Planting our garden-May 23rd, 2009

So we worked really hard, got the garden all tilled and ready to plant; Cam even made it about 7x10 feet larger this year using his shovel and tons of back labor! It was a seriously hard job because of the type of grass we have, and how hard our ground is. I came out back to get ready to plant and found my little Jaynee using it is her sand box. I even considered taking out the soil and putting sand in for her-she is two and needs a place to dig!

Emmie's Kindergarten Graduation-May 22nd, 2009

Emmie graduated! From kindergarten...and she felt SO old! Her teacher made them their little hats, and then made all the little girls skirts to do a dance in at the graduation.

Here she is with two of her best little friends from her class; Emily C. and Audrey. There were two Emily's, one Emma and Emmie in her class! Her poor teacher!

Jaynee decided to perch herself in the little reading corner and I thought to myself-NO! Slow down! You are not coming here for another 2 years!

"Go go grandma's" funeral-April 18th, 2009

Silly, but I don't have a picture of her on my computer! Sad! She was an amazing grandma-one of those "magical" grandma's that just made life sweeter and SO MUCH FUNNER! She was all about fun and was a bundle of energy! I am so glad that she finally was able to go though, and be with Grandpa Allen who passed away many years ago. This is just after her funeral in Safford Arizona. She passed away on April 13 and her funeral was on the 18th. I was able to go along with Jaynee, my mom, Amy and her little Landon. Ty and his family were luckily already in Arizona, so it worked out nicely. This is Amy and Shelby-the one with the cute sassy glasses (funniest little thing in all of the world) and then Stephanie and her Fiance Simon.
This is Jaynee showing me the piece of gum that helped keep her somewhat occupied during the funeral. I have to say that taking her was so much fun! I loved having the one on one time with her and to top it off, she was so darn good-except when she dropped her yogurt on the floor in the airport and decided to lick it up before I could get to her!

This is at the Luncheon. This is my cousin Justin who I haven't seen in years. He has cerebral Paulsey and just doesn't like to leave his home in Missouri very often. It was SO FUN to see him! He is so funny, so smart and has a memory that you would not believe. I am so glad he was able to be there.

This is at the gravesite; not much in Arizona-just a lot of dirt and a few sparse trees. This is where grandpa Allen is buried also. This is Uncle Farrell-dad's youngest brother, giving mom a big hug.

I see my brother here as a paul bearer and know that dad would be there too; Ty has just stepped in and been there in all the right places. I understand more fully why the Lord blessed my parents with a boy first-what an awesome big brother I have!

Farrell and Mary, Bob and LaRee, Grant and Florene, and then my cute mom! So brave and so steady. She spoke at the funeral on behalf of her and dad and gave an amazing tribute to Grandma, and actually an amazing tribute to dad also.

After the funeral, we sat around and did exactly what the Allen family does best! Play games! Actually, this family does a lot of things great, but this is one of my favorite memories as a child with the Allen family; hanging out in the mountains and playing games.

Amy, Curtis, Michael and Uncle Grant.

Farrell and some Kayla's kids and Jody's Shelby and little Logan (Carmen's little guy) playing my personal favorite-Rummy Royal!

Since I was sick (about 6 weeks pregnant at this time), I NEEDED a grilled cheese sandwich. So Auntie LaRee took us down to Sonic 10:00pm. Jaynee just thought she had hit the jack pot; staying up late AND eating french fries with grandma and Auntie LaRee.

Easter

Easter Sunday in their matching dresses.
Jaynee telling me how cute she is while getting her hair done for church.
This was the circle of "egg hunters" seeing what they got. Grandma had filled all the eggs and some of them had money and some had candy.


This is out at Ty and Heather's house. The landscaping was still in progress, but such a large area was so fun for an egg hunt. It's quite a hike from the bottom to the top.
The Easter bunny even hid eggs at the bottom of his lot on the tennis court. The kids got a good workout going all over the yard.
The bigger kids had to wait on the tramp while the bunny hid the eggs, and the littler ones hunted for the eggs that were hidden in the front yard.
One of the littlest bunnies all ready to go.
This was the picture of all pictures. This was our first Easter without grandpa, and Ty did a great job as the newest easter bunny. It was always tradition for Grandpa to put his ears on, and for He and grandma to fill the eggs, and then for the bunny to hide them. The kids loved this tradition and it was so fun to have Ty be the bunny and continue this fun tradition.

My first Half Marathon

This was my first half. I commited to doing it about 8 days before my dad passed away, and actually found the training to be therapeutic. I went to Moab with 1 other mom that I knew (thanks for the invite Em!) and 5 others that I didn't, and came home having 4 new friends. We rode down in that motor home you can see behind us-it was so great! This was a great experience. I really enjoyed the whole thing (except mile 11-13 was pretty brutal). I never thought I would be able to do something like this ever since my back surgery 4 years ago, but pleasantly surprised myself. Not sure I will ever voluntarily run that far again, but who knows what the future holds!

Family vacation to Hawaii 09

I have decided to try to do a short "year in review" since I haven't blogged since Dec. 08. So, starting with our trip to Hawaii Jan. 31-Feb. 7, here is a little collage of the fun things we did.

Update on the basement and my new blog paper

This will be the "extra bedroom" or more commonly called "mom and dad's workout room!" Now I will have a place for my beloved treadmill!! And cam's weights will now have a home too! This will also be the room for company, and I am sure all of my primary things, etc. But how nice to have a room for it all. That door to the right will be the bathroom (someday).
This is the view coming down the stairs. I begged for 3 months to please have a window in my laundry room. I knew that when it was finished, it would feel like a dungeon because the only window is in the bedroom. Sure enough, I was right. SO....needless to say, I won the battle!!! It helped so so so much! Now I won't mind doing laundry...well, that was a stretch, but it won't be as bad as it would have been if I would have had to enter a dungeon each time. That room to the right is going to be the food storage room, soon to have lots of great shelves-now, to fill them with food!
Here he is in the playroom. This shot doesn't show how cute it is going to be. He framed two cute little windows and a door, so that part of it will be a little house.

Cam's dad came up last week and Cam took 4 days off, and they sheet rocked the whole thing. Now we are on to muddin'. What messy work! I went down and helped him the other night and thought I was the "master mudder" and told him I was going to go find a job and do this for a living (sometimes I feel better at that than being a mom). However, I was told the next day that Cam was going to fire me! I was so shocked! He kindly said I needed to learn how to "feather". Well, see if I ever mud again!!! Actually, I was slow as tar and I am sure I did more harm than help. Hopefully painting next week, then the carpet. Almost done!!!

And as for the new paper on the blog, I had to laugh when I saw this! I had to put it on here at least for a few days!! When my brother Ty found out I was having a boy (he has 5 girls), he called me and said "Is this the Den mother slash pack mother to be?" I of course said "No way , not me!!!!" and then the realization hit! AHHH! I don't do scouts! I do bows and hair and dance recitals! Boy do I have lessons waiting to be learned! But really, I am so excited to have this new experience! Lots to learn, and that is what makes it more exciting and new again.

Check this out!!!!

THIS IS REAL!!!!!! We are still in shock in this house full of girls, but that little picture is really ours! While we were in "Toys R' Us" the other day, Cameron picked up a football and asked "do you think we will ever need one of these?" My doctor was so nice and just quickly checked for me today. With all the girls in tow, we looked at the baby and had Cameron on the phone. My doctor said "here is one leg, and here is another, and here is another!!!!" It was so strange to see this for the first time on ultrasound, but totally unmistakable! We are so excited!!!