the past couple of weeks

i love these boys. i say that a lot don't i? well i do. they are such great buddies. i remember my mom pointing out how in nearly every picture of me as a kid my brother eric was always by my side. i love that my boys have that too. it makes it all worth it.

we had the chance to go to boston over the 4th of july weekend. of course i forgot my camera on elliot's birthday, so i don't have any of those pictures. mom, when you can will you email those to me? thanks.
we had a great time though. we went to plum island beach and instead of the rain that was supposed to come, sunshine and warmth shined on us and we had a great time! that night we went to eric and sarah's and had pizza, cake, ice cream, and of course present opening time. elliot had a great time. his favorites were the lego star wars wii game and the race car track. thanks eric, sarah, grandpa, and grandma for helping make his birthday so much fun!

the next day we went into boston and met up with my friend cristy. we first stopped at the little fountains and the boys had a ball. they got wet, but it was warm and they dried off quickly. next we made our way up into little italy, visited the old north church, made a stop at mike's pastry and got cookies this time. oh yum. they were sooo good!
sam.
we made our way back to eric and sarah's for burgers and prep for the fireworks show. the kids had a lot of fun with will and lily. it is so fun to see lily crawling around! she seems so excited to be mobile. sammy always makes her laugh too. it's so cute to see. she's really helped him warm up to babies. he's finally learning to be careful around them. i really think it was lily's charm. so thanks lily!
the fireworks over the charles river were absolutely fantastic and loud! what a way to celebrate.
this was our farewell picture on sunday. it was so fun to crash their party while mom and dad were in town. thanks so much for letting us come!!
i have to make mention that mike and ashley were so kind to let us stay at their place with them all weekend (except one night we stayed with cristy, thanks!!) they were so sweet. they joined us at the beach on friday, and then on monday we made our way up to walden pond, one of my favorite spots in the world. it's just so peaceful. it'll always have a special place in my heart.
sammy loves the sand and mud. elliot and daddy went out swimming deeper. elliot got 3 quarters for going under the water 3 times. hehe. cute daddy trying encourage him.
we ate lunch on the beach.
isn't it beautiful!!
we made a stop by the decordova sculpture garden in lincoln, ma. it reminded me of storm king here in ny. what a neat idea. notice elliot and sam under the arms of this sculpture.
before we headed back to ny we had to stop by this brazilian store for some food from jeffrey's past. we got some Bono cookies, bis (chocolate covered wafers), guaraná (soda), requeijão cremoso (brazilian cream cheese), doce de amendoim (peanut candy), and even a pair of havaianas (brazilian flip flops) for elliot. it was fun. someday we'll travel to brazil. i promise!
i had to throw this one in from the road trip home. my three boys :)



this past weekend we had the chance to go to a carnival. it was so much fun. the boys went on a rollercoaster (kid size) and elliot had fun, but sammy cried and cried. it was so sad, but it was cute to see elliot trying to comfort him. he got over it pretty quick and loved this car one. it was a little slow for elliot, but he had fun anyway.

daddy and elliot got a game in at the clown water squirter game. they had to squirt water into the clown's mouth which would then fill up a balloon and the first person to have their balloon pop won. they didn't win, but they did have fun.
it started to rain, but we got in one family shot.


on sunday we had the luck to have scott, kate and sala stop in on their way to maine. i just love that little girl sal. it was really fun to see the kids all play together. despite this grumpy picture of sam, he really did have so much fun. he and sal get along so well now. it's wonderful.
it was so nice to have some time to chat with kate and with scott. they are such great people to talk to. thanks so much for stopping by guys.
here's their setup. pretty impressive. looks like a lot of fun in store. wish i was going. hehe.
here's one last shot of sala and sam. we played outside a bunch. the kids had so much fun. sandbox, baseball, scooter, tricycle, kid lawnmower, running, balls, swing, playground, etc.
love you guys.
well, thanks for looking at this long catch up post. we've been busy with elliot being out of school. we've joined the town pool, we go to the playground, we hang out with dad. so far it's been a great summer. we love you all and hope your summer is going great too. God bless.
mi

www.jeffreyallenphoto.com

don't forget!!! the chance to win a free print from jeffrey's photography gallery ends tonight at midnight! all you have to do is go to martawrites.blogspot.com and leave a comment. it's well worth your time. his work is beautiful!! check it out and see for yourself. jeffreyallenphoto.com enjoy!

jeffrey's new gallery and store (plus a giveaway!)

jeffrey here - with maryirene's permission i'm taking over the allen wrench for a post of my own.

for a while now i've been keeping a blog where I document my adventures in photography (i.e. photographing in big cities like new york, san francisco, and boston, experimenting with interesting and unique cameras, oh yeah - and being questioned by a handful of policemen in new jersey for photographing a water tower).

my blog is at upsidedownbackwards.blogspot.com.

the exciting news is that i've collected a bunch of my favorite photographs and put together an online gallery and store where prints can be purchased. check it out at jeffreyallenphoto.com.

to kick off my new gallery and store a friend of ours is featuring my work on her blog and also doing a giveaway, starting this saturday. two winners, randomly selected, will win a print of their choice (glossy or lustre) up to 11"x14". her blog is at martawrites.blogspot.com and to enter just leave a comment on the giveaway post between saturday and monday. the deadline for comments is Monday at midnight.

here's a sample of what you'll find on my blog and in my gallery. enjoy!

preschool graduation

elliot had his graduation this last week. he'll be moving on to kindergarten in the fall. he's so excited!

way to go elliot!
this is elliot's class performing their song.

news

it's been a while so i thought i would share a quick update. there are lots of pictures to come.

for those of you who have been wanting to know about our move, well . . . it's been pushed back about 6 months, so we'll be enjoying the beauty of new york for a little bit longer. we're happy to stick around and have time to hang out with the friends we have made here.

sam just turned 3 and elliot will soon be 5! i can't believe how old they are. i can't believe i have a 5 year old. i love it though. it's wonderful. i just registered him for kindergarten today. he'll be picked up by a bus and everything. pretty cool!

my sister just got married and so we got to go home to utah and see family for a couple of weeks. it was a wonderful vacation.

we love you all and hope that your summer is filled with wonderful things. if any of you are in our area, give us a call.

how i love these two boys, even when they are driving me crazy!

and how i love how much they love each other.

ctr night

i'm trying to be more prepared for family home evening on monday nights, so today while sammy took his nap i read through a primary lesson and planned out an activity and a game to go along with it. it went over really well and the the boys had a lot of fun. i love this picture. i'm so lucky to have such great boys in my life. notice how "tough" elliot is. :)

this last weekend we were lucky to have our good friends stop by for a visit. it was so sweet of them to make the detour up here to hang out with us. we made an apple pie recipe i got from my sister-in-law kate and it was so good! thanks kate! the boys had a lot of fun hanging out with simon, jeffrey and micah played a game of frizbee, and rachel and i had some time to talk. it was a really nice afternoon. we hope to visit with them again soon.

another weekend in boston

we got to go to boston again. we sure love it there. it was the perfect weekend too. it got up to over 90 degrees. it was beautiful! we stopped in a small town before boston to visit our friends ashley and mike. we went out to dinner, had dessert, played a game, chatted. it was so nice to spend that time with them. not sure when we'll see them again. that night we stayed with a good friend/old college roomate, cristie, and her husband, john. we had yummy crepes the next morning (they were delicious!), went on a beautiful walk to a nearby pond, and then headed into the city via the T.

we did have a little adventure right before we left on our walk. sam and elliot went into the back bedroom and decided to lock the door. well then they couldn't unlock it and it's one of those locks that is high and not connected to the handle, so we couldn't get it open. it was kind of scary. luckily there was a ladder out back so they talked to elliot through the closed window telling him how to open the window and push open the screen. he did a great job and jeffrey was able to climb in and unlock the door. i was just so glad that elliot was in there with sam. he took care and of him and they even started singing songs together when sam was getting worried. i'm so glad that they do really love each other and that they look out for each other.

here we are at the pond. silly sam.

elliot found some "seaweed".

seriously these boys could never get tired of throwing rocks into the water. it was the perfect afternoon for them. no rush, lots of rocks to collect, water to throw the rocks into, space to run, ducks to chase, john and cristie to play with (they love john and cristie!!), and nice warm weather.

here they are with cristie and john.

we headed into boston where eric and sarah met up with us with their twins. it was really fun. we walked around, got some dinner, went to the waterfront, saw some sights, etc. it was beautiful.

sarah and will.

eric, lily, and will.

here are some cute pictures i got of will and lily while we were at their apt.
eric and sarah your babies are adorable! thanks for letting us come hang out with you and stay with you. we love you guys so much.



on sunday we went to church and then came home early to watch my dad's last sunday morning broadcast in the mormon tabernacle choir. it's been an amazing 20 1/2 years.

here are the twins watching the broadcast from their booster chairs.

the boys thought the best seats in the house were the twins' bumbo chairs. haha. funny boys. they loved watching for their grandpa on the tv screen. it was neat to celebrate 20 years, but really sad to know it was his last. the mormon tabernacle choir won't ever be the same to me. i'm really glad we at least got to watch his last performance with eric and sarah since we couldn't be home to go in person with the family.

lastly i wanted to share this little video of elliot and lily playing together. it's so sweet to see his little grin pop up on his face, and then he gets a little shy. he really loves these babies.