Jen & Marvin's Big Day

Wow! We have had such a busy month!
Aside from Christmas (which I will post about eventually), my older sister, Jen got married. We are so happy for her!

The happy couple...Jennifer and Marvin Pearce
(How cute are they?!)

Jen, Marvin, and their 6 kiddos!
We are so excited to have Marvin and his 2 cute girls in our family.

This is just moments after the wedding ceremony.
My super-savvy sister-in-law (way to go, Lins!) was able to reach Mom and Dad in Africa on her phone for Jen. It was so neat to have them join in the fun from the other side of the world!

Here are my boys at the party that night.
(Silly Trevor!)

Here are are my wacky husband and brother!
Eyebrows up, fellas! :)

Isaac on the dance floor with his cute cousins.
He is especially fond of Jen's daughter, "Micoley!" :)

My handsome man and me!

We're Ready!

We are so excited for Christmas here at the Allen home!
The boys are at such great ages for all the fun of Christmas. We went to the Mesa Temple lights with our good friends, the Bergesons. The lights were amazing and the weather was fantastic!

Daddy and Isaac...looking so handsome! :)

OK...so the visit with Santa didn't go quite like we'd hoped.
Trevor was really excited about meeting the big guy until I put him down in his lap. Then, as you can see, he wanted nothing to do with it! (There's no picture of Isaac because he didn't even make it onto Santa's lap. He did make sure Daddy went back and asked Santa for a Buzz Lightyear for him.)

The boys have loved hanging out and watching Christmas movies. (Our personal favorites are "The Grinch" and "Elf.")

This was our first family gingerbread house. I think it only lasted about 3 minutes before the boys started eating it.
I guess that's what it's for, right? :)

We are so ready for Christmas!

Zoo Fun

I just have to share one of my most favorite trips to the zoo.
The boys were thrilled about everything! We had such a great time! Isaac has been so excited about the new Komodo Dragon exhibit. We finally got to see it and it didn't disappoint! :)

The dragon was in the warm house for the winter,
but that didn't stop the boys from enjoying it!

We spent 20 minutes there...
checking out every bit of the exhibit.

The cool Komodo Dragon statue

Corinne and her adorable boys joined us that day.
We LOVE hanging out with them.
Can you tell? :)

Here are the boys staring down the baboons!
I think that monkey might have met his match!

We stayed for a little bit by ourselves and the boys were so cute together. They held hands and walked all around the snake, reptile, and amphibian exhibits. Isaac loves to take care of Trevor...and Trevor thinks that Isaac is just the greatest! It was one of those moments that
I won't soon forget! :)

Best Buddies

Derek recently started his counseling practicum (similar to an internship), which means he is now gone 3 nights a week. He leaves for work before the boys wake up, so they go days at a time without seeing him. Our little Isaac is having a hard time adjusting to the new schedule. After a couple of long days without Daddy, he just doesn't want to let him out of his sight. We were getting ready to say bedtime prayers with Isaac and he decided that he needed to closer to Daddy.

This is how they ended up:I am glad they love each other so much.
It's pretty adorable! :)

Happy Birthday!

Isaac has a message for his favorite Grammy. :)
We hope you have a great day!

We love you so much!

Mama's Little Helpers

Isaac and Trevor LOVE to help me in the kitchen.
This "help" usually results in a much bigger mess,
but I know it's worth it! :)

Gotta love these boys! :)

"Normal"

Since my mom and dad have been in the Congo,
I have grown more appreciative of little, everyday aspects of my life...things my mom often refers to as "normal life."
This morning, as Isaac and I were sitting at the table, making our fabulous Play-Doh creations, it occurred to me that these were exactly the kinds of everyday moments my mom and dad are missing so much. Nothing is more "normal" than a kid (and his easily amused mommy) using the imagination to create, right! So I whipped out the camera to capture these fun moments with Isaac...for my parents and for myself! :)

He was pretty excited about our Thanksgiving turkey!

"Gobble, gobble, Mr. Turkey..."

This was actually his favorite creation of the day.
We made a little bluebird family...complete with "Daddy Bird," "Mommy Bird," and "Isaac Bird." (He insisted that the "Trevor Bird" was in one of the eggs...because he's a baby.) :)

I love the expression on his face in this picture!
Absolute happiness!

Remembering

We participated in the Alzheimer's Walk this morning.

A few years ago, our family started this tradition as a way to honor Grandma's memory and Grandpa's love and devotion to her. It has always been a great experience for us. This year was good, but it felt very different. This is the first year without Grandpa and I missed him so much. I missed his cute little shuffle. I missed his empty wheelchair (which Mom made him bring every year, just in case he wanted to ride in it!). I missed his funny little sense of humor. I missed seeing how proud he was of his family. I missed him, but it was a good way for all of us to remember him.
My Mom and Dad also missed out on the fun this year and it felt a pretty lonely without them, too. Sounds kinda depressing, huh? :) Actually, when we first got there,
I was a little tearful, but once things got going,
we all had a good time!
Here's the proof...LOTS of cute pictures! My little family ready to walk!

Isaac and cousin Alex...how cute are these boys!?

The walking/stroller crew

Daddy makes a great pack mule for tired little boys!

Do you see where Trevor gets his good looks? :)

Hanging out after the walk.
(Mom and Dad-Look closely at the band in the background of this picture...Do they look familiar?
Nice to know that some things will never change, huh?) :)

My cute boys adoring their baby cousin, Eva.
They LOVE her!

After the walk, we drove to the cemetery to visit their graves and leave some flowers. I let Isaac put the flowers in. It was really neat to see him be so sweet.
He loves his Grandpa Bird.

Isaac and Jameson talking about Grandpa Bird.
They both told me that he is with Heavenly Father.
I love to see the faith of children.

Trevor really liked the flowers! :)

What a great day to remember our Grandma and Grandpa!

They were right...

For the last year, I've had lots of people (including our favorite pediatrician) tell me that as frustrating as the "terrible twos" can be, the "threes" are worse! I just couldn't wrap my brain around that idea at the time, so I told myself that it wouldn't happen to us. Well...they were right! My sweet Isaac boy is really giving me a run for my money right now. I find myself getting SO frustrated with the talking back, disobedience, and other "Naughty Betsy" behavior!
It makes me sad...very sad.
I love my little man so much and I want him to be happy. I just don't know what to do to help him through this rough phase. (I really hope it's a phase!) If anyone has any great tips for dealing with a three-year-old, feel free to share! :)

Cruel or Funny?

Check out what we did to our poor kids today. Ha-ha!

This is what you get when you mix toddlers
and SOUR Warhead candy.

You may think we're mean, but if you had been here,

you would have been laughing your head off! :)

Trick-or-Treat!

We had a great Halloween with the boys!
Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Trevor--Our adorable little chicken

Riding in style! :)

Isaac--The cutest lion ever!
He tried to be ferocious, but he was just too stinkin' cute!

Trick-or-treating

We had a blast!

Here Comes Halloween

I've never been a big fan of Halloween, but this year has been a little bit different. The boys get really excited about EVERYTHING, so it's way more fun now! :)

Aunt Alissa and Uncle Dave made caramel apples with us.

Isaac loved it!

Trevor thought my new witch hat was pretty hilarious. :)

Isaac made this adorable pumpkin picture one day, so we decided to make a pumpkin pizza for dinner. Cool, huh?

The boys got such a kick out of it!

This is our first pumpkin carving! (I know...we're lame!) :)
Daddy and Isaac got things started.

Then the boys and I finished up.

We put a candle inside and showed Isaac how you make a jack-o-lantern glow. He loved it! (He also made me sing "Happy Birthday" before he would blow it out. Silly boy!)

Today was my preschool's Halloween party and Isaac asked me if he could come. He said, "Mommy, I'm three now!" It was so cute...I just couldn't resist! He had so much fun being a big boy! (Don't my preschoolers look adorable?!) :)