Senior Year Homecoming Dance

My beautiful girl! Britesha's plan is to have a different guy and a different color dress in every dance picture. Yellow is the color of choice this time. It was a chore to find a yellow dress that she liked, but that was the color she wanted. I love the different guy idea! Let's hope she just keeps that up for a couple more years.

She is so ready to be done with Highschool and the drama that goes with it, but she is scared to be a grown-up. Wise for her age, I think! Most 18 year olds think they know it all still.

Thanksgiving 09

Amree giving Grandpa eskimo kisses. Amree loves her Grandpa!

This is Amree in her new Thanksgiving outfit. Notice how cute her hair is, all done up. You don't see that very often.


This is the after picture. Amree and mommy makeing a gingerbread house at Grandma Larsens.

Darrens Annual Lagoon Day For Mount Olympus

The first time on the carousel, she was so scared, but then she wanted to go on it over and over again.

She enjoyed the train ride. She might have enjoyed it more if the animals were out. THere wasn't much to see.

Look how cute she is! What a big girl! She lasted about two seconds and then started to cry. Those whales can be pretty mean and scary sometimes.

Annual Tony Grove Camping Trip

THis is at Rick Springs. It's a little stop on the way to Tony Grove. It's a little cave that has a spring running out from it. The water is crystal clear, but we are told not to drink it. It's a fun place to play and climb.

This log was a great source of entertainment for Amree while we were camping and Daddy got to go along for the ride. It was right by our camper and Amree wanted to do this all day long.

We went to Bear Lake and it was freezing. We didn't plan to swim, but Amree started stripping her close off the minute she saw the water. Luckily we had a swim diaper in the car.

Tresden came prepared with his swim suit. He loves the water and doesn't miss an opportunity to play in the water no matter how cold it is.

My two water Babies.

Darren and Jim paddling away!

We went camping in September. We had alot of fun, but it did get a little chilly at night. We had Darren's friend Jim and his family go with us. The boys were happy to have them go with us. They have 3 girls and 1 boy. It's always fun to have girls there when your a teenage boy.

They are a fun family! We sang primary songs around the camp fire, roasted starburst candy(the girls little trick) and of course the traditional smores. It was pretty yummy. Our trip was short, but we enjoyed it.

Modern Day Pioneers

Look at my handsome pioneer boys! This was them before they left on Trek. I didn't take pictures of them when they came back, but I should have. They look pretty beat up. Blisters and mudd covered. Brenners hat was shredded and Tresdens got ran over by a wagon. They were tough boys. I was so proud of them. The leaders said they were terrific and strong! With as hard as it was, they still said they had fun.

Halloween 09

Amree was a catapillar. Of course she wouldn't keep her hood on, so you don't get the whole image, but she was cute anyway. The little tinker bell next to her is her best buddy Kira. She gets to come and play at our house everyday. They are pretty cute together!

Paint and a two year old, messy, but just look at the excitement in her face! This is the best day of her life!




Tresden still gets into Halloween. He decided to carve and paint his pumpkin this year. He did a great job!

Amree got to help clean out a pumpkin and she kept saying "oooh gross". She loved every minute of it though.

AMREE AND HER SCOOTEE

This picture is for Grandpa. He wants to see Amree ride the scooter he sent down for her to play with. She calls it her scootee. She has figured out how to get going pretty fast. She thinks she's pretty big.

This is one of the dresses that I make and sell on line for those of you who know about my little business.

Oaker Mountain Temple Celebration

Last night was the Oaker Mountain Temple Celebration. Tresden has been going to practices for months now.

Brenner also participated in the stage crew up until the practices went to the conference center.

It turned out great! Darren and I were unable to attend, because Amree is too young and the children have to be at least 10 to attend. So we went to the stake center to watch it. It was pretty incredible. Over 7000 youth participated in it.

This is our second temple this year to be built here in Salt Lake Valley. The Draper Temple and now the Oaker Mountain Temple. I get to volunteer at the open house for the Oaker Mountain Temple this next week. I am so excited! Everyone talks about how the spirit is so stronge even though it is not dedicated yet. We plan to take our children through the open house. They do baptism for the dead, but are not able to see the rest of the temple, so they are curious to go and see the rest of the temple.

Britesha's Spinnaker Review

Spinnakers had their final review. This is the drill team at her high school. First they presented them and told a little bit about them one by one. The parents escorted them

The studio she dances with performed at the review also. They had all the different teams perform to "True Colors". They do sign language in the background, while they take turns dancing. It was pretty neat.

This one is a fun dance to watch. It is a dance they performed in what is considered the kick category. It kind of reminds you of broadway, because they line up and kick all together on parts of the dance.

Look at that cute bum. The blue I mean.

This was their hip hop dance. They get to do gansta moves in this one. This is the girls favorite dance that they do.

Here is Britesha trying to keep her mini spinnies together during their dance. The Spinnakers teach little kids how to do a dance and then when they perform, they need a little help. So she is showing them what to do as they dance. She had fun doing this! She can't wait until Amree can participate in this kind of thing.

THis was their Barbie dance. The song was about Barbie's life and they had to pick what kind they wanted to be. Her and Racheal were jungle Barbie and jungle Ken. They waited until the last minute, so mom was making costumes Thursday night when the performance was on Friday. They did not even try on the costumes before the performance. Luckily they fit.

This was their dance with their sabers. This is traditionally what they are known for. They would do things like go to basketball games and line up to salute the players as they came out to play.

She is trying out for Spinnakers again for next year. Tryouts are today, so keep your fingers crossed. It has been alot of hard work, but it has been good for Britesha to learn what that is. Ha Ha!

It's Rough To Be In Junior High

Being a mom has to be the hardest thing a person does in their life. Having all their emotions and love wrapped up in a little person and watching them grow is sometimes unbearable.

Britesha got a text from a friend of hers that said that Brenner had been in a fight. I was so scared and it felt like someone had just grabbed my heart and started squeezing it as hard as they could. We jumped in the car and went looking for him.

We didn't make it very far, when we saw him walking home with his friends. He looked fine and completely calm, until he got in the van and turned to look at me. His nose was not straight. A million feelings came flooding into my body. I wanted to beat the kid up that hurt my baby. I was concerned that he might be in alot of pain. What is he feeling and thinking right now. And it always enters my mind that he had a perfect little body when he was born and that's just one more thing that was broken. I know it's a weird thing to think of, but I have always thought that way. When they got their first cavity and their first scar. Is this normal? Maybe I'm crazy.

Anyway, his nose is broken, but he is doing great. He's a tough kid! He never complained of it hurting, he just had a headache. The doctor said they wouldn't do anything with his nose unless it didn't go back to normal in a couple of days. Luckily it looks pretty straight again and he is as handsome as ever.

As for the kid who attacked Brenner, the school called the police. He has been suspended and the police are turning the case over to the courts and pressing charges.

I guess this kid has been bugging Brenner for quite a while now. He never really said anything. He's been pushing him around and calling him names. He even hit Brenner in the jaw at school in front of a teacher and nothing came of it. From what the cop told me, he is a regular troublemaker at school. I really hope this is the end of it. I will keep you updated.

I Love My Cousins!

It has been a year and a half since we have seen the Allen clan. It is amazing how these kids live so far away from each other, but have so much fun together when they get together. You would think it would take a while to get warmed up to each other, but it only took a few seconds.
It was great to see my cute niece and nephew. They are getting so big. The kids miss their cousins and ask when they will see them all the time.


Brenner showing how strong he is and Lauren loving the attention!




Britesha loves her Aunt Bridgette and Uncle Mark!




Two beautiful girls!



It was so great to have my big sister here to hug. I hate having her so far away. I only got to see her for a couple of hours, but it was terrific!