O Christmas Trees!

It's just the beginning of December and although we have ten (yes ten!) Christmas parties coming up, two of my favorite holiday traditions took place last week.

The first is going to the Festival of Trees on opening night with my mom. We have done this the past 3 years and it is such a treat! It's a fun time to get in the holiday spirit, think about giving back (all proceeds go to Primary Children's Hospital) and just visit with my mom. On opening night everything is available for bidding, and although we don't always bid on something, this year we did. There was a new section at the festival this year... quilts! We found an adorable quilt, perfect for our upcoming baby boy. It has little sailboats on it, is just the right shades of blue, green and brown, and is so snuggly soft! As her gift to the baby, my mom bid on and won that beautiful quilt. I am so excited to decorate the nursery with that as the jumping off point! Thanks mom!!!!

I had so much fun this year at the Festival that Branden and I decided to bring Marina a few nights later. It was ridiculously crowded, but still so fun. Marina LOVED looking at all of the trees. This was her face pretty much the entire time... Wow!



That put us in just the right mood for another favorite Christmas tradition of mine, going to get a real Christmas tree. Those of you who have artificial trees, I just don't know how you do it! Despite the needles, watering etc, you just can't beat walking into a house with a live Christmas tree. They are so gorgeous and the smell is amazing. So Saturday afternoon we made a last minute decision that it was the right time to get our tree. I borrowed some random warm clothes from my mom's house since we were already there, then Marina and I headed off to meet Branden at our favorite tree lot. I love this picture of Marina in the car as we were headed out. She looks so devious.



This is not really a favorite tradition for Branden, but he was a good sport as always.

This year our ceilings are much higher, so we didn't have to worry about getting a smaller tree. We picked out what looked like a tall-ish Noble Fir that was perfect, full and had absolutely no holes or uneven areas. Seriously, the most beautiful tree I've ever seen!


Well, we got it home and it turns out it was a little larger than it looked at the tree lot.


After some furniture rearranging it worked perfectly in our family room. That night and the next day I worked on decorating it. Since we don't have a ladder, I resorted to standing on our empty water storage tank. It was a little tricky, but the end result is pretty good! Merry Christmas!!!!

Thankful

Thanksgiving was quite an event at the Allen home this year! Branden and I hosted his entire family for Thanksgiving dinner and for activities that weekend. That includes Branden's parents, 4 siblings plus spouses and 13 nieces & nephews. For dinner we also had my parents, brothers, Uncle Mike and grandparents. That's a total of 32 people. It was awesome!

I started preparing well in advance with seating charts and even a "practice run" where I set up all the dishes and labeled where things would go. Call me crazy, but I'm a planner.


The events started Wednesday night when we went swimming at the Legacy Center in Lehi. For those of you who haven't been there, it is such a fun place. The kids loved all the little water slides and the giant bucket that dumps water everywhere every 5 minutes or so. The adults loved the big water slide too. Unfortunately, we were having so much fun that we didn't get any pics.

Thursday we all gathered at our house. The kids mostly hung out upstairs in Marina's room where we set up the Wii Rock Band and basically let them do whatever they wanted up there. The room was a mess when I checked, but all the kids were happy and everything got put away by the end of the day.


The adults got to relax downstairs, watch football and cook together. My sisters-in-law Melissa, Tiffini and niece Kylie helped me make the apple pies. I was also grateful that my sister-in-law Tasha had used the same brining recipe that I was using for the turkey and was there for advice along the way. This was my first year making a turkey, but it turned out gorgeous!



Overall, we had WAY too much food- tons of dips and snacks for during the day, 2 turkeys, a ham, 2 kinds of stuffing plus all the other fixings and NINE pies! We ate leftovers for days and never got through it all.


I'd say ALMOST everyone enjoyed the food immensely. My poor nephew Ben kept falling asleep at the table. He would say, "Mom, my eyes won't let me eat!"


That night we had a cousin gift exchange which was so fun for all the kids. Marina LOVES playing with her cousins. She especially loves Holland, Riley, Ben and baby Jack because they are closest to her age. She doesn't have any cousins on my side of the family, so having all the Allens over was a special treat for her!



Friday morning/night at midnight all of the women went Black Friday shopping, well almost all. I was feeling sick from staying up late several nights in a row and when Branden tried to wake me up at 11:45 I told him to get lost. This is my first year missing the shopping, but I think sleep was more important for my worn out, prego self this year.

Friday we got ready and all headed over to Wheeler Farm for family pictures. They aren't done yet, or I would post them here. We are so excited to see how they turned out! I had to post this quick pic of Marina and her cousin Holland "swimming" in our tub that morning. Marina adores Holland, who is one year older.


Then we all rode TRAX downtown for dinner at Stoneground, one of our favorite restaurants. Although the dinner was long, the food was wonderful, the kids were all pretty well behaved and we enjoyed chatting and just hanging out together. The plan was to later go check out the lights, but we were all freezing cold after just a minute outside so instead we headed back home for hot cocoa and... more pie!


We are so thankful to have spent the holiday with our family! I am also thankful that we were able to squeeze everyone into the new house and a tiny bit thankful that the pressure is now off :) I hope everyone else had as a Happy Thanksgiving with their families as we had with ours!

Happy Belated Birthday Marina :)

November 6th was Marina's 2nd Birthday. We can't believe how much our little girl has grown up! She has gone from being a baby that I could snuggle and care for to a big girl who is my best buddy. She is such a good friend to her mom. When I was feeling sick in bed or throwing up, Marina would come over, pat my back and ask, "you ok mommy?" She is also the best at giving hugs and kisses. Besides always giving love to her family and friends, Marina will hug random people at church or any kid she sees. She is so friendly too. In the grocery store, she will say "hi...hi...hi!" to almost everyone she sees. She keeps it up until they respond. I love my little Marina Mae!!!
The morning of Marina's birthday we got out a special Little Mermaid candle that she had picked out and put it on her cinnamon roll for breakfast. After singing "Happy Birthday" she got to blow out her candle. She thought this was pretty much the best thing ever and so we did it another 4 or 5 times. Over the next couple of days we sang "Happy Birthday" and blew out a candle with every meal or snack. She loved it!


That night we opened presents from mom & dad and grandpa & grandma. Marina was a huge fan of the easel she got and still plays with it every day. The next day was the birthday party!


I made the cake with lots of tips and help from my friend Rebecca. Marina picked a "bear" theme because she loves her teddy bear (named Mr. Bear) so much.


At the party the kids got to decorate hats for themselves and their bears...



Go on a bear hunt...

Make Build-A-Bears...




& eat lots of cake and ice cream!



Marina got so spoiled by all her little friends. She was in heaven opening up so many fun toys! Thanks to all of her friends who came and shared this special day with her. After all was said and done we were left with a little bit of a mess and some tired teddy bears. The perfect ending to any birthday party.

It's beginning to look a lot like... Halloween???

Today I am trying to play catch up, so here is a VERY belated post about Halloween. It is of course one of my favorite holidays, especially since it also happens to be my birthday.

I am still kicking myself that I forgot to take pictures of our Annual Halloween party. We had so much fun, especially because we got to know several new friends from our new neighborhood. There's nothing like the newlywed game to bring people closer together :)

Marina had several chances to trick-or-treat this year. The first was at dance class. She was tinkerbell and loved dancing to Halloween music with her buddy Sadie and other friends from her dance class.

We also went to Branden's work for their Halloween party and trick-or-treating. They always go all out for activities during the holidays. Marina loved walking around to all the different departments and practicing her trick-or-treating skills. She wanted to be a monkey (a costume I had bought awhile ago just because it was such a good sale). I put a small pink bow on the monkey costume, but everyone still said, "what a cute little boy you have!" Oh well.


For my birthday/Halloween I got to take the day off work, so Branden and Marina took me to Kneaders for french toast in the morning. Yummy! This year I was feeling pretty sick most of the afternoon, but still had a good time trick-or-treating with Branden, Marina and some of our friends later in the evening. Marina was a monkey again, so Branden and I dressed to coordinate with her.

All of the kids got a huge kick out of my banana suit, but most were terrified of Branden's gorilla mask. Initially we were worried Marina would be scared, but she LOVED it. Sometimes Branden would take his mask off to show kids that he wasn't really a gorilla. Marina would march over and say, "No dad, mask on!" So cute. The other good news about our costumes is that we were all toasty warm during the cold night. We had a great time seeing lots of our old neighbors from Legacy Ranch.

Baby #2 (Not a trick this time)

In case you didn't catch the last post, or my post on facebook, or notice my expanding waistline, or hear me puking at work...

Yes, we are expecting Allen baby #2, due May 8th. We are thrilled to welcome another little one into our family. The pregnancy has been a little rough so far despite some excellent anti-nausea medication. Poor Branden had to deal with me curled up in bed a lot moaning "you did this to me!" and little Marina would come pat me on the leg while I puked into the sink and say "you ok mommy?" Now that I am about 16 weeks along, things seem to be on the upswing. Despite the sickness I have still gained a couple pounds and I am already being tempted by those loose and comfortable maternity clothes (although I know I will hate them in a few more months).

The most exciting thing so far has been our ultrasound last week. Branden and I were both so excited to find out that we are having a boy! Marina already loves to give kisses to "baby brother" in my tummy and we know they will be great little buddies. This little man is all boy- check out the picture below of him flexing his muscles. :)



And incase you don't believe that we are having a boy or that the ultrasound can be so sure so early, here's the "money shot."

Oops...

So I guess I have been a little busy or something lately, but I realized I have missed some major things along the way. For posterity's sake, here's a few big things that have happened in the last few months...

CALI & DISNEYLAND
Starting clear back in July- we went to California for my cousin's wedding and got to go to Disneyland as a bonus. We loved staying with my cousin Jessica, her husband Parker, and their gorgeous little girl Siena. Marina is in love with Siena. They are almost exactly a year apart, so they can't quite play together yet, but I know that in a few years they will be the best of friends.

Below, Marina wanted to hold "baby Siena" but since Siena weighs only 1 pound less than Marina... well let's just say Marina got more than she bargained for.


Marina and I are both major beach lovers. We were thrilled to spend a couple days at the beach waiting for dad to fly down and join us in California.


Everyone told me that taking a 20 month old to Disneyland in August would be a huge mistake... long lines... cranky girl.... etc. Actually, it turned out to be an amazing day. For the first several hours, there were hardly any lines at all. We waited 5-15 minutes for most rides the whole morning. It was a miracle! Marina was an angel and loved all the rides and characters (well she loved the characters from afar. We waited 40 minutes to see Mickey Mouse and she was excited right until she actually got next to him. Then she pushed him away and freaked out. Oh well.) Besides that we had an awesome day. I can't wait to go back!



LAKE POWELL
We left Marina with my aunt Karen (a lifesaver!) for a few days and went down to hang out at Lake Powell with my family. Our friends from Australia, my awesome cousin Nicole and a few new friends from Rhode Island were also able to join in the fun. My favorite things by far were tubing and just relaxing with my hot hubby. Here are a few battle shots....

Yes, in the picture above I am taking Nicole down with my leg. We don't mess around here.


DANCE CLASS
Marina Mae started dance class with her friend Sadie. Her favorite part is running around the floor yelling "chasse...chasse...chasse." Every now and then she actually does a chasse. It is pretty much the highlight of our week. :)


MOVING DAY
We finally moved into our new house, but I have no pictures to share of a lovely, decorated home. This pic of moving day will have to suffice until I get my act together, finally start painting and decorating, and take some pictures to share. For now, we are loving just being in the new house.


I just really like this picture of Marina playing with her Mr. Potato Head (Disney edition) body parts.


FINALLY
The real reason I have been so delinquent in my posting, decorating and other duties is that I have been sick, sick, sick!!! No, I don't have swine flu, thank goodness. My sickness has lasted about 9 weeks so far and it has been awful. In fact, the last time I remember being this sick was when I was pregnant with Marina... So, if you made it this far through my long, long post... well, now you know.