Name That Nursery Rhyme

This picture is slightly out of focus and it's freaking out my eyes.

Anyway, Chloe put this together all by herself and came in to show it to me. I love her little creative streak.

Can you name the nursery rhyme? (hint: Cannon has nothing to do with it)

*Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse.
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes.

Obligatory Spaghetti Face Picture

I made a chicken parmesan dish a few nights ago that Cannon really liked.

I've been trying to capture this face that Brigham has been making lately. It's his "What are you even talking about, ya Dummy?!" face.

This isn't perfect, but it's close. I've got to keep trying. It cracks me up every time he makes it.

You know your world's been taken over by children when.....

It's been a (mostly) happy surrender.

While I Was Ketchuping...

Here, here, here, here, and here.....

They were busy destroying.

Family History Friday on a Monday -- Wedding Pictures Edition

Logan Temple



With our grandparents. Left to Right: Stanton Lee Allen, Elva Mary Knowles Allen, Cannon Christian Anderson, Barbara Ethel Smith Anderson, Stanton Cannon Allen, Julie Rose Allen, Dorothy Jean Evans Rose, Gearld Henry Rose, Virginia Pond Johnson, Hal Roscoe Johnson.


With our parents. Left to Right: David Bruce Allen, Judy Anderson Allen, Stanton Cannon Allen, Julie Rose Allen, Wendy Johnson Rose, Gregory Guy Rose


Love this picture of Stanton and his mom. He always gives her three kisses: I. Love. You.


My dad and me. Love him.


Flip-flops and kissing.


Look how young we were!


I did my own hair. You can tell, but I like it.


It's like a crazy prophecy. These are my nieces and nephews (whose numbers have been added to significantly in the last 7 years).


A shot of our rings. I did not make Stanton's....
My beautiful wedding bouquet was made (3 times!) by one of my mom's good friends, Lynda Sponenburgh. It had hydrangeas in it, at my request, and they just don't last more than a day, so she made one for my bridal pictures, one for our wedding day, and one for our reception. They were each amazing. In fact, I still don't think I've ever seen a wedding bouquet that's prettier.


The End. And it's a good thing because I seem to have been getting a little sloppy with the scanner.

Family History Friday -- Temple Marriage Edition

In what temple were you sealed?

We were sealed (married for this life and after death, as well) on 30 August 2002 in the Logan, UT temple.

Did you make any special preparations or have any special feelings that day?

This was a great day. My mom and Stanton's mom had made most of our preparations. I flew to Utah from Ohio about 10 days before the wedding to attend a couple of wedding showers and help with last minute things. Stanton and I went wedding dress shopping together in Columbus (scandalous, again!!!) and had found a very pretty dress for a very reasonable price ($400 if I recall). It was sort of funny because my sisters had rented dresses for their weddings (in Utah) and my practical self thought that was the only way to go. When we asked about rentals in the bridal shops in Columbus, it was like we had lobsters coming out of our ears. The ladies couldn't fathom any situation where a bride would want to rent (rent!!!) her wedding dress. We bought one in the end, as I wasn't keen on waiting until 10 days before the wedding to get to Utah and find one to borrow or rent. It was a pretty dress and worked well with the white flip flops I bought for the occasion.

Rod Boam, a great photographer and better man, whom I worked for in the Ricks College Photo Department during my tumultuous year at Ricks, took all of our wedding pictures in the morning before our sealing time (which was around 11 am, I think). I'm so glad we did them when we did. By the time we were done in the temple, it was sweltering hot outside and just getting a few shots with all the family in attendance was excruciating. We had a video made by the talented Wendell Pace (don't know if he still has a website). It's really fun and showcases, among other more important things, my tendency to overact (as illustrated by the narrative voice over on this year's Christmas movie). It's a treasure, though, and the kids love watching it.

A few other special remembrances of our wedding day:

My Grandpa J (mom's dad) was the officiator, or sealer, at our wedding. It was so neat to be able to have him perform that special ordinance.

All of our grandparents, all 8 of them, were in attendance at our wedding. Within a few short months of our wedding, we lost both of Stanton's grandfathers and my Grandpa J just a couple of years later, so we know it was a blessing we were able to have all of them there for that day.

Our wedding luncheon was at the Coppermill restaurant in Logan. It served as our Cache Valley reception, too, as Stanton didn't want to have a real reception (nor did his parents -- they offered us cash not to have one...we're no dummies). I wanted one in Idaho, so we went to Blackfoot the next day (Saturday?) and had a beautiful reception in my parents' backyard. It was so great to see so many old friends and family. Family friends came from Park Valley. Some of my friends drove up from Salt Lake and many of Stanton's friends came, too. It was a great night.

We honeymooned about 2 months after we got married. We went on a cruise up the New England coast. It was a lot of fun and began my love of cruises. I'm an old person at heart.

It's been seven years and a lot of moves, kids, ups, downs, new experiences, getting to know each other, arguing, and kissing and life keeps getting better. I hardly knew Stanton then, but I'm glad I knew enough to marry him. He's the best man for me and I sure love him.

This is Why I Stay Up Late

I'm here in bed and Stanton, previously in a deep sleep on top of the covers, jerked awake.

Stanton surprised: I was asleep.
Me: Yeah.
Stanton: I have to go to work tomorrow.
Me: Yeah.
Stanton: I have to bring smiles to children everywhere.
Me Laughing (and laughing again as I type this): Wow. You better get some rest then.

Christmas Ketchup

I have a total of 14 events/items I need to record during the month of December (and late November). I think I'll try to backdate them. Hope I can get through them in the next couple of days.

Edit: I have been backdating each of these posts (6 down, 9 to go -- yep, added another one I'd forgotten), so if you're not on Google Reader, you'll have to scroll through December's posts to find them.

Chloe & Lily's New Year Goals.

I think I'm being a crazy blogger right now to avoid having to blog about Christmas. It was the best one ever, but it's just overwhelming to even think about recapping all the things we did.

Anyway, tonight I was reading The Friend magazine to the kids. There was an article about making goals at the beginning of the year. We talked about my resolutions and why we do things like that to start a new year. I asked the girls if they'd like to set any goals for the year. They were totally into it.

Chloe's (without any prompting from me):
1. Work on being a better listener. (In her words: "I'm not very good at listening. I'm going to do better at that." So, maybe she is listening??!!)
2. Learn to play the piano. (She's already doing pretty great. I think now that she's reading, we might get her started in real lessons. She's been interested for about a year now, so I think we are at a point where we should support her in it.)
3. Become a painter like Mr. Hyde. (Marion Hyde is our wonderful neighbor who is a professional artist. She wants to paint like him. We talked about how you don't just become a great painter like Mr. Hyde in one year -- that you have to learn some basic things first like drawing, coloring, etc.) After our conversation, she redefined her goal as: Improve drawing so I can be a good artist.

-- Tonight she got out some "learn to draw" type books that we have and practiced those -- even while we watched "Enchanted" as a family. That's a huge step forward for her -- she's our little TV junkie and tonight after the movie she said, "Remember when I used to not want to do anything when I watched TV? I was such a TV junkie."
Also, at bedtime, she made huge efforts to listen and do each thing we asked from her right when we asked it.
I'm proud of her for understanding what a goal is and trying to follow through with it.

Lily's (with a little help from me):
1. Try to not start fights (Her first words were "Be kind and loving." I wanted her to understand that goals should be a bit more focused than just a general "Be more..." statement. So we talked about specific ways she could be more kind and loving and not starting fights is what she came up with.)
2. Be a better artist. (Who was she listening to? wink wink...)
3. Learn to ride a 2-wheeler bike. (At this point she was just copying what Chloe had said, so I started throwing out a few suggestions. Riding a bike was the one that stuck.)

---Tonight she was chasing Brigham around with something and it was making him cry. All of a sudden she stopped short and said, "Oh. I'm trying not to start fights" and gave Brigham back the thing she'd been running around with. It was so great.

If my girls are anything like me (and, you know, only 4 and 5...) they're going to forget about these goals rather quickly. We wrote them out and hung them on the fridge so they'll have a visual reminder instead of a nagging mother reminding them of their goals.

I really do hope they can gain a love and appreciation for goal-setting. It's an important life skill that I'm still learning to grasp. I want this to be a good experience for them so they'll enjoy and look forward to these opportunities to look inward and improve themselves.

Also, if I expect them to keep their resolutions, I sure better keep mine.

Reunited and It Feels so GOOD!!

I sent this from my phone, but the text didn't transfer.

This is Lily's Lambie. She lost it several (what? 8 or 9?) months ago. Santa brought her a new lamb at Chloe's request and she has loved it (along with Bedtime Bear from my mom's house), but she's still always always always missed her Lambie and asked for it daily.

Well, Stanton was taking down Christmas garland from the cabinets in our kitchen and there she was. After he told me where he found her, I had a memory creep up from the cobwebs of my brain -- I think I vaguely remember her over-zealously tossing Lambie up in the air one day and me saying she'd have to wait till Stanton came home to get her down. Obviously neither of us remembered....

She went to bed happily tonight with no need for the Stop Crying Fairy.

My camera wasn't up there. Believe me, I made sure Stanton looked.

Family History Friday -- Decade in Review Edition

The Aughts have been a huge decade for me -- the best of my life. They've been full of personal and spiritual growth, challenges, and joy that almost overflows.

2000

Living and working in Salt Lake. Registered for school at Idaho State University. Heaven sent inspiration to serve a mission. Reported to the MTC for the Ohio Columbus Mission in November, 2ooo.

2001

Spent year serving in Ohio (mostly around Dayton). Made many mistakes, but continued growing and met some of the greatest people I'll ever know... Bob Reynolds being at the top of that list.

2002

Tremendous personal growth. Shed some self induced burdens. Served in and around Columbus, Ohio. Met many more incredible people -- Pete Stansbery, Brian Hanna, Greg Moore, Lindsey Waits, Stanton Allen, and Jennifer Hess, among countless others. Found myself as a missionary. Loved the work I was involved in.
Returned home from my mission.
Moved back to Ohio.
Married my sweetheart.
Lost Stanton's Grandpa Allen.

2003

Stanton graduated from Dental School at OSU.
Lost Stanton's Grandpa Cannon.
Moved to Buffalo, NY. Endured and even enjoyed Stanton's first year of residency (on-call nights, included).
Had challenging, yet important church experiences, met many incredible people, made dear friends.
Found out I was expecting our first child.

2004

Became a mother. Fell in love with Chloe Rose. Heart overflowed with joy.
Found out I was expecting our second child.
Played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady while 4 months pregnant.
Lost my Grandpa J.

2005

Gave birth to Lily Virginia. Learned my heart could hold enough love for 2 precious babies.
Stanton completed his residency in Pediatric Dentistry.
Moved back to Utah. (Made memory with Rachel and our crazy flight back. How could I have done it without you, Rach??!!)
Stanton started his business, ABC Pediatric Dentistry.
Found out I was expecting our third child.

2006

Moved into our home while 7 months pregnant.
Gave birth to Brigham David. Heart nearly exploded with love for my three babies.
Had 3 children in diapers -- for nearly 7 months.
Brigham's heart defect was diagnosed during a routine 2-month well child visit. Experienced the worry only a parent can feel. Learned more than I ever could have about compassion, empathy, and the Savior's mandate to "mourn with those that mourn."
Was blessed by many people obeying that commandment.

2007

Brigham's first heart surgery at 6 months old. Worried and rejoiced multiple times daily.
Brigham had a Pericardial Effusion (a sac of fluid [Brigham's had ~250 cc of fluid] around the pericardial sac). Emergency procedure at Primary Children's. More worry. Successful fix.
Chloe turned 3 and I learned why people space out their children.
Finished our yard.
Amid the stress and frustration, loved and loved and loved some more the precious souls living in my home.
Found out I was expecting our fourth child.
Finished our basement.

2008

Survived 3 children 3 and under.
Had a wonderful break in Hawaii for 2 weeks.
Gave birth to Cannon Gregory. Heart grew again. Absolutely fell in love and felt completed by this precious baby boy.
Began full year of 4 preschoolers at home.
Mentally, physically, emotionally exhausted.
Took Cannon with us to Hawaii again. Much needed.

2009

Made some of the best friends of my life.
Learned Brigham would need his second, much bigger surgery in '09. Learned it would have be in Boston. At the time, I was heartbroken. As the time progressed, learned it was one of God's greatest tender mercies for our son.
Had a week break in Alaska 3 weeks before the surgery. Learned about God's love for me and for Brigham during that trip.
Took Brigham to Boston for his heart surgery. Experienced more love, joy, worry, sorrow, frustration, awe, trust, love, love, love than I ever thought I was capable of.
Cared for by the best surgeon in the world, along with the best nursing staff in the world.
Came home with a healthy, healed angel boy.
The burden of worry we'd carried for 2 1/2 years was lifted without my even noticing it.
Chloe started Kindergarten, thus ending the hardest motherhood year of my life so far.
Motherhood finally left the Groundhog Day phase.
Enjoyed my children more than I ever have before.
Celebrated 7 years of marriage to still my sweetheart.

Here's to the '10s! May they be as full of personal growth as the Aughts have been.

New Year, New Goals

Resolutions for 2010 (since last year's went so well [snort]):

1. Read the Ensign every month.
2. Attend the temple at least 10 times.
3. Finish the advent calendar.
4. Play with the kids (really, really play...with toys and everything) weekly.
5. Blog about Christmas.

Ha ha...just kidding about number 5. Sort of.

Visit from Cousins!

We had a fun visit from Stanton's sister and her family on New Year's Day. They spent the entire day outside with Stanton and the awesome Grandma Judy building a sister snow fort for the igloo.


Rachel helped Lily & Chloe build the snowman they've been dreaming of ever since we had our first snowfall, too!


Rachel & Chloe



Darling Miss Sarah. She and Lily are just 3 weeks apart in age.


Julie and I hung out inside and visited while taking care of the kiddos in and out of the house needs. I love love love visits from family. They really make life great, don't they?

Want to See Something Awesome?

That incredible igloo was built by three awesome teenage boys in our backyard. They hopped the fence and spent 4 1/2 sneaky hours building it. It's so tall, Stanton can stand up in it. The kids love it.

Thanks, Joe D, Nate D, and Jaden W!