The First Day of School, 2011

What a doll, right?  Ellie was SO ready for the first day of school.  She has the perfect teacher, perfect backpack, and perfect smile.  It’s going to be a great year for Ellie.

Our Weekend in Vegas

We arrived in Las Vegas pretty late after Corey’s game, but the city was just getting waking up.  We were exhausted and decided to go to bed, but we felt pretty lame looking out of our hotel and seeing all the people out and about. 

 

We had no major plans for our stay in Vegas, other than we really wanted to see a show.  On Saturday morning we waited in line and got tickets to see Phantom.  We were really torn between that and a Cirque du Soleil show, but Phantom won out in the end.  After we got our tickets we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, and then went back to our hotel to wind down.  (For the record, Vegas was also HOT.  It took the better part of 2 hours to get our tickets taken care of, and that included walking a 1/2 mile on the scorching hot strip.  We were tired.)

Phantom was so awesome.  I’ve seen The Phantom of the Opera before, but the Vegas version pretty much blew the Broadway version out of the water.  They have a 20 million dollar theater in The Venetian made especially for the show.   It is spectacular.  The show was about an hour shorter than the Broadway version, but the story still flowed.  The music, singing, and costumes were beautiful.  I was definitely under a spell.  Loved it.

 

This is us in the theater before the show and before the ushers came around saying, “No photography in the theater, please!”  (Lots of iphone pics on this trip…)

Eric affectionately called this date, “the most expensive date in 10 years.” After the show we stayed at The Venetian and ate at Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio.  It was so fancy.  We ate delicious dinner and dessert.  We were totally out of our element, but that’s OK once every 10 years, right?

Here’s what we ate.  Eric said he felt dumb taking pictures of our dinner.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way out of The Venetian, I tried my hand at some slots.  I didn’t win.  Boo.

After leaving the hotel we walked around the strip for awhile and then headed back to our hotel. (The Westin, by the way… It was nice.)

On Sunday morning we headed home at the crack of 11:30.  We stopped in Cedar City for a quick hello to my brother and his family.  We arrived home around 7ish to three kids who had missed us a lot.  It was great to see them!  Every once in awhile you need a weekend away to remember that you love being parents.  Agreed? 

Our anniversary trip was awesome.  I hope we don’t have to wait 10 more years for another date like that!

Syracuse vs. Desert Hills (also the start of our anniversary vacation)

Football season has officially begun.  Eric couldn’t be happier.  Last weekend we travelled to St. George to watch Syracuse High play Desert Hills for their endowment game.

Eric’s youngest brother Corey is #66.

Eric and I decided this would be our anniversary trip, so we drove to St. George on Thursday night in our sweet rental car.  (Our Yukon gets terrible gas mileage… it was cheaper for us to rent a car.) This Charger was so cool.  Eric is totally sold on it.  No joke. 

 

It was so HOT in St. George, and you know I hate the heat.  We arrived around 9:00 and it was still 96 degrees.  Kill me.  So we headed down to our hotel’s pool and cooled off until it closed at 11:00.  We were the only ones there, and it was so nice.  It felt like our vacation had finally begun.

On Friday we went running on this nice little walking path near our hotel.  Eric is in way better shape than me.  It was a nice morning. (still hot, though)  Here is a picture of the view from the path.

After our jog and a little breakfast,  we lounged around in our hotel until we had to check out.  After checking out we headed to the outlets stores and got the kids some school clothes.  Then we had lunch and saw Captain America. (it was OK…)  Then we met up with Eric’s parents and Catherine and JD for the big game.

 

The game was fun, but did I mention that it was HOT in St. George?  I mean, it was sweat dripping down my back, over 100 degrees hot.  I felt so bad for the players in their uniforms.  Plus Eric’s brother played both ways the whole game.  Those boys were exhausted.  I’m not a sports reporter in any way, so I will spare you the details of the game.  The Titans pulled off a 14-12 win.  Very exciting!  After the game we headed for Las Vegas. Yay!

I’m also not a sports photographer, but I tried my best. 

Congratulations Titans!

We went boating!

I thought for sure our free weekends were over.  (That’s why I made the post that said so…) But sure enough we managed some plans fell through and we had a free Saturday on our hands.  We decided to take the kids out in the boat.  Catherine and JD joined us for an afternoon at Willard Bay.  I’m not much of a boater, but I must say, it was a blast!    The kids had such a great time.  All three tried the tube for the first time, and loved it.   David rode the knee board with Catherine.  John loved riding at the front of the boat.  He was smiling the whole time.   I’m so glad we found time to go.  Our kids are definitely looking forward to their next boat ride.

 John’s favorite thing was “driving” the boat.  (Mostly honking the horn…)

This is my favorite picture. David was loving the knee board and giving us the thumbs up to go faster.

 

Swimming Lessons

Ellie is such a little fish.  She really loves swimming.  She did so great in swimming lessons this summer.  We were so proud of her.  I love to see her gain confidence in the water as well as have an awesome time.  Good job Ellie!

Look! I made jam!

There is something about canning that really scares me to death.  It is so much work.  My mom and MIL are canning champs.  Especially in the tomato department.  Salsa, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce…it all seems like child’s play in their hands.  I am much to nervous to take that on.  I guess I’m too afraid I’ll ruin it!

For me, making this freezer jam was a huge accomplishment.  Especially because I am what Eric likes to call a “jam junkie.”  Of course, my mom helped me, but I think next time I won’t be as intimidated.  I love looking in my freezer and seeing all the shiny jars of jam all lined up.  We made strawberry and raspberry.  It was a morning well spent.

Our weekend in Cedar City

We spent last weekend in Cedar City.  The whole Allred crew travelled there for our cousin Megan’s baptism.  It was so fun for the whole family to be together.  We got to see Johnny and Cari’s beautiful new home, go driving around to all the “historic spots” that relate to our family, swim in the hotel pool,  and most importantly play with our long distance cousins.  It was so fun.

While in Cedar City we celebrated Megan’s birthday and Olivia’s Sweet 16.  Cari went all out with an 8 cake and cupcakes.  We were in sugar heaven.

 

Here’s my cute niece Olivia, all grown up and ready to start dating.  I can’t believe she’s 16.  She was around Ellie’s age when I turned 16, and she helped me blow out my birthday candles.  **sigh**  Seems like yesterday.  (I’m kidding, Livi… sure do love ya!)

This had to be my favorite moment of the trip.  Our littlest cousin, Addy had a major crush on her Uncle Eric.  She gave him the biggest loves.  She would lay her head on his shoulder and pat his back.  It was too cute.

Our Story…part 2

So, we went our separate ways.  Eric’s way was to Brazil, mine was to Logan.  Eric did the missionary thing, and I went away to school where I made some awesome friends, had lots of fun, and studied a little. 

Fast forward two years and I was still living it up in Logan and Eric was about to come home.  For two years I had written Eric, but never romantically.  In fact, I wrote most of Eric’s friends too.  I was pretty awesome.  A couple weeks before Eric got home I started to feel a little nervous.  I guess I was still harboring that crush despite the pre-mission rejection.  Honestly, I was pretty sure we were going to end up together and I was determined to hurry things along.  I decided that I needed a plan to get Eric to fall in love with me and to do that I needed to get him alone.  You see, a couple of our friends had already returned from their missions and were looking forward to seeing Eric.  I could see myself not fitting into that circle anymore, so I had to figure out a way to bring Eric into my circle.

The big day of Eric’s homecoming arrived, and I went to the airport with his family and a few of our friends.  When I saw Eric I was convinced that my plan had to work.  His homecoming couldn’t have come at a better time because it coincided with a busy work time for our friends who were going to be selling Living Scriptures over the summer.  Eric would have no choice but to hang out with me! (insert evil laugh here…)  My plan to get him alone fell into place beautifully.  I had him all to myself.

The beauty of this story is that it turns out that all my scheming and planning was unnecessary.  Eric had already figured it out for himself.  He had only been home for a few weeks and we were planning a wedding.  Eric got home on April 13, 2001, we were engaged on June 2nd, and married on August 10, 2001.  It was all such a whirlwind.  I loved it.

Ten years later we’re still happily married, but not only that… We’re best friends too.

(Happy Anniversary, Eric!  Hope this wasn’t too cheesy for you!  Love ya,  Maryn)

Here we are 10 years ago.  (Eric would say, “Feels like longer…”  Ha ha ha)

Our Story…part 1

In honor of our 10th Anniversary, I decided to write down our story.  One day Ellie and the boys might think it’s cool.  I don’t like big long wordy posts so I’m going to tell it in two posts. 

I should start out by telling everyone that Eric and I lived exactly one mile away from each other growing up.  That’s right…I said exactly.  I know this because when I was a little girl by mom would take me and my sister Alaina on a walk each morning because we were always bored, and needed the exercise.  That walk felt like a million miles to us.  Of course we would only go a couple miles, but we had no sense of direction or distance.  One day my mom measured it out for us in her car.  Sure enough Eric’s house was one mile away from ours.  We called his house “The Mile House” for a long time.  I didn’t know it was Eric’s house until high school.  Funny.

Eric and I have know each other for a long time, but we did not date until he got home from his mission.  We weren’t even high school sweethearts.  Really we were just good friends.  In fact, we have been friends since probably 8th or 9th grade.  We went to different elementary schools,  but our groups of friends meshed in Jr. High.   The reason we became friends is because Eric dated my best friend.  (Back then we didn’t say “dated” because  of course, we weren’t old enough to date… If a couple was together they were “going out".  See the difference?  Me neither.)  Anyway, Eric was “going out” with my best friend, so we became friends too.

We stayed friends throughout High School even though he wasn’t seeing my friend anymore.  In fact, after awhile I hung out with Eric and his buddies more than I hung out with her.  We got to know each other really well.  I truly loved those guys.  I was like a sister to them.  (Or maybe a pet…probably a pet that they fed and couldn’t get rid of.  Still,  I loved them!)  Anyway, like I said, Eric and I never got together.  He had other girlfriends, and I had other boyfriends.  It’s kind of weird that I was friends with most of the girls Eric liked back then.  Sometimes we tease each other about it. 

I would be lying if I said I never had a crush on Eric in High School.  I was totally jealous that he did not take me to our Senior Cotillion.  That crush kept going until after high school.  I mean, how dare he not date me, right?  Then one day out of the blue we were hanging out and lo and behold, Eric kissed me.  Yay!  At that time all the guys were getting ready to leave on their missions, and I was having visions of being the best missionary girlfriend ever.  Well, I guess Eric had other ideas because later that evening he gave me the “I’m going on a mission so I have to cut all ties with chicks” talk.  Boo.  I guess he was just filling his canteen.  Obviously I forgave him.  But still, how dare he not date me?

Look what I got!  I’m a sucker for flowers.

Our last free weekend of the summer…

This last weekend was our last totally free weekend of Summer 2011.  We have a few fun things on the horizon including, but not limited to:

• A weekend in Cedar City with the Allreds for cousin Megan’s baptism.
• Our 10th Anniversary and a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate (I’m counting the days!)
• Corey’s football game in St. George. (Eric is counting the days…)

Before we know it school will be starting for Ellie, the boys, and me.  (Have I mentioned that I’m going to be teaching at the best pre-school ever in the Fall?  It will be an adventure.) 

Anyway, when we realized we had no plans whatsoever this weekend, Eric and I thought it might be fun to take the kids camping.  But that didn’t happen because Ellie threw a huge fit because she didn’t want to go.  During the fit, she wailed, “I’d rather go to the cabin!”  So we did.

We headed to Bear Lake on  Saturday afternoon and spent some quality time at the cabin.  On Sunday, we decided to check out Rendezvous Beach.   It turned out to be SO not worth it.  The water at Bear Lake is so high this year that all the good beaches are covered.  The water at Rendezvous was brown and murky.  I couldn’t see the bottom, and that was enough to scare me off.  Ellie had no qualms about the muddy water and jumped right in.  She is such a fish.  Eric and the were on the same page as me.  Needless to say, it was a short trip to the beach.  Despite the disappointing beach, we were glad we went!

Is it Fall yet?

 

This is a negative post, but it contains cute pictures so don’t give up on me.

I am so tired of summer!  There…I said it.  And yes, I know it hasn’t been as hot as past summers, but I don’t care. It’s hot enough for me.  I love my air conditioner.  

Also, I hate sunburns.  I have the fairest skin in all the land, so my neck is in a constant state of sunburn.  Yuck.  The sun hates me and will burn my skin if it is exposed even for the shortest amount of time.  Then you can bet in a few days that burned skin will be white as white again.  I. never. tan.

I also do not love how it is still light outside when I am trying to put my kids to bed.  It just makes my life harder.

Sorry to be such a summer hater, but there you go.   I can’t wait for those leaves to start falling!

Here are the kids beating the heat at Alaina’s pool.   They all just love to swim.  Good for them, bad for me because did I mention in my rant that I hate swimsuits?  (This summer we have also visited at the Roy Aquatic Center and Surf n Swim.)

This is David at the “hot pool”.  He will cannon ball right into it.  He is an equal opportunity cannon baller.

David’s new calling in life: jumping in the pool.  He has no fear.