July of the 4th

What a great holiday we had!  We had heard from neighbors that it go NUTS O here for the 4th but they weren't kidding.  There were fireworks stands Everywhere!  The holiday was on Wednesday and Craig was off work so the night before we got fireworks and it was a shock to us.  There is nothing illegal so it was pretty fun to buy ones that actually shot up in the air.  We got home and got bundled up for the show.  It was so fun and our neighbors Zander, dad Derek and Aunika came to talk and watch.  It absolutely perfect weather that was a tiny chilly but perfect cuz that means no misquitos.  Also in Maine last year there was no parade & fireworks were illegal there last year.  It felt all wrong.  It was quite fun to see all the fireworks in the neighborhood.

We were going to go to the parade but heard nightmares about traffic so we steared clear of that area.  We had a relaxing morning and then headed to Lowes to purchase counter tops!  For the 4th holiday they had special 18month financing and the kind we wanted was on sale!  I'm thrilled to get them in and plan to use tax returns to pay it off.  It wasn't in the plan to do so but dear Jaycee broke off the tile in one spot, there's another spot that needs to be fixed that the owners didn't get to and there's many spots that are cracked.  Tile looks nice but the kind we have must be very brittle.  After we decorated our cupcakes and headed to a "ward" party.  A older guy in the ward lives on 5 acres and provides meat for a bbq and a 30 minute firework show.  It was at 5 and the show started at 9.  When we walked up I thought "what are we going to do for 4 hours!"  Well we found plenty of people to talk to, food to eat, snowcones, and mostly getting to know people from the ward.  It turned out so much fun.  We left about 10 because Craig had to work and got home and it was insane!  It sounded like a war zone in our neighborhood.  You could literally watch fireworks from our living room and bedroom.  I had to shut all the windows so Jaycee and Hadi would go to sleep.  It was such a fun holiday and made me realize, yet again, I love it here!  

Walking to the party.  Jaycee loves to be a big helper.

 This pic makes me laugh.  Hadi is crawling all over the place and her eyes are gorgeous blue.  Then in the background you can see Milly being mawled by everyone.  ha ha

Dentist :/

I have never had such a horrible experience IN MY LIFE!  I'm very particular about my teeth and making sure I brush and floss every day!  I'm embarrased to say that it's been a while since we got cleanings but we don't have dental insurance (which dental costs is a joke and that's a whole other story I could go on) so all the money we saved on HSA was to pay for the birth of Hadley.  Well I made appointments for Jaycee and I for cleanings & xrays...$500 later we now have clean mouths. 

Jaycee did so so good and I was so impressed with the assistant who was so friendly and helped her feel comfortable.  They were working on her while cleaning my teeth so I didn't get a chance to snap a quick pic.  But she was so cooperative and even let them do flouride.  No cavities!  Brushing & flossing is SOOO worth the fight we go through. 

My experience on the other hand was horrible!  I'm so frustrated still about it.  When I was pregnant with Jaycee I had my first case of gingivitis (gums swollen)  Hadi came along and same thing!  Even when it's "that time of month" occasionally I'll get it.  I read that hormone changes can have that affect especially since I'm still nursing.  Well they decided to become swollen 2 days before my appointment.  Oh great!  The dentist made me feel like I've never brushed or cared in my life.  I've only had 3 cavities in my whole life and I walked away with findings of 9 with needing a new crown and $2500 later!  No joke!  How is it possible that 2 years ago fillings I had done are now "leaking" and not working and need to be redone.  I mean she even made me feel like some imperfections in my teeth that have been there for years need to be fixed including bleaching my teeth.  She even asked if I twirl toothpicks in between my teeth because of a little gap I have.  Really?!  The worst was when she asked about a spot on my tooth and said "As a kid did you have a fever?"  Why?  "Because you have this spot on your teeth that looks like it was caused because of a fever while teeth were forming.  I can fix that.  I'll bleach your teeth then put a filling over it so you can't see it"  Um, ya I remember when I was 2 and yes I had a fever...Really?!!!  (enter sarcasm)  I don't know if I had a fever and that's been there for YEARS and yet no dentist has ever said anything about it needing "fixed"  There was a point while she was looking at my "horrible" mouth that I wanted to burst into tears and get up and leave.  I should have.  But I also didn't want Jaycee to have a bad experience with dentists as she was watching me.  Ugh.  Let's just say I will go elsewhere and will NEVER recommend her to anyone! Here's to hope that we can find a dentist like the ones in Utah and Maine that we went to.  Worst part about moving.

HONDA

In the Allen family we have a total of: 3 pilots & 3 civics and we just added another pilot to that list.  What can you say; we love a reliable, dependable car. 

When we went on our anniversary trip we shoved kennels, play pins, stroller, bags, beach stuff, etc in our little car.  It was a little crammed but do-able.  Now, if we would have taken Izzy that'd be a nightmare.  That's the one downside to owning a civic is that yes, they are a little small.  Craig begged me to finally go get a SUV but I always have said that we'd get one when we absolutely HAD to.  Well we looked online and found a nice, white pilot close to our house that we were very interested in.  We own our truck so we were hoping we'd trade it in that it would pay off the car because we can't have 2 car payments.  We went and test drove the pilot and loved it!  It was perfect to what we were looking for including: white, tow, 3rd row, good gas milage, reasonable price, no high miles, luggage rack on top etc.  It even had a few "extras" like tinted windows, tow, brand new tires and nice wheels, running boards, and in very good condition with a clean Car fax.  I think the clean car fax sent it overboard that I def wanted it.  We also had looked at Toyota Highlanders but they weren't as roomy so that's where we settled with the pilot.  After playing the "dealership games" they wouldn't give us the price for the truck that we needed and felt was worth that we told them we'd just sell it on our own and the 4 wheeler and maybe come back.  The guy told us they actually buy 4 wheelers too and wanted the info on it; although we knew they wouldn't give what I wanted.  I left really bummed because we did the same thing a year ago with wanting a pilot.  They called the next day with a quote of $2500 for the ATV...no way!  I could sell it for at least $3k on my own.  We didn't call them back and actually just let it go knowing we had to do it on our own if we wanted to pay off the car.  Well then another day went buy and they called saying they'd go higher on the truck and 4 wheeler making us able to pay off the car and then finance the pilot.  We thought about it all day and weighed the pros & cons and said many prayers and decided to do it.  So now we are in the process of owning a 2005 Honda Pilot.  We love it and so excited.  Now we just gotta get those seat belts filled  he he.  (It seats 8 and currently only using 4!)  We plan to buy a bike rack for the back and a box for the top to make it the ultimate perfect vehicle for our family.

Saying goodbye SUCKED BAD!  I think Craig about cried the whole way home

 

 Welcome home

Doesn't she fit in perfectly?  In fact, so perfectly that we can actually put both cars in the garage now.  The truck was too long.

Brave

I have the bravest little girl.  Ever since Utah and lately seeing that Oaklee had earrings, Jaycee has wanted them too.  We didn't want her to get them until it was HER decision to make, not ours.  We told her what they do and that it might hurt, but she didn't care.  She wanted them!  When we were at the mall with grandma & grandpa we saw earrings and Jaycee kept telling me she wanted them done.  Clair's girl was so snotty and said "I can't guarantee we'll do them at the same time"  See ya!  They were super nice at Icing but the other girl to help wasn't there for another 15 minutes.  See ya!   We ended up going to Pagoda Piercing.  The lady explained what would happen and Jaycee still was ready to do it with no fear.  They suggested 14k gold because of allergies kids could have to metals.  We decided to get her birthstone for March (aquamarine)

and I let Jaycee pick out the ones she wanted.  She chose they really pretty flowers.  The lady guided her back into the booth and she didn't hesitate at all.  She climbed right up in the chair and was ready to go.  I think I was more nervous for her. 

I was a little nervous of her jumping and maybe bumping their hands so I actually had her sit in my lap.  They cleaned off her ear, drew a dot and she cooperated and didn't care at all.  They put the machine up to her ear and on the count of three....bam.  It was a delayed reaction but she looked at me and started crying.  It wasn't her normal loud, cry but a cry that I knew she hurt.  It made me feel bad.  They gave her a sucker and sticker and after about 30 min of crying off-and-on she had to show EVERYONE at the mall her new earrings.  She's my little brave beauty.  I'm so proud of her.

Our first visitors

My brother Aaron was our first visitor but he was only able to stay for a few hours while he was in town for work.  Next we had Craig's parents come in town.  We are so grateful they took the drive to come and visit!  They came on Monday and left the following Monday.  A week to visit is just not enough time although we did do some fun things.  They got in late Monday so we fed them some dinner (my potato soup) and then we walked down to Albertsons for a few things.  Jaycee rode her bike the whole time!  Tuesday we were going to go to Mt. St. Helens ( you can see it from our house) but Craig forgot he had work meetings so we hung out at home and then he got off early so we could go check out a new SUV.  That took a little longer than we wanted but walked away empty handed.  I was a little sad.  We went to pita pit for dinner then hopped over to a yogurt factory for dessert.  It was nice to have a low-key relaxing day.  Wednesday Craig was able to work a little in the morning and then we drove 1 1/2 hours to the north end of Mt. St. Helens to Johnston's Observatory.  This is the part of the mountain where the lava came over and you can see the chunk of mountain it took out.  It was so neat!  I loved learning the history and seeing what the blast did back in 1980.  We were there for a quite a while and got to learn and see elk and even got a penny for Aimee---hehe.  We left and was starving so we stopped in the canyon at a little restaurant for dinner.  It was very tasty.  It was a fun day and we had lots of talking and laughing.

 We stopped first at the learning center.  In the pic you can see the mt in the background and you can see what looks like a river but it's actually where all the lava flowed down the mountain.

 There are lots of elk down in the valley and Jaycee was so lucky to get a picture by one of them he he

 Aw....our little family

 

Here's a pic I got from online of Mt. St. Helens before the 1980 explosion

Here's is the after taken from the observatory.  You can see how it blew off the top and spilled over the side and killed everything!

 Bug

 The group at the observatory

Thursday we had a late start to the day thanks to Geico (ugh-never go through geico!) and had plans to go to the coast.  Well when we got to the beach it was freezing and so windy.  Phyllis didn't even get out of the truck.  Jaycee cried cuz the wind was blowing the sand on her legs.  It just was bad.  But it's all about memories and we had so much fun in the car ride there.  We were laughing so hard at one point.  I love that!  We stopped in Astoria for a yummy dinner of halibut, prawns, prime rib and clam chowder.  Mmmm...we love fish right on the coast.  The ride home was so quick.  I felt bad the weather didn't cooperate but it was still fun to drive right on the beach and to see the beautiful country that we call home.

The past two days were so filled with things so this day was a laid back day and shopping to do.  I took the parentals to the mall and we walked around, shopped and once again laughed so hard....Phyllis wouldn't go down the escalator.  It was so funny.  Oh and Phyllis got a smart phone and Larry got a new flip phone.  We left there and drove them about 15 minutes to see where Craig worked.  We didn't get there until about 6 and then we hung out there while trying to learn the new phones.  We decided it was past dinner so we made a quick decision to go to a Mongolian restaurant in Gresham...it was SOOO good!  I had a fun drive home with Phyllis and loved that we got to talk and I got to learn so much about her.  Thanks for the ride :) 

Saturday Craig and I headed back to the dealership to pick up our new ride!  Yay!  Craig's parents went shopping while we did all the paperwork.  Then we spent the rest of the day cutting down fruit trees in the backyard and eating pizza and talking.  It was so nice to have laid back days and visiting.  We were all so tired that we didn't even stay up late to watch a movie, but it was a filled week. 

Sunday we went to church and they got to see our stomping grounds a little bit.  Our ward was packed on Sunday and the testimony meeting was fabulous.  It even went over 25 minutes!  We skipped out on classes and came back home for a walk to the duck pond and then made them a yummy bbq chicken dinner.  We just hung out and wished so bad they could stay for a few more days.  

The girls in their new outfits from Grandma & papa.  When we were at the store we asked Jaycee what she wanted and she told us a skirt.  Then I saw this little dress for Hadi and fell in love.  Thanks for the new outfits!  They sure do love each other

 My little baby!  She got 2 new teeth this past week and so we are all smiles now.  Oh and she no longer will wear headbands; she rips them right off.

 *Jaycee playing with my camera again*  Hi Hadley

 Hadi is so close to crawling.  I bet by the end of this week she'll be cruising.  She does this funny thing that she'll get on her back feet and then drop to her knees and go.

 *Jaycee playing again*

 *Jaycee*  This is Milly. 

 *Jaycee got a good pic of grandpa's Sunday afternoon nap*

 *Jaycee taking a pic of her little buddy*

 *Silly Mom*

 *Grandma & Pa-Pa*

Monday morning they had to head to Boise for the night.  Looking back of the week I think of so many fun memories and how much our family loved having them here.  I hope they had a fun time and can't wait to see them again!  We love you guys

5 YEARS!

Thinking back 5 years from June 22, 2012 I remember waking up super early with butterflies in my stomach.  I was SO NERVOUS driving up to Logan and the drive seemed super quick.  I knew in my heart it was the right thing to marry Craig and in the temple but man, I was so nervous.  As we drove up and almost a little late, I quickly walked in and there was my man!  He smiled at me as he was waiting and came and grabbed my hand and walked me into the temple.  All nervous left and I had the most calm feeling.  We got about 10 minutes before the ceremony started and we were able to sit together in front of the mirrors and I just felt so loved and felt so perfect in his arms for eternity.  It was overwhemling to see all our family & friends in the temple with us as we made covenants together and I think I cried the whole time.  I married my true, eternal best friend! 

We have done SO much in the past 5 years: lived in N. Ogden, Ogden, Maine & Washington; drove the country coast-to-coast 2 times; have had 2 kids and 2 dogs; worked for 4 different companies; lots of flights for work & pleasure; paid off a truck, 4 wheeler and student loans; made lots of friends; made more memories than 5 years can squeeze in.  It's exciting to see what will come in the next 5. 

For V-day and Anniversary we take turns so this year was Craig's turn to plan our anniversary.  He surprised me the night before by telling me to pack up and tomorrow we'll go for a fun trip and that he took the day off work.  We just barely moved so we don't really "trust" ppl to watch the girls so they came with us, but I didn't mind.  He planned dinner in Astoria with a night hotel right on the beach.  Then the next day we were going to drive down the coast and do a little hike in the mountains and the beach. 

Jaycee posing by the big anchor.  So funny to see her strike a pose

 Bridge from Astoria to Washington over the Columbia River

 Happy 5 years to us!

 We ate at a wonderful seafood restaurant; clam chowder, prawns & halibut.  Mmmm... Then we headed to Long Beach and it was so cold.  Mostly it was windy with a light rain but it was about 55 degrees so we only stayed for about 10 minutes.  Then we headed back to the hotel to warm up.  Milly & Jaycee loved it despite the weather

 Jaycee wanted to take pics so the next few are her snap shots in the hotel

 We slept in a bit the next morning then headed to Wa state park Cape Dissapointment and drove to this beautiful site of the lighthouse and then went for a half mile hike up the mountain to see an old fort and it overlooked the ocean.

 Next we drove down the coast to Cannon beach and hung out there for a few hours. 

 Even Hadi loved getting some vitamin D and playing on the beach.  Milly was a social butterfly and said hi to about every dog & person that walked by. 

We ended our trip with driving to Tillamook, OR to see the factory and grab some ice cream and then our drive back home.  What a perfect weekend.  Happy anniversary babe!