My little Monkeys

My sister gave me the GREAT idea to have the girls be sock monkeys for Halloween. I ordered the correct socks and with a few "talk it through" instructions between us I whipped out the costumes in no time....They turned out great. They wore them three times and yet these are the only pictures I got. It was a nice relaxed Halloween, just the way I like it!

Fishing at the ward party!

Melts my heart!!!

My good friend took these pictures today (for Sydney's 1 yr photo shoot)....I LOVE them I had a really hard time choosing which one to put up here because they all turned out AMAZING!

I just want to eat her up, between those blue eyes and those dimples this girl runs this house. We love you baby girl! (Honestly, which one do I blow up....I want them all!)

Oh Traditions!

We finally got the pumpkin carved! Kloee thought this was especially fun! Here is our evening (okay Kloee stole the show) in pictures!

It was a great night!

Busy Life...

I had one of those days today where I took a breathe and realized I am SUPER content, Im grateful, we are making it through school, finacially we are tight but TOTALLY fine, I love my kids, even when they have been sick for the last week, and I love my husband for all he does for me. I am insanely busy right now between family, church and my BELOVED Christmas projects, at times I feel overloaded but TODAY I'm just HAPPY to be chillin' with my girls doing a lot of this:

and even more of this......

LIFE REALLY IS GOOD!!!

"It's spilling".......

Kloee decided one day that she was big enough to use the "BIG" potty.....so when she has to go she runs upstairs and goes all by herself.....I'm loving it right so easy! Well one day she went up there and I heard the toilet flush and then I heard SCREAMING! She comes downstairs saying, "It's spilling mommy, it's spilling" I of course thought she was hurt by the sound of her cry so I was rocking her in the recliner when it dawned on me.....THE TOILET was OVERFLOWING, well by the time I got up there (which really was a matter of minutes) I had about 2 inches of water covering the bathroom floor, seeping out of the bathroom into the hall and my bedroom. I stop the flow and cleaned it up the best I could but there was A LOT of water. (Of course it took about an hour to get a maintenance man over to fix it (funny part I called the office to get him and the EMERGENCY maintenance man called back about 7pm to help) Anyways, damage was done....the water was dripping through the floor to the main level so I got a bucket and I was happy to hear it wasn't poor Kloee's fault there was nothing stuck in the toilet.....its just a bad toilet and she was the lucky one it overflowed on! So yeah I had this in the middle of my living room for a week........

And it took three more visits the next week to get this repaired......

Glad that's over! (Brush sweat off brow;)

7 day detox!

Wow this last week has certainly been a learning experience. I orginally started the "7 day raw food detox" to prove that it would not work for me, but the fact is I have been proven wrong. For the last seven days I have eaten only raw fruit and veggies. I am amazed how it has made me feel. It has changed the way I look at food and it has taken away MANY (not all) cravings for things that are really not good for me. The second day was the hardest for sure I got to a point that day that I seriously wanted to die, but it was a mind over matter thing that has given me a lot of confidence in my journey to a healthier life style. I will probably continue to eat 80-90% raw. 

Last night was my last night on the detox and I woke this morning not feeling like going back to my old eating habits, I feel great.

Here are the results:

Weight Loss: 6lbs (brought my BMI into the "healthy" range):)

Waist: -3 inches

Hips: -3 inches

I feel thinner, my anxiety has decreased, my patients has increased, I actually do have more energy, and my overall emotional state has been GREAT! I am really glad that I decided to do this and it has truly taught me why more water and more fruits and veggies are really good for me.  I have 9lbs to my goal weight and its the first time I feel like I might actually be able to do it.

Hmmm....

So that's where Sydney put the food she doesn't want. Darren took the booster seats off to change out the towels and give the chairs a good wipe down and this is what he found......YIKES!!!!

Sydney's 1 year stats...

I tried to pay close attention when Dr. E was going over the stats this time to make sure I understood how to read the charts. She is VERY patient with me and all my questions. Sydney is a healthy girl and did so well with her shots, even after watching Kloee get hers first (and then me, glad thats over).

Height: 29 inches (50%)

Weight: 17.3lbs (25%)

Head: 18inch (50%)

She is tall and skinning and eats more then me some nights, so we have no worries about her getting enough food, she is VERY active and loves to run anywhere she goes.

When I went to clean off the camera I found these pictures....I love to see what Darren thinks is cute, this is one of them, Sydney watching a Disney movie and sitting so close. The part that is funny to me is I have a similar picture of Kloee doing the same thing.....tis' the season for MUCH TV watching at the Allen house because I'm working on Christmas projects, Kloee and Sydney think it's great because I let them get away with it. *Sigh* maybe someday I'll be able to do it all ;)

What do you do with a drunkin' sailor?

Sydney started walking about a month ago, and she looked like a drunkin' sailor. Now she is running, I can't hardly keep up she is quick!  Here is a video of her back then though......

General Conference Weekend....

What a GREAT weekend! It is never long enough last night as Darren and I talked over dinner we talked about how uplifted, edified we felt and that we now have an even greater desire to do what we should be doing. We also discussed how its just not long enough....Darren said " I could go for one more round of conference" which I replied "me too." I was truly touched by many talks that I know were written just for me and I even got that "burning in the bosom" that I don't feel often enough. I have come away with yet a another great knowledge that I am not a lone, my Heavenly Father knows me and what I am going through and that he loves me and is proud of my efforts and that it is up to me to work even harder to become closer to him.

Just Plugging away....

Fall is settling in here and I am beginning to embrace it. This semester so far (even though we are only a month into it) has been one of my most difficult adjustments. I'm not completely sure the cause of this, there have been A LOT of changes, new apartment, lots of new people, new work schedule, new school schedule(Darren), and new daily routine/work out routine.  The girls are getting more independent which is a GREAT thing they play well together, they sleep good, they are AMAZING. I've come to REALLY realize that I need to TRULY trust in my Heavenly Father. I've always known this but recently I have RELEARNED it. I've been in a SERIOUS spiritual rut, and it has been affecting every part of my life. I've been depressed, grumpy, impatient, extremely tired, and emotionally drained.  We have been recently reminded because of numerous friends really struggling in their marriages that if we do not constantly work as a team, and progress together, all you have left is to grow apart and although things are really good right now we have seen how quickly things can go down hill. So we have gone back to the basics, we have upped our scripture reading, individually, with the girls and as a couple as well as our prayers, we have been focusing on having more meaningful FHE, and making a conscious effort to put aside more time to spend with just each other. Darren gave me a blessing a couple weeks ago the night we sat down to reevaluate things and the peace I felt has been carrying me since. The blessings have been pouring in and I know with out doubt that it is because of our efforts.  I am so blessed and for a while I was just so wrapped up in my own stuff that I wasn't seeing it and what a horrible result. 

I am so grateful for Darren who has really come through for me and loved me through this bump in my road and of course my babies for loving me even though I have had a short fuse. I am looking forward to this season full of fall leaves, soup, crisp cool air, warm blankets, snuggling with babies, SQUASH, halloween costumes, and my favorite FINISHING CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!!! 

Let FALL begin!

Salsa

When my parents came last weekend they brought me a big box of tomatoes, I was really nervous trying to figure out what to do with them, then my friend talked me into making salsa, it took a lot longer then expected but with her help we got it done and I think it turned out yummy!

Kloee's big girl Bed

My dad is AMAZING, he made this FABULOUS toddler bed for Kloee, it is ADORABLE and it matches the theme of the room perfectly. She loved it. She does really good at staying it and just wait for us to come get her. Such an easy transition, she was for sure ready!

Such a big girl!

Spring Valley

My friend has told me that she LOVES this place, so when my parents came last weekend I thought we would go for a picnic before it gets too cold. Well it turned out to be a nice hot sunny day. We didn't get out there until 1pm and we were starving so we found the shadiest place we could (there isn't much) and we pulled out our fried chicken and within minutes we were taken over by bees.....it was MISERABLE. We ate as fast as we could but they were just everywhere. Finally we took one of the pieces of chicken and put it at the end of the table to distract them and it worked fairly well but look how much of the chicken they ate.....

Gross Right?

After we ate we started down a trail that went around the lake...it was fun we grabbed a couple Geo-Caches and got some great exercise and the girls did fairly well considering it was nap time and once again it was HOT! So my little sister and I said, who cares if we have swim suites lets just dive in.....

and we did the first dock we came to.

it felt so good

such a great day. 

It was one of those days that I was just counting my blessings, it was beautiful, I had so much fun, and I got to spend time with family, can I ask for anything more?

My Baby is 1!

Yes it is TRUE one year ago today I was in a hospital bed giving birth to my blue eyed SMILE queen. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.

Cake made by Auntie Jayne

Cupcakes for the rest

Present time

The girls were VERY helpful..

SMASH TIME!

Sydney was very blessed to have a lot of people at her party, all my siblings were there and MOST of the Allens were.....its a GREAT perk of having families that live close by.

We LOVE you Sydney!

Labor Day!

As usual we spent our Labor Day at Boulder Cave, always a good time....It was our last Horrah of summer, school is underway and we are slowly getting into a routine and I am coming to terms that my my beloved summer is over and FALL has begun, Ive been in SERIOUS denial. I think this last trip was just what I needed to get going!

Minus Sydney, here we are at the waterfall

My cutie nieces...I just CAN'T get enough of them

Looking over, Kloee was such a good hiker she almost hiked clear back down to the car

My little sisters friend was so kind to carry Sydney for me and she fell asleep it was so cute

Jakob pondering

Group shots

The whole crew!!

Kloee Loves Grandpa

Kloee climbed up on Clint's lap and they play games on his iphone for a LONG time, she just loved him so much, he is such a great Grandpa!

Murder Mystery #2

 This summer Darren and I found two murder mystery games at the goodwill that we snagged at for our last HORRAH for the summer we had a date night with ALL my siblings and it turned out to me SOOO much fun! We goofed off ate some good food and had a great time. I was so happy with how much everyone REALLY got into character as well. My sister and sister-in-law made a backdrop for pictures so we got some funny ones.