Journaling

Let me just tell you...this boy is amazing! Carter is in the first grade and reads and writes fluently. He loves it. When he wants a reward it is a book! The "teacher" side of me loves this. Here he is writing in his journal that he got for Christmas. Where does he get this love? You don't have to look far...from his Dad (sports writer/novelist/broadcaster/voracious reader) and Mom (talented/avid reader/easy bake oven lovin/musician). They are such great examples and read DAILY to their kids. That's all it takes.

Dad and Cart writing in their journals together in our kids room. (This room can house 5 people and a has a crib. No room to move around but you get a bed!)

Missy Anns

I LOVE this camera. Richard and I went to Amazing Jakes with Michael and the kids, (those pictures to follow) and while there I was seeing how fast I could take pictures and happened to catch these shots of Anna. I have a loooooong way to go but with my other camera the recovery time was so long I could never have gotten a sequence of shots like this. I love that it captures her personality to a tee. Love you Annie.

Evolution

In the few short years that Richard and I have been married this is the evolution of my camera. First there was the comfortable, tried and true Kodak KB28 35 mm. I then won a Nikon Coolpix 4600 4.0 megapixel digital. I refused to use it until challenged by Abish to do so. I couldn't let the challenge go by and before you know it that was my new comfortable favorite. When it started acting up I "borrowed" Aaron's Vivitar 5110 5.0 mp and grew to love it. Then.....

My true love got me this for Christmas, a Canon Rebel XS 10 mp. No more red eye, YEA! I have been snapping pictures like crazy and am LOVING IT (and the man who gave it to me). I am now learning more about it and starting to blog the new pics. I have a lot of catching up to do and so this next week I hope to play posting catch up. Stay tuned....the best pictures are yet to come.

Check out this food storage website

Look here: www.funwithfoodstorage.net. I have been frequenting the food storage site www.everydayfoodstorage.com and Crystal has teamed up with two other groups to create this new site. Lots of giveaways and promising info. Take a look.

Temple Lights

The Sunday before Christmas a few of us decided to go to the temple lights. I think everyone else had that idea as well as the place was packed! Here is a shot a sweet lady took of us before we ventured into the crowd.

I think this is Ben hitching a ride on Aaron's back.

Now he is hitching along with Dustin. Later Aaron with Sam and Dustin with Ben had a race back to the car. I was so slow I don't have a clue who made it there first.

Becky, Adam, (with Reanna kangaroo like) and Natalie. It was a little chilly but we had a good time. Next year I think we will be a little choosier about the night we go. You have to admit though....the temple is gorgeous no matter when you go.

Ben turns the BIG 9

Ben asked for a snowman cake this year and this is what I came up with. I used little cakes for the hat and everyone wanted some of that!

The kids helped me put on the candles and Ben had his chance to blow them out.

Not quite sure what the gift was at first but was thrilled to find out he had gotten an MP3 player from Mom and Dad. It didn't take him long to plug in and tune us out. It is amazing how quickly these young ones grow up. Ben also got his own grown up boom box for his room and some stories on CD. He's a great young man and we are so proud of him...smart, handsome, helpful and loves to achieve! We love you Ben.

Christmas 2009

Catching up on the holidays...it is amazing how fast time goes by! We have been so busy these holidays and blessed to have everyone home at one time or another during these past few weeks. Here is a "staged" shot of Kyle and Dad putting up the Christmas tree. Having these tall men around is GREAT!

Dustin holding Jordan and Bianca

The grandkids found the sidewalk chalk and wanted to leave a Christmas greeting. It turned out so cute and they had a ball doing it. It has mostly washed off now and it's kind of sad to have it gone.

Santa (aka Grandpa) handing out gifts with the help of Peter. Each of the grandchildren (including babies) received a new coleman sleeping bag from Grandpa and Granny. They were put to good use when Dana stopped over at Natalies and the kids got to "camp" out together.

So sweet....uncle Kyle helping Levi with his new helicopter.
This was the first of many present opening opportunities. We opened at a family gathering when all of the Allen kids were together for the first time in 1 1/2 years. This was preceeded by a great dinner and we had a wonderful time catching up. The second came on Christmas Day when Richard and I opened presents with the boys (aka Tyler, Kyle and Aaron). The third came later that day when we opened gifts with James and family and Dustin and family also followed by dinner. The fourth came a couple of days later when Dana and family came to town and followed by church and another family dinner. It is so great to have had them all coming and going....I love to watch the interaction of the children with the grandchildren and watching how the cousins play together. They are all great friends.