Brutally honest about Boys.

Lets be honest, anyone who knows me knows the truth...I have always wanted a little girly girl that smells good and minds her manners to dress up and slap a tutu on. We have had her name picked out for years, and her image is engraved in my brain. So..when we found out on Friday that we were having a BOY I was very surprised..and excited..But you have to realize, I had to change gears a little bit. My family is by far outnumbered in the girl to boy ratio so when we get together it's all about girls. Without realizing it, this baby in my head was coming into a pink room with ruffles and bows no matter what the gender. So, I have been thinking lately about my little boy..and the whole weird breed of boys in general.



Boys let loose..when we found out we were having a boy I produced a smile, and maybe a silent tear or two. Shawn jumped up out of his chair yelling "YEAHH that's what I'm talking about!" "I knew it!" I quietly had to urge him back into his chair and remind him that we were in public and other women were in the waiting room. When we got in the car I struck up a conversation about how we need to sometimes be more considerate of others in public. Shawn came back with Who cares, I'm having my BOY..I have to admit, it was a priceless reaction that I won't forget anytime soon.

Boys are innovative..the other day I came home to find my sewing kit and needles out. Shawn came home in his work pants with a long story about how he had sewed a hole that was of course in the crotch area. I examined his work while he was beaming with pride. I found that instead of just sewing the hole shut, he took a button and sewed both sides of the pant to the button. SO when you turn the pants inside out a huge button is just sitting there coming from nowhere. Really?! A few days later he used my decorative smell good candle to scratch up and melt to use for waxing his snowboard to save a few bucks up at the Canyon's. I love the creativity.

Boys are easy going..when something bad happens I have such a hard time flipping a 180 and going on with my day. Shawn on the other hand can't figure out why. Almost every day I watch my boy getting ready and hear whistling from another room, or him laughing at something while he gets ready, he doesn't care if his socks match or if his shoes are worn out. His comeback for everything is come on girl, Life is Good..

Boys. They make wonderful friends. They chomp their cereal. They have endless energy. They are so different, yet so entertaining. They love girls.


It is the things that they do just because they are who they are..It is the cereal bowl put in the sink as an attempt to make a wife happy, but of course with no water in it to soak. It is the endless energy and the loudest laughter. It is the games that are created with just a simple ball in an attempt to self entertain. It is the worn out face at the end of the day from someone who can't ever seem to sit still until after 11 pm. It is the echo of sports center that never ever ever gets old to a sports fan no matter how many times the same stories are on. It's swimsuit confidence no matter what, all year round. It's drama free, it's being friends with everyone no matter who they are, where they came from, what they wear, or if they are nice to you or not. It's grass stains on nice clothes, and little tan lines from baseball gloves on my patients at the hospital. It's a good soft heart, that just takes a while to find.

Boys definitely have their strong points. This weekend we went to Park City and while we were there we walked around the outlets looking at a few outfits for our little boy. It is in Park City that I kicked the bows and dresses officially out of my brain, and turned whole heartedly to the basketball shorts and ball caps..with a little help from Shawn. Shawn made me promise the weekend we found out I was pregnant that if it was a boy he would pick out the outfit for his first real day of life outside the hospital. And so on Friday our search began and nothing was quite up to par..Shawn has pride in his soon to be son, and it has rubbed off on me.



I'm already obsessed with everything about the one boy that I have. We will be the parents of our baby boy come a few short months..after all my careful consideration about the opposite sex..it is with wide open arms that I say WELCOME to our fam, and welcome to team Allen tough little boy..let's kick our feet up..I'm hoping and praying like father like son.

Valentine..

Valentines Day was supposed to be a big great perfect day for us! Shawn was busy all day so a few weeks ago we took a little weekend overnighter to make up for it. Our sleep over was soo fun, but for some reason I still felt like Valentine's day needed a little celebration. After all, it is my third favorite holiday, after Christmas and the fourth of July. I reminded Shawn that many times. We have been waiting for about 6 weeks hoping to find out that day if our baby was a boy or a girl! I went to my step sister's bright and early to get my hair done..which I always look forward to. I thought my day was going to be perfect. While I was there my doctor called and said he was sick and we had to postpone until Friday! Like any hormonal girl would, I decided to let it ruin my entire morning and part of the afternoon. I went home and got into bed and turned off the light and insisted that Valentines day was ruined. After 45 minutes, and a lot of Shawn's patience before work I realized I was being ridiculous. Surprising?

So I got up and tried to turn around a day gone bad. Shawn didn't get home CLEAR until 9 pm so I went to the gym and came home to make heart shaped blueberry pancakes that turned out looking like little fetus's and actually grossed us out. When Shawn came home my world was fixed. He took me to Red Mango and we sat by the fire eating our yogurt and talked about past Valentine's days we have had..At the end of the day I realized all that mattered about the day. I am obsessed with my Valentine. The one I never see because he works and studies so hard, the one who can change my mood 180 in literally two minutes, the one who just has to sit next to me or walk through the door to make me so excited about life. I didn't know I was capable of being so obsessive...Thanks for choosing me and sticking with me Valentine..I'm proud to be the other half, soon to be third of Team Allen.





P.s..we are hoping today is the day, boy or girl!?

Adventure.

I'm a major sucker, for any idea that includes anything even close to that dang word adventure. I am a very illogical thinker when it comes to these things, and I always find a way in my head to make impossible things seem totally average and possible. It actually annoys me, so I cant' imagine how it annoys my mom, or how about my husband. But still, when a few friends wanted to go to Tonga after nursing school, I had about $50 in my bank account and imagined up a perfectly impossibly possible plan and somehow barely scrounged by, I wouldn't trade my time there for anything.

When my friend suggested I fly to Alaska to meet her and work construction in Nome the very next morning, again I thought up an impossible plan to clear my schedule and go, again I wouldn't change it. Last year Shawn's parents invited us to join them on an Alaskan cruise that we probably should have turned down, however when it involves seeing new places as tempting as it is we never can just say NO. We joined them, and it was once in a lifetime and completely amazing.

Since that time I have came up with probably 100 plans that my husband laughs at, and that soon become too impossible to be even closely possible. However, my reaction was no different when my friend from work mentioned to me that she is going on an operation smile mission, and wanted me to join. Operation Smile is an organization I have been interested in for a long time. It is an organization who goes to third world countries repairing cleft lip and palates. I can't imagine being a child who had an opportunity to get their smile fixed! I can only imagine it would mean the world to them.
And so once again, I am an unbelievable sucker for adventure, and the word No just wouldn't come out. I brought the idea of going to Peru with operation smile up to my Doctor. Surprisingly she seemed very unconcerned. She explained that we will look over the immunization and medication list and make sure there is nothing that could be potentially dangerous for an expectant mother. So for the past few days I have had off work, I have been working on my credentialing, and finishing my application, while I dreamed of the faces that wait for me in Peru.


Last week I worked a dreaded night shift. One of my required two a month. I rocked a baby with a form of cancer to sleep, and I glanced over at their mom asleep on the cold tile floor, which I'm assuming seemed more comfortable then the offered hard parent bed. The room had a gorgeous view of down town Salt Lake city, and the lights from the city illuminated her sleeping face. I thought about what a crazy adventure this must be. To be a mom of a child, and wanting everything to be all better no matter what.

And then I realized I am starting out on my newest of adventures. This type of adventure is foreign to me. It will be being called Mom, and it will take me by surprise with ten little cute tiny fingers and ten little perfect toes. It will come to me and hopefully look just so much like my Shawny boy. It will bring much more excitement and all kinds of emotion then any previous adventure could have ever been even imagined up to be. This is what I look forward to..the new, the unexpected, the scary and once in a lifetime. This is my number one priority, and if that means putting any other adventure on hold then I can gladly do it. My mom was thrown a few unexpected adventures of her own, and overall she handled them with a queens grace. In my mind,she earned the title of world's greatest mom.
Thank goodness life is full of built in natural adventure..I suppose I don't mind being just a little more tired than usual, or falling asleep at 8 when it's supposed to be our date night in. It's all part of the joy in the adventure. Keep it coming.


but for the record, if it is safe and possible..I'm not saying I can say completely no to Peru next month. Don't judge. :)

A tribute to a Teeny Tiny..

The night before Thanksgiving Shawn and I were very surprised to discover that we are having a baby, one of our very own! Needless to say, it made every holiday this holiday season more meaningful to us. Even though we were pretty much still numb on Thanksgiving we drove around after I worked looking for places for dinner and saying over and over again how surprised we were. We came home empty handed after over an hour of driving around. We obviously weren't to focused on places to eat.


first picture of 2011 we really weren't that lame ALL night

On New Year's we thought about all that 2011 is bringing onto our plate. It is a year that dreams are coming close to reality for us. Even though it makes me very nervous, since we can't even keep track of a dang set of keys, we are taking it one step at a time! Shawn is finally applying for Medical School this year in the beginning of June, and hopefully sometime before this year is over we will find out where we will be spending the next few years of our lives. Our baby will be joining us at the end of the summer, technically my due date is the beginning of August, but the original due date was July 28th. I might just keep that date in my head since it seems so much closer with the word July in front of it. By that point Shawn will hopefully be able to relax with his applications and just be ALL OURS to enjoy.

We are ever so grateful for this opportunity. Working where I work, I feel like I see babies who start out their lives on a rough road day after day. A healthy baby seems almost to rare and good to be true. Shawn and I will be so relieved when we know that our baby is healthy and safe. Our first ultra sound showed just a small little peanut. Today our ultra sound showed arms and legs and actually looked like a real baby! We already think every limb is the very cutest it could possibly be.
We love you little sweet pea. Already in the past 11 weeks and 3 days, you have changed us for the better..we are very grateful for you, we LOVE you.

Just the Two of Us..

Lately I have had reasons to reflect on how grateful I am that Shawn and I have an endless surplus amount of time that we can hang out, JUST the two of us. This season we have spent hours cuddling by our Christmas tree, talking by the classy taped up multi-colored lights twinkling in our room, and falling asleep watching sports center on the couch. I have been thankful EVERY day for this Christmas break from school for Shawn's sake (okay, that's not true, mostly my sake). This morning he is at work, so I am sneaking away to my blog when I originally had started cleaning out our closet.

I was very lonely towards the end of the semester! I used to love being alone, but now I just don't last long..Shawn is taking an MCAT class on top of all of his other classes AND work so sometimes it feels like he is gone ALL the time. At the end of the day, I have to admire him when I am watching the E channel and he is still trying to keep his eyes open on the laptop studying. He knows how to get just what he wants in life, which is reason number 1 million that I am obsessed with him. When January hits I feel like doing a major blog update on the holidays and the past few months..until then I will be enjoying every last second, until school and work steal my boy again. For now, it's just the two of us. Can I just push pause on life for a few more weeks..PLEASE!

We are grateful for all the we have had in 2010. We have been blessed in many ways. We are especially grateful for friends and family, we may be bias but we are sure that ours are the greatest. Happy New Year! Until Next year...

Elder Allen

Today we dropped Aaron off at the MTC. He flew in last night from Arizona and we were so grateful to have just one extra night with him. We have enjoyed so much having him live in Utah the same time as us, come over for dinner, and make the long drives back and forth to AZ with us..he really is the best brother in law!
Aaron is Shawn's one and only brother and it was hard for Shawn to leave him. He really held it together, being the tough older brother that he is-but..I won't get into details of what happened in the car after we pulled away for Shawn's sake :) I've always know that Shawn is very attached to his little brother who plays golf with him, who never fails to bring a smile, who will play Super Nintendo for hours with him, and who so diligently responds to the nickname Bean. Shawn is not the only attached to this boy. I have loved having in my family, I refuse to believe that it has only been for a year and a half. It feels like so much longer..

Aaron will be the best missionary can't wait to hear about all of his wonderful experiences!! We are very proud that he is one of our own..Go Elder Allen!

He looked very handsome and all grown up..I thought it was cool that this is one of the same suits Shawn wore on his mission.




Can't wait to see this boy again in just two short years..and am very grateful for his sacrifice to serve! Not to mention we couldn't be more proud :)

We are Grateful.

It's true. We really are! We have many blessings to remember this year. This year was our year to spend thanksgiving in Arizona with the Allen's. We went down to Arizona a week early to see Aarons mission farewell. He did amazing just like we knew he would. We are grateful for his decision to go on a mission even though we will miss him! I have never sent a brother off on a mission..so I'm excited me and Shawn get to drop him off at the MTC even though we just have to leave him at the curb :( we are excited for him! Since we went down for Aaron's farewell we had an early Thanksgiving with his family. I left my memory card home so I didn't get one picture..but it was wonderful.

I had to work this year on Thanksgiving. It changed my perspective of the holiday and I realized I am very grateful for our health this year. Thanksgiving was not as glamorous as it was in my head. We decided we would go out to a nice restaurant for dinner, but everywhere was closed when I got off work. We rescheduled our celebration dinner for Friday night. And that's okay. The rest of Thanksgiving weekend we enjoyed our Christmas decorations and the new snow. We collectively decided to wrap up the weekend with about 8 hours of cuddling and doing nothing by the tree. We even watched Miracle on 34th street..

I have to admit I was sad that we weren't around family this year, and I might have pouted for thirty seconds when our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of left over enchiladas when I had imagined it so much better in my head. But I learned this year that celebrations of being grateful come in all different forms. This year for me it was being at home alone with my very best friend..we decided we are very grateful for our jobs, our amazing families, our friends, our cozy place to live, our religion, and of course for each other..I could go on forever but I won't.

Tonight maybe we will sit down by the tree again, and drink some sparkling cider that I forgot about on Thanksgiving after a long day at work..and we can celebrate one last time all that we are grateful for and toast to the start of a brand new season!! Happy thanksgiving and I guess on that note while we are at it..Merry Christmas!