Fun at Lane's Pond

WE have named our pond "Lane's Pond," in behalf of Lance's brother, Lane. We sent him a pic of it and he said that he would come and fish in it, though he hasn't, the whole idea has stuck with us. The cute thing is, the lane leading down to the pond, we named "Melanie's Lane." Named after Lane's beautiful wife Melanie. We thought it was sweet to tie it together:)

So, we have this awesome pond at the back of our property. You can't even see it from our house. It's great because when you go back there, it's surrounded by trees and you are all by yourself. It feels like you have your very own private resort, which we kinda do!

So, the other day we had an all out fun day. It was nice and warm so we swam, fished (there is bass) and canoed.

If you will notice that the boys managed to capsize the canoe. It was a great learning experience, and I think they even get to sign it off for scouts! We had some serious fun. And the greatest part was it was all in our backyard! The walk down there is beautiful. We have an old barn on the way to the pond, and it's a nice stroll down there.

Our dog, Moqui, even dug up an old Muskrat nest! She was silly, covered in clay, and cute as a button!

Rider and dad got in some fun fishing, mostly daddy/son bonding time!

Shylee hoped for a tan, which she did get a bit of. She didn't want me to get a pic of her, so that's the only one I got!
I had to get a pic of the deer track! We have a trail of them through our backyard.

Another Tooth Bites the Dust

His tooth right next to the knocked out one, was just as wiggly. So, I just gave it one, OK, two big yanks and out it came!

After Fisher cried in front of the bathroom mirror, for a good 20 minutes, from the trauma, he realized it was going to be double the mu la from the Tooth Fairy!

He is now re-working his pronunciation! Trying to saying his "Th's" and "Sh's." We are all getting quite a kick out of it!

Pretty soon, from all of his lack of teeth, we are going to have to move to West Virginia. It's basic knowledge here, that if you don't have very many teeth, high chances are- that you are from West Virginia (Ohio isn't any better, so I'm not sure what the bias is?).

Hunter tells a joke: "If you live in West Virginia and have ONE tooth left, and you enter a beauty pageant, what do they call you?" Wait for it....

~WINNER!~

One that note, enjoy the teeth you have, and Have a wonderful Day!

Take a Hike Pearly White!

I'm telling ya, my kids losing their teeth, NEVER gets old! The nice thing about losing teeth is,you don't have to search all around the house for them, because its not that kind of losing something.

Out with the old and in with the new, I say!

You are witnessing the first loss of a tooth out of Fisher's mouth (that wasn't pulled out from the dentist:)! So here's the story- Lance Albern, Rider, Trapper and Fisher were on the tramp and Lance bumped into Fisher and "Poof" the wiggly o'l tooth fell right out of his head. It's like de-cluttering your head. I think that's why I like it so much. It's like spring cleaning, but in your noggin!

PS I thought I would get a pic of Fisher picking a nose. How could I expect Fisher to show me his tooth without ending up picking his nose? It's like one in the same, a natural maneuver for little boys everywhere, and big boys too, let's be honest...OK and me too!

Pull up a Chair...

We have been busy! We've had Trapper's birthday, then his baptism, Easter, and Hunter's birthday within a week's time. But the best part of it all was having family come to visit. Grandma and Grandpa Allen, and my mom came for all the fun! First we took Debbie and Greg to Kirtland. It was wonderful. It was raining, which isn't unusual, but they are always prepared there with umbrellas. We toured the Kirtland Temple and then went down the road to tour the Kirtland Visitor's Center that has the old town of the LDS community. We had a wonderful time and were all cold and hungry afterwards!

Then Grandpa got all motivated and rented a track hoe and dug out all the sludge out of our pond and dug up all the cattails. We appreciate it more than you know! You did see the pics of our water, right? We are so grateful for their help! It was fun for all of us to feel like we were back in Utah doing some big project with the rest of the Allen crew!

We had a great Easter. It was relaxed and enjoyable. My mom brought some special stuff for everyone and left some sweet notes around the house.

Trapper's baptism was wonderful. Both grandmas spoke, Lance baptized him and Grandpa confirmed him. It was special for everyone. Trapper listened intently and soaked (literally:) everything in. My other SD card won't download the pics so I am missing some pics of all the fun, so, I will have to save it for later! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Birthdays and Hurdles of Life

We have had a birthday boy! Trapper turned 8 on April 4Th. He is so ready to be baptized! He is thrilled to be baptized on Easter Sunday! We are excited for him! Soon there will be pics of his special day:) He had a party with some friends and the theme was "pirates!" With that theme in mind they actually behaved themselves very well! They jumped on the tramp and socialized! Trapper had an "awesome" birthday according to the man himself. Before that Lance Albern had a track meet. He did really well at the 110 m hurdles. For his first time trying to throw the discus he did pretty well too. He also did the 4X200 relay. He is an athlete. I love going to his meets. He is so impressive to watch. He is hard on himself, which is quite different from his everyday easy-going-ness! He placed 3RD overall and that was for 7Th and 8Th grade boys. He still got upset that he nicked the ground with a toe and stumbled, because he knew he would of taken first!! We're thrilled with his dedication to the sport, but work on "chilling" him out a bit!

WARNING: Rampage!!!

We went over to a friend's house tonight. We actually had a bit of a blowout with them. I know that there are better things to talk about, like Trapper's birthday ( I will be posting that tomorrow:). Tonight struck a sore chord with me. The man said to me that birth control is "an abomination." Any prevention from having children is an abomination of God! This man is LDS. He is our Sunday school teacher. He says that we ALL have to have as many children as the Lord sends down without EVER interrupting the process. On the church's website it states that the decision to have children is left to be decided with the husband and wife. This touched a chord with me because this world isn't full of people that can handle 18 children. I can handle 6 while he can handle 9 and other's can handle 2. The church says not to withhold from having children for selfish reasons. OK, that makes sense. It's not extreme. Didn't Hinckley's wife only have 3 children? I'm not sure, but I am sure that not every one in the quorum of the 12 and the prophet does not have umpteen number of children.

For all those that know me well, know that I fume very well. I am heated right now. I am heated because this same man screamed, not yelled, but screamed at his wife to be quiet,so that he (the father of 9 children) could make his point.

What happened to common sense? What is this extreme behavior? If the Lord was this extreme we would ALL, even the man with 9 kids, would be burning in hot, HOT, hot fiery furnaces.

I told him not every one's situation is the same, not everyone can have several children. You can guess his extremist answer "yes they can."

I suffered with Postpartum Depression after many of my children. I had some serious emotional, and hormonal abnormalities. I had as many kids as I could without putting my children and my marriage at jeopardy. If that's not good enough for the Lord, then something is wrong with this picture!

Just like the Word of Wisdom- everything in moderation. How can we be the judge of someone who stopped at 2 children, or 18? There is this amazing woman in our ward. She and her husband have been married for about 17 years, and no children. Man with 9 children would say- "Abomination!" What he doesn't know is that after losing one to a brain stem,inoperable, cancerous tumor at age 5 and another in utero at 6 months when she was struck by a car by a lady that was having a heart attack, and then later lost another in utero from still birth at 6 months gestation, she was finished trying. Would you like to judge this woman? I would not like to, thank you very much! Should she have kept going?

Judge not lest ye be Judged. I know we all judge to some degree, but lesson learned. I didn't believe that there was such a thing as a "Happy Pill," and now I owe my life to it! I realize that we are all still learning, but let's focus on the learning part and not the judging part, shall we!!!

If you made it here I commend you!

Flat Stanley's Adventures

Trapper's 2ND grade class sent out "Flat Stanley" for an adventurous time. He was mailed to Grandma and Grandpa in Escalante, Utah. But before he left, we welcomed him with open arms. He visited with the family, jumped on the trampoline, played on the backhoe, and rode in the "orange car." Then we sent him to Utah.

There he rode over Hell's Backbone, visited Devil's Rock Garden ,and played on the rocks with Grandma and Grandpa. They showed him Hole in the Rock Crossing, where the Mormon Pioneers made marks in the sandstone from ropes they used to lower the wagons down the cliff. Then they took Stanley to The Broken Bow Arch, and taught him about the Anasazi Indians.

After his adventure with Grandma an Grandpa he made it safely tucked away in his envelope back to us. Trapper will be giving a report on his adventures next week. Flat Stanley is trying to re cooperate from his expedition. He is watching the Travel Channel with a (virgin) Pina Colada in his hand. Gotta go, he wants a bit more ice...

Reminising...

I miss my Utah. Ohio is treating us well, but home is, well, it's home.
It's looking more like spring here, which is nice, except for the snow the other day. How is it out there?