Our Princess

Happy Birthday Lauren!! 7 years old today! You are the princess of our family! You bring so much sunshine into our home. We love you so much and are glad you are ours!

Ode to Lauren on her Birthday-
How do we love thee? Let us count the ways......

- You are beautiful inside and out
- You are genuine
- You are always so willing to help anyone at any time
- You always choose the right
- You take good care of everyone in your family
- You work hard at anything you do and always do your best
- You always remind us of what's important
- Your laugh makes us smile
- You have the most beautiful hair of anyone we know
- You are the best sister any two brothers could ask for
- You show love to everyone around you
- You write the best notes and cards
- You are always so thoughtful
- You always follow the rules
- You clean the bathroom better than mom
- You are adored by everyone who knows you
- You are sensitive to the feelings of others
- You are a good friend
- You are so much fun to be around
- You know that you are a daughter of God

Not getting along

Daylight savings time and I are not getting along. Ever since we turned our clocks forward I have not been able to get to sleep at night and I can't get up in the morning. This is a huge problem for me since I need my sleep. Who would think that changing the clocks by one hour would mess up your body rhythms so much? Why do we need to mess with the time anyway? My parents say that even when I was little I struggled with daylight savings time. For weeks after changing the clocks my parents said that I would ask - "What time is it really?" They finally had to just change the clocks and not tell me. Smart. Now that I think about it, I might know why this change bothers me so much. I have clocks in every room of my house (I get this from my grandma). I can't go without wearing a watch - I feel naked without one on. It seems my life is run by what the time is: need to be there by this time, need to be here by that time. I hate being late. I have the same routine throughout the day. So, taking an hour or adding an hour twice a year just messes with me. Maybe next time I should have Tony change the clocks and not tell me. But, would I still notice?

Putting the 'fun' in funeral

Last week I spent 4 days in California to attend my dear Aunt Deanna's funeral. This was the second funeral in 2 months for my family (my grandma passed away in December). Despite the fact that we were all together again for a funeral, we managed to make it fun. If there is such a thing as putting the 'fun' into 'fun'eral, we were successful. Just flying there and back with my sister was such a blast! We were like 12 year old girls again. And yes, we had more luggage than the two of us could handle, plus my sister's baby. We were lucky to run into Elder Ballard at the Orange County airport. It was an awesome experience to meet him (We thought it was funny that living in Utah you never see the General Authorities, yet here we were in California running into him). Just hanging out with all of my mom's family was the highlight of the trip. I even met a cousin I hadn't seen in 20 years (love you, Chris!). We managed a trip to the beach, lunch on the pier, watched the dolphins, and drove up and down the Coast highway checking out all the expensive cars. So.....hopefully we are done with funerals for a while. Enjoy some pictures from the trip.....

Got enough luggage?

The cemetary

The cousins

Newport Beach Pier

Lunch overlooking the Ocean

All the cousins & kids at the beach

Love the Beach

Lunch with the girls

It's not everyday that you meet an Apostle

Never Too Old

I am a true believer that you are never too old to do anything. Being a piano teacher I have adults tell me all the time,"I have always wanted to learn how to play the piano but I am too old." What? Old should not even be a word in our vocabulary. Why do we limit ourselves with the word 'old'? And for the record, I have taught people who are 50 years old to play the piano. A new favorite quote of mine comes from the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button......

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

Today Tony and I had a special experience that serves as a great example that you are never too old to do anything. Tony's grandma Florence, at 90 years old, went through the temple for her first time. I can't even tell you how excited and proud of her I am. There is nothing sweeter than being in the temple with your family. Especially multiple generations of family. I know it took a lot of strength and courage for her to take that step. What a great example she is to me.

So whether it's going to the temple, running a race, losing weight, trying something new or learning to play the piano.....Just do it!! Don't let your age get in the way of anything (it's only a number anyway). Always live life to the fullest!!

Love Notes

Before the world of email and texting there was such thing as 'notes'. You know......handwritten pieces of paper that you would then fold intricately and pass to your friend. Growing up, notes were equivalent to texts today. Communication between friends. Back in the day you would write a note using your best handwriting and a colored pen made it even better. You'd dot your letter i's with big circles, draw fun pictures, and figure your own unique way to fold your notes. Once complete, you would discretely pass this note to your friends. I say 'discretely' because I was a victim of having a note intercepted by my teacher in 6th grade. Of course our class rule was no note passing. So, for my punishment my teacher read my note out loud to the class. I cannot remember what it said, I just remember being totally mortified that my secret thoughts meant only for my friend were now a public announcement. Despite the humiliation, I just kept writing notes.
In Junior High, this was the ritual between classes. Everyone would pass notes as they would pass in the halls. The notes contained communication for who to sit by at lunch, the topic of a pop quiz in math, and who might have a secret crush on you. I loved writing notes. In fact, a drawer in my dresser was dedicated to collecting all of my notes. Just recently I stumbled upon some I had saved and had a good laugh reading them.
Since my kids don't email or text yet, they are into writing notes. The last few weeks have been full of notes delivered to all within our household. Maybe it's the love of St.Valentine in the air. I love the fact that my kids think I am cool enough to write me a note. Tony has even received a few. For fun I thought I'd share just a few that made me smile. Now I keep a drawer for my kids notes. All the sweet remembrances that I want to hold on to. For I know the day will come when they will text and email instead of write notes. And by then it probably won't be cool to send them to your mom.

(Lauren's notes. Translation: 'Thank you dad for being my movie buddy')

I Love to see the Temple

We had a great opportunity this week to take Connor and Lauren to the new Draper Utah Temple open house. We talked about the temple all week and the kids were so excited. We checked them out of school early, got lunch on the way and dropped Cody off at Grandma's house (didn't think Cody would do well at the temple:)). They have you park in a church parking lot and then they show you a short video. We then loaded onto a big Greyhound bus and drove up to the temple. The kids loved the bus ride. The temple is way up on the hill in a really nice neighborhood. The tour of the temple was wonderful. Everything is clean and perfect. I loved the beautiful paintings and nice furnishings. Lauren loved the sparkling chandeliers. This was the best opportunity to teach our kids about the temple. Being able to see all the rooms and talk about what goes on in each one made for real sweet teaching moments. The spirit in the temple is stronger than anywhere else on earth. After the tour you end up in the cultural hall of a church that is right next to the temple. We had cookies and then got back on the bus to head back to our car. This was definitely a day to remember for us and the kids.

Grey already?!?

So, along with the New Year, I rang in a grey hair. Yes people, I said a grey hair. I know you are all shocked at this knowing that I am much too young to have sprouted a grey hair already. The story goes like this..... I was doing my hair the other day and I had a 'fly-away hair' right on top of my head (you know the kind - they just stick straight up no matter how much you try to get them to lay down). It was a small 'hair' and was light colored (I thought blond, of course). In my frustration with this 'hair', I just decided to pull it. Pluck. Upon closer examination of his 'hair' I set it in my hand and it sure looked light. Really light. In fact, it was totally white (or grey as they say). "Is that a grey hair?" I asked myself. Remaining calm, I took it to Tony for his inspection - hoping he would reassure me it was in fact, not grey. "I think I just pulled a grey hair," I told him. He looks at the measly, little, ugly, grey hair in my hand and just says,"Oh." So, I have tried to not be too alarmed by this little discovery. My 'Happy New Year' surprise. Since the 'hair' pulling I have told Cody many times that he needs to be good so that mommy doesn't get any more grey hair. Let's keep this our little secret.

A Merry Christmas

Before our memories of Christmas fade, I want to post just a few of my favorite pictures. We were blessed with a wonderful Christmas this year. Santa brought us all our heart's desired. Tony and I loved having the kids home for 2 weeks. We played too much, ate too much, slept too much and loved just being home together.

Christmas day at my Mom & Dad's house

Connor and his Grandpa Rick.

Christmas morning at our house. Santa found us.

Anxiously waiting to open their gifts.

Christmas Eve at Tony's parents. Cody loved the chainsaw Grandma Maureen got him. Somehow it has disappeared since Christmas (?).

Lauren with her Grandma Maureen.

Tony and his Grandma's.

Papa Bob and the grandkids with his famous train.
(Notice who won't take his hands off the controls)

It's the most wonderful time of the Year!

We have been so busy the last couple of weeks with Christmas Festivities. This truly is our family's favorite time of the year. The kids have been bouncing off the walls and counting down the days until Christmas. I believe we're at T-minus 2 days and 3 hours until Christmas. Here's a sneak peek at all the fun we've been having. If only Christmas could last all year!

Christmas would not be Christmas at our house without homemade sugar cookies. This is our yearly tradition that the kids absolutely love. Cody wins the prize this year for eating the most frosting. He kept saying "I'm sooo hungry" as he was eating it by the spoonful.

Lauren built this snowman all by herself. She was so proud! With all the snow we have been getting the kids have loved playing out in it.

While our cousins were in town for our grandma's funeral we went to temple square to see the lights. It was so fun and so cold!! Cody cried the whole night because he wanted to get out of the stroller and run around (like that would be a good idea??)

I'm so glad that Connor hasn't outgrown sitting on Santa's lap. Our awesome neighbors have a big Christmas party each year and Santa visits their playhouse in the backyard. We look forward to this every year. Cody would not have a thing to do with him.

One night for family night a bunch of our friends got together to go caroling. We had so much fun! The kids had jingle bells that they would ring. They also wore reindeer ears. Connor even sported a blinking Rudolph nose. We piled into the back of our trucks and went all around the neighborhoods singing. We definitely brightened the holidays for a lot of families. We had donuts and hot chocolate by the fire afterwards.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!

a tribute

My dear, sweet grandma Jensen passed away last week. She was 88 years old. What a blessing it was for her to pass from this life to the next. She had suffered for a while and is now at peace and is reunited with my grandpa. I was able to be there just minutes after she passed and I cannot explain the wonderful peace and calm that I felt. Those special moments and time with her were my 'tender mercies' of comfort.
This week we celebrated her life and honored her for all that she accomplished in her 88 years. I was very close with my grandma and have so many great memories of her. She would buy me texas donuts at ZCMI, send cards each year on my birthday addressed to Mrs. Tony Allred, grab my cheeks and kiss me each time I visited and she always made sure I was flooded with knick-knacky gifts at Christmas. But more than doing things for me, I remember my grandma for the things she taught me. By example she taught me to work hard, be frugal, be honest, to love the gospel and my Savior, to be resourceful, creative, strong and generous. She taught me to always do my best, to face adversity with optimism and to always be grateful for my blessings. I could go on and on about the amazing and wonderful woman my grandma was. She left a great legacy that I feel so grateful to be a part of. As life now goes on I will think of her often and I know that thinking of her will give me strength through my life's journey. I love and miss you grandma!

Anyone want a leg?

This is my favorite picture from Thanksgiving! This is all that Connor ate. He skipped right over the mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, roll, green beans, sweet potatoes and salad and went right for the meat.
(And the other day he asked me what a carnivore was.)