Snow day!

Today school was cancelled...I was actually happy because it is the PERFECT day to do my Holiday baking. So we started early and are still baking..............One of our favorites(family tradition) Chex mix.

The girls are happy to help make some yummy cookies............

Taylor helped make the pretzel treats, these are yummy and look really cute!

Gracie - writing out her Christmas cards to her teachers.....look at how cute!

My little helper...I love her!

Ellie and Gracie took a break from the kitchen and wanted to go shovel the neighbor lady's driveway...They even thought of it on their own.

I think it has helped to play Christmas music first thing this morning because everyone is so..happy and spreading the cheer!

It is that time of year! It came so fast. We have loved watching all the Christmas shows that are on EVERYNIGHT. And we have been watching them everynight. It is a great way to get the kids settled down for the night. They bring a fun spirit into the home. I remember always watching them as a small child and getting so excited for Santa to come. The kids are anxiously waiting for our elf Fiddles to come. (he is waiting for them to stop fighting) We are still trying to finish all the decorations, it seems to be taking me so long this year. I do love this time of year. The music, decorations, snow, stories, movies and of course the food! I hope that as we all are busy preparing for Christmas, that we focus on the true meaning and the true spirit of giving. We have talked to the kids and are excited to give more than receive this year. We have so much to be grateful for. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Day At The Foot Doctor............

Okay, many of you know the story of my ankle right? Well for those of you who don't let me tell it to you. While we were in Mexico in August, I was on my was to the spa to get a wonderful leg & foot massage. I was SO excited for this all day. As I was walking to the golf cart for a ride to the spa, I walked down a set a stairs(well I was trying to walk down the stairs) when suddenly I was completely on the ground in total pain. I had fallen down the steps and rolled my ankle while hearing a loud POP! The Hotel bellboys came and got me with wheel chair and took me to the Hotel Dr. She then wanted to send me to the hospital. I said no as I was not wanting to go to a hospital in Mexico. She said at that point that she thought it was broken. She just gave me a shot and I said I would be fine and I was off to enjoy the rest of my trip, trying very hard not to be a baby, but I was in TOTAL pain! Anyway to make a long story short. That was almost three month ago and since we have been home it has really been bothering me, but my sweet husband said oh, it's not broken. I am sure it is a high ankle sprain that is really painful. So my life goes on and I continue to complain. So FINALLY my SWEET husband made me an apt with the Dr. that he just saw about his ankle that has been bothering him.hmmn!(poor guy) I saw the doctor today and he took an x-ray and OH MY GOSH!!!!! I should have listened to myself. It is BROKEN and I have been dealing with this all this time. Kelly, don't ever call me a wimp! so as for now I am in a soft cast for a week and then I have to go back to have an ultrasound done on it next week to look at the tendons and ligaments then we will decide what to do.Note to self- listen to the way YOU feel and not what OTHERS tell you! I love you Kelly...........It is broken on the Fibula just lower than the arrow right above my ankle.

Fall Pictures.............

I finally got the girls pictures taken after 3 years. I have been wanting to get them done so that I can take the old ones down off my wall, so I don't look so bad because Gracie was just a baby. So I finally got it done! Here are just a few of the 200 that were taken today. I am going to have such a hard time deciding which ones I want blown up. HELP!!!!
This is just a fun one, I don't like the house in the background, but I love the tree.


My sweet little BABY...........she is so big now!

Cute little Ellie ......

Beautiful Taylor.......

I love pictures of my girls. Of course I think that they are the most beautiful girls in the world. Ok, I know it's just because I am the Mom. They are just getting so grown up. What am I going to do when they all start dating?

Tradition or Not.............................

Okay, I woke up this cold Sunday morning to start the preparation of our (or should I say MY) conference family tradition. That is HOMEMADE CINNAMON ROLLS! My family looks very forward to these. Well I started out by making sure that I had yeast(in the freezer) and to my surprise I find 2 bags of FROZEN CINNAMON ROLLS! Hmmmm....I think to myself "I have had a crazy week and is my sweet husband trying to let me have some time to SIMPLIFY?" or I think to myself " He doesn't think that I am going to make them and so when the kids ask for them and I say sorry, I have to make them on Wednesday night for ALL the YW/YM for Leadership Training (Rolls as leaders! what did I get myself into) so we will have then that night. He then looks like the good guy who saved the day.(with frozen ones...what!) Anyway, I could take this all different ways couldn't I? My point is............sometime we are to quick to judge others reasons for doing something. I would like to thank my sweet husband for letting me "Simplify" for today and enjoy this day with my family! (but i really want mine!)

No wonder I have always hated CATS

This is the ugliest picture ever, but really it is how I have felt the last few weeks. Why do we let ourselves get this way? Is it my own fault? What can I do to change it? I am trying to serve......do I stop serving ? NO! because it really does make me happy. I have thought a lot about this today and how I can change this about my crazy feeling life at this time as I have a lot on my plate with my calling and just trying to fulfill my motherly duties. I know that I need to prioritize my time better. Along with a lot of other things. Do you find it so hard, or is it just me? I find that there are so many things that I want to do and get done in a day.And at the end of the day I have done NONE of them. (well maybe a few) Maybe if I would pull my butt out of bed early before my kids get up, but you all know that I am NOT a morning person and that will NEVER happen, so why beat myself up over it. Maybe I am trying to fit in to much in a day. I get in my mind all the things that I want and need to do and then I get so frustrated when they do not get done.Any advice? I know ....SIMPLIFY! I know that I am rambling on and on so I will stop. I look at that picture of that cat and it just makes me feel frazzled!

Do you remember ME?

I know, it has been FOREVER since I have updated my blog. Well I thought that I better do it really quick before I leave again in a few days. We just got back this morning from visiting my sweet sister and her family in Arizona. We had a great time shopping and laying in the sun at her pool. Thank goodness for her pool! It was SO.......HOT!!!!!!! It was great to see them after a very long time(too long) thanks Tara for having us and making it such a fun trip. I love you so much! We left at 11pm last night and flew all night arriving at 8am this am back home. Caught up on some sleep today and then we will add a few more items to our luggage and off the Mexico on Friday morning at 2:30am. Yes, 2:30 am. Are we crazy? And I wonder why I am tired all the time. It is all worth it though for fun times with family. I hope you all are having a fun Summer and doing some fun things before school starts and all the hustle and bustle begins. Well that's all for now, and as they say in Mexico, Adios!

Time to Blog....................

I can't believe that I have not blogged in such a long time. It is almost July. I have been busy trying to keep the kids busy and not driving me CRAZY with boredom. They have to be doing something ALL the time. Why is that? We have had such crazy weather so far this Summer. Lots of rain and not very hot yet. It has been pretty nice not having to deal with the humidity. Gracie has been learning to ride her bike. She looks way to small to be doing it. Taylor made Cheer and has Cheer camp and girls camp in a few weeks. I am luck y and get to go with her this year, I just got put in YW as the first counselor. I am really excited. Elizabeth was just counting down the hours until Camp Rock was on TV. She just had a little party last night for it. She was running around the house shouting "28 more minutes until Camp Rock, get the popcorn out". We are just getting ready for some fun Summer vacations coming up. They include...Phoenix for a week (the cousins have not seen each other for 2 years) and Mexico 3 days after we get home from Phoenix. It will be lots of fun and then school starts and it back to the hustle and bustle of everything. I will add pictures soon, I just thought I should blog while I had the chance.

How are your Mondays?

Why is it that my Monday mornings are always so CRAZY? I have always hated Mondays and I wonder why, maybe because of this.......The house always seems to be a mess after the weekend, the kids are always crabby, errands need to be run, laundry galore and I never know where to start. So because of all this it just makes me want to go back to bed and cover my head. What are you Mondays like and what can i do to make myself not dread them so bad.......Happy Monday:(

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

I was up late last night finishing up some email, checking blogs, etc. and looked at the clock and thought to myself "you have got to get to bed" it was 11:30pm. I walked out of the office and saw to my surprise my cute little Gracie sitting on the stairs playing with barbies. She looked up at me with a cute smile and said"Mommy, do you want to play barbies?" How could I get mad at her and send her back to bed. So we played barbies until we both got tired. I put a load of laundry in and came back to this cute picture. This little girl just wanted to have fun!

Spring Cleaning

I have been in a major Spring cleaning mode this last week. Growing up we ALWAYS did a big Spring clean. I remember dreading it as a child. But, I would now like to thank my Mom for teaching me the importance of this BIG task. Don't think you can Spring clean in one day.....maybe one week! I can't believe all the garbage I have thrown away. What a great feeling it has been. I am still Spring cleaning as we blog:) today has been blinds, windows, until it started to rain. I don't know about you, but rainy weather makes me want to clean even more. Last weekend my dear friend came over and we did my entire kitchen, took everything out of cabinets and cleaned away, then reorganized everything. It is much more fun to do it with a friend. I owe her big time! Let's just say that I don't look at all like this lady when I clean, but I wonder what it would be like to wear heels and a dress. Hmm.....I will have to try that. NOT! Well I hope that this will motivate some of you to Spring clean and get rid of junk like me. It really does make a difference and feels good to get so much accomplished. So happy cleaning!

Blogging? What's that again?

Hello, hello I know that I have been HORRIBLE at blogging. I really feel like I have had NO time. I promise that I will update this week on what we have been up to. I am going to make my blog private so look for my invite. Email me and let me know if you would like to be on my list. We are all doing well here at the Allred household. We hope all is well for all of you! Happy Blogging!

Happy Birthday Babe!

Happy Birthday Babe! I love you so...............much. Thank you for being such a wonderful husband, father, and most of all friend. I love the way you make me smile:) You make me so very happy! I am so blessed to have you as my husband. You always make me feel so special and treat me wonderful. I could not ask for a better husband or father for our children. You are a very hard worker and I appreciate ALL you do for our family. I appreciate your STRONG testimony and your willingness to serve in the gospel. You are an example to me. I appreciate your patience, love, kindness and ability to overlook my weaknesses. You are an AMAZING man! I absolutely adore you, and am proud to call you MINE! Happy Birthday Babe! I love you more today than yesterday.....................

My Birthday Week..........

Wow! what a week I had. Let me tell you how it started. My sweet friend Diana called me a few days before my Birthday and asked me if i wanted to go to Oprah! Well who doesn't want to go to Oprah. So that is how I started off my Birthday. We were able to go downtown Chicago and stay overnight in a GREAT Hotel. It was awesome! The Oprah show was about the Dr. Suess book Horton Hears a Who! Well the movie is coming out on March 14th and so we were lucky enough to preview it the night before the show. It stars Jim Carrey and Carrol Burnett and Steve Carell. It was AWESOME! your families will love it! Then Those stars were on the Oprah show. We were on the 3rd row center stage. Most of you watched it today.(did you see me?) It was a great show. Thank you so much Diana for such a great time! I love ya! Here is our hotel room. These were the most comfortable beds ever......we slept very well. I love the decor.

I have never seen so....many pillows on a hotel bed..I felt like I was right at home. I LOVE pillows.

This is us waiting in line at Oprah....bright and early...6:30am

Gotta have the Harpo picture!

Now on to the rest of my Birthday celebration. Can I just say that I have the BEST friends EVER! I love you all so much. Ruth was not able to make it last minute, poor little Lili was sick.I missed you Ruth! We went out for some Mexican. None of us were really keen on the place, but they had GREAT guacamole!

We celebrated Taunacy's Birthday as well. Happy birthday T-Ho!I couldn't think of a better person to celebrate with.

I had to talk Jill into letting me have a picture with her. She is pregnant and does NOT like pics of herself....I would kill to look llike her when I am pregnant. she only has like 4 weeks left. What is she talking about!

Now on tho the best part....Desert!
Have you EVER seen a piece of cake this big? No, I did not eat it myself. We all shared one piece. It was YUMMY!

Thanks again everyone for a wonderful birthday! My friends for being so great. I don't know what I would do without you! You are the BEST. To my sister's and sweet Steph for the sweet birthday blogs. I love you!

Look at those EYES!

Last week was quite the week at the Allred house. Lets just say that I thought the week would NEVER end. Ellie was home most of the week not feeling well and we all know what that did to me! I really do lover her, she just requires ALOT of attention and as my sister Tara says, she is my ticket to Heaven! We still are not sure what is up with her stomach issues. I have to take her back to the doctor by next week if we don't see some changes in her stool. I was called the BUTT doctor last week. I had to keep a diary on Ellie and boy was it FUN!!!! I thought it was frustrating making Ellie take her medicine, well try giving that girl an enema. I thought we were going to kill each other. After about an hour and a half I finally got done with the enema and ellie stopped crying and said, "Mom, I didn't even feel that". That made me want to you know what.......Then Gracie got pink eye and woke up twice in the night because she couldn't open her eyes. This picture is not at her worst. To top everything off. I got a call on Friday about 11am saying that we were having a preview on the house in 1hour. I was FREAKING out! My house was a MESS with a crazy week and all. I frantically started shoving stuff hoping that I would remember where I had put everything. In the dryer, washer, dishwasher, oven. Did I say oven? My friend Stacy came over to get the kids out of the house and helped me run through and pick up so I could clean bathrooms, vac, dust in less than 1 hour. I have never sweat so bad in my life................anyway, I got it done and the next day, Taylor had some friends over and she was pre-heating the OVEN for pizza.....I smelled something and remembered ALL the stuff that was sitting on my counter that I shoved in the oven for the showing......MELTED PLASTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YUCK!
what a pain to clean out. Moral of the story.....keep up with your house and don't get behind like I did!

Happy Birthday Diana

Happy Birthday Diana! These photos are not in order (dang it) but I thought we would take a trip down memory lane of the last year of knowing each other. I can't believe that I have only known this girl for 1 year! I feel like I have known her FOREVER!!!! I love ya!
Thanksgiving time!
Our AWESOME trip to New York.....
Max and Laura from GREASE.......................
Diana, Me, and Jill at Christmas walk.............

This is actually the first time that I met Diana..Her Birthday last year, a few of us took her out to dinner to get to know her. She had just moved into the ward.............. This was when I REALLY got to know Diana. We knew we were suposed to be friends! We had a blast together and had alot in common. She LOVED my fart machine!
A lunch date...............................
TOFW trip..............this was another great time together!
Last but not least, the TEETH!!!! This picture of Diana will always be in my mind. We have had more laughs over these teeth. She has them with her at all times. And has brought them out many times such as lunch dates, just driving down the road in the car....now that is the funniest thing ever to see people look at her throught the window as she is driving. She just looks at them and smiles with these BIG teeth! Diana, I am so glad that we have become such good friends in such a short amount of time. I look at all the fun things we have done this last year and want to thank you for being such a great friend!!!! You are such an example to me. You are always happy and always have a smile on your face. You are a wonderful mother, a wonderful wife, you are a wonderful friend! I hope you have the best Birthday ever!

I love music....

I love all kinds of music, but I really love Country Music. I love the lyrics. They always tell such a meaningful story. Music has always been a big part of my life. Starting at a very young age, I remember singing in church with my brothers and sisters. Singing in talent shows and all kinds of things that my Mom could get us into. Then as I got into my teenage years i was even in a band. Growing up my Mom always had music playing and I remember it making me feel happy. I find myself doing that same thing with my children , as we clean the house. The fun music helps us work faster and have fun! While on Sunday mornings the soft music helps us feel a bit calm and have good thoughts. It really is amazing what music can do, and how it can affect us. I see the joy that music brings to my children as I see them singing ALL the time rather it be at the piano or to Hannah Montana. They truely have a love for music. So I would like to thank my Mom for that. Thanks for starting something that has brought so much joy to our lives! What are your thoughts about Music?