we had the chance to have my brother scott come visit from cleveland a week ago. he, his wife kate, and their darling girl sala spent about 6 days here. we played at the park, went to the gateway discovery children's museum, went swimming twice at the indoor water playground at the pool in sandy, ate lots of good food, including the shish kebabs that kate made, yummm, got to talk and just be together. it was so much fun to have them here. we miss them so much. we are happy that scott is doing so well in his first year of medical school, that kate is enjoying her violin teaching to i think 25 students, and that sal is enjoying her life and all the adventures it brings at 14 months. they are all so great!
here is sala at the bottom of the slide.
grandma lovin the grandma life.
scott and sala enjoying the warmth of the sun.
me and kate. good to be together. i miss the good old days when we would drive over to their apartment and just hang out.
here scott, kate and sal are enjoying the indoor water playground.
that's sammy. look at the air he got from his jump! he's just a little excited. hehe.
elliot and lillie, my friend's little girl, loving the freedom those floaties give them. swimming lessons here we come . . . hopefully soon.
sam and his darling silliness.
this is my friend karie. we were so happy she, lillie, and jozie could join us for some fun at the pool.
again grandma lovin the grandma life. she's gonna miss them.
goodbye scott and kate. thanks for coming!!
dear sweet sala. we loved having you visit with your mom and dad. you are so darling. we will miss you until the next time we get to see you. sorry about all the pushing and shoving (from sam). he really does love you. until next time! love the allens.
we had a little apartment welcome back party for our neighbor jenny and their new baby, callie. we missed her while she away for 2 1/2 months adopting this sweet little girl. jen and marc were so nice to organize this whole party.
cute friends, christopher and sam.
yesterday sammy and elliot were playing with the blocks and elliot started calling to me, "mommy, look where sammy's sitting!" sure enough there he was, beaming, sitting in the middle of the block table. hehe. i told him to smile, took a few pictures, and everytime i told him to smile, this is what he would do. mouth wide open! silly sammy (elliot's words).
scott and sala enjoying the warmth of the sun.
me and kate. good to be together. i miss the good old days when we would drive over to their apartment and just hang out.
here scott, kate and sal are enjoying the indoor water playground.
that's sammy. look at the air he got from his jump! he's just a little excited. hehe.
elliot and lillie, my friend's little girl, loving the freedom those floaties give them. swimming lessons here we come . . . hopefully soon.
sam and his darling silliness.
this is my friend karie. we were so happy she, lillie, and jozie could join us for some fun at the pool.
again grandma lovin the grandma life. she's gonna miss them.
goodbye scott and kate. thanks for coming!!
here's the true story. jeffrey thought he would like to say hello to a big metal box hanging off the wall. what he didn't realize is that big metal boxes don't like having their personal space invaded. the result was a battle and to say the least, the big metal box won.
jeffrey also mentioned that i failed to do a post of his snowmen. 
non-traditional, and yet so awesome. you never cease to amaze me with your talents jeffrey. i had no idea they extended to snow art.
this group of girls are the girls i grew up with. we were in the same ward, elementary school, middle school, and high school. it has been fun to get together at wedding showers, baby showers, and random get togethers in between. we are all pretty impressed with ourselves that we have stayed in touch and remained friends. it's been eight years since graduation and since we all kind of went our own ways. it's so fun to get together and reminisce. it's great to relate and get advice from each other too. 
michelle and maryirene (me),
and lastly, marta and allison. there were kind of the reason that we threw this party together. marta will be moving soon with her husband to idaho. congrats on the upcoming baby!! allison is headed to california for her school and to alaska in the summer. we will miss you both! let us know when you come back into town and we'll get together again.
we all took a drink of the coconut milk . . . interesting . . . and then we chowed down on fresh coconut! it was so much fun. elliot's smile is proof of that.
thanks for the idea grandma and grandpa. have fun on the rest of your trip in hawaii. we miss you both. come home safe.
