She’s home.

After 18 months of being away from home, of serving the Lord and the people of Argentina and Paraguay, Sis. Kate Allen is home. I learned that my heart can reside partially in another country. I learned that for 18 months at least, Mondays are my favorite days. (emails home)

I learned that someone can change a lot while staying themselves. And I learned that someone doesn't have to be older than you to set a good example for you.

We all missed her so much. We experienced a lot of things without her and her without us. But in the end we are a family. Eternal and bound together by really strong ties.

Kate is an amazing person in every sense of the word. She is lovely and loving, she is smart and capable but vulnerable and inquisitive and having her home after such a long time is the best gift I could be given.

The only thing better than hugging your missionary after 18 months, is the first time you hold them as a newborn.

Well done Hermana Allen.







Here is me still in awe that I am actually talking to her face to face. Such a beautiful moment.






I love this girl more than I could ever express in words. So grateful she chose me as her mom:)

That time we went to Disneyland by ourselves!!

For our birthdays this year, we thought, wouldn't it be crazy and awesome to go to Disneyland together?

And so we did. And it was awesome. We spent a day at Disney then a day at the LA zoo.

And the best part? We held hands the whole time. Like the whole time. And I realized that holding hands is pretty much the best thing you can do to be aware of how much you love someone and how great your life together is. 

We got to watch Fantasmic finally. Which was fun. But cold and my bottom hurt after sitting on the ground for 2 hours. But did I mention that we got to hold hands?

Birthday in Disneyland

So this year for birthdays, I offered to the kids to have experiences instead of presents. And being so close to California makes that a lot easier than it might have been in the past. (one perk for living in Vegas)

So Henry chose to spend his 12th birthday at Disneyland. And I wasn't going to complain so off we went. We got a park hopper and went to Disneyland and California Adventure. The Guardians of the Galaxy ride was awesome (formerly tower of terror) but it made my nervous system so jumpy that I giggled for about 5 minutes after ward. Which prompted Henry to ask a few time, "Are you ok mom?"

I let him hair spray his hair blue for his birthday. And he got a button since it was his actual birthday and he's a quiet kid but he enjoyed having everyone say, "Happy Birthday Henry"

My favorite part? He held my hand almost everywhere we went. I didn't ask him too. He just reached over and grabbed it and my mama heart nearly burst out of my chest. I love this boy. Oh so much. He is tender and sweet, funny and kind and he wasn't embarrassed, at 12, to hold my hand. So, so grateful that Heavenly Father let me be his mom.

On the way home, there was a wild fire that shut down the freeway, our only way home, for 4 hours. So we got food, found a good book on how to draw Spider Man and just chilled and talked. 

Such a great experience to be one on one with out kids. To hear their thoughts on life without anyone interrupting. Focusing on an experience rather than just stuff made his birthday one of the best experiences ever. And guess what? He didn't miss the stuff;)

Happy birthday Henry. You are one of a kind:)

19

This girl. So much talent and insight and beauty rolled into one person. Julia is proof that we can shine in the middle of growing experiences and take the lessons learned to help others.

I am so proud of the young woman she has become. She is funny and engaging, spiritual and spirited and so ready to learn about herself and the world around her.

When she was a baby, I looked at her and instinctively felt that her spirit was older than mine. Even as a baby and toddler she has shown a depth to her that has always astounded me.

Happy birthday Julia. There is so much that awaits you. I'm excited to watch you as you journey on:)

15

This girl. What a lovely beautiful surprise she was. Charlie was 9 months old when I found out I was pregnant with her. But how grateful I am that they are 17 months apart. They have been good friends their whole lives and as our lives have taken us many places, I am so thankful 15 years ago that she came into our lives a little earlier than expected ( not only getting pregnant with her, but the fact she was 3 weeks early, which meant she made the cut off for school and was only a grade behind Charlie).

Anne Marie is genuinely one of the funniest people I know. She cracks me up DAILY. For reals. She is a natural creator-of funny things, of art, of dance. She really exudes talent and creativity in everything she does. And she brightens up my life and any room when she is truly being herself.

Her face in this photo is because we enjoyed those cookies A LOT staying at a friends vacation home for two weeks in between rentals. So I found more for her and she was pretty excited.



Also, this has been the year of Korea. Korean pop music, Korean food Korean dramas and the Korean language. She loves the Korean culture and language and especially the cute K-Pop idols and their music. I mean, she loves it so much that we are ALL pretty well informed on their names and ages and their favorite work outs. So for her birthday, Jeff and I took her to a Korean restaurant. It was really tasty and really fun and she was so happy to be able to understand some of the things being said around her.




Anne Marie has learned a lot about herself and others this year. It has not been easy moving to Las Vegas, but she has worked hard and grown a lot. We are really proud of who she is and can't wait to see what else she creates in this life in the forms of art, music, dance and the joy she brings to others.

Happy birthday Anne Marie

Nora is 10

Nora is 10. How is my baby ten years old?

Seriously, I don't even understand how so much time passed so quickly. 

Not. At. All.

But alas, it has and it has been wonderful. Filled with the little blonde head bobbing around our home and our lives since 2008. 

And once again, she spent her birthday surrounded by moving boxes as we prepared to move to a different house. Not state this time at least. 

And once again, she had a Harry Potter birthday because Harry Potter and the world JK Rowling created is her second home. 

For her family party, I made a beautiful and yummy cake just for her. But for the big party, the one with her friends? Nothing but a Snitch Cake would do. 

Her house is Hufflepuff. And yes, knowing which house you belong to matters and separates the true Potter fans from the muggles;)

I'm also so grateful for good friends. Nora has been REALLY blessed with good friends. And when you have had to move and leave behind other really good friends, it makes all the difference in a new place

I'm so grateful to be Nora's mom. She brings lots of ideas and fun and keeping us on track to our family. She's a general if I ever met one, but she gets things done, she accomplishes her goals and she's really really fun and nice while she does it. 

Happy birthday sweet, darling Nora. Thanks for being a bookend and for being so gosh darn cute:)

16

Sometimes mom pulls one out of that hat that even this “gives me a list so I don’t get it wrong “ birthday kid didn’t see coming. 

When we left Ellensburg, Charlie left behind his beloved sweatshirt from Winter Musical freshman year. He left it at a friends house and by the time we realized it, they had just taken it with a pile of stuff to goodwill. Charlie was pretty sad about it. 

But never fear when you have a tenacious mother. Unbeknownst to Charlie, I reached out to the director and asked if he happened to have any left. And guess what?! He did! So I sent off a check and he sent me the sweatshirt and the following is a chronicle of the surprise and delight and the “my mom is the best mom in the whole world”  look on his face. 

He was turning 16 away from his extended family and friends. So making his birthday special was a little trickier. But I think we pulled it off:)





Pictures are grainy, life was a bit grainy this last year. But the picture is getting clearer and living in Las Vegas has been alright. Charlie is an amazing kid with a lot of talents and gifts that I am excited to see him get to use.

We are so grateful Heavenly Father sent Charlie to us. He has taught us a lot about unconditional love, acceptance and growing together as parents and son.

Love this boy. Forever

Dreams do come true

our children probably thought they were the only kids ever that had not been to Disneyland. According to an informal poll that Henry took in his 4th grade classroom, this is true.

But it turns out they are no longer in the "my parents must hate Disneyland and us otherwise they would have taken us by now" club.

We had a blast. It was so fun to see everyone's excitement at everything. We missed Kate and Julia terribly because they had a dynamic to our family that is so wonderful. But such is life when people dare to grow up and move out.

We saved for months and kept it a secret. Then gave it to them for Christmas. Their reaction was hilarious in its underwhelm-ment. But the second we walked through the gates at Disneyland, they suddenly understand what everyone gets so excited about.

We also went to Universal which was Nora's personal dream. Julia and her share a vast love of all things Harry Potter. So universial studios was imagination come to life for sweet Nora.

It was a wonderful and an amazing memory. And hopefully it did a lot to soothe the sad hearts that resulted from moving to Las Vegas. When Disneyland is only 4 hours away, there is a lot of healing it can do:)

Julia. The grownup

This girl has been making us proud since the moment she was born. She is brilliant and straight forward and kind and funny and talented. We are beyond grateful to have her in our lives. And now she is officially an adult. Which just means she has to sign her own permission slips;)

Love you Jules.

Turn that frown upside down

Turn that frown upside down

On days when you feel like this:


Or this:



What do you do to change it to this?




And this:



For me it helps when the sun is shining, and I have a splendid walk with kiddies in tow. And being able to enjoy the day at home without anywhere to go is helpful as well.

Other things that help:

 1. diet coke
 2. chocolate
 3. being down a few pounds
 4. date night
 5. other people's babies
 6. a clean kitchen
 7. all the laundry done
 8. money in the bank
 9. fresh homemade bread
10. sleeping in
11. new clothes
12. shopping
13. redecorating
14. warm chocolate chip cookies
15. a great book
16. a great church meeting
17. a bubble bath with candles and a good book...alone!
18. family movie parties
19. my kids telling me they love me
20. my husband's arms around me

What does your list look like?

Henry at 11

This boy has been charming me with his dimples and giggly laugh since, well, forever.

When he was a baby, a woman in Target saw him and could not stop talking to me about his dimples. He had the chubbiest cheeks and these huge dimples and even now when he smiles, though he is no longer chubby, those dimples show up and just melt my heart.

By far my quietest and most tender child, Henry has a heart that I think is sometimes bigger than his body knows what to do with. He's not a pushover, but he feels things keenly, especially when things are unfair. I love him for it.

He is an amazing dancer, which we haven't pursued, but which he show cases when he's feeling the music and I know that its an expression of his inner joy.

In general he will fly under the radar, but he is not to be underestimated or ignored. He just goes about doing what he needs to do, quietly and knowing his own mind.

Henry really cares about what is right. He consistently makes good choices and is a wonderful example to others if they will take the time to notice.

I love this boy so much. I am excited for him to discover his talents, to find his place in this world and to live fully in the gifts God has given him. He is for sure a gift to us.

Happy birthday sweet boy.

Anne Marie

Anne Marie turned 14. That glorious age where you can go to youth dances, where you start high school and where you start to turn the corner towards young adulthood.

It is amazing to me still that I get to be her mom. She is talented and kind and funny, humble and super smart and she makes me proud to know her every day of her life.

From the time Anne marie was little she was hilarious. Like, roll on the ground laughing at the funnt things she would say. I don't even know if she knew it or if she was tapping into her early onset comedic timing. But the girl has a gift. We laugh daily because of her.

She also plays the piano, sings and has picked up the ukelele with which she has begun to write her own songs. She won't let me post videos of her, yet. But the girl is well rounded and talented beyond belief.

She loves to run and is very talented at it. Which I am in awe of since I run sooooo slow. Always have.

She is the best big sister. She plays with Henry and Nora still. Not because she feels sorry for them, but because she loves them and she genuinely enjoys playing games, creating fun and a good time no matter who she is with.

I hope this will be the year she can see herself and her gifts more clearly. She is amazing and we love her to pieces.

She has a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can see it in every thing she does, every decision she makes. She has decided to serve a mission when she is 19 and I know she will touch the lives of many in her life.

Happy Birthday darling Anne Marie. You are a gift to our family.







We went and saw Wonder Woman together. Fitting since she is so wonderful. Haha. I'm such a dork.



Love you darling girl. Forever and ever

Back to school already. And no, I'm not happy about it

If you know me at all or have read my blog for a while, then you know I hate it when my kids go back to school. I have never felt that I am suppose to home school them, but watching them head out the door every fall just kills me. I have no idea what I will do when they are all gone. I can't even think about it. Even as my second gets ready to leave the next and go off to college. *sob*

Because we moved to the surface of the sun, also known as Las Vegas, it means that we are part of the first year where school starts mid August here. We got out June 18 and started August 14th. That is just a smidge less than two months my friends. That. Is. Poopy. 

Add to that the fact that we were packing Kate for her mission and then our entire house for half of that and we really did not have a summer. 

So when I dropped Henry and Nora off yesterday, I cried all the way to my car. Thankfully, Julia is still here for 2 more weeks and so I did not go home to an empty house. Which I will in two weeks. Jeff doesn't work from home any more. And so my life, which happens, is changing. 

And I'm being fussy about it. I will adjust, get use to it, embrace it, blah blah blah and eventually (hopefully) love it. But for now I feel cheated out of time with my kids. 

But the beautiful, amazing part of this is that they are all ok! Yes. They all came home yesterday saying everything was great and that they are ok and will like it here. 

That is a miracle. Because moving is hard. Leaving everything you know is hard. And my kids are rock stars who have taken this whole thing in stride. I can feel the blessings of heaven. I really can. Which means I shouldn't whine because then I am ungrateful for those blessings. 

Sorry. 

No more whining. I think. 

Anyway, Charlie and Anne Marie left a high school of 950 kids and have entered a high school bigger than my home town. It is 3200 kids! I can't even wrap my brain around that. The administration of the school seriously run the equivalent of a small town in the Cascade Mountains in Washington. They even have their own police. True story. 

But they will be fine. I feel it and I have seen it. Miracles. I believe in them. 

Henry and Nora go to an elementary school that is about the same size as the one they came from.
And they all start before 8 and get out at 2:11 Which I love. I still pick them up and we are all home by 2:30.

A downside is that their new playground is about a 1/4 of the size of their beloved Valley View. All the playgrounds have big shade coverings over them. Otherwise the metal burns your skin. Also a true story. So that was kind of a let down. Also they only have one 15 minute recess. Possibly because its too hot to play outside right now? Not sure. But I guess in 4th and 5th grade you start to have less recess. Which doesn't make sense to me either. But hey, this is not Finland. So I suppose I have to take what I can get.

Its for sure different here. But not bad. I do miss our little town and the friendly feeling to it. Such as seeing people at school and the grocery store and just kind of knowing who a lot of people are. I'm sure we will get comfortable here and that feeling of being somewhere so big and different will get better.

And I guess we have more breaks during the school year once it cools down. Which is nice. Also, we are only 4 hours from Disneyland. Who can be sad about that?

So back to school 2017. Already. But in May, when everyone else is dealing with spring fever, we will be done with school. I will tell you then if it was worth it:)

Hoover Dam!

The title needs an exclamation point. The place was insane. Insanely hot. Insanely crowded and insanely huge. 

There is a pedestrian walk way on the bridge that crosses the dam and goes from Arizona into Nevada. It was neat and also very disconcerting to be that high up with semis and cars going by you at 70 miles an hour. Separated only by a 4 ft tall concrete barrier. Also, it is so weird to only have 7 of us. I can never get use to it. And in two weeks Julia will go off to college and there will only be 6 of us on a regular basis. I hate it. But I love and support them. But I hate it. 

Remember the scene in the original superman? If you're old enough I guess? Its pretty amazing to think that he could hold this back and fix it all.

We really wanted to get there in the morning and avoid the heat. Its only 17 miles from us. That should be too hard right? Wrong. Its my fault. I made Jeff take the boys to get their back to school hair cuts first. Hence Nora's sweaty brow. At least we brought water. Which quickly became warm but was preferable to the almost hot, odd tasting stuff coming out of their drinking fountains.

That is the bridge we crossed looking out from the dam itself. It really is a marvel and a feat of engineering. It was amazing to see. And there were a lot of dam jokes. So the day was a success.

When we got to where you can look down at the dam (a dizzying site) this big warm wind picked up. It was nice as it helped to dry the sweat pouring from everywhere. But wind and short hair, always a weird combo.

I love my family. I love my husband even though he suggested going to Hoover Dam in the 108 degree heat. We survived and learned pretty quickly that everyone there were tourists. Locals would not be there on a day like that. And since we are locals now, we need to assimilate and not give ourselves heat stroke.  We're smart like that;)