The coolest sisters ever!

So, I'm not one to brag- but, I have THE Coolest Sisters Ever! When the Bray girls get together there is WAY too much fun to be had. This weekend, our excuse was Emily and Mariah's graduation. Yeah- they really are THAT old! Here are the beauties.... If only I looked that good on my graduation day! These two are twins, but don't let that fool you- they are as different as night and day. The picture below showcases their personalities PERFECTLY...

Mariah wanted to do an all-booty pic and Emily was politely telling her what she thought of that. And yes, this is my parents' usual role in their relationship- looking on, like "What the heck?"
And THIS...

... is all of the Bray girls. Holly (who is relatively new to the scene), Bonnie, Cheryl, Emily, Mariah, Moi, and Jamie- definitely the FUNNEST girls you will ever meet. And here I am with my two bestest friends (after Tyson, of course)....

The graduation ceremony actually went by really fast and the speakers were pretty funny. One guy talked about his fear of ostriches (odd), and his fear of someone breaking in at night and touching his hands while he slept (oddER). But the laughter made it go by quickly. Tyson and Quinn were at home- mainly because Quinn wasn't allowed in, AND Tyson didn't particularly WANT to sit on wooden bleachers for two hours (I don't know why?). But the weekend was great and a much-needed break from Rexburg. We went swimming, ate WAY too much food, laughed, and cried, and partied like it was nineteen ninety-nine!

A.F.S.F.M.R.

Well, this weekend was the semi-annual Allen Family Salt Flats Motorcycle Ride (wow, what a mouthful). It was a lot of fun- complete with getting stuck (and eventually UNstuck), Quinn's first four-wheeler ride, and some delicious homemade oreos (thank you KATIE). Here is Quinn and daddy- I'm not sure who is more excited about her being on the four wheeler.... And here's my gorgeous girl doing what she does best.... ummm- looking gorgeous, of course!

After this picture was taken, we put Quinn in the back of the suburban behind the third seat, on top of a nice cozy blanket (windows were all rolled down- so there was plenty of ventilation) , and prayed that she would go to sleep. About five minutes later, when the screaming had stopped, we figured she had finally passed out. Tyson's mom opened the side door to put the camera back in the car and found Quinn happily playing with a ratchet set IN THE THIRD SEAT!!! She had somehow scaled the seat and then proceeded to get into everything that we had stashed in that seat, in order to keep away from her. Isn't it amazing how children instinctively know when the should be very quiet and just enjoy themselves??

After all the festivities and more food than any one person should ever eat in a five-hour period, we loaded up and headed home. Quinn enjoyed her first sampling of a REAL apple, instead of just applesauce:

And after an hour of washing bikes and the suburban and trailer, we all headed home and slept like babies.... including the baby. :)

Sick days

Sick days are the best. Kind of. Usually only if you're the one who's sick- instead of the one taking care of the sick person. But I digress... yesterday, Quinn and I both took a sick day (even though she is the only one who's actually sick). We stayed in our jammies all day and never ONCE left the apartment. I loved it! At about 4:30 when Quinn woke up from her 3 hour afternoon nap (not exactly normal), we pulled all the pillows and blankets out into the living room, made a "nest," and enjoyed The Little Mermaid.

We both thoroughly enjoyed it, although I think Quinn was more excited about the previews for Lady and the Tramp, because she jumped up and stood against the TV stand and shouted "doggie, doggie!" everytime a dog came on.

And, of course, what's a sick day without those phone calls to daddy- explaining, in detail, all of your ailments. Once Tyson got on the phone, Quinn would not let him go. In fact, even after he had to hang up, she continued to talk and then every once in a while would hold the phone out to me, like "why isn't daddy responding? I think this thing's broken..."

So, all in all, Quinn and I had a very good 'sick day' and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Bedtime

aahhh, bedtime. When the garbage can comes down off the table for the first time since Quinn found it-which was around 8:30am, when I started to zone out in front of the news. The toys are put away and I start to feel like a human being again, instead of just 'momma.' And I just SIT for a few minutes letting that soak in. I am Rebecca Lynn Allen. I have thoughts- deeper than the last diaper change or the last time Quinn drank from her sippy cup. I have feelings-- other than TIRED. I am alive.

One man's (or girl's) bedtime, is another man's (or woman's) awakening.

just like daddy... almost

Quinn was one happy camper when she stole daddy's shirt while he was getting dressed for the day. And then she shot straight to cloud nine when daddy put the shirt ON her! She came out with this "I'm SOOO cute!" smile on her face and then preceeded to grab the shirt and tell me "look!" every few seconds. This is her posing.... and this was one of the many times that she was telling me to "look!," making sure I knew she was wearing daddy's shirt...

and this is one of those awesomely fun times when she was teasing US, instead of the other way around. She was flaunting her shirt-wearing in front of daddy, and flashing a "I have your shirt, na na na na na na" kind of smile.

This girl is too cute for words! So this was our Sunday morning, and then naptime came and went with only an hour's worth of sleep before church, so we knew we were going to be in for the long haul during those three hours of church. AND we both had to teach yesterday (Tyson- Sunday school, and me- relief society). We were able to switch off, but taking her home and putting her to bed was not an option. So Tyson had a VERY interesting time in Priesthood.

Because she was so fussy, he put her down to play and, like all dads, returned to listening to the lesson. His reveries were interrupted a short 10 minutes later, when shrill screams began errupting from beneath his chair. Being the good dad he is, he (thinking she was just stuck) reached under his chair, grabbed her legs, and began to pull her out. BUT she wasn't budging, and the screams were only getting louder. By this time EVERYONE was staring at them, and a guy behind them reached down and pulled the cheerios container out from under her head. She had somehow wedged her head between the cheerios container and the top of the chair and was completely STUCK- Tyson's efforts to retrieve her, only worsening the problem. But once the cheerios were removed, Tyson was able to pull her out and according to Tyson,

she was a perfect angel the entire rest of the meeting, just sitting docilely in his lap until the prayer was said and they got up to come find me. aaahhhh, the joys of parenting...... and aaahhh the joy of "it happened to daddy and not mommy!"

midnight musings

So, for the last three nights I have been dreaming of my sister's pulled pork (which is absolutely amazing). But every time I go to make it, I remember that I never pulled the pork roasts out of the freezer, and therefore cannot make it. So I have taken to mentally reminding myself 4-5 times a day to take it out of the freezer before I go to bed. It has never worked.... until last night. I was laying in bed completely asleep just a little before midnight, when I woke up completely alert and ready to accomplish my mission-- take the pork roast out of the freezer.

Waking up the next morning, I began to wonder if that had been a dream and I was going to be disappointed once again in my pork obsession. But, miracle of miracles, the thawed pork roast was lying on my stove when I walked into the kitchen. Do you ever have that happen to you, where you are completely out of it, but your mind takes over and knows that you absolutely have to accomplish this one thing. This has happened to me multiple times (ie. waking up and washing bottles at 3 in the morning, taking a bath at 4 in the morning because I remembered that I'm not going to have time when I wake up). Yes, it all sounds a little crazy.... unless you've been there. Anyways, my pork roast is now safely in my beautiful crockpot...

and I am looking forward to some delicious pulled pork for dinner all because my brain took over at a quarter to midnight. Thank you brain!

Cheerios and peek-a-boo

As stated in our intro post, Quinn loves Cheerios. It is one of the rare things that can be counted on to put a smile on her little face (probably second only to Daddy and bathtime). Usually, no matter the amount that I take out of the Cheerio container, she will immediately stuff every single one into her mouth as if she's afraid I might try to take some if she's too slow. So today, I did a little experiment to see how far she would go with this... I set the open container right in front of her on the couch. Her face lit up like Christmas morning and then the frenzy began... She was grabbing fistfuls and shoving them in her mouth, UNTIL she realized she could dump the bowl over and get them out much faster that way. In the picture above, her mouth is completely full of cheerios, as are both fists and she's trying to use her fists to turn the bowl over more in order to get MORE out.

There are never enough cheerios!.... maybe she knows something I don't.

Her other favorite thing is playing peekaboo while eating the most disgustingly sticky foods. Yesterday it was bananas, today it was oatmeal. Turns out they both make GREAT hair gel. But she is having so much fun, I don't have the heart to clean off her little hands until the game is over. It is all worth the heart-stopping smiles I get everytime she pulls her hands away....

when was the last time I found that much joy in something so simple?

BT&Q Allen

We are the Allens- Becca, Tyson, and Quinn. We are a crazy motorcycling, camping, reading, and movie-loving family. Okay, okay- it's just me and Quinn that love to read. (okay, Quinn just likes to be read TO). I think that Tyson would rather eat a pinecone than sit down and read a book when his motorcycle is sitting in the driveway.

Tyson is currently removing and pruning and planting trees for work (and for fun). And still "forgets" to clean out his pockets when he get's home from work- resulting in a washer full of pine needles and cones, balls of sap and other general debris. BUT he loves his job and I love him- so we put up with the tree paraphenilia. He is also slowly working his way through a business degree at BYU-Idaho and hopes to eventually start his own tree service.

Quinn is a fireball coming right at you- kind of one of those meteors that they make movies about (end of the world and all that). Her newest project is learning how to walk and will sometimes surprise us by taking a few steps on her own. She LOVES cheerios and cell phones- yes she's already hooked. The quickest way to her heart is to show her a lit-up screen and some texting keys. AND if the phone plays music..... she'll love you forever. (Or, at least until you pull the phone away and realize she's called 3 of your relatives and hung up on all of them, without so much as a 'hello.') Speaking of which, her favorite words are 'hi,' and 'daddy.' 'Mommy' only makes an entrance if she's tired or hungry.

And I am Becca- a full time mommy and bookworm extraordinaire. My favorite time of day is when Tyson get's home from work and we get to spend time as a family. I love baking (NOT to be confused with cooking), and a clean kitchen- which too often do not coincide. But most of all, I LOVE my little family!