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!