Our Palisades vacation ~ Tuesday edition

Our second day of vacation was spent boating, boating and more boating. With some cliff
jumping, dance moves and ballet on the dock mixed in. It was a really wonderful day.

Our Palisades vacation ~ Monday edition

 
For the fourth year in a row, we spent a week during the summer on vacation with three of our favorite
families ever. We had some missionaries away (and boy did we miss them), but still managed to have
eight adults and nineteen kids (with several of those being adults themselves, but I still counted them
as children to their parents). It is the best week ever, hands down and we still have yet to have a fight
or issue with anyone (except siblings of course, because well, siblings) and all of the kids seem to tell
us every year it is too short. Love these people and this week so crazy much! And the new destination
wasn't half shabby either. Meaning it was my absolute favorite and I loved everything about it.

Freedom and gratitude

So deeply grateful for my country, my family and my God.

An evening on the lake

Sometimes, you spend the evening at the lake and the light is just something else.

This sweet boy not only learned to surf in just a few tries, but not long later,
learned to throw the rope into the boat and surf without it. And when I got this
photo of him with that light shining down on him...ack, I sure love our Nathan boy.

This darling girl (of the hand, not the ladybug) worked so hard at trying
to learn to surf. She is getting close. But when she decided to switch
gears and body surf, that was hilarious and amazing. She is a brave one.
She also spent a couple of hours with this ladybug being her best friend.

Because the sun was coming right at me, I wasn't sure how this picture
looked when I was taking it. But my mind wanted it to be fabulous.
So I asked Jacob to look at me. And when I saw the end result later...
oh my word, I love Jacob Allen. Have I ever mentioned that before?

I don't know of much I love better than being on the lake as
the sun goes down. This sunset reminded me of our Annie girl, as most
sunsets do these days. So much beauty. The horizon and the girl.

Our daring girl

She is just so, so happy. With the best companion (who we love like crazy),
learning the language so quickly, loving the members of the church and really
just anyone she meets and laughing her way through it all. Her testimony of her
Savior is deep and powerful. What she writes in her weekly emails about Him and
our Father in Heaven is profound and beautiful and it makes me cry. I often can’t
stop thinking about her insights for days afterwards. I’m just so grateful for
our Hermana Allen. Being her mom means absolutely everything to me.

A pretty exciting day

It’s not that our wedding day and the day each of our children were born weren’t hugely significant,

but they might pale in comparison to Jacob’s day yesterday. Kidding, kidding. Mostly.

All joking aside, we are so thankful for our incredible friends, the Dastrups, and the
opportunity to share this beautiful boat with them. It really is a dream come true for us.
That also came about because of Jacob’s ridiculously hard work at a career he loves and
mostly, the Lord being far more kind than we ever deserve. We are just so grateful.

And so excited for the memories that are ahead for us. Most of our happiest family memories are around
boating and we sure are thankful for the years that Jacob’s parents so generously shared their boat with us.

Oh man, here goes something pretty exciting. We are so crazy grateful.

Ogden Peaks soccer tournament

 

This crazy handsome boy played in a soccer tournament championship this afternoon. And while his team was disappointed to take second, any of us watching could tell you these boys were absolutely amazing. Especially considering they played in the semifinal and championship game within three hours of each other.

Speaking of the semifinals, with less than two minutes left of the game, Ben shot a PK to take his team into the championship match and I will never forget that moment. Our darling Nate had a consolation game at the same time (they won!) and was willing to leave his game five minutes early, with the hopes we could catch the last five minutes of Ben’s game. I had no idea Ben was even shooting a PK, but I parked at the high school and ran up the steps, rounding the corner as the ref blew his whistle and Benjamin put that ball in the net. I couldn’t help myself and started to cry because I was just so happy for my boy. It was kind of the best.

Here’s to incredible boys (times two), four days of a whole lot of soccer, some crazy warm weather and my really wonderful life. I’m grateful for all of it. But also, holy bananas, I’m so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open.

This boy of ours

I love that guy in the middle so much I could burst. He's just unreal fantastic. And on Sunday morning, Jacob and I had the chance to wake up early and drive down to Provo to hear him speak in church. And the talk he gave--it still brings me to tears to think about it. It was just so beautiful and inspiring and full of goodness and truth. And delivered only as Campbell Allen can. I wish everyone could have heard it.

And then this picture. That sweet lady on the right came up to me after sacrament meeting to tell me how much she loves our boy, how grateful she is for him and how she thinks he's pretty much the coolest. She told me about this picture here and said it was one of her favorite photos ever and she actually has it up in her home. Her husband, there on left, is a member of the bishopric in Campbell's ward and Cam told me they are two of his favorite people in the world.

Good grief, I can't get over people who love and care about my kids to this degree and how deeply thankful I am for them. I also can't get over amazing young men who give tremendous talks that make their mother emotional with the privilege of being a parent to someone so incredible.

Oh I love Campbell Allen. He's one of the very best. And having him as my son is one of the greatest honors I could ever imagine.

Today on Father's Day...

 
The best thing I ever did for my children was to pick this man for their father. I don't know that they truly and
completely understand how deeply and wholly they are each loved by him, but I know that he makes it
easier for them to believe in a Father in Heaven who is perfectly kind, profoundly loving and unconditionally
at their side. He means everything to us and gives everything for us. I'm just so grateful for him.

Our Hermana Allen

So love this girl, so missing her, so wanting to be more like her. Every single day.

These Allen brothers

These six fabulous Allen brothers went on a big old hike yesterday. And even though they
missed their darling sister who was celebrating her husband's birthday, I know they were
grateful to all be together, especially with the only brother who currently lives out of state.
(Can someone fix that for me, pretty please? I need Andrew and Jess and kids in my life
on a very regular basis.) It was a really good day for Jacob and I'm so glad he could go.

Matt's senior trip

At the beginning of June, Matt went on a senior trip to Hawaii with several
of his close friends. It looked amazing and I loved seeing small snapshots
of the wonderful week these newly-graduated seniors had together.

I'm so thankful for the three parents that not only made the details of the trip possible,
but also went and made it so fun and safe. And for Matt. Because we do something else
for our kids when they turn eighteen/graduate, he paid for the trip himself. It was a big
deal and I'm proud of him for making it happen and so thrilled he had an amazing time.

I so love this incredible boy of ours and the wonderful friends he chooses
to be around. It is definitely a happy thing for this mom to watch.

 

Aaronic Priesthood camp

So much goodness and light and power in one photo. These young men and their leaders
are just tremendous. Especially that Ben Allen. He's most definitely my favorite.

Tonight's sky