TiS the SEASON

I absolutely LoVe this time of year. My most favorite thing about the season is by far the birth of our Savior. I Love that I am able to hold my swEEt babe and ponder the birth and life of such an amazing man. The spirit of this season brings me such jOy.


I lOve too that this time of year = FAMILY. We had our annual Allen Family Christmas party. wHAT A great bunch of people! Papa Dan sure had some great sisters... sure love them. Taylor and Gina hosted the party... PerfecT house for hosting. We were the last to leave... our kids didn't want to go! It's fun to catch up with everyone. We are so thankful for the Allen's and want our kids to know all they can about their Papa's family. We also found out that Wylie's youngest boy is named Vance. That's craZy... we had no idea! Thanks for aLL the pictures Joanne...

gOOfiness, pics, FuN,

TODAY................................................................

Every year we have a holiday exchange with my sis in laws and Mom in law. It's never dull of excitement.. I LoVe that we can poke fun at one another(Shelene) and be dumb funny and laugh the night away. I totally look forward to this aWesome tradition. Ya know i'm all about the traditions. ThX Shelene... I love my lil snowman!

We then had some family pics taken with our NeW addition by our sis in law Jenn. She did such a gOOd job. We are loVing them. Thanks again Jenn!

So we were setting up the Christmas tree and decorating the house.Well, I say we, but in actualality it was ME doing the majority of the work. The kids were running through the house singing and dancing as christmas music played in the house. The next thing I see is a silly girl walking down the stairs laughing dressed like this:

& this crazy boy followed wearing OuR clothes stuffed with more clothes.

busy craZy fUn week..... bare with me

Thanksgiving is sooo busy for us. We go from one house to the next. We leave early and don't return until way too late. We missed Papa Dan and Shane and Kristi this year. We were lucky to have my brother and his girlfriend here to celebrate with us.

Turkey lunch with the Allen's= 23 maniac children, 10 looney parents, 1 LoVed handi boy, 1 missed papa, 1 patient Grandma... lots of fUn & lOve

Ricky and Sara in town for the holiday weekend. The kids, especially Davin like to rough house with Uncle Ricky. Davin always says that his uncle has "big muscles, bigger than Dad's"

our family night fEAsT

we.. the girls set the table with our homemade placemats, turkey name tags & cornocopia... so FuN!

first turkey carved... I only found one bone.... great job babe.

around the table.... we are thankful for.....

this pie was extra good after a big meal....

I love this time of year! I feel so grateful for all the many wonderful blessings in my life. I truly have so much to be thankful for... I know and believe that without my DeaR father in heaven none of this world would be possible. I am indebted to my savior forEVER for his amazing sacrifice he made in my behalf. I know that ALL I can do everyday is strive to live as he would and did....though I realize I fall WaY short in comparison. I am so thankful for the inspired words in the scriptures and book of mormon. I love this church. The list would go on and on and on. I want to really strive hard to instill in my sweet babies the JoY of being thankful. I am thankful for the gOOd and the BaD in my life, for I know they will make me stronger.

how COOl are these?

THX... Grandma and Grandpa Boston; such a great idea! (emtannerdesigns.com) THX to everyone for aLL your thoughtful gifts and meals. We are so grateful for our families and friends.

mAKing memories

I lOvE having and making new traditions. We will celebrate THANKSGIVING this year and the years to follow by dedicating our FAMILY NIGHTS through the month of november to creating things that commend this special time of year. We will have OUR feast the Monday of the week of Thanksgiving.



Every year since I was young, my parents would prepare the FEAST and it was tradition for my Uncle Dean to come over to eat. He was the first one of my moms brothers to make the transition from east to west coast living while he went to ASU. I remember years of football scrimages and sitting sidelines cheering the guys on. Nowadays, the FAMILY has extended to include nieces, son in laws, sister in laws and grandkids.



To the hubby's HUGE side of the family traditions.... Every year for thanksgiving his family would celebrate this holiday ALL together at Pa's house(Dason's grandpa). I had the priviledge of attending this feast for many years. There would be like 60+ kids running around + parents.... no JOKE! The pies were the highlight of this meal. They would be lined up, pie, after pie, after pie. I would guess probably 30+ pies. Nobody knew names.. we would ask names, then by the end have forgotten the majority of them! This tradition is no longer running because Pa has passed on, but we will always cherish our memories created.



I decided the other night that Dason and I would start a new tradition. Thanksgiving in OUR home with just OUR little family.What great memories we will hope to make.

trick OR treat

Carving our pumpkins was a HIT. I sat the sidelines this year feeding and cuddling Vance. Dad did most of the hard work. Madison loved getting her hands all slimey. Davin ran around being silly. He kept on stepping on the goey stuff bare foot and then he would run around trying to get it off. Blane kept stabbing the BiG pumpkin with his plastic knife. Afterwards, we cooked our seeds and they were extra GOOD!

halloween night..... we have kind of a tradition going, at least for the past couple of years. My parents, sisters, & friends come over to trick or treat. We ring in the cooler weather with some hearty, hot tortilla soup.... the BEST. We sit out front and pass out candy, then take the kids through the neighborhood. One house on our street did such a GOOD job at scaring the kids. Poor Blane got scared so bad, but he recovered by watching the guy scare other kids! He had a coffin set upon the drive way close to the front door, so everyone thought someone was going to pop up from out of the coffin. The guy came sliding out from the side garage on a skateboard wearing a super scary mask and trench coat! Totally caught people off guard. It was funny to watch how many people he scared!