The Allens and The Allens

Ok so it looks like I am finally caught up!!!! These are just a few pictures of Kelli and Steve and their very cute and very fun family while they were here visiting. We are so glad that they were able to come and we were able to have such a long visit! Sorry Steve that I monopolized your wife playing cards......but I had a willing partner and I had to take advantage of it! Again I didn't take very many pictures because.... yep you guessed it!....My camera is so big and I am too lazy to get it out!!!

Wade swinging Kaia around. By the look on his face you would think she weighed a ton!!

Lizzie and Mettea.

Kelli and Mettea

Wade and Steve

Kaia loved to have her picture taken and then see it on the display. It was a fun game!

Merry Christmas!!!

I know it is belated and that I have been posting ALOT! Anyway MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Hannah remarked to me how this has been the best Christmas EVER. She thinks it is because she got something she wanted... I think it is because we have tried harder to feel the Spirit.

I am thankful to my Savior, Jesus Christ. He was born so He could die for us. The ultimate gift. I can barely get through singing Christmas hymns without feeling so emotional. I am more grateful than I could ever express in mere words or even deeds. 

I hope we can all try to keep this kind of Spirit with us all through the coming year. I hope all of our wonderful family and friends know how much we love you!!  We are grateful for all of your love and support and understanding and pray for all of you! We hope you all had a FANTASTIC Christmas !

Christmas Eve

I will spare you all the boring "Oh look we got new pajamas! What a surprise!" pictures. Here are a few of us IN our new pjs in front of our Christmas Tree. I also let the kids open the game from Aunt Gretchen. Thank you Gretch for the fantastic game of Harry Potter Clue. We love it. Especially me since I am the one who gets all the curses that no amount of extra spells can save me from. Yeah really fun game! (Did you get some of the sarcasm there?) Really it is fun!

Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas Eve Eve is an event at our house. It is the Eve of Christmas Eve and we like to play games, eat good food, watch movies and then when it is time for bed, all the kids make beds in the living room and sleep with the Christmas tree lights on ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!! Of course it can't happen on Christmas Eve so Christmas Eve Eve was invented!! Steve and Kelli and kids joined us so it was so much more fun than usual!!! Here are a few pictures I took (again the camera is so enormous I can barely hold it!!)

I love this picture of Tathan....

All the kids frosting sugar cookies.... notice the girls are in capes.

Wade making dough for the pizzas...so yummy!

Hannah....with her grayish icing.

Liam licking the frosting  mostly....

Mettea and Lizzie....

Luke and Tathan .....

Kaia....she pretty much looked and me like this the whole time she was here!!!!

Musical Mustangs

The Elementary school that Lizzie goes to has a choir, Musical Mustangs. Lizzie begged and begged to join. She has really loved it. This is a picture of her at the concert. It is really hard to get pictures of your kid because so many parents are trying to do the same with their kid. So this is good. They sang lots of Christmas songs and shook their booty a bit ( it really embarrassed Lizzie) and had plenty of opportunity to use their spirit fingers. I was sick that night and was unable to attend but Wade assures me that is was quite interesting. We will leave it at that!! Good job Lizzie!!!

Webelos

Ok so here is one post of many to come with updates since I haven't blogged for so long. I know there are tons of you (you know who you are!) so excited to see an update since you just can't seem to get enough of us Allens.

So Luke earned his Webelos. Of course I am a slacker photo mom (I blame that on the enormous size of my camera) so I had to resort to my phone (how tacky is that?) These are the photos of the pack meeting. It was really fun!

Lizzie is so happy for her brother! Not to mention pack meetings ROCK!!!

Luke happy to be a real Boy Scout now!

This is Luke as an official Boy Scout.

This is Luke crossing the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

With everything else Luke has to deal with we are so proud of him and these extra things that he does!! 

I looked out the Window and what did I see?

Yep it finally snowed! Not the big snow they promised but if it stays cold we could have a White Christmas.  Luke is hoping the sun doesn't melt it. He is dying to play in the snow! Technically this is the second snow of the year. The first one was already starting to melt when we woke up and by the time Luke got home from school it was gone. Here's to the second snow of the year!!

Ward Christmas Party

So... I kind of stole this picture off of Carolee's blog. (Thank you Carolee!!)  It was taken at the Ward Christmas Party. Lizzie and Isabel (Carolee's daughter and Lizzie's friend) and Anne (another friend of Lizzie's) were angels in the Nativity the Primary performed. I think they look so sweet!!

And Lizzie has informed us that Santa creeps her out. She likes him to bring her presents! But she still won't go anywhere near him! You know the time comes as kids get older that they will sit on Santa's lap etc. etc.. We are still waiting for that time with Lizzie! I am not sure she will ever be comfortable with Santa. Boy won't it be a relief when we blow that little secret wide open!! 

Yummy!!!

This is such a FANTASTIC recipe!!! We had it on Sunday for dessert. Very Chocolatey and Very Yummy not to mention easy!!! It is the best warm with vanilla ice cream. I think I will be playing around with some variations. 1 cup of peanut butter chips and 1 cup chocolate chips would be yummy. I am thinking of some things I could do with vanilla. If you have ideas let me know!!

Karen A's Chocolate Dump Cake

INGREDIENTS:
1 (5 ounce) package non-
instant chocolate pudding mix
2 1/3 cups milk
1 (18.25 ounce) package
chocolate cake mix
2 cups semisweet chocolate
chips
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
2. Combine chocolate pudding and milk in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick, stirring frequently.
3. Remove pan from heat and add in dry cake mix. Mix together and pour into the lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Evenly spread the chocolate chips over the top of the cake.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F(175 degrees C) for 40 to 45 minutes. Let cake cool and serve.

Voice Male Concert

We went to the Voice Male Concert last night. Thank you Rachel for the tickets!! It was so much fun! Luke was laughing so hard he could barely breathe! They are are a talented bunch of men. And a lot of fun. If you ever get a chance to attend one of their concerts totally go!!! Here is their website address if you want to check them out!!! 
http://www.voicemalemusic.com/

Luke is 11!!!

I know I am late posting this. What can I say about Luke. He is an interesting kid. This year he decided he wasn't going to go to school on his birthday. He even told his friends at school and his teachers and bus driver that he was staying home to play with his toys. Like I am letting him stay home!!! Silly kid. So we celebrated his last day being 10 with pizza and a movie!! He really knows how to exploit the birthday celebration!!! He also informed us that we needed to talk about him all day. At breakfast on his birthday he asked for pancakes. So I served him his pancakes and then he turns to Lizzie and says "Lizzie it's my birthday so get me my fork ok."

Where does he come up with this stuff? No cake for Luke this year! He wanted Oreo cookies.... and that is what he got!!!! I love that he his so excited about everything he gets. 

He is a blessing in our lives. I am always a little tongue tied when it comes to talking about Luke. He has his struggles. We have our struggles with him, usually on a daily basis. It seems like when things are going so good for him and we think ok we are going to get through this hurdle. And then we have another set back and we have to go back to square one. He truly has no guile. That kid is 100% innocent. When he laughs it is genuine. He laughs easily. He laughs a lot.  He loves babies. He loves his family. He remembers random things in ways that are interesting to us. And usually years and years after we have forgotten them. He always makes sure we eat on a regular basis. Before he goes to bed he likes to know what the menu will be for the next day. (Like I know!) He loves books even though he is still trying so hard with learning to read. Luke is a competitive kid. Luke is a hard worker. Luke is a really great kid and we are blessed to have him as a part of our family. So Happy Birthday Luke!!!

Happy Holly Days!!

The city of Vernal has started having a little thing they like to call Holly Days. It takes place the day after Thanksgiving. They have events all day, all over the city. The best part....IT'S TOTALLY FREE!!!!!! So we cannot pass up free! I don't think we have ever in our lives passed up free, unless it was a free punch in the face or something. We piled the kids in the car and off we went. We decided to go to Western Park where they were have a midway type thing. Games, those blow up Jolly Jumpers, cotton candy and churros. Awesome right? All of it was totally free and they were giving prizes and everything. It was cool. We started off getting cotton candy. Then the kids decided to try the go-carts (pictured above). Luke was the first one on. I know you are saying to yourself "Kati, why are you letting Luke go on this go-cart?" in a shocked kind of voice. I will reply by saying something like "I don't think they go that fast." Or "Luke rarely gets so excited about going on any type of thing like this so why not." After explaining how it works, thumb of right hand presses button to go and speed up. Left hand handle controls the brake. In the middle of trying to make sure he understands....OFF HE GOES!!!! He was doing great and was on the track and everything for about 2 SECONDS!! He kept speeding up and then didn't know what to do with the steering wheel and WHAM!!!! Into the wall he went. All of us were in shock it happened so fast. It cracked the wood on the wall. Don't worry he is fine. He got a bruise on his leg and pinched his thumb. I think his bones are made out of stone. Of course we sat down so he could recover. After about 5 minutes he was ready to try the games. What a kid!! He describes his crash this way:

Happy Black Friday!!!

Yes once again it is that special day where the people of this great country lose their minds and buy more stuff than they need. Wade and I braved the cold at 4:30 AM to head to Walmart in Vernal. It is 30 miles away. The big item we were getting this year? SHEETS!! Yep you read that right. 500 thread count cotton sateen sheets on sale for the low, low price of TWENTY dollars! We could have waited until sane people get up to go shopping but they had limited quantities. Which is code for if you don't get your booty there at 5 AM you are going to have to suffer with 250 thread count sheets and pay more for them! It was a good thing we got there when we did because those sheets were in high demand!!! And the quantities were pathetic.  All in all we feel good about our purchase. When we got home we put the sheets on the bed and crawled back in to make up the ZZZ's we lost. Let me just tell you I think those sheets are magic! Money well spent.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

At Thanksgiving dinner I remember my family would go around the table and say one thing they are grateful for. I used to hate that only because I would get so emotional. I would end up saying something totally shallow because I felt stupid for feeling so ready to cry. I don't say enough how grateful I am for the things I have.  As an adult, more so lately, it has been ok for me to cry and get teared up about the things that touch my heart. I feel blessed. I feel like although this has been a really tough year, we have received so many blessings we can't even number them. 

Since I can't be around all of you on this day of thanks I think everyone should leave a comment of one thing that you are grateful for! 

As for me I am so grateful for so many things this year it is hard to pick one. I am grateful for my testimony of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for my family, who I love dearly. I am grateful for my wonderful home. Ok I will stop now. What are you grateful for ?

Thanksgiving

Lizzie's class is making special place cards for each person that is coming to Thanksgiving Dinner. She kept asking me who was coming and I told her it was just going to be us. I couldn't figure out why she was so upset that it was just us.

 Then I read the note.

So... Anyone who wants to come to Thanksgiving Dinner here can. If not I hope you can live the guilt of making my poor Lizzie cry!

The Return of Sasquatch

I bought some new razors. I found some that were quite a bit cheaper and looked about the same quality  of the kind I had previously purchased. The first time I used one it did great. The second time it didn't seem to be working. No matter what I did that thing would not shave anything! Unfortunately for me I would forget about it the minute I was out of the shower. By the time I usually got in the shower my family has left for the day and I was not getting out of the shower to go and get a new one! Finally after 3 days of a razor that didn't work I was complaining to Wade that the stupid razors were junk and I would have to go buy some more. He seemed to get a funny look on his face. Apparently he had knocked the razor off and the head came off. He thought he had put it back on the right way. So we both go in to look at it. He had put the head on BACKWARDS!  It works great now!  I felt like Sasquatch for those few days! But not anymore!!!

Thank You!

Dear 7•up,

      In this world where everything has gone Topsy Turvey, you have created peace. Thank you for coming up with a soda that is so delicious I wish I could drink it with every meal. A taste that is so harmonious I want to sing its praises. Thank you for making it for a limited time so that I can get hooked and then crave it for the rest of my LIFE! Thank you for giving me something that is actually worth $1.49 of my precious and hard earned money.

Sincerely, 

Kati Allen

3 Really Good Books

OK so I have been reading A LOT lately. I may be behind the times but these are the books I have just finished:

 Miss Potter is a movie. But it is also a book. Both are excellent. I think Beatrix Potter's life is truly interesting. It was a good read.

What does it say about me that I like Young Adult books? Hattie Big Sky has won some awards and for good reason. It was a FANTASTIC book.  The author wrote about her Great Grandmother (I think) who Homesteaded 320 acres in Montana in 1917 ALONE. She was just 16 years old. I laughed and I cried. 

Star Girl has been around for a while. I think that it has an interesting message. Definitely a must read. 

I think that it is hard to find good books with out a lot of junk in them. With these books I really felt enlightened and uplifted.  

Happy Halloween!!

Luke was a musketeer again!

Lizzie was a ballerina princess!!! She also had a cold so she wasn't in the mood for pictures!

We had a decent Halloween. We went to the "truck r treat" as it was advertised in our ward. Then we got some ice cream and came home to watch a movie.  Wade and I had fun and the kids seemed happy so all in all it was good. Next year we are planning a fun party in our new backyard!!!

I guess I need to post a disclaimer: Hannah did get dressed up and she did go "truck r treating". I just didn't take any pictures. She dressed up the same as she did for her Halloween concert minus the blue hair. We used it all Thursday night and we couldn't find anymore hair color in Roosevelt. Thus, no pictures

Hannah's Halloween Concert

This is Hannah ready to go to the concert. It is always a fun concert to go to. It is more like the band and orchestra  leaders goofing off with the kids playing the songs in between. If anyone wants to come out for it I promise it will be totally fun!!  Luke was laughing the whole time! Not to mention Hannah gets to play her viola!!!!!! Good times! Good times!

So Hannah is dressed as a crazy artist or something of that sort.

All the pictures I take at the concert are bad. Not to mention you can barely see her. This year I took a picture of her with her viola before we left!
She did a great job. One of the songs they played was the William Tell Overture. For those who don't know it is the Lone Ranger song as well. Hannah and the rest of the orchestra did a really great job! The advanced orchestra played the Indiana Jones theme it was so cool! 

Lizzie's Haircut

I cut Lizzie's hair last week. When it gets longer it gets stringy because she hates to have it done and I hate seeing it so stringy. Her hair is fine and she doesn't have a lot of it. I also like to curl her hair for Sundays if I have time. Which doesn't always happen. Mostly it doesn't happen. Ok it rarely gets curled on Sundays but in my mind I would like it to be curled. 

Hannah Turns 13!!!

I can hardly believe Hannah is a TEENAGER!!!!! I hope she will stay my sweet wonderful Hannah.  Lizzie says that teenagers are mean. Luke was so excited he announced his sisters birthday to his friends at school. You would think it was his birthday with as excited as he was!!

We had chocolate "satan" pie.  We call it that because when Hannah was learning to read she saw the chocolate satin pie and called it "satan" pie. We keep calling it that and with all the calories that are in one piece it should be "satan" pie!!!!

We wake up early and open presents. Luke woke Lizzie up at 2:45 this morning and then they came in and tried to wake Wade and I.  I made them go back to bed.  Then Hannah got up at 5:30 and woke Luke and Lizzie up!!! Truly there is no rest for the wicked!!

Hannah got some gift certificates to get the things that she wants at Amazon and Itunes.

Number one on her list, new scriptures.  So she finally got a quad. It's a pretty blue.

In the end we are grateful for Hannah. We couldn't ask for a better kid. I know I kind of got sentimental a few days ago so I won't keep going on and on. We are a better family because of her!! Happy Birthday Hannah!!!