Jacoby Dale Allan

Born December 10, 2009 at 2:27 p.m Jacoby Dale Allan joined our family! While it was a little rough getting him here we are so happy that he is healthy, happy and not born the week of Christmas! Stephanie was starting to wonder if this baby would ever come and Eric was praying he would be born on a Thursday. Just to explain, Thursday was just the best day of the week for Eric to take time off and wouldn't you know it little Jacoby must have listened to that conversation because he was born last Thursday! He was grunting and not breathing well so the doctors put him in the NICU (nursery intensive care unit)and we were able to bring him home sunday the 13th. We were so happy that the nurse taking care of Jacoby was the same one who took such good care of Janine when she was in there.

Stefan and Janine are so excited to have a baby brother and just love to hold him. There have already been fights about who gets to hold him first. Although Stefan thinks he is super big we must watch him and Janine at all times while holding the baby. Especially Janine. She hasn't quite figure out that you can't just toss this baby like you can her baby dolls.
We have taken many many pictures of this little guy and here are just a few for you to look at and enjoy.

ThanksGiving 2009

This year for ThanksGiving this Allan family stayed home. Stephanie is very largely pregnant and we didn't think it wise to take the risk of her having a baby anywhere but here. While we tried to convince family to come to our house.........it just didn't work out. So we had our own 15 pound turkey for just the four of us! It was awesome. We didn't even make through 1 breast!! The rest of the turkey we put in the freezer for when the baby does come and some in the fridge to eat on of course for the next couple of days. This turkey was the best tasting turkey we have ever had. Eric was simply amazing! Check it out for yourself.

All morning Eric and Stephanie make stuffing,prepared the turkey, prepped potatoes, made muffins with fruit for breakfast and had fun in the process. Before we feasted we took the kids to the park and let them play around for awhile.


Eric had extra pies from Kneaders and brought home a few while Stephanie also made a pumpkin pie and a Chocolate Pecan Pie that was sssooo good. It made the tongue slap the brain! Stephanie wanted to get a family picture for the day. we only got one shot at it and this is the outcome.
Stephanie is always the perfect temperature while pregnant...or at least she thinks so. She is fine when everyone else is freezing. Thus a fire was built and we had one for most of the day. Eric was a good sport and let the kids help build the fire. Stefan threw in wads of paper and Janine placed in the wood.

Swine Flu/Hee Haw Farm.

Well these past two weeks have definately been an adventure for the Allan family. Two weeks ago Eric was diagnosed with the SWINE FLU! So we were out for a week. Nobody else caught the bug from eric thanks heavens but of course Stephanie couldn't take the kids out in public by chance they were carrying the flu virus and us just not knowing it.

Eric was diagnosed on a tuesday and so Janine missed her music class that week and Stefan missed his school field trip to HEE HAW FARMS. He was pretty upset about it so we promised that when Dad was better we would go as a family and have an even better time than what he would have had with his class. :) Eric was out for a week and went back to work last week. Last Monday was Stephanie's birthday and Eric bought her a prenatal massage which stephanie loves and when she returned home Eric and the kids had balloons floating from her chair and the table set with candle light and the fancy dishes and Stephanie's favorite Eric dressed up like a Chef and cooked her Chicken Corde on Bleu with Alfredo. Oh so good!



This past Thursday we went to Hee Haw Farms and did the corn maze, pedal go carts, train ride, swings, corn pit, corn guns. And we can't forget the animals. The chickens,goats,cows,pigs. Which of course was totally appropriate since eric just had swine flu. LOL. Hee Haw has tons of fun stuff and we had a great time there as a family.

Stefans 4th Birthday!

This year for Stefans birthday we celebrated just as a family. Stefan had a hard time deciding if he wanted a Spiderman cake or a Batman cake. He really likes both guys obviously. So Stefan compromised with his mother and made a cob web on the cake with Spiderman defeating Batman. It turned out really cute. Stefan was the special helper in his pre-school class and helped pass out different papers and at the end the snack that he brought. Stefan says his teachers had him stand on the table and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. A tradition that Stephanies mom did with their family is she always took them to lunch on their birthday and Stephanie is excited to pass that along in her family so she took Stefan to lunch and then when dad came home we went to Chuck-E-Cheese for dinner and games. Everyone had a blast. Then we came home and had cake and Ice cream. This year stefan got spiderman that came with a three wheeler, batman, 2 transformers, A huge cherry picker truck that you can buy at Costco, $20 from Grandma and papa Powell for him to pick a toy and a batman hot wheels car from his friend Jake. Next year stefan says he wants a Party so that he can have lots of friends over. So next year I guess we will have a party.

Lake Powell

During the weekend of 18th the whole Powell Family got together for a fun family trip.
Stefan got really comfortable in his life jacket and was swimming everywhere with it on. Janine of course still doesn't have an a appreciation for water quite yet but she will. Stephanie being 2 wks shy of 4th months was dissappointed that she couldn't try wakeboarding or tube fast. She did however waterskii since she knows how to do that.
Not too much excitement or worthwhile stories to share. The trip was just a great visit with family and really great to have everyone together.
The weather was great except for the last night when a sand storm decided to blow through. Mom and Dad always sleep in the bed of the truck however on this peticular storm they went to a motel. (lol) since it was the last night the boys broke down camp so that nothing would blow away.

4th Of July & Janine's 2nd Birthday!!!!

On this particular day in the allan home we celebrate more than just the 4th of July but we also celebrate Janine's birthday! This year was her second birthday. This year was in the first year since eric and stephanie have been married that they were able to participate in some 4th of July festivities. at 5:00 a.m Stephanie woke the kids up and got everyone ready to go to the "Balloon Fest" which is where you get to walk around and watch 20 hot air balloons fill up all around you and then you watch them one by one go up in the air. Doesn't sound too exciting to some people, but it was really cool. We had a lot of fun. Then we went and walked around a bunch of different booths and saw some different cars. Stefan (almost 4 yrs) wants to be a race car driver and there was this electric powered racer that we took his picture with.
We went home and started setting up for Janine's birthday! Janine loves babies and Tinker bell right now. Every time we sang happy birthday to her she had a big smile on her face. She absolutely loved all the attention that she got. Stephanie made a Tinkerbell cake and decorated with 4th of July colors and green and purple balloons. We just had a small barbecue with family & friends and that nignt we lit some fireworks and then watched the town fireworks go off directly across the street from our house.
we had a great 4th of July. Probably the best one since we have been married without question!

Walt Disney World

Two weeks ago we left for a family vacation to Walt Disney world in Florida! Our brother and sister in law asked us if we would post pone our vacation in April so that we could go with them to Florida. We did because anyone who knows Troy and Annette know that you will always have a good time with them. We were so excited to go. Eric troy and annette were was the only ones in the family to have ever been to Disney Land or anything like that, so it was exciting for all of us to go. We bought 5 day passes and went to all of the different disney parks. One of our last days we went to Wild Kingdom and saw some kind of snake. We don't remember...a snake is a snake. Annette started by touching it and then Eric and Troy soon followed and everyone finally convinced Stephanie to touch. While it took her what seemed like forever she did eventually touch it! Stephanie convinced everyone before we left to schedule a beach day. This ended up being everyones favorite day. Except for the sunburns. We were unaware that Florida sun was different than Utah sun. well we quickly found out that Florida sun burns so much faster. The funny thing is that we were in Florida for a few more days after the beach and in that time nobody was peeling. However, the day we returned everyone notice the bumps you get on your skin right before you start peeling. (Dang dry air)The humidity was something else as well. After the first night of being there you got used to the humidity enough that you could breathe! Plus you always looked and felt wet. Not a great feeling. Not much else to say about it other than it was the best vacation ever!!

1 New Niece & 1 New Nephew

The second to the last week in February Stephanie took the kids and went down to Phoenix to help out her sister Serina (who now has 3 children) and so that she could see these babies when they are newborns. Our new nephew who is Scottys son was born February 6th and his name is Braxton Scott Powell. Our new niece who is Serinas baby was born 2 weeks later and her name is Daphne Joyce Harrop. Both babies are very cute.


While Stephanie was down there she enjoyed the company from the rest of her family.
stephanie discovered while down there that Stefan was misdiagnosed up here. What was claimed to be a sinus infection turned out to be bronchitis! This in turn made the trip a little more interesting. We were and still are upset with the pediatrician who saw Stefan. All is well now. Stefan is better and back to his normal self.
One hilarious story that I have to tell you is about two of my younger brothers. Sean and Sterling. I tell you this because it just shows how silly but fun they can be.So sean and Sterling started out pulling eachother in Serinas wagon and of course they found a shopping cart and took turns pushing eachother into a brick wall!! It was hilarious. They went as far as putting a football helmet on and then went crashing into the wall like a crash dummy. only one minor injury to report and that would be from sterling. he just bent his thumbnail back half way. Never a dull moment with any of my brothers.
We had all of the Powell grandkids together and took their picture as well. Good Times. Here are just a few of the pictures.

Dipping Strawberries

One of Stefans favorite things to do is dip strawberries in chocolate! Last year for Stephanie's birthday(2007) Eric bought her a 5 gallon bucket of ganache! so we love to dip different things in it and use it in recipes. Anyways...we bought two things of strawberries this year for valentines day and these strawberries were huge! Janine as you can see doesn't mind being a mess while she eats. Stefan on the other hand is a lot cleaner.

Cross-Country Skiing

This past Saturday Eric and I went cross country skiing up at Soldier Hollow and got a babysitter for the kids. We had a great time. We of course took lessons and are so glad we did! We wouldn't have even known what to do. We haven't been skiing since middle school. We understand we are on the "loser chain" for living with snow our whole lives and not skiing or snowboarding. But things are looking up for us! (lol) After our lesson we (in our minds) thought we were taking the shortest trail, however we later realized as we were looking off in the distance and could kind of see the lodge! oh ya you guessed right we took the longest trail Soldier Hollow had!! Only the two of us woulld do something like that! The funniest thing. At the end we were just trying to survive and didn't care of improving technique or anything. After returning we ate lunch and regained some energy and went out again. On a much shorter trail of course. Next time we will be better. What great adventures We always have together. life is never boring.

Winter Snow

So far this winter we have recieved a lot of snow. It has been awesome. We have a track across the street that sits on top of this hill so we slide down that hill when we have a good snow storm. It's a perfect hill for kids. Our kids love to play outside and build their own snow hills and slide down them as well. Janine loves how she looks in her snow outfit. If you tell her that she looks pretty she smiles and points to her clothes. She's a lot of fun. Of course Stefan sees this and so he posed all gangster for us when we had the camera. He's hilarious. Both of our kids have funny personalities like most kids do. We don't have many pictures of the family together but we will try and do better. There aren't many pictures of Stephanie because she is always the photographer. But like I said we will do better. On our last snow storm we all took turns doing cannonballs into the snow, but of course when you do funny things like that nobody has the camera. but here are a few of eric and the kids.