December 2008

It has been quite an exciting year for us at the Allred home. A year ago we welcomed Megan Belle into our family. She was 7lbs 6 oz and as bald as Emily was. That has been the biggest adventure of the year; she has brought so much joy into our home!

In June of this year we were able to go to Denver on vacation. None of us had been to Denver but had heard good things about it. We were able to go for 3 days and it was a blast. We hit most of the major sites like the Denver mint, the Butterfly Pavilion, the Museum of Science and Natural History, and we drove around to see some other landmarks like the state capital, some stadiums, and some parks. Of course Crystal’s favorite part was eating at the Cheesecake Factory. Emily thoroughly enjoyed the Butterfly Pavilion where they have thousands of butterflies in a controlled rain forest type greenhouse. There was also some bugs and spiders on display and you could hold a tarantula. Ryan was the only one brave enough to do that. Whenever anyone asked Emily about our trip she would always tell them about her floor-bed; she slept on the floor in the hotel, and loved it!

Ryan is enjoying working as a property manager for Fresh Start Management and currently manages over 50 units. He is working on getting a new online software system up and running for the company. He always loves coming home and playing with ‘his girls’. He is also officiating high school basketball again this year and loves getting paid to exercise !

As for me, being a mother is taking up most of my time, and I love it. I love to see how our girls play together. I have developed a love for cooking over the last year, it only took me 4 years of marriage. I have really enjoyed making beautiful, delicious food for my family, unfortunately for my diet my absolute favorite is baking desserts. Luckily for me though I have started a regular exercise routine with my sister-in-law Lori which has been so great!

Emily is our busy busy girl. She loves to organize and help out especially when I make cookies. She always enjoys rearranging her room, reading books, painting, and being a ‘mother’ to her dolls. She LOVES her baby sister and is so proud of her. She introduces Megan to everyone she meets by putting her arm around Megan and saying ‘this is Megan,” and then tells them how old she is. It is so cute. Whenever I tell Emily that she is cute or my little angel she says “no mom I’m the big sister.”

Our “little Megsy” is a big flirt. She loves to get others attention and while they are looking she will give them the biggest smile you will ever see, but if they try to hold her she will hold on to me like her life depended on it. She is quite the ‘mama’s girl’ which is okay but just really opposite from Emily. Megan got her first tooth at 7 months and was crawling before she was 8 months old. She doesn’t have any interest in walking yet so I am happy about that. Megan gave us a scare the day after Thanksgiving, she was not acting herself so I took her into the doctor and he had her admitted to the hospital because she was extremely dehydrated. She had to be in the hospital on an IV for a day and a half. She is happy and healthy now and just had her 1st birthday a few days ago.

From all of us we want to wish everyone a happy holiday and best wishes for the year to come.