The Nucleus

Annie is 6 Months! That's half a year! Oy!

2011-09-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

July 11th brought the 6 month mark for our dimply little girl! OOO she's cute! She's a professional sitter and loves to squawk any time she can. Her girlish personality is starting to come out and we're loving it!

Fourth Of July 2011

2011-09-27T15:39:00.000-07:00

We, well I guess mostly Tyson, had an exhausting 4th. We were working on Sandy ad Vince's plumbing in their new house and still didn't fix the problem. He was so tired and frustrated. The worse part for him was knowing he couldn't help his sister. I felt bad and should've suggested the water park, but luckily it was a good attempt and he learn a lot on what to not do next time! We rushed from there to the Armisteads house (my aunt Cami's family) to eat and watch fire works at Cornerstone Park.

As we were waiting for the boys to fix things though, we got this adorable shots of he kids. They were matchy-matchy and acting so darling. Overall, the pictures were well worth the long wait and tiring day!

Just talkin'. Mmmm they are yummy in their sibling-ness!

Story Time

2011-09-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

As always, I'm really behind. But here are some pictures from a story time we would take Lei to this summer. He loved it. I've never seen him so captivated! There's something to be said about the pureness of reading a book. His current favorite is "It's Not Easy Being A Bunny."

Sicky Sickers. :(

2011-07-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

Tyson went out of town and of course, our children got sick. Levi could barely move and Annie started getting symptoms. It was a long weekend. Although it's so sad when he isn't feeling good, I love the snuggley days I get with that boy when he has to slow down! Oooo! I love him!

As I was trying to deal with Annie, Levi had woken up from his 5 hour nap and came to lay down, again, on my bed. He kept telling me he was cold so I covered him up and he wiggled there for a second, whining and wanting me to hold him. About 10 minutes passed when it got really still and quiet. This is what I found....

I think he ended up sleeping a total of 18 hours that day. He has fevers come and go and threw up 3 times. Not fun.

Annie tried to share her Mommy and continued to be sweet. It was a relief to have Daddy do some of the snuggling as soon as he got home. I love those three!

A Girly 5 Months!

2011-07-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

Our girl has blessed our lives for 5 months! I can't believe it! She's so peaceful and loving and tactile! She snuggles all the time, giggles, talks and officially sits up all by herself! She's growing so fast, which makes me sad, but it's so fun to see her progress! She continues to chub up and has tried peaches, carrots, green beans and applesauce. All of which make her shutter. She'll continue to eat it, but she'll still shutter. She loves LOVES her brother and is starting to notice when Mom's not around. She loves her toes and has recently been found with Levi's toes in her mouth. (Eww, I know, but hilarious at the same time.) It was a hard moment in disciplining as I tried to keep my composure. I told Levi that she will get sick from the yuckies on his toe. He told me that it was funny and that it tickles. It also didn't help that Annie also thought it was hilarious to make her brother laugh. Oh my, I'm guessing that's only one of the many moments when I'm left thinking, "Why? Why bother?"

One of my favorite things about this girl is her gummy grin! It's absolutely awesome! Its even better when she coos a really cute "eeeee" noise as she's doing it. Almost like she's saying "cheese" for the camera. She's so so so fun to have around and we will continue to eat her up. Everyday. Forever.

Meeting Cousin Thomas & Hangin' With Uncle J!

2011-07-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

So we finally got to meet our my new cousin, (Annie and Levi's first cousin, once removed... phew glad we cleared that up!) Thomas! He's a rollie- pollie, chubba-lubba, ball of CUTENESS! We love him and are so glad he's joined our family. Annie and him are about a month apart. They were enthralled with each other! There were many squeals and grunts for joy as the rolled around on the floor together!

And as you can see, Annie got quite comfortable with Thomas right away. She also loved getting to know Great-Uncle Jared! It was awesome to have him in town!

Oh, and this? This is just because I want to eat this picture every time I see it. I'll just kiss and chew on those chubby cheeks in person for now! :)

Fishy, Fishy, Fishy!

2011-07-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

So we went fishing in a loaded pond with Grandpa Allen. It was fun! The on going joke was that Tyson couldn't get one bite in the LOADED pond. Oh well, Levi got one, Kim got one and Grandpa got one. Annie and I stayed clear. I don't appreciate the art of fishing... or being near fish at all. Maybe I was scarred as a child or something, but I could definitely LEAVE a fishing trip. I decided to go just because it was time to be with family. It was fun to see Levi get so into the sport. His favorite part was tickling the fishes belly when it was in the bucket. "Ticko, ticko fishy!" he would say. I had to ignore the fact that he was tickling a slime covered creature and enjoy his giggles. Overall it was just fun to be outside and be with family!

Annie is FOUR Months!

2011-06-20T15:32:00.000-07:00

This month has sure been a busy one for Miss Annie! She's moved in with Gma & Gpa Wilson, learned how to roll over, started to sit up on her own, ate rice cereal for the first time and has officially found her voice! She's still such an angel and is pretty content. Now that she can move a little bit, she's decided she is too big to be stationary and loves to wiggle all the time! She loves her big brother, Levi and giggles and squeals any time he is near. We had a rough time this month after she got her shots. It must've lowered her defenses because she got RSV. Not a fun thing to have while trying to move and keep up with THAT schedule. We had to do nebulizer treatments every four hours and feed about ever 2 hours. It was hectic! We're glad she recovered quickly and that I don't have to listen for her breathing (as much, I tend to be a worrier with my babies). Sick or healthy, we sure love our Annie girl!

Trek. Prep.

2011-06-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

My parents were called to organize the trek and a whole slew of responsibilities! Boy are the busy! One of their many tasks, mainly to save money, was to silk screen around 1100 bandanas for everyone attending the Trek. (For those of you who don't know what a "trek" is, our church takes all their youth, ages 12-18 to walk the paths the pioneers walked. It's usually in Wyoming where it is windy, possibly snow and completely desolate. It's a very faith promoting experience, one that I will never forget. I know it has changed many lives!) Anyway, they had quite the assembly line going for about 9 hours to get all 1100 done! It's an exciting event and I know it will go well!

Plus, we got to have so quality time with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Mark! ALWAYS a plus! Love you both!

The Nielsen's NEW House!

2011-06-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

Tyson's sister and husband bought a new house! We are so excited for them! (*cough* and a little green with envy) Tyson worked on their entryway tiles and retiling the fireplace. He's so talented. Here's what he did...

demolition

without grout

with grout

decorative design

Nice, eh? The whole house is very nice and I'm excited for them to get all settled in soon! Congrats to you both! For now, we will celebrate by hanging out in your front room and playing in your beautifully green backyard! :)

We've Got Baseball Fever!

2011-06-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

We all traveled downtown on the light rail for a Rockies game! It was a perfect night filled with fun! Most of the Allen's were there and helped a ton with the kiddies.

Thank goodness for lovey aunts who are always willing to help and run and laugh and feed and grab and distract! And we are so grateful for our Boppa's Allen who are always willing to help and take us to do fun things! I love my in-laws if you can't tell! (I hate calling them in-laws. What does that mean anyway?) They are da BEST!!!!

After watching such a fun game, Levi got the itch. He's awesome aunt Kimmie got him a bat and ball and he played with Uncle Biss (Vince) for hours! Daddy joined in and they had a blast. Annie and I cheered on the sidelines. We were all quite impressed with Levi's natural athletic ability, but then again, maybe we are all VERY bias! He's our fabrit.

Tyson would "hmmm" and lower his pitch every time he pitched to Levi, now, guess what Levi does? "Hmmmm..."

Easters

2011-06-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

First of all... look at how darn cute these two are! I'm majorly blessed! They are the BEST!

Loves for Mommy and Daddy...

Umm, on second thought... maybe not.

Before Easter Sunday, we were able to spend time with the Allen side of the family to color eggs! It was a hilarious blast! Levi's a little artist at heart and focused for a very long time to color his eggs. To drop the eggs in the "magic cups" was so fun for him. We even had multiple Easter egg hunts with him. His favorite was to hide them and then "help"/tell the finder where they all were. Such a helper! He's a fun boy and we loved being with that side of the family!

Easter was wonderful this year! It was very cold, but absolutely delightful to be with family and have a wonderful time at church and remember what this day is all about. Of course it was fun to get matching outfits and look forward to spring, but most of all if reminded me of how blessed I am to know what I know.

I know that because of my Savior's sacrifice, I am happy. I am able to be happy... forever! WITH my eternal family, my Heavenly Father and Christ. He is what makes up the difference in all of our lives. I'm so grateful for Him and extreme suffering He went through on my behalf. I cannot wait to see Him again one day!

Tan Da Man

2011-06-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

My younger brother, Tanner, was a Senior this year at Chaparral High School. He's an extremely talented artist, kind and loving brother and a best friend. He went to Prom for the first time with his girlfriend, Ellen. They are a handsome couple for sure. It was fun to hear about his experience there!

Shortly after prom, Tanner had a birthday where he received an awesome MacBook Pro laptop computer for his birthday and graduation. We ate pumpkin pie as is tradition on his birthday and enjoyed having him home to play!

A couple weeks later he graduated!!!! How did we celebrate?! With mustard. At Red Robin. Who could ask for more? He will attend BYU-Idaho in January and his plan is to quickly report on a mission after his semester there. We are all so proud of him and who he has grown to become. He's a mature soul and a great example to all of us! We love you, Tan Man!

Annie's "Terd" Month

2011-06-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

Our happy little Annie is so much fun! She's constantly smiling, rarely cries (unless she is cold or tired... only whimpers if she's hungry), is starting to giggle, loves to look and study her hands, holds onto her rattle, loves to watch her mommy, daddy and Levi, tracks us all very well and thinks it's a whole new world when she sits up! On a sadder note, she caught RSV the week we moved in with my parents, so in between feedings, loading boxes and diaper changes, we had to do nebulizer treatments every 4 hours. On top of that Levi got an ear infection. It was a rough week, but we survived. I'm just glad she's all better and I don't spend as many hours listening to her breathing. She was able to go to her first formal event as well! We were able to take her to a wedding of a dear friend of ours! It was fun to dress her up in yellow for the occasion! She also got to go to her FIRST Rockies game with just Mom and Dad... again. Levi got to play with Grammy Wilson instead. It was so fun to have all the patrons at the game take care of her for her first game, we got a button that says, "My First Rockies Game" and everything! It was fun to have a little outing with just her and her daddy was so proud to dress her up in Rockies gear! Annie is definitely stealing our hearts every second of everyday and we love it! She's a doll and we are so lucky to know her and be with her for eternity!

Chuck E. Cheese Is The Place To BE!

2011-06-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

We took a little field trip to Chuck E. Cheese on one of the seldom days Tyson had off from school & work. It was fun to spend time playing with the family and eating their delectable pizza! Man, is it good! Levi's favorite game was ski ball. He takes after his mother. He got pretty good at it too. Annie was a sweet girl and let us all take turns lovin' her up. Another favorite game was Deal or No Deal. Kimberly actually beat the game and got 50 tickets for it! We were able to get Levi some cheapy prizes to destroy on the way home. It was a blast!

MARCH: The month of birthdays!

2011-06-13T07:16:00.000-07:00

March is a big birthday month for the Allen Clan. We have the 14th with 2 birthdays, mine is the 17th and the 29th is another one. Not to mention, my brother, Critter is on the 20th. Oh, and he was born on the same day as our cousin Emily. Plus, my Grandma Jean has hers on the 25th! We didn't get together for my side of the family things, but we did for the Allen's. It was fun to be with everyone and share our kids with family! Little Annie enjoyed being held the entire night and was a perfect angel, while her big brother, Levi enjoyed being with younger cousins and playing the Wii.

P.S: I will be 40 lbs lighter for my next birthday! Yuck.

Annie Moe is 2 MONTHS old!

2011-06-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

Annie's second month went by like a blur. I feel like she's been with us forever, but everything seems to be going way to quickly for me to keep up! Her immunizations for this month made her very sad, which made us all very sad. :( She's just so innocent, so when they poke her, it's a horrible shock! Other than that yucky part of growing up, she simply continues to GROW! Her cheeks (both sets) just get more and more yummy! She's still a great eater and as happy as can be. This months photos were a little stressful due to an overly-"caring" big brother who needed to make sure she had all 10 toes by counting and pinching them at the same time. She's still so wonderful and loves to talk to everyone all the time. Her smile is beginning to be more of an everyday event. It melts us to the core! MMm! We love this girl!

Levi: The Big Brother

2011-06-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

You try to be prepared as a BIG brother...

but most of the time you're lost on what you should do.

You try to fix whatever went wrong.

But in the end, playing with the guys is what suits you best. Maybe one day his little sister will be up for playing, but as for now... golf, wrestling, football and kite flying just aren't in her list of talents quite yet.

Levi is such a great big brother. He's always very concerned when Annie gets up set and tries to fix it with the binky or getting mommy. It's been amazing to see the bond they share as siblings, even at such young ages. It. Is. Awesome.

Annie's Blessing

2011-06-12T21:09:00.000-07:00

Annie's blessing day might have been about 4 months ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday! She looked heavenly in white! She wore my mother's blessing dress, a simple white bow in her hair and a pearl bracelet given to her by my mom. It was fun to hear my parents and grandparents talk about my blessing day and to remember Levi's blessing day. Annie was a perfect angel and snuggled with most everyone who wanted a piece of her that day. I think the highlight of the day was having Tyson's mom, Judy, his sisters Mindy and Lisa there for the blessing! I meant so much to us for them to be there. Another highlight was Tyson's beautiful blessing he gave to her. He blessed her from head to toe and I hope she will look back on it and find strength and peace in her father's words. (Plus, he wore a pink tie, just for his little girl! Cute, huh?!) Levi was still adjusting to the fact that Annie was staying with us, so the day was a little less peaceful for him, but he was a trooper and put up with all the family chaos! My goodness do I love our little family of four! I'm so blessed to have such a day to remember forever!

I've Missed You, Blogger!

2011-06-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

Whew! Life with two kids is BUSY! I've missed blogging! I apologize to the half dozen people who read our life history on here. Be prepared for a zillion posts! Ready... set... GO!

V is for Valentine

2011-02-15T16:49:00.000-08:00

Our simple Valentine's Day was absolutely delightful! Levi was a pretty good boy all day, Annie cuddled me whenever I needed her to and Tyson brought home dinner, flowers AND a movie. Although we ate dinner separately, barely smelt the flowers and didn't even have enough energy to watch the movie, the day was perfect. Here's why: I had a great plan to have Jimmy John's deliver Tyson lunch at school, but couldn't find the address to send it to. When I told Tyson my plan, he said, "That's okay, I'll pretend when I go out to lunch by myself." I simply told him to also pretend I put a witty love note on his napkin. He then told me to pretend the same thing when I order Jimmy Johns to be delivered to our house. We chuckled and went about our very normal day. It was after I hung up the phone that I realized how awesome I have it. Although I love this holiday and would love to give (and get) extravagant gifts, I love that Tyson and I love each other so much, those things disappear in comparison with what we already have. Two beautiful children, love for each other that will last and grow for eternity and an understanding of one another that no one else will ever find. I love him soo much and am so grateful for him in my life. He makes me a better person and calms me when I'm in turmoil. He loves me unconditionally, no matter what, the end. He works incredibly hard to provide for our family AND still comes home happy and ready to "wrestle" with what I haven't been able to get done all that day. He amazes me and I only hope to be as good a friend, spouse, sibling and person as he is one day.

My other two valentines kept me busy throughout the day. Levi and I made valentines for daddy from all of us. Then we made cookies and ate mostly the dough. Like I said... Perfection.

Pinkified Life

2011-02-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

Since Annie has joined our family, life has been grand and PINK! Who would have thought outfits, bows and pretty much anything in pink would be so fun!? Luckily, we are adjusting quite well, as of this week. Before now, we had a rough time! Well, at least Levi had a rough time. He's still 2, so he has his days, but he has come around to liking Annie when everyone else is making a fuss about her, but secretly pinches her toes or fingers to remind her whose top dog. :-S Not quite sure how we are going to tame him, but we are desperately trying and searching for answers!

This month has gone by so fast! I can't believe Annie is one month old! I can't believe I'm a mother of two! I can't believe my big boy will be 2 1/2 in a couple of months! I can't believe that 4 years ago I was newly engaged and my little family was only half of what it is today! It's incredibly crazy!

Levi continues to talk up a storm. He also has learned that when I'm feeding Annie, he can pretty much get away with whatever he wants! I will threaten to put him in timeout when I'm done, but by then both him and I have forgotten why I'm putting him in there. He loves to spit his juice out of his mouth, make excuses like "Pee pee" or "Nose" at nap time, (meaning he has to go pee in the big potty or he needs to blow his nose.) and lecture me while pointing his finger in my face. He likes to kiss Annie. He ALSO loves poking her, pinching her, throwing balls at her... and the more I say, "Levi, please don't do that" the more aggressive he gets! UGH! On the more positive side of things, he is learning more and more everyday. He loves to do puzzles, especially the alphabet one. He knows the letters, A, B, C, D, I and O. He's pretty good at the letter sounds too! Thanks to the LeapFrog "Letter Factory" video. Thanks to his father, he has become a miniature wrestler, which is both good and bad. It's great to get him tired and watch him wrestle with his dad. It's not so good when he tries to tackle his friends to the ground and destroy them... oy! In any case, we love our Levi. He's just going through an adjustment right now and we understand. We're just going to pray a little harder that we survive it.

Annie is so great! She's a great eater, sleeper and SMILER! Yes, she is advanced and already smiling! Thanks to her big brother Levi who was the first to get her to smile! She does it all the time now! She's a happy, easy, cuddly baby and we are so desperately in love! Her little tootsie rolls drive me crazy and it's hard to resist not tickling them! She's also making a lot more noise now. Her "oohs", "ahhs" and *sighs* are dreamy! I guess the only grief she's giving me is that she would prefer to eat 24/7. Sometimes, especially between 6pm and 9pm, she eats ever 30 minutes. She also would like warm milk served every time she wants to fall asleep, even if she ate 5 minutes previously. Fortunately, I think I've gotten her to like the "bink." She'll take that and try to go to sleep every now and then. Anything she does, convenient or not, we are completely addicted to her! MMmmm, the life with pink is beautiful!

Annie's Photo Shoots

2011-01-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

Our Little Annie has already gotten her fair share of pictures taken! First there was the paparazzi at the hospital, then there were two other photo shoots that people generously offered in her behalf. First was Melissa Howell, a gal from our ward who has her own studio at her house for her business, Blue Prints Photography. Here are the photos from that shoot! SOOO cute and fun!

The other photo shoot we had was from sweet Sydney. We got to know her through her boyfriend, Mike, who coaches wrestling at Creek with Tyson. She did such a good job and was so patient with Annie and Levi. We had a major meltdown towards the end of the shoot, but she was so great about it! It was stressless! She took beautiful and classic pictures that we'll cherish forever!

Both shoots were so fun and captured amazing results! These ladies are so talented and fun to work with!

Thanks to the both of you!

Annelyse Melanie is HERE!

2011-01-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

She definitely made an entrance! Compared to Levi's birth, hers was a pretty easy. We went in at 5am to be induced. At around 6 am, they started the pitocin and the contractions were bearable. I even got a short nap! By 7:45am, Dr. Tyler broke my water and checked me. I was at 4 cm and 80% effaced, but she was still pretty high, I think she said at 3 station. So, we thought we had quite a day ahead of us. As the contractions got stronger and stronger, closer and closer together, I tried to hold off getting the epidural. Between the time I asked to get the drugs and when I actually received them seemed like forever this time. I'm blaming it on the fact that I was further along initially than I was with Levi. Anyway, after I got the epidural, it took awhile for it to kick in and never fully did in one specific spot on my right side. Because the drugs weren't keeping up with the pain, they decided to check me again at about 11. I was a 6. By 12, I was an 8. The contractions were very bearable, but I was still feeling them somewhat. At 12:45pm, our nurse, Anitra, checked me again to find that I was fully dilated, but Annie's head was still a little high, so for about 10 minutes, she let me sit up, in order to get here down to where she needed to be. She only came back to find Annie's head crowning! They called the Dr. and as they set me up, the minutes passed by. Tyson commented that it would've been cool to have a baby at 1:11 on 1/11/11, but we figured it would take awhile to push this baby out. "Oh well" we thought! As we were talking with the nurses and getting ready to push, I laughed to hard and Anitra told me to knock it off. She literally had to close my legs and hold that baby in until Dr. Tyler got there. It was 1:11 and 20 seconds when Dr. Tyler got there, put her gear on and told me to push. At 1:11 and about 50 seconds, my one push had gotten this girl out! She was born on 1/11/11 at 1:11pm. Tyson even guessed her weight exactly. She was 6 lbs 13 oz and 19.5 inches long. It was a crazy day and still has me in shock! The PR people at the hospital came in wondering if they could let the media know. We said "sure" thinking it would be fun to have a small article in the paper as a keepsake for Annie's birthday. Little did we know that all the news channels and their cameras would be in our hospital room a couple hours later to do their stories. We also got a front page article in the Parker Chronicle and a tidbit in the Denver Post. CRAZINESS! It will be fun to look back at the articles and newscasts as Annie and Levi get older! We love having here in our family and although we are still adjusting (eh hem, Levi.) we wouldn't have it any other way! She is a sweet, mellow and pretty easy baby as of now! Let's just hope she stays that way and is able to put up with the rest of us!

Bye, Bye Pregnancy!

2011-01-24T09:24:00.000-08:00

Here is my growth on film for the past 9 months! I just get huge and there's no way around it! Now, to get "un-huge." Wish me luck! :)

Getting Ready for Lil' Ms. Annie!

2011-01-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

As the time for our little girl's debut grows closer, the mommy in our house finds more and more things that need to be "done" before she gets here. The end of this month has probably put us all over the edge with being productive. I know Tyson's done with moving furniture, cleaning and organizing!

We had a slight scare the Annie would be coming early last week, as they found protein in my urine and my blood pressure was high, so my nesting instincts were on overload. I felt like there weren't enough hours in the day to get what I wanted to done, plus I wasn't feeling well. They thought I might have preeclampsia, but ended up not having it. We were in and out of the hospital doing test work due to a slight panic attack where I felt like I couldn't breathe, some stomach sensitivity and lack of baby movement. Looks like the EKG, chest x-ray, baby monitoring and 24 urine test all came back with normal results. So we wait until the 11th to be induced (or until she would like to come before that).

Here's Levi and Tyson setting up the big boy bed so we have room for our little girl to get here and for Grandma to come stay with us!

That same night, we had Tyson's sister, Lisa, hang out with us! Levi loves "SeeeSah" and we had fun spending time with her.

We made cookies...

and snuggled with all our friends!

Thanks to everyone who has helped get us ready for the baby to get here. I've had people come do my dishes, my mom's cleaned my bathrooms, done laundry! It's just been a great blessing to have so much help!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-01-03T08:46:00.000-08:00

We had a GREAT Christmas! Party after party, we were able to spend some quality time with each side of the family. It was a lot, but totally worth it! The parties started the 22nd and went through the 26th. Phew! We made it and are so grateful for family and friends who made this year a wonderful time in our family! Here's what we did...

First Christmas party, we had the "Wilson" side gather together
for fun and food at Aunt Lisa's house. It was fun! Levi got a really
cool truck, sockies and book that reads a christmas story to him.

The day after that, we went to help get ready for the Allen's
Christmas Eve party. Not sure how "helpful" we were, but
we sure had fun decorating cookies and making a mess!

Levi found a Christmas Buddy while we were
trying to help!

Christmas Eve was spent at the Allen's house!
It was fun to see the "Allen" side of the family.
Aunt Sandy caught a cute family picture of us
before the party started. (Last time it will be just 3!)

After everyone left, we opened our presents since we wouldn't
be there in the morning. Levi got THE COOLEST Black&Decker
Power Tool set! Daddy was drooling over it as well!

To back track on the night a little bit, Aunt
Mindy got mini-Nerf guns for all the little
cousins... apparently the guns were just too
tempting for my husband.

We woke up to Santa's surprise! Buzz and Woody!
He was so excited! Look at the shock on the face! (below)
(Video of the excitement posted later!)

We had such a marvelous Christmas morning. Because of our wonderful ward leaders, we were "adopted" as a family for Christmas. We were given a load of presents annonymously that we were able to open Christmas morning. It was unreal! Levi was in heaven with all the fun toys he got. This particular family (who we still have no idea who they are!) even did stockings for us, got Lil' Annie gifts and fulfilled some needs Tyson and I were lacking! We were very humbled and will never forget the feelings we had that Christmas morning as we realized how incredibly lucky we are to know the truth and have a ward family who just "gets it." It reconfirmed why we celebrate Christmas. Because of our Savior, the One who gave us everything, was born in humble circumstances. He is our ultimate example and one day, our family will be able to make such a difference for a family in need, just as Christ has given so much for us all!

After we had our own family Christmas morning,
we headed to my parents house where we played
the new Kinect game Critter got. The boys got
really into it! It was so fun!

Then, we were able to talk to Elder Wilson!
Spencer sounded so awesome! Levi even said,
"Hi" and "I Uh Sencer!" (I love Spencer)
We miss him a lot, but are so proud of where he
is and what he's doing!

After we spent some time at my parents, we headed down to my grandparents house to visit with my mom's side of the family. It was fun to hear of the conversation my aunts family had with our cousin Tyler. (He's serving a mission in Brazil)! Then we headed back to Parker to just hang out with my family and sleep! It was an awesome Christmas day!

And just to top off all the Christmas parties, we continued the holiday
cheer with a party on the 26th with the "Miller" side. (Tyson's mom's family.)
It was nice to take a walk to try to induce labor...I'm huge, uncomfortable and losing all sight of logic at this point. The park was another good way to get away and enjoy some nice weather!

We had an amazing Christmas and hope everyone else had the same!

It Starts....

2010-12-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas is coming. And although I'm usually pretty cheery about all the Christmas festivities, I find myself in a rut of "bah-humbug!" I'm really sick of being pregnant, being tired, being poor students, being husbandless and being abused by a toddler. And why does Christmas time automatically mean cooking, baking and cleaning time? I actually can get myself to enjoy most of those things, but when I feel forced to do them, it just makes the task that much worse. Do you hear me? Wow, what a Grinch! I need an attitude adjustment.

We officially started the season with our friends, the Fraziers, which was wonderful. As we continue to get in the thick of things, maybe I can get a better outlook on Christmas this year. Other than the Downtown Littleton parade, we also went to Downtown Denver's Parade of Lights. It was fun to be down there with my family and to see Levi get excited when he saw the huge basket ball and the dancing fish and Buzz Lightyear! He even got into seeing Santa at the end! (Whose name Levi only whispers with excitement now. ha ha!) We also got our Christmas tree up with the few nativities we own. I still need to finish a stocking for Levi, and while I'm at it I might as well finish baby girls! Other than that, we sit around, usually waiting for Daddy to get home, mostly because he brings all that is fun to our house! Here are some pictures from our festivities...

Levi with Uncle Critter and Uncle Tanner waiting for the parade to start

So excited to see the parade floats!

Our Tree. (It's been rearranged a million times already. Thanks Levi.)

Matchbox car racer! He loves to watch them zoom around him after he makes them "go fasss!"

We love Mickey Mouse!

Week of Thanks.

2010-12-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

Luckily, Tyson had the entire week of Thanksgiving off and as much as I was determined to "get stuff done", I was more than happy to veg with my two boys on a couple of those days and enjoy just being the 3 of us. There was a Monday Night Football game that we enjoyed watching at the Allen's. It wasn't the best game for our Broncos, but we had lots of fun!

Disappointed in the sad score.

I'm HUGE! Why am I posting such a horrific picture? Tyson liked that I wore Broncos stuff.

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at my parents house with my Grandma and Grandpa O. We must've been totally mesmerized by the food because we totally spaced taking any pictures that day. Just take our word for it...the meal was AMAZING! Turkey, gravy, a MOUNTAIN of mashed potatos, two types of sweet potatoes, stuffing, rolls, jello, cranberries, pumpkin pie, huckleberry pie and Key Lime pie! I'm wondering why we've had to eat for the past two weeks....

Friday after Thanksgiving, we headed down to the Allen's again to help with decorating their house for Christmas. It was really windy and got to be unbearable as it got late, but Tyson and Mindy did a great job at trying to get as many lights on the house as possible. Levi and I had fun playing with side walk chalk and rearranging the reindeer!

Trying to solve the light issues.

Levi and the Deer.

Side Walk Chalk distraction.

Hot Chocolate, the only way he'll take it... in a bottle. I know, not good.

Later that night we went to e Downtown Littleton's light up parade. We didn't see much of the parade and Levi fell asleep on the way there, but we had fun with Sean and Amy and Amy's sister, Carrie and her boyfriend Tommy.
It was a great way to start of the season!

Acceptance.

2010-12-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

As some of you remember, I went through a phase (approximately 14 weeks ago) where I needed to de-clutter EVERYTHING. Even our blog. Maybe it is the hOLiDaY decorating or the constant mess my little buddy makes everyday or maybe I'm just t i r e d, but I have accepted that clutter and mess are just apart of my life right now and to try to keep it out of my life right now is just not possible! A two bedroom apartment furnished with a couch, a loveseat, a rocker (thanks Mom and Dad) a piano, a kitchen table AND a computer desk all in the front room causes for some crowded quarters, not to mention all the pink things we've become accustom to seeing around here. So to match the theme of our lives right now, I cluttered-up the blog page! Cute and homey, right? Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho! and all that stuff. (Now to work on my Christmas spirit.....)

Happy Halloween, again and again and again.

2010-11-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

We had tooooo many halloween festivities to go to this year. First, we had Aunt Mindy's Fall Festival at her school to go to on Friday. It was fun, but a mad house of billions of older kids! Levi loved the bowling and bean bag toss. He didn't love the spider rings that were given out for prizes and would opt for a tootsie roll instead. (My kind of boy!) Saturday we were supposed to go to another carnival type thing and Rocky Vista Medical school with the Wests, but ended up taking it easy, since the week before had put me over the edge. We hung out with Grandpa who graciously took us to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat. (I'm not sure he knew what he was getting himself into.) It was fun and we got to see our ward friends and get plenty of candy. Levi didn't quite understand the whole concept until he realized what everyone was putting in his pumpkin bucket, then he was one eager Buzz. (yes, he was Buzz Lightyear for halloween this year.) On Sunday we ventured down to Littleton and visited Grandma and Grandpa Allen and some friends we have near their neighborhood to get some more candy, we did pretty well, but Levi was on and off as to whether he wanted to ask for candy or not. Overall we scored this Halloween. Next year he'll be able to "get it" a little more and we'll have another lil punkin to haul around with him!

Buzz Lightyear!

Trying to throw the rings on the spider legs, very difficult.

Buzz with Daddy

Buddies at Trunk-or-Treat

Mommies and their Buddies!

Helpful Grandpa! Oh man!

Trick-or-treating at Grandma and Grandpa Allen's.

Family Halloween photo. *sigh* All done.

Our Boy is TWO!

2010-11-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Levi turned 2 last week right before Halloween on the 28th. It was a great and beautiful day! The weather was perfect and we were able to play out side for a little bit before our family came over for cake and ice cream. We had a Mickey Mouse themed party that was a lot of fun to prepare. He was spoiled rotten with loads of toys. He got a coloring book, a big mickey mouse book, a fire truck, Geo-tracks, matchbox cars, a tool box set, a go-by-itself car, clothes, a Buzz Lightyear costume and matching buzz gun, a huge mega-blocks truck and even some cash! He is still in heaven playing with all his new gadgets! It might even turn out that his birthday will be better than Christmas! Lucky Duck!

Here are some photos from that day!

My version of Mickey Mouse cake.

Playing with bubbles before the arty starts.

Passing time with balloons, waiting for the guests to arrive!

Cake time!

Opening presents!

We had a blast and are still in shock that our little man is 2 years old! It's crazy!

Chicken Nugget Thief!

2010-10-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

I am now at the point where this story is funny. It only took me a couple minutes to cool down about it, but I had to write it down so that I'll remember to feed my kids everyday! :-)

Levi and I took a Saturday to go to the big park up the street from our place while Tyson studied. I put our blanket out on the grass and parked the stroller right next to it. We had run to McDonalds drive-thru before arriving at the park so the happy meal box was sat on our blanket. Because we got distracted by the park, we left our stuff about 20 feet away from the playground to go play. About 30 minutes into playing, I see this little girl on our blanket (she was probably like 8 or 9). I didn't think anything of it and was trying to keep my son from breaking an arm, or something. A little later I see her with a chicken nugget in her hand. Again, nothing of it, right? Other kids go to McDonalds, obviously. But as I drug Levi away from the slides, we walk back to the blanket to sit down and eat, and there she way, stuff her face with my sons lunch! Chicken nugget box in hand, running away, I yelled after her, "Hey! Little girl!" She stopped, handed me the empty chicken nugget box to which I said, "Don't steal peoples lunch!" She ran away with chipmunk cheeks full of 4 chicken nuggets. I was steaming for about 30 minutes while we packed up and ate our cold fries on our way back to the car. Once I got in the car I cracked up to myself for awhile. Levi even caught on and laughed with me for a second, then he just thought I was weird. Guess I should guard our Value Meals a little better next time!

Brad Paisley, y'all!

2010-10-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

We got to go to a Brad Paisley concert about a month ago... (yes, I know, I'm behind.) It was awesome. One of the opening acts was Darius Rudker! He was also amazing. (For those of your "country music illiterate, he's "Hootie" from the band Hootie and the BlowFish. ) Anyway, it was a fun fun night. We got $10 tickets at Walmart and sat on the grass at Fiddlers Green (or should I say, Comfort Dental Amphitheatre-- who decided that one?) We went with Heather and Ryan. It just so happened to be Ryans birthday! Tyson and I sang as loud as we could and rocked out the whole night. My favorite part was hearing him let loose and sing really really loud! He's the best! It was a great date!

Rockies Night for the Rookie Parents!

2010-09-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

We went to a Rockies game a couple weeks ago and it was a blast! But we all felt like it was incredibly hard to get everyone (the kids) where they needed to be, with everything they needed, etc. We kinda felt like something didn't want us to go on such a fun date that we totally felt like we deserved! Either way, we made it and it was a great game, with great weather and great food!

Labor Day LaPpAgaLooOooOZa!

2010-09-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

I think we did everything we possibly could this labor day! We had a blast with our buddies the Wests! We went to Southlands for Chipotle and to play in the umbrella splash park there. Then we got bored os simple splashin' and decided to head to H2O'brien water park! After that we headed to the playground outside the water park to play some more. And to end the day of exhaustion, we went to McDonald's play land! The boys all did great and slept even greater!

Fun in the sun at the Umbrella Splash Park at Southlands Mall.

Next was the BIG water park in Parker, H2O'Brien Water park!

THEN we went to a nearby park and continued to play!

Playing telephone!

AND DEN we ended the day at McDonalds Play Place. Here's Heather having "too much fun"!

It was an awesome day that wore us all out, but it was totally worth it! The next morning, Heather and the boys came over for a PJ day (cause we just can't get enough of them!) and we recovered from our mega-fun Labor Day adventures while the daddies worked hard at school.

SOOOO much fun!

Wedding Weekend

2010-09-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Tyson's sister, Sandy was married to Vince Nielsen on September 4th, 2010. We're so excited for them! It was a busy weekend full of family and fun!

Our #2 is a....

2010-09-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

GIRL!!!!!

We couldn't be more excited, scared, emotional and amazed! What do we do with a girl!? She will be the most perfectly pink present ever! We found out a couple weeks ago and I'm still trying to clue into the fact that she is a girl! We can't wait to meet her. Here's some answers to the typical quetions....

1. When are you due? January 18

2. Which makes you how far along? 22 weeks

3. What will you name her? NO IDEA! We had a name picked out for a long time, and now that we are actually having a girl, it has changed. For the moment, we like Bryn or Brynlie, Cambri or Margaret (call her Maggie). We are up for any suggestions! Leave 'em here or on facebook! ;) We have to options for a middle name, but want to keep that as a surprise!

4. Are you still sick? NOPE! (Thank goodness!)

Here's her first photo shoot from the 3rd of September...

Here's her hand (far left) and foot (second image in first photo)

The second photo is her legs, showing us she IS indeed a girl!

The right side photo is as if you were looking at her straight on. You can see her eye sockets and tooth buds.

The left photo is her profile with her head rounded on the left and her legs bent on the right. See any resemblance of Tyson or I?

Levi Lately

2010-09-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

He's a busy, busy boy that love "MiMi" (Mickey), "Melmo" (Elmo) and "Buh" (Buzz: which is also Woody?). He loves to giggle and play "hide." Even when Mommy doesn't want to play and needs him to take a nap, playing "hide" seems to be his way of getting out of it. And when bed time rolls around, he know how to play it up and keep giving kisses back and forth between Mommy and Daddy, just to delay is bed time doom.

Wouldn't you want to sleep here?

The last two weeks he decided it's time to be a big boy and would climb out of his bed a couple times at night. It began to be dangerous because he would be half asleep as he's climbing out and would fall flat on his face. We finally got his crib turned into a toddler bed, but that's just easier to get out of, so we have late nights and early mornings at the Allen abode. Last night he fell asleep after about 45 minutes of laying in his room with him at 11pm. He still was sure to wake me up 7am. (I don't even want to get into how baby girl kept me up last night! OuiVey! I guess I'm just being trained for when she actually gets here, right? :-S) He loves to point to my belly and say "baby". I usually ask him to give her a kiss and 50% of the time he will. One morning before going to church, I asked him where the baby was and hinted to my belly. He shook his head "no" and said , "baah" (ball). I just hope he won't be lifting any shirts or skirts up to try to find that ball. Eeek! He also found the dryer to be a fun hangout place.... weird. And he doesn't freak out when Tyson closes the door to the dryer. In fact, he just giggles!

Other than that, he loves his best buddy Blake ("Bee") and Blake's little brother, baby Carter ("Ca-Ca"). And thank goodness for them, otherwise he would be one deprived and bored boy. He notices every big truck and cool car he sees, as well as any plane he hears flying in the sky. I pointed to the moon and told him what it was a couple nights ago. He now doesn't call it a ball, but calls it "mooo", usually said in a very excited tone.
He loves bubbles, especially in his baths. For some reason, eating the bubbles is really funny to him. He just started trying out the little potty we got him, but I think it's still a little too soon. We'll see if we can get that going before the babies born, but then again, he'll probably just go backwards when that happens, so we may wait until after she's here. We also, by chance, got him off the (shhhh) b-i-n-k-y. HALLELUJAH! He's officially given it up and will not freak out if he sees another child with one. He is a big boy now and binkies are only for babies. Let's hope that's another thing that "sticks" when the baby comes! (fingers crossed!)
He's got a gut wrenching giggle like his daddy and we love to tickle it out of him any chance we get. Another precious word he learned last week was "Susus" (Jesus). He, like most toddlers, has a problem sitting still during church, so I usually take him around the building looking at the pictures of Jesus. The first one I showed him this time he pointed and whispered (because we're being reverent...) "Susus." It was so precious is made me tear up. So we went from picture to picture looking at Jesus and all the people he helped. All the mommies and daddies and big brothers and little sisters. He also said "Fuf" for Joseph at one point. I love it! After we were done seeing all the pictures I told him Jesus would want him to be reverent and sit with mommy and daddy, so he clasped his chubby little hands and walked into the chapel, where daddy sat waiting for him. He sat on the floor and bowed his head for a couple seconds, then went back to putting puzzles together. I was super impressed! We'll see how this week goes!

He's the absolute greatest! I love being his mom! It might be more challenging than I thought being a mom could be, but I wouldn't trade him or my job as a mother for anything!

CoOkiEs.StOriEs:HaPpY!

2010-08-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

My Heavenly Father must know me really well, because lately, I have felt abused, misunderstood, ignored and forgotten by my baby boy. So, He sends these little moments to me, a little emotional mommy in Colorado, to remind me that what I do everyday is NOT forgotten, IS important and IS what I AM supposed to be doing with my life. I also know, through tender answers to prayer, that He understands every feeling I have, though the emotions range from outright mad to exhausted to full of glee, He knows.

So, to remind me, he let me have these sweet times with my boy.

(I know this one is blurry, but can't you see the inner-baker bursting out of him?)

It may not seem like much, but during this entire hour of baking, he was all mine. Not Daddy's, not Uncle Critter's, not Grandma's, not Grandpa's, but ALL mine. And he thought I was fun and he loved me. :)

The next night, we had story time, but instead of wanting Daddy to read to him, he chose me! We read about things that go "VROOM & HONK" and "Are You My Mother?" by Dr. Suess. Again, he was all mine. Wrapped up in what I had to read to him. (I know I sounds selfish when I say I got him all to myself, but it seems to rarely happen, so just humor me.)

Bossy Joci Vs. Bossy Boy

2010-08-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

This is typical bander at our house!

Fly-By July!

2010-08-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

It seems like July just started and now we're on to August! Oui Vey! How did it go so fast! We had birthdays, a bridal shower, vacations and a wedding! I remembered the camera for a hand-full of the events, but don't you worry, I don't think our month of August is going to slow down much more, I'll be much better at remembering!

First we had the Grandma's birthdays. I only remembered the camera for Grammy Wilson's celebration. BUT, we had a great BBQ at the Allen's for Grandma Judy and gave her a couple children's books to read with Levi; one about puppies and another one called "Grandma and I." Grammy Wilson needed to add some of HER music to the never-ending boy collaborated iTunes list, so we got her an iTunes card and made her a crocheted dish rag. Both days were filled with fun and laughter and seemed to revolve around little Levi more than the birthday girls themselves, but really, who's surprised?

After that we headed to Lake McConaughey in Ogalala, Nebraska for an overnight stay. It was fun, but we didn't end up doing a lot of skiing on the day we had on the beach. The water was SOOO high. I've never seen it this way before. The water was covering probably 90% of the beach, so finding a place to camp out for the day was difficult. Not only did we have that problem, but the weather wasn't permitting "glassy water" and blue skies. We did make the best of it and had some pretty exciting boat rides! Levi was just happy to throw mounds of sand into the water and see the splash! It was really nice to get out of town and enjoy some down time with our family.

View near our cabins

Family photo

Taming the toddler

Always ready to "go-go"

Mmm, smoochy!

Exciting boat ride!

Play time on the beach with Grandma!

There he is!

After that I got to go to a glamorous shower for Sandy, my sister-in-law who will be getting married in 32 days! Wahoo! I forgot the camera to that event, but don't you worry, there is another shower this weekend that I'll be sure to capture every moment I can.

To complete the busy month, we had the last week of July full of wedding events for our best friend, Sean and his new wife (always our NEW bestest buddy), Amy. Tyson threw a whole day worth of Bachelor partying for Sean last Wednesday that included a long morning of white-water rafting, then a short nap to make up for the early morning, followed by a night at the Rockies game. From what it sounds like it was a blast! Sean has a GREAT group of friends and we enjoyed getting to know them better through the week. They all love and adore our buddy and who can blame 'em?

That Friday night was the rehearsal dinner. We got a sneak peak at how the ceremony would run the next day. The church was absolutely gorgeous with brightly colored stained glass and beautiful wood paneling! I helped that both bride and groom were glowing themselves! After rehearsing and getting everyone on the same page, we headed downtown to the Spaghetti Factory (which happens to be where Amy and Sean ate right before they got engaged! We even got to see the exact table they sat at...too cute!) It was an awesome night full of fun memories and getting to know Amy's friends and family helped us realize MORE what an amazing girl she is. Perfect for our Sean!

Saturday morning was a whirlwind of getting ready early so Tyson can meet Sean at the church by 10:30 to finalize everything for the reception and ceremony. The whole day was perfect! I only wish I had another set of hands...one for controlling Levi and one for taking pictures. I didn't get very many of the bride and groom due to the wiggles my little man had, but take my word for it, it was perfection!

We love you Sean and Amy! Can't wait to celebrate our friendship for years and years to come!

The Bride and Groom.

*sigh*

Truly. Brothers.

We like them. A lot. Yup. Definitely.

Inside the chapel. Where everything took place.

Darling centerpieces.

Reception decor! It was awesome!

What I saw most of the night, the back of my child's head.

Phew! Such a busy month, but totally worth it!

Simplify.

2010-07-14T12:17:00.001-07:00

I would like to simplify life by a new blog look. No more messy confusing designs from multiple scrappy sites, just plain white. Plus it helps when I get around to printing this journal of our life one day.

*sigh*

doesn't that feel good?

Why We Miss Our Daddy?

2010-07-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

'Cause he's been working really hard on this...

He repainted, carpeted, re-tiled, put new light fixtures in, new toilet and sink in, retextured the ceiling and grouted the basement floor to be level. He's amazing and worked extremely hard to get this done so he could have some time with us. He's the greatest! Thank goodness for hard working Daddy's! We're so proud of him and glad to have him back!

July 4th Weekend

2010-07-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

What did we do all weekend? WITH our daddy? Well we....

Played street hockey,

Threw pop-rocks with Grammy,

Watched our own mediocre firework show,

Played soccer with Grampa and Banjo,

Made kabobs at Gma&Gpa A's house,

Did I mention our Daddy was there?! SOOO happy!

Fell asleep in the car on the way to see fireworks that were non-existent because of the rain,

Went to h2Obrien in Parker and swam our little hearts out...as well as turning many shades of red,

And tried again for fireworks and succeeded!

Happy Fourth of July Everyone! Ours was perfect!

When It Rains...

2010-06-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

(Levi in the Rain)

It Poors...

This weekend we went to Winter Park with my Dad's side of the family. We stayed in a cabin up there and visited the town a couple times. There's a park with a play gym in the center of town that we stopped at first. So after this....

(Happily sliding!)

Levi fell off a three foot ledge from the playground platform to hard, cold cement. Hence the major purple goose egg pictured above. He acted really funny and tired right after it happened so we rushed him to the ski slope medical center to make sure he didn't have a concussion. It didn't help that Tyson was unable to go this weekend due to a basement remodel he needed to finish. It was quite the eventful weekend. I think after this incident we had a cousin sprain her ankle, one got a ping pong ball in the eye, my brother fell out of two trees onto the ground and later that same night Levi choked on a chip. We're just glad we made it home in one piece.

When we got home (or to Grandma O's house for a birthday celebration) Levi was soooo excited to see his Daddy. We really hadn't seen him for about a week because he would work so late.

This celebration went without any accidents luckily, just some rain. So I'll take that any day.

(the birthday boy)

Phew!

Baby #2

2010-06-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are pregnant. I've announced it on facebook and on our family sites and we actually told our immediate families on Tyson's birthday, but just so I'm able to log the happenings in the Allen's lives, here are the stats for this pregnancy.

I'm almost 9 weeks along. I haven't gone to the doctor's yet because of some insurance issues, but once we get that first ultrasound picture, I'll be sure to post it. We're very excited and are totally up for a boy or girl baby to join the family. I'm pretty sick, but am able to survive with help from our friends and family. We'll have to see what this one ends up being, but we're so excited either way!

YAY!

Happy Birthday to the BEST Husband and Father EVER!

2010-06-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's Tyson's Birthday! Hooray!

Here are some of my favorite memories of my life with Tyson. He's the most supportive, loving, funny, handsome and perfect husband and father any two people could ask for. We're so lucky to have you, my love! You're the best! Happy 23rd Birthday!

We love you!!!!!

Long Time No Type

2010-06-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

So I'm a little behind at updating on what we have done in the past couple of months.

First and foremost, mainly because it was super fun, we got to go to the Denver Zoo with our friends, the Wests! They are our favorites and we had so much fun with them while we were there. Levi and Blake (their oldest) are the bestest of buddies. Heather and Ryan have become some of our bestest friends as well. And everyone loves to snuggle little Carter (their youngest).

Here are the two pals hanging out in the jogger. This didn't really last too long!

Daddy was such a help in chasing Levi around. Their so dreamy!

We got to see the Polar Bears, which are my absolute favorite. (As you can see, Levi is probably distracted by some peacock roaming around.)

From left to right: Heather, Ryan, Blake, Levi, Joci & Tyson.

The best of pals all around!

We also took another short trip to Little Monkey Bizness! Blake and Levi had a blast! Mostly in part to Blake's daddy, Ryan who helped take them down the big blow up slide while I had to watch my daycare baby and Heather had to watch Carter. Thanks Super Dad, Ryan!

We spent some time with Uncle Sean. This is our best friend from high school who we get to see every so often. He's getting married at the end of July and we can't wait! Wish we got to see his cute soon-to-be-wifey more, but she's a busy lady! We love you Amy! (and Sean!)

We inherited/borrowed my parents Wii! We love WiiFit and Rock Band! It's been a blast to play! Plus, we can get Netflicks immediately from the internet through the Wii. It's awesome. I guess we'll have to give it back... one day.

Overall, we're just livin' life and making the best of Tyson being done with school. Although he started his new job with the City of Littleton, he gets off around 3:30 and is home by 4, so once our schedule gets into a habit, we'll be able to have tons of fun this summer! Levi and our little daycare baby will keep me plenty busy for now during the day. The West's went on a little family vacation so they won't be here to entertain us for an entire MONTH! :( But we'll pick up right where we left off when they get back at the end of this month.

More updates to come... I promise!

May I Serve Thee?

2010-04-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Today has been a busy Sunday full of singing "gigs" in different wards and I still have one more shin-dig tonight at 7, but I just wanted to pause and tell all you someone's out there my testimony of service. I was able to sing a beautiful song in Sacrament meeting today called "May I Serve Thee?"

Lord, take these hands;

Let me tough a life and serve Thee willingly.

Lord, take these ears;

Let me hear Thy words and humbly follow Thee.

Lord, take these lips;

Let the words I speak be formed at Thy command.

Grants me the will

To gain knowledge all hearts can understand.

Give my heart son;

Let the notes combine to ring eternal truth.

Lifting my soul, Every moment let my song begin anew.

I desire to rely on the One whose might power can do anything.

Simple gifts I not bring;

These I offer to set before my King.

May I serve Thee?

All I have I now bring

To set before my Savior, Lord and King.

May I serve Thee, Lord.

May I humbly live for Thee.

It was hard to not get emotional as I was singing before the talk of a young man leaving for his mission that happened to remind me a lot of Spencer, but the words in this song are so true. I will try my hardest to do my best in the service of my fellow men. Which includes spreading the gospel and serving my family with a grateful heart!

I think service is the answer to every problem. When I was feeling down and lonely, I picked myself up and was able to serve. Now I am surrounded by friends in a ward that I felt I would never fit in. I am able to see those I serve as Christ would see them and I love them all tremendously. Please don't think I'm tooting my own horn, because I'm definitely not. I give all the credit to our Savior, who promise us that if we serve others, we are only serving Him. How full is my heart today for the knowledge that I am able to be my Savior's hands when I serve. And through my service I can KNOW Him and learn to love just as He does. He is my ultimate example and I love Him. I can't wait when He comes again!

Wordle

2010-04-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

I just learned about this little thing called a "wordle." My brother was over tonight and saw this really cute plate that we received from our friends, the West's, for helping them during a busy time in their lives. It was actually really fun to help out, but we were quite excited to receive this darling gift! Isn't it super sweet of them? Heather's mom made it for us, in fact she has a blog for all the really cute ones she's made. That can be found here. Anyway, Critter told me about this site that "wordles" a bunch of stuff... so I typed in our blog site and here's what came up! Is it sad that the biggest word is "Buzz"? We might like Toy Story just a little bit at our house!

Monkey-ing Around!

2010-04-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

Last week we were able to go to Little Monkey Bizness! It was so much fun! Levi had a blast and we spent little money, lots of time and had an extreme amount of fun! He loved the bouncy castle, the slides and playing in the houses. It's design specifically for little monkeys like him. There is even places for us parents to hang out and use wifi, have a hot beverage or smoothie and just relax while the little ones get there wiggles out. We just had to much fun watching and playing with Levi that we forgot to sit and relax like all the other parents. We even took Gammy Wilson with us and she loved it, too. So really the place is for all ages! We all left almost 3 hours later ready for a nap!

Bubbles!

2010-04-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

These were just too cute NOT to post! I love bath time at our house!

Our Easter Festivities

2010-04-05T21:01:00.001-07:00

It was a perfect day, so we got to play! These were taken at the park near my Aunt Cami's home. The dinner there was perfect and it was fun to have just our little families together! Tyler and Spencer were definitely missed, but the thoughts of what they were doing that day brought us plenty of joy and laughter!

We've gotta look cool to go to Easter dinner

Easter morning, we woke up to a basket of fun and Elefun! Then we played and watched Conference. It was awesome to be just us three and celebrate such a great day!

We tried to color eggs, but they look too much like balls. And what do we do with balls? That's right, throw them. Only eggs don't bounce!

This year was the first annual Washington Park Easter Egg Hunt! It was quite crowded and we only got one egg that was donated to us, but it was fun to be out and have Levi be at the park!

Woody, Buzz, Knockin' & Pack-Pack

2010-04-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

Our newest obsession in TOY STORY! Anything with Buzz or Woody on it, is the best! So far we have Toy Story fruit snacks, a Buzz Bubble blower, a Buzz kite and both Woody and Buzz pjs!

Sheriff Woody---Riding his trusty steed: truck. (We'll add Bullseye later!)

THE Buzz Lightyear! Gut and all!

Levi wanted this to go in the "pack-pack", but it wouldn't fit. As we read it, he would stop and in stead of opening the door like it would all the other flaps, he knocked on the door--then opened it! ha ha!
We packed all his toys and a phone a some keys in the tiny backpack. (It was my attempt to distract him from unloading the diaper bag.) He loved it! He would wave buh-bye and then walk to the door.
He slowly got tired of playing the game, and dozed out every now and then....

Schnazzy Guys & Snuggly Uncles

2010-04-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

Look at these boys! I just love 'em all!

Nerf Guns & Sock 'Em Boppers

2010-04-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

Our favorite things nowadays are Nerf Guns (best while being used in a war) and Sock 'Em Boppers! We got together for Critter's birthday a couple weekends ago and had a blast! Plus, we had "dirt"-another favorite.

Birthday Bashes!

2010-04-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

My birthday was March 17. Yes, I am late on reporting on it, but I just recently was able to get over the fact that it completely stunk!

The night before the storm hit, I was worried that I might be expecting... (no, we're not trying at this point in time)...so I took a test. Negative. Of course both positive and negative feelings come with that. The following morning one of my friends came at 7am to drop off her little girl so I could watch her. (Aren't you supposed to sleep in and get breakfast in bed on your birthday?) As the morning got started, Tyson wanted to take me to get some running stuff at Sports Authority before he had to go to class. So, we went there and wouldn't you know it, as I was in the dressing room--- my little "gift" arrived! As it arrived all heck broke lose! Ava (my friends little girl=12wks old) started to bawl, because she's hungry) Levi wanted to run wild and visit balls and swoosh them all off shelves. I of course had nothing with me for my issue, so I was frantically needing to get home but had to drop Tyson off at the light rail station. So, my elongated drive home was full of grose feelings down under, a screaming baby girl and a yelling toddler who threw his binky from the back of the van to the drivers seat. So I get home, put Levi down for a nap, take care of Ava and when I finally get to take care of my mess, I have nothing to take care of it with! So we deal. We go to get Tyson later on and on the way home we stop by Walmart for some stuff... again a typically nightmare with two scream children, one blowout and a wrong purchase. After all this, I rush to teach a

piano lesson, rush back home to get ready to perform for a Relief Society activity. It was a big production of about 14 ladies from our ward doing the 10 Virgins program. As I was on stage, I started to feel queezy so during the program I had to get off stage and get some air (luckily I kept everything in.) I was able to finish the program, but as I was ready to leave with my ride, Heather, she reported that she had been having contractions for the last hour and a half. Oh joy! We rushed home, sat with her and her husband to figure out what to do. I ended up sleeping at their house with their 2 year old along with Tyson and Levi all on the floor, only to have no baby to visit the next morning! Really, I just felt bad for Heather! What a nightmare. Anyway, there it is. Happy 23rd Birthday, self. Way to be.

At the end of the week from you know where, we got to celebrate! In fact as I was busy with church stuff on my birthday, Tyson snuck away to his mom's to make these delicious ice cream cakes! It was a fun night!

And although it may have been Vince and I's birthday celebration, it was plain to see who got most of the attention, as always! We'll just say he was the "show" of the party.

Proper Etiquette.

2010-03-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

I'm sure in some countries, my boy would be the most polite child anyone has ever seen. Yup, I'm sure of it.

Elder Spencer Wilson

2010-02-17T09:17:00.001-08:00

Our brother, Spencer Joe has officially reported to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) and is a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

first updates! He's still our wonderful, energetic, charitable Spencer, just in a grown-up suit and a very important name-tag. We miss him so much already and are looking forward to the next 24 months to go by really fast! We know he will change these next two years, but to us, he will also be our Smiley Joe! We love you, Elder Wilson!!!!

New Years Resolutions report!

2010-02-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

Hello to all, this post is really for my benefit, but to anyone who checks our blog, here's just some extra information to smoooosh into your already hectically crowded mind! I had a couple of New Year's resolutions this year. The first was to read the Book of Mormon everyday. I'm sorry to say that since my dreamy hubby has started school, I have failed to keep up with his determination to achieve this goal. BUT, I'm positive this week is a new start for us. I think we decided to not give our selves a certain amount of verses or to complete the Book of Mormon, due to our busy body who can really only take a couple verses, or just read his neat comic book-like-Book of Mormon. So, we started anew this week. I think we're going to set a time each night to read. I know it helped my family as I grew up.

See, distracted. We'll be working on it. The good thing is, he LOVES to read books!

My other resolution was to loose 40 lbs (at least). So far I'm doing pretty well. I thought I would be ahead of where I am but I'm on my way. I've lost a total of 12 lbs as of this morning. Hope it continues! I've been tracking it on this site called weightchart.com . It's been nice to see the line graph slowly descend into the lower weights! The reason I need to loose all this weight is one, just to be plain healthy and to keep up with little man and any others that will co

me in the future and two, I am starting to run again in hopes that I will be able to complete a marathon! My mom did one last October and loved it. She said it was a life changing

experience. She wants to do another one and I would love to do it with her. We also have some good friends who are experts at marathon competing and my side of the family has gotten quite found of them. So the mother of this clan will hopefully be able to do it with us! I can't wait! I'm excited to see how far I can push myself and see how strong my body can get. Wish me luck!

This was me on my honeymoon at my ideal weight, and the disgusting one below was me as a balloon the morning before I gave birth! So, hopefully I will be able to add a third picture later of me close to the 1st picture's size!

I Craft....who knew?

2010-01-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some crafts I've been doing lately, hope I'll be able to add more with my new sewing machine that my in-laws got me for Christmas! I love it and have been using it to try to finish Levi's Stocking....hmm, a little late, huh? Well, it's hard to finish a stocking with out a sewing machine! Anyway, here's what I've actually finished... AND, little Maily helped model. TOO CUTE!

Explanation Needed?

2010-01-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

To explain my goofy blog title... the quotes are from Jack Black in "Nacho Libre." For those of you who haven't seen it, check some scenes out on youtube. It's a very odd, independent-like-film. It's where we got the name for our blog. We're just goofy! So... dere you go.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-11T15:09:00.001-08:00

Midnight hit and so we scrambled after watching "Julie and Julia" (a very "eh" movie) to get out the sparkling cider, toast and kiss! Very uneventful. Poor Critter was probably so bored with us all, so he used Levi for entertainment. Our little boy sure throws a mean party, he stayed up all the way until midnight, he can never leave a good party! :) It was fun to just relax and enjoy each others company.

Christmas Festivities!

2010-01-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas day (you will see later that I'm not reporting chronologically, oops!) was AWESOME! We woke up at our very place to the surprise of a huge tent

in our living room from Santa! Levi LOVES it!

Thanks Santa!

Then we heading over the river and through the woods to Grandma Allen's

house where we had waffles,

opened presents,

had a nap then a turkey dinner! It was great because it was just us

no extra in-laws

and no one was on a schedule or got out of their pj's!!! I loved it!

Can't wait for more years like this to come!

We had an AMAZING Christmas! Every Christmas Eve we get together with our greatest friends, the Smiths. This year we got to enjoy time with our new addition, Maily, which is Landin and Jazmin's adorable daughter. Lindsay and Logan are fun, too! We spent some quality time with our good old friend Scooby, who passed away the following Christmas morning. We miss him oh so much and know he went straight to heaven. The evening was full of fun, talent shows and a great dinner. The best part was my eggnog shake! MMMM, so good. Tyson says his chocolate shake was the best and that Aunt Doo Doo is the best "shaker" there is. (He funny.)

I'm so grateful for the holiday season that brings the good out in everybody. I love that we were able to spend some quality time with the ones we love most! To celebrate the birth of our Savior is the key to the happiness we feel. Through him we will be together forever with all of the ones we love. I know it to be true. We Wish You a Merry Christmas everyone... all year long.

My Perfect Gift Basket!

2009-12-10T16:34:00.000-08:00

Tyson put a laundry basket over Levi the other day, which lead to this...

A Gift basket under the tree!

"Get the ball, Mom"

"Where should I throw this? IN YOUR FACE!"

Where IS he?

There he is!

Christmas is Coming! Christmas is Coming!

2009-12-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

My aunt Lisa threw her 2nd annual Christmas Cookie party! It's always fun to go and decorate (or watch people decorate) cookies. Levi didn't quite get into the decorate part of the festivities, but he did make a friend in aunt Lisa and reached for her and really preferred her over anyone that night. I think it made her smile a little! He also found "Alvin the chip
munk" toy that happened to be right next to Uncle Brad's ear. As he was trying to watch the game, the "adorable" chipmunks would sing a christmas song...over and over and over!! Levi would sway back and forth to the song and kept pushing the button to replay the song! Sorry Uncle Brad!

We were quick to get into the Christmas Spirit this year. We've never been in our own place in the 2 1/2 years we've been married to have our own tree.

Thanks to some Black Friday deals, we got ourselves a TREE! Being too pooped from the 3am shananigans, we didn't decorate until the following Monday, but we did it! Levi loves the tree, and to use all the bulbs as baseballs and to shake the lights. (ya know, just to make sure they are on securely!) We had a blast bring Christmas into our home and hope to add to the Spirit with music, sugar cookies and christmas movies.

Here's the final product!

ThankGOODNESS for Aunts & Uncles!

2009-12-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

Without them, any holiday would be extremely hard! Thanksgiving was fun and we are so grateful for a family who is so willing to help us with our busy child! We're thankful for our food, home and the gospel that brings us joy everyday!

Thanks to Aunt Sandy, we are able to keep Levi looking cool and warm. She got him this adorable aviator jacket for his birthday!

Here's Critter playing "bull" with our son.

This started off by Critter building a fort for LEvi to go UNDER, but just ended up diving INTO it! HA ha! So, the game ended in this...

Here's auntie Mindy trying to get a squeeze in before Thanksgiving dinner. Without her we wouln't have eaten thanksgiving dinner at all! We

would have chased Levi all day long!

Little boys and new places does NOT equal quiet time.

Here's Tanner entertaining Levi with a Blankey-slide!

We later all took a corner and threw him up in the air... yes we're responsible parents, we are.

Here is Uncle Butt's helping with "cowboying up!"

Halloween, Hair cuts, Hairy friends & Hats

2009-12-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

I know this post is WAAAAAY over due, but here it is anyway. I can't believe I forgot to post about Halloween! We actually did it this year. Last year was a nightmare due to the fact that Tyson was suffering from exhaustion and couldn't stay awake while I stayed up most of the night to find out our 3-day-old baby boy had jaundice! NOT FUN! This year started out fun as we went to our families homes to trick-or-treat and who off our little lion! He was so confused most of the time, just kinda sat there in a daze. It was pretty funny! Then to ruin what could have been a perfect halloween, as we were on our way home, our car totally quit right as we were pulling into our complex. The car is still sitting in the same spot we left it from that night! URGH! We need to fix it. But, that not all. No, of course not. Tyson went to get his sister right after he dropped us off at home, and on their way home... his parents car, the van, quit too! They were on the highway this time and had to call their dad to come get them! We had several panic attacks over the next couple weeks, and aren't quite sure how we will fix our little volvo, but we'll just have to see. Oui vey! At least our Levi boy keeps us giggling and reminds us what is truly important in life!

We (more like Grandma) gave Levi a haircut before, but he needed one again due to some long curls going over his ears! So, we started off by spraying him to get him excited to get his hair cut. HE LOVES IT! He'll bring me our squirt bottle just to be squirting... not just on the head but in the face. He'll ask to be quirted in the face with our water gun when he's in the tub. It's funny! The haircut went great, thanks to animal crackers & cheetos! He's OH sooo handsome!

One Sunday while we were at my parent's, Levi rolled around with the doggies. He's gotten quite good at noticing any dog outside, on TV or by simply hearing a bark from far away. He'll start dancing around saying, "goggie" and then rounds his lips to say, "oooo!"

While playing with the "goggies" he found a cowboy hat and insisted on wearing it for the rest of the night. He thought he was SO cool. We always get him to wear his stocking cap and shoes by telling him he's a "cool dude," and it usually works! He even has a "I'm so cool walk" that swiftly stole his uncle Butt's heart when he was here last. He'll walk around singing his arms and swaying his body while babbling! Oh, if I could get it on tape! I will earnestly try, but he seems to have a camera shyness.... go figure! (sigh) He's just adorable and makes us laugh more than once a day.

Dear Snow, Come AGAIN! Love, The Allens

2009-11-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

We had a snow day last week and took full advantage of it. Before this day, we stayed in ALL day and filled it with naps and hot chocolate and played with Levi's new toys. I hope Christmas is as filled with snow as this day was! It was perfect!

Daddy's Day

2009-11-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I took the day to figure out how I was going to make the Lion Cake that was pictured earlier. So, Tyson took Levi to his parents and played all day. I'm so glad he took the camera so that I really didn't miss anything! After the long day of decorating cakes, Mindy (Tyson's oldest sister) wanted totake all the girls out to the Melting pot for the twins birthday! It was fun and SOOO good! It ended up being really hard for me just because I missed my buddy! I called as I was going to Littleton, and Levi talked to me on the phone! Made my heart go pitter-patter! (sigh) Just another day in paradise!

Carving Pumpkin Pals

2009-11-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

He dug right in.

AND kept putting it all in his mouth, Daddy helps.

After he put his hands in and it felt funny, he wanted to see how it felt on his legs!

Seriously, I he's put everything possible into his mouth!

Birthday Boy!

2009-11-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

Levi turned one years old last Wednesday, The 28th! Can anyone believe it!? I'm still in shock and try to force a cuddle every now and then (it doesn't go over well)! He's so funny and perfectly delicious! I want to eat him all day long. He had AWESOME presents and loved having everyone focus on HIM! Loved his cake, loved everything, except for the four shots he got that morning---stupid mommy!! He didn't have any problems diggin' in to the cake, that's for sure. We quickly gave him a bath due to that fact that it looked like he dove into a huge cow pie! We were sad some couldn't make it because of the huge snow storm that hit that day. Here are some of the festivities that took place.

Our Mr. Man

2009-10-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

Look at this little charmer! We took this before going to church yesterday! He'll be 1 years old next week! Unbelievable! He's walking all over the place and has 4 teeth! What happened to my little baby boy!? He's big boy! I love 'im!

Melanie: My Marathon running Mommy

2009-10-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

She did it! She ran all 26.2 miles in 4:28:11! Amazing! AND... this is the best part... she wants to do it again! I'm so proud of her and hope that I will get my butt in gear to possibly join her in the journey next year? (yes I say that with a question mark... still thinking about it.) I LOVE YOU, Mom!

Going to the Park. Sleepy. Naked. Cooking with Dad.

2009-09-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

A short update from us! Levi has been so so so tired lately.

He even fells asleep in his highchair

while he was eating. It's ironic because we have a picture of Tyson at this age doing the exact same thing. I guess he was famous for falling asleep in random places. But back to Levi, he won't let me even hold him to go to sleep. He'll slither out of my arms onto the floor where he mumbles around for awhile and falls asleep ON THE FLOOR! It's so weird! I guess it's good he's trying to be independent, but so sad for his mama! He's also teething and just recently (as in 15 minutes before this post) has diaper rash!

Poor thing. I feel so bad. He was screaming at the top of his lungs because it hurt so bad. AND on top of that, his mom (cough), wanted to start letting him "cry to sleep." Stupid mommy didn't think to check his little rear end after the first couple of times he was screaming! Ugh! I feel horrible... still. Because of Levi's sad little bum, I let him "be free" for a little bit. I couldn't pass up a good photo op! Ooo, look at those cheeks! Tee hee!

Tyson's little mini-me....he other night Levi was all over him. He had to be right by him for everything! Everyone says he looks just like Tyson, but as I watched him right next to his daddy, it was uncanny how many similarities there are! Everything from his chin to his legs are just like Tyson's.

To make a long story short, we were waiting for some pictures to get developed so we had some extra time. We headed to the closest park (the Airplane Park-- for those Littleton-natives) and played! There is a huge airplane there on display, a train ride that had ended for the season, a small stream, play equipment and tons of grass to crawl on! He loved it! It was fun to just have time as a family to play and make some memories.

Family Photos by Auntie Lisa!

2009-09-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

Here they are! Lisa did an amazing job with them! She has such talent! Isn't she the bestest aunt in the world!? Thanks Lis for all you did in taking the pictures, editing them and publishing them on a disk and internet site! You're awesome! We love you!

Bye Bye Butts!

2009-09-22T18:48:00.001-07:00

Uncle Spencer left almost 3 weeks ago to BYU-Idaho! He's such a big boy! And apparently he's having a blast because we haven't heard much from him. I know he was really nervous to leave our Mommy (what can I say, we all have issues with leaving her), but he's having such a blast and I'm so proud and happy for him. He's in the perfect place right now. He 's such an awesome brother to have and a great friend. I love him sooo much and hope he continues to have a blast! We miss you, Spence! Love you!

Happy go lucky as he leaves us forever! :(

It's so quite and kinda boring at G&G Wilson's now that he's gone!

Oh yea, P.S: For those of you who don't understand the whole "Butts" thing, Tanner, (my third brother, called him "Butts" because it was his way of saying "Spence." SO there you go!

Camera Purchase? Check.

2009-09-18T12:14:00.001-07:00

We did it! We bought this great new camera about 2 weeks ago! It's so fun! We get so many of Levi's perfect faces and personality! I'm one happy momma!

Here are some pictures we took as we learned what our new toy could do.

This was Levi's mother's day gift to the grandma's. He's feet might have doubled in size since then! haha!

Like the other picture, we like to play with the color accent tool. It makes everything but the color you choose, black and white. Hope to take Levi on a little outing to do some more of this outside.

This is the action shot. It's fast and keeps taking a picture every second if you hold the button down. He was so tired!
See? I told you he had adorable faces that we couldn't get! This is him being a shy shy boy! Not very typical for our Levi, so I'm really glad we got a picture of it!

SO BIG! Levi's new trick comes and goes pretty quick. He knows he's so big! But we finally got it on film.

So, we're a happy family with a camera! Hope this effects how much I blog now! Anyone have any pointers in taking cute and artistic photos? I want to try expanding how I take pictures! I hope this camera will do the trick!

Our Very Own!

2009-09-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Oh yea, amongst all that other stuff, we moved the end of July! I think I mentioned that in a previous post, but didn't post pictures! It's nothing really exciting but is so awesome for our family of three who have been living with gracious family for most of our married life! Levi loves to have his own space to crawl and (gasp) almost walk! EEK! I'm so excited to have a lot of our memories here with our little one and maybe for the ones to come!

Dining Room

Kitchen
Master Bedroom

One View of Great room

Another View of Great Room

These are Levi's favorite parts of the new apartment.....

His VERY own ROOM!

His Very own TUB!

He freaks out anytime the door opens or shuts!

We have our piano here and he loves to play it... at ANY time or day.

And he hears the fridge open he comes a crawlin' and tries to get the pop out!

Free Museum Day and Pool with Uncles!

2009-09-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

We went to the Museum one day with Spencer and his friend Logan. We also met Tyson's sister Lisa and her boyfriend Kyle there. It was fun to get out for free, but they're doing some renovations and will probably be more exciting after that! We can't wait for the free ZOO day on the 7th of October! Here's Levi and Tyson with the Lions...which is a very important part of being Levi. And Levi and I with the Polar Bear exhibit--- they are my favorite. He didn't seem too interested!

We also had Tanner and Critter spend the night a couple weekends ago then spent the next day at the pooL! It was fun to hang out with them. Levi sure does love them. It's fun to watch him... watch them!

Overall Obsessed!

2009-09-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

I love them on my little buddy! They are the cutest thing a baby could wear!

The End.

Stinky Camera Luck!

2009-09-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

So, the reason for no postings lately is mainly because our camera luck just plain stinks! We started off buying one on our honeymoon and needed to get it fixed forever but the stupid $70 warranty we bought didn't cover whatever happened to the thing. It wouldn't turn on or anything one day, and so we were out a couple hundred bucks because of that. THEN...we were using Tyson's sisters for awhile until we broke that one. How? you ask.... I DON'T KNOW! It was fine one minute, then some metal piece was coming out of the battery compartment and wouldn't work. So, we ultimately owe her a camera as well. We've been trying to use my camera from when I graduated high school, but it takes about 15 seconds for the dang thing to actually take the picture. Which means but the time is flashes, Levi is half way to your face grabbing at the camera! WE NEED A NEW ONE! Any one have any suggestions? We would love to have it snap really fast so that we can get Levi's lovey smiles on film! And any extra type of effects already on the camera would be awesome! A nice zoom would be great so that I can take a great picture of him from across the room. Anyone with photo experience please give me some guidance. We tried going to Best Buy to have them help us but everyone had a different opinion and we ended up leaving very frustrated and confused. So, my plea is for some help from my fellow bloggers! We've heard great things about Canon and Nikon...any others that are better? What do you guys have?

So, anyway, there's our camera saga. This is what my lame-o camera has been taking the past couple of months!

This was supposed to be Levi giving a goofy smile, but ended up clapping instead! (because of the camera taking so long!)

This was one day at the pool when he was stuck in a gaze.

It still doesn't look very good because of the pixels or something!

This was originally right side up but as Levi grabbed the camera, the picture was taken! Oy!

And this was supposed to be a big cheesy grin, but only got the last half of his smile!

He's still perfectly adorable, but I would love to capture more moments in less amount of time! We need help!

No Blogging Summer!

2009-08-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

We've been so busy, we've forgotten to take pictures, update blogs, return e-mails, phone calls, blah blah blah! but we've done a whole bunch! Levi is our little cruiser and crawls everywhere. He's also a pro at begging for food, getting into to everything and stand up while hold on to anything, whether that be a leg, your face, a coffee table, a couch, a toilet, a tub, or a very dangerous un-sturdy lamp he uses it to stand up! Our lives have changed for sure and we love every second of it! Our June and July were very hectic, hence the lack of updates. Here's what our schedule has been!

Our 4th of July was spent doggie-sitting at our very dearest friends house and we got to watch an amazing fireworks show at their country club. It was awesome and Levi loved the fireworks! He actually watched them!

The following week we had three piano lessons and a voice lesson to te

ach, a Rockies game and a retirement party for Tyson's Aunt Karen!

Week three was full! We had a priesthood ordination, birthday party for Tyson's mom, apartment shopping, putting a deposit the apartment, finished up Tyson's semester online, and prepare to lea

ve for Lake McConaughey!

The next week we were at Lake McConaughey til Wednesday! It was awesome! We rented a

boat for two days and water-skied and tube to our little hearts desire! It was much better this time around for myself because I wasn't pregnant! Levi was adorable crawling into the water like it was nothing! When we got back from the lake, it was my mom's birthday, and time to start packing up to move into OUR VERY OWN NEW PLACE! We officially moved in the 25th

and absolutely love it! It's a dream come true to have our very own place but are very grateful to those who have let us live with them up til now! It saved us from a lot of financial trouble! It was about time we got out of your hair and got our own home! From there on out we've been unpacking and getting adjusted with our new and wonderful ward who has tons and tons of new families due to the large amount of apartment complexes in the ward boundaries! We're so blessed to be here and again are thankful for all those who have helped us get here!

7 Months!

2009-05-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

We had a little photo shoot the other day in honor of Levi turning 7 months! I can't believe it! He's really close to crawling right now and I doubt we'll make it another month with out him being completely mobile. He's so awesome and I am always amazing at how his personality is changing daily... not to mention his size!

Graduation Time

2009-05-31T18:14:00.000-07:00

We had fun going to two graduation ceremonies in the same week. Tyson's sisters, Kim and Lisa graduated from Heritage High School and my brother, Spencer graduated from Chaparral High School. It was tiring trying to keep Levi occupied, but it was fun to celebrate with them all! We had a graduation party for the girls the weekend before their graduation and went to Red Robin to celebrate with Spence right after his ceremony held at Fiddlers Green. Spencer will be attending BYU-Idaho in the fall. Kimberly will live with our older sister Mindy in her new house in Highlands Ranch and attend Colorado University-Denver. Lisa will be moving out to Boulder going to CU there. I don't think any of them know exactly what they want to go into... but Spencer has mentioned physical therapy, Kim sounds like she wants to go into the medical feild and Lisa is interested in astronomy, but hasn't declared any major yet. We are all so proud of them and wish them the best as they start their lives as adults in this "big kid" world!

Tuesday Adventures

2009-05-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we went on a little field trip. We drove to the light rail station, took the train down town to the Auraria Campus, handed Daddy's paper in for his final in English, recieved money back from his "pointless" text books, went to The Childrens Place to buy swimsuits and sunglasses with the cash we got, walked all the way up 16th Street to the Capital building, looked at all the statues, took pictures, people watched, walked all the way back down 16th to Chipotle where we indulged in two very delicious burrito bowls and then walked back to the station and went home. Levi LOVED it, he loved being out side and having his own little place in the stroller and loved to hear all the cars honk their horns and the sirens and the noisy birds all around. We had a ton of fun! I fell in love with my husband over and over again as I watched his excitement to be taking us all around and showing us all that he knew about Denver. We talked about people in general and just really enjoyed being a party of 3. The next day Tyson worked at his sister's house (remodeling stuff) and when we saw each other at the end of the day, there was an excitement that we haven't had for awhile just because we missed one another so much! Kinda like being in high school again! I'm so excited for this summer and for all the adventures we will have!

Word Verification

2009-05-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

I love blogging, but when I find a acceptionally adorable post, I want to say so. I just posted a comment on my beloved Aunt Meri's blog and was asked to do a "Word Verification." I was astonished to find that the nonsense word I was given was a little on the dirty side. I don't even want to have to re-type it! BUT, as I was commented on other blogs, I started noticing other "Word Verifications" and this is what they gave me...

pReaMp

ShIMoL

guGhef

All are silly words that make me giggle! Just a random sampling of what goes on in my head.

A Perfect 1st Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

We had a great day going around visiting our mom's and grandmom's. We were able to make "stepping" stones with Levi's footprints in them that turned our really cute! (I'll post a picture later) And Tyson made a good lunch with candles right after church. We were going to go for a picnic, but it was raining! My boys gave me awesome gifts. I got a journal, that Tyson and LEvi will write in about "how great their wife and mother is" as Tyson told me. I also got a really cool pop-up book to read to Levi from Chronicles of Narnia. It's really amazing how intricate the pop-ups are and Levi loves it! THEN, I got a Willow Tree figurine called, "Child of my Heart." I absolutely love Willow Tree! THEN, (I was way spoiled) I got a small booklet of little questions for me to fill out about myself for Levi and my future children to have to get to know me better. AND (gosh, I really lucked out this year!) hidden in the pages of this book, was a gift certificate from Tyson to Massage Envy for a 1 hour massage! I CANNOT wait to use it! All the gifts I got were very well thought out and perfect! (Oh ya, and my Dad and Mom got me a book about little mommy moments called, "The Mommy In Me")

Anyway, we had a great dinner at my mom's quick before they had to leave,

then we headed home to watch "Extreme Makeover-Home Edition." I love that show! So, Levi was pretty restless, but was using his new taught talent of being soft. He was being quite cute! THEN, as we were playing and kissing and goofing around, he nuzzled right under my chin and as I rubbed his back, he fell asleep. Now to most mother's this would be just another night, but my baby boy NEVER let's me cuddle him like this! He's a little wiggley independent thing! So this little moment was my PERFECT ending to a perfect day.

Smoooth Dude!

2009-05-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

Levi got to be the stud muffin a couple weekends ago. He put some shades on, we put a tie on him and he gave his aunt Kim a coursage. It was adorable. It's both Kim and Lisa's last year of going to High School dances, so we had a lot of fun trying to make it a big deal. We did hair, nails and make-up with all turned out gorgeous on these two beautiful girls!

But after all that girly stuff, only Dad was the one that Levi could "turn" to for some relief! As Tyson went to leave after Levi fell asleep, he rolled over to his side and reached for Tyson's fingers! (SiGh) He's too perfectly cute!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

This Easter holiday was such an amazing one. We really had a great day! We were able to go up to Parker to stay over night with my parents and then go to church with them the next morning. My mom spoke in church and gave an excellent talk that filled the whole chapel with a sweet spirit as we remember the great sacrifice our Savior made for us. We then had a fabulous meal of glazed ham, funeral potatoes and sweet potatoes with green beans and rolls for dinner! YUMMY! After which we all took a nap while Levi continued to sleep. When he woke up he got to spend some one on one time with Grandpa while I tried to wake up. When I finally did he was giggling and cackling with my Dad down stairs. It was fun to watch them play! After that we all ended up gathering in the same room and my Dad put in a movie made by the church called "The Lamb of God." Its been a tradition that we watch it every Easter. It depicts what the Savior went through as He suffered and died for us. Then the joy of His resurrection. They spirit was abundant in their home and kept with both Tyson and I for the rest of the day. I think we both still are on a spiritual high from the discussion that my Dad lead us in as a family on the importance of Easter Day. We talked about what our Great- Grandpa who recently passed might be doing on such an important day. It was very touching to imagine how he is spending his days.

After that we made a stop at the Allen's. They were playing games and we all really enjoyed their company and laughing with them. We played Family Feud on the computer for a long time and then enjoyed making Levi smile and laugh. Of course we ate some more and just had a great time with the family. It was a perfect day and couldn't have been better.

I'm so grateful for what I know to be true. That we will return to our Father in Heaven and our Savior one day. I know that He died for us and suffered for our sins, even though He was perfect and with out blemish. I know He rose on the third day and still lives! I love Him and know that I am never alone as he was in the garden because He loves me enough to always be my support. I'm grateful for the priesthood that was restored and for spiritual guidance that comes with that great authority. I know what I know to be true and am grateful for that knowledge. I love Him and continue to let that love grow.

The Avalanche Game

2009-04-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

We got tickets to the Avalanch game for the Allred family in our ward! They were such nice seats we had a blast taking Levi to his first game! He was a trooper! The loud noises were a bit much, but he made it through the game. He was very focused on what was going on on the ice at one point! It was his Daddy's dream to take him! Plus he got to wear his shirt to an actual game!

We also were able to take my parents. They're anniversary was the next day, so we thought it might be fun to take them too. They are just as big (if not bigger) Avs fans as we are. It was a blast and to have Levi there with all of us made it even better! Plus it was free! Which made it even more enjoyable!

5 Generations

2009-04-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Like I said in my previous post, Levi is a great-great-grandchild to George and Ada Ostermiller. Of course the hope was to get a 5 generation picture with Grandpa, but it didn't work out. We just assume he had a lot of important work to do and had to go when he did. Ironically, a great-grandson was born in the same hospital only hours after Great-Grandpa died. We figure he had to teach that little guy a thing or two before he came to this world. At least we got this picture when we could. It's an amazing thing to have 5 generations in one place! It's a chain of love!

In Loving Memory of John George Ostermiller

2009-04-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

My great-grandfather (Levi's great-GREAT grandfather), John George Ostermiller passed away April 2nd at about 3:15 am. We rushed to try to get there to have him meet Levi before he passed, but we ended up getting to Idaho at about 7:30 that morning. It was one of those things that happens in life that we will ache over until we see him again. Great-grandpa was the type of person everyone loved to be around. He was always making quick jokes and had a hilarious wit! All of his grandchildren felt like they were his absolute favorite. He had a way of making you feel the most important when he spent time with you. I remember whenever we would go visit as a child, he would always be sneaking around trying to get me more treats from the cookie jar or trying to give me something of his that I would always treasure. He had a love for clocks and watches. I'm sure there are many of his grandchildren that have inherited in one way or another a watch from him. I was sent home once with two watches, one for myself and one for my cousin Amanda. They matched so it made our bound closer as we treasured the watches that were given to us. He always put an emphasis on the importance of treating women with respect. My father and husband have learned so many lessons from him. It was sad to see him go, but we were relieved to know he didn't suffer for too long. He was diagnosed with Leukemia a couple days before he died. The last time we actually got to see him, he was trying to give us things because he knew his time on Earth was short. I just didn't think it would be that fast. In some way I thought he would live forever. He was 88 when he passed and was still acting like a school boy joking with his grandsons and children even while laying on the hospital bed. He will be missed by so many people.

At the funeral, there were shots fired in his honor for serving in the army during WWII. A shell from the shots fired was given to Levi as the first great-great-grandchild. I was also given a flower from the "grandkids flower display."

The display had watches included in it, it really turned out cute. The flowers given to him from his kids had a coo-coo clock in the middle of it. Great-Grandma let us pick out some clocks we wanted and she would decide on which ones she would give away. It will be a treasured clock and a constant reminder of where I have come from. He was a noble man and a loving man. We love him and cannot wait to see him once again! We love you Great-GREAT-Grandpa!

Officially 5 Months!

2009-04-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

Here he is! Five months!!! I can't believe it and I know I say that ever month, but it just goes by so fast it's unreal! He's found his voice a lot more this month! We usually wake up to him cooing to himself in his bed. He's such a joy! We recently took a long road trip and he was absolutely perfect! He's always smiling and bringing joy to everyone around him. He is the best baby in the world! Love you, Levi Boy!