WebCam Wednesday - Flashback: Halloween 1987

While trying to find something to entertain my children the other day, I stumbled across home videos from when I was just a youngsta. I was able to locate a VHS player, not always an easy task nowadays, and we spent hours viewing (and laughing at) my family. They were hilarious. First of all. HELLO! We all sound like a bunch of hicks. Somehow over the course of the last 20 years we all seemed to have misplaced our accents. At the beginning of one of the tapes, when I told the kids it was me that they were watching, Emily turned to me and said, "Mom, you have been in Utah too long!".

I had to share this video from Halloween 1987. My friend Darcy and I went as Jim and Tammy Baker. Darcy and I were best friends all through Elementary and Jr. High, but lost touch when we both attended different High Schools. I have recently been reunited with her on Facebook (my newest addiction)(Thank you Farrah). I thought she would get a kick out of seeing this.

You will have to forgive the video quality. I have not the means nor the know how to get the VHS tape to the computer, so I just used my flip camera and recorded it straight from the TV.

Enjoy, and please, always remember that "I love you, I really do".

The House That Steve Built

I have had some requests for pictures of the progression of the house. Here is a picture of the kitchen so far. There is a stainless steel island that goes in the big empty space.

This is the master suite looking toward the bathroom. Steve just finished this wall last week. The wood he put on it is hardwood flooring and it is the same flooring that will be upstairs. The whole main floor is stained concrete, and it is beautiful (good job honey). You can kind of see it through the dust on the kitchen floor.This is Steve's office floor.

Monday Morning Musings - I'm Holding Out For A Hero

So Emily, she can't just say things normally. Like Saturday morning, she was trying to tell me something that had to do with something that happened the night before. Now, if it had just been the two of us in the room, she probably would have said it normally. The thing is, Aubrey was in the room. So in her loudest voice she said, "Mom, remember last night when I stayed up until 11:30 watching TV with you and eating ice cream...", just so she could make her sister jealous. She is always giving way too much information. The other day we were in front of my mom's house and 2 missionaries walked by. So she yells across the yard to me, "MOM! Isn't it exciting that Sam is coming home from his mission in Mexico City, where he is a missionary, in just 3 weeks!".

The cutout of Sam is, at the moment, sitting at the kitchen table. He is wearing one of the girls flower hats and a white and purple scarf is tied around his neck. It cracks me up because it startles everyone else when they walk into the room. But this morning when I took Addy in to eat breakfast, she just waved and said, "Hi Sam!".

I am now the last person on earth to finish reading Breaking Dawn. I just finished it last night. I think I did good considering that I was averaging about 3 pages a day. I really must say that I enjoyed it very much. Bella was not even a little annoying. I have fallen in love with vampires once again. I didn't think I would like the book if Bella and Jacob didn't hook up, but I was wrong. It all worked out. Everyone keeps saying that it was the end of the series, but I wouldn't be surprised if a few years from now we get another little taste of Forks. I mean, the Volturi are gonna want revenge, right. They aren't just gonna let them get away with that. Now I gotta go out and find some kind of library around here.

I know you have probably been worried sick about me not having a life. So to put your mind at ease I thought I would let you know that we now have a DVR in the basement of my mothers house. And this being premiere week and all, I am so excited I can't contain myself. Heroes starts tonight!!!

And one last thing. This song is making me crazy. It just won't stop.

Onety One

Zac turned 11 on September 2nd. Hard to believe 11 years have gone by already. His birthday was right after we moved and he started school in his new school. Since all our friends live so far away from us now, and he didn't really know anyone at his new school yet, we had a family party. His best friend Garrett that lives next door to my mom came with us. We went to see the Star Wars movie, you know the cartoon. It is a must see, by all means.......yeah, kidding. Zac loved it though and that is all that matters. We let him pick where we were eating for dinner. He picked The Outback Steakhouse. Ummmm....we got to eat bluebell for dessert.

Flashback Friday - The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

Kristy, Farrah & Allyson

It looks as if I might have to put my special Flashback Fridays on hold until I can get back to my normal computer set up. Sorry. I promise to get back to it as soon as I possibly can. This is a picture I found on my mom's computer. My mom made these outfits for us to wear to 6 flags.

First Day Of School

I finally have a way to get my pictures from my camera to my computer! Here are the pictures I took of the kids on their first day of school. They love their new school. They have all made new friends. They appear to be making the adjustment well.

ZAC

EMILY

AUBREY

ADDY

Monday Morning Musings - Freaking Idiot!

First, before I get started, I just want to clear one thing up. I am an idiot. I know that most of you were already aware of this, but for those of you living in denial, I am sorry, but it is true. Here is the proof. When we moved out of our house, I went to the cable company and turned in our DVR's and modem and canceled our service with them. Did it ever once cross my mind that when I did this, I would also be canceling my internet service. No. It did not. #!*#!!! Yeah, see, I told you. Ummmm, so I have now lost every one's e-mail addresses. Sigh. For those of you reading this, could you please send me your e-mail address. My e-mail is now listed on the side of my blog but here it is just in case you are too lazy to find it there:

lifeaccordingtoallyson@gmail.com

So yesterday, I had a little breakdown in church. It was right after sacrament meeting. Thankfully we were in a public place or I would have been bawling my eyes out. I told Steve we made a really big mistake. I wanna go baaaaack. Whaaaaaahhhhhh. What did we do? I want my people back. I don't wanna meet any new people. I liked the old ones just fine. Sniff, sniff....I miss y'all.......sniff......

Really, we lived in the best neighborhood surrounded by the best neighbors. What was I thinking leaving? I love those people with all my heart. And my girls. Betsy, Dianna, Cammy, LaRee, Julie. Friends like that only come around once in a life time. I just left them and moved far, far away. I wish they would move here too. Y'all could move here too? Please? Ok, I really am crying now. Big baby. It's not like I'll never see you again, right? I just won't get to see you everyday.

This morning my sister Lauren had to have an EEG and it had to be done sleep deprived. Which means she had to stay up all night last night. I took a shift staying up with her so my mom could get some sleep. We ate ice cream and pizza and watched a movie and played Deal or No Deal. The problem is that I fell asleep during the last 1/2 of the movie. When I woke up I was so hyper. Like really, really annoyingly hyper. My mom woke up to take over with Lauren and I was so awake I stayed up with them for another hour. I know I was really getting on their nerves because they both kept saying things like, "Allyson, don't you want to go to bed now?", "Allyson, why don't you go to bed now?", "Allyson go to bed! You are making us crazy!".



You know how my brother Sam is on his mission in Mexico City? Well, you remember back at Christmas when Bart and Farrah made the big cut out of him? Since we moved in to my mom's house, Zac has been moving the cutout around. It's a little freaky. Sometimes I walk by a room and Sam is sitting at the computer typing. Sometimes he is playing video games. Sometimes he is watching TV. Addy sees the cutout and gets excited and yells, "SAM! SAM!". I don't know what she is going to do in a few weeks when he comes home and is a real person.

And one last, sad commentary on my life: Life without a DVR is really no life at all.

Flashback Friday - Snow In Yellowstone

Kristy, Allyson, Earl, Sam, Farrah, Lauren

Still having scanner issues. I think I am gonna have to call it another bi week on my especial Flashback Friday. I was looking at the pictures my mom had on her computer and I found this one. This picture was taken on a family trip we took to Yellowstone. I believe it was in 1998 because Zac was a baby. This is the view we had right outside our cabin. That was a fun trip. Kristy is hiding the fact that she was all scraped and bandaged up from a bike incident she had right before the trip. And I am sporting some ever so lovely shorts. Hee hee, Sam is just a little baby. He will be returning from his mission in Mexico city in less than a month!

Thinkin' Thursday - Remember

9/11. I had the TV on this morning and the station I was listening to was replaying the broadcast from the morning of September 11, 2001. As I listened to and watched those events being replayed, I was hit with a rush of emotion. Tears came to my eyes. All the feelings that I had on that day, 7 years ago, were present today. What a very sad, scary time for our country. That was before Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden were words that everyday Americans knew how to use in a sentence. Think back. Remember what it was like. On that day. I can remember sitting in my kitchen eating breakfast and watching as newscasters speculated on what happened. Then the realization that came while the world watched as the second plane hit the second tower. And then the horror I felt as I watched both towers fall. Americans were glued to their televisions. Another plane? The pentagon? There are still more planes in the air, unaccounted for? What is going on? Can you remember how you felt?

In just a few months, our country will select a new President to lead us. A man who will stand in front of the world as The President Of The United States Of America. What kind of message will that man send to our enemies and the people who hate us most? To the kind of people who would feel it and honor to give their lives in the shedding of innocent blood.

As you make your decision on who to vote for in November, please think about this. Read about the candidates. Find out about their knowledge and views of foreign policy. Pray that we as individuals and as a country will make the best decision for our future.

May God bless the families of those who lost their lives on September 11th, 2001. And may he bless the families of those who's lives have been lost since then, in service to our country.

WebCam Wednesday - Aubrey En Espanol

Aubrey loves learning Spanish. She comes home everyday and tells me new words she has learned.