Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Our family is still up in Utah wrapping up our vacation at Jonathan's folks place in Eden. I love this valley. Pine view Reservoir freezes over in the winter and Jonathan and I took Noah and Owen out for a snow mobile ride today after church. Besides Jonathan flipping us over once we had a great time! It was beautiful.

This has been another wonderful Christmas with memorable visits with my mom, my sister and her family, Jonathan's parents and brother Aaron and his family, and a surprise visit from Jonathan's cousin Kelly and her family. I cherish the quality time I spend with different parts of our family and the opportunity to create good memories.

I am so grateful for this time of year, the giving and receiving spirit I feel, and also the sense of renewal I have as I approach the new year with new intentions, goals, and hopes. I love reflecting on Christs birth, his life and teachings, and also the role he plays in my life and that of my family's.

It has been quite the week. Owen has been home sick with the flu. I came down with the shingles, I have piles of laundry and my dryer has just broke. I am seriously close to a break down! And let me tell you there is no sympathy coming from my husband. Let me ask you this..... Who takes care of you when your not well?
You know I feel better already by venting to my computer. I just can't wait for me and my family to be well again. I don't have the best coping skills when it comes to being sick. Honestly maybe I shouldn't be mad at my husband for being unsympathetic. I am kind of a witch when I don't feel good.

On a happier note. Halloween has come and gone and besides Owen getting sick on Halloween day we had some fun! Pumpkin carving and cookie baking were a few of our holiday activities. Here is a picture of my kids after Saturdays festivities. They were pretty worn out.

Spotted Frog, Pea Pod, Einstein, and Mr. Bones

Fall colors in Telluride

Cute little Ollie.

Pretty colors. I love when the aspen leaves cover the trails.

Nice view of Telluride.

The boys always find a good rock to climb. There were a lot on this hike.

We just got back from a trip to Telluride with our good friends Tia and Tim and their kids. We stayed in a really nice hotel called Capella. It was something we never would have put out the money for but we got a family discount which made it possible. It was fun but I think next time we will have to do a couples trip. Not that I don't like traveling with my kids because I do, but some places make you want to be alone with your husband and Telluride is one of them.

Unfortunately I only took pictures the last day we were there. We stayed a little longer than our friends and went on a hike up to the waterfall and ate lunch in town.



Thanks Tia!

End of summer road trips.

When the last week of our kids Summer Vacation approached we started to feel a little guilty for not taking any trips out of state, so we planned a last minute trip to Colorado. We decided to do an ambitious loop starting in Durango, going up into Ouray, then over to Telluride, and finally back home to Flagstaff. We did this all over a four day weekend. It was a little rushed but packed full of fun and adventure, and oh my gosh mountains!

This was at the bottom of Box Canyon is Ouray.

Looking up at the bridge that crosses the Canyon.

Looking down at Box Canyon from the bridge. Kinda scary.

There we are. On the bridge, with the wind blowing!

Back at our hotel in Ouray. We stayed at the Best Western. They have their own hot spring that warms the pool. It was sooooo nice!

Family Bike ride.

I love that our kids are getting old enough to do small rides. We just started doing family rides this summer.

LAKE POWELL

Next Weekend.....

So we barely got back into town when our good friends Jamie and Elisha let us know they would be at Powell the upcoming weekend. They live in Idaho so there wasn't even a question whether we were going or not. I didn't even get done packing from our Colorado trip before I had to get ready for our Powell trip. It was a bit windy but still a lot of fun.

Four out of the nine children that were there.

We woke up to ducks at our camp.

Noah doing a little cliff diving.

This was a slide our camping neighbors set up. They were great. We played on this slide for a good hour the next day.

I purposely had a mellow summer but it was fun to go out with a bang.

July Wedding, Family, Fun!

July was a crazy, FUN, ParTy PacKed month. My baby sis got married to a guy we all adore and tons of family came into town to join in on the festivities. I had so much fun catching up with family we haven't seen in awhile and it was great getting to know my newly inherited family!

The waiting groom.

They did a traditional Native American hand tying ceremony.

Jonathan's sisters family and his Grandma and Uncle Ben.

Me, Amy and the kids at the Grand Canyon.

Ethan and Noah

Ember and Owen

Tanner and Sophie

Oliver's Baby Blessing

Our family ready for the big day.

Oliver Van Allen,
Some of the things your Dad blessed you with.....
To be strong mentally and physically, seek truth in life, courage to stand for what is right, passion to understand the world around you and for learning, speak your mind sincerly, be a good example, humble, stay close to church, priesthood holder and enter the Temple,
be a good brother,
a good husband,
and a good father....

What a lucky boy.

Chile Cookoff

One of the things I love about my husband is his amazing cooking skills. He is always tantalizing my taste buds! His skills were put to the test at this years anual Chile Cookoff.

He was a bit dissapointed when his green chile he entered did not place, but his red chile won the peoples choice award. We had a lot of fun tasting all of the different chile and rooting Jonathan on. Big thanks to Josh who came and helped Jonathan cook and serve Chile to the crowd. He would have been lost without him.

Fossil Creek- Trip 1 & 2

The crystal clear water of Fossil Creek.

Owen and Tanner warming up on the rocks.

Jonathan and Tanner soaking in the Verde Hot Springs.

Our Family has recently gone camping at Fossil Creek for the second time this year. It is an amazing Oasis that I have just discovered. It is not the place you go for total seclusion but it reminds me a lot of Havasupai falls, without the strenuous 10 mile hike and the pain of attaining a permit.

Jonathan's sister is visiting from Maui in July and we are planning on doing the three mile hike down to Fossil Springs. I have read the falls can rival the beauty of some of the Hawaii water falls but I will have to judge for myself.

Since Jonathan and I have been on a tighter budget the last year we have been doing family vacations in parts of Arizona we haven't discovered yet. It has been a lot of fun and has made me grow a stronger appreciation of the beauty and vastness of our state.

Baby Oliver has arrived!

Up close - Oliver Van Allen

(Another big, healthy Allen Boy)

Dad and Noah dressing Ollie for the first time.


Noah, Owen and Tanner greeting their new brother.

I am so happy Oliver is here and healthy and that I made it through another home birth. I couldn't have been more blessed. Hard labor was only three hours and he came nine days early. Good thing because he weighed 8lbs 14 oz. He was born at 6:20 am so the boys were able to wake up to the suprise that their baby brother was born. It was special having them their to see their brother so soon after the delivery.

It has been a nice and easy week for me. I have been able to enjoy Oliver and not worry about taking care of the kids and the house with my mother-in-law staying here with us. So many other friends and family have offered support with the kids and meals. I feel blessed to be surrounded by such a supportive community.

Pregnant and Strong

I have three more weeks of pregnancy left and I can't help feel grateful for how good it's gone. Tanner's pregnancy was tough so with this one I put nutrition and fitness on my priority list. Here are some shots of me in Bikram Yoga poses. I have been doing two classes a week throughout this pregnancy.

Boulder City

Jonathan towards the end of his down hill course.

The boys had a blast hanging out at Bootleg Mountain where the race was held. They had tons of bridges and jumps and teeter totters built that made a fun playground for the boys to play on. Tanners favorite thing to do was slide down the steep washes on his bottom.

Valentines day was spent in Boulder City, NV for a down hill bike race Jonathan entered. It was fun to get away for the long weekend and the weather was gorgeous! We mostly hung out at the Mountain and watched the racers and enjoyed the weather, but we did manage to spend half a day in Vegas at the Children's Museum.

As I am approaching my last nine weeks of pregnancy it is these little changes in my schedule that keep me going. I think April 27th will approach fast with spring break coming up and Tanners birthday. I am looking forward to some of the events that are approaching but I can't wait for that baby to come!

No Dessert!

No sweets, no sweets, NO SWEETS! That is my mantra lately. Last week I officially hit my twenty eighth week in my pregnancy. That is when my midwives said I could cut down on the simple carbohydrates that I eat. If I do I could possibly lower the birth weight of my baby. It may not be much weight but after having a 9 lbs. baby, I am willing to stay a little more disciplined.

I have to say I did really good with my diet in the beginning of my pregnancy. I knew I would want to be disciplined in the end so I started early so I wouldn't have to change my eating habits drastically at 28 weeks; But then the holidays hit and I couldn't resist the cookies, pies, toffee that were thrown my way. It was yummy but left me with a slight sugar addiction! I am finally starting to kick it and it does feel good. Whether you are pregnant or not your body and mind and spirit thank you when you feed yourself healthy nutritious food.

One Of The Best!

This holiday season was so great! I think it was a combination of my low stress approach, and the wonderful friends and family that surrounded me. First of all, I enjoyed the break from the rigid schedule me and my kids are on. There were definitely some crazy moments with all three home, but we made the most of it and played as hard as we could. We did a lot of simple things like visiting Santa, making gingerbread houses, delivering salsa and tamales, and going to the movies. Some of our more high adventure activities included sledding, a day of snowboarding, riding quads and motorcycles in Cottonwood, and a trip to Tucson, AZ where we went to the Kartchner Caverns (very cool)!

I have to say the highlight of Christmas break was spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at my moms with close family and friends. Everyone radiated a grateful and happy spirit. It was the first time in a long time that our family just didn't feel like family, but we felt united and happy! It's how Christmas should feel. I hope there are many more blessed Christmas's to come.