Aaahhhh, Idaho! Caution Photo overload!!

Greetings From Idaho!!!! First I'd like to start off with the picture from our Christmas Card. The caption on it was "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!" This was taken (obviously) in Arizona
The night we got to Idaho my sister Sara, Brad, and Eli came over to decorate the tree.
Here is Avery putting up the candy canes.
My mom and Eli. I can't believe how big he got in 4 months.

All of the grandkids on my side (At least for a tiny bit longer)
The girls all prettied up in their Christmas Dresses.
The next day my sister came over and we baked all day. This is Avery's finished and partly eaten cookie.

Hadley frosting her cookie.
Lulu just making a mess with the frosting.
Hadley got tired of baking and went to play in the snow.We are so thankful to have snow to play in. The kids have had a blast. We are going to miss it like crazy when we go but at least we will have dry roads and people don't park like idiots at our malls. Though we will still have dumb drivers there too.
Christmas morning. The look on Avery's face is priceless. The funny thing is they flipped over their babies in their cradles and they were with me when I bought them, they even picked them out and carried them to the car. Hadley just kept saying, "Santa is real!". Oh! To be young and naive again...
A few days before we left to come to Idaho we were in the mall and Avery saw Santa, I asked her if she wanted to go sit on his lap. She told me she didn't know what she wanted to ask him for, so I told her a few of the things she had told me she wanted. She just looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I guess I'll just ask him for a candy cane!" So that was one of the things Grama & Papa got her. Who would have thought a box of candy canes would make a little girl so happy. This might be one of our new traditions for her.
Lauren got a "Tinker Bella" dress up and she was a fairy for quite a while.After all these festivities we went to Jamie's parent where we made a haul but for some reason we didn't take any pictures over there. We had a really nice and relaxing Christmas. I hope everyone had a great one too. I'm glad it's over but now we have to pack it all up to take it home with us.
Then yesterday, Jamie took the 2 older girls to the Robbins to play with Gwen and so Jamie could play with Daniel and go hunting. Here is a picture of Daniel posing for Jamie.
Gavin playin with the girls. Poor Gavin, we need Gabe to come so he can have a buddy.
All the girls snuggled up at the Robbins'. I love Gwen's blanket Cass!
We have had such a wonderful vacation. It has been so fun spending time with family. We haven't seen many friends due to the fact everyone has been so busy lately. We are hoping to make it to the hospital by Wednesday night at least to be checked, considering I was at a 3 on Saturday. How nice would it be to have all 4 of my babies born in the same hospital? I think it would be great. We will keep you posted. We wish you all the best in the New Year!

Heads up

Just to let everyone know. I am at 36 weeks and have been feeling a lot of pressure and pain so I went to the hospital this morning to get checked I am at a 2 almost 3 and about 30% but I am home now and in even more pain. Being 36 weeks they don't want to start me but if I go on my own they won't stop it. Here's hoping.... I have a felling I will be going back soon, I hope it happens before we leave to go back to AZ next week and not on our way to AZ. Pray Gabe decides to grace us with his presence within the next week, please. Now you know.

Home Sweet Home

For anyone who might be interested, we are home, by home I mean in Idaho at my mom's, if anyone wants to stop by and see us feel free. We would love to show off our cute ever growing family and visit and play anytime. Give us a call either at mom's or on one of our cells. We will be here until about the 3rd. Hope to hear from you!!!

50 Things

50 things you didn't know about me until you read this...
1.What color is your tooth brush? Light green and White
2. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Mailing a package to Virginia
3. What is your favorite candy bar? Whatchmacallit
4. Have you ever been to a strip club? No
5. What is the last thing you said aloud? Are you Okay?
6. What is the best ice cream flavor? Anything Blue Bell
7. What is the last thing you had to drink? Milk in my cereal this morning
8. What are you wearing right now? Maternity Pants and Maternity Shirt
9. What was the last thing you ate? 2 Granola bars
10. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? It's only Monday give me time
11. When was the last time you ran? Well, I run errands everyday
12. Who was the last person to send you a message/comment on your blog? Erika Allred
13. Do you take vitamins daily? No I can't ever remember them
14. Do you go to church every Sunday? Pretty much
15. Do you have a tan? You wold think I do living in Arizona but I'm whiter than I was iliving in Idaho
16. Do you like Chinese food over pizza? NEVER
17. Do you drink soda with a straw? Not a soda drinker
18. What does your last text message say? I don't believe in texting
19. Are you someones best friend? I'd like to think so
20. What are you doing tomorrow? Packing and traveling
21. Where is your dad? I bet he is at home
22. Look to your left, what do you see? A dirty dining area and kitchen
23. What color is your favorite pair of shoes? I really don't have a favorite just as long as they are flip flops
24. Do you use chap stick? Yes I sure do
25. Whats your favorite thing to do in your free time? Free time???? What is free time?
26. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Usually drive thru
27.Do you have a dog? I wish
28. Last guy you talked on the phone with? Probably my hubby
29. Last girl you talked on the phone with? The primary president
30. Any fun vacation plans soon? yep, we leave tomorrow night for Idaho
31. Do you dye your hair? Yes
32. Can you say the alphabet backwards? Yes
33. Do you have a maid service clean your house? Kinda, my whole family pitches in
34. Are you jealous of anyone? My friend Jenny, she knows why
35. Do you love anyone? Sure do
36. Do any of your friends have children? Almost all of them do
37. Do you use the word Hello daily? I just answered the phone, so yep
38. Do you like cats? Yes
39. Have you ever been to six flags? No
40. How did you get your worse scar? I fell and slit my wrist also I ave stretch marks from my chest to my knees
41. What is your favorite smell? Fresh clean new babies
42. What is the last DVD you watched? I can't remember probably something with the kiddos
43. Have you ever been to Disney world? No
44. What is your favorite number? 45, I have no Idea why I just like it
45. Do you toast your pop tarts? Nope
46. Have you ever waited tables? Kinda I worked at Pappa Kelsey's
47. Where did you have your first kiss? Oh my gosh, it has been so long ago, I have no idea but my first kiss with my husband when we were dating the first time was on his parent's front porch
48. What should you be doing? Cleaning and Packing
49. Do you enjoy wasting time blogging? You have no idea
50. Who do you want to tag? Everyone of my friends on my list

Mexico A Go-Go

Okay, so no comments about wanting to see the Mexico pics. But we're going to rub it in anyway. First, we went southwest through Why, AZ. Yes, Why, AZ. Believe me. You'd be asking the same question if you ever went there, too. We opted not to go directly south to Nogales because of all the drug-related shootings and such, and it really wasn't a direct route to Rocky Point. Why, AZ is. After a hundred miles or so of chaparral valleys and desert mountains, we passed through Why down through Organ Pipe National Park (Saguaro cacti galore) and into Lukeville, which is basically a waystation for people trying to get into Mexico. NO ONE stopped us from crossing the border. NO ONE! I thought for sure some Federali would ask us if we have any weapons, tainted meat, or a kidnapped half-Chinese-half-Apache-Indian baby. But no, we drove right on through. So once we got out of the Mexican border town (you could just tell how little the people cared about their town: garbage, rundown houses, stray dogs), the chaparral disappeared and we were left with another 60 miles of barren wasteland. We finally got into Rocky Point and walked through the tourist trap part.

We had to order Mexican food, because there

were no Asian restaurants. Oh, and because we were in Mexico. Duh.

We thought about leaving Avery there. She just seemed to fit in.

Well, we got some fresh shrimp (the restaurant was located on top of the seafood market) and headed off to the resort area of the bay. We collected seashells. Walked in the surf. Basically stuff that is normal in July, not in the middle of December.

Once we had a full bucket of shells and sand, we packed up and headed for greener country, the USA. Even Why, AZ is greener than Rocky Point. And they let us all back in, including the half-Chinese-half-Apache-Indian baby. THE END.

Our vacation with the Welkers

This is how we kick it when Gramma and Papa come to town.







How many of you can say you were swimming on Thanksgiving day?










This is what Tombstone looks like. Lots of merchandising the past. Pretty boring.





But wait! Instead of wasting money on Black Friday, we went plum loco in Mexico! Okay, we just went to touristy Rock Point and spent a little money. But we all had fun at the beach and the dirty town. We'll give you the Mexico pics as soon as we've decided you really want to see them.
?Comprende? (That first question mark is supposed to be upside down.)

Our son has a name!

So it's been a while but I just wanted to do a post (Sorry no pictures this time) to tell everyone we have a name for our son. After much contemplating and bickering and brainstorming we came up with a name.
This is how we got to this point; since the day we found out we were having a boy I would come up with a name and Jamie would shoot it down, really every name he shot down. He would come up with some names and most of them I shot down. He was really liking Platt, yes Platt, like Plateau, Gross! I hated it. Everyone we told hated, I was not having it. Jamie had made a list that I came across the other day, yes Platt was on it, I read over the names. Most of them I would have beaten him up myself if we named him some of those names. He had Cace on there. I thought of Case Lot Sales and Food Storage, I suggested Jace, he pointed out we already have like 10 Jasons in our lives. I changed it to Gage, he reminded me of a guy I knew (Who also served with Jamie in N.C.) that is world biggest SCUM BUCKET. So the rest of the conversation went as follows;
I said, "Gabe?"
"Gabriel is a good strong Bible name" said Jamie.
I was not aware we were going for Bible names, is Platt a Bible name? I don't think it is.
"We could call him 'Gabe.'"
"I like Gabe"
"Does this mean our son Finally has a name?"
"I guess it does"
"Gabriel Jamison Allen"
"No, Gabriel J. Allen, like my middle name is D. after my dad."
"Jamie, we have a name for our baby!?!?"
"Yes, we do!"
That is how it went. Gabriel(Gabe)J. Allen I can't even describe how good it feels to actually have a name for him so I can bond with my son instead wondering what to do with this thing living inside of me beating my up ALL the time (really I don't think he ever stops)
So, we have a name and now I can move onto more important thing like setting up his room, making his blanket and pillow, organizing, assembling, and washing all the baby gear, organizing all his tons of clothes he already has...and preparing the girls for a brother, what exactally do you do with boys?? Little nervous here. Anyway we are so relieved to have a name, so far everyone loves it but Hadley, she really wanted Isaac but she told me Sunday she can save Isaac for when she has a boy, are we really talking about this already? She also doesn't like Gabe because it reminds her of "GAY". I hope we can get over that fast, with 3 big sisters I worry a little.
Drop us a line and let us know what you think, no that anything you say will change our minds, I'm just curious!!

Happy End of October!!

Here are our Halloween festivities from last week... We had a LAME party at the church, we didn't stay even an hour. Then on the big day, Hadley wore her costume to school and had a party, then we got the other 2 girls ready and went to the Foothills Mall, ate dinner and went around to the stores for candy. I cannot even begin to tell you how bad our faces hurt from smiling and laughing at Lulu and all the people smiling and laughing at her. She was the highlight of the night. Everytime she got a treat she would turn to us and say, "I got a candy for my bag". Everyone got a kick out of her. She was a Pumpkin Fairy ("And I can fly"-Lulu) If anyone has ever seen a Pumpkin Fairy you will know she is the cutest one there ever was. Hadley was a witch courtsey of Grama Allen and Aunt Becki -Thanks guys for the costume, she loved it. Avery was a "Royal Princess" her hair was so fun to do all up in curls. Anyway after the mall we were going to find one of the nicer neighborhoods to take them door to door trick or treating until Jamie lifted all 3 bags together and realized 2 pounds of candy per child was enough. We came home and made them a bed in the playroom and let them eat candy and watch movies and stay up as late as they wanted. The were all asleep before midnight!! We really had a nice easy going day and night. It sure was nice to be able to take them out without snow clothes this year but we still really missed Idaho, and going to GG & Grapa Great's, Aunt's & Uncle's, Grama & Papa's, Grama & Grapa's, and all of our friends. Hope everyone had a great holiday as we did. Enjoy the pictures...

So here we go.. Yesterday all the girls had to go get their flu shots and we promised them that if they were brave we would get them a treat. Hadley freaked (due to the 6 painful shots she got a month ago), Avery didn't even flinch, and Lauren let out a little moan. They did pretty well. There is a CVS drugstore next to the doctor's office so we went there. They all picked out a large mini M&M treat. On the way back to the car, Hadley freaked out a little and told me she dropped it. I was thinking her M&M bottle thing, I thought it had rolled under the car. Jamie came around the car with her tooth. I didn't even know it was loose and I check a lot. Apparently she was trying to get her candy open. She bled like crazy. She was really worried she would not get a new tooth until this morning while she was staring at her new gap she saw the new tooth. Life is worth living now. Now the tooth next to it is getting a little loose. When I woke her up this morning she was excited to see what the Tooth Fairy had brought her. "Mom, I need to check under my pillow and see is she brought me 2 nickles and 2 pennies." She was really surprised to see a doller bill. I told her we used to get a quarter. She informed me the Arizona Tooth Fairy is a little richer and gives $1. I wonder what the Tooth Fairy from the other states pay? All I do is stare at her gap. It is so cute, she looks so grown up. Where did my baby go?





I feel a spotlight coming on... Hadley has always been my baby, my tender heart, my mini mommy. She is such a big help. She can always make her sisters happy when they are upset. She is such a smart girl. She comes home everyday and teaches her sisters what she learned that day. She gets along with everyone. Her grades are amazing (something she clearly has picked up from her daddy). Her teacher tells me all the time she wishes she had 20 Hadleys. I do too. Now don't get me wrong, she is not all prefect, she does have an attitude like none other. When I ask her why she is being this way, she tells me she wants to be a teenager. I suppose it's just practice, and preparation of whats to come. I'm scared! I love my little Hadley and so glad she is my first born. I hope we can be close forever even through those scary teenage years!

Arizona State Fair-n-stuff

It has been a while.... Last week we took the girls up to Phoenix to the State Fair. It was there that I realized that no matter where you are, county or state, big or little, every fair is the same. I really enjoyed it. It was just what I needed to continue the climb over this mountain of "Lack of Fall, Depression". Instead of eating there though we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. It was such a fun day. The pictures are pretty self explanatory,(in no particular order) Lauren and a pig, The big girls on a ride, Hadley and Jamie after the pirate ride, and there was a petting zoo with the neatest animals including a giraffe you could have pet if he were more friendly.

Hadley had last week off from school for Fall Break (it's like Spring Break but in the "fall"). We went to the mall and played on the playground, the fair, and just pretty much took it easy. We had a wonderful week. This weekend is Homecoming so I hear we are going to a tailgate party with the AG department. I've tried to do something fun with the girls every weekend to make our stay here a little more tollerable. So far it's working.

I and the girls (Jamie too!!) are so looking forward to Grama & Papa coming to visit in a few weeks we even made a paper chain to count down the days. The girls talk about them everyday. There is a huge part of me that wish we could just go there for Thanksgiving but with 2 people in school now, that isn't really possible. We are praying everything will go well with me and the baby so we can travel for Christmas. Pray for us!!!

Other than those few things our lives have been pretty slow. I do have a fun post for tomorrow but the pictures didn't turn out very well, I will take more in the morning and put up another post tomorrow. Stay tuned....

We found FALL!!!

So, Last Saturday in kinda celebration of my birthday and to get away, we found a pumpkin patch, and an apple orchard. We had to drive about 2 hours to get there but it was so worth it. We got 4 pumpkins, fresh corn and a few little white pumpkins to make ghosts out of.(Unfortunatley that cost us almost $65) It was nice and cool and rained a little. We drove over to the apple orchard and found we were too late, there were no apples to be picked but we were able to buy a few from the stand. It was so nice to get away from the heat and have a family day. There was a corn maze too but with 3 little kids, it didn't sound as fun. I would love to go back again just for the atmosphere or even find another one. I didn't think fall was anywhere near Arizona but we found it. Here are the pictures from our day! Enjoy!

Jamison D. Allen

I suppose I've been tagged Here is a few things about my hubby!

1. Where did you meet? We were set up on a blind date in High School but it only lasted 4 months, he was my first love so he always stayed on my mind. A bunch of years later, he ran into my mom at the fireworks,(He was supposed to be married by then but it didn't work out) he told my mom he wanted to call me but I was on my mission, she gave him my address and he wrote me the next day, I came home early for surgery, he came home for Christmas break from U of I, we went to the cabin with my family, and the rest is history.

2. How long did you date before you were married? Aside from the 4 months in HS, we dated about 5 months, (He was 10 hours away) got engaged in June, and married in October. You do the math, 10 months?

3. How long have you been married? on the 26th it will be 7 years!!! Man time flies!

4. What does he do that surprises you? He carried on a conversation, any of you who know him, know he is not much of a talker. He does do the dishes when they need to be done, too.


5. What is your favorite feature of his? All of it. He thinks he's getting fat but I think it's perfect, I'm not into the whole ripped look.

6. What is your favorite quality of his? He is so smart, you should see the stuff he studies?!?!?, he is very, very patient with me and the kids, he is organized, he is hillarious, oh can I pick more than one? well, I did.

7. Does he have a Nickname for you? No

8. What is his favorite color? Blue

9. What is his Favorite food? If it comes froma an animal, he loved it. He loves spending time in the meat department while I get the groceries and pick out odd meats and trying them.

10. What is his favorite sport? FOOTBALL. That's all he wants our boy to play.

11. When and where was your first kiss? On his parent's doorstep in 1996, it took him forever so I kissed him first.

12. Favorite thing to do as a couple? Right now, we have no friends in Tucson, we just have each other so we go exploring the city and surrounding towns, he also LOVES shopping with me for his son. ONLY FOR HIS SON. He normally hates shopping.

13. Do you have any Children? 3 and 1/2. Hadley(6), Avery(4), Lauren (Lulu)(2), and boy without a name (6 months in utero)

14. Does he have a hidden talent? He can organize stuff to the point that you will never find it again, he can also sing really well, if you can get him to.

15. How old is he? 30

16. Who said I love you first? I think it was just kinda assumed we both loved each other, I have no idea who said it first.

17. What is his favorite type of music? You name it, butt rock, indie, comedy, classical, I know once upon a time They Might Be Giants was his favorite band, underground stuff, a lot of people nobody has ever heard of.

18. What do you admire most about him? He is the best dassy! His favorite thing to do is wrestle the girls and play around with them, if he just wouldn't do it every night before bed time.

19. Do you think he will read this? Yep, He is as addicted to blogging as I am.

Now I tag: Cass, Wendy, and Chele

HAIR!!

So as many of you know, our little Lauren was born completly bald. We never thought we would see the day her hair grew, well 27 months later, she looks like a little girl. Here is a picture of her last December(Bald)and the rest are from the other day and today (Not so Bald). I love having another head of hair to play with. I will admit, coming up with new ideas is not so fun with her so I try them out on Hadley and Avery first, she is not very patient. She does love "2 poy taios" we call them pig tails, she is talking like crazy, growing like crazy and being just plain crazy. She talks to and "kisses" her baby bruder every night, all the girls give us hugs and kisses after prayers but now they give them to my belly too. Lulu gets to stay up a little later than her sisters so she really gets to spend some quality time with my belly. I suppose this post is pretty much all about her because I used to have this little baby girl but she is growing so fast, she can't wait to be a big sister. All the girls really want shirts announcing they are big sisters. This is what I'm thinking; for Lulu- I'm a BIG sister, for Avery- I'm a BIGGER sister, for Hadley- I'm the BIGGEST sister. Now I just need to shop around and find the cheapest print shop. So I suppose that is my update on our not so bald, not so little, not so baby. Stay tuned for my next post all about someone else. I'll call these my spot light posts!

Again with the driving...

So, yesterday Rachel and I argued about how "good" of a driver she was. Turns out she put a nail in her own coffin this morning. We all know how moths are attracted by light and women are attracted to shiny objects. Well, this morning Rachel was driving me to school (yes, she does a lot of the driving; I still have my manhood) and saw shiny lights on the side of a busy road: flashing police lights. This isn't bad unless she should have been looking at the non-flashing brake lights of the commercial truck in front of us. Four screeching tires and an unplanned lane change later convinced me that she is both moth and female. Luckily, she is good at avoiding collisions, and we went on our tense way. To top it all off, she's supposed to keep it easy because of high blood pressure; kind of killed that idea. Fortunately, Lauren was strapped in. Lauren tends to scream a lot when she falls out of car seats, which in turn speeds up Rachel's heartbeat. I'm not blaming you for looking, babe. And I know you don't like my backseat driving. But aren't you glad I had presence of mind to check for other rubberneckers? Oh, and nice recovery. May it never have to be executed so precisely again.

Where have I been?

I saw this on Jill's blog and thought it would be fun. I think this is accurate at least to my knowledge, I know Jamie is going to correct me, I'm usually wrong.


visited 26 states (52%)


Jamie - - - Honestly, sweet nectar that I call my own, you have no idea how often you are wrong. First, you've been to West Virginia. Remember the toll road we had to drive, and Charleston, that sinkhole in the "mountains"? And if you add that I've been to North and South Dakota as well as Maryland, that gives me thirty states (60%). We should bust out the last three mid-West states for our summer vacation.


visited 30 states (60%)

This is something Rachel probably won't blog about. So I'm getting this one out before she deletes it. I received a voice mail from my mother a few days ago. My mom doesn't call unless to talk to Rachel or tell me about mail that she received. The message said something about Tucson police department and pictures of Rachel. So I called her up. Apparently our van had been photographed turning left on a red light. They gave this violation website where you can look at traffic pics of the violation in progress and a short video of it. The video shows our van making an obvious red light turn. Pic one and two were a median's eye view of the van turning with the red light visible. Pic three was a closeup of the van's rear license plate. And Pic 4???

That's right, Rachel is as giddy as a monkey on narcotics. Look at that beautiful half-smile, as if she didn't know she had been caught trying to beat the light. Ah, technology. Thank you for the candid shots.

From Rachel------ For the record, Jamie was with me and that dumb little mistake cost us like $250. That was my crap, I just got caught red faced. Everyone consider the fact I drove from Moscow to IF (10 hours) with 3 kids by myself and not one violation. I also drove ALL the way to Tucson without a problem. I would not have gotten caught were it not for this "Technology" Jamie speaks so highly of. So thank you Honey for letting everyone know how great of a driver I am!!

Rebuttal from Jamie - - - - My sweet darling of infinite love, most accidents happen within 25 miles of home. Most accidents occur because somebody was not obeying traffic laws. Running a red light is not obeying the law, and most interstates (especially in the West) don't have traffic lights. Hence, any traffic violation was more likely to happen close to home than on a cross-country dash. Besides that, you've been able to talk your way out of several speeding tickets, especially in Moscow, which you should have made known. Let's be totally honest, my bundle of cuddly baby-boy-making love. You can't sweet talk a camera, but I bet you'd try if given the chance.