August and September

I realize that I am a bit behind and somewhat

out of order but here is what happened

in August and September.....

Jeff's side of the family.....aunts, uncles, cousins...

had a family reunion in SanDiego.

Convenient for us!!! We camped, played in the sand,

and swam in the ocean. A good time was had by all.

I love morning face!!

Riding in the canoe with dad

Lauren & Anonya getting the sand

ready for a great sand castle

Parker's sand goatee

Lauren's "cute" pose

Making sand angels

Who wouldn't want to lay in the

warm sand and take a nap?

Who's that handsome dude in the glasses??

Maddie and Carlie

The giant marble ball in LaJolla

We saw Wicked with Grandma

and totally ENJOYED ourselves

Lauren turned 4

New princess jammies

Pink scooter

We celebrated Lauren's birthday

by going to the SanDiego Zoo

Parker loved the sea turtles

Somehow 3 out of the 4 are wearing

their Utah shirts...GO UTES!

What a great looking bunch of monkeys

Lauren really wanted to hug a monkey

and this was as close as she got

Parker LOVED the petting zoo and

I loved the hand sanitizer!!

Lauren's first day of pre-school

She's holding her new friend from the zoo

Maddie's first day of 2nd Grade at San Elijo Elementary

Costco Cup

Yesterday Lauren, Parker and myself had to run a few errands. We were gone for quite awhile and since the kids were so great I bought them a soda at Costco. $1.28 made them the happiest kids and bought me a few extra minutes to finish up what I needed to do. As we were leaving the parking lot of the last store Lauren told me she had to use the bathroom. Now, when Lauren says she needs to go potty......she means NOW!! I was not anywhere near a bathroom and I knew I didn't have much time. So in order to prevent wet pants, a soggy car seat, and a sad Lauren, I did what any good mom would do. I pulled into a parking spot, put the van in park and assisted Lauren. The privacy of our van, a baby wipe, and a Costco cup was all we needed. You can fill in the blanks. We finished it all off with hand sanitizer. Lauren was happy, I was happy and Parker was happy.

This one is for you Grandma

Thanks for all the hugs!!

New Date?

I've had quite a few people e-mail and say they are all leaving to go back home on Tuesday so what if we change the dinner date to Monday. Would you come?? Let me know what works best for you and will go with the day that suits the majority. Only 21 days until Christmas. Is your shopping done???

Dinner Anyone??

Calling all VCU friends.....Jeff and I were hoping to visit with you over Christmas. We are going to be in Utah and would like to invite all of you to dinner. I think an adult only dinner would be more fun than trying to chase children and keep them happy. So here's the info...

Adult Dinner - not adult entertainment

Tuesday, December 28th

6:30 pm

Good Wood BBQ House - Riverdale

PLEASE RSVP by December 18th - just leave a comment

I figure it will be best to have a reservation so we don't have to wait forever and end up not even sitting as a group. I have called MANY places and have only found a few that will take reservations. I was hoping to find something more central between Ogden and Salt Lake where most of us will be traveling from but haven't had any luck. I've heard Good Wood is an excellent restaurant so if you can make it GREAT.....if you can't, you will be missed. Hope you all have your Christmas cards ready. I am expecting to see lots of them :-).

Where's Dad

Today our stake is having a special temple day. They challenged everyone to spend 6 hours in the temple. Since Jeff and I knew this wouldn't be possible to do together, we are taking turns. He went this morning and I will go tonight. Here is the conversation I had with Lauren this morning.

Lauren - Mom, where is dad?

Me - He went to the temple.

Lauren starts to cry and says....Why did he go to the temple without you? I don't want him to get married again. You are the only mom for me.

Me wrapping my arms around her....Oh Lauren, dad isn't getting married again (polygamy is gone, yea!!!) There are lots of things to do in the temple besides getting married.

Lauren stops crying and gets a big grin on her face -- Like play dress up?

Me - Yes, like play dress up.

Lauren - Oh mom, I can't wait to play dress up with you in the temple!

Me - I can honey, don't grow up too fast but always remember that you want to play dress up in the temple.

Lauren is such a blessing from above. I thank my lucky stars that she is my sweet Lulu. My cousin said it best....Lauren is my sugar and Maddie is my spice. Life would be boring with out Maddie and I am thankful she is so unpredictable. I am the luckiest ever. As for Parker....he is ALL BOY and extremely curious.

HaLLoWeEN

Halloween was so much fun!! The weather was warm, the houses were totally decorated, the children were excited, and the costumes were PERFECT. Thanks Grandma for all your hard work again this year.

Leopard Maddie

Snow White Lauren

Chicago Bears Fan Parker

Parker has always been famous for his cheesy smiles

Lauren's pre-school party

Maddie LOVES being an animal

Parker's learning to catch and he loves it

Striking a diva pose

Here kitty, kitty

My two handsome boys

Cute kids....Halloween 2009

Dear Grandma

Thank you for the pillow case. As you can see, I love it!!

Love Parker

June and July

Here's what happened in June and July....

Maddie turned 7 years old. We took pictures but

I can't find them....still searching

Lauren had the swine flu.....on Father's Day

so no one would party with us

We packed up our home

Said good-bye to our FAVORITE "ward friends" The Reynolds

Said good bye to our home on Lake Ridge....great memories!

Lived with Grandma and Grandpa for 3 weeks and ate lots of popsicles

Thanks for putting up with us

Moved to San Marcos, California where Jeff started his practice

I have pictures of the move but I can't get them to post...oh, well

As soon as possible, we headed to Disneyland

and have been back A LOT

We stood in line for a long time to see these princesses

but it was worth the wait....especially for Lauren

This is totally Lindsay Coudron with red hair.

Visited some of our favorite characters

Ate ice-cream with grandma and grandpa while waiting for the night time show to begin. It was great and totally worth the wait

Drove some fast cars

Played in the dog pound

and of course......rode in the tea cups

We LOVE Disneyland!!!

March, April and May

Yes, it has been a while since I have posted so I will start where I left off.....last March or so. Stay tuned for more updates.

My favorite shot of Lauren and Maddie at family pictures

Uncle Kurt graduated Law School in Denver, Colorado. We had a great trip! Notice Lauren pouting in the background

The pool was a bit chilly

I love action shots!!

Maddie was smart and spent her time in the hot tub

We wore Lauren right out. She fell asleep on Laura's lap at dinner

Part of our gang at 16th street

Maddie's wonderful 1st grad teacher....Mrs. Roberts.

Good-bye Snow Horse Elementary. We will miss you.

Life

I realize that I haven't posted in over a month but life has been too busy to blog. I promise that I will do a catch-up one very soon. So much has happened over the past 6 months. However, I do want to share a bit of what I live with daily....

Amy - Maddie, why is there an almost empty milk carton on our rug?

Maddie - I was thirsty so I just opened the milk and drank it from the carton.

Amy - OK, well why is there milk all over the hard wood floor?

Maddie - Because I drank it so fast that it spilled out of my mouth when I was walking with it.

Amy - Then you should clean it up off the floor and please don't drink from the carton. Use a cup.

Maddie then grabs a nice pillow off the couch and uses it to wipe the milk up off the floor.

Maddie - there you go mom. It's all done

I was speechless after that.

Amy - Lauren what would you like for lunch today?

Lauren - 2 pieces of white bread, cheese, and American Whip (miracle whip) with no crust, 10 chips, and a juice box. Oh yea, and one more thing. I want you to bring it to me so I can watch a show and eat lunch. It would also be really great if you would rub my feet. They hurt from standing.

Amy - Yes, your majesty, Is there anything else I can do for you today?

What kind of princess have I been raising??

Then there is Parker....He is starting to show interest in using the bathroom. I bought him a small toilet and he used it for the first time last night. We were all so proud of him. GOOD JOB BUDDY!! Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of diapers. Wouldn't that be great!!??

Too good to be true!!

For the first time in a long time, all three of my children are sleeping and it is about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Too good to be true!! Something is going on.....and it goes like this. Parker wakes and is screaming. I go in to find him in barf and a diaper overflowing with diarrhea. Next to wake is Maddie telling me her tummy hurts. I run her a barf bucket and she fills it good while filling her pants and the same time. Too runny to control. Finally, Lauren comes out of her room with barf all over her face and in her hair. I quickly put her in the shower where her other end also explodes. Meanwhile, Maddie is in the other shower cleaning herself up and screaming for me to come and help her. I wonder how long this bug will last? When am I going to get it? Who will take care of me (yea right!!) Is my washer going to be able to keep up with all the bodily fluids? I hope I can find a washer to wash my washer when we are all done with this!! Graphic....yes but the details of motherhood are so wonderful. At this point, I am just glad I only have 3 children. Our house now smells like a toilet. Oh Joy!! Oh yea, one other thing. We have company staying with us. Good thing it is grandma. Isn't she lucky to be visiting at a time like this??

ChaNgE

We are calling this chapter 8 of the book of Allred. It is chapter 8 because this is our 8th move and it is going like this.....Right now we are-

Home-less
Computer-less
Money-less
Job-less (well, more like patient-less)
Jeff-less
but not hopeless!!!
There is a plan in place and it is going somewhat smoothly!!

We miss you honey and we wish you the best of luck while you are away from us. We are excited to be joining you soon in the land of "Way Better!!"

For all of you bloggers out there.....stay tuned for more updates on Allred Chapter 8 coming soon to a computer near you.

BirTHdaY giRL

I just wanted to wish a very Happy Birthday to the best friend a gal could have. I feel blessed to have Melanie as my dear friend and oh how I miss her so. I wish I was able to take you out for our traditional birthday breakfast. What good times we had. I found it strange that we spent 4 years together in Virginia and this is the only picture I have of you alone :-). Sorry Mel, I just couldn't resist posting this. I love it!! Hope you have a wonderful day.

OK, so I did find one more but I cut myself out of it.

I was big and pregnant and tired.

I Do

Needed ya, Got ya, Keeping ya, Love ya!!

8 years ago today....what a wonderful, extremely windy,

and absolutely whimsical day it was!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I was given this many years ago but I still pull it out EVERY Mother's Day and read it because I love it so much. It shows how important mothers are in the world and how much we do. I thought I would share it will all you wonderful mothers out there. ENJOY!!

Without women, the whole world would be void of color. As far as the eye could see, all would be brown, black, flannel gray and metal chrome.

There would be no need for bright fuchsia flip-flops, pastel Post-it notes, or Perfectly Pink lipstick. Why, without women in the world, all the lawns would look just alike: flat, boring grass and a tightly trimmed hedge.

Who would plant petunias by the fence or impatiens under the trees or put daisies in a pot on the porch? Without women, there would be no jasmine on warm summer nights or roses to grace your table.

If all the women were gone, the whole wide world would be cold and staid and serious. There would be no giggling, or sidesplitting laughter, no more surprises parties or spontaneous songs.

Yes, there would be still be old silver spoons, but who would stop to collect them and mount them in eye-pleasing fashion? Without women who would suggest picnics in the park or dances after dark? And who in the world would snap all the family photographs? and then blog them for all to see (I added this part)

One thing is sure: If all the women were gone, the global community would collapse. There would be no need for shopping malls, department stores; Wal-Mart would stand deserted. Billions of people would have no work; once-happy folk would starve and roam homeless.

But this may be the very worst of all - if there were no more women on earth, who would kiss the newborn's cheeks or rock a baby when he cries or sing that child to sleep?

One final thought from me....thanks to all the wonderful women in my life that have been mothers to me, Jeff, and my children. I know my children have benefited from many "mothers" they have already had in their short lives who love and care about them. We LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU ALL!!