Molasses???

The other day Allie and I were riding in the car and she said
"Mom when I become a mom I am going to name my daughter Molasses"
I was a little confused and asked her why she liked that name and she simply said that it is a pretty name. So o.k. I guess that settles that.

Saints and Pioneers

My stake put on Saints and Pioneers this week. If you ever get the chance to go it is really good. To be honest I probably would not of taken the time to go if Brent's sister Brooke was not in it. I am glad she was because it was FABULOUS! Brooke had a solo on Friday night and she was so good! If you have ever had the pleasure to hear her sing you know what I am talking about. She is very talented. All of the music was so powerful. It really makes me grateful that I haven't had to face all the trials that the pioneers did. I hold a special place in my heart for their bravery. Enough about that...... if you ever have the opportunity to go you should, you will be glad you did! Great job everyone:)

5 Years Gone Already!!!

Where has the time gone... Today is Allie's birthday and she turned 5. She has been birthday obsessed all year. I am just really glad this day finally came so that now we can finally talk about something else.

I can't believe it's already been 5 years since our little black-haired, big-eyed, and fully tanned princess was born. She was such a good baby. Too bad we can't rewind and play it all over again... Oh wait... I guess we can... We have Rylie!
Happy 5th Birthday Allie!!!

Blog Award

Natalie nominated me for a blog award! Wow... I would just like to thank my family and friends for making this possible. (Hee Hee) Well thanks Natalie for this and I would love to pass it on to some other deserving bloggers.

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."
Here are my eight nominees:

Brooke

Sharla

Jennifer

Loni

Mom

Tara

Amber

Candi

Pink and Purple Through and Through

Allie and I went on a Daddy Daughter Date the other day... She seems to get left out of alot of the boy trips to The Home Depot and Cabelas, so I promised I would take her out on a date. I told her that she could choose any restaurant in the world and that she could order anything she wanted. She got all excited, her eyes got real big, and she says, "You mean... we get to go to Taco Bell?!!!!" Oh Man! Do I love a cheap date! Allie is not the biggest eater in the bunch, if I took her to the Hard Rock, she'd never get past the appetizer. But, I did at least convince her from Taco Bell to IHOP for a little French Toast and Sausage (with chocolate milk of course) for Dinner, then to the Golden Spoon for some Frozen Yogurt (2 bites and she was done).

Then we went to the MALL... She was so excited! She'd never been to the Mall. That's right... I try to keep her away from the same places that I try to keep her mother from. So I took her to the See's (candy) store and we bought a whole bag of chocolates... After eating maybe half of one, she was done. Like I said...Not much of an eater. Apparently, the rest of the $10 bag was for me.

While we were there, Jaime called and sent me on a shoe hunt. There was a particular pair of shoes that Allie's cousin had that Allie absolutely loved, and Jaime sent me on a quest to find them. Long story short, they had been discontinued and Allie was crushed. So I told her that she could choose any pair of shoes in the "entire Mall." For those of you who know me... I've been trying to turn Allie into a tomboy from the day she was born. I always been convinced that it was dependant on how you were raised...well to this day (with Allie) I have been proven wrong. Allie is Pink and Purple through and through. I of course was trying to get her to choose some nice nike sneakers or comfortable long lasting athletic shoe, at least one with shoestrings. You know something that she can run, or play ball or sports in. "NO DADDY! I WANT THE PINK SHOES WITH THE PRETTY FLOWERS AND WHITE POLKA-DOTS."

I give up...
B:

Who Sait It Was a Snow Campout?

So last weekend we decided to take the kids and the toys up to the mountains for a couple days on a family campout. The Weather Report did say it was going to be pretty windy, which it was.... We actually drove around for a while until we finally found a small valley that was fairly calm. So we unpacked all the gear, set up our tents and sleeping bags for the kids, when all of a sudden it started to SNOW!!! Nowhere did we read anything about snow. Maybe a little rain was mentioned, but NO snow. And it snowed for like an hour, til our tents were all white and the ground was frozen. We weren't exactly prepared for a snow trip, nor was our tent equiped for the snow, with a full mesh screen ceiling (for excellent air circulation), protected only by the rain fly. Let's just say it was a very windy and very cold night. Fortunately, we were somewhat prepared when it came to the proper sleeping accessories, which kept us from freezing, but we were all forced to sleep with our heads under the covers. It stayed uncomfortably cold all through the next morning, even with a good sized fire, so we decided to pack out after lunch and spend the rest of the campout in Grandma and Papa's family room. That's right... we ended up toasting our smores over Papa's new firepit and enjoying a little family room campout fun playing Guitar Hero on the Wii... No complaints here... we should do it again soon...

The 2-minute pop up tent....Right?........

Wrong!!!! This one took a few tries to get it up right...

Comfortable?

Allie wasn't liking the cold too much.

Ummm.... Thanks Jaime... :)

Camp cookies!

Camp clothing accessories...

Camping in comfort and style!

Camp Crybaby...

The 1% of the trip Kaleb's not crying.... A very rare scene indeed...

Cuddlin' with Grandma...

Ohhhhhh.... so cute!

Rylie going for a ride on Momma.

True luxury Family Room Camping

Ethan and Allie discovering hidden talents...

Papa rockin' to a little Bon Jovi...

Lemonade Season

Last week we came home from Grandma and Grandpa Great's with LOADS of lemons. They have the absolute BIGGEST lemon tree I have ever seen, which kicks out thousands and thousands of lemons each year. We squeezed, and squeezed, and squeezed until our hands were sore. The freezer's now packed with enough lemon juice to last us for a year. We filled the 5 gallon camping thermos full of lemonade for the kids to drink to their heart's content.