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!!!