2009 Christmas Letter & Pictures

2009 has been a great year for us here in Thatcher, AZ. We had a great trip to Moab, Utah in July for a family reunion. Probably our biggest news of the year is Grady Smith Allen joined our family on June, 19th weighing 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 in. long. He made quite an entrance! Arriving 3 days after his due date, he was delivered in the hospital’s OB Department Nurses Lounge without the epidural that I had planned on! We think he’s absolutely adorable with his big chubby cheeks and his dad’s big beautiful blue eyes. Right now he is learning how to sit-up, eat solid food, and getting his first tooth. He has been the perfect picture of health, and for that we are so grateful. We have really enjoyed having him in our home.

Luke, 2½, is quite the chatterbox. From the moment he wakes up till the moment he falls asleep his mouth is constantly moving, whether or not anyone is listening! He is our constant entertainment! Lately, if he sees writing anywhere he’ll excitedly tell me, “That says A, B, C, D dot com!” His favorite things are cars (racecars to be exact) and trains. Surprisingly, he is quite a polite and cautious kid. He finally got over his fear of slides in October. Luke is really enjoying being a big brother. We get a real kick out of him bossing his little brother around already telling him which toys he is allowed to chew on and which ones he’s not. Overall, he is very sweet with him, and nobody can make Grady smile like Luke can!

Ty has been busy this year working for the family business, Allen Pump Co.. In the spring, with some help, he put a back patio with roof overhang on the back of our house with a glass door opening to it from the kitchen. It has already gotten a lot of use! He loves spending time at home with his little boys, but also enjoys playing basketball, watching football and hanging-out with his brothers. In April he ran in Pat’s Run, and is looking forward to doing more running in the New Year.

I’d say I’ve had a pretty good year. The adjustment of going from 1 kid to 2 has gone surprisingly well. The main difference is that there just seems to be less time during the day! This summer I enjoyed spending some quality time with Luke before the baby was born going to get snow cones together (both mine and Luke’s favorite)! These past few months I’ve really been working hard to improve my photography. I’ve really enjoyed occasionally photographing other’s families and children, but my favorite subjects are still my own handsome little boys. If you haven’t already, please email me at rachelbelle426@hotmail.com so I can invite you to our private family blog. It’s a great way to keep in touch all year around!

Wishing You A Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

Ty, Rachel, Luke, and Grady Allen

Goodbye Hair!!!

Well, if you haven't seen me lately, my hair has gotten ridiculously long! On a funny little side note, the other day I was fixing my hair and Luke said to me, "Mommy you just need to brush your hair. It doesn't look good. It looks like a flamingo!" Then he laughed hysterically. I had a good laugh too, and since my hair looked like a flamingo I decided it was time for a change! I'd always wanted to donate my hair to Locks of Love, but thought that it would never grow long enough. Well it finally did grow, so this was my chance. I was pretty nervous. I've basically had the same hair style for 6 years, since my roommate Savannah and I cut our hair together my first year at EAC. I'm really glad I did it, and so far I'm really liking it. No regrets! Just like someone said at Relief Society tonight, I now look like I could be a mother of 2 kids! Horray for not looking as much like a teenager anymore! A Special thanks to my sister-in-law Connie for the cut!

Before

(This is really not the best before picture!)

After

The Back

My new self-portrait

Sometimes...

... when you go on a walk with your 2-year-old, you just have to settle for pictures of him not looking at the camera and smiling.

But every once in a while you get lucky!

It's Christmastime in our home!!!

Poor Luke was not blessed with a crafty mom. So it was a rare occurrence yesterday when I got out the paper, glue and glitter and let him go at it. (I might have been a little bit crazy, but yes I did actually let my 2-year-old glue and glitter all by himself!) We made little Christmasy stars to hang over our kitchen table. It was fun.

I told Luke that we could glitter and glue the other side of the stars after he woke up from his nap, so the stars could have a chance to dry. After I told him that, he put his head down on the table, closed his eyes for approximately 2 seconds, and then said something along the lines of "I feel better now! Let's do our stars more!" Below is a picture of him pretending to nap.

So we finally decorated our Christmas tree last night! Yeah! I've insisted on getting a real tree every year since we've been married. I always forget how much work it is though! Our tree has come a long way since that first year when all we had on it were just a few glass balls and a homemade popcorn garland. (I miss my popcorn garland. I just don't want to spend the time to make it!) Our tree is pretty eclectic with no real theme. I have tried somewhat to stick to the traditional red and gold colors. I think one of my favorite parts of Christmas is getting to see all of my ornaments again. I'm totally stealing this idea from my cousin Jessie's blog, but here are a few pictures of my favorite ornaments. It was so much fun that maybe I'll look into becoming a professional ornament photographer, if there is such a thing!

I bought this one for our first Christmas together after we got married. It's already been broken and glued back together once. I think that adds to it's charm!

The nutcracker and nativity ornaments I got in Germany. I'd say that about 90% of my favorite ornaments I got in Germany when Ty and I chaperoned the high school German Club trip in June 2006.

This is just a random ornament that I've always liked. In the background is a handmade angel ornament that I got in Prague in the Czech Republic.

It must be that time of year again,...

...because we have been soo busy! Luckily we have just been busy doing things that we love doing. We spent a couple of fun days with my parents before Thanksgiving, and then we went back to Thatcher for Thanksgiving with Ty's family. I hit Wal-Mart a few minutes before 5am on Black Friday. That was the second time I've done the early morning after Thanksgiving sales, and I plan to do it every year now! It is just sooo much fun like one big huge crazy competition for all the best toys! I love it! Later that day, we went down to the Valley. On Saturday, I decided to brave the Zoo by myself, just me and the boys! It was their very first trip to the Zoo. I'd been meaning to take Luke for quite a while, and I finally got my chance. Luke really loved it! Although, he didn't seem as surprised to see all of the exotic animals that he had never seen before as I thought he would be. Luke's favorite part was actually riding the train that goes around the Zoo. We were all so tired at the end of the day, but we had so much fun that it was well worth it.
I got to take family pictures for my sister-in-law, Sara's beautiful family. I've included a few of my favorites!

Grady with my dad and Luigi, the dog.

Luke absolutely loved the petting zoo part of the Zoo. He really loved petting the goats!

This lion was soo good! He just kept on strutting back and forth for everyone to take pictures of him.

Soooo tired when we left!

I just really liked this picture!

I know it's just a personal taste thing, but I really love the haze from the setting sun in this picture.

So many times I've wondered why I couldn't have been as beautiful as these two girls when I was a tween!

Giving Thanks

I'm trying to focus on being more grateful this season. In not really any particular order, here are 50 things I'm grateful for this year. (I'm stopping at 40 right now, because I need to go to bed! I'll finish later!)

#1. The Gospel
#2. Joseph Smith & modern day prophets
#3. My Husband
#4. Luke & Grady
#5. My Parents & Siblings
#6. All my in-laws
#7. My extended family
#8. My heritage
#9. There being no traffic in Thatcher
#10. Our home
#11. That I was born in the USA
#12. My violin
#13. My Camera
#14. Friends
#15. My education
#16. Good prime time television
#17. Electricity
#18. Indoor plumbing
#19. Popsicles
#20. Blogging
#21. My travels
#22. My calling
#23. My one pair of jeans that look good on
#24. My Scriptures
#25. My health
#26. My Christmas decorations
#27. Computers & the Internet
#28. My EAC roommates & friends
#29. My Independence
#30. All my Friends
#31. All my life experiences, even the ones that I didn't enjoy
#32. Good shopping deals
#33. Being a stay-at-home-mom (a big thanks to my husband for that)
#34. The great examples I've had in my life
#35. Forgiveness
#36. My food
#37. My clothing
#38. My safety
#39. Dessert
#40. Temples
#41. Cell phones
#42. Christmas

Way To Fast!

These last five months have gone by way to fast! Okay, so I know that turning 5 months old really isn't that big of a deal compared to a lot of other milestones, but my little baby is getting sooo big! He's definitely not a newborn anymore. He loves trying to eat his toys, diaper changes, baths, and lots of attention! He's even started sitting up, although it never last longer than about 60 seconds. I'm pretty sure he's started teething this past week too. We've had a couple of nights this week where he's refused to sleep at night unless he was being held. Other than that he's just a perfect baby. I've really enjoyed having a baby again. I just wish time would slow down just a little bit, so I can remember everything better.



Grady likes to chill in his Bumbo when Luke and I play outside.


I've always prided myself on not being overly emotional, but when I saw this picture yesterday I almost cried. This was taken the day Grady was born. He is hardly the same baby anymore. I'm really enjoying watching him grow up, but it's just sad to think about how quickly things change.

My Life with 2 Little Boys

Caption to this photo-
Luke: "Mama, Grady's eating my hand!"
"HaHaHaHaHa!"
"That's funny!!!"
-30 seconds later-
"Mom! I don't like it when Grady eats my hand!"
"Stop it Grady! Stop it!"

I really love my little boys. I think one of my favorite parts about having two kids is being able to watch them interact. A couple of days ago, when I was bathing them together, Grady was having so much fun and was kicking, splashing, and laughing like crazy. Luke was getting really upset that Grady was splashing him and kept yelling angrily at Grady "Stop it Sweetheart! Stop it Sweetheart!". I didn't even realize that I did it that often, but Luke had picked up on the fact that I call Grady, Sweetheart a lot. Grady is absolutely mesmerized by Luke. If he hears Luke's voice while he is eating he'll immediately stop what he is doing and look for Luke.

We've also been doing a lot of talking to Luke about how since Grady is a baby he can't do lots of things. We also tell him about what he was like when he was a baby. Luke has started a lot of sentences lately with "When I was a little boy ...". It's hilarious to hear a 2-year-old talk like that. All I've got to say is 1 kid + 1 baby = twice the entertainment!

I just wanted to share this picture. I think that it could possibly be my new favorite picture of Luke!

My Passion

For this past month or so photography has been pretty much the only thing on my mind. It's usually the last thing I think about before I go to bed, and the first thing I think about when I wake-up. I've been learning a lot, and trying to hone my skills. I have also become really critical of my own work, which is good. I need to know what I'm doing wrong in order to get it right the next time. If it's possible, my poor kids have probably been over photographed lately! Sometimes I fantasize that I could start a business doing this, but realistically, I know that I need more experience and a decent portfolio first.

I talked my sister-in-law Sara into watching my kids for 30 min. so I could go out and do a little photo shoot with her little 3 month old cutie, Darrek. I do have to say that I am one lucky aunt to have such a sweet and adorable little nephew!

Saturday was a day of firsts. It was the first time I had ever done a family photo shoot ( unless you count those two times I used the self-timer on my own family!). This was my friend and neighbor Cassandra with her cute little family. (Kids ages 4 1/2 and 1 1/2.) Also, it was the first time anyone had ever asked me to take pictures for them! I had fun, learned a lot, and what's best, I think I got a few really decent shots, in my own opinion.

I know they're not perfect, but I'm curious to know what other people think. I'd really love it if you'd tell me which ones you like the best or don't like at all and why. Thanks!
Warning lots of photographs to follow!
#1

#2 (same as #1, but different edit)

#3

#3a.

#4 (He is such a pleasant little boy. This is really the only face he made the whole time!)

#5

#5a

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10