a hard for him but it was narrowed down to geo trax mater and a Mcqueen book bought with the money Grandma Allen sent. We headed home for a Cars cake and some more presents of course lightning McQueen boots. Ethan and Jake had yellow rain boots when they were Rileys age and I remember them being wore till they smelled so bad I had to throw them away. The boys would wear them year round and in the summer when riding their bikes and other adventures. There is nothing like a good pair of rain boots for boys! Riley is just a blast to have around -he is a joker and keeps us on our toes. Still refuse to be potty trained and is still afraid of being naked. I'm still not sure what to do- we've tried everything even bribing him with a trip to Disneyland! But when Grandma asked if he was going to go potty and go to disneyland he just said "NO, I not going to disneyland"! Urgh! I've never had a problem with my kids being potty trained but I have figured out there is no forcing him and eventually (hopefully soon) he will accept being a big kid! I can't imagine our family with out him and love him to pieces!

Owen also had his first birthday a couple weeks ago and I can't believe how fast it has gone. We weren't able to celebrate on his birthday so this past sunday I made him a monkey cake- not the cutest ever but hey I worked the night before and had just woke up from a nap! That's how it goes! He is our little monkey. He has been climbing things for the past two months and is into everything! He will climb anything he can get his leg up on-stools in the kitchen, Jocleyns rocking chair, the bench in his bedroom(which then leads him to climb on Rileys bed), the stairs, the couch, and so on! A little scary when he didn't know how to get down but now he is a champ! Although I'm still not fond of his going down the stairs - he walks along the wall or sits on his bum- it's scary to watch. The boy has no fear! Last week he really started to walk and now he can pretty much get across any room without falling. He also loves to give kisses,high 5's and loves to wrestle with the boys- but watch out he also bites pretty hard! We've all learned our lesson. We took him in for his 1 year check and he is 75th percentile for height and 25th for weight. He's our smallest kid-hazards of having 5 older siblings I guess.

I'm still here!

2009-09-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Yes I am still here - I realized that my last post was a little dramatic and just so you know -I didn't give up . Things are still crazy here and will be for the next few months until Owen outgrows his tearing the house apart phase and Riley outgrows his terrible twos (which after having five kids I'm convinced it should be renamed the terrible 3's). So just to get a little caught up, here are a few pics I'm behind on -
The first day of school for the boys was hectic since we had only been home a day from vacation.

I love this picture of Riley as we walked home from taking the boys to school. It was even cuter to see since he was singing along the way.

After school twinkies! The boys were sooo excited- I never buy twinkes- I think they're gross!

Jake turned nine in August and we celebrated with a joined birthday party for him and Ethan. They had a great water park party with all their friends. Tiki themed with plenty of water slides and water balloons to keep them entertained for hours.

Soccer also started the week we got back from vacation and has kept us busy all week and each saturday- I may need to rethink having 3 kids in soccer!

Jocelyn also started preschool at the Monkey Treehouse again. She really likes her teacher and also likes that she goes 3 days a week. I do too! Here she is showing off her new bag I made for her. She picked out the fabric and I whipped it up- too cute!

Labor day we headed up the canyon to roast hotdogs and smores- so did everyone else in north Utah county! it was busy but we managed to have fun and Jocelyn had her first outdoor peeing experience. In the picture of her she is washing the potty off her foot- it stinks (literally) to be a girl sometimes!

So those are the big things happening at our house and in between it all it is filled with this:

And finally the best picture ever-

One busy night while trying to get the kids to bed, Riley was playing with Jocelyns toothbrushes(one she had just gotten 2 days prior from the dentist). I asked him to put them away and I guess in his mind the toilet was a good spot! Good thing I purchased a toilet snake- see my previous blog! and memorable experience. Anyways Ben was not too thrilled to go through this again.
It's been pretty entertaining around here!

I sooo give up!

2009-09-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today is just one of those days! Now that I think about it the last month has been one of those days that just keeps on going! Highlights of today ( and mind you it is just 1 o'clock and most of this happened a while ago) The boys were late for school because of the new (not really new,I have just started to really enforce it) rule of jobs done or you don't leave for school. I don't ask much- just beds made and rooms clean, piano practiced, and dishwasher done. Ok enough of my tangent- Riley has taken the cake today-stack of puzzles on the floor, smooshed peas at lunch, tormenting Owen, and while outside digging up potatoes for dinner tonight - I asked Jocelyn to push Owen in his swing, she pushed too hard and he hit his face, so while I headed over to console Owen, Riley threw our potatoes-bucket and all - down the window well. Not a big deal on any other day but just an hour before, I sprayed this window well completely down with bug spray to kill two HUGE black widows AND their eggs sacks! GROSS! Creepy! I gives me chills to just type about it! So I had to spend more time digging up potatoes and Owen was bored by then and fussy and I had already hauled Riley off to bed for a nap- Urrgh I just want to scream! Everything I do seems to take 10 times longer than need be and some mess is usually the end result! I so love my kids but man I need a break!!!! (so husband if you read this -HELP! I may be insane or very cranky when you get home.) I still have 3 dentist appointments and a soccer game to survive. Oh my I should start praying now!
Ok I feel better I vented and I may be up for blogging after Owen goes down for a nap- lots of stuff happening around our house!
As for now Owen is crying at my heels and Jocelyn is in desperate need of attention!

I need a vacation from my vacation!

2009-08-21T06:43:00.001-07:00

Yes we're back I swear the entire valley grumbled as we came rolling into Salt Lake! We were dirty and tired and cranky and just so glad to be home. What a great vacation- a little bit of camping, the beach, educational fun, relaxing, and lots of family- what could be better? Almost two weeks ago we headed through Oregon, stopping in Portland for a few days and then ended up in Port Townsend Washington for the Allen family Hoo-Haw. I seems like years ago since we packed so much into those 10 days.

Suckers were the only thing at this point to keep Owen happy. When we got to our first stop he was a sticky mess.

The first night we stayed in Ontario- right on the snake river. The boys loved it. The next day we traveled to Portland and made a few stops on they way- one memorable stop was a park where all the wind surfers hung out at - mostly really old (and I mean over 55) wind surfers and a young kid among those old guys smoking weed just out in the open like it was a cigarette (luckily the boys didn't notice) We arrived in Portland late and had dinner, played at the park and then headed for bed. The next day - the Tillamook Cheese factory.

The kids loved it. They were so entertained by watching the cheese be made and packaged. Of course we couldn't leave without having some tillamook icecream and sampling all the cheese. YUM! We then headed up to rockaway beach.

The kids had a blast. They were able fly their kites and wade in the ocean and make sand castles. It was even sunny and warm- a great day at the beach. We also did some shopping at the local shops where Ben bought a skim board- much to Ethan and Jakes delight and for the rest of us we picked out about 100 different flavors of taffy. We continued up the coast and stopped at Mcd's for dinner and then headed back to the trailer- exhausted! The next day we went to the mc escher exhibit at the Portland Art Museum.

Jocelyn and Riley outside the Portland art museum- waiting for dad - he had to go buy a t-shirt.

Thank goodness for the native american exhibit and the discovery room for the kids. We left Ben to investigate each m.c escher print. The kids couldn't stand how long Ben stared at each print-funny- I couldn't spend that much time either. So I roamed with the kids and as we left I'm almost positive I heard a collective sigh from all the museum security and a hooray from all the other visitors. It was like a herd of elephants in a library- a library that echos and the elephants know it so they keep stomping and trumpheting just to hear themselves make noise. That was our attempt of a little culture for our kids- we will probably wait another 4 years to try that again! Anyways since we so much resembled a herd of elephants we headed of to see some at the portland zoo.

As luck would have it it was 2 dollar tuesday and it was packed- yeah for saving money -bleah for the crowds. The kids didn't seem to mind and enjoyed themselves. Off to Dennys for dinner in the scary part of portland-why can't the GPS tell you -turn right, you have arrived at your destination in the scariest part of the city-recalculating now! Again we scored and it was kids eat free night -seriously we weren't trying to be cheap and I only mention this because Ben and I thought it was pretty funny. The next day we met up in Ocean Shores with Ben's brother, Sam and his wife Stephanie and their cute little Courtney who we haven't seen since she was a baby. We had an amazing view and listened to the ocean crash on the beach all night.

It was pretty cold so the kids didn't swim but somehow found the way to always get wet. They collected a ton of shells and had fun with crabs and even saw a starfish. It was a beautiful beach, just too cold to really enjoy. The next day we headed back to Port Angeles to stay at Sam and Stephanies. Of course we had to stop in Forks- yup Forks.

I really didn't care to go but Ben found a way to get us there and I'm glad he did. We did all the touristy things from twilight, stopped and ate pizza and shopped at the outfitters. We spent that night at Sams and the next day did sight seeing in port angeles for a bit-picutres of bella italia and more twilight shopping. Friday we met up in Port Townsend with Bens family at Fort Wardon for the Allen family reunion. What a good time! it was a blast to see all of Ben's family again.

The Allen fam lining up to pick sides for the kickball game.

A game of kickball started it off and the weekend just kept going. Trips to the beach, the batteries, farmers market, sightseeing, sea glass hunting, wiffle ball game, hot rod store, stupid hichew lady, black berry picking, an amazing talent show, a great game of balderdash and apples to apples, kite flying, and just good ol' hanging out. A ton of fun!

The kids running in and out of the batteries and cousin David on the top of the battery- I wouldn't let the kids do this!-Too scary for me!

Jocelyn and her cousin Gunnar- each kid had a flashlight and had a blast exploring the tunnels. Gunnar kept saying I done now. I think Uncle Dan coming along and scaring them ended it for Riley- he cried he was so scared. Thanks Dan!

Jocelyn and Griffin kite flying on top of the battery - she kept walking backwards which we kept yelling at her to stop since there was a 15 ft drop not too far behind her. So scary!

Who knew Owen loved to fly kites? He got a hold of Rileys McQueen kite and had a fit if anyone tried to take it from him!

The family talent show- what a blast! Sam doing the family math.

Uncle Dan juggling while Jake played guitar hero.

Ethan performing his escape from a sleeping bag. Pretty funny!

Our last day in Port Townsend. Kids found a jelly fish and a starfish.

Do I look ready to go home?!!!

One last moment of fun at the batteries

One of the last things we wanted to do was the ferry ride of course the kids loved it. We ran into some of our fam crazy since we had seperated hours before! A good ending to our vacation.

Jocelyn and cousin Hannah- Jocelyn didn't want to leave, she had so much fun with her cousin and she has a way of charming her uncles as well.

The kids wanted me to take a picutre of the gps while we were on the ferry.

The kids didn't want to leave but man I needed to do laundry and school started -today! Not much choice uneducated and unclothed is not an option for this fam. And man oh man Ben and I need some sleep! We're already looking forward to the next vacation and I am so glad we drove up the coast -what a beautiful drive. Everything was so lush and green and we had great weather-it was even sunny in forks- so no I didn't see any vampires! What great memories! Definitely one to remember!

So far behind!

2009-08-05T19:49:00.001-07:00

So we're headed on vacation soon and I thought I better get caught up on blogs before I get too far behind and overwhelmed. Since I kinda use this as my journal I really wanted to keep up as much as possible which in the summer is almost turning into an IMPOSSIBLE feat- oh well. Here are pictures from our pioneer day activities. Last year we started the tradition(can it be called a tradition after just one year?) of going to see the float on display -for free, in air conditioned bliss at the Sandy convention center. The kids loved it last year -they get to vote for their favorite float and get up close to see all the little details of each float. They also have face painting and balloon animals for free(tips welcome-you know what that means-not so good for a guilt driven person!)

Anyways this year they didn't have floats as good as last years but nonetheless the kids enjoyed it and were thrilled to watch the parade the next day -from our air conditioned home and see them all over again this time in the parade route. The best way to watch a parade, no crowds, it's cool, and you can leave for a few minutes when the bands start comin. On pioneer day we met up with my parents in Provo and participated in a bunch of pioneer activities. The kids panned for gold,played games, watched a blacksmith try to make a spoon,and walked thru the pioneer village. There was a lot more going on -too much to mention-the kids had fun and I think they learned a lot.

That evening we went to a Provo trailer park and tried out everything in our new trailer. The boys fought over who was going to use the toilet first- Ben won! Oh I'm so proud of my man! Actually he did great with all the hooking up and unhooking and now we feel pretty comfortable about our vacation and we're ready to go. It was a full week for us but well worth all the work!

Crankiness

2009-07-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

So last week was a hard one for me. Don't know why but I was just cranky. Maybe it was that I had no quiet time, not even when in the bathroom. I do not do well if I miss out on my few minutes of alone time and usually that involves something crafty. So last week when I was having a bad day- Took the kids to the kids swimming and had missed quiet time again-Ben and I had a little chat that went something to this effect.
Ben- What's wrong?'
Me - nothing
Ben- Are you o.k.?
Me - No! I need just a few minutes by myself-alone- no one talking, or whining, or crying at me. I just need to do something crafty. CAN YOU TELL I HAVEN"T DONE ANYTHING CRAFTY LATELY! It makes me really cranky when I can't be creative!
The last thing I made was at the beginning of summer and that was just the job charts!
Ben- yes I can tell you haven't done anything crafty.
The conversation continued and it was actually pretty comical. So in the works are a few crafts and Ben has been pretty supportive and hasn't rolled his eyes too much at me wanting to change the kids' bedrooms. I know, big undertaking but the to younger boys need better nap time. So soon I will be painting and such-yea I can't wait.
As for now here is my last project - the job charts. I think they turned out pretty cute and since they're so cute I make sure the kids use them-everyday!

What could possibly be more American?

2009-07-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

So each year my side of the family all get together and go camping throughout the summer. This year was no exception although we cut it down to one-2 night camping trip. This year was so busy for many of us that the only free time we had was the 4th of July weekend and even then KristyAnn was unable to make it-yea I know you're reading this and yes we missed you! It's always such a lot of work and is exhausting and yet each year we have such a good time. This year our family and Lauras family had purchased camping trailers and were breaking them in. Good thing we did, there are a few things we learned which will help on our 2 week trip to Washington next month. I was a little worried when we got up American Fork canyon and it rained for the first two hours! (definitely a blessing to have the trailer!) but after that we had great weather. The kids had fun exploring, hiking, swinging in the hammock, roasting marshmallows and eating smores. The annual treasure hunt was fun-Laura and I had a blast mapping it out and were informed upon return by some cranky husbands and kids that we had been gone for an hour and a half! I guess we were just having too much fun without the kids!!! Anyways grandma did some over the top spoiling (great job mom) and the kids were on there way to the best sugar rush of the year -may even top halloween. They loved the treasure hunt but oh man those kids all needed naps! After the treasure hunt we headed to silver lake and the kids did some swimming and Ben/Payton caught a fish- pretty funny that Ben left Payton with the fishing pole and Payton put it down and left, when Ben came back there was a fish tugging. No one knows who to credit who but Ben was pretty excited- more than Payton was. How's that for a big kid. Later that night it was fried and eaten by almost everyone. What a great camping trip-Amylyn and Andy were able to come and Scott made appearances a few times -once with a girl!!! We were able to do our dutch oven cooking in there and no one went hungry. Although the kids were hoping for dutch oven popcorn- we may have to do this in the backyard sometime this summer. So saturday the 4th we headed home and cleaned up and to celebrate a little more we had Kentucky Fried Chicken and the kids did poppers on the back patio. Not our typical 4th- usually we go to the stadium of fire- but camping was exhausting enough and I was headed to work. Thank goodness pioneer day is just around the corner and I promised our kids real fireworks then. I think they were so exhausted they didn't even complain!

Beautiful!

2009-07-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a chance to go through the Oquirrh Temple open house. What a beautiful temple. The kids were amazed and we were so happy to share part of the temple experience with them. They had lots of questions and we were so happy to answer them. Riley was so cute he kept saying the temple was "awesome". And it was -Awesome and beautiful. What a blessing to be so close to so many temples. The kids never grow tired of seeing them and as we drive through the valley they call out each time they see one. I hope they will always feel that excited about the temple.

Summer in one week!

2009-06-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

Finally, summer (meaning the weather was good) has begun and we crammed as much as we could into one week, not knowing how long the good weather would last.
Roasting hot dogs in the back yard-check

Half naked boys eating watermelon-check

Smores oh yummy smores with the neighbors-check

Sleeping out in the tent(not me!)-check

Basketball camp and swimming lessons-check

Icees, on the last day of swim lessons!

Crazy x 5

2009-06-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

So far this has been the theme of our summer and I know it's just beginning but whoa- I'm exhausted! It's been a while since I've had a few minutes to spare to blog and right now I actually have a million things I could be doing- what's the point in cleaning? it's just messy 10 minutes later! O.k. so we started off the summer with a bang the day school got out with Icees and corndogs at the local Mav. 99 cents for any size so of course everyone got the largest!

After the icees we headed over to the primary activity filled with water games and crafts. The kids had fun. This is Jocelyn with her stick bug she made.

We were also able to take a field trip with the neighbors to the Bean museum at BYU and then headed over to the BYU creamery-YUM. The kids loved it and I had to promise we would return to both soon.

A week later we took a last minute trip ( and I mean last minute-we had 14 yards of bark sitting in our driveway and were working non stop to get it all laid in the flower beds!) Our grandpa Leatham passed away and we were able to make the trip to Ephrata for the funeral. I am so glad that we were able to go. We had so much fun amidst the sadness. Some of our highlights were seeing cousins we had not seen in about 15 years, chiccos pizza, dk drive inn, cliff jumping at sun lakes-not me -Ben,Mark and Laura, and being able to visit with Bens family also. There were some of Bens family who have never seen the last three of our kids. It was so fun to visit with them all and meet Matts fiance. So much fun and sadness also. The funeral was nice and seeing family was great. Here are a few of the pics:
Long lost cousins!

Ben and Owen at the cemetery

Awesome uncle Dan!

Sam, Stephanie, and Courtney

Audry and Owen

Jake holding Mercer

Awesome uncle Matt!

Jake at sun lakes

Yucky water at the lakes

We drove home that night after the funeral and made it home by 8:30 the next morning. We unloaded and started laundry and packing for pioneer trek which was the next morning with our ward. Ben and I ran around all day and at 9 pm and after a day of continuous crying, I took Owen to the instacare -he had pink ears not quite an ear infection. I was able to get a prescription though just in case my mom needed to get it filled while we were gone. Somehow we managed to be somewhat put together that night. I was a little anxious about going with Owen not feeling well and not looking forward to 5 hours of sitting in the car again but 5:30 the next morning we were on our way- Oh and that is all a story in itself! Pictures will come soon but for now Riley is wanting to go outside and I have more flowers to plant.

Stupid gophers!

2009-05-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I planted this (or something very similar to this- I lost count of what I planted, too many to keep straight!)-

And tonight when I went out to check on things and plant a few more, I found this....

Stupid gophers! Stupid voles!!!

At least he was nice enough to leave one tiny twig of the flower left!!!! ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!

Ok I'll get over it! My last full day of kids in school is tomorrow(sigh) Now I can't use the "Not until school is out" excuse for just about anything I don't want to deal with.
Can I go swimming in the backyard?- Not until schools out.
Can we have a water fight? - Not until schools out.
Can we have a late night? - Not until schools out!
Can we stay up late and roam the neighborhood? - Not until schools out!!
Can we make smores, go camping, sleep outside on the swing set, have dinner? - not until schools out? Oh wait except for the dinner!
Quick I need to think of a good excuse now! Although the summer seems to have already started - I'm way behind on house cleaning and grocery shopping and laundry and dinner isn't even thought about until I'm outside with the neighbors and it's 4 o'clock and we're asking each other what they're having. Problem is, no one has thought of anything- the blind leading the blind! I really need to get better at this or it's going to be a long summer of pancakes, hotdogs and cold cereal!

This past week Jocelyn had her preschool program and she did great! She sang a few songs and recited some nursery rhymes and afterward we had a picnic lunch. She has really enjoyed preschool and loves her teachers. She is also excited for next year and being able to go three days a week. I'm excited too!

Also last week Ethan sang in the 4th grade rock concert.(they sang about rocks) It was cute and he did great. Riley left singing something about a rock in mexico, so it made and impression on him!

Saturday was his last soccer game-Yeah! and today was the dance festival. The 4th grade did a square dance and the 3rd grade -Jake- did some kind of luau song. For once the weather was perfect- not too hot and we were able to enjoy all of the schools performances- partly because Ethan and Jake were one of the last classes to dance. They did great and somehow managed to smile even though they were embarrassed.
Ethan's in the striped shirt and cowboy hat.

Jake is in the yellow shirt and pretty much looked a way from me the whole time!

Among all the school stuff and backyard landscaping I am just trying to survive a very cranky 8 month old who is teething! That tooth better be in tomorrow. I don't know how much we can take! You wouldn't know it by this picture though- the power of tylenol- it's great!

May days....

2009-05-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

This month has been over the top busy for us and here are a few of the highlights-
At the beginning of the month Riley,Owen and I were able to go with Jocelyn on her preschool field trip to Thanksgiving Point farms. A fun time. They saw baby chicks, a baby cow, goats, horses, and a peacock among other farm animals. The highlight was the wagon ride and being able to feed the animals. They even got to milk a cow- a pretend cow with rubber utters!?! And they were also able to see how much they weighed compared to farm animals- I stayed away from the scale for fear I would rank up there with the horse and cow!

Jake had a mothers day program at school that I attended and was so happy to watch Jake and his classmates sing for all us moms. We also were served a small snack and Jake made me a cute paper flower arrangement. Ethan's class didn't do a program but he did make me some nice coupons(one day off, and dishes done). I have already put some to use. He also made me some cute flower pens that have been well used. Here's a picture Jocelyn took of us... the reason for my forehead being cut off and only having Rileys eye in picture.

Jocelyn did a great job at here dance performance on Saturday. She did 2 dances-Zip a de do da and a tinkerbell song. She was so cute and really has learned a lot especially how to shake her bum! Ben's a little worried. She loves to dance and listen to music Cheetah girls christmas and more recently my twilight cd (which she thinks is hers!). It's just cute to sneak peeks while hse's dancing in her room when she thinks no one is looking. I really hope she keeps dancing for a long time. I love to watch her dance. This is Jocelyn and her teacher Miss Brandi. She loves her teacher and dance friends.

Jake received and award for a hundred percent attendance and 5 dollars! Where was my 5 dollars when I was younger- I had a hundred percent for a few years in a row! What is it coming to these days! He was pretty excited and has put his money toward a bionicle game already. Way to go Jake!

Owen is now eight months and has had a couple of first- his first tooth- yeah! and his first otter pop. He's hooked and gets upset if the kids walk past eating an otter pop and don't share! He is just growing up so fast. He is also army crawling everywhere and follows me from room to room. Although he gets stuck in places and hasn't figured out how to back up- that will come, but for now he just screams until we rescue him.

Ethan has kept us busy also with soccer games and I was able to talk to his class on career day. They enjoyed the xays of the ring and necklace in an abdomen film, the missing pinky and a broken ankle. ( there were many other xrays I could've taken but lets just say explaining them to a bunch of 4th graders may not have been appropriate! although I did show them what gas looks like on a xray and they thought that was pretty funny-they have the best senses of humor). I love my job -most of the time and liked sharing it with his class.

So now we're down to the last 2 weeks of school and programs and dance festival and field day and ..... it just goes on. Ben has been really busy with scouts-camping and trek prep and in between it all we are trying to plant our garden and put the finishing touches of landscaping on the back yard- not easy to do in pieces here and there but its coming along. I at least got most of the garden planted- peas galore! yeah I can't wait.

At my expense..

2009-04-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I sat down to type this blog when as soon as I typed the title some trauma developed in our house. In all the hype of thus said trauma I accidently hit the publish button and unfortunately until now I have not been able to have a quiet moment to blog. So here is what I was going to blog about on tuesday and Ben has anxiously awaited (monday he asked how my day was and I just gave him the "don't even ask or I may not be able to stay calm" look.). Definitely a blog worthy day!
Monday when I got home from work I was exhausted from lack of sleep and thought that a day of running errands was just what I needed to keep moving and stay awake. First on the list was a new remote from comcast because a couple of weeks ago ours died and heaven forbid if I had to get up to change the channel again- although I got pretty good at using the cable box buttons for using the dvr which I didn't know what half those buttons were for. Anyways we were successful at the comcast place and then headed over to the Harbor Freight tool store in search of something to unclog the downstairs toilet which has been clogged longer than the comcast remote has been broken! It's all priorities my friends! So again I hauled all three kids into the store and down the plumbing aisle. Way too many toys for kids to keep hands to themselves- I should have known this. I found kinda what I wanted- a snake to unclog drains but it wasn't a toilet one. So if you've ever seen one of these it's a thick metal wire(for lack of a better description) that winds up in a plastic disc like thing and the wire comes out on one side and theres a crank handle on the other side of this disc. Well while I was searching for something that might better suit our purpose, Riley decided to figure out the snake thing. Before I could catch him he had pulled out about 4 or 5 inches and handed it to me to fix. I have never worked one of these things but thought turning the handle one way would make it come out and surely turning it the other way would make it go in. Oh HOW I WISH THIS WAS TRUE!!! The second I tried to crank it about a foot of the snake shoots out, so I try again and this time about 3 more feet shoots out and you know since I'm such a slow learner I thought sure enough one more crank would do the job .... and it did- the entire snake shot out of the disc emptying about thirty feet of wire on the floor where it hit with a loud crash! Immediately I made the Oh MY GOSH face and looked up- directly down the aisle were TWO harbor freight employees looking at me as if to say "What in the world is that crazy lady doing!".
All I could do was shrug and mouth the words help- because of course I was speechless and embarrassed. Also by then the kids had huddle down by Owens carseat for shelter from the snake thing which made it look even more like the whole thing was because of some dumb lady! Of course the employees came to help although the one didn't look too happy. I apologized about a hundred times and they were able to return the snake to the shelves a few minutes later for some other poor soul to buy. So in this situation do you run out of the store with three kids running beside you? (Which to me basically admits that I had no place in a tool store! Which I am tool savvy- right Ben?) Or do you stay and look around pretending you have other tools to purchase. I did the latter and actually found a new tire for our wheelbarrow! See, I belong in a tool store -not just home depot!!!! Anyways I always tell Ben- kids are kids and they are not out to "get" you. This day I begged to differ and may (only may) never say this again. One day my kids will get a good laugh at this story at my expense!

Beginning...middle...end...

2009-04-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

We survived! What a crazy spring break! I think we all had a lot of fun but everything was so unpredictable- especially the weather. The pictures pretty much tell the story.
This is how the BEGINNING of spring break started-beautiful weather, the blossoms were full and the kids could play outside on Monday. So nice compared to the previous week.

Tuesday was rainy-yuck the kids were not happy- and little did we know how the MIDDLE -wednesday would look- yup snow - alot of snow- for about a 1/2 second I thought about sending them all out to play and then poof the thought was gone and unspoken and the kids suprisingly didn't even ask- I think the snow was very, very old news!

Luckily thursday things started to look up-kinda. After taking Owen in to the doctors Wednesday night for a high fever (has his first ear infection- poor guy!) we were all looking forward to heading down town to Salt Lake. Ben's convention was being held at the Radisson this year and luckily he was able to get 2 adjoining rooms reserved for us. The kids spent most of the time at the indoor pool while we were there. Friday we headed to temple square and actually were able to see a few things that were new to us. Of course we had to go to the church history museum- the kids love this place! Thank goodness they get excited about the gospel and the history even if it's just to get dressed up, or push the display buttons and to watch movies, they were happy-except Owen -ear infection was rough on all of us! After Temple Square Ben had lunch with us at the Gateway and then back to the hotel for Ben to do one quick thing and then again to the pool- this time with Ben. The kids had a lot more fun with Ben swimming with them- I wonder Why?! Anyways dinner at mcdonalds where we scored free dessert since 4 of our burgers were made wrong! yeah for us! The kids were exhausted and so was I (hotel beds aren't the most comfortable anyways and yet I slept most of the nights in an arm chair with Owen! Yuck!) so we headed back to the hotel and crashed. Saturday Ben was off for a busy day and the kids convinced me to let them go swimming one more time. Why not, it's free and I really didn't look forward to hanging out at home all day without Ben again.

So not a really eventful spring break but it was nice to see Ben since usually we don't see him at all during convention and I think it was nice for him to have us around to take his breaks with. So the END of spring break we had nice weather again and the kids played the rest of the day outside. So yes I survived spring break( i think I need a t shirt that says this on the front and on the back it should say without my husband!) and Owen is finally my happy guy again. Thank goodness- I need some sleep!

Date night

2009-04-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Friday night the boys meaning Ben, Ethan, Jake, and Riley had the chance to go to the Utah Valley University game courtesy of Fox Hollow. Tickets were handed out last week after an assembly and each day the boys would bring home another ticket a friend would not need. We ended up with 9 tickets- how many kids do they think are in our family??? Anyways Jocelyn had still needed easter shoes(yes a little last minute -I know!) so we made plans to head to Target and a list of other stores knowing Target would probably be out of shoes-as always, anyways Jocelyn was not too fond of this idea- I was surprised. What girl would not want a pair of new shoes? So when I say Jocelyn wasn't fond of the idea, fond as in all out crying huge crocodile tears and hanging on Ben every chance she got. I was speechless- seriously I wanted a new pair of shoes and she was trying to avoid it!!!! For weeks she has talked about seeing the new Hannah Montana movie and I had promised her that just the two of us would go see it together. So I resisted all feelings of panic over the lack of Easter shoes and the boys and girls went their separate ways. I honesty thought the movie would be sold out but we lucked out and let me just say I was so glad we went. Jocelyn could not stop smiling. It was the cutest thing ever- she would try so hard not to smile but in the end she was just beaming. The movie was CUTE! The music was fun although Jocelyn refused to get up and dance- still she had that cute smile on the whole time. Not to mention for once she got her own popcorn and soda. She informed me the top half of the popcorn bag was mine and the rest of it was hers-I couldn't figure out how she thought she could eat my top half as well as hers. I couldn't help but think of all the future occasions the two of us would be able to share and my heart was just so full. She was just so fun to hang out with. We had a great night and so did the boys- the Flash won their game and the boys were even able to score free noise makers. The next day Jocelyn came up to me while I was making breakfast and said "Mom, that movie was great!"-Priceless!

Too much fun....

2009-04-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

So the last couple of weeks have just been completely filled for us, hence the reason of no blogging, and actually there are a million things I could be doing right now but thoughts and pictures and milestones are piling up in my head and in our camera so hold on, this may be a gigantic blog.
March ended with the beginning of soccer season for Ethan- a very cold beginning! I think it was 40 degrees-gloves and hats required. What a way to play soccer. Jocelyn and Riley didn't seem to mind the cold and enjoyed being outside for a change.

April began with the all anticipated Pine Wood Derby. The boys have been working hard for a couple of months and with all that hard work and a book of secrets the boys did pretty well this year. It was Jakes first official year to race. He has always made one along side Ethan just to race for fun but this year he's official. Ethan received third place and Jake came in fifth and with the sportiest car. They were both happy and have started to devise plans and tricks for next years race.

Ethan turned ten-yes ten! Oh my! What a weird thing to say when people ask how old my oldest is. We woke up to 2 inches of snow and a blizzard and Ethan had a soccer game!- luckily they cancelled. As if the week before was cold enough I couldn't imagine soccer in a blizzard! Thus began the day of birthday fun. This year Ethan picked golden corral for his birthday dinner-although we went for lunch since I worked that night. Just before lunch though we headed to toys r us so Ethan could spend his birthday money from grandma Allen- more pokemon cards. After lunch we headed to see monster vs alien in 3D. It was so fun. The movie was just ok but the 3D was what made it worth it. The kids were entertaining to watch as well. They kept ducking and reaching out when things came towards them. What a full and fun birthday. Ethan received a new squirt gun and lego indiana jones for the PS2. He was very excited! He wasn't sure what to think when he opened his present to find a picture of the game (I ordered it just over a week before his birthday which obviously wasn't early enough) So 4 painstaking days later, it arrived and has been played a ton since.

Conference sunday we headed to my moms for an easter egg hunt and dinner with Ethans birthday cake for dessert. After golden Corrall the day before, no one could even think about cake or any other food either! So we decide to do cake a day later at moms. This year he picked an alien cake and this is what I came up with- not too bad. The kids had fun playing soccer and egg hunting and just hanging out with cousins.

Owen officially started sitting up and somedays really hates it. He would rather roll around and be moving.

Easter started out a little less spiritual than I would have liked. I got home late from a very very long night at work and Helped Ben and the boys get to church while Jocelyn and I finished getting ready. I really hate being late to church but Easter sunday! That's just the worst!- oh well, not as bad as falling asleep in relief society- Mary if you read this, the beginning of your lesson was great and the testimonies at the end were wonderful I just wish I could've heard more of your lesson! Falling asleep in no way was a reflection of your lesson. I probably would have fallen asleep during sunday school also but it just so happened I was walking the halls with Owen. I guess I'm just lucky I made it to church at all. After church we ate a small lunch and the kids each got their easter baskets. It was fast sunday so we told the boys we would hold off candy until after church.
They seemed pretty relieved to not have the temptation of breaking their fast. Jake even said it would be hard to watch the little kids eat candy so everyone waited till after church. After a quick nap and a visit from mom and scott we sat down for the Easter dinner Ben had prepared complete with yams, mashed potatoes, and ham. He did great! What a great husband to do all that and let me sleep.
So now I just need to get Ben and our family through convention week which happens to be spring break- which translates into- we're not going anywhere and we'll be lucky to see Ben at all this week! ARRGGHHH! I'm going to have to get pretty creative this week for all of our sanity sake! I'm just looking forward to some time when things will slow down a bit- just a bit.

What a party!

2009-03-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

Each night before the boys go to bed, Ben reads a chapter from the series Fablehaven. They are on book 2 and the boys love it. They get pretty disappointed on the nights that Ben is at meetings and they are unable to find out what will happen next. I just love to see the boys excited about books and I love it even more when Ben reads- if only I could get him to read twilight! (Ben if you read this - be a man - like Mark;), and read THEM!) So a few weeks ago I found out about the book #4 launch party in Salt Lake and the boys have not stopped reminding me when it all takes place. Well yesterday was the day-book 4 was released. Which I so nicely picked up (originally for Ethans birthday) while on my errands at walmart and the launch party and book signing were later that night. The boys were so excited. While Ben and Owen went to a young mens activity(which he ended not having to go -Ben was sad to miss the fun!), the rest of us headed to the party with book 4 in tow. We grabbed dinner at the mcdonalds drive thru and made it just in time. What a fun and -free!- activity. They had people dressed up as characters from the book, and t shirts, books, and fairy dressups for sale. They had singing and comedy, and the kids really liked when they threw glow sticks out to the crowd. It was lots of fun. We found out book 5 comes out next year and possibly a movie and a sequel to the candy shop wars -Ethan was excited about that. The only bummer was that we didn't get our books signed (I bought #3 while at the party) because it was a little unorganized and way crowded so they boys will head to costco on saturday where Brandon Mull is doing a signing-Thank goodness or the boys would have never agreed to leave last night. Icecream on the way home and in bed by 9:30 and I'm pretty sure I was asleep on the couch by 10- Luckily work was slow the night before or we would have never made it to the party. All in all a fun night and we look forward to next years launch party.

I guess blowing on the knot frees her? I'm not sure I need to start reading the series.

Kiss me I'm irish!

2009-03-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

So my idea for and authentic irish dinner didn't turn out as great as I wanted. It's amazing how ideas sound so good until after a busy night at work. I was exhausted and not too enthused to be cooking anything, but each year Ben tells the kids about our ancestors and every year I have the idea to introduce them to what their ancestors may have eaten. Let me just say if you ever try this make sure you like the food first or there is now way your kids will like it! I know this first hand now. I think the face I made after the first bite of cabbage was a hint to the kids how the meal was going to end. The kids ate everything except the cabbage! I think next year I'll go back to just a yummy green dinner. How can you go wrong with lime jello and limeade and green colored mashed potatoes etc.?

I'm so vain...Happy Birthday!

2009-03-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

So Ben likes to give me a hard time when certain things happen around our house and he says "Get the camera, this would be good to blog about" Like he's the one doing the blogging!? :) Anyways last week was my wonderful husbands birthday and the day after I jokingly asked him if he was blog worthy- well of course he is -just a week late! So happy birthday cute husband! This year Ben had a birthday week- starting with new hotwheels, new unmentionables(bought at the distribution center-wink wink), dinner out with yours truly (moms gift to Ben -a free babysitter- thanks mom!) and afterwards a trip to cal ranch to FINALLY get a belt for that cool belt buckle he got for Christmas. Ben is now the same age as me for the next 2 months yeah! I don't feel as old! This picture of Ben is his I'm so vain pose-at least this is what I've started calling it. At some point a couple weeks ago we needed a picture of Ben for something and he said Ohhh use that picture with me holding Owen in the hospital- looking through our pictures this has become unknowingly his pose- very cute I must say and I can't help teasing him about being particular about which pictures I post of him. So hopefully this picture passes his expectation. Love You! and I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

60 years already?

2009-02-26T20:52:00.000-08:00

I swear my dad has been in his 50's FOREVER! Or so it seems. I guess the older I get it feels like everyone else has slowed down-maybe also dad reminding me that he was forty when we lived in Iceland and we reminisced about the over the hill balloons and gifts we showed up with at his office. That seems like a million years ago! Anyways on Saturday, mom planned a morning breakfast birthday surprise for Dad. Our family arrived first and got to see the surprise on his face as I handed him hash browns and carrot cake. He just kept smiling and saying what is this. Oh not to mention the bathrobe he was wearing totally showed how unknowing he was to the surprise-what fun! So this blog is for Dad- really -and he seems to think blog pages are for bragging so here you go Dad- MY dad is sooooo old- he is probably older than your dad and better as well. He is the most spiritual and patient person I know and is a great grandpa too. He gardens better than anyone I know and his raspberries taste the best!!! Did you read my blog about his english toffee -oh man I need to get me some more of that- who needs to wait till christmas?!!! Oh and he can beat your Dad at anything! Do I need to go on???!!!! Love you Dad! Happy 60th!

Hickory Dickory dock.....

2009-02-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today for Jocelyns preschool she was to dress up as a nursery rhyme character. She wanted to be a mouse from Hickory Dickory Dock. So last night at oh- 9:00pm- after blue and gold banquet, I remebered this! Aarrrghhh! So luckily - after searching through all my fabric- I was able to find grey and pink fabric-perfect! Needless to say by 11 o'clock I was exhausted and ready for bed! But I think she turned out to be a pretty cute mouse and she loved it.

Sunday Laziness

2009-02-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

Jocelyn and Riley wanted me to take their picture on Sunday while they ate their snacks so I thought I would do a blog about our typical Sunday- nothing really exciting but hey I work every Saturday night so Sundays are low key for us. Of course we go to church and manage to survive a chaotic hour of sacrament meeting- am I suppose to actually be able to hear what the speaker is saying?! After church usually we're greeted as we come home by the amazing smell of crock-pot roast (Ben says this is the reason he married me- funny thing is he is the one that makes it now that we're married- he makes it better than me!) or whatever we find in the fridge. Usually games, Legos and movies follow lunch- this week the boys played Pirates of the Caribbean Life and then Cooties with Jocelyn and Riley.

Most sundays I make chocolate chip cookies or some sort of dessert and we have fruit smoothies and popcorn. This week after all the valentines candy over laod, I thought we had had enough sugar so we just popped about 5 bags of popcorn and settled in to watch the Amazing Race. Somewhere in the middle of all this family calls on the phone- Ben's mom- without fail, and the boys tend to start some kind of wrestling. I really like our Sundays once we get everyone to church and make it through Scarament Meeting. I realize that one day I will be able to make it through all of my meetings and will miss all the chaos of getting five kids ready for church but for now we somehow manage to make it mostly on time and presentable- so what if the boy have wrinkled shirts under their sweaters and I'm putting earrings in while we're driving to church and I have been known to do or redo Jocelyn's hair in the parking lot- yes one day I'm sure I will miss it all but for now I'm just trying to survive and be happy!!

Jocelyn just after church. She woke up this morning saying she didn't have any dresses to wear! She is turning into such a diva! I just made her this one a couple weeks ago! What a spoiled girl!

Jocelyn and Riley eating a snack-let me explain those hideous sponge bob pjs- I bought them on clearance for Ethan and Jake years ago when they were 3 and 4 years old and we were desperate for jammies. We didn't even watch sponge bob then and the boys had no idea who he was. Not so for Riley- sponge bob was one of his first words! and he practically sings the theme song. Thanks to older siblings!

Owen just chillin and playing with his toys.

Oh for the Love....!

2009-02-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

Years ago when I was in grade school I remember valentines day with excitement. Our class would have a small party and we passed out our valentines we had so carefully signed our names on and place them usually in some sort of large paper envelope hanging from our desk. In those days we decorated those envelope the day before as part of art class and the valentines which by no means were characters from disney or any other name brand- we had to go with the generic- no name "be my valentine" kind. I guess with 6 siblings thats the way it is and no way did we ever give out candy and rarely do I remeber getting a whole lot of candy. (Ben informes me they didn't even get to buy thier valentines- they had to hand make them- he always has a story to one up mine on being poor! He will always win at that!) Boy how times have changed! Ethan, Jake and Jocelyn are the kind of kids that I wish I could have been when I was in grade school. The cool kids who have the cool valentines and give out candy with them. The only difference is this is just the norm now days. I don't think there was one single valentine that didn't have candy on it! The kids have been on sugar over loads- it's like halloween all over again and I've just let them eat as much as they want. The faster the better- get it over and done with and I won't find wrappers or hear Riley beg for candy anymore. A few weeks ago I had purchased the valentines while at walmart and the boys seemed happy with my picks, then a couple days later Jake asked "Are we going to give out candy?". When I said no I don't think so - his face just fell. Arrrgh. So needless to say Ben headed to Smiths friday morning to purchase sugar cookies for Ethans class and 2 bags of candies! What spoiled boys! I also remeber in highschool buying valentine grams to send to friends in school- their school did this! Elementry School!!!! Ethan and Jake were on a quest to get the most in each of their classes and I admit I kinda helped out- they did chores to earn quarters and ended up buying each other and themselves the most in their class! Oh to be a kid- they were not ashamed at all buying for themselves and all I could say was -"I could've bought you a whole bag of suckers for that price" which they informed me was not the point of the whole thing!Crazy boys! Ethan even had a secret admirer which he thought he knew who it was but now is not so sure! How cute!
As for thier valentines boxes, Jake just wanted his shoe box covered with paper so he could draw on it- I had to stop him when he started drawing some kind of scary monter with blood on it- for goodnes sakes- valentines is about love!!! So for Ethan, his class was having a contest and I really wanted Ethan to win so after long debate I came up with the idea of it looking like a valentine monster eating the valentines as the kid dropped them in. Well when Jake saw the results he wanted his the same. I wish I would've gotten a picture of his before we covered it with crete paper. Needles to say Ethan didn't win- sponge bob reigned over his and he was a little bummed although quite a few kids voted for his. Nothing a little candy won't solve!

Jocelyn had a fun party on thursday with her preschool class and loved signing her name on her valentines although after about five we traded off and on with writng her name-"Jocelyn is a long name" she said. She gave out tinker bell valentines with pencils. Riley got into it all also. He had a box to decorate and him and Jocelyn made valentine pictures to give to AmyLyn. Jocelyn tried to convince Riley to give his to Andy-"he's a good guy,Riley" But no way Riley just wanted to color for himself! Funny guy! As for Ben and I, we went out friday night-thanks to AmyLyn and Andy for watching the kids- they had a blast and Ben and I needed the break. Even if it was only dinner at chiles and a walk through Target(without kids!-Heaven!!!) Other than that Ben bought me my favorite chocolate-dove darks and hopefully tomorrow we can use our gift cards at see's candy!YUM!

Breaking News

2009-02-09T12:47:00.001-08:00

Breaking News

2009-02-09T12:38:00.001-08:00

For some odd reason I cannot get Ethans news clip to post with my explanation! So anyways above is Ethans book report. Let me just say he did a great job improvising. His book was based on a soldier who took part in the invasion of Omaha beach. He really liked it and I could tell- he gave me play by plays on what was happening in each chapter. I was happy that he had found a book he liked- it's not easy for him to get into a book which is hard for me to understand - I love to read. I get excited when Owen is hungry and I have a chance to sit and read. Although Riley and Jocelyn have started to climb on the couch next to me with their own books to have me read to them. Oh well! Anyways Ethan did great and we're looking forward to next months book report a biography on Mr. Rogers. He can either dress up as his character or make a scrapbook. I am all for the dressing up- how easy would it be to find a cheesy cardigan-DI has plenty- and some sneakers?? But no Ethan wants to do the scrapbook. Urgh! Well this month we will be a little more prepared and hopefully less busy and actually get it done earlier than just the night before!

Stretched to the limit

2009-02-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

Last week was sooo busy for us. Between many doctors appts, visiting teaching, piano lessons, tutoring, dance class, young mens, church meetings, pack meeting for the boys, and Ethans book report. It was a crazy but fun week.
Owen and Riley both had well check visits on the same day at 2 different doctors and preschool for Jocelyn also in the middle of it all. Owen had his 4 month check and is a whooping 14 lbs. Actually this is average but for some reason those fat rolls and chubby hands just make it seem like he should be more. He's pretty much average all the way around. The poor thing got two shots in each leg and whimpered and grunted most of the day. As long as his legs were still he was happy-yeah, right! He's still working on rolling over but last week found his feet which I'm not too sure he's happy about. He likes to grab them -hard - like a death grip and then he starts to cry and squeeze harder. Poor guy probably thinks it's one of those crazy siblings again but no it's himself. We think it's funny but kinda sad to watch and he just does it over and over again. Hopefully soon he'll learn who the real culprit is!

Riley's well check was actually his 2 year check -so I'm about six months behind! His ear infection he had a couple weeks ago is gone but the runny nose has returned. I'll have to get him in again if it continues so we can avoid the ear infection again. Poor guy hates his runny nose and the rest of the family grosses out when he slims everything-YUCK! As for his growth chart he is doing great also-average. He's also up with all the milestones that a 2 year old should do. He also got shots one in each leg. Jocelyn was so cute, she had to go out in the hall because she didn't want to see him get hurt. Good thing she was at preschool when Owen got his!
I love these pictures I took of Jocelyn and Riley last week. They played babies so nicely together. Riley loves to play babies and luckily Jocelyn has plenty of everything to share.

Ethan had his monthly book report due last friday and I had been dreading this one! He had to do a news cast complete with weather, sports, traffic, commercial and an interview with the person from his book. Needless to say this was put together the night before it was due because of the busy week we had. It turned out great and he is an amazing improvisor and a cute anchorman. I'll have to post the real newscast as soon as I have Ben make it a smaller file. But for now here's a picture of my cute anchorman complete with styrofoam/flashlight microphone!

My true loves...

2009-02-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

Monday when the kids were out of school for some obscure reason-teacher inservices or something-I made sugar cookies. The kids were so excited, probably because I haven't made sugar cookie in about a year! I guess when I'm pregnant I just try to keep the kids alive and happy and sugar cookies didn't fall into those categories. I'm also not a huge fan of the whole rolling out and cutting out and the mess that goes with it. So this time Ethan and Riley helped me make the dough and while they were all out trying to play in the snow(it is now hard as a rock!-we need new snow.) I rolled and cut them all out. So nice to just get it done. I probably would have let them do it but I had just mopped the floor and my patience the day after a graveyard shift is not the best! They didn't seem to mind. So for family home evening we frosted and ate and then frosted and ate again! YUMMY! Cream cheese frosting and sugar cookies how can you go wrong. Now I am wondering why it took me so long to make these again and yet maybe right after having a baby is not the best time to have such temptations around! Anyways Happy Valentines Day early!

Growing Pains

2009-01-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

The other day Jocelyn kept saying-"I don't want to grow up, I want to stay little."
This surprised me only because she is always saying that she is a big girl. So finally I asked her why and she said "My body just wants me to get bigger and I don't want to." Not really a reason but I thought it was cute that she blames her body. If only she knew that I don't want her to get bigger either. There have been many times that silently I've thought -please let her stay little and sweet so I can enjoy her cute girlie things a little longer but for some reason her body just wants to grow. So sad!

4 months....

2009-01-23T13:53:00.000-08:00

It is so hard for me to believe 4 months have gone by since Owen was born. It seemed like he would never be born when I was pregnant but don't all pregnancies feel like that-like time has slowed way down and sometimes stopped? I am wondering why I was so worried about having five kids. Don't get me wrong there are days that are completely crazy but in a good way. Owen is the least demanding out of all of our kids. He's so mellow and for the most part just fusses when he is tired or hungry. Yesterday he must have had a tummy ache and cried for a bout 10 min. When he had settled down Jocelyn asked "What is wrong with him?" I just laughed- we rarely get to hear his real cry. He loves to be where all the action is and lights up whenever anyone gives him attention- even if they run by and say "Hi Owen". He is so close to rolling over and has mastered going in a complete circle on his play mat. He also loves to be cuddled- none of the others wanted to stay still long enough for a good cuddle.
People have asked us if he is a good baby and when I say yes they immediately say -Is he or is it just because he is the fifth. I'm sure it's both reasons only because I remember with Ethan someone told me it gets better by the time they are 6 weeks old and I just cried saying I don't think I can make. Riley was they same way-fussy! That's why it was so hard when I found out I was pregnant again. If we could be guaranteed to have another mellow baby like Owen- and it be a girl for Jocelyn's sake-sign me up now -ok maybe not. For now we will enjoy every last baby moment to the fullest. Owen makes it so easy.

Finally finished!

2009-01-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Almost four years ago I bought these really cute buckets for the boys room. They have gotten a lot of use, full of everything imaginable. But they have been in the closet and out of sight so when I say everything imaginable I'm not kidding. I have gotten tired of cleaning them out every couple of months. So I thought the boys needed their own bookcase and a place for their buckets to be displayed and for me to keep a little more control on what goes in them. Finally I hung the magazine holders and made a space for their artwork-which they love to tape on the wall-to be displayed. Now they won't use up so much tape and I can also keep their wall tidy too. Yeah! The boys were so excited and I was glad to finally finish a project. Now on to the next project-Bens shirt for pioneer trek. I've started sewing it but I think I'll wait till the kids are in bed. I like to sew uninterrupted for some reason. I don't mind being interrupted while cleaning or watching tv or anything else -just sewing weird I know! Creativeness should never be interrupted!

Our very Merry Christmas!

2008-12-30T14:35:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-12-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

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...

2008-11-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-10-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

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....

2008-09-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

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.

Riley is two!

2008-09-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

Wow! Riley turned two on Aug 31st. He has been a little obsessed with bikes lately and the poor kid didn't have one. So the obvious thing for his birthday was a bike. He was so excited! We have already gotten good use out of it. He likes to go meet the kids at school and I think it makes him feel like a big kid. The first time he rode his bike he noticed Jocelyns helmet and kept patting his head as to say "Where's my helmet?". Luckily we had one that used to be Jakes. Riley seemed so proud to wear it. Grandma Leatham gave him some books which is perfect. He thinks he needs to take books everywhere we go lately, so some books of his own are great. Also the money Grandma Allen sent was used to purchase "cars" toys, the ones I put on his cake. He wasn't too happy about that and kept saying "Queen" over and over. Although he got over it fast when he got to lick off the frosting. What a fun kid he is and is always good for a laugh!

And so the homework begins!

2008-08-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Ethan and Jake have now been in school for two weeks. Yeah! Ethan started 4th grade and Jake is in 3rd. On the first day they were soooo excited that they woke up at 5 am to get ready. Luckily I was still at work and Ben got to have fun with this! When I got home from work to help them get ready they were already dressed and had already had breakfast. Unfortunately they were dressed in summer play clothes. Yuck! I told them they had to wear something new-it's just something I grew up with-having new clothes on the first day. I guess boys don't care so much. After a little bit of grumbling we found some new clothes in the box of summer clothes for next year.(since I always buy a season ahead during the clearance sales) So hair was done, new shoes(even though it is 100 degrees still) and socks were chosen and they were ready- a little too early. This year I decided to have them be later gaters, much to Jakes despair. I just figured with the new baby and chores and piano practicing it would be easier. So far I love it. This morning we had time to catch up on homework that was not finished because of dentist appts,soccer practice and back to school night. It was nice. So now it's just Jocelyn and Riley at home. Poor Jocelyn wants to go to school so bad and I had a place picked but it ended up not working out so I'm on the hunt for a new school. She needs something!
So starts the new school year, craziness but fun. I love to see the excitement the boys show on their faces as they tell me about thier days and the friends they haven't seen over the summer. So next thing -a new baby. Although I'm not due till sept 23,I've started progressing and contracting, like usual. The doctor says in the next week-wow scarey, I've got tons to do!

Jake is Eight

2008-08-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

Saturday Jake turned eight and was lucky enough to be baptized on his birthday. He was so excited and I was too-he started counting down about a month ago. Almost everyday he would give me the update on how many days and what he wanted for his presents (it changed every time). It was a great day. After the baptism our family came over for lunch, cake, and presents. Jake was so surprised to see his cake. The day before when I was picking up his plain chocolate cake from costco, I had an idea on how to decorate it. I know-last minute-I'm pregnant what can I say! That night when Ben got home he used his amazing graphic design skills and came up with the picture we put on his cake-Yes- star wars again! I think that makes it four years in a row! I just hope he doesn't end up a single star wars crazed man who shows up at toys r us when new toys are released in his darth vader painted car wearing his favorite star wars shirt! Ben and I had a lot of fun creating the picture and couldn't stop laughing. Jake loved it. Aside from his new scriptures and journal everything else was star wars presents. He is in heaven and is now counting down the days until his Star Wars Battlefront game arrives in the mail. Happy Birthday Jake We love you-Our family would be so boring without you!

Sooner than I thought...

2008-07-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

So the other day we were in the car and Jocelyn out of nowhere says "I want sisters" to which I replied "Sorry, you just get to have brothers" Jocelyn then says "Yeah but I the only sister,you have lots of sisters, I want lots too." Poor thing, she's just going to have to deal with it. The only way she will have a sister is if some vital parts fall of this baby before birth! Yeah, she's out of luck.

Oh Snap!

2008-07-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

There's something to be said about the younger kids in a large family-they are just cool. You know what I mean. For some reason, thanks to their older siblings, learn to be cool at a very young age. Sometimes this can be a good thing. Thinking back to when my little sister who was barely 3 could sing such songs ad "I should be so lucky" by Kylie Minogue and hang out with such cool teenagers. And yet from this guidance she is still cool-You're welcome Laura! AmyLyn, you're cool too and that obviously came directly from Ben and I since KristyAnn and Jennifer had moved out by the time you were first impressionable(or so I like to think). I understand this unwritten rule and realize it was very apparent in us kids but when it starts to really take shape in my own kids it's a little crazy to witness. This thinking has all come from a few circumstances that are reoccuring at our home. Our cute little Riley-who can't say a whole lot- thinks he's one of the big kids. I know this kid will be cool, he's not even 2 and yet two of his favorite words are "oh snap"(thank you Raven from the disney channel) and "sweet". Not just plain "sweet" but a long drawn out "sweeeetttt". Crazy! Yes I think it's adorable! I just hope he knows who to thank when he is the coolest kid ever in kindergarten and beyond!

I love peas!

2008-07-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

No kidding! Fresh garden peas are one of my favorite things. This year since it was so cool I was able to get peas planted-at least 4 packages. So we have a million peas. I didn't even care if nothing else grew. I just wanted peas. Although everything we planted has done well, even among all the weeds that I don't have the energy to pull. I made the boys pick peas one day so we could have fresh peas for dinner-they had a lot of fun shelling them with Jocelyn and Riley. It didn't take Riley long to realize there were peas to pick and eat. He's pretty cute. He finds a pod and points and makes some weird noise(not sure what he's saying) and if I say yes he picks it. If I say no, he moves on until I say yes. It's pretty funny. His tummy has been full of otter pops and peas each afternoon for the past few days. Yum!