Merry Late Christmas!....And A Happy New Year!

I know this post is almost a month late! But oh well its getting done. We had a very busy christmas season this year. Stephanie helped out the most she ever has at Kneaders during the Holiday season. She enjoyed herself alot. Janine also had a little dance recital this month as well. While there wasn't enough seating for everyone we were stuck standing in the back and we completely missed Janine dancing! We were so sad and dissapointed. Eric saw her a teeny bit but Stephanie missed her completely. She was quite upset.
This month was also Jacobys 2nd birthday! We had so much fun. We took him out to lunch and then since there was no snow we gave him a one man JEEP. He loved it! Took him a day to figure out the gas pedal and the steering at the same time. He has it down now and enjoys it. Stefan is bummed because he is too big for it and Janine can ride it. Jacoby got a Christmas Birthday Cake because he didn't get it for his first birthday. We put on Ipad ontop of his cake because he is into technology and was born knowing how to work an Ipad.



Christmas eve as always is fun. We all enjoy making our own pizzas and getting our Christmas Jammies. This is always a great time of year for us to think about the Saviour and what gifts we can give to him this year. We don't do new years resolutions. Instead we have taken that and have turned it into our gifts for Jesus. This is a tradition that we enjoy and really helps us keep the goal the whole year. To truly honor our saviour and the many blessings he gives to us on a daily basis. We always enjoy watching the Nativity story and the kids enjoy talking about what they know.
Christmas Morning this year was on a Sunday and at first we weren't too excited because it was going to break up our routine of how we do things on Christmas. However, we all really enjoyed going to sacrament on the sabbath and the special feeling that came home with all of us was different. It really helped us keep the true spirit of Christmas.
Jacoby got his ipad for christmas, Stefan got his Nintendo DS, and Janine got her craft table and easle with art supplies. Eric and Stephanies gift came a few months ago as we finished our basement.

Photo Card

His Grace Alone Christmas

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Happy Thanksgiving!

This was a great Turkey Day this year! We were finally able to spend thanksgiving again with family and it was so nice. We spent Thanksgiving this year with the Allan family down in Marysvale. We woke up at home thanksgiving morning and drove down to marysvale and then helped finish up with the dinner. The best part of the Allan feast are the pies. We believe in there being a pie for everyone. The picture of the pies that was taken doesn't even show all the pies that we had. Insane? Yes, and we love it. You just have a sliver of every pie and then 2 hours later you have some more! What a great day thanksgiving!
We were able to spend all weekend there and we went to the elementary gym and played basketball together and Eric and Stephanie woke up at 5 o'clock friday morning and went to the walmart in richfield. They were having a deal on the motorized Jeeps and so we got one for Jacobys birthday that is coming up in a week and a half! It was fun to do some shopping together and get movies for $1.96 each. It was also free babysitting and a great date for the two of us to have together. We ended our little holiday trip with an outing to Pizza Hut. Richfield has one of the only Pizza huts in the state where you can sit down and eat there. All other places are "to go" only. So the kids love going to Pizza Hut at Grandma Allan house.href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3i-IM5oppHRgViWaZ-hOH0PiUpLVRsHHC58eR4Fiya7Uwbll5hzoMftKMXLTi9A1SwpRVChTRJS_9cEmngsCVtUVdTEs0_xxL3SPyLHD3F9N-TkUgFxxoJcPDgOjMPkvx7VduqY83QvZ9/s1600/DSCF0274.JPG">

That Sunday evening we Decorated the Christmas tree together as a family. We bought new ornament this year and got rid of our firt set of bulbs ever. Traded out the breakable bulbs for the non breakables. Tree turned out great.


Another thing that happened over this Thanksgiving weekend is we finally became members of YouTube!!! We made our own video of the Allan Christmas Lighting 2011! Click on the link if you dare!

Halloween 2011!

First and for most we want to give a big shout out to those who are able to update their blogs on an almost daily basis. We think about it on an almost everyday basis but finding the time right now is difficult!
At the start of the Halloween season (september end of august) Stefan said he wanted to be a pirate. Well the costume that happened to fit Jacoby this year was stefans old pirate costume from when he was 2. Stephanie then said that the whole family was going to be pirates this year! Janine absolutely refused to be anything but a princess. So stephanie said that the whole family will still be pirates and Janine will be the princess that we have captured! This was a great plan until October rolled around and Stefan changed his mind and wanted to be the blue ninja from last year. OH well saves us money right? Stephanie's plan didn't turn out. the only one who happened to be a pirate was Jacoby, but a cute pirate he was! Stefan was the blue ninja, Janine was sleeping beauty. The whole day was fun. In the morning Stephanie and the kids went to the elementary and watched Stefan walk around the school halls for his parade and took pictures.
Then he went to a carnival. Later Stephanie took all the kids to the school carnival. Then we came back home and decorated the back of the Armada for the trunk or treat. The kids always enjoy this. They get to go through the house and pick out what they want to put in the car. This is the first year Eric and Stephanie didn't dress up. Excuse no.1 we had no time to get dressed. Eric got stuck at work all day and the trunk or treat started at 5. Eric pulls into the driveway at 4:55 runs inside for a fresh shirt and good smelling stuff and we left. The trunk or treat was a lot of fun, but different than what we were used to in Pleasant Grove. In PG, all the kids would run crazy going from car to car multiple times and wouldn't stop until all the cars were out of candy! Here in Salem, we were the ones going crazy trying to chase kids down to get them to take our candy and they wouldn't because they said that they had already been to our car! Eric and Stephanie put the candy in their bags and told them not to tell their parents!!
We had a great time!


This year we also did pumpkins of course! This is always an adventure as none of our kids will stick their hands into the pumpkins and rip out the guts! The love to carve and get so excited, but they refuse to stick their hands in there...maybe next year. Stefan and Eric teamed up and made the cool scary one. Janine made one with her name on it and Stephanie and Jacobys was the spooky face. good times.

Stephanie's Birthday!

This year for stephanies birthday the thing she wanted and needed was a new camera. Which she did recieve. This is the reason not too many pictures have been taken. What has been taken was on her phone and even though they tak good pictures they will never be as good as an actual camera. We have been taking pictures like crazy now trying to get the kids yearly pictures one which has been kind of hard this year. Jacoby is not very cooperative. Janine has been sick as well and so getting a good picture of any kid while they are sick is hard.
Anyway.....Eric went to work for 2 hours and then came back home with breakfast and ate with us and then went back to work for 2 more hours and then came home and worked on his office for the afternoon. The evening before we went on a date to Little Italy in Provo. Best Italian food you will ever eat. We got the birthday cake from there too. sssooo good. Eric made pumpkin chili for dinner and we went and watched stefan play a soccer game where he scored 3 goals! Stephanie had a good birthday.d

Stefans Birthday & Soccer Life!!

this fall all began with Stefan starting soccer. Fall soccer started with 2 and ends with 1. Janine started to play as well but about half way through the season she decided she was a dancer and not a soccer player.
Stefan however is a soccer player and does very well. His last game stefan scored all three of the teams goals! The other kids on the team told their coach that Stefan is their leader. when the coach asked stefan if that was true Stefan shook his head and said quote "Ya, I am". Too funny. Stefan loves soccer and really enjoys playing the game. He is always the first one on the field ready to go.

Stefans birthday this year happened to be the week of General Conference so his Uncle Troy was in town so we had a family party where the grandparents uncles and cousins came. We had a lot of fun. Uncle Michael even performed some magic tricks for everyone. Stefan wanted a race car cake with monster trucks in the middle doing jumps! Well our kids may not have elaborate parties but Stephanie tries to always deliver what the kids would like for their birthday cakes.
Stefans present that he got from his parents was a Bearded Dragon Lizard! Now as his parents it is our job to try and talk him out of this, right? Well try we did to no avale. A lizard is what he wanted. His cousin Canyon has one and loves his, so we went out on his birthday and got the lizard and some things to go in its cage. We thought that Stefan wouldn't even touch it or anything but he did. He lets the lizard climb up his arm and everything. They are very friendly and you can train them to do things. In Stephanies mind this is a way better pet to have right now than a dog!

Kindergarten.......And the adventure begins!!!

Yesterday was Stefans first day of Kindergarten!! Stefan was so excited to start school. when taking him to school he walked 3 steps ahead of his mom. That was bitter sweet. Stephanie was so happy to see him confident and excited about being in the "big kid" school as stefan puts it. It seems like Stephanie has waited for this moment for a very long time, and on the other hand it feels like not too long ago that the two of them were going to mom and tot classes together!
Stephanie helped Stefan put all his homework papers into the different bins that were given to the parents on orientation night. He then hung up his backpack, and his teacher Mrs. Smith took our picture and he went to find his name tag on his desk. Stephanie stayed by the door for just a minute to watch him find his desk and sit down. At that moment Stephanie got choked up and could feel the waterworks so she quickly turned and left before the tears had a chance to make it to her face.
Its a good thing Stefan is strong and doesn't have separation issues because that helps keep his mother strong too. The only dissapointment of the new year is Stefan really wanted to ride the big yellow bus to and from school. You have to live 1 1/2 miles from the school in order to ride. We live 1 1/4 miles from the school. So unfortunately the only thing he will be riding in is our big red Armada! HAHA.





Today was also Janines first day of dance class. Janine has been on both of us parents to sign her up for dance since she was just shy of 3. She is now 4 and today is her first day. Janine has come a long way in not being shy and at least talking to her teachers. While she didn't speak at all last year to her teachers, she has already talked to her primary teacher and her preschool teacher that we met at the open house. Right after her dance class she came home and put her shoes back on and showed Stephanie everything that she learned. Then when eric came home she put her shoes back on and showed her dad everything that she learned. When we signed up for class and Janine saw her costume she would wear for her performance she was overly excited. the tutu was her favorite part. oh and the sparkles. She says she will look really pretty in it. Whbich she is right, of course!

Lake Powell Trip

About a week and a half ago we went to Lake Powell with the Powell family. Our sister Serina just had a baby 2 weeks before that so she didn't come but Grandma and Grandpa Powell took the 2 older boys with them to the Lake. This was nice because it kept Stefan entertained and then Janine was entertained by Scotty and his kids. We had a fun trip. Thankfully we missed the sand and rain storm thursday night! Every time we go to the lake we rent a boat and go wake boarding, water skiing and ride tubes and stuff. Stephanie wakeboarded for the 2nd time in her life and she did great! Try after Try after Try after Try she finally made it out of the wake! wwaahhooo!!! Then of course Sean goes and he just makes it looks so easy. going in and out of the wake. coming up on the side of the boat leaning way back.
He is just good. We all took turns with the water hot dog. The kids loved it. We built a waterslide down the beach into the water. This was so much fun. we poured some bubbles on the plastic and then when you were ready to slide we would dump a bucket of water and you would go at the same time. Skyler was the best to watch. He brought a lot of water down with him and speed. Grandpa took braxton (scotty and danelles son) on the water hot dog with him and Braxton fell asleep!
Was the funniest thing ever. We stopped the boat and asked if he wanted off and he said no and so they rode for 2 more minutes and the boy was out again! so we took him back to shore! Hilarious....The water was 30 feet higher at this point than it was last year and so the Sand Slide was back. We went to that and climbed it. The little boys climbed that thing twice! They are all truly Rockstars!!I took more videos than pictures but for some reason I have sound on my recorder but not when I put them on my computer. so I can only do some of the pictures that I have.

Anniversary & A Camping Trip

On July 10,2011 Eric and Stephanie celebrated their 8 year anniversary! Crazy how time really flies. Stephanie hasn't had a bike since she was like 12 yrs old. So eric took her out and bought her a bike for their anniversary a "specialized" bike. So we went biking for our anniversary. We had a great time. We always do when we spend time together.
This past weekend we went on a family camping trip to Payson Lakes. This is a really beautiful lake to swim in and fish. We of course wanted to stay in the campground just next to the lake but naturally when we arrived they were all full. So we were forced to drive a little further of the Mountain and rough it. meaning no toilets! It seems that when we have to camp like this we end up enjoying ourselves more. Probably because we are completly by ourselves. We went on a family hike and collected leaves and laid them infront of our tent so we wouldn't track in the fine black dirt. It actually worked! That was a fun family project. On saturday we went to the lake and stayed for most of the day. We aired up our boat and went out and had a great time. Jacoby however hated hit life jacket and screamed the whole time....aaaahhhh family memories.

Janines 4th Birthday! + The 4th of July

When Janine turned one we had a birthday party where all of the allan family came with some of our friends and it was a great birthday. Then she turned 2 and Stephanie started to feel as though we would always have a big to do on her birthday since it is shared with a major holiday. Then she turned 3 and it was just the 4 of us. This year on her golden birthday (cause she turned 4) Stephanie's oppinion has changed. We love having her birthday on the 4th. Not only does this girl love barbeques and shrimp, but we celebrate her birthday for 3 days every year! She loves how the television and radio and people in the store know its her birthday. Everytime someone says July or the 4th of July, Janine always tells her mom, "that person knows its my birthday." We love Janine and are so happy she is in our family.
In preparing this cake for Janine, stephanie made a rainbow cake for her. While visiting for Aunt Lonis wedding, Aunt Annette showed Janine a cake that she wanting to do for Canyon for his birthday. so naturally janine wanted that as well. It was fun to make and super easy.
When it is finished it looks something like this. Next time stephanie wont pour all of one color in at once. she would do half so she could do 2 patterns. This way all the colors will have big sections, instead of like this one where you can barely see the red on the very outside. if that makes any sense. Stephanie and the kids enjoyed baking this cake together. The kids were actually hanging around the kitchen this time while Stephanie made the cake. Probably because it was a neat cake that Janine wanted. Some kids get really cool big toys and over the top parties.....our kids get CAKE! But what is better than cake!? Since Stefan and Stephanie had pinatas for their birthdays this year we couldn't leave out Janine so we got a Dora the Explorer pinata and enjoyed beating the candy out of her.