Preschool boy

A few of the moms in the neighborhood, who have children close to the same age, are doing

a preschool co-op of sorts. It started Tuesday and I taught the first week. The kids are 

darling and it went incredibly well. Our sweet boy was so excited to have his 

"school kids" are our house two different days this week. I love being a mom.

And I love our Nathan boy so much. When I uploaded his photo on the
computer, it took my breath away a bit. This boy is growing up. I adore him.

Labor Day hike

August phone pics

Did anyone hear about the landslide in Utah earlier this month? I was in the area that particular 

morning and took the above picture. So very sad. I felt devastated for the family that lost their home.

Jacob's darling grandma celebrated her ninetith birthday and we were able to go to the open

house her children had for her. She is the youngest 90-year old I know. We loved being with her!
(Even if I was more than frustrated I forgot my good camera. I still love this picture of her though.)

This baby girl loves shoes. Even her oldest brother's cleats that could possibly rival her for

height. (Size 12 cleats are not small.) I love how thrilled she is that we let her wear them.

* Somehow (still a mystery to me, but my finger might be pointing toward a certain #5 child of ours), all of my 

August phone pics, except these few, were deleted off my camera. I was pretty sad to lose some other great ones 

I had, but such is life. And since it has never happened before, I will just be grateful. And hopeful it won't

 happen again. I don't love the quality of the phone photos, but I sure love what I can capture because I usually

have my cell phone with me. And I 'm so thankful to have them on the blog as a part of our history. *

Apparently...

 This little girl likes pasta.

And broccoli.

First day of school

Two in junior high, two in elementary, two at home.

I love being a mom.

Ogden temple open house

End-of-summer cook out

Ready to start.

 The handsome man that made it all happen.

 Love these darling kids.

 And even these crazy kids.

Yup. This about sums us up.

Double rainbow

Thanks for making sure I didn't miss this Megs!

A day at Lagoon

We were given several free tickets to an amusement park in our area by Jacob's work.
And because our kids have never been to Lagoon (their parents are too cheap), we made a day of it.

This morning, we went for about three hours. And while Jacob and the other kids went off to
ride a few of the more exciting rides, we mostly spent that time letting the younger kids
ride what they wanted, as they wouldn't be returning with the older crowd that night.

Nate, was surprisingly hesitant about any of the rides, but finally 

decided he would try the helicopters with Ben. He loved it!

 When the older kids came back and they went on several of the kiddie rides

together, Nate became much more brave and tried several new rides.

Nate loved this roller coaster with his dad. And as you can clearly see, Jacob enjoyed it also.

Sweet Gracie. She was so good, even though being so young at Lagoon is terribly lame.

Ben is right at the age where the kiddie rides are a bit juvenile and the big kids rides are

a bit scary. He was so sweet to make things fun to Nate and tried several rides himself.

I think the bumper cars won for being a little more exciting, without being too much for him.

Our sweet older kids were so good to try anything with the two younger ones. It may

seem like a small thing, but seeing their sincere kindness melted my heart for sure.

And sometimes they would just join the group, even if they were not accompanying

one of the littles. Because as you can see, these rides are thrilling at every age.

But sadly, our morning time came to an end, and just in time for Grace girl. Stick a fork

in this little one, she is done. Joking aside, she was ridiculously good the whole time.

After a few hours rest at home, four of us headed back for the evening. And I have to say, at least

for me (and I'm pretty sure the darling three you see above), this was the funnest part of the day.

Love these kids of mine so much. And their sweet dad. 

Days like today make my heart happy.

Chef Nate

Lettuce, rice krispies, brown sugar and water anyone?

Okay, but really, how could you turn down this face?

The oldest and the youngest

There is something hardwired into brothers that makes them wrestle with each other 

whenever they are together. They truly can't help it. Or at least that applies to Allen brothers.

Rodeo night

And we had cousins join us, which was double the fun! I'm glad I didn't take a picture of the group at

any time during the two hours we were in the arena watching the rodeo. After all, the picture outside
 in front of the brick wall screams both "rodeo goers" and "group mug shot" all at the same time.

Almost to a year

I cannot believe we are less than a month away from this little girl turning one.

She makes our family complete, makes us all happy and we love her like crazy.

Oh soccer

Soccer is in full swing again (well, it actually never ends, but slows a tiny bit here and there). And we have three boys playing club this year.

Soccer and I have a love/hate relationship. I absolutely love sitting and watching their games. I love how much each of the boys independently love the game. I love that it pushes them and gets them physical exercise and makes them do hard things. But what it involves as far as practices, trainings, games, tournaments, extra practices, extra trainings, makes me crazy on a pretty-much-weekly basis.

But/So for now and for the foreseeable future, soccer will be a big part of our life.

And I'm so glad. And so moderately to muchly overwhelmed.

But mostly glad.

Cousins and cupcakes

We have some cousins, who don't live by us normally, spend many weeks living just two

minutes away during most of the summer. And we loved it! We were able to get together

several times (including when their parents gave us the kindest gift ever) and had such

a great time whenever they were around. This morning, they were able to come by to 

play and to decorate cupcakes, since each of them had an upcoming birthday quite soon.

Man, we love these guys. And are so glad we share the same last name. Cousins are the best.

A wedding and some favorite friends

Last night, we attended the wedding dinner of the daughter of our some of our closest friends in

Boston. Man, we love the Camaras and when we heard that their daughter was getting married

in this fine state that we moved to over a year ago, we were so very excited to be a part of it.

Then this morning, we were able to attend the temple sealing of the darling bride and groom.

I don't know how I missed getting a picture of Karen, but this photo of Dan

makes us smile. Have I mentioned how much we adore these friends of ours?

And some family members from the groom's side, including his 92-year old grandma.

Once again, seeing her and hearing some of the things she shared, the Lord taught me

the same lesson He has been teaching me for weeks now. And oh my, the entire

wedding dinner outside was truly lovely. We felt so grateful to be a part of it.

The next morning, Jacob and I were able to join them in this beautiful temple.

And the gorgeous bride. 

Marriage is the best. As are good friends. What a fabulous couple of days.

An ordinary life

Do you ever have times when it seems that the Lord is trying to teach you a very specific lesson? That everywhere you turn, the details of this lesson seem to be drawing your attention over and over? I've had that happen often to me over the years and right at this moment, I feel strongly there is a specific lesson I am being taught.

Last week, I received an email from a sweet friend that I worked with for years. Carolyn is one of my favorite people ever and I'm grateful that we continue to keep in touch, even though we haven't worked together in almost 15 years. She wanted to let me know that someone we had worked with, and who I will always have a special place in my heart for, had passed away. I had not even seen Rex in more than 15 years, but was not prepared for how I felt to hear that a fast growing brain tumor had taken his life. Carolyn let me know she would get back to me with details on the funeral.

Earlier today, Rex's family and friends celebrated his life.

I knew I was supposed to go to his funeral, but I almost didn't.

It had been such a busy weekend and I felt like I needed to be with the kids and be at home to take care of many important things. I felt like I had too much to do, to take a couple of hours out of my Monday to sit quietly and listen to Rex's family share about his life. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but even though I had felt that for some reason I really needed to be at this funeral, I talked my way out of it more than once.

And then, just two hours before I needed to be there, I came up with another valid excuse for why I needed to be at home. And suddenly, with quiet stillness, but with great intensity, came the words,

"And are willing to mourn with those that mourn."

I'm grateful the Lord didn't give up on me. I just wish I had only required one impression before I obeyed.

Because as I sat in his 90-minute funeral, I was overcome with emotion over and over again. And yes, much of my emotion was because I was so sad to think that this family had lost their husband and dad and grandpa. But another part of it was because the Lord was teaching me again, as he has in the past several days, a particular lesson that is mine to learn at this time.

An ordinary life is something that the Lord considers beautiful and right and even glorious.

Rex did not spend his life looking for the admiration of others. In the eyes of the world, his life was not full of amazing responsibilities or of great attention or high callings or important career promotions. But to his sweet wife and his six children, their spouses and their children, he meant everything. Because they, and the gospel, were all that mattered to Rex. He served others with near constancy and through those actions, he was serving His God. And that, in this day and age, is not ordinary. At all. It is extraordinary beyond what we can imagine.

In the years that I worked with Rex, he was always happy, always kind, always so fun to be around. And it was truly an honor to know him. In his life, he taught me that being happy, no matter your circumstances, is a choice. But in his death, he taught me that an ordinary life is something to be celebrated, above most anything else. Rex's quiet following of our Savior made his life extraordinary to me. And I believe to our Heavenly Father and His Son. And earlier today, I wept with emotion over the beauty of his ordinary life and my deep desire to have exactly that. And only that.

Thank you sweet Rex. Your example of goodness and discipleship has changed me. I'm so profoundly grateful.

Two years

One of the evenings of our family vacation, I drove back toward home to be at the airport when 

my nephew arrived home from his mission. It was such an honor to be there to see him as he

returned from serving in the same place my parents have been serving for the past three years.

There is nothing like a missionary returning home, to see his family, after being gone for

two whole years. I can't even imagine how it will feel when that missionary is one of mine.

 Here he is just starting down the hall. He sure looks like he is staring straight at me,

but I was hiding behind some other families, so that he would see his family first.

I think he was smiling at the excitement of the other missionary parents.

And his first glance at his family.

Living away from Utah for so many years was not a huge deal to us most days. 

It was just how it was. But on nights like this past Thursday, I remembered 

how grateful I am to be here for these big family moments. What a blessing.