What a Baby Nephew Inspires

Regression.
My Kacin is back to bottles of milk,
crawling,
and standing at my feet
stretching out his arms and grunting
until I pick him up.

Little Entrepreneurs

$8.40 in an hour and a half isn't bad,

especially for a lemonade stand

completely put together and made--

signs, wagons, and watered-down lemonade--

by two 6-year olds and a 5-year old.

I guess it didn't hurt to have a cute, little baby cousin
as one of your salesman.

Such a Dad

I may be posting this a bit late,

but don't judge.
We just liked dragging this holiday out this year.
Eric was spoiled for a whole month before Father's day.
The boys and I couldn't decide on just one present for him
and we weren't patient enough to actually wait until Father's day
to give him our gifts,

so each week after Mother's day until Father's day he received a gift

and we sang him a song.

One week it was a card shuffler

to shuffle all of those Killer Bunnies cards,

then it was a grill, followed by a Killer Bunnies expansion pack,

finally we gave him a bird identifying book and the classic cool tie.

We love you so much E!

You are an amazing dad because

you garden with us (and include all of the neighbor boys, too)

you work very hard

you read to us
you play with us
you take us on many adventures.

70-Something Degrees

Rejoice!

We had 3 nice days in a row.

Definition of nice:

no rain,

afternoon temp. in the 70s,

 few clouds, mostly blue sky,

 you can feel the sunshine on your skin.

What a great way to start the first week of summer and no school.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at a nearby park

splashin' and snackin'.

N & W Allred

Nancy and Wade

a grandma and grandpa

a husband and wife

at the musuem.

From Dad to Me

My dad had a unique way of teaching me.
Humorous. Annoying, at times. Yet, effective.
He came from a family of 4 boys
and was blessed with 4 girls.
Maybe that explains it.
Or maybe it's just because he's an Allen.

In no particular order,
and with much fondness and love,
lessons from the daddy:

1. Plain toes. You can't drive with toe nail polish on. It's his car. So be prepared with nail polish remover if you want to drive somewhere. You know those toe rings you loved to wear? You thought they looked so cute when you ran around in your flip flops. They're really just for playing "fun" daddy-daughter games of getting wrestled to the floor, toe ring removal, and hide-and-seek the toe ring.

2. Just try it. Never be afraid to try something new. Whether it was figuring something out on our first computer or sailing or swimming in the lake or trying a new sport, he encouraged us no matter our fears or worries.

3. Save electricity. You leave the room, you turn the light off. If even for 30 seconds. Or you may come back and the light won't turn on at all. You think it's a little odd that all of the sudden, all of the light bulbs keep going out. Sometimes twice in one day in your bedroom. What kind of bulbs are your parents buying? Oh wait. Or could it be just your daddy unscrewing the lightbulbs everytime he finds one on. And so you learn your lesson.

4. Find out for yourself. Even if someone tells you its so, find out the truth for yourself. Question. Research. Things both secular and spiritual. Like, should I get baptized at 8? Pray about it for myself and listen to the Spirit. 

5. Modesty. Especially when you lean over, bend, or sit. If skin is revealed in the midrift area, on the back too, you will, I repeat, you will be sprayed, squirted or drenched with water. No matter who you are. Even if you are just a friend visiting.

6. Help and give freely. Be willing and ready. No matter how inconvenient. He was always the one to rescue me, or any of my friends, and sometimes even strangers. Never stingy with his money and resources. Offering anything to anyone who needed it.

7. Work hard. Long, long days at work. All for us.

Thanks, my dad,
for all of the things you taught
to me.

Faces

Two years apart,
but during high school
we are constantly being asked if we were twins.
I don't much see it anymore,
but I do think we both have a knack
for making some striking faces.

G-parents

The death of Eric's grandpa

has reminded us to cherish the time we have on earth

with our other sweet grandparents.

Eric's Grandma Merrell

My Grandma and Grandpa Allen

Eric's Grandma Mary

(which I know we took nice pictures with her recently but alas they are missing. sad. this is what I've got.)

Basking in the Sun

Too bad it was for a funeral,

but we enjoyed the sunshine and family

in our Arizona

for a few days.

I'm sure I will post more pictures from our trip later,

For now, here we are soaking up the rays by the pool.

We really, truly spent every second we could out in the hot, Arizona sun.

The tunnel slide . . .

Kacin's splash

Kyler's splash

My splash

Boy: A Noise With Mud On It

A Saturday of sunshine.

Absolutely lovely.

Let's go hiking!

We opened up the local hiker's guide that Eric printed off the internet,

25 hikes--most of which are within a 15 minute drive.

We picked our trail.

It seemed to be an easy 3 miles.

But we didn't take into account
all of the MUD.

Puddles.

Every ten feet.

We called it an adventure and manuevered our way along the trail,
trying to avoid the stinging nettle (oh wait, I didn't)
that was growing alongside our path.
After something like Kacin's 20th slip, trip, and fall
he gave up trying to avoid the mud
and just trudged straight on through.

We kept good spirits until about half way along.
Maybe he was tired of his bum and knees landing in the mud,
maybe he was hungry,
maybe his feet were getting sore,
but whatever it was
a little monster was awakened.

A screaming, meltdown monster.
I am sure the loudest that neck of the woods
had ever seen.
And it would not be tamed.
So we captured it.
And carried it home.

The only way we could get it into the car,
without covering the inside of the car in mud,
was re-naming it Captain Underpants,
stripping it down,
tying a cape around it's neck,
and then buckling it in.
Something about sitting in your underpants,
driving down the road with the window down
while your makeshift cape blows around you in the breeze
seemed to do the trick.
It was all smiles and laughs on the way home.

For the record,
the other small, male member of the car
deemed this last act
very inappropriate. 

Let Me Sum Up

We spent a lot of money.

We save save save

and then all at once

we buy a grill, join netflix,

splurge on a slip n' slide,

go on a shopping rampage through Ikea,

eat out, and get plane tickets.

The best deal we got

was a free concert from the most rockin' band.