And the Beat Goes On....

You are not going to believe it, It's a new blog post!

2010-10-09T23:46:00.002-07:00

Wow! It sure has been a long time. Here is a quick run down...

The kids and I went to Idaho for the summer. Right after we got there I threw a shower for my little sister and about 2 weeks later she had the cutest baby girl, Addison Maxine Cole (her middle name was our Grama Sommer's name, what a sweet sentiment) So, Addie, whom I adore, was born the first part of June. Then Lauren turned 4 and once again, I was sick for her birthday so to make it up to her, we went to Chuck E. Cheeses while we were in Utah. My best friend lives just outside of Layton so we spent a lot of time down there too.

While in Idaho, we did a lot of hanging out with friends and family. My parents took us camping to a fun little hot springs, I played at my sister's with her 2 munchkins a lot. Oh boy how I miss those babies! Oh and my sister too! We hit our usual, Bear Lake with all the fam. We missed Jamie a lot though. Poor guy had to stay in AZ to work. We missed his birthday with him and Father's Day. I felt bad but it is our last summer in school so it won't have to happen again.

We went with my parents to Utah to go to the zoo and do some shopping. Mom and Dad drove their car and met me at my friend's house. I was almost there when my car started acting like it had a flat tire, I pulled off at the exit to check it and saw nothing wrong. When my dad got there he saw nothing wrong and suggested I have it aligned. Apparently I had a tire about ready to explode, it was bulging, I got a new tire and was on my merry way. The next day on the way back to Idaho (dad had taken the girls already so it was just Mom and Gabe with me) my tire blew. Luckily I only heard a loud boom, saw stuff flying and was safely able to pull off to the side of the road. The tire ripped up the side of my car and my mirror. We had to have my dad drive back down, about 25 miles south of Pocatello, to get us. I had it checked out and found it would cost more to fix it, so we ended up getting a "new" older, van. We have been having troubles with this one but my friend's dad is a mechanic so he is helping us out. Thank you Becky!!

We came back to AZ the end of July and tried to surprise Jamie a week early but somehow he knew we were coming. The girls started school the beginning of August. Hadley is in 2nd grade, Avery is in 1st and Lauren is in preschool. I love having all 3 girls gone, it's only for a couple hours a day but it is nice to have that 1 on 1 time with the little dude. Hadley turned 8 September 13th. My parents flew down to surprise her. It was so cute, she kept saying, "is this real?", "am I dreaming?" She was so excited! She can't wait to be baptized. We are doing it when we go back to Idaho for Christmas. She tells everyone about it.

I just went to Parent Teacher Conferences and Hadley is doing pretty well, better than I thought! She just needs to read more and practice her math. Avery on the other hand has her dad's learning skills. She is meeting end of year expectations, and is only 2 levels behind Hadley in reading. I am so proud of her. Her teacher says if she could have all Averys she (her teacher) would not be needed. Clearly she does not take after her momma! Lulu is LOVING preschool. She wasn't too keen on it at first but it has grown on her and she hates Fridays cause she doesn't have school. Gabe is happy just, being! He is your typical toddler boy. Man, he is a handful. Glad I only have 1 boy. I love that kid so much. I love our alone time together, even if it's short and he naps through most of it, maybe that's why I love it so much!!!!!

I just celebrated my 30th birthday (for the 3rd time). That's all I want to say about that. Jamie is in his LAST YEAR of school. I can see the light at the end of that tunnel getting brighter and brighter! He is working non stop on labs and research and feeding cows. We rarely see him. We miss him but we know it is for the best. As my sweet grama would always say, "This too shall pass"! He is doing so well, I am so proud of him. He is such a great example to our children. So hard working. I love that guy!

Jamie has sent in a few applications around the country, now it's just the waiting game. I'm praying for either Wyoming or Washington. Please feel free to pray with me!!!!

We are looking forward to my parents coming down for Turkey Day again this year. Then heading up to Idaho for Christmas. Then we get to start the nasty process of packing. I'm hoping we can make it down to Mexico a couple more times before we move away. I really need to post pictures but I hate how blogger loads them so if you want to see the kids and such, feel free to check out my Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=612142768 I'm pretty sure my pictures are public.

So, that is our life that last 5 months. Maybe in 5 more months I will post again. Maybe, just maybe I'll post before then! We'll see!

2010-05-13T21:42:00.004-07:00

I wish I had neat things happen in our lives to post, but nothing new has really happened. Jamie just finished his SECOND TO LAST year of school! ONLY 1MORE YEAR TO GO!!!!! We are leaving here in a week to get out of the heat and head up to Idaho to see family and ALL the new babies! (Everyone seems to be having them these days) The kids are all great, still cute, still crazy! The girls finish school next week. Next year all 3 of the girls will be in school. (If Lauren gets into preschool) It will be so nice to have just Gabe at home. Jamie is still really busy with school and labs. I do nothing, no really I don't do anything. Just your typical mom stuff! That's about it....wait, I did make a few blankets a some burp rags for some of "all the new babies"! Hopefully something neat will happen soon. Stuff has happened (Nothing big, some things are explained with the following pictures) but I have a feeling the only people who read this are already friends on Facebook so they know what's happening! Here are a few recent pictures of the cute kiddos. (I got a cute new camera for Mother's Day, so I did go a little crazy with the picture taking but I'll spare ya'll and only post 7 instead of the 37 I'd like to post!) (Man, I use parenthesis a lot!)

I came home the other day to Gabe sleeping on my footstool. Never a dull moment with this kid, even in his sleep!

We went to the Gila Valley Temple open house a few weeks ago. It was such a neat experience to go though with all 6 of us!

Avery is a little like her momma and Auntie Sara. We used to do the same thing when we were younger!

She's gonna kill me someday! I love this girl!

Look at our future missionary! How cute is this?

He fell and cut his chin open so we waited in the ER for 6 hours so they could glue it. I kept thinking it was going to be totally healed before we got out of there. He is pretty upset here, this is in the 5th hour, he was mad, tired, and hungry.

I walked in the girls room the other night to find this. Proof that they DO SOMETIMES get along!

Friends, Mexico, and Mexico and Family Update

2010-03-26T14:42:00.003-07:00

So, we last left you at Gabe's birthday... Since then we had our really good friends The Hammons visit, we had so much fun with them here and only wish they could have stayed longer. While they were here we went to the Swap Meet, went on a picnic, fed the ducks, went to the zoo, and did LOTS of shopping and we took them to Rocky Point, Mexico. We had so much fun with them. We may have been squished like sardines in our tiny home but we made it work. 11 people and 1 bathroom, and we survived! Come back!

A few days after they left we took off for San Felipe, Baja, Mexico. My sweet dad got a house that we stayed in for a week. It was so fun, we did lots of shopping, swimming, Wii playing, and lounging. While we were there, Avery had her 6th birthday. Nothing like opening presents in your swimsuit. She had so much fun, my dad got her a pinata, Jamie finally had to bust it open. It was so nice to have a break. Thank you so much for everything Dad.

And now we are home and life is back to normal. My dad got home last Sunday and left early Tuesday morning for Haiti to go help out. What an amazing opportunity. I can't wait to hear how it went and see pictures. Other than our couple trips to Mexico, life has been pretty slow. I am gearing up to go to Idaho for the summer. I get to throw 2 baby showers. My best friend and my sister are both having girls about a month apart. I can't wait to snuggle a baby again.

Hadley and Avery got their report cards and are doing VERY well. They get to go on a date with either me or Jamie when they get good grades. Last time they picked Jamie, this time they picked me. Avery and I already went. We went to an uppity store, she got a fancy cupcake and then we went to a couple more stores. I think I'll take Hadley out tonight. We will probably do the same thing, she really wants a fancy cupcake too.

Lauren is so done staying home, she wants to be in school so badly, she starts preschool in the fall, it will just be me and Gabe. I'm crying thinking how nice it will be to only have 1 at home. Guess it's time for another one....... (no this is not an announcement)

Gabe is no longer walking, he's running. He always has a bruise on his forehead from falling. He is saying a few words. He knows if he wants me to pick him up and I won't all he has to do is say. "Mom" and I melt! He just started giving kisses and he will give them to just about anyone!

Jamie finally finished his big, nasty lab. He would be working all night and day at times. It's so nice to have him home, I know it won't last long, so I'll take advantage of it while I can.

That's what's been happening in our life thus far. I can't wait to get to Idaho, it's in the 80's already, (in fact, the girls are in the swimming pool right now) it's gonna be a hot summer, I need to get out of dodge ASAP!

Don't forget to watch the slideshow in the post after this. I know it's a lot of pictures but a few big events happened) I didn't pick the song it came with the slideshow but I do kinda like it. Hope everyone is well!

2010-03-26T14:41:00.002-07:00

stay tuned....

2010-03-26T12:22:00.002-07:00

Just a heads up... I'm working on a new post, lot of pictures from our friends visiting and 2 trips to Mexico. Stay tuned......

well, well, well

2010-01-21T20:35:00.006-07:00

Look at photos at the end of this post!

Oh my goodness, it has been forever. I am so sorry to ALL my readers. HA! So here is our life

the last month and a half. Let's see, where did we leave off.... oh yes mom and dad coming for Turkey day. So they went home and we kept on with life then prepared for our long trek to Idaho

Falls.

We left Tucson on the 21st (I think). When we arrived in Idaho Falls we quickly got ready for Christmas Eve, which is celebrated bigger than Christmas Day in the Sommer Family. Well, Christmas Eve day we got a call saying Gramma S. was in the hospital, we all kinda worried but not long after that we got another call saying she was home and they had no idea what was wrong. We ended up having over 50 people at my parents house this year (Very different from last year where there were Mom, Dad, Jamie, Me, the girls, My sister, her husband and son, my brother and G&G S. what's that, 13?) So Gramma wasn't feeling well but she came and we were so happy she was there. We had a GIANT family picture done with only 12 family members missing, first time in like 20 years. That night G&G S went home and Gramma took a turn for the worse. We were told she

wouldn't make it much longer. What a blessing

#1 To be home at

that time, #2 To be able to sit across from the table from her all night, #3 She was able to be with us all one last time, #4 To be surrounded by all her loved ones. We had a great Christmas morning opening presents and going to Jamie's parent's house for a while.

The following Saturday my mom came home from Gramma's and said I needed to go say

my good-byes. WOW That was hard. I have never

lost anyone close to me. I don't know how people

do it. She was in and out due to medication but I got to say my good-bye and tell her I love her. (Side story, Gramma, on her death bed still had a little wit. I walked in the room and she asked my mom who that was, she told her it was me, I went and sat by her and told her I loved her and she asked my mom again who that was, she told her it was me, then she said I love you back. She didn't want to share her love with just anyone. ) She passed away the following Wednesday morning Dec. 30, 2009. What a sad/happy day that was. It was past her time to go, she was more than ready, but it is still hard to have her gone. Her funeral was that Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010. It was so nice to see all those who came out to support our family. What an amazing lady that cute little Maxine Scheets Sommer was. I miss her like crazy. My girls (Avery especially) are having a hard

time, I'm sure it will really hit them when we go home this summer and GG will not be there. We all

miss you Gramma! I just hope Grampa will be abloe to go soon so they can be together again. He was so sweet and cute with her that last week and at the viewing and funeral.

So the day after the funeral we headed back for Tucson. We jumped right back into the swing of things.

Our little man turned 1 on Sunday Jan. 17th. Where did the time go? In fact 1 year ago today we brought him home from the NICU. I miss my tiny, wait he was never really tiny but he was much tinier then, baby. We had a small get together with a few friends at our house that evening. He wanted nothing to do with his cake. (So different from his sisters) I got him a few toys but when he opened his $2 tractor, he wanted nothing else to do with the rest of his presents, I should have stopped with that. At least his sisters are enjoying his toys for him!

Here is what Gabe is doing these days.... NOTHING! No really by this time the girls were doing

so much more, I know you aren't supposed to compare but honestly, who doesn't? I understand boys are slower than girls, I just have to keep reminding myself of this.

He stands on his own when he feels like it, he'll take a few steps until he realizes he is doing it then he'll sit down, he doesn't say any words, he loves beating up his sisters, especially Lauren, they have a funny relationship, he has 8 teeth, he is wearing 24 month-2T clothes. He had his 1 year checkup today and he weighs 27.15 pounds. 95th% The doctor said he looks like a 2 year old. He's huge. I wouldn't have it any other way. More to love on. He has been such a joy in our lives. Having a boy is pretty fun, I'm so thankful everyday he is in our family, he's my best little buddy!

As for the rest of us, Jamie is great, working hard in school, stressing about life, money and all the things a Grad Student/Husband/Father of 4 stresses about. I am still the same ol' lame ol',

Nothing new. Hadley and Avery are doing amazing in school. Hadley did get in a food fight at

school last week but so did a few others in her class, (the 5 her teacher never would have

expected) Avery has a boyfriend, already, he is so dang cute, they break up occasionally, but they quickly get back together! Lauren is 3. That's all I'm going to say about that, if you have ever been

around a 3 year old, you know what I'm talking about!

So, this is a really long post but that's what happens when you only post ever month or two. We

hope everyone had a great holiday season. And who know maybe I'll post before we go to San

Felipe, Mexico for Spring Break, then again.... don't hold your breath!

One of Gabe's 1 year pictures. He looks a lot like my little brother.

Mom and Dad with all 5 of their Grandbabies! Next year there will be 1 more, my little sister is having a GIRL in June. We are so excited, she is giver her the middle name of Maxine after our sweet Gramma!

November 2009

2009-12-06T22:58:00.007-07:00

My parents came down for Turkey Day. We had so much fun with them and time went too fast. I wish they would have stayed longer. We really haven't done anything too exciting in quite some time, we are pretty boring. I did get new, nice sheets and a new car stereo this week. Sad when that is a highlight in your life! My favorite, really nice, rather expensive, sheets tore, (they were used a lot) and my car stereo has been out since the first of August. I can't imagine driving 19 hours with 4 kids and no radio. Yes, we are heading to IF for Christmas. (Nice transition, huh?!?) We can't wait to see all our family and friends and FINALLY meet our niece, she will be almost 5 months old when we see her and we are excited to see Daniel and Cass and the kids and snuggle their new baby!
Gabe did cut another tooth Friday night, this makes 7 now. And speaking of teeth, Hadley's 2 front teeth are loose and one is really loose it will probably come out tomorrow. I hope they are both out in time forChristmas Eve so she can sing, "All I want for Christmas is My 2 Front Teeth" I know it's cliché but how cute would that be? Thanks to all of you who have been patient in waiting for our update. Can't wait to see everyone in a couple weeks!!!!!

Sorry for all the pictures. Here is what we have been doing the last little while. Enjoy!!Jamie, Gabe, and Hadley at UofA's homecoming festivities.

The girls waiting for the Homecoming parade.

Gabe loves pickles even if they are as big as he is.
Don't worry that razor has no top to it.
This kid loves being outside
Swimming in November

It was a little cool in and out of the pool, for us wimps anyway!
I think Grama likes this boy. What do you think?
Gabe fell asleep with one of Jamie's old cars in his hand. It was too cute NOT to take a picture.
We went to Golden Corral for Thanksgiving. It was packed and really different but dad had a great point, Clean up was a breeze. We still came home and cooked a turkey breast so we could have leftover turkey sandwiches.
He was pretty happy to be eating buffet food. I don't think he ate any turkey. Maybe that's why he was so happy!

Papa and one of his favorite girls
Grama and one of her favorite girls

We tried getting family pictures. Mine didn't turn out so well, I hope dad's camera took better pictures.
I do kinda like this one!
Grama and all her favorite girls
Look at him in that cute hat. He hated it. It's so cute on him he wears it a lot.

ALIVE!

2009-11-18T00:23:00.004-07:00

Yes, we are still alive and kicking. There is so much to post it will take forever. I'm trying to compile pictures into collages so it will go faster, If anyone knows how to do this please let me know. My parents are coming down next week and I have a lot to do but maybe Gabe will take a nap by himself someday and I can really update. But for now... YES THE ALLENS ARE STILL ALIVE AND WELL. Here is a cute preview....

Hadley was a Greek Goddess, Avery was a maid, Lulu was a bumble bee, and Gabe was the Fattest skeleton you'll ever see. And YEP! We got a ton of candy.

Hadley

2009-09-20T18:27:00.002-07:00

So, now I'll put my thoughts down. Hadley being my first born is pretty special to me. Though she does have quite the attitude I still can't get enough of her. She is such a wonderful big sister. She helps out so much, sometimes with a little coaxing, but for the most part she is such a super gal. She is loving 1st grade and LOVES having her sister at the same school. They have become such great friends. She loves her Papa and Grama and her Grama and Grampa Allen. She tells us all the time how much she misses them. She misses all of her friends in Idaho and her family all over the country. If she had her way everyone she loves would all live in the same house. It would have to be a pretty big house! She still loves Littlest Pet Shop, Barbies, and Dress Up. She has an amazing imagination. She can read really well and has taught Avery to read and Lauren knows a few words too. She has gotten 100% on all the math tests they have done in school so far this year. We went to Chuck E. Cheeses for her birthday again this year. They all had so much fun. She really loves to tattle, take charge, be bossy.. you know the typical 7 year old stuff. She is getting pretty excited to be baptized next year. We love our little Hadley and would not trade her for anything in this world (Today anyway!!!) If you have any memories of her please leave your favorite one in a comment below. She would love to read them!

Our little girl becomes a bigger little girl.

2009-09-20T14:47:00.007-07:00

I'm going to upload pictures then I'm going to have Jamie tell you all about HADLEY!!! Sorry they are so out of order!

Once we had a little tiny girl.

But then she decided to grow up.

Just a little each year.

She wouldn't stop growing.
This past week she turned 7. We wept.
But then, she went bowling.

We played a little. Gave her some toys to try and slow down the growing process. And then took her to Chuck E Cheese's, because that mechanical stage creeps her dad out. We love you Hadley.

Gabe Crawling

2009-09-11T22:42:00.005-07:00

Lots of pictures

2009-09-04T23:44:00.007-07:00

The start of our new Family Tradition. Every year the first weekend after school starts we will take the kids to dinner and a movie. This year it was Denny's (The kids ate for free!!!) and the Drive-In "G-Force" and "Harry Potter"

The boy LOVES to eat wipes.
Yes He Is!!
He gets mad at me if I change him and he doesn't get to chew on a wipe!! Funny Boy
Check out that body.
Hadley drew Mr. Crabs at Joe's Crab Shack!!
Hadley and her drawing
Jamie's first trip to Joe's Crab Shack. He loved it, I even tried crab and realized it wasn't too bad. We made all the girls try it too. They got Ice Cream when we got home for trying it and eating all their dinner.
Lauren HAD to show her drawing off too
Avery eating her chicken
Gabe did pretty well entertaining himself
Look at that cute face
He did this all on his own. He's only 7 months old. I'm so not ready for this yet.
He may even skip crawling, he always wants to be up on his feet.
Avery's new hair do!
Back view
Another back view! It did NOT look like this when I picked her up from school today
Hadley's back view
We probably cut more than 6 inches off. Her bangs look odd cause I cut them and she has this CRAZY cowlick, thanks to her Dad and her Grama Allen.

So there you have our recent pictures. The girls are LOVING school. Lulu misses them so much everyday. Gabe doesn't notice, he only has eyes for momma. Jamie's first week back went well. I can't wait for the weather too cool down so he can ride his bike again. Now I'm gonna try to upload some videos on the next post, maybe Gabe's at it again and mauling me to death so you may have to wait until tomorrow. Stay tuned after that for Hadley's birthday post. She will be 7 on the 13th! Man time sure has flown.

How to get rid of the older children . . .

2009-08-16T18:02:00.006-07:00

Send them to school. Duh. The two oldest girls started school this past week.

Hadley is now in first grade: too old for baby food, too young to work heavy machinery.

And (Rachel sobs) Avery started Kindergarten. As Rachel took her through the classroom door, Avery said, "Bye, Mom," and didn't look back.

As a new tradition (Seriously, why do the Welkers need so many traditions?) for starting the school year, we went to the drive-in to watch G-Force. It was okay for the first hour. Then Rachel and I regretted not bringing leashes and muzzles. And tranquilizers. And a fire hose.

Jamie never left school, really. He's been working his first Ph.D. project with young steers over the summer. These are the same ones he had to bottle feed over the winter. And after all his troubles, he still won't get to eat any of them. Just like having children.

Oh, and Jamie still wants to know if Aaron drew any of his tags. Southern Arizona's too "unique" to do much hunting (cacti hurt, snakes and scorpions make me nervous, illegal immigrants are sneaky), so I have to hunt vicariously through other people. There are birds and coyotes at the feedlot, but that's different.

Pictures of our latest happenings.

2009-07-05T16:51:00.009-07:00

We put the girls to work right away

Gabe bathing in Grama's sink and lovin' it

This is how Jamie watches the babies
Dew
Lulu at Bear Lake
Ave at Bear Lake
Gavin, Gwen, Avery, & Lauren
Matchin'
This boy loved his Glow Stick
Getting ready to leave the fireworks

If this is heaven , why did I get the room next to the noisy ice machine?

2009-07-02T18:54:00.004-07:00

Hello again. Thus far on our vacation (i.e. getting away from the AZ heat and rain for as long as our commitments allow us) no one has died, no one has visited the emergency room, and no one has been left behind. Although, one or more of us has wished one of these three upon another member of the family at one point or another.
Oh crap, I can't remember what we did last week . . . After a few moments of contemplation, I have come up with a few things. Rachel shopped. The kids played. I did a little fishing with the old man. You know how they say it's not about catching or shooting anything but rather just being in the outdoors? That's how it went. Anyway, Grandma Allen had a little party (my sister's family and mine) on Saturday. I care not to know how old she is so don't ask.
This week was also filled with adventure. But this time I remember. Monday afternoon I went looking for non game species with an old childhood buddy. Thank goodness for highly-proliferate ground squirrels. Then the whole family played at his family's house.
Tuesday we traveled to Soda Springs to spend a couple days with the Robbins, our old college friends. We played frisbee golf at the local park and were devoured by the "problematic" mosquito population. The next day the old men departed from their family to do a little fishing and rock chuck hunting. The fishing could have been better, but the chuck hunting was spectacular. Who knew Daniel could drop a five-pound animal at 100 paces with open sights on a .22 Marlin? Who knew Jamie could slither like a jaguar to get in close for the shot? Oh, the camaraderie. Oh, the carnage. Oh, the fun. And what's best is that the farmhand working the wheat field came over to thank us for protecting the crops. While the guys exploited rodent stupidity, the ladies and kiddies spent the day at Bear Lake. They played, enjoyed the water, and got a little sunburned. Turns out you can get burned on a cloudy day. That night we were entreated with a local production of "Hello Dolly" in which most of the Robbins played a part. It was great, except for the singing and having to watch Daniel dance. That was weird. Either way, it's nice to have friends that can tolerate us.
Today we took it easy. . . Yeah, we took it easy. Tomorrow we might just take it easy, too. We can't be on all the time, people. Even marathoners have to stop every 26 miles or so.

Believe me, I'm sexier with most of my clothes on

2009-06-22T08:18:00.003-07:00

I just woke up, and Rachel has barked the order for me write up our next blog. So much for Father's day. If this sounds like rambling, it's because my brain hasn't quite caught up to my typing fingers, and they have dirty minds.
To begin with, I would like to say that we weren't planning on vacationing. We just got sick of the sun and wanted to go somewhere the sun wasn't. Idaho Falls appeared to be having that rainy issue. Seriously, though, we planned the vacation so we could hang out with my Virginian brother and his family. But then his work told him no. I know. Ironic. I begged for an extra week off just for Darren and the guy changes plans willy-nilly.
Anyway, on my birthday (June 16th; thank you friends for noticing), I took a plane ride to Denver and then a bus to Ft. Collins for an animal scientist conference. I got to see old colleagues, met new colleagues, and basically sat through three days of presentations.
Meanwhile, Papa and Grandma showed up in Tucson and the rest of the family caravaned to Idaho Falls. Most of the luggage made it. Gabe's bag is still sitting on our bed in Tucson. Knowing this, Gabe puked a lot the whole way up on his only pair of pajamas.
Meanwhile, my conference ends and I fly to SLC and hitch a ride on the Hammon-mobile. Thanks Kevin.
And now we are here in IF. Soaking in the . . . rain. One good thing about it is that Rachel finally felt cold for the first time in 8 months. But then she was hot again. And then cold. She's so messed up. Last night she had the air conditioning on in the car while it was 60 degrees outside. The kids complained; she slapped my hand as I tried to turn it off.
And now the clock begins ticking. I leave in 2 weeks for dirt lawns, poky trees (home sweet Tucson home), and genetically stupid calves, and Rachel stays until her sister's wedding in August. I'm done.

Happy Birthday Lulu!

2009-06-08T02:42:00.005-07:00

I'm jumping the gun a little here but if I don't get it done now, it will never get done. Our little Lauren will be 3 on Tuesday. Wow! 3? Already? Time has flown. It does not seem like it was that long ago that we upheaved our little family and moved to Moscow, Idaho. Lauren was only 8 weeks old. She has been able to be my baby for the longest. We call her Lulu and here is why.... When she was born Avery could not say Lauren, she said "Laulen", so from that came Lala, I told my mom that is what her new nickname was and it reminded her of Telletubbies. So everyone started calling her Lulu. She also answers to Doodle Bug, Bug, Unamae(Her daddy's nickname for her), Laureen(how Hadley says Lauren) Bug It, Buzz, Doodle, Doo, Lu, Laur, well, you get the idea. I thoughyt the poor little thing is confused but she will tell you her name is Lauren Sommer Allen. She has been such a joy to have in our home. I never in a million years thought I would have a blonde hair blue eyed baby but I got one. I get comments all the time about how beautiful she is and I have to agree. She LOVES to play with baby dolls, her sisters, drive her brother crazy and make him laugh, go shopping, throw fits, play dress up and just hang out watching tv with family. She was our 3rd oops! baby and I don't regret one of them. She is such a happy girl (most of the time!! c'mon she's 2 still, 3 is pretty much the same though!) Her favorite thing to eat right now is Soup! She loves animals of all kinds, and moths, they are her butterfly friends!!! Every one of the kids has been given an animal to represent them, with her we went with a mouse first (Avery came up with it, she always asked is she could kiss mouse while I was preganant with Lulu) but the first animal sound she made was a piggy, and it was a great one, so pigs have kinda become her thing. I never had a child draw on the walls until she came along and now she has taught her older sisters how to do it too! She loves singing primary songs, I love listening to her. When she was born she had no hair just a little blonde fuzz. I thought she would never get hair. Well, she turned 2 and a miracle happened, her hair started growing, I think it was the AZ heat, everyone's hair is growing like crazy. She HATES having it washed though, I'm sure some of you have heard her (Even from down here) getting it washed, she's a screamer. She loves to be in a swim suit getting wet. Unfortunatley it's too hot to do that here during the day but we have our evenings. The girl LOVED her "stuffie" (pascifier) as you will see in the pictures to follow. She had it until about 2 months after we moved here. The transition wasn't as bad as I though it would be. Just 4 months after that I told her it was time to go potty and we haven't looked back. She even gets up in the middle of the night to go. She is so grown up. I know it's only 3 years but still, it's old to me. She insists to wear dresses all the time, I say she was born in the wrong era. She is a very influential, everything she does, i.e. wear dresses, color on walls.. her sisters have to do the same. Maybe she will be a great leader someday.I am so happy to have this little munchkin in my life. She says the funnies things, helps me out with Gabe so much and ALWAYS has me on my toes. I can't wait for school to start, her sisters will be in school and while Gabe is napping we can have alone time together. I'm looking forward to it. Enjoy the pictures!

Lulu at 8 weeks!

I think she either had a good diaper or just spit up in this one. Man Gabe looks just like her!

Her 3 month picture. She freaked until she had her stuffie in her mouth.

This is how she would take baths with mommy, babies are very slippery when wet. She could spend hours in here.

Her 6 months. Notice the chapped mouth...I wonder what that's from ?!?!?

9 months

1 year. I lover her teeth in this.
14 months, Oregon coast. This is the only happy picture we got of her all day, she hated it all.

Almost 16 months. I love that face.

Less than one month shy of 3. Dang she is cute.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LULU! WE LOVE YOU!

Funny, Just when I think there is really nothing to blog about...

2009-06-03T03:54:00.013-07:00

Here is a cute picture of our fattness. At his 4 month checkup a couple weeks ago he was 20.14. 99% for weight. 90% for head and height. Big boy! He officially is too big for the infant seat so I had to go get him a convertable seat. Shopping is so fun without the infant seat when your baby can't even sit up yet.

Hadley's class went to the zoo and I tagged along with my other little ones in tow. She is really not too sure about being this close to a peacock.

Hadley's school did a performance and displayed their art. Here she is "singing," "De Colores"

I could not help but take this one of Gabe relaxin'

I put Lulu's hair up in curlers. Well, it didn't really take so I used my 1/4" barrel curling iron. She was so good and patient. The sad part is, she looked so pretty and all we did was go to the ghetto grocery store.

Here is Hadley's class singing for us moms. Only a couple of us came to celebrate their last day of Kindergarten with them.

My big girl's last day.

Hadley and Mrs. Tang. I hope Avery get's her next year. We miss her already.

Hadley and Jeadyn and Breadyn. I still can't tell these 2 apart.

We have this couch my parents gave to us. It has been through a lot but it still stands up for us. I figured out if we keep feeding it fat babies it will hold up forever. I gotta agree with the couch, he is so *YUMMY* !!!

So a few night ago when I couldn't sleep, (no surprise there, after all it's 4:49 am and I'm still up, whole other story in itself) I walked into the kitchen and felt like I had a hair or something on my leg (I have been losing a ton of hair lately, whole OTHER story in and of ITSELF), so I bent down to brush it off and this is what I saw flying across the floor...

Now, mind you that I'm really not afraid of spiders but when they can be deadly and my kids are sleeping on the Living Room floor just feet away I flipped. I threw a jar over it to trap it, then I somehow scooped it up into a bowl, put the lid on it and went and woke up Jamie. He kinda freaked. Funny thing is, I was just finally getting tired enough to go to bed. I was getting an ice water to take to bed when all this happened. So, I really didn't sleep. I put that bowl inside of another bowl and just stared and swore at it. I researched black widows for pretty much the rest of the night/morning. I called the property managers and they had someone out here Monday. I put the spider, still inside the 2 containers, out in the garage, I wanted it to suffer like I did when I had no sleep. As of Monday she was still alive. Luckly she was not on me long enough to bite me, I had just walked into her web she had made all over my kitchen in just a couple hours time. The exterminator told me to look for her egg sack, 'tis breadin' season! GREAT!

Hhmm, I guess stuff has happened in our house. Stayed tuned... Lauren's 3rd Birthday is the 9th and my parents are coming down on the 15th to drive back up to Idaho with me on the 17th. (Jamie is flying to Denver for a conference, then over to Idaho for a couple weeks then has to go back to Tucson all alone. I'm sure he is so sad about it!! I could do the drive myself but last time with 4 kids, because Gabe was nursing and diaper changes, it took 19 hours. NO THANK YOU!) There will be Jamie's 31st Birthday (6-16), family, friends, Father's Day, maybe Jamie and I could go to the temple and even on a date, friends, Bear Lake, hunting (for Jamie), 4th of July, back to school shopping, family from Virginia, a BBQ here and there, family from California, lunch with friends, Bear Lake, more family, and a wedding.. Wow, all in a month and a half's time. So much for Vacation. The girls start school Aug. 6th. So we gotta hurry back after the wedding. Grrrr.

I just realized there is nothing about Avery in here, real fast, Hadley is tkinda eaching her how to read, she is reading a lot of the little books Hadley brought home from school and is very curious about wordsand sounding them out and addition. She's getting a nice jump start on Kindergarten. More about her next time too! Thanks for hanging in there!

Gabe's first swim and girls in pool

2009-05-14T00:18:00.004-07:00

Guppie's first cereal

2009-05-13T23:30:00.001-07:00

Gabe's first jumperoo

2009-05-12T17:46:00.003-07:00

Here goes nothin'

2009-05-09T02:17:00.004-07:00

Here are some pictures of Easter. All the kids in their cute Easter outfits and Gabe in his first Easter outfit....

Check out that huge 3 month old. I also pierced Avery's ears for her 5th birthday. Yes! I did it myself I happen to own a piercing gun. There were a lot of promises made to get her to calm down after she FINALLY decided she wanted them done.

I love having a baby who love his Jumperoo. He just goes crazy in it. We bought it when Lulu was a baby and she pretty much just sat in it but Gabe jumps like a mad man.

Check out these legs. Don't you just want to chew on them?? They are mighty tasty.

I finally broke down and got the girls a cheap pool. They have had so much fun in it. Gabe loves being outside so here he is watching his sisters splashing him.

GABE
So we went to Gabe's cardiologist on Monday and they did another echo and everything seems to be healing up on it's own. He is growing so fast. He now weighs over 19 pounds. Yes, I just said 19 pounds. In case you are wondering he will be 4 months on the 17th. His 6-9 months clothes are slowly finding their way to the storage box. I love the look on people's face when I tell them how old he is. He also FINALLY hit a milestone today......He successfully rolled back to front. I know he's a little late but when you have that much to roll over...

He has become very aware of his hands and loves them in his mouth at all times. His favorite thing is to try to eat his hand while nursing. (Mom is not so much a fan of this) I can't tell you how much fun and happiness he has brought to our lives. We love him and we love how he lights up whenever he sees any of us. I will tell you having a boy is so strange.

LULU

Wow, where do I start?? She has discovered it's fun to call people "Stupid", stick her tounge out at mom when she is in trouble, and snuggling or just smiling at you will melt away any anger you might have. There is something about those blue eyes that just gets to me. She has grown up so much. Her vocabulary is amazing and frightening. She will be 3 in a month and it's killing me. I'm thinking about entering her in to a cute kids contest!! MAYBE! I have been told she looks like a little doll. She is not handling the heat very well though. 2 minutes outside and she is beat red and wants to just die. Poor kiddo!

AVERY

She is so excited to start Kindergarden this fall (Summer, school starts Aug 6th here). For some reason, the thought of sending her off is much harder than sending Hadley off. I have no idea why. She is already reading a little and just blows me away how fast she catches on. She loves playing games, any game any time. If it were up to her she would play games all day. She loves Go Fish, Old Lady (Old Maid) Uno, Princess Uno, Fundominos, puzzles, the list goes on and on. I can't get over how much she is like me, right down to the way her eyes hide when she smiles. She LOVES helping me with the laundry, sorting is her favorite part, she also is such a great help with Gabe. I love the little stink and don't know what I would do without her help.

HADLEY

So, in 2 weeks Hadley will have finished her first year of school. She is on a "D BOOK" They go in levels A, B, C, D... She skipped C all together. She is adding and subtracting EVERYTHING. I think she finally figured out that is she keeps her mouth shut and just obey the teacher and follows the rules life is much easier. She is such a big help to me and her sisters and brother. I'm so excited to have her home for the summer, I love having her around. I am not okay with her starting 1st grade this "fall" but she already is older than everyone in her class as it is. I just want them all to stay preschool age forever. She is growing so quickly I feel like I'm missing out on it all. I love all she does to keep everyone happy and she has such a special relationship with her Papa and I hope it never changes.

JAMIE

In a week he will be finished with his 1st year in the PhD. program. He has enjoyed it (I think more than he would like to admit) I'm so proud of all his hard work and how determined he is to get through this. This year seemed to fly by so here's hoping the next 2 fly just as fast. I love you Baby, thanks for all you do and put up with.

I stay at home and feed Gabe, take Hadley to school come home, feed Gabe, then I get the kids breakfast, then I feed Gabe, then I might change the laundry over, get the girls lunch, then feed Gabe, pick Hadley up from school and come home to feed Gabe. I think I just realized why he is 19+ pounds. I have made a couple of friends here so life is getting better, now if these triple digits would subside.

Sorry this post is so long that wasn't my intention but that's just what happened. Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL MOTHER'S DAY! I get to teach Relief Society so mine won't be as wonderful as it could be. I think it should be combined so the men could teach on Mother's Day and vice versa for Father's Day. I'll look into that!

2009-05-06T17:47:00.001-07:00

So, my friend had this on her blog and I thought I would share. I laughed forever. Some of the ones I read to Jamie even made him laugh and if you know Jam ie you know it HAD to be funny. Check it out...
http://www.myregisblog.com/

I want to p[oat something about what we've been up to but I gotta run so I'll get to it soon!!

This is our BIDNESS, people!

2009-04-24T22:04:00.002-07:00

So . . . The Hammons came and left. Easter came and left. We had fun. We did some stuff. Then Papa came. He's leaving tomorrow. . . . It's reality show pic time!

Tractors are awesome. We're so awesome.

Honestly. I'd rather be . . . What's going on here?

Overpriced greasy food at the Pima County Fair? Here's my wallet!

Tell me that I'm not adorable. Go ahead. I've got leg rolls to change your mind.

We got new pajamas, now we can be friends!

2009-04-11T18:43:00.003-07:00

Mommy loves to shop, and Mommy loves a bargain. Check out the new digs that cost less than a fiver at Children's Place.

Oh, no! the fashion police found our hideout. We're going back to the candy striper penitentiary.

From left to right:

"Hold me up. The weight of these stripes is making me slouch."

"Whatev's, lazy sister."

"Look! I have fingers!"

"Strike a pose. There's nothing to it."

VOGUE, VOGUe, VOGue, VOgue, Vogue, vogue . . .

Well, I guess he can work for Willy Wonka

2009-04-03T20:09:00.008-07:00

Show me a mountain of breastmilk that I can't consume, and I will show you how poorly you have judged the capacity of my belly.

Gabriel . . . is fat. The boy is only 11 weeks along and is already blown past the 16 lb mark. According to medical journals, he's got a big head and short legs. Right now, he wears 6-9 month tops and 0-3 month bottoms. Oh crap! He's an Oompa Loompa.

My parents shoved me in this baby seat to laugh at me. Go ahead people. I'll be mixing your chocolate soon enough, and I'll be deciding what's considered an "ingredient".

Aunt Becki sent Avery a coloring kit for her birthday and she decided to share with her sisters (Enter a choir of angels singing the Hallelujah chorus. Her dad enters in the joyous singing but is quickly smacked across the head by a rogue harp.). Thank you, Becki, for bringing peace among the girls for at least an hour or two.

In fifteen seconds, we'll all be yelling at each other.

Jamie got a sunburn in the middle of March

2009-03-24T10:36:00.004-07:00

The conspiracy to make the children sleep.

Our trip up to Idaho was full of adventure and other cliches. We like to drive during the night so the kids will sleep. Essentially, the kids wake up from a nap, realize it is too dark to do anything, and go back to sleep. As usual, we saw a lot of deer, but not until Utah and after Jamie got pulled over for no lights on the back license plate. He got a warning, not a ticket. He sure knows how to sweet talk the Fuzz.

Anyway, we saw lots of deer and mostly on the side of the road or at least in the other. Until, of course, you get on the interstate and speed limits are increased. While approaching Fillmore, UT, Jamie sees some figures on the road. Two deer. One in each lane. Rachel gasps for air. Jamie chokes on his sunflower seeds and pees a little. The car eeks between the two animals. If the car wasn't still going about 65, Jamie would have dropped the window and given the one deer a great big and sloppy French kiss for almost destroying the family trip. Rachel would have dropped her window and given the other a "Howdy Do!" right up its backside. Congrats, wildlife. You have lowered my life expectancy by a few years. Come hunting season, it's my turn to return the favor. GAME ON.

"I do not like this color. I'm going to poop something in the shade of maize."

The weather was nice and Gabe was blessed. Rachel did some shopping; Jamie did some schoolwork. We all drove home without incident.

And then it was Avery's birthday dinner at Peter Piper's Pizza. Yeah!

"I'm five, Mom. Deal with it."

"My goal is to make you go completely gray, Mom."

"I've decided to go punk, Mom."

"You have no idea what I can do behind your back, Mom."

A plethora of busy-nesses and et cetera's

2009-03-13T09:23:00.005-07:00

It has been a while, so this is what we've been doing. We had rodeo break last month, which entails a bunch of people taking time off to race horses and ride bulls. It was hot the one day we decided to attend a mini-rodeo.

This was the best picture Lauren would give us. Really. Her "cheese" face is a mix of pain and ADHD.

Gabe is loving life outside of the womb. He gets to pee on Mommy's bed, poop his pants, and smile without provocation.

We're headed up to Idaho this weekend to bless him. We'll see how he handles the 16 hour nighttime drive. Daddy sure loves it.

To end, we give you the Ocotillo in our front yard. It looks like a bunch of sticks placed in the ground with little leaves pasted to them. Look closely and you will understand why we refer to it as the "Trick-you-into-thinking-I-am-harmless-so-you-will-grab-me-and-then-I-will-reveal-my-cleverly-leaf-hidden-spines-that-are-all-over-me-and-will-stab-you-and-make-you-say-naughty-words-in-front-of-the-children-and-patiently-wait-for-you-to-forget-that-I-am-pokey-and-jab-through-your-clothing-when-you-get-too-close-again" evil plant.

Seriously, though. That is not a friendly plant. It looks harmless from a distance, but in the immortal words of John Cleese: "Look at the bones, man!" A leafless Ocotillo reveals its true nature.

Commence the "Ooh"-ing and "Aw"-ing

2009-02-19T14:43:00.006-07:00

Jamie has started on a project working with Holstein steers. The project entails working with newborn calves. New ones (like born within the last 24 hrs) are arriving at the farm each weekday now. Have a look at what he deals with on a daily basis.

Only a few days old and still clean.

Misses his mommy, but he's also hungry.

When you have nearly fifty calves now and another 50 expected, all willing hands are accepted. Even Mommy and the girls help Daddy with the bottles.

Who knew training calves to bottle-feed could be so hard. The stronger ones bully the weak ones, the hungry ones try to nurse off the workers, and Jamie has to wear camouflage to avoid getting a headbutt to the groin. Camo doesn't work, other than for wiping milky slobber off his hands.

After helping Daddy with the calves, a little R&R with the 350 lb sow is pleasant.

We two kings and princesses four . . .

2009-02-11T10:21:00.007-07:00

Who wants to hear about our latest? (Little man in the back room yells in a forced and weakened voice,"I do! Somebody change my diaper!" The Allen grandparents came for almost a week to play with the kids and introduce themselves to Gabe. We had lots of fun and took a trip to the Sonoran Desert museum (live animals and cacti, yippee). Hadley is finally opening up to the idea that getting out of bed each school day does not include a half hour of yelling at Mom or Dad to get out of her room. Avery . . . Avery is Avery: a girl you can't help but smile at every time she isn't throwing a fit. Then there is Lulu. Mommy gave her a trim this past week. Look at her cute haircut. Daddy got a trim from his Mommy, too, but he wasn't very cute to begin with. So he usually just wears a hat. Gabe likes to sleep, eat, poop, and cry. That's how the man of the house should live. Hey, if you couldn't speak, walk, or control bodily functions and it was your goal in life to sleep, eat, poop, and cry, wouldn't you be fulfilled? Oh, and Mommy is keeping pace with the children and Daddy is keeping a slower pace to Mommy. The End.

That's right, Papa. Everybody has had a chance to snuggle a sleeping Gabe but you. This kid will sleep on anybody's shoulder or chest. Now what are you going to do about it?

"I'm cute," the little girl said while trying to draw attention away from her evil lurking daddy. "That's right, my precious," the daddy cooed while contemplating whether he should get out of the camera shot or not.

The contest begins. Who will sleep the longest without needing to have his diaper changed? Stay tuned. My bet's on Jamie. Because he's potty-trained! At least, for the most part.

Oh yeah, that sucker's healthy!

2009-01-30T14:10:00.002-07:00

So, the dirty little bugger won't sleep. Of course, this is not his fault. Constantly eating, constantly griping, constantly peeing and making personal Lincoln logs. Who has the time for sleep? These are what babies do. We're not complaining. Gabriel does them all without hesitation. He'll be a great debater when he grows up: opponents won't get a word in edgewise. He also prefers to wallow in filthy diapers rather than be changed into a new one and likes to flop his head around. And his attention-getter: "Ggeeeeee!" with a hard "G". We're not sure what it means, other than he is not a happy camper. Boy we love you, Gabe, especially at 2:30 in the morning. If either of us die of heart failure, either now or in our golden years, you'll know where it all started. Gabe, you're not in the will until you suck it up. In fact, nobody's in the will. I should really write up a will.

He's Home

2009-01-22T21:10:00.009-07:00

Feedback from the birth entry was fair to good, so I, Jamie (That's right, I write the creative stuff) again shall speak in "Religionese".

Book of Gabriel
Chapter 2

1 Now in the land of dry lands and no snows, there was a dark time for the manchild Gabriel. For the men who knew medicines questioned his health, saying he was not healthy for he breathed too fast and his heart murmured like Laman and Lemuel, anatomically. So they would not allow the parents of Gabriel to leave the concrete building. This was odd, for he had a heck of a time getting into that building to begin with.

2 But Gabriel knew he was healthy, for he willed himself to be healthy, and he would tells those men who knew medicines that he was healthy.

2 For Gabriel also spoke to the baby nurses and the men who knew medicines, saying: Here me speak my native tongue, for I am healthy. But this is not what the nurses and men heard, for their ears were not open, and they only heard this sound: Waah! Wah, wah, Waah!

3 And Gabriel cried with all his might using his lungs of a lion to persuade the men, but they would not listen. Rather, they moved baby Gabriel to the corner of the room so that his cries would not disturb the other newborns who were half his size.

4 And it came to pass that the men who knew medicines could no longer keep the manchild inside the concrete building, for Gabriel was healthy, and their testings could not find anything unhealthy about him, except his freakishly loud cries.

5 Then Gabriel put on his clothing of manliness and exited the concrete building under his own strength. And he took his mother's cab to his home to see his sisters, who were excited to see him. And his father watched over Gabriel as the boy played with his sisters, for he did not want his son placed in dresses like his own sister had done to him when he was a manchild. For it is not right for a manchild to wear a dress or make-up, and he would not allow such a thing to happen to his son. Ever.

6 And Gabriel sat and watched.

7 And it came to pass that Gabriel had pooped too many times, and he stinketh. And his mother did not like the stink, and wished to bath him. So she bathed the manchild while he fought this water sensation. And he screamed with his lion lungs and peed into the bathwater.

8 For Gabriel is king, and he reigneth. He shall be heard from one end of the house to the far end of the house, saying: Dang! It is crazy cold outside of Mom's belly. Get me another blanket! I'm hungry! It's three a.m. in the morning! Why aren't you up?! Weep before me! Or in his native tongue: Waah! Wah, wah, Waah!

Leaving the NICU

2009-01-21T12:42:00.003-07:00

Gabe is still not home with us. He had very rapid breathing (100, 30-40 is normal) and they were afraid of infection. So he has been in the NICU since Monday. He had to do 48 hours of anti-biotics. I don't know how mom's do it. What a sad place. It was comforting to know he is the biggest and healthiest baby in his unit though. All of his tests came back great and he gets to come home today. His last dose is around 3 so we get to have him here TONIGHT. I never had any idea how hard it would be to go home empty handed. Though it was nice to get a full nights sleep and not be pregnant but I would take having him home over sleep anytime. His breathing has regulated. They were thinking it just might have been withdrawls from my anti-depressant. He is so sweet and totally fits right in to our ever-growing, not so little family. I will take lots of pictures to post and have Jamie post them. By the way, the last post was written by Jamie, I wish I was that creative...

The Case of the 9-pound Baby

2009-01-18T22:17:00.009-07:00

THE BOOK OF GABRIEL

Chapter 1

1 And it came to pass, that the woman entered the concrete building at her appointed time, the Friday before MLK day, to be inducedeth. But the head wet nurse said, "Nay, thou shalt not stay for this inducing, for the linoleum rooms are full, and thou doeth not have priority to have thy baby at this appointed time."

2 So the not-so-virgen maiden departed back to her home, angry at the wet nurse for not calling her the day before and telling her not to get up early to get ready for the appointed time that did not follow. And again while the maiden stewed within her mind, a phone call came from the wet nurse who guarded the linoleum rooms. But her news was maddening to the maiden, saying that there would be no room for her or her baby boy at the concrete building.

3 And it was not good, but the maiden's mother was there to console the maiden's madness, while the baby's father stayed away at school waiting for the smoke to clear. For this man knew that it would be his fault, regardless of his helplessness and the wet nurse's evil intents.

4 And then the next day came, for it was Saturday, and the movements of the baby did not cease. And the belly of the maiden squeezed at inconsistent times. So the maiden went to take a bath to help calm her womb's uneasiness.

5 And it came to pass that the voice of the baby Gabriel within in her womb spoke to the maiden while she soaked, saying, "To hell with this, woman! I'm comin' without that woman's approval." And he sent a little fluid as a precursor for the woman to see. And he caused the maiden's womb to squeeze to a rhythm.

6 And then maiden came from her bath and told the man with whom she loved, "Let's go. He's comin'." And the man, who was nearly asleep at the time, for it was the afternoon of a lazy Saturday and he had eaten a large lunch, awoke and took his fair maiden to the concrete building.

7 And to make a long story short, the baby Gabriel came from the maiden's womb later that night and cried and whimpered, for he was big, and nobody would tell him not to make such noises. And now all is well. For Gabriel is already nine pounds heavy, with feet the size of Sasquatch, and hair the color of light brown.

8 And it came to pass that the family rejoiced in the coming of the baby Gabriel. For he was here, and was about darn time.

9 Let it be heard: BEHOLD! Gabriel reigneth over the Allen household.

No Baby

2009-01-11T19:31:00.001-07:00

Just a quick little update.. We have been back from our trip to Idaho for a week now and we still don't have a baby. I just want everyone to know how nice it was to be home in the snow for the holidays. We got dumped on a couple of times while there. On our way home we realized we could have just gone 4 hours north and had 5x's the snow. On our way home we drove through Flagstaff and I woke up to Jamie almost sliding into the guardrail at 25 miles an hour. The road were so bad, we got down to 15 MPH, I was freaking out so much I had constant contractions until Phoenix. I was sure I would deliver on the side of the highway at 4 in the morning and the roads were so bad nobody could get to us. All that didn't ease my tention at all either. My mom will be here Thursday night and we go in Friday to be started. Hopefully I , and Gabe, can hold out that long. I'm really starting to freak out. 5 days and we will have our little Gabe, are we ready??? NOPE! Also, I can no longer say I have been changing diapers for over 6 years non- stop. Lauren has been in panties for 3 days now. She did wear a pull-up to church but I get a week off from changing diapers until Gabe arrives. She tells us everytime she has to go potty, sometimes she is half finished before we get to the potty but she is recognizing it. I just decided to go straight to panties and not give her an option. It's working. I have yet to venture out into public with her, we may do pull-ups then as well just to be on the safe side. So now everyone knows the latest. Sorry it isn't much! Also, Congrats to Julie, we are hoping for a sister for Cutter!!!

Aaahhhh, Idaho! Caution Photo overload!!

2008-12-29T17:58:00.005-07:00

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

2008-12-27T13:13:00.002-07:00

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

2008-12-20T09:16:00.002-07:00

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

2008-12-15T13:18:00.003-07:00

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

2008-12-10T11:31:00.009-07:00

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

2008-12-02T08:17:00.007-07:00

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!

2008-11-18T12:03:00.005-07:00

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!!

2008-11-02T17:10:00.005-07:00

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...

2008-10-22T20:09:00.004-07:00

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

2008-10-21T18:38:00.007-07:00

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!!!

2008-10-09T13:24:00.003-07:00

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

2008-10-08T07:30:00.003-07:00

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!!

2008-10-03T20:31:00.004-07:00

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...

2008-09-25T14:27:00.003-07:00

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?

2008-09-24T16:10:00.006-07:00

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%)

2008-09-24T12:18:00.005-07:00

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.

And the award for best parents goes too....

2008-09-16T07:59:00.004-07:00

US. Jamie & Rachel Allen. Here is why, Saturday was Hadley's 6th birthday, we told her it was ALL HER DAY. She could call the shots all day. She said she really wanted to go to Chuck E. Chesse's. So we took her, not thinking it was a Saturday afternoon. There had to have been at least 200 kids there not including adults. About 5 or 6 parties were going on at the same time. Luckly we don't know anyone here yet so it was just the 5 and a half of us. It cost over $40 to get 1 large pizza, 5 drinks, and tokens. The pizza sucked and it was loud, but we perserviered. After all how could we tell her we didn't want to be there. We were there for a good 3 hours. The girls had a blast. Hadley kept telling me I was the best mom ever and this was her best day ever. Maybe she could sense my frustration with all the other kids there. Can you see why we deserve the award? Afterward we went to get some movies and groceries.
I can't believe my baby is 6. I suppose it is good seeing as how we are having #4 soon. How would that look to have 4 kids under 5? If I had it my way, they would all stay under the age of 5 forever. Hadley has told me it is hard being the oldest and having to set the example. I really think she was sent to us first because I can't think of any other little girl to be my first born, biggest sister, best friend to me, best friend to her sisters, best friend to everyone. She is so tender hearted and caring. She takes great care of her little sisters. What a great example she is to not just her sisters but to her parents as well. There is nothing more humbling than when you curse, your 6 years old reminds you that is a swear word. Talk about putting you in your place. I hope we can be friends forever and she can tell me everything when she is older just like she does now. We love you Hadley.

Look at me I'm 6!!!

Needless to say they did sleep pretty well that night!!

Sorry

2008-09-12T18:57:00.002-07:00

The last 2 posts were a little messed up. Maybe this will work... If not I apologize. Please bear with me.

The Verdict Is......

2008-09-12T18:38:00.002-07:00

So, I thought the scanner/printer was compatible with my computer, apparently it's not. I was going to scan this really cute picture to post. Well, I'll just describe it, it's black, white and gray, a little fuzzy with a couple arms and 3 legs. YES I SAID 3 LEGS. That means there are 2 legs and a PENIS!!!! WE ARE HAVING A BOY!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited we are. Now we just need to work on a name. Any suggestions???

5 Months???

2008-09-05T20:57:00.003-07:00

Here they are, tell me what you think. 5 months along???? Be honest, you can't hurt my feelings as you can tell I'm pretty thick (skinned)!!!

my ever growing belly

2008-09-03T17:06:00.003-07:00

Funny story, I thought my belly was really growing until I went to buy a new bra today and the girls asked how far along, I am and I told her I will be officially 5 months tomorrow, her eyes got huge and she told me she would have guessed 6 and a half or even 7 months along, I'm telling you, I'M HUGE!! I should have been offended but, it's the truth.

This is my view sitting down and the one below this is my view standing up. Do you think I look only 5 months? When Jamie gets home I'll have him take a picture of a side view and post that too, and you can tell me what you think. Remember it is really hard to offend me. I know I look huge!

How was your Labor Day Weekend?

2008-09-02T18:29:00.004-07:00

Our weekend started out with a trip up to Phoenix to look for a couple things at Ikea and go swimming at my Uncle's. The day went pretty fast. We ended up only swimming for a short time, my uncle came out drunk and was playing with Avery and dunked her a couple times, it freaked her out and pissed me off, so we left. He is a real nice guy especially when he is wasted. That was great, and to top it off we left the girls float toys there and didn't find exactally what I wanted at Ikea.

The next day we went to church, our lucky ward got to hear us speak. That went pretty well. Of course Jamie said some off the wall things but his talk was really good. We spoke on the Restoration. I really don't think anybody really listened to my talk after the run down on our family, because a bunch of people told me I gave a great talk. HA!

On Monday nobody had anywhere to be so we got Subway and went up to Mt. Lemon. It was so nice and cool, the girls were asking for jackets. It was hard to leave. It's nice to know we have a place to go when we feel like we are going to melt. They also have great fudge up there!! We have had a lot of storms lately and that has kept it in the 80's but the storms are diminishing and the temp is rising. Today was 97 and it is supposed to get warmer and warmer everyday. They say the lower triples by Friday. I wanted to go back up this weekend but we just found out we are going back up to Mesa to the Temple for a primary activity. It is usually about 10-15 degrees hotter there. Hey! We can pick up the girl's float toys on our way out of town. Then we have to rush back down to go to a party for Jamie's department. It's going to be a long, HOT day. Maybe we can go up to the mountain next weekend before we go to Chuck E. Cheese's for Hadley's birthday.

The girls at the top!

By one of the many waterfalls on the way back down the mountain.

One of the MANY advantages to the storms down here. We get great flooding, not too dangerous but fun to drive through, awesome thunder and lightning, cooler weather, and beautiful rainbows.

Bragging about nothing

2008-09-02T15:14:00.002-07:00

Okay, I, Jamie, know this has nothing to do with making babies or anything else that might be important. But when have you known me to care about the important stuff? This is just to notify you of what my cheap $45 metal detector discovered on its first real outing.

It found nearly a dollar in coins during our disaster trip to Bear Lake. That's a freaking candy bar, people. Now, let the comments about how insensitive I am toward my wife and family begin.

Silly Baby

2008-08-29T17:26:00.001-07:00

So we searched and searched and our baby is ASexual. We could not find anything out. We go back in 2 weeks. The suspense is killing me. Pray it will work out next time.

2008-08-29T10:06:00.001-07:00

We got new numbers (Cell & Home) if you would like them, leave a comment and I will comment back with them. Also, I will be puttng up a post later tonight (hopefully), we have an appointment today to fing out if it's a boy or a girl. So, Stey tuned!!!

school, ward, & TV

2008-08-26T10:09:00.000-07:00

So we are in our house. It is filthy; it's taking forever to unpack due to having to clean everything before stuff gets put away. Today is so humid. Who would have thought? The humidity is 87% right now. We do get great storms though. We officially have tv now with DVR!!! We might be able to survive now. Today is kinda cool (aside from the humidity) and I am mostly unpacked. We need to go get more shelves to adapt to this place. Other than that, Hadley has decided she hates school, her teacher is mean, and she gets very homesick at school. How fun is that to drop your baby off at school only to have her cry until you have to force her to go inside her class room? I make Jamie take her now. I would probably end up just bringing her home every time. I'm really hoping she will adapt to being gone all day a little better or I have no idea what I will do. She does come home in a good mood though, which gives me hope.
Here is a funny story, every time we move into a new ward I always think I will probably know someone in the ward that I knew growing up or something, so Sunday we went to church; side note: The ward is full of literally nearly dead (Lots of them) and newlyweds (some have only been married for about 3 weeks) we are the odd man out; anywho, this girl from the primary presidency came up to us and was asking about the girls and what classes they were in, she told me I look familiar, She so didn't look familiar to me, I told her I was from Idaho, so was she, I said I was from Idaho Falls, so was she, then she told me she was from this little area called Ammon, so am I, then we realized we went to elem. and jr. high together and we were in the same ward. As soon as she said her maiden name it all came to me. So, she and her husband came over Sunday night and the guys went to priesthood meeting while Andrea and I visited. It was so fun to reminisce. Then the guys came home and we did our usual Sunday night tradition, Popcorn and "Mormon Margaritas". It's so nice to know someone other than our own little family down here.
That is our lives thus far, I need to get Jamie off to school now and watch some of the dearly beloved, truly missed, "Boob Tube".

And now from the man of the house . . .

2008-08-21T11:16:00.002-07:00

Actually, I'm fine with living down here. Aside from the biting insects, the roaches that we know are there but are just hiding, the B-52 beetles and gigantic devil mayfly-looking bugs that send my children into shrieking melt-downs, the ever-present ants, the residual heat in the concrete after the sun departs, the sun, the unrelenting heat, the fact that we lost over half of our freezer food because of the electricity fiasco (thank the Good Lord for not spoiling all of my deer meat), and the fact that I am starting school at a world-renowned university next week with courses including "Biotechnology in the Animal Sciences" (528) and "Molecular Endocrinology" (587). Regardless of the fact that the major reason the girls haven't returned to Idaho is our bank account balance, I believe things are only going to get better.

To support this idea, I give the following list:
1) Financial aid comes in next week, and I've got a lot of it.
2) We lost all of our frozen beef, but not the irreplaceable venison.
3) We lost all of our seafood minus a salmon fillet. That's the only seafood Rachel will eat.
4) It's the end of August. Temperatures may be around 100 degrees, but they are only going down from here.
5) The apartement has TWO freaking garages. I have my very own workbench.
6) Lizards eat bugs. There are at least two that live around the yard.
7) NO grass to mow. Just weeding the yard.
8) I'll be riding a bike to school, allowing for a very fit and handsomely tone Jamie.
8 1/2) Said bike can be used year-round.
9) We live right around the corner from Hadley's school.
10) Earning a PhD from this school bolsters my hiring potential.
11) Rachel is willing to move anywhere now (as long as it's not Arizona).
12) The coyote hunting is phenomenal here.
13) Gas is cheap (~$3.50/gallon right now).
14) The apartment lease is only one year, and we already survived a week.
15) Costco, Super Wal-Mart, Target, Fry's (cheap groceries) all in the same town.
16) Supportive friends across the country willing to read this blog and sympathize/empathize with us.

Yep, Tucson has been mediocre to us, but things are looking up. In fact, we have power now at the apartment, our new neighbors are nice, and we're getting a new AC unit - we found out it was broken when we turned it on. AND the coyote hunting is phenomenal here.

That's so funny, I forgot to laugh!

2008-08-19T22:10:00.003-07:00

Guess where we are.....STILL IN THE D*@N HOTEL. I called everyone under the sun involved in this mess and I have been "promised" we can have our place tomorrow. I'm not getting my hopes up.

On a happier note, Hadley had a super, wonderful, exciting, spectacular first day. I only cried a little when I saw her when she came out of her classroom. She has been talking about it all day. She can't wait to go back tomorrow. She did ask me if she can sleep in a little later though. 6:00 is killing her. It will better when we are in our own place and don't have to drive the extra 15-20 minutes. I told her she could sleep until 7 the day after tomorrow. This has been a real challenge in our family considering 10 is a good time for everyone to wake up. We fall asleep so fast lately. My poor picked on little family.

I really hope my next "story" will be from a real home. Wish us luck.

P.S. I never thought I would say this but I really, REALLY, really miss Moscow. Gosh! I must not like it here very much.

Best friend gone for 8 hours a day.

2008-08-19T08:20:00.005-07:00

Hadley's Official First Day Of School.

Today, I lost my best friend. I dropped her off at school and won't see her again until 2:15. How do moms do this? I thought it would be kind of easy, but it was almost impossible to leave her. Down here they don't go half days like to rest of the counrty does, Kindergarten is ALL DAY. That is pretty rough on a mom who thought, "I'll just look at it as if she went to a friends house to play for a couple hours" Nope, not in this God Forsaken Land some poeople call Tucon, where everything they do is completly messed up and backwards. She was so excited to go, she gave me a kiss good-bye and ran off to her classs smiling and laughing as I ran off to my car crying and sobbing. When did my baby grow up? Is it wrong to just keep her home and teach her what I know? I want so bad to just keep my girls under my wing for the rest of their lives. Now I know how my mom felt. I am counting down the minutes until I can go get her and make sure she had a great day. Maybe we can go out and do something fun after school. I know the time will come when I will be counting down the minutes until school starts but for now it is totally the other way around.

View into the tiny kitchen

View into the tiny living room. Where are we going to put everyting? Thank heaven for our 2 garages.

On another note. We are supposed to be getting POWER TODAY. I can't wait to get into my place (a week later than we expected). I'm going to spend all day and night unpacking. I'm so excited. it has been since May 1st that we had our own place. I think it's about time. I need to get packed up to leave this Hotel/temp. home. I'll let everyone know how the unpacking goes.

Just another update.

2008-08-17T07:06:00.002-07:00

I've had a few comments about the baby, here is what I know. It is human. It has a heart and a spine and looks healthy. I was supposed to find out this week but with the move and everything, I still am looking for a doctor. Hopefully things will get better this week and I can find out soon. Wish us luck. (And pray for a boy (though I would be just as happy with all girls my poor hubby is in Hormone City))!

I probably should add...

2008-08-17T06:59:00.002-07:00

I need to clear something up, not ALL of Bear Lake was awful, aside from seeing my family I havn't seen in over a year,i(it was soo good to see them) we were laying in bed that first night and we heard my cousin's husband yell, "I Love My Wife". My first reaction was to laugh then I thought, "What if they are um, you know 'messing around' and that is what he says?" Then I was sorta embarassed but he yelled it again and we realized he was just being Beau. A few minutes later I had asked Jamie to get me something ( I can't remember exactally what I asked him) and he yelled, "I Tollerate My Wife!" I thought Maggie and Beau were going to lose it. They told everyone the next day and it has kida become the family joke. So if you ever hear us scream, "I tollerate......", you'll know why.

The BIG Move So far...

2008-08-15T16:35:00.004-07:00

We loaded up the UHaul Saturday with lots of help from friends and family then our friends took the truck and drove to Utah and stayed with her mom. We left Sunday afternoon and stopped in to see Daniel and Cass before we really took off. Then we drove to Taylorsville and stayed with our friends mom. Thanks by the way. Monday morning we ran over to see my cousin Letti and let the girls play a little while. Our first destination-Mesquite, Nevada. We did stop in St. George to do a little outlet shopping and got more school clothes. We made it to Mesquite in great time. So far, so good. Keep reading....

The UHaul pulling the pick up as we drove the van.
Jamie & Lulu in Vegas

We got to Vegas the next day even though the destination was Tucson, we are not too far away. We were going to see the reef show and saw the prices and turned around and got back on the road.

Avery & Hadley in Vegas.

We really wanted to do the Hoover Dam but with the Truck and the construction we would have had to unload everything, have it inspected, reload it and then we could be on our way. We decided to go around which took us into California on this super old highway with a million "Whoop-de-doos" poor Suzie got sick but it kept me awake.
We were so excited to see this sign. We got into AZ a little and called to make sure our place would be open and ready for us in an hour. (Mind you we were about 5 hours later than planned) It was not ready so rather than going and sleeping in our house with no electricity, then driving back to Phoenix to take Kevin & Suzie to the airport, we decided to stay with my uncle in Chandler. It was great he has a pool, the kids went CRAZY. The next day we took our friends to the airport and I got a call saying it takes over 24 hours after you make the call to have your power turned on so I call right away. They looked it up and told me because it had been off for more than 6 months we needed an inspection. (This was on Wednesday we were supposed to be in our place Tuesday) We decided to say in a hotel becuse we still had no power. That night there was a HUGE storm and it knocked out the power. IRONICALLY!!! There was a 5 foot deep river running down the road. It was down to about 2 feet deep by the time I was brave enough to go check it out. I talked to the manager and he comped us that night. The next day we went to the house to check things out and work some more and saw that our house is in 7 violations. We neede to get an electrition out to fix them then call the city for another inspection and then they will notify the power company to go ahead. I called the Landlord and told him everything and that I was very upset. I told hime we needed a hotel for the night, come to find out the way people work in this town we are in a hotel until Monday. It is Super HOT and humid thanks to all the storms. My poor girls are dying. hadley has to have shots tomorrow and she starts school on Monday. I was okay until I went to her school. When did she grow up? I'm not okay with this. We are supposed to have phone and everything by Tuesday so stay tuned for the rest of our move. On the plus side we get to swim anytime we want.
Look how red her face is, her wet gross hair and she is sitting in the front seat in the AC of the car and has been for about 15 minutes and is still dying. My poor girls are not going to make it. I want to move to Alaska after this.

Bear Lake 2008

2008-08-15T16:00:00.003-07:00

Look how well the week began. We got to Bear Lake and set up camp and went down to the lake. The day was beautiful. Later that evening we went back up to camp and the wind came up. No camp fire that night. Which was fine one less day to smell like a fire. Avery, Katherine, & Hadley
Hadley & Lulu
Avery
Julie & Lulu

The next day was just as nice, boat rides, warm weather, cool water, swimming, family, family, family. After a day at the lake we went back up again then came the wind. Shortly after the wind came the PINK lightning and the rain. We ended up with a river running through the inside of our new tent after it had been ripped apart by the wind.
This is the sky just before the rain. Super Creepy. Needless to say, I had had enough and we left to go home at 10 that night. Which ended up being okay because we left for our big move on Sunday so we had one more day to prepare. That was our lovely trip to Bear Lake 2008.

Lately...

2008-07-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

So, we have done so much lately, I don't know where to start. The weekend before the 4th we went to West Yellowstone to get fudge and fireworks. Then the next weekend was the fourth of July. We did the same ole', same ole'. Go to the Haws' for the Parade where Joyce is always set up with goodies, drinks, and a big sandwich from the Sandwich Tree, then out to Arby's for lunch. Only this year we mixed it up a little and went to a movie to get away from the heat then onto the Huge fireworks down at the river and a BBQ with mom's family. The Girls at the Haws' for the parade. (Which was the same lame as every other year but it is tradition and you can't break it because you don't like it, the kids love it.) You can't go to the parade at and sit with the Haws' and not get a snow cone. OOOOhhhhhhh! ( These really don't do any justice!) AAAAAhhhhhh!
Then the next weekend we went down to Soda Springs to see the Robbins and do some camping. We got to use out new tent we got for Christmas for the first time. It's HUGE.
All the kids playing . Look how filthy they are, and the sad thing is we had only been there for a few hours. Can he get any more Handsome?? Hadley and Gwen eating S'mores. Lucky Cass gets to take the kids 4-wheeling like a million times.

We camped for a few days then went to Bear Lake, well, Daniel wasn't feeling well so he and Jamie we back home and Cass and I stayed with the kids so they could play in the cold water. Every year I look forward to going to Bear Lake with my mom's family until it comes down to it, but after going and not having a boat, I can't wait to get back down there.
Gosh! They look like they are having way too much fun!. Look at Jamie! Poor guy hates Bear Lake.
Lulu eating something, I'm sure it was covered in sand.

Beach Babe!!!
Hadley, Avery, & Gwen
Look at that Beautiful water. Gavin, Gwen, Avery, Hadley, & Lauren at the Drive-in.

After we got back to Soda we took the kids to the drive-in. It was Cass' kids first time and I think it was Avery and Lulu's first time too. We had such a good time. Then the Robbin's came to IF and we went to the Rexburg temple and Cass and I went and goofed off (If you can call looking in every store in town for a cheap booster and life jackets goofing off) while the guys "took care of the kids" (We responsible ones call it playing the Wii while my mom looked after the kids) We are planning on going back down to Soda for the fair and Huckleberry picking the end of the month. Yes, we are trying to get in as much Daniel & Cass as we can before we move in 3 weeks. We hope they don't get sick of us. They are such fun people. I've discovered having friends that you can be yourself with is so much fun. Especially if we ALL get along. Thanks guys for being our pals.

2008-06-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

What a busy week, First of all, we went to church on sunday and 15 minutes into it Lauren puked, I thought it was because she choked on her fruit leather, we took her to my grandma's, cleaned her up while Jamie ran home to get a new dress. We went back to church. She fell asleep only to wake up 10 minuted later and puke on the bench. We went home. The next day was her 2nd Birthday. She acted okay but I didn't want to risk it so we cancelled her shindig (she's 2 like she'll remember) and just had cake with the fam.

HAPPY 2nd LULU!
(Notice the candles!)

The next day, Jamie and I took off for Arizona. He had what Lulu had only the other end of it, if you catch my drift.

He looks better than he feels!

We met with his professor, Duff, had lunch with him then he showed us around. We went out to his house for dinner to meet his wife, love them. Then we spent the rest of the week looking for a house to live in. We came up short on everything. We are going to try looking on the internet in about a month. We swam everyday when it finally cooled off enough to be outside for more than 30 seconds. We loved that part of it.

Today we went up to Mount Lemmon. It was so neat the bottom looks like Arizona but the top looks like Island Park. It was a lot cooler up there too. We will be spending a lot of time up there this year. There is even a ski "Resort" it's as big as Kelly's Canyon. Just perfect for the girls to learn on. Jamie too!

CACTUS!!!

MORE CACTUS!!!!

PINE TREES!
(Yes this was the same drive, even on the same road)

We are sitting here in the airport waiting for our flight to take us to VEGAS!!!! Where we have a 7 hour layover. ALL NIGHT. WE fly out of there at 6:30 in the morning. We are already tired. I suppose that's all for now.

Still in limbo

2008-06-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

I call this one' "Family Members Reconnect"
Hadley in her "Flingo" shirt with her friends the "Flingos"
Lulu and her Pigs

Avery, Gavin, Hadley, & Gwen on a little drive in the woods of Soda Springs
Lulu & Gavin

Ready, Set, Go!

Today we found out that our 3rd option for finding a place to live for the summer fell through. This is getting a little old. We have been helping out around the house a lot to earn our keep. What would my parents do without us? What would we do without them? It really is nice to just run to the store rather than packing all the kids up to go get milk. But on the other hand having your own place is even better.
We went down to Soda Springs last weekend to see our friends and we ended up staying the night so the guys could hunt even more the next morning. Cass and Rachel took the kids to Logan to do some shopping. Our next trip down there the girls will go play without the kids while the boys stay home with them. There is never a dull moment when Jamie and Daniel, Cass and Rachel, and all the kids are together. We always have a blast with them. We had to be in Rigby at 1 so we really rushed to get back home because the boys were late coming home. We didn't even get to shower, we rushed all the way out to The Riot Zone to eat a great meal and find out that it sucked, so we called Jamie's sister and we went to the zoo. We had such a good time. Who would have thought going to the Idaho Falls Zoo could be so fun. Our girls are at the age where every animal is unique and interesting. There were Monkeys for Avery, Flamingos for Hadley, and Pigs for Lulu. Take a look at all our newest pictures.

Getting out of Dodge

2008-05-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hello, all. Rachel's been too busy to keep up the blog, but we've finally discovered how to work it. So here's an update. We finally moved back to Idaho Falls for the summer. Jamie has another week or so up there to finish his Master's, but then it's back down here to work with Papa for a couple months.
Jamie has been offered a doctoral position at the University of Arizona. It looks like we'll be living in Tucson come August. Yippee? We all have mixed emotions about this new adventure, but we're also pretty excited to start out anew. We are even looking to buy our first house down there. Yeah!
The girls are growing like weeds. You want to squirt a little RoundUp on them, but they just shake it off and keep going. Hadley will be starting Kindergarten this fall. Avery is continually working the "Daddy's little girl" angle. And Lauren . . . she has hair! Oh yeah, and we've got another one on the way, sometime in January. It'll be 50 degrees in Tucson by then.
Rachel is excited to have another one, and we're leaning for a boy. But we'll take whatever comes, I guess. We'll just be glad to have another healthy baby. Oh yeah, we'll also be glad to get out of Idaho Falls. Rachel's already sick of it. Fortunately, we have many opportunities to hang out with out-of-town friends.
That's it for now.

new blog

2008-02-09T01:29:00.000-07:00

here it is, my new blog it is late but it will get updated really soon.