Happy Birthday Maddie

Well, better late than never!! Maddie turned 6 years old about a week after we arrived in Utah. Things were crazy but we are never too busy to celebrate a birthday. Maddie chose to go to Hogle Zoo and I must admit that I was very impressed. They have made a lot of improvements at the zoo. We had a great time at the zoo and afterward we went home and had a dog party with cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. It was crazy to say the least but we had a great time. We are glad that Maddie is a part of our family. She always keeps us on our toes and there is never a dull or quiet moment when she ia around. WE LOVE YOU MADDIE!!!

Maddie 2 weeks old

Maddie 6 years old

Just a few of our favorite pictures of Maddie

What great presents!

Our day at Hogle Zoo

Lauren really wanted to hug a monkey but this was as close as she got

Life After Dental School

Ok...So Jeff has informed me that he has officially retired as our family "blogger" and so now it is up to me. I am new at this but how hard can it be? I will do my best to catch you all up on the Allred Adventures over the past two months. After a whirlwind of graduation activities and such, we finally got our truck packed and we all made it safely to Utah. The first day in Utah was quite an adventure. I had to take Lauren into the Emergency Room where they finally diagnosed her with a UTI - urinary infection. We were there forever because they really needed her to pee in a cup......Yea right!! A 2 year old peeing in a cup. A nurse and I finally convinced her to pee in a bowl and she got a green mini car. She thought that was great!! After we all got better we went out house searching. We were just about to sign our lease on a great rental when my dad called me and said he has a friend who has a friend who has an enormous house that they can't sell so they want to rent. We checked it out and LOVED it. The only problem is how can we afford rent on a house that big? We low balled the offer and they accepted. We were happy about it and we are enjoying our time in Kaysville. The only downer.....there is too much to clean. I really need a maid....yea right. I hope everyone is enjoying life after dental school. I can say that I miss Richmond terribly!! I loved how easy it was to have fun and be social with people. I also miss my friends. The other day Maddie asked me how come I don't have any friends. She really knows how to make me feel like a loser. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the pictures. There is a lot more to come when I have another free moment to blog.....Stay tuned!!

As you can see, Jeff and I had a grea time at Gala

Our Home

Saturday Chores

Fun in the sun

Before

During

After

Parker's first time swimming. He LOVED it!

Too much sun for Maddie

Life is Good

Life is good. We now live in Kaysville, Utah, in a nice little home in a nice little neighborhood. Maddie has become the champion of making new friends, she asks everyone that she plays with what their phone # is and most of the time she gets and then they have a play date. She is really enjoying Utah and having a lot of family and cousins around, although she asks to call some of her Virginia friends every once in a while.

Lauren is as cute as ever being a princess. Everyday she dresses up in her "princess" costume, and dances to music. She always wants to be like Maddie so whatever Maddie does surely Lauren is not two seconds behind doing the exact same thing and usually with the same attitude. She is very proud to be a big sister and loves her brother. And as you can see she has made some really funny faces for our camera.

Parker got his very first haircut. We saved his hair so that Grandma Farrell won't cry too bad, he looks a lot older without hair. He is getting close to sitting up on his own (as parent I say close, maybe two months away) but to me that means close. He smiles a lot which is great, it just so happens to be @ 3 AM (strange, I don't mind, but Amy seems to). I tell Amy that she should take some pictures;) ha ha.

As for Amy, she had a severe reaction to a mosquito bite, the inflammation reached about 10 inches before we thought that she should go to the Dr.(a dentist was no longer good enough). They gave her some antibiotics and told her to take benedryl. She has gotten a little weary from not doing any crafting or vinyl, so she cut her first saying for the house this evening, it is very exciting and will look magnificent.

We got a great deal on the home that we are in and I get to try to resurrect the lawn and clean up the yard as a trade off. It has been a lot of fun and a patience builder thus far. I start at the VA this upcoming Friday and it will be nice to think about dentistry again. I haven't thought much about it the last two months. I have golfed every week since being in Utah. I just can't pass up the prices. They are about half of what you get in Virginia and the courses are fantastic. For graduation I used all of the "graduation gifts" that we got to buy us a new Digital SLR D 80 and it has been awesome. It has taken a lot to get used to such a dynamic camera, but the results are great.

I end by saying that I am the luckiest man I know, I tricked Amy into marrying down(age and class) then was blessed with wonderful children, a great family, and wonderful friends (at least from our point of view, they might feel the same)

Life is good. (That usually means to prepare for something rough in the near future)

--Jeff

We went to Busch Gardens last Friday. Maddie and Lauren had a blast. We got wet we laughed and at times we cried. Maddie rode her first big roller coaster the "big bad wolf" she loved it. I had to occupy her mind while we went up to the line but once on the ride she laughed and screamed a lot, it was awesome. Lauren felt really left out, she wanted to ride on every big roller coaster but unfortunately she could only go on the smaller ones.
We got a fun pass so we are trying to go back before we move.

Our Blog

It is finally finished!! A couple of weeks ago Amy said (in a sly and very gentle way) that our blog wasnt' very "cute". So over the past week I worked hard to get our blog up to par. I added all kinds of things and finally tonight I think that I have done it. It is of the Red theme, as I am sure that you can tell. I like blogging. I will probably add a few more little things here and there but for the most part the structure and design is complete. I am sure that it will change soon.

Life seems to be very good right now. I am just waiting to hear from WREBs to see if I passed my boards and then it is just waiting around for graduation and the move. We are moving to Salt Lake on 21 May 2008. That is mine and Amy's 7th anniversary so we decided to not spend it together(she will fly and I will drive). We figure that it is par for the course, we usually travel or spend time with others on our anniversaries.

Maddie is really growing up. She is reading a lot, and getting better at it all of the time, which does my heart good considering in Second grade I had to go to the slow class cause I still couldn't read. (Thanks Eric for teaching me, now if someone could just teach me how to spell, write, and , use, puc,.tuation"";" coreecly I wood be wel onmy waye) Maddie is getting tall and has as of late been very helpful around the house and very obedient. She is happier and more productive.

Yes I did do her hair that day. I think that I am getting pretty good, although Amy still rocks at it, but I am getting there.

Lauren is also getting so old. She is so cute. She has turned into a typical 2 year old, always crying when she does get her exact treat and she doesn't believe us when we tell her that we are out of something, she insists on seeing it. She is always coming up with new ways to surprise us and do something funny. She sings songs for us like twinkle twinkle but sings them like a rock star, and she loves dressing up as a princess everyday.

Parker is getting older too and getting bigger. He weighs over 13lbs. now and is getting pretty good at holding up his head. It is fun to see him grow. He coos at us and smiles a little here and there (strangely right before he farts or poops). But he is a lot of fun.