Birthday Bash

Here's some photos of the day of the big birthday bash

preparing (and posing) for a good time

Kyri absolutely LOVES pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, anything soft. And although we can never get her to cuddle us, she never passes up a chance to cuddle something soft
just too cute!!
Kyri looking at her new church book while her cousins (Cameron, Kalen, Kyler and even baby Quade) check out her other gifts
this photo was taken on a different day with a gift Grandma and Grandpa Mecham gave her
me, my sister Andrea, her son Brock, my mom, Kyri, and my Grandma Hanson after clelebrating (early) her big day
the cake Gary made!! Isn't it awesome? I don't know if he did it more for Kyri or for me (since I'm always wearing flip-flops, but Kyri does have some cute pink ones she wears all the time)...but we were both pleasantly surprised. Good job, love!
all I have to say is that it was a good thing she had some cousins to help her blow out the candles...she just didn't quite get it.
Once again...isn't it awesome? I may pass the cake making onto him every year :)

she never cracked a smile all day....I think she was a bit overwhelmed with her noisy boy cousins...but she was happy they were there nonetheless...

we thought she was going to shove it all in
instead she just played in it...not even taking a bite
we can't believe an entire year has come and gone! We can only imagine what the next year will bring and look forward to sharing it with you along the way!!

Happy Birthday, Kyri, Baby!!

I can't believe our little baby is already 1!! She has been such a joy and absolute blessing in our home! For the past few days, at least once a day, Kyri will just give me a kiss...out of nowhere...I don't even ask her for one...and it just melts my heart! She is so much fun to be around! We are celebrating her birthday with cake and ice cream tomorrow, but I wanted to get some photos of her on her actual birthday, and will post more photos after tomorrows events.

clearly interested in something other than the camera...for once

getting ready to climb onto the tree stump
just too cute!

(this is a headband I made...I am far from crafty...and Gary hates it because the flower is as big as her head...but she is still pretty stinkin cute if you ask me...flower and all)

We are hoping to have some "real" 1 year photos taken soon, but until then you get my snapshots...

Happy Birthday Baby!!

family fun...interrupted

Over Labor Day weekend we had the opportunity to go up to Caldwell, ID for my parent's 40 year anniversary! The WHOLE family was there at one point....something that doesn't happen often enough for us. We had a fabulous time and ate a lot of fabulous food. Kyri had a lot of fun with her cousins. After Caldwell our plan was to spend several days with Gary's family. First in Yellowstone and then in Idaho Falls for baby Quade's blessing. Unfortunately we weren't able to make the rest of our trip.....

Here's to celebrating 40 years!! these 2 knew we would all be there, but they didn't know why...we surprised them with a banner and an awesome DVD of family photos, old and new. I would give a shout out to Ryan and Lisa for all they did, but they never check our blog, so it's not worth it anyway :)

Kyri's girl cousins could not leave her alone! She loved having them around but didn't appreciate them always touching her. Here's some of the girls...still in PJs, making sure they all have at least one hand on her :)
Gary, Jacey, and Kyri

And this would be the reason we never made it with Gary's family
Yep, the chicken pox!! This was in the beginning
loving the nice warm bath
if her water looks a little murky that's because it is. They say adding oatmeal to the bath helps the itch
Kyri thought that maybe a little apricot on the face would also help the itch

the worst was on her poor little bum, but it also seems to be healing quicker

covered in calamine lotion, which she absolutely hated having put on
on the mend
babies are now able to get a chicken pox vaccine, which is why you don't see it around much like you did when we were kids, but they don't get it until 1 year. Kyri will have her 1 year check-up (and vaccines) in 2 weeks....impeccable timing, don't you think?
cutest little family in the whole wide world!

True Blue Tagging

I think this is funny because it is usually the ladies that get tagged, now it is the guys turn to spill our guts! I've secretly been waiting for someone to tag me for a long time..........
A. Attached or Single - Attached (sometimes at the hip).
B. Best Friend - Mauri.
C. Cake or Pie - Grandma Allen's Almond Chocolate Pie is pretty hard to beat.
D. Sunday - Sunday Naps.
E. Essential Items - Sandals.
F. Favorite Color - Green VVHS Rocks.
G. Gummy Bear or Worms - Worms (don't like 'em fresh, need to sit out with the bag open a couple of days to make them harder and more chewy).
H. Hometown - Bunkerville.
I. Indulgences - Orange Juice
J. January or July - Both, January for Snowboarding and July for Wakeboarding.
K. Kids - Cutest little Kyri in the world.
L. Life is incomplete without - Laughing.
M. Marriage Date - July 22, 2006.
N. Number of Siblings - 1 older yet much smaller brother, 1 younger much wiser sister and 3 younger Bro's.
O. Oranges or Apples - Oranges all the way, especially with chili powder on them.
P. Phobias or Fears - With Jeff on this one....SPIDERS. (Had to sit on dad's lap while watching Arachnophobia)!
Q. Quote - "BooYa" Author Unknown.
R. Reason to Smile - Kyri.
S. Season - Spring....hate the cold.
T. Tag - Corby, Chris, Ben M., Greg, Danny, Jimmy, Pops.
U. Unknown fact about me - Have had 3 Speeding tickets in my life, one when I was going over 100 miles an hour. (Smooth talked my way into having the officer write me up for only 6 over the speed limit and ended up only paying $35).
V. Vegan or Oppressor of Animals - Ummmmm that's a no brainer.
W. Worst Habit - Also the nail biting....have stopped a couple of times for about a month straight.
X. X-Rays or Ultrasounds - Love to look at ultrasounds of my babies!
Y. Your Favorite Food - Sometimes I get uncontrollable cravings for SUSHI.
Z. Zodiac Sign - Sagittarius.

we got a puppy!!

Well, it may be hard to believe, but we got ourselves a puppy!! She is such a good little doggy. She cleans up all our scraps off the floor and is really quite mastering the whole carrying dog toys while running about. The thing we hate most is cleaning up after she poops...BUT...she is SO stinkin' cute...

...don't you think?

talented little pup!

Kyri, getting SO big:

here she is peeking through her crib after trying to take her princess pajamas off...all by herself!! I told Kyri to put her hat on her head...this is what we ended up with
one is clearly never enough
this picture is mostly for the grandparents...she's standing up on her own! Next time you see her she'll probably be walking!!

Sunday stroll

Sundays are hard days for the Allen family, especially Kyri. Our church is from 9-12 and Kyri normally goes down for her morning nap at 9...so ALL of church is a struggle. It's not that we don't let her sleep at church, trust me we would love it if she did, but she just won't sleep at church. There is always too much going on and she is such a social little butterfly! We only live a few blocks from the church so we always walk and we usually make it all the way home without Kyri falling asleep, but that was not the case yesterday. She stayed awake until we got to our driveway...and then she was out!

just too cute

cough it up

Kyri is just SO much fun! We spend the majority of our day laughing...I'm not sure if she's ever laughing with me or at me, but I'll take it either way! Her new thing is to fake cough...it's pretty funny. If she hears anyone else cough or even hiccup she will do a fake cough. Last night I had the hiccups...for a long time...and Gary was bathing Kyri and getting her ready for bed. Whenever she heard me hiccup from the other room she would look at Gary and do her best cough. He kept trying to tell her I wasn't coughing, but she still did it...every time.

this is a face I'm becoming quite familiar with since Kyri doesn't always get what she wants...but if you ask my mom she will say Kyri knows just what to do to get what she wants...I feel as though I may be wrapped around a little baby finger. People keep telling me that Kyri looks more and more like Gary the older she gets...I think this picture proves that to be true :)

still at it...she must sleep better this way, it's how we find her every night
couldn't quite get it over her head, I guess
now that's better...what a little angel

cheeky baby

Here I am blogging instead of cleaning...and my house is an absolute disaster! How does it get that way so fast? It was spotless when my visiting teachers came on Tuesday night! You know the song "Beautiful Disaster"? Unfortunately there is nothing beautiful about this mess! Yet here I am sifting through the many photos that could potentially be posted. And, amidst this disastrous mess, I find the most beautiful baby in the world....no matter how messy my house is she will always be beautiful!!

Kyri's new thing is to sleep with the blankets over her face. This is what we have been finding as we have gone to check on our wee one shortly after she falls asleep:

out cold

leaving just enough space to breathe
is she even in there?
we sometimes worry about Kyri getting cold at night, but it looks as though she will just put the blanky on herself if that's the case. (we did remove this one for fear of suffocation)
just chillin' in her basketball bean bag
ok so her pants might be a little big. When I went into her room after her nap her pants were completely off!! She handed them to me with a big grin on her face
Gary decided it would be fun to teach Kyri how to pull the plug out of the tub...now she does it almost instantly upon arrival...we are lucky if we can wash any part of her before she completes her mission...yeah, good idea, Gar! I'm not sure how appropriate it is to post pictures of naked babies, but I couldn't resist...she thought it was so funny that she let all the water out...
cheeky baby!!
just being helpful

This one goes out to the one I LOVE

Happy Anniversary, Love! Today is our 2 year mark of the day we decided to make "us" forever! I am so lucky to have such a fabulous guy in my life! Ever since I was little I have dreamed of the perfect guy...my Prince Charming, if you will....well, Gary is nothing I ever imagined, but I testify that dreams really do come true as he is my very own Prince Gary (I'm not sure "charming" quite describes him)...yet he is so perfect for me!

Here is a glance at each year together

Today...2 years of bliss

Last year (this photo was actually taken in August and I was 8 months pregnant....NOT a very good picture of either of us, but we don't have many with the 2 of us)
2 years ago on our wedding dayHappy Anniversary!
I love you, Gary! Thanks for making my dreams come true...and being everything and more I could ever want in a husband and father!!