Brought to my attention...;)

So it's brought to my attention by certain friends that I seemed to have 'forgotten' that I have a blog....HA!!.... so I kinda did;)  I realize it's been almost a year, we've been trying to finish the basement, I've had baby #2 (LOVE that little man!!), tried to recover from THAT fiasco, and had life thrown at us this year of 2012 (gotta say it hasn't been my fave...but I'm learning a LOT!!), and I really do want to do better at "blogging" some of our family moments, so here's my 'improved attempt' over the next while to up date this here blog o ours..., maybe tomorrow that is;) The boys are waking up-not a lot I can do about that one!!

Meet the new addition to the family!!

Meet Parker Lloyd!! Born 11-3-11 at 5:17 in the morning. 8 lbs 3 ounces 19 inches long!!:)






He's a healthy little man and for that we are truly grateful!!!!:) (Now if mommy can just get better!!)

We're alive, I promise!!

So it's kind of ironic that I'm always checking friend's blogs to see if they've updated and yet I never update this thing of ours;) Figure I need to change that a bit!!

A LOT (multiply by 100) has changed for us this year, and we've stayed busy through it all. Here's a "quick" low down of what's been going:

#1 BIGGEST SURPRISE EVER-finding out I was pregnant again!! My due date is 11-11-11 (NO that was not planned-again, key in on the word SURPRISE above and the fact that I won't be lasting until 11-11-11)and we are having another little BOY!!!! Yeah...there's a whole story behind this but obviously Heavenly Father was just laughing at any plans of mine and went with HIS instead;) Which we all know it's for the better:) It's been an interesting ride, lots of new things and not so good things going on with this pregnancy but I'm just thankful to be this far along (30 weeks!!)and still be going!! It's amazing what you will do for your kids:)

This summer has been full of traveling for anniversary weekend (Heber Valley and 4 wheeling!!), family reunions (Zions National Park, Yellowstone-saw 6 bears and one REALLY interesting story involving a bear and my sister Steph, that I'll have to tell some day!!), a really short trip to southern Colorado, and our house being named "Hotel Allen";)

Here at "Hotel Allen' we've enjoyed having so many friends and family come visit-even if they have to sleep on air mattresses and our couches!!;) Seriously though, we've LOVED having people here!! In fact I think Jackson loves it more than anyone because it's not just boring mom in the mornings:) It's been nice to help out when we could and keep busy with everyone. Maybe next year we can have actual rooms and beds DOWNSTAIRS in a FINISHED basement that people can come stay in too!! Which leads me to....

We've been working on finishing the basement!!

Granted it's not as fun for me because I'm pregnant, but there are still some things I can do!! There have been times when my AWESOME father-in-law won't let me help...which was still really cute and nice of him to worry about me:) My father-in-law is the type of guy that knows a LOT...about EVERYTHING...and is AMAZING and AWESOME (I think I already mentioned that but it's worth repeating numerous times!!) Dennis is super busy with work, callings, and helping people around here that we weren't making a whole lot of progress. My FIL has a BUNCH of time off and has started coming down once a week to get things done in the basement and so we are cruising now (knock on wood because we have another inspection by the city on Tuesday and I want to KEEP cruising!!)!! We will forever be grateful for ALL of the help we've gotten on our house and especially from Dixon who has put in so much time that this should be partially his house too;)

I'm hoping we can finish things up before this baby comes, but again, I'm learning that it's doesn't always go the way you plan it to. If we don't finish before the baby I have a feeling it'll be....a while;) Either way I'm just happy with what we've gotten done so far!!

Other BIG news, at least for me it's BIG news, I quit teaching.....!! It's still kinda 'fresh' and I'm still a bit all over the place about this decision but certain things have happened to show me that it was the RIGHT decision even if it's not necessarily the one I wanted. Plus I do get to spend a lot of time with my little man Jackson before this next one comes!! But I'm not going to lie, I miss my job, my friends at the school, my 'kids' (aka students) and the joy of teaching and learning as well. I've applied for a leave of absence so that if something opens up and all is well in our lives I can go back PT next fall-but that has to go through "channels" and be approved so who knows. So far we've been keeping too busy with other things for me to slow down and notice a whole lot, but yesterday and today I'm starting to notice.

What else?!? We have also been going through the refinance process on our house which has been keeping me busy. We bought our home through the Good Neighbor Next Door program (GNND) for police officers, firefighters, and teachers and it has been a HUGE blessing!! We've met the three year 'required residency' of our home and I don't think we'll be leaving any time soon. We love our neighborhood, ward, the area, etc and we figure getting a lower mortgage payment is always a bonus too;) We had our appraisal finally done this past week and now it's just praying and crossing our fingers that we get a good appraisal...we'll see. The appraiser was super impressed by our upstairs remodel but not so much downstairs where the "remodel" is still taking place;) Hope to find out Tuesday what he gave us and then we'll go from there!!

Ok, seeing how it is Labor Day weekend I think this is enough of an update for now. Maybe I'll even try to update more often since supposedly I'll have "more time" being at home-HA!!;) Hope everyone has a good, fun, and SAFE holiday weekend with friends and family!!

April?!?!?! Are ya kiddin' me!??!

So in case you weren't aware... it's already APRIL of 2011. Yeah, crazy huh?!? I checked out our blog here and realized a smidge of time has gone by since I updated it- and I'm not going to lie-as soon as Jackson wakes up, the update is over, you can tell who runs this household;)

First off-I can't believe how FAST this year is already flying by!! So many things have happened so far this year. I kind of want it to slow down so I can enjoy it more, have more of a life (we are WAAAAY too busy), but at the same time it means it is closer to the end of the school year and I'm getting senioritis worse than my students;)

Jackson got tubes in his ears in January- THANK YOU Heavenly Father (and good docs;) because after being on ear infection #5 SINCE December-he hasn't had one yet (knock on wood RIGHT now!!) He has been doing really well on the staph infections until this week. He has it again so he's on the 'wickedly nasty' medicine again:( It does it's job though so I'm thankful for that:) Speaking of the little man-he's starting to stir so I'd better hurry it up!!

My mom has been out here babysitting Jackson for us:) Our babysitter of a year went off and had herself another baby!!;) So mom has been helping us out a TON and has seemed to really enjoy the time with Jackson. Good thing she's retired now so she can go all over the place:) She just left today and it's kinda funny because I don't think Jackson has realized she won't be back tomorrow-it could be interesting.

I have a new niece!! Marie Rose was born this past Monday to Darcy and Nate (Dennis' sister)!!!!:) She's a doll and is such a sweet little girl:) She's had some troubles here at the first so we've actually never been able to hold her, just pictures. She's been in the NICU the whole time but things are going better so hopefully sometime in the next couple of days she'll be able to go home!! It's a little intimidating for us all, she'll be going home with the oxygen and everything else but she's finally starting to eat better, etc. Hopefully more answers as to what is going on will come with test results in the next couple weeks- any prayers I know would be welcome:)

Ok, so that's the little update for now!!

Spirit of Christmas!!

Finally. FINALLY we've had some time to slow things down, relax, and "feel" the Christmas spirit this year!!

I was rocking Jackson to sleep and starting singing one of my favorite Christmas songs, "Silent Night." There is just something about the words of that song and the history, the blessings, and the love that I feel when I sing it, hear it...

Growing up we had the tradition of on Christmas Eve singing Christmas carols around the piano. This is one that we also sing in German...I love that because we're German. I'm named after my German grandmother, something that I am sooo proud of and grateful for. So many thoughts and feelings come when I hear this song, sing it, read the words of it. Even when I'm struggling with things, this song seems to remind me that I have a Heavenly Father who loves and watches out for me. That, at this wonderful time of the year, I am reminded that Jesus Christ was born and died for all of us...

It also gets me thinking about 2007 and my dad's accident in Germany... there really aren't enough words to describe what it's like to almost lose your father, and then be given the gift of more years on this earth with him. The GIFT of life...it brings tears of gratitude to my eyes when I think of ALL I have to be grateful for in my life. That was such a hard time in life, but in all honesty it was SUCH a time of growth and learning, progress, realizations, blessings, and gratitude. It's amazing to me how bad it was, and now how good it is. I mean we all still have our trials and my dad still has his set backs, but, he.is.here. For whatever reason it was not his time and I am forever grateful!!

At Christmas, a time that we get to slow down (finally) and spend time with family and friends, (the most important people in this life!!) I am grateful. I am so grateful not only for my father but also my mother, my sisters and brother, my in-laws, my extended family, my friends near and far, and co workers. For a home, and jobs, for cars that work(semi-miracle for those who know me), and for health insurance that we use oh so often!!

I am truly grateful for this time of year and the reflection on life that it brings. For the gift of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! For the gift of the gospel and the knowledge that it brings, the peace and joy that it brings!! I LOVE the SPIRIT of CHRISTMAS!!!! My wish (as cheesy as it sounds!!) is for EVERYONE to know of the love that comes with the TRUE Spirit of CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

I AM THANKFUL (and it's gonna make you laugh why I am today!!:)

This is a good one, I PROMISE!!(and one I hope to never have again) I AM THANKFUL for a home security system that I now know is REALLY fast on response time-yep, that's right REEEALLY FAST!!

Here's the story: When we came home Jackson had a TOTAL blow out and Dennis was sick too- Ugh. So Jackson gets a bath, I'm unloading the car and trying to throw nasty clothes in the washer when I grab my purse, then the diaper bag out of the car and all of the sudden a REALLY loud alarm starts going off. I think it's the dryer overloaded and Dennis thinks its the smoke alarm, then Dennis realizes it's the security system!!

So he runs and turns it off and says, 'watch Jackson, I'm going to be sick again'(grrrreat). I drop all of my stuff (while then realizing it WAS me who set off the alarm bc the key fobb was in my purse and went off when the diaper bag hit it) and grab Jackson to put him in his highchair where I can hopefully get him some food-and get everything else under control.

Then Dennis hollers from the bathroom to check his phone bc he think that the alarm company probably tried to call (I think 'yeah right' it went off for all of 10 seconds before we turned it off) So I go looking for his phone and then MY phone rings and who is it you ask?!?!? It's the alarm company-wanting to know our 'all clear' password which of COURSE I don't know/remember!! (please be laughing by now people!!)

Dennis has me say one, and it's not the password, so we guess again and thankfully it's the right one except NOW the police have already been notified and are one their way!! Sure enough I look outside as I'm hanging up my phone and there's a cop shining his flashlight at our porch-OIY!! (this is seriously all in a matter of a minute and a half TOPS!!) I go outside and he asks me if everything is ok and I tell him it's just been a little crazy and it was totally an accident, we're all ok!! He then asks to come in because since it was a "personal alarm" he has to make sure there's no one in the house sending me outside to get rid of the cops (smart cops-gotta love the thinkin' ahead!!) so I let him in the house, he sees Jackson, and then poor Dennis is still in the bathroom sick has to holler 'yeah, I'm ok' through the door!!

So the cop checks the house, gets my name, birth date, etc while I'm repeatedly apologizing for taking up his time with our STUPID mistake when Dennis finally comes out of the bathroom (I honestly think the cop was waiting around to make sure no one else was in the bathroom with him!!) to say 'he's really ok' too:) We tell him 'thank you' over again and apologize for having him come (when he responds he's just glad we're ok and it wasn't a real one-which we are too, believe me!!)

OH MY GOOOOOOOD-NESS!! So today, after this HIGHLY entertaining and THANKFULLY TOTAL false alarm- I.AM.THANKFUL. For a home security system that works really quite well and efficiently along with my awesome local police force!!!! Ahhhh, the things I am thankful for....:)

November Thankfulness and Such

So I was going to start writing this blog right after I read the story of a friend's friend (yada yada you might be thinking) but then I also got to reading another friend's blog as well and it just added to what's brewing around in my head. This rambling probably doesn't make sense outside of my mind so I'm gonna try to clarify/simplify....

Blog #1 found at http://www.prayersformegan.com/ You will most likely cry (as I did) but I also came away so grateful and thankful for my life. As imperfect as it is I'm still here to experience it, with my family. I'm grateful that I have my husband coming home tonight from work, an ADORABLE son sleeping in his crib, and the love of the two most amazing men (yes, Jackson is my 'little man' and I've called him that since we brought him home:) in my life.

Life. Is. Precious. Cherish It.

Blog #2-not going to say 'whom' per say, but I will say that reading her blog always makes me smile, laugh, and have a happier outlook on life and the crazy FUN that can be had in your normal, everyday, 'ordinary' life:) She cracks me up with the way she writes and what she writes about!!

Overall I just wanted to say how thankful I am for Dennis and Jackson, for our families on both sides, good friends (near and far) and the imperfect life that I have and absolutely LOVE!! I am so grateful for being blessed to have another day trying to become a better person, better wife, mom, daughter, friend, learn, grow, have fun, and oh so much more.

Thank you Heavenly Father:)