9 Months!!!

Emma is now 9 months old, 3/4 of a year! Where did the time go? I actually have to remind myself that she is only 9 months and not 12 months. She seems so much older than she is. We visited the doctor today for her well visit and found the following:

30 1/4" tall = 95th percentile

24 pounds (with clothes on) = 95th percentile

head circumference is 47 cm = 90th percentile

So, the bottom line...she has never stopped growing. She is as tall as my friend's 15 month old and just looks older than 9 months. She is still on the verge of walking, waves bye-bye, says dada, mama, and hi, loves to look at books, and feeds herself so many finger foods! I love her so much and never knew my heart could continuously expand!

Meeting Santa Clause!

Snowflake has a town celebration to turn on the Christmas lights every year and Santa always makes a stop! We waited in line for 2 hours to see him and let Emma sit on his lap but it was worth it and although it was chilly it was by no means Rexburg weather! Emma was so cute. Her granny and Grandpa Allen bought her a little christmas outfit. In fact, the White Mountain Independent newspaper reporter said he had to get her picture sitting on Santa's lap and that it'd probably end up in the paper! Our little celebrity! (We don't get the paper and are still trying to track down that picture). Emma handled it pretty well. She was a little confused as to why she was sitting on some big guys lap but at least with her hair fedish she didn't pull his hair!

First Thanksgiving for Emma!

Well this year we celebrated turkey day on Friday instead of Thursday since my sister Jamie and her husband James drove all the way from Houston to spend the weekend with us. It was so much fun to have family for dinner and for Emma to spend time with her aunt and uncle...currently the favorites by the way! Emma also enjoyed dinner especially the jello as you can see!

Walking Update!

Well the first of the votes for when Emma will walk have come and passed. She is 9 months old on Saturday and is still not walking by herself. She stands alone and walks everywhere if assisted but still won't let go. Since nobody voted on 9 months you'd all better hope she takes a little longer yet! We hope that she will walk soon. I think it will give us more freedom...not having to carry her everywhere....we also know it will bring more curiosity on her part but her little knees are always so red and she wants so badly to get around so much faster. At 22 pounds, carrying her is a workout in itself.

Fall has come...maybe a little winter too!

Well, living outside of Idaho has definitely proven to be warmer. We have yet to receive any snow even though we are at 6000 feet in elevation. We had a good rain storm today though and the days are brisk but lovely! We have sweater weather all the time! The only problem is that the fall colors are now gone and it's rather gray and gloomy...thus, we might as well have some snow. This picture was taken a few weeks ago on the last day before all the leaves fell. This was the only tree we could find that still had colorful leaves and it was of course on the temple grounds!

Oh and By the Way...

Oh and in case anyone is not sure... my blog exists mainly to allow my family who are so far away and my friends in so many states follow Emma's growth. I know it centers on every little thing that she does but that was the plan all along when I realized that I would not get to live close to my family and let them see first hand my child grow up. Sorry for those of you just trying to keep up on the Allen's in general. I'll try to post more info here and there on all of us but really, it's all about Emma!

Happy Halloween

I love Halloween. It is my favorite holiday of all! I love to dress up and go to parties and I loved trick-or-treating when I was younger. Now that I have a child, I'm super excited to dress her up too along with my husband! Well, I wanted this very cute little girl kitty costume at Walmart but they didn't have her size so she was a witch like her mom. It was a default costume but it worked all the same. We went to our ward Trunk-r-treat last night and had lots of fun tasting chilis for the Chili cook-off, getting candy, mingling and taking pics. I don't have the family pic yet but here are a couple of little Emma.

Championship Day

The long awaited results: The football tournament has come and gone. Before I tell you the results, you first must hear the story. The tournament was held in Dil Con on the reservation. Cale has been waiting to play Dil Con again because they beat him in exhibition earlier. They had forfeited really cuz they only had half their JV team and so they asked Cale if they could fill in with the Varsity team. Cale said fine. Well Cale was winning until the last few minutes, when Dil Con pulled all JV players and played strictly varsity against Cale's JV team and won by one touch down barely. So the tournament arrives and Cale's team is ready. Cale's team was undefeated which means they played last place first....Dil Con. Well, Dil Con forfeited on account of not having enough players (even though they were hosting the tournament and even though 2 minutes later, Cale counted 9 players). Oh well, that means Cale's team waited for the winner of the 2nd and 3rd place teams. Finally they start the championship game and play one quarter at which point Cale's team is up 30 points and the mercy rule kicks in. So....after a lot of sitting around and a rather anti-climatic championship day, Cale's team remained undefeated and for the first time that he knows of took the championship!!! They got a big plaque for the school to keep and Cale got a little one for himself!!

Prepping for the season

So it is cooling down a bit in the mornings and little Emma was freezing on my morning walks. (The days are still high 60s and 70s Brittany) So I found her the cutes little hat to cover her ears and the blue sweater she is wearing, well that was mine when I was a baby. Something survied the 80s and still looks cute! We also needed a new dress for church and found this very cute Christmas dress which is actually an 18 months size so that she can grow into it. As you can see, she's almost there at 7 1/2 months old but luckily her weight has stablizied now that she is crawling, and standing, and walking assisted.

Emma and the Boys

Emma loves her daddy and her grandpa Allen. She says Dada all the time and loves when Cale comes home from work. She gets so giddy and literally can't stop laughing and smiling at him. She also loves to cuddle with him on the couch (for 3 seconds) and loves his soft hair!

Emma loves to play with grandpa's ties and key chain. He spoils her with cute clothes and toys which she loves. She also loves her Grandma Allen but women are shy of cameras.

Emma loves her crib! When she wakes up from her naps and in the morning, she is usually bouncing up and down with a big smile on her face. But one morning, I found her sitting her in her crib with her feet sticking out the slats. Too funny.

Finally

Okay, okay, okay....after many reminders and requests to update my blog, I have finally found time and desire to sit down and spend some quality time with the dinosaur we like to think of as a computer. I took a vacation the second week of October because Cale was on Fall break all week which meant he was home from work. The last week and a half have just been crazy busy and lazy. So sit back and wait just a few more minutes and my blogs will start pouring in. IN fact, so many that I know you will all be skimming through them!

The 3rd Tag!

Ok, I found it. The third tag I received was from my niece Heather, so here goes. Hope you enjoy learning more about me as if the previous 2 didn't give you enough info on me! :-)

A. Attached or single? Attached
B. Best friend? Cale
C. Cake or Pie? Cheesecake!
D. Day of Choice? Friday, Cale gets home early and the weekend begins
E. Essential item? Sun glasses, I can't go outside without them. My eye start running over immediately.
F. Favorite color? Blue
G. Gummy bears or worms? Both!
H. Hometown? Bountiful, Utah
I. Indulgence? Scrapbooking and candy!
J. January or July? January, unless I was in Australia and then July. Basically, cold is always better!
K. Kids? Emma, 7 months
L. Life isn't complete without? Cale and Emma and our families
M. Marriage date? 01.02.03
N. Number of brothers and sisters? 5 sisters, 2 brothers
O. Orange or apples? Sour oranges, not the sweet ones
P. Phobias? The Dark
Q. Quotes? "Happiness is a journey, not a destination."
R. Reasons to smile? Emma and Cale playing with Emma
S. Season of Choice? FALL, then winter, then spring, then Fall...
T. Tag some peeps: 1. Emily 2. Dixie 3. Diantha
U. Unknown fact about me? I hate grasshoppers!
V. Vegetable? Corn on the Cob
W. Worst habit? Make paper piles instead of putting right away
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound
Y. Your favorite food? Lasagna
Z. Zodiac sign? Taurus or Gemini

Two teeth!

These last 3 months have been very hard as Emma has been teething the whole time. Just a few days ago, her front bottom right tooth popped through! Hallelujah, she slept 12 hours that night and I thought life was good again. Well, last night she woke up at 5am off and on until 6:50am when I got her up. I thought it due to our late night last night with Cale's game. (Still could have been). However, in checking to see if her tooth had come out farther I felt another little peak to left of her new tooth! I checked to see if it was just the left side of her first tooth but I'm prett sure it is a second tooth!

No wonder life has been so hard! Poor little girl!

Tags! and Silly Little Menace

Ok, I'm pretty sure that I was tagged 3 times but now can't find the 3rd one. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy skimming my life history below. Should I ever find the 3rd one again, I'll probably post it.

On a different note, let me quickly just note how funny my little girl is. She, like most babies, loves to play with the TV, cords, electrical outlets, ect. However, she seems to know that she is not supposed to suck on those things because once she sees them and starts crawling as fast as she can towards them, she starts giggling and laughing as she goes; thus, she alerts mom who swoops in and pulls her away resulting in a very sad baby girl! The funny part is that she only does her excited little crawl towards harmful things! Some mothers listen for silence as an indicator that their child is up to no good; I simply listen for a very excited charge!

Timeline (Tag)

20 years ago I:
1. still had joint b-day parties with Brett and I's friends
2. had my first best friend Tami Burr
3. loved my spandex biker outfit that my mother made me (why mom, why?)

10 years ago I:
1. Taking way too many AP classes in high school
2. Half way through my first job
3. Driving a very sweet 1980 cadillac deville with maroon velvet seats and an 8-track stereo

5 years ago I:
1. Got married to the love of my life!
2. Graduated from UVSC with 2 associate degrees
3. Competed in a Problem Solving Math competition and took 2nd at the State level (yeah, story
problems)

3 years ago I:
1. Went to Alaska for the summer for the 4th year
2.

1 year ago I:
1. Planted a very large, very successful garden for the first time!
2. Started working full time at BYU Idaho teaching math
3. Got pregnant with little Emma!

This year so far I have:
1. Gave birth to my first little kid - beautiful Emma Elizabeth Allen
2. Moved to Arizona
3. Become a stay at home mome!

Yesterday I:
1. Went walking with the girl-friends and worked out afterwards!
2. Drove an hour to Indian Wells to watch my husband's flag football team win 44-0!
3. Played games with friends rather than cleaning my house!

Today I:
1. have not yet showered since Emma took a short morning nap
2. updated my blog and am currently working on 2 of the 3 tags I received!
3. cleaned all the pots and pans from two nights ago (not typical, I hate dirty dishes)

Tomorrow I:
1. will go walking and workout
2. hopefully wash my car
3. lose 25 pounds (why not, tomorrow holds many surprises)

Next year I:
1. Hope to have lost a lot of weight (I know the number but you do not need to)
2. Hope to be pregnant again with baby #2
3. Hope to buy a house

Ok, Tag #2 done! Here it goes - you are it: Danae, Diantha, Jodi, Emily, Heather

Seven 5's About Me (Tag)
5 things on my to-do list (which to do list?!)
1. Shower
2. Put up Halloween Decorations
3. Hang big mirror in living room
4. Scrapbook 2+ pages for the day
5. Tidy up house

5 things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire
1. Pay off debt (I know very original)
2. Buy a house with cash
3. Trade in my Escape for a Chevy Tahoe
4. Redesign my entire house, especially kid(s) bedrooms
5. Pay off all my family...and maybe friends' debts...
5+. Start a scholarship fund

5 places I have lived
1. Utah (Bountiful, Provo, Farmington, Centerville)
2. Alaska (Skagway)
3. Idaho (Sugar City and Rexburg)
4. Arizona (Snowflake)

5 Jobs I have had
1. Math teacher at BYU Idaho
2. Tour Bus driver for Princess Cruises in Alaska
3. Lab Aid/Teacher for UVSC in Utah
4. Pohl Inc. in SLC
5. Secretary for my dad

5 things people don't know about me
1. Rarely make my bed (trying to be better)
2. Hate dirty cars inside and out (although I'm very aware that mine desparately needs a
wash)
3. Love organizing and the cleaning that comes with it but not so much just everyday cleaning
4. Would love to start my own busines designing homes
5. I love to dressup and would wear nice clothes every day if I could afford it and fit into
whatever I wanted!

5 bad habits
1. Criticize too much
2. Don't floss every night
3. Snack when bored
4. Wait to refuel the car until the light comes on (thanks to my husband)
5. Leave my shoes on the ground and pretty much anywhere ( but usually by the door now)

Ok, I enjoy tags so here it comes (if you don't please don't feel bad ignoring the tag): Jamie, Rayann, Jessica, Krista, and Brittany

Friends!

The worst part of moving, besides the expense and packing and unpacking and cleaning the old place spotless only to find that the new place was not cleaned spotless and needs to be redone, is making new friends. I have great friends in many states now as they all moved away from Rexburg before Cale and I did. To all of you, I say "You are not forgotten nor replaced." But, i have finally found some friends!! It is so nice. We go walking every morning M-F with our kids and get together at least once a week for lunch and games. We also introduced ourselves to the couple that just moved in right across from us and they are the camping, outdoors, monday night football type so we'll be getting together lots too.

I'm greatful for all my friends and family who put up with my constant messenging, texting, and emailing to fill my spare minutes! Keep them coming.

Finally...a tooth!

After many many months of drool, tylenol and motrin alternated, sucking on velcro and the rubber tops of medicine dispensers, Emma has finally grown a tooth! After a really bad night of waking every 2 hours, I checked for a tooth again and there it was, a little point of calcium poking through her gums!! That has also made for a really long day but at least maybe now the little girl can have a few days (hopefully longer) free of pain! It is her bottom front right tooth. You can even see the little tip poking through! Yeah Emma!

When will Emma walk?

Well, crawling has taken off with a vengeance. She has long since loved to be stood up next to the couch or people or the pak-n-play and walk but now she pulls herself up to those places. At first she needed something to hang onto to pull her up but now she pulls herself up anywhere along any wall...and sometimes she falls which hurts a lot on tile floors. One of my favorite pics of her is when she is kneeling. I just think babies look so cute kneeling. So I included a pic of it. Also, she has decided that her crib and pak-n-play are really trampolines. She loves to just bounce everywhere, in your arms, in the jumper, in her bed, etc.

So, I am curious as to when she'll walk and what you all think. Thus I have posted a poll off to the right of my blog. Please vote as there will be a prize for the winner or winners! I just don't know what it will be yet...and yes, I'll even mail it since all you have decided to not live where I have chosen to live! hehe So vote now as the polls are not open forever! Oh and please post a comment with your vote as well so that I can see who voted what for prize purposes!

Finally, the long awaited video of Emma's debut! She is definitely enjoying the freedom of getting around. In fact tomorrow is the trip to Walmart for baby proofing items! She's pretty funny to watch come at ya because she just plows her way over!

Hobrook County Fair and Carnival

Cale always enjoyed the fair growing up. He claims to have gone every year and was excited to share the experience with his own daughter.

So, we invited Grandma Allen along and headed out. My main goal was to try a funnel cake which I was unable to do at the Taylor Sweet Corn Festival. I'd been looking forward to it for 3 weeks! ....and it was good!. I even saw how to make them and got a recipe online and will be trying it for a fun FHE soon. Anyway, here are some pics of the day. I just wanted to also note that although Emma is obviously too young to ride the carnival rides, she is apparently not too small for some. You have to be 28 inches for the carisal (sp?) ride and Emma is 28 1/2 inches tall!

I have to say that I am not a huge famy of reptiles unless they are ceramic or stuffed frogs so I kept my distance from this show!

Emma's Debut!

Well out little over-achiever is finally crawling at 6 1/2 months. She started doing so middle of last week. Buth gosh, she's been up on her hands and knees since about 4 1/2 months and long since perfected the army crawl. Now she has finally learned that she can move her hands forward while up on her knees and that she can go faster that way! So, yep, she's into everything! Let the baby proofing begin! She is also eating a variety of baby foods and starting some bigger people solids like bread crumbs, saltines, fruit snacks and pears! Those are her favorites. We introduced a sippy cup just to she how she'd do with it but so far she likes to suck on the handles rather than the nipple. Pictures of the crawling will follow soon as well as our exciting trip to the fair/carnival this last weekend!

Hurricane Ike

Thank you to all my friends and family for your concern for my family in Houston during Hurricane Ike. A little update: both my sister and parent's houses and cars were not damaged. The are all without power though and are told that will last for 4 weeks. Apparently the power station was hit hard. Downtown Houston was closed until today. My family all went into the office (they all work at the same one) and found that it had power and A/C. So they relaxed there for a little bit. My sister and her husband, and my brother and his wife are staying with my parents and 3 younger sisters for now. My parents have a gas generator and lots of food storage. Everyone was well prepared with 72 hour food kits, full tanks of gas in all cars, etc. They are still deciding whether to stay in Houston and wait out the power outage or to evacuate to Dallas or San Antonio. Most of that decision depends on whether they can work remotely and where their company wants to send them. If work is not possible they are thinking of vacationing in Georgia with family or in Arizona with me!!! I think they should just come here regardless!!

They were truly blessed with safety and rewarded for preparedness. They are already looking for ways to help clear the debris from the streets and neighboring houses. Thank you again for your prayers and well-wishes. They are doing great!

Emma "Cries Wolf"

Emma, like most little girls, has long since found that she can create a very loud, very high pitched scream! She took to practicing this art on our plane trip to Houston last month but since coming home it's been much more sparse! She now only does it to get my attention and to tell me to come play with her. Well, sometimes, I can't play (I have a house to run), and I put her in her pak-n-play and let her stand and watch me in whatever I'm doing. Well, this morning I was making myself some breakfast (French Toast) and she began to make her little squeal. I kept talking to her and telling her that she needed to hold on and let mommy finish what she was doing. Well, she kept squealing! I kept trying to distract her by talking to her and telling her what I was doing and smiling at her but she kept on squealing. Well, this all went on for about 3 minutes until I finally went over and picked her up. I knew that she had been working on a poopy diaper and decided she was ready to be changed. I went in her room and layed her on her changing table only to find that her PJ footies were wet. I thought it odd but figured she spilled something. Well then I started to unbutton her PJs and found that half her diaper had come unfastened either during the night or during the morning but needless to say was no longer holding anything in....and yes she had indeed finished pooping and luckily the remaining intact half of her diaper caught most of it. Unfortunately that was not the case for the liquid portion, hence the wet feet!

I started laughing because this was one time that a high pitched squeal is indeed warranted!

Bat or Bird or Blinds?

Well, it is finally starting to cool down at nights to about the mid 50s. Thus, it is the perfect temperature to open the windows at night and save money by not running the A/C 24-7. So, two nights ago, we did this. However, at about 12:30am I woke up to some very loud flapping noises in the kitchen. Now for those of you who do not know, I have a slight fear of flying things with sharp beaks (thanks to my trip to Galveston and the movie "Birds"); however, I mustered the courage to get up and check it out. I made it to my bedroom door before I heard it again and freaked out and made Cale wake up and come with me. As we ventured slowly into the kitchen we kept hearing it by the window above the kitchen sink. So I crossed my kitchen floor about halfway in an effort to see the window better at which time I saw the blinds blowing in the wind! At that point, I realized that the noise was simply the blinds and thankfully not a bird or a bat! I'm use to the sound that horizontal blinds make in the wind but I've not had vertical blinds for awhile and didn't even think about what that noise would sound like. Well now I know - it sounds like bats invading yourkitchen!

Growing So Big!

Well, most babies double their birth weight in the first month or two. Emma however, did not....thank goodness. Granted, she was 9 lb. 13 oz. at birth! Well, at 6 months old, Emma has finally done it...she has doubled her birth weight! She is now 28 1/2 inches tall and weighs 20 lbs! I can't believe how big she is. Luckily she is very active, loves to jump and roll around. She has definitely mastered the army crawl but has yet to figure out that her arms can move forward when on her hands and knees, not just her knees. Oh well, she'll get it one day or she'll go straight to walking. She loves to stand supported against the couches or in her pak-n-play and will walk up and down their lengths while holding on. Crazy girl! She loves to be up higher and see what is going on. She is definitely our shining light and brings such happiness to our lives. She is always ready to greet mom, dad, or stranger with a huge grin and playful bounce! We love you Emma!

More Sweet Corn Festival

The corn festival was a lot of fun but especially with little Emma. She took everything in so excitedly and with her big blue eyes! It is definitely going on our calendar for next year! Any of our friends and family are invited too!!

Since football season officially begins this next week and because the Cowboys are huge in Arizona, Emma and her daddy wore their Dallas Cowboys jerseys.

Emma actually loved the petting zoo. She didn't actually go inside the fences but loved to stand outside and watch the baby goats and bunnies and ducks! She also liked the puppies. This little guy sat in his food bowl!

We all enjoyed lunch but then couldn't resist buying some of the yummy corn on the cob. Who knew that little toothless Emma would love corn on the cob?!

The fair had five different inflatable jumping toys for the kids. Since Emma wasn't quite big enough to go by herself, we just sat her on the edge to see how she liked it. Apparently, she did!

The Ranch Rodeo was at 6pm and we thought Emma would be a little tired and hard to manage but she was really excited...probably just to be up past her 7pm bed time! It did start to rain a bit but we were prepared with blankets and umbrellas and of course Emma wanted to help hold the umbrella.

Sweet Corn Festival

The sweet corn festival is an annual even here in Snowflake/Taylor to kick-off the harvesting of the main crop: sweet corn! It is a 2 day event. Day 1 is mainly the craft show but ends with a salsa making contest where the tomatoes are donated and you make your salsa on sight. We went to day 2 which began with a 2mile/10K run, then a parade, BBQ lunch contest, fair events, and rodeos events.

These pics are of the parade. It starts with the usual fire trucks but then immediately followed by the sweet corn lady as Kara calls her!




















A travelling blug-grass band came up from Bisbee to play during the BBQ lunch. All different townspeoples come and cook lunch, for a small fee, and you can vote on who was the best.















While waiting for the rodeo events to begin we wandered the fair grounds looking at the Petting Zoo, jumping toys, etc. but eventually we got to see a Wild Cow Race and later that night, a Ranch Rodeo which is basically a spoof of a real rodeo. Events included Bronc riding, wild cow milking, wild cow relays, etc. All very fun and Emma stayed awake the whole time!

Working with Mom

This is how Emma use to help me work. She'd sit on the desk and play with a toy so nicely.

This is how Emma helps me work now...so helpful but if you look close you can see that she thinks she is hilarious!

All Moved In

I've had requests for pics of our new place so here they are. We enjoy the space but would love our own home!

I