Silly Girl

This is Allie's latest thing - whenever I pull the camera out to take pictures, she becomes silly. She won't let me take a normal picture of her anymore. She's been my hardest child to photograph her entire life - she'd turn her head, or not look at the camera with her eyes, or walk away, and now silly! I guess payback will be in her wedding video someday...

She's going to hate this post when she's older...

So, I was scrolling through my camera the other day and let out a belly laugh. Allie took some pictures of herself with my camera and these are a few of them. She really is an adorable little girl, but she looks like she has 5 chins in these pictures! For the next few weeks, everything I needed a good laugh - I'd look at these silly pics. She's a ham!

Future Composer?

Allie has discovered a love for drawing & writing on paper. Her latest is writing songs... This is one I found on the counter one morning. She is so talented and works so hard when she puts her mind to it!
I guess no one wanted to sit on the couch by me ;-)

Halloween Houses

I knew we'd have lots of down time at home after Owen was born, so I tried to come up with some fun projects the kids could do. I envisioned baking gingerbread house pieces to decorate Halloween, but since I had a 2 week old fussy baby, the gingerbread turned into graham crackers frosted over milk cartons. Luckily, they didn't care one bit, and had a blast decorating their houses with all sorts of candies and treats.


Owen didn't cooperate too well and was fussy so I had to hold/rock him the entire time they were doing the project. The kids were on their own & had to do most of it themselves. As you can see, they didn't mind a bit! Drew was adorable trying to frost his house all by himself. He had a couple extra layers of graham crackers on one side - I stopped him after he layered 4 graham crackers with frosting... He thought it was fun! I think they both ate as much as they put on their houses...

I am humbled all the time by my wonderful children. For the chance to be their mother and to raise them. They bring me such joy in my life. At times I am glad they are getting bigger and older and are amazed at the things they can do all by themselves. But at the same time, I want them to stay little forever!! We have so much fun laughing and playing and being silly. I truly enjoy being with my children.

To stache or no stache - That is the question...

Okay... So, we have a little dilemma in our house. I am NOT a fan of facial hair. I don't like how rough and prickly it is. I prefer Dan clean shaven. But Allie begs and begs her dad to not shave. "Please daddy, just leave your mustache - I love it!" Is she serious? She truly loves his "stache". One time she even cried when he shaved it after letting it grow after a long weekend. Dan sometimes shaves it to a Hitler mustache - she likes that too!!! Where did I go wrong?!?

Field Trip

October 20, 2009: Allie went on a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch with her preschool class. I had just had a baby, so I wasn't able to go with her this time. She had a great time, and felt so old going all by herself. They decorated pumpkins, rode the tractor ride, saw all the animals, and jumped in the moon bounce. She's grown up so much this year. She's been a huge help with the baby. Her and Drew have become closer and better friends, since they often have days and days of only playing with each other. Allie has such a fun personality, its so fun to see her grow!

A Toy Story Halloween

The kids were looking forward to Halloween this year. They carried around their pumpkins for a couple days practicing trick or treating. Drew would come up to me and say "trick or treat" and want me to put pretend candy into his pumpkin.


When I asked the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween, Drew instantly knew he wanted to be "Woody" from Toy Story. He has been watching Toy Story 2 alot lately, and loves Woody. He has a Woody figure from the Disney store from his Grammy Scarbrough, and he LOVES it... He pretends it gets ripped, and we have to act out the scene. He comes to me sad and says "Woody is broken" and hands me Woody. Then I have to say "toys don't last forever" and then put him up like he's on the shelf. Then he walks away sad to cowboy camp... It is hilarious. His imagination has exploded lately, he loves to pretend.

Allie also was deciding between Jessie and Lil' Bo Peep (from Toy Story), but the puffy dress won. Her Grammie Barnette made her a mesh slip to make Bo Peeps dress puffy - Allie loved it... She would wear her other dress ups with it and twirl around. She also loved playing with the staff that came with the costume. She uses it as a cane sometimes - pretending she is a grandma who needs it to walk.

The kids were adorable in their costumes. Allie was an adorable Bo Peep, and Drew was the cutest cowboy you've ever seen. He'd take his hat off his head slightly and say "howdie". He would truly get into character. It was a hoot.

Dan took the kids to our ward fall festival on Friday night. They had cotton candy, popcorn, booths and games, and a moon bounce. The kids had a blast!!! Drew was so excited about the 4 pieces of candy he won.

On Saturday, we stayed in our neighborhood and went around with Jackie Engel & her kids. Dan pulled the kids in the wagon, and I pushed Owen in the stroller. The kids would race up to the door to get some candy. At some of the houses, the people would let the kids pick their candy out of the bowl. Drew would keep reaching in and take another piece and another piece of candy. At one house, I saw that he took 5 pieces of candy, one by one. The lady never stopped him, she let him keep going and going. We finally had to put a stop to it before he emptied her entire bucket!

The kids each had full pumpkins by the end of the night. We've been eating Halloween candy round the clock. As soon as they wake up, the are asking for candy. Drew LOVES candy (just like his uncle Taylor!) Drew's candy bag is almost gone, and Allie still has over 1/2 of hers left.