Spider Guys

They love to play Spiderman together.

Both of my Babies are in School

August 23rd, 2011 Blake starts first grade. He was up before me and fully dressed, he just needed my help cutting the tag off of his new Green Lantern shirt. I think he may have been more excited to finally wear the shirt than school.

September 7th, my baby starts preschool. I did better than I thought I would. I did get a little teary eyed seeing her walk in and I walked back to the car alone for the first time without a child still at home.

Love her poses.

Then she was sick of pictures.

Summer 2011

This was a daily scene at our house this summer. We spent so much of the summer in our bathing suits at the pool or on the lake.

Cassi water skiing.

Cassi again.

Poor Sicliy broke her arm. BAD. I was there when it happened. Her arm looked like an S. It was so terrible.

The summer of the broken arms. I broke my arm, Jace broke his arm twice just weeks apart. My Mom broke her arm and Sicliy broke her arm for the 2nd time. We are a site.

My "transformer arm." I got the funniest reactions when I wore it out and about. Little boys always thought it was "cool," and some others thought it was gross and darn right scary. :)

This is Blake the Power Ranger. This was my nephew Jordan's (who is now 17) costume when Power Rangers were big. Blake thought it was so awesome, even if it was really small on him.

This is what I found when I went into the bathroom. Ashley doing her makeup.

Grandma Lowry

My Grandma and Grandpa on their wedding day June 3oth, 1949. Such a cute couple. My sweet Grandma died June 12th, 2011. It was so nice to be able to go up to Canada for her funeral and see family that I hadn't seen in a really long time.

I was able to have some really good talks with my Grandpa while going through some of my Grandma's photo albums. My Grandpa told me how they met and that he first noticed her at a dance. My Grandma had black hair and blue eyes. My Grandpa's words were, "she was stunning, and so light on her feet while she danced." My Grandpa asked if he could walk her home, while they were walking out of the building, my Grandma said to my Grandpa, "I am going to California to marry a millionaire." My Grandpa replied, "I have a dollar in my pocket." My Grandma said, "That will do!" and squeezed my Grandpa's arm. My Grandpa said after she did that he knew he had a chance. They dated for a year. My Grandpa would hitch hike every weekend to go see my Grandma.

My Grandpa said that when he first met my Grandma's parents, my Great Grandparents, my Grandma Passey said to my Grandma, "oh, I could go to the end of the world with him." So funny.

My Grandma died 2.5 weeks shy of their 62nd wedding anniversary.

The day of the funeral, right before the viewing, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with my Grandpa for 10 minutes, just he and I, sitting right beside my Grandma's casket. The things that we talked about and the advice my Grandpa gave me I will forever cherish. My Grandpa was so cute, even though I am 29 years old he still offered his knee for me to sit on like I did when I was little. I sat on a chair right beside him this time. :)

My brother and cousins.

My Grandpa right before he dedicated my Grandma's grave. My Grandpa has taken care of the Taylorville Cemetary for the past 30 years. He made sure everything was as perfect as possible to have my Grandma buried there.

My Great Grandma and Grandpa Lowry are buried right by my Grandma.
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My Grandparents head stone.

At the graveside with my flower from the casket spread that my cousin Shaula had made.

Patti and I enjoying some yummy Canadian Ginger Beef.

Baby Henry and I. Every time I see him he reminds me of Blake when he was little.

We took the RV (Harvey) up to Canada. My Dad driving with his RV hat on. My Dad has a different hat for every vehicle he drives. So cute.

Jeannie, Honey and Sicily.

Mom and Patti. My Mom is amazing, we left for Canada 2 days after she had surgery on her arm.

Some sweet Phase 10 action going on. Can you see Jeannie and Honey in the mirror?

Driving in the RV made the trip up to Canada seem really short. It was really fun.

Honey and I with major wind blown hair after we had to run up the I-15. The wind was so bad in Montana that it had ripped part of the awning off the side of the RV. We had to run up the I-15 to make sure no cars were coming so my Dad could turn the RV around. Gratefully, a nice man stopped and helped us get the awning off.

Half way there!

I had to take a picture of Jeannie making a sandwich in the RV. For years the smell of sandwiches in the car has made her feel sick. Right after I took the pic and she gave my Dad the sandwich she felt so sick. Bummer. I gave her one of my motion sickness pills.

I am so glad to report that all the way there and back, I didn't get motion sick once! Woo Hoo!

May Happenings

Blake and Ashley wanted to wear costumes to the mall. I told them they couldn't, but then Micki said if they get to wear costumes she would too, hopefully hindering them to want to wear costumes to the mall. She is hiliarious!

Ashley's face when Micki said she was going like that. :)

Blake and his new smile.

On May 23rd, I was surprised with the sweetest surprise birthday party at work, put on by the 6th graders in McKay Perkins class. It was so cute. They went all out. They gave me this banner, a JB poster, and chocolates. They had even decorated the windows in the classroom. It was so cute and totally caught me off guard. It made my day. I wish I would have had my camera.

Me and my new Biebs poster.

My kids are getting so big so fast.

We love oreos at our house. This is what happens when Ashley gets the Oreos. She just likes the middles.

According to Blake this is what "put your laundry away" means. :)

Just Call Me Grace...

Back in April I broke my arm roller skating for the first and last time. I had never roller skated before in my life (obviously :)). It was for Blake's school skate night. I also worked at the school. I was having fun going around and around, then one of the boys said, "Miss Allen, I think you should get off for black out because this is your first time roller skating." I really wish I would have listened to him.

I told my sister Patti, who was with Ashley, that I was just going to go around the rink one more time. I started going and all of the sudden lost my balance and fell backwards with my arm outstretched. Holy Cow!! I heard my arm snap and that is when I felt like I was going to pass out. I managed to get up and got over to Patti. All I remember saying was, "I think I broke my arm." She said I looked green. I don't remember much after that. It hurt worse than having a baby. I was in labor with Blake for 16 hours pre-epidural. Come to find out I had a radial head fracture (elbow) because I had hyper extended my elbow.

I was in a cast for 2 weeks and then in a brace for another 2 weeks. I went one week with out running and I couldn't handle not running so I ran several weeks with a broken arm. My doctor just told me, "you can run, but if you fall you will break that arm again." Well, I did fine until June 6th. I fell. Hard. On cement. I rolled my ankle on a rock, right in front of a huge family gardening in their front yard! I am sure it looked hilarious. My pride was definitely hurt more than I was. While I was going down I just thought about my arm. I rolled to my left side and took it in the face, knee and ankle. Gratefullymy arm was just fine. I am sure that big family had a good laugh after I turned the corner. :)
4 days after the fall.

4 days after. My ankle was swollen FOREVER. My knee looked nasty so I didn't take a pic of it.

I start physical therapy on my elbow on Tuesday.