Our Very Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve tradition of reading "The Polar Express", my favorite!

Madi loved her new rocking horse, she had to sit on it to empty her stocking, and eat breakfast

Pierson with his gift from Santa, Flash, the Super-hero. I love his simple request & his excitment!

Madi with her new baby puppy

Madi's gift from Mom & Dad, princess chest!

She immediately got all dressed up and loved it!


Pierce with all of his fun new stuff

Mom & Dad - taken by Pierson (not too bad)

Madi going for the candy...

...mission accomplished! Notice this is the ONLY picture of her smiling! Her shirt is SO appropriate!

Too sweet not to share, we love Uncle Mark! (Who is available! And obviously Sweet, willing to do blind dates!)

We had walked down to our good friends, the Woodburys and had to run home in the wind and rain. As soon as we made it in the door it really picked up. This is how Ryan came in after securing one of our trees, and then helping out neighbors with their run away trampoline. We wrapped up the night with the power going out and having a real candle light dinner. Luckily I had just taken everything out of the oven, and I had just gotten the candles down from the pantry thinking candles would be nice for our Christmas dinner. As soon as got them down, the power went out, talk about good timing!

Grandma Allen

We sweet Grandma Allen passed away on Monday, the 22nd. We had just been up to visit her 3 days before. I was so very thankful that we had made our trip up there when we did, and that we were able to see her. I got to give her a hug and tell her I love her. We took some really sweet pictures with her. My siblings and I were all there together to see her. It was such a blessing for us to have that last visit with her. We will miss her so much, but are so grateful that she is happy and peaceful now. I am so thankful for the knowledge we have of eternal families!


I love you Gram!

Our Annual Christmas Time Trip

Every year we visit my family the weekend before Christmas, so we can see all my family and then be home for Christmas. We had a full weekend and had a lot of fun seeing everyone! Visiting my Grandma Allen in the care center

Pa-Pa & Susan

The whole fam at our get together with my Dad
Deli & Jackson, Rob & Kate, Katie, Dad & Susan, Madi & Ryan
Donovan & Ging, Amber & Amos (Amos just got married last month, this was the first time me got to meet his wife, Amber. Who can believe Amos really got married??!!)
Taylee, Bennett, (Kate's) Me & Pierce

Deli and Me with Grandma Harrop

Visiting my Grandpa Jensen, we went to see his horses with him, Pierce and Madi loved feeding them!

The Allen Sisters- Ging, Jo, Kate, Deli
My sis Kate graduated from nursing school on Sat. We are proud of you Kate!

Pierson & Me visiting my Mom's grave in my hometown, beautiful Huntsville!
There was so much snow up there! You can't really appreciate it in the picture, but we had trudged through the snow and cleared the snow away from my Mom's headstone so we could see the whole thing and leave the little tree.

Gingerbread Houses

We had such a fun time with our great friends, the Woodburys, making gingerbread houses! Kathryn went all out and made homemade gingerbread. We all had so much fun decorating them, I'm not sure who was more into it, Ryan or Pierson. They turned out so cute and it was a fun time for everyone!
Daddy & Pierce, serious business

Madi loved "dec-a-yating" all by herself!

Our finished product (gotta love Madi in this pic)

The great cook, Kathryn (notice her apron)

Pierce & Grant, we had to keep reminding them that it wasn't a contest, that nobodies was better, such boys!

Daddies with their girls

Kathryn & Me

Santa Fun Filled Day!

The kids had a fun filled Saturday! We started off with our ward Christmas breakfast- the kids loved having muffins, singing Christmas songs with the primary and getting a candy cane from Santa. Saturday night we headed to Ryan's family Christmas party. It was great. The kids loved seeing Santa, again, and got a little more one on one time with him this time, he was a sweet Santa. The kids had fun with cousins and of course all the yummy food was great.
This was too cute not to share, Madi practically dove into Bishop Brooks' arms! She was loving him.

Pierson and his "best friend that's a girl", Elle, singing with the primary kids

We love Santa!

Pierce & Madi with hugs for Santa

WE LOVE TWILIGHT!!!

Melanie's #4, Tonya's #6, Lyndsi's #2, Staci's 1ST! (so glad we could be there for her!) Josie's #2

Lyndsi, Melanie, Tonya, Staci

Thank goodness for our "We LOVE Twilight" Support Group! So great to share in our obsession! Thanks for a great night girls! I am totally there for anyone who needs me for another show.

What a great night! I got to go see Twilight again with fun group of girls from my ward. I think I enjoyed the movie more the 2nd time. Although I was disappointed, once I accepted those disappointments, I could enjoy it more for the good parts. And there are a lot of good parts!

Princess Party

Birthday hugs for Annie
The Little Princesses- Allie, Annie, Madi, Ava
My amazing friend, Kathryn, threw the most darling princess party for her little Annie's birthday. She puts my parties to shame, it was the cutest thing ever! The girls had so much fun making their own crowns, decorating them with jewels, making their own bead necklaces, and having the cutest princess tea part ever! Complete with pink chair covers, matching table cloth, and the cutest pink castle cake! The cutest (and quietest, gotta love girls!) party I've ever seen!