Nesting

Our new little baby girl will be joining our family in just over 6 weeks. I'm a bit nervous and apprehensive while also becoming more excited every day.

 

As my pregnancy progresses, I've been trying to get my home and family ready to welcome a new little baby in just a short time. One big change that we've implemented is upgrading our front room furniture. Bryce's brother, Jon, and his wife, Laurie had a friend who were getting rid of a couch and love seat and they brought them over for us. The kids and I got to scrub them down and get them clean and now they have replaced our worn out couch and chair in the front room.

Another huge change happened this past weekend. River's room is going to eventually be the baby's room, and that meant moving River into MayLynn's bedroom. Friday afternoon,  all three of my kids helped sort through all of MayLynn's toys and everything, and got everything clean and organized. On Friday evening, my parents came and helped me get MayLynn's bed taken out of her room, assembled the girls' new bunk bed, and got the new mattresses in place. On Saturday we got the bedding put on the beds, the kids and I cleaned River's room, my sister, Emily, helped me assemble a new bookshelf, and we got both girls' toys and books organized and put together into their "new" bedroom. The girls love their new beds and they made it though their first night sharing a bed room.

We still have a few things that need doing - Bryce is refinishing a dresser for River, I need to sort through the baby's things and get her room organized, and we need to get our room reorganized so the baby can be in our room for the first little while after she is born. But I still have 6 weeks, and by then we should have our home ready to welcome our new little baby girl.

A Trip to Hogle Zoo for Labor Day

Today we did something crazy. Since everyone had the day off, we decided to all go to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. MayLynn, River, and I had gone last spring as part of MayLynn's kindergarten field trip, but this was our first time going there as a family since we moved back to Utah.

It was a holiday, so there were quite a few people, but it wasn't too crowded and we enjoyed seeing the animals and spending time together as a family. Emily took pictures of the animals, but I got a few fun ones of the kids with the animal statues.

When all was said and done, Owen and MayLynn liked the elephants the best, River liked the sea lions, Emily and I liked the red pandas, and Bryce just enjoyed being at the zoo.  We had so much fun that we hope to go again in a month or so when it's not quite as hot, Bryce's feet have more stamina, and before I get too pregnant. 

Starting Up Again

It has been quite a long time since I've posted anything on my blog, but lately I've been feeling like I need more than the occasional Facebook post to help document my life and the lives of my family. So I've downloaded an app, linked it to my blog, and I'll see if I can give this blogging thing another go.

"So what's going on in lives of the Allen Family?" you ask. Let's see if I can put it all in a nice, concise nutshell . . .

First of all, we are still living in Ogden, Utah. Bryce has started his 5th year working at Weber State University as the Technical Director for their Theater Program. On the side, he is one of 5 theatrical ETCP Certified Riggers in the state and he does side work for Upstage Crew Services, Inc. as a rigger in venues throughout Northern Utah. Recently he even got to oversee the rigging for the 2018 Love Loud Festival at Rice Eccles Stadium for their events and the Imagine Dragons concert. Other big news for Bryce is that he's 3 months out from his second major foot reconstruction surgery. He's learning how to walk for the 2nd time in the past year. And although it's difficult, these surgeries should alleviate the nerve pain that he's had for years and keep him on his feet - literally - for years to come.

Owen is a growing, lanky 10-year old. He started 5th grade just this past Monday. His interests include Legos, video games (especially the "Legend of Zelda" games), and reading. He curently wants to be an engineer when he grows up. He is his mom's right hand around the house and is becoming quite the piano player.

MayLynn, at 6 years-old, has just started 1st grade. She loves doing artwork and reading in her spare time. She also loves animals, especially dogs, cats, sharks, and horses. Her biggest goal for 1st grade is to learn how to read bigger words. She wants to be a teacher, an artist, and an author when she grows up. She, too, is flourishing on the piano and is diligent at doing her chores every day.

River is a super-active, imaginative 4 year-old. She started pre-school last week and is loving it. She still gets to hang out around the house with Mom most of the day and loves to help any way she can. She especially likes to "help" Mom and Dad fix dinner. She wants to be a dancer when she grows up and is looking forward to learning how to be a big sister later this fall.

Yep, you read that right. We are expecting an addition to our family in late November. Our due date is November 30th, but if all goes as planned, our new baby girl will joining our family on November 27th (thanks to a planned C-section). Her coming has been quite the surprise, but we are looking forward to her joining our family.

Although I'd rather share information about the rest of the family, I guess that I should mention that I've been working part-time from home for a little over a year. I am the bookkeeper for Upstage Crew Services, Inc., and I get to apply my accounting skills to the entertainment industry. It is nice to be using my brain again, and to have the opportunity to do so mostly from home. I still get to put my family first while working towards my goal of someday getting a MBA or Master's Degree in Arts Management and being able to work in the business end of the arts.

Everything in our lives keep us busy, but ultimately we are just an everyday family living our everyday lives. It may not be anything too exciting, but I hope to be able to share more of what we are doing from here on out. So wish me luck, and hopefully I can get this blog up and running again.

Remembering my Childhood at Canyonlands National Park

Every once in a while an individual has one of those moments that both connects them with their childhood and prepares them to face the future. Yesterday was one of those days for me. Bryce and I decided to go on a short childless adventure. We left the kids at Grandma and Grandpa Royer's house (thanks Mom and Dad!), filled our van with the essentials to turn it into a tent for a night, and took a nice little drive to visit Canyonlands National Park. Oldly enough, although I grew up roughly 75 miles south of this nationally recognized landmark, I had never visited it before. So finally, with a willing husband, as an adult I finally visited this place that people come from all over the world to see.

In a way, visiting Canyonlands felt like I was coming home. The red and white sandstone, fields of sagebrush, juniper and pinon pine trees, and prickly pear cactus all transported me to memories of my childhood mornings spent exploring Westwater Canyon with my dog, Goldie. Then, as now, I loved scaling the rocky pathways, scouting for signs of wildlife, and stopping to enjoy the spring desert blooms. Only this time I had my husband with me and I could share this adventure and memories of my childhood with him.

Mostly because it was the closest to my parents' house and because it has more campgrounds than the northern area, we chose to visit the southern part of Canyonlands, called the Needles District. It's named for the spire-like rock formations that are a major feature in this region. This park isn't as well developed as the other national parks that I've been to, but therein lies the charm. We were able to spend more time looking at the natural beauty of the land rather than looking at people, campgrounds, or buildings.

After we found our campsite for the night, we decided to do the four smaller hikes in the Needles District of Canyonlands. Our first stop was the Roadside Ruin. It was a short walk down to an ancient grainery built under an outcropping of sandstone. This was one of the ways that the ancient peoples that lived in this region of the world would store their food.

Next we hiked the Cave Spring Trail. This trail takes you down into a canyon where cowboys in the late 1800s and early 1900s would find water and shelter while herding their catrle. We saw some artifacts depicting a cowboy camp, experienced the cool cave-like environment that you find under a sandstone outcropping, saw a cave where water seeped out and was a water source for ancient and modern peoples (as seen by the pictographs on the wall), climbed wooden ladders, and saw some amazing views.

The Pothole Point Trail brought back a lot of childhood memories. The potholes are mini ecosystems that come to life when it rains. They reminded me of the pools that I would observe in the springtime as a child. I loved watching the tadpoles come to life and slowly trasform into baby toads. It's a cycle of life that is unique to arid climates, but that is part of my past.

Our final and longest hike of the day was the Slickrock Foot Trail. This trail reminded me of the many, many hours that I spent hiking the sandstone trails and canyons near the houses that I grew up in. I would wander in those canyons for hours on end, daydreaming and contemplating the universe. There weren't very many people on this trail when we were and it was nice to be secluded and surrounded by nature. The vistas along this trail were beautiful and we could see for miles and miles in every direction.

All throughout the park and along the trails was evidence that this land that looks so barren is actually teaming with life. I loved seeing all of the spring blossoms, the lizards, chipmunks, cottontail rabbits, and birds. Very few of them would stay still long enough for me to pull out my camera, but I was fast enough to catch these two lizards before they scurried away.

After our hikes, we took a drive back outside the park to Newspaper rock. This is a large rock wall covered with petroglyphs from many different peoples. It is always interesting to me how peoples of all ages want to be heard and remembered. Ancient peoples wrote on walls, modern day people write blogs or post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The highlight of the day occured in the evening after we had gotten back to camp. A small rainstorm was blowing through the park and that gave us the opportunity to see an amazingly bright rainbow. It lasted for a good 15 minutes and gave us plenty of time to get some pictures of this amazing reminder of whose land this really is. We may be able to hike the trails, enjoy the vistas, and make the land our home for a time, but it is really God who is control. He planned the many miracles that make it possible for life to not only survive, but flourish in a land so barren and beautiful.

Baby Max

In early October, my brother Benny and his wife, Kayla had a little baby boy - Maxwell Bruce Royer.  The first weekend of December we got to go down to his blessing in Cedar City.  Although Bryce and I have 10 nieces and nephews, Max's was only the second baby blessing that I was able to go to.  It was very nice to be able to share this time with Benny & Kayla on Max's important day.

Since we have a time-share in St. George that we hadn't stayed at yet, we decided to make a whole weekend out of it.  We went down with Nita and Emily on Friday night, spent the day there Saturday while we we joined for the afternoon by Benny & Kayla, and my Dad, Mom and sister, Mary.  We played ping-pong, watched a few movies, had a delicious steak dinner, soaked in the hot tub and thoroughly enjoyed our stay.  

On Sunday we went back up to Cedar City for Max's baby blessing and a luncheon at Kayla's aunt's house.  

Thanks Benny & Kayla for such a wonderful weekend! It was a whole lot of fun spending two weekends in a row with my family. The holidays are a wonderful time to be with family.