Our Annie in Annie

This past weekend, Annie girl performed in a play that she has been practicing for since last
September. She has been taking weekly lessons with a music/theater group here in our area and

was chosen several months ago to be Grace, Mr. Warbucks' assistant, in the play Annie.

She really did such an amazing job and when she walked onstage in her first scene, 

I'm pretty sure I gasped aloud, at how old and grown up she looked. She delivered 

her lines so perfectly and sang so beautifully, I was a pretty proud mom.

Love this Annie girl of ours so much.

(What a fun reminder of three years ago in a little place called Massachusetts.)

May phone pics

Another visit to the ranch store. It was Nate's turn to see the new chicks.

After finding out I have some inflammation/nerve damage in my right foot, my sports

medicine doctor wanted to test me for rheumatoid arthritis and sent me directly over to

the lab, after an office visit. For the most part, I tried hard not to think about it, but when

the results came back negative, I was actually surprised at the depth of my relief.

We really do visit other stores that are not ranch/feed stories, but apparently the

months of April and May did not reflect that very well. A different store, more baby

chicks and this time, two little kids who could have watched them for a good hour or three.

For ten years, our children have been playing soccer. And I have never seen anything like this game
Matt played at the beginning of May. Never. This picture doesn't even begin to show the true
amount of rain coming down. Every once in a long while my heart feels like soccer is a dumb sport.

I got to accompany Ben's class on a walking field trip. I loved being with that amazing boy of mine.

Matt giving his state presentation to the class. This boy was born a presenter. It was something

else to watch. And the Powerpoint he did with zero help from anyone...truly awesome. I'm a fan.

Elder L. Tom Perry

I'm so incredibly happy for him and so extremely sad 

for his sweet wife and family. I have been surprised at 

how often tears have come to my eyes today when 

I think that this giant of a man (in every sense

of the word) is gone from this earth.

My favorite quote from Elder Perry:

"We can’t predict all the struggles and storms in life, not even the ones just around the next corner, but as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come."

{From the talk, Let Him Do It with Simplicity}

Elder Perry, you will be missed.

Cuteness for all

Matt and the district decathlon

Our awesome Matt was chosen as one of eight kids in his whole school to 

participate in a district-wide decathlon competition. And no, it wasn't as intense 

as the professional one you are thinking of, but the ten events they chose were 

really challenging and fun to watch. We were so proud of Matt and how well he did.

Waiting in line for his turn to begin. I love this boy.

Just right before he started his speed stacking event and shocked everyone

with his time. He beat his old record of just over 6 seconds with 5.7 seconds.

More waiting. This time to run the 200 meter dash.

Matt is himself. He could care less if no one else was starting in sprint position,

he wanted to and so that is what he did. I love that he doesn't let peer pressure get to him.

And even if all of the photos I tried to take of his 200-meter dash were blurry,
I still loved this one so much. This boy is fast. He came in first with a great time.

The jumping of the rope.

And the shuttle run. Matt doesn't find a need for his feet to touch the
ground while he is running. He doesn't have time for such nonsense.

And the whole school team with their PE teacher.
Did I mention I seriously love that boy on the far right?

Entertainment for all

Yesterday I took some pictures of the kids and ended up with an outtake or ten.

And since they are clearly the best part of torturing my kids, I was pretty happy.

Happy, sad, hysteria, all three at once? 

We don’t discriminate against any emotion at the Allen house.

The set up was ridiculously bad, the closed eyes added to the greatness, but at

least Grace saved it with that lovely look on her face. Sweet waffles, help us all.

 This is totally what I meant when I asked him to look at me and smile.

Um, Grace, somehow you are making the group shot

 above look like the professional photo of the year.

 How my request to smile turned into this fine photo, I’ll never know. She really isn’t an angry child. 

But me thinks I’d better get her into anger management anyway. You know, to be safe.

 While taking a photo of another one of the kids, I turned around to Nate setting up his own

individual shot. And he obviously nailed it. Don’t be jealous, Olan Mills, don’t be jealous.

Sorry Ben, no matter how many crazy faces you pull, I’m still 

going to pester you until I get a real smile. Carry on.

 A couple of years ago I got a really great hugging picture of my kids. Clearly it went to my head.

 Err, what?

Please make my mommy stop taking pictures. I’ll work on my anger, I promise.

Champions

Campbell's competition soccer team won the tournament for his age group this afternoon.
The game went into overtime and then penalty kicks and shaved a few months off of my life.
But it sure was fun to watch, especially considering the end result. I was so happy for Cam the man.

And in related news, in a decision a long time coming (at least two years), our boys will

no longer be playing comp soccer. They are officially done as of this afternoon. They are

signed up for rec soccer for next fall and even though it was really difficult to make the

decision official, it is right for our family at this time. Good things are ahead for sure!

Wedding luncheon for J&J

My sweet friend and neighbor came over a few weeks ago and asked if I would mind taking photos for the wedding luncheon of her son and his soon-to-be wife. It was going to be held in my friend's backyard on a Saturday afternoon. I was more than glad to do it and was touched that she would ask me.

I wasn't nervous at all about it. (I had already made sure she was clear, clear, clear on the fact that I am not a photographer. I love to take photos and take loads of them, but if she was looking for super fancy and perfectly edited pictures, she had the wrong person.) And I was pretty excited to photograph people who actually wanted me to be taking pictures of them.

Until last night. When my darling friend called to say that because of the rain, they had to move the wedding luncheon to our church. I acted like that was just great and got off the phone and the nervous hit me hard. Inside lighting is not my friend. I don't know enough about photography or my camera to make sure the majority of my indoor photos turn out well. (Yes, I should probably take a class. No, the most effective photography tool is probably not the one I constantly use--take 15 shots of the same pose so the likelihood of one turning out is pretty good.)

The wedding luncheon was just a few hours ago. And I am more than relieved to report that they did turn out. Many of them, in fact.

(A handful to show you below. You're welcome.)

Of course, if I had thought a little more, I would have realized that the darlingness of the bride and groom pretty much guaranteed they would be perfect.

Phew. I'm so grateful.

(No need to point out that half of the ones I shared above were actually taken outside.
Just focus on the loveliness please. And the fact that they aren't a blurry mess.)

Playing with friends

One million

I might have cried when I saw the official announcement come through.