January 2008

What happened in January:

*Ringing in the New Year- We had a low-key night at home having a "Pirates of the Caribbean" marathon. We stopped them long enough to watch the ball drop on tv and kiss each other. Happy 2008!

* We enjoyed lots of days at the YMCA and the library

* Allen started figuring out how to scoot down out of the bouncer and his carseat if he wasn't buckled in

* Allen discovered his feet and was grabbing them constantly

And now for our January Pictures:


Ever since Christmas Corrine plays dress-up as "Mary"

Sound Asleep

Corrine hanging out with Dad

Aren't they adorable?

I love it when they are happy!

Surprise!
Corrine loves taking pictures- and ALWAYS asks us to "make a silly face"!

Allen rolling over (and SO proud of himself)!

Watching TV with Dad

Hanging Out

December 22nd- 31st

This post to be finished SOON!!!

Saturday, December 22nd- The kids & I got packed up and headed to Maple Valley. Bradford, Megan & Lucy, Graham & Emily, Taylor, Tanner and McKay were all there- it was already a party! It was so fun to see everyone and start to catch up on everything going on. The boys kept themselves plenty entertained with a BYU game (which they won)

December 10th- 21st

December 10-21, 2007: The fun BEFORE the festivities :)
Written by Annaliese

In trying to catch up, I am going to mesh all sorts of weeks together! Good Luck with my novels!

Monday, December 10th- Life was mostly back to normal after all the power outages- most of the area had power returned, a few didn't, but stores were back to being open, schools had kids in them and we felt a little harried, but like we were trying to get back into the swing of things. I went back to babysitting that afternoon as the girls went back to school.

Thursday, December 13th- That afternoon I went on a kitchen spree making wassail, peanut butter cup cupcakes and brownies. I then loaded all of it along with some decorations into the car to attend our Christmas Enrichment. It was such a fun night! We enjoyed hearing various family traditions from different sisters, eating delicious desserts and playing some fun games. I almost never feel like going as there is so much going on in life, but I'm always glad when I do as it's a great time to enjoy the sisters in the ward and support those who did so much hard work.

Friday, December 14th- After work, the kids and I headed out of town for Maple Valley. Jessica Wayment (Tanner's finance) was visiting for the weekend and Corrine, Allen & I were "babysitting" them while Mom & Dad were out of town. :) We figured we would keep McKay company too in case he got tired of all the mushiness in the air. We all enjoyed hanging out and playing games. Jessica was even a good sport to join in a few games of Settlers while I was there!

Saturday, December 15th- Tanner & Jessica had spent Friday sightseeing all over Seattle, so they took it easy on Saturday and just stayed close to home. They did enjoy walking around the lake and even volunteered to take Corrine with them- she LOVED it of course and she REALLY likes Jessica. She reminds me all the time that after Tanner & Jessica get married she will be AUNT Jessica. Mom & Dad got home that night and it was so fun to be with them as well.

Sunday, December 16th- We enjoyed sacrament meeting in Maple Valley which was wonderful as usual. We slipped out after Sacrament meeting as Chris' work party was that night. McKay had offered/asked to come spend a few days with us as he was done with work. It turned out to be such a blessing for us! He will definitely be missed when he goes back to Idaho for school!

McKay and the kids before church

Our smiley boy

We made good time home and McKay entertained the troops while Chris & I got ready to go. He wasn't the slightest bit nervous about having a newborn to babysit either. We left him several bottles and they had a blast! Chris & I attended his work party in Olympia- they had a wonderful dinner and it was very nice to visit with his co-workers. When we got home all was great with McKay. We enjoyed spending some time with him before we all crashed for the night.

Monday, December 17th- McKay & Corrine opted to stay at the house while Allen & I went to the office. Corrine LOVED having her Uncle McKay there to play with! I was worried he was bored and he said it was great since he knew when he got home he would need to help get things ready for Christmas and get his stuff ready for school. So he was enjoying the "down" time (if there is such a thing with Corrine around). I wasn't babysitting at all this week as the girl I babysit was already out for Christmas break, so that was one less thing to worry about.

McKay was loved by ALL- including Pikku (our dog) as you can see that both Pikku & Corrine cuddled up to sleep next to McKay on the couch

We had a pediatrician appointment that afternoon for both kids- I was grateful for his extra pair of hands and arms especially since both kids had to get shots. Corrine DID NOT like shots. But she was pretty brave. I was glad McKay was there to hold & console her while I helped hold Allen during his shots. She told me later "I don't think I want to do that anymore." Definitely an adventure!

McKay reading to Allen
Naptime!

Tuesday, December 18th- Since McKay was only going to be with us for one last night we ordered our favorite pizza and watched a movie together. It was fun to just hang out and laugh about silly stuff together.

Wednesday, December 19th- After work, we all headed up to Olympia to meet Mom. She was picking up McKay and taking Corrine for the rest of the week as we would be headed up that way that weekend for Christmas festivities. I always miss her when she's gone, but I had so much going on that it was a HUGE blessing to have her with Mom & Dad. After making the big switch I took advantage of being in Olympia (with only one child) and did some Christmas shopping since at that point we had done NONE of it. Thankfully I got the majority of it done! There were a few things that still needed to be found, but that was a huge relief.

Friday, December 21st- We received a "present" from our landlords- a NEW sink, with a garbage disposal! It's so nice! Chris keeps wiping it down and keeping it shiny- I think he loves it more than I do! It was a much needed improvement.

That night my work had our Christmas party/dinner. We all go out to a favorite Mexican restaurant and just enjoy being together. It's such a small company (and almost everyone is related) that it is a really enjoyable, laid back evening. It's so nice to have such a great boss and that he feels the same way- it's one of those amazing blessings that is good for everyone.

That night we tried to get everything packed and organized for our Christmas adventures!

November 26th- December 9th

Weeks of November 26- December 9, 2007: The Big Power Outage of 2007
Written by Annaliese

Tuesday, November 27th- Pat had the day off that day and Corrine was already at her house playing when I got done with work, so I thought maybe I would be productive and go work out at the YMCA while I had the extra time. So I dropped Allen off with Pat and picked up Corrine since she loves to play at the YMCA's kids area. When we got there I learned that there is no staff for the kids area until the afternoon- so she was able to play, but I couldn't go work out. So much for being productive! She played and then we ran a couple errands before we had to pick up Adrianna from school. We picked up Allen and the girls played with Boo-Boo for awhile. After Adrianna went home we headed back up to M&D Priamos' for dinner.

Friday, November 30th- We enjoyed a pizza night as a family and then played games at M&D Priamos' house for a couple hours.

Saturday, December 1st- We woke up to beautiful BIG snowflakes falling! Corrine of course got bundled up and had to go out in the snow. Our dogs too- and Pikku LOVES the snow! She plays in it until she has snow matter in all her hair! It's too funny! While they were all outside freezing we made Chris' favorite breakfast of biscuits & gravy. It was the perfect thing for such a cold day.

A snowy garden & Corrine jumping on a snowy trampoline!

We had orginally planned to go over to Hoquiam to see Santa, but didn't want to have to go over two icy bridges, so we opted to go to a local store that had Santa, pictures and even lunch! Corrine talked about seeing Santa the whole morning and when we finally got there she became incredibly shy- for those of you that know our little girl- she is ANYTHING but shy! So we took a picture with Allen on his lap and finally talked Corrine into standing by his chair. She enjoyed some hot dogs & chips while we waited to get our pictures back- when it came back she lit up and had to go show Santa. I guess that's all it took for her to warm up to him! We didn't stay too long as it was fairly busy and it was still snowing outside.

Allen & Corrine with SANTA! Daddy Chris with Allen

The rest of the day was spent listening to Christmas music and putting up the tree- we got a really nice one during 75% clearance last year, but didn't realize how BIG it was until we started setting it up! We had to move couches, end tables & a bookshelf to make a space for it! But with all the rearranging we were able to put it in front of the window- it looks great!

The kids by the tree- poor Allen wrapped up in a "girlie blanket".

Sunday, December 2nd- We had such a NORMAL day. The kids & I went to church, Chris did a lot of little things to help around the house while we were gone, we hung out as a family and enjoyed our newly set up tree- a pretty basic, but enjoyable day.

We had NO IDEA what we were in store for- the wind really started blowing that afternoon and parts of town lost power. We all figured it would be temporary and everything would be back to normal soon. When we went to bed, Corrine was pretty freaked out by the wind as there is a fairly large window next to her bed, and she really didn't like the flickering power so we moved her mattress into our room. Since the power was flickering, we grabbed flashlights, candles, our battery powered radio and also moved Allen into our room and shut the door to keep in the heat. The power went out for good about 1:00am. Neither Chris or I slept well as the wind was blowing harder than I had ever heard, we were worried about our kids staying warm and also trying to figure out what to do with our websites. It was a long night.

Monday, December 3rd- we had really hoped to wake up to power that morning, but no such luck. As we turned on the radio- there was only one AM station available with local news. We learned that the storm was MUCH worse than we had even realized. We were very grateful for our little radio- we learned that all roads in and out of town were blocked by downed trees and powerlines, that the whole county was out of power, and that no where in town had the ability to pump gas. Since neither of us could go to work we decided just to stay snuggly in our room.

We had peanut butter sandwiches, apples & chips in bed for breakfast! :) We tried to stay in our room as much as possible to conserve the heat, so I opened up my craft box and Corrine & I made a sock puppet, a doorknob hanger, and a picture frame. She also did lots of coloring and reading. Chris & I read a book and tried to nap while the kids were asleep. We heard from lots of friends and family worried about us- thanks for ALL your concern!

When the news reports said that the power wouldn't be back for 4-7 days we opted not to stay and freeze that night. For dinner we went over to Chris' Aunt Cindy's house. They have a woodburning stove and the house was nice and toasty- they also made some delicious food on it! It was nice to spend time with them and visit for awhile with everyone.

We then headed up to Mom & Dad Priamos'. They have a propane stove in their rec room- so it also was nice and warm. They were kind enough to let us camp out on their floor. Corrine loved the sleeping bags and it was such a relief to know that the kids were plenty warm!

Tuesday, December 4th- That morning they announced over the radio that Blue Slough was open and vehicles could get out of town. There was still no where in town to get gas and with the forecast of power not returning soon lots of people were heading out of townto get gas for generators, cars, etc! I went down the hill from Mom & Dad Priamos' house to go back to our house and get a few more things and unplug all our computers and I had to wait over 5 minutes because the line of cars leaving town was so long and I had to wait for someone to stop and let me through! We made breakfast on the BBQ that morning- french toast! It is truly amazing what you can make on the BBQ! :) Pat's (my mother in law) store was open and running off a generator. She said there were so many people wanting to go in that they had to have people posted at the door only letting in a certain amount of people at a time. It was so surreal.

We had thought about me taking the kids and going to Maple Valley to stay with my parents, but my gas tank was low and I was afraid that any of the gas stations we got to out of town would run out of gas before we could get any! While we were well prepared for a lot of things- having our gas tanks full wasn't one of them! So we opted to just wait it out. We lost service on our cell phones also on Tuesday, so we felt really isolated from the world. But we enjoyed time together- Chris built a cup castle with Corrine, we played cards with family and had delicious ribs & baked potatoes- all made on the BBQ!

Wednesday, December 5th- It was forecasted that if the power wasn't back on by Wednesday that the river would start to flood as the pumps wouldn't be working. But luckily, in the early morning hours the power to parts of downtown (including the pumps) was restored. My work also got power back, so I was able to go back into work that day. The other road out of town was cleared enough for traffic so Chris went to work as well. And some of the gas stations in town were finally able to pump gas. While we were still in the cold and dark- it was hopeful to see power coming on in the area.

That afternoon I went up to Montesano to pay our rent. I was shocked by the damage that I saw along the way. At one point there were at least 6 power poles laying end to end along the side of the road. Huge trees that had fallen across the road and done major damage to buildings and the guardrails. We were so lucky in this way. We didn't have any property damage. On the way home I saw that Baskin Robbins was selling dry ice- so I stopped in and bought some to try and salvage what was in our freezer and my in-laws freezer. And amazingly enough it worked! We enjoyed chili burgers for dinner that night courtesy of the BBQ! :)

Some of the damage done in the area

Thursday, December 6th- With work having power I was able to charge my cell phone, my toothbrush and get back online to pay bills and do some work. It was almost a little depressing to leave work and go to a dark and cold house! We made pancakes, bacon & hashbrowns on the BBQ that night for dinner. I used to think dutch ovens were the most versatile cooking thing ever, but BBQ's are right up there! :)

Friday, December 7th- We woke up EARLY that morning with lights in our faces and were THRILLED!!! The power had come back on at my in-laws about 4:30am. I have never been so excited to turn on a light switch in my life! Chris had gone down to our house to check on the cats and had reported that there was no power at our house yet, but while he was there it came back on at our house as well! Yahoo!! We took a load of our "camping" stuff and dropped it off at our house before heading to work. After work we headed back home to try and get our lives organized and back to normal again. There was plenty to do! I started on the loads of laundry that had accumulated, tried to get some work in and cranked up all the heaters to try and warm up a frozen house. Later that evening the power went out again (we think they were doing work in the area) and it was so depressing- Chris & I just looked at each other and said "not again"- 4 1/2 days was long enough. It came back on about 20 minutes later and we could hear cheers from several of our neighbors houses as well as our own- we all were relieved. I immediately jumped in the shower just in case it went out again! I didn't need to go any more days without showering! :)

Saturday, December 8th- I ran some errands around town- finally got gas in our car and bought groceries to replace what we had lost. Chris spent most of the day trying to get all our servers back online and the websites up and running.

That night was our Ward Christmas Party. The kids and I went and enjoyed a nice dinner and program at the church. It was interesting to talk to lots of people there about their experiences during the power outage- some of them STILL didn't have power! I offered our shower to them, but most of them had friends & family who had already let them get cleaned up at their homes. At the end of the night Santa came! Corrine wasn't shy at all this time! She was so excited to see him! It was very cute.
Sunday, December 9th- Church was good, a lot of discussion on how blessed we all were through this ordeal and how we can be better prepared for other situations in the future. It certainly made us realize that as prepared as we were, there were several areas where we were lacking in preparedness! Better to have a 5 day "trial run" than a 3-month long disaster! Other areas nearby were hit so much harder- some in other parts of the county or in Lewis county had much more severe flooding and a much larger loss. My heart goes out to all of them. Late that night our power went out again for about 3 hours as they were trying to bring additional powerlines back on. Once again we breathed a sigh of relief when the lights returned. :)

November 19th-25th

Week of November 19-25, 2007: Thanksgiving & Corrine's Birthday
Written by Annaliese

Monday, November 19th- Just recently Corrine has been allowed to have gum because she knows that she can't swallow it and that she has to spit it out when she's done. We had JUST had a conversation the day before about making sure to spit it out when she's tired because it could fall out of her mouth when she's asleep and get stuck in her hair- and then we would have to cut her hair. She was horrified by the thought.

So what happens a day later- you guessed it, she fell asleep in the car with a piece of gum in her mouth. I didn't realize she still had it when I put her in her bed for a nap- so later that afternoon she woke up and came to me in tears saying that she had gum stuck in her hair! We worked at it and salvaged as much of the hair as possible, but still had to cut off about an inch in one spot. She was devastated. Needless to say, she has been EXTRA careful about spitting out her gum! :)

Corrine in some of her many "dress-up" outfits!

Tuesday, November 20th- Chris had an EARLY dentist appointment that morning for several things- the dentist thought it would take several hours to do all they needed to do, and since novicaine makes Chris tired, he had arranged to work from home, so he wouldn't be driving while tired. So he spent the day working from home and then did some work on our little run around truck. The heater core (whatever that is) broke and was leaking fluid into the cab- luckily we have good friends who are willing to help him with the labor part of it, so that the repairs we've done on this truck have been for very cheap or free. And he has fun working on it.

Wednesday, November 21st- I ran to the store after work to get a few last minute things for Corrine's birthday cake. She asked for a "rocket" cake from Little Einstiens (a show on Disney Channel)- it required me to make RED frosting, which was a feat in and of itself. That evening I made the frostings and the cakes for the next day so they would be ready for cutting and decorating. We were all up late (including our night owl Corrine) so shortly after midnight she came in and said "Mom! I'm not two anymore! I'm three!" What a cutie. It certainly made me reflect on what I was doing at that time 3 years ago- and I had just gone into labor! Ahhh- memories!

Thursday, November 22nd- Happy Thanksgiving and Happy 3rd Birthday to our cute little girl! I got up early to try and get a jump start on everything for our Thanksgiving dinner and birthday party. I cut out the cake into the shape of rocket and set it aside to frost later and got the frosting out so it could soften. I then started on some rolls. Chris, the kids and the dogs got up shortly after I did. Unfortunately Ebony (our big black lab) found the cake and ate half of it! Baking another cake was definitely NOT in my plans for the day! So we got another cake baking and then into the freezer while I finished my rolls- it was my first time making homemade rolls on my own. We had several mishaps throughout the day (like having to make a second batch of rolls, and burning the first go-round of marshmallows on the yams), but eventually got everything done, got the kids bathed and dressed and made it to Thanksgiving dinner! During the day while I was cooking Chris worked on the lights outside and got the first wave of them up.

The Little Einsteins "Rocket" cake!

Corrine was so excited about the whole day that she crashed just before we left for dinner!

We had dinner at Chris' parents house. Carmen (Chris' oldest sister), her husband, Steve, and their kids Andrew & Katie all joined us that evening as both of the kids were home for the holiday. It was fun to see them, even if it was only for a little while. After everyone had eaten we sang happy birthday and opened birthday presents! Corrine LOVES opening presents! And of course she got lots of fun stuff. After cake & pie we all relaxed and just enjoyed hanging out together. It was a nice evening. And it was especially fun to come home and see Christmas lights on our house.

Corrine getting ready to blow out the candles

Opening presents

Showing off one of her presents- her own umbrella!
It will be much used here in Washington!

Friday, November 23rd- We all went back to work and then that afternoon/evening we finished putting up the rest of the Christmas lights. It's always a fun project! We went back up to Mom & Dad Priamos' for leftovers and after dinner we OD'd on Hallmark Christmas movies. It was a nice relaxing evening as well.

Our (BIG) cat Thomas who loves small boxes and sitting on the washer or dryer- he's in heaven here!

November 12th-18th

Week of November 12-18, 2007
Written by Annaliese

Monday, November 12th- Chris had to work that day, but the kids and I had the day off, so we drove up to Maple Valley Sunday night to enjoy the day with my family. We enjoyed sleeping in and having a nice relaxing day! McKay during the night had set up the Christmas tree- he was so excited to get started! We had fun helping him get everything set up and Corrine especially loved it. She also figured since it was a "vacation day" she would stay in her pj's all day. Oh well. :)

McKay & Corrine take a break to read books :)

That night the kids & I went to the church with mom & dad to help mom set up for her seminary lesson- she was teaching about the first passover the children of Israel had before they left Egypt- so she had the room set up for a modern day passover and talked about the symbolism that it has. Sounds like it went well! I know my mom is a great teacher- those kids have no idea how lucky they are! After we got home we stayed up and watched "Elf" with Tanner & McKay until we finally all crashed.

Tuesday, November 13th- We left early (early for us anyway) to head back to Aberdeen. Traffic was good and the kids slept the whole way which made it an easy drive. I'm so grateful my family is close enough to just go for a quick visit! Chris was already at work when we got home- so we passed on the highway. I found out when I got to work that morning that Adrianna (my bosses daughter that I babysit) had conference schedule that week- so she was at the office most days at 11am. That night Chris & I still only seemed to see each other in passing. He got home and I left with Allen for a Stake Relief Society Leadership Training- it was well done and hopefully gave us some good ideas and motivation for the upcoming year. And Allen is such a good baby- he actually sat very content through the whole meeting!

Thursday, November 15th- Happy Birthday to Kelly! We talked about it in the morning and forgot to call her once our day got busy! But we were thinking of you! Adrianna was dropped off at the office by her aunt who has a 4-year old that loves to play with Corrine. He kept begging his mom to stay and play with us instead of going to daycare- I was fine with it, so I had an extra for the day! The kids were great, the biggest challenge of the day was getting 3 carseats in the back seat of my car! But somehow we managed!

Friday, November 16th- We didn't have Adrianna that afternoon so we did a lot of errand running around town- it was nice to get it all done! That night we all went to bed fairly early as we are usually exhausted by the weeks end!

Saturday, November 17th- We were up early getting the house clean, work done and a very yummy crockpot lunch started. Mom & Dad Allen arrived mid-afternoon from Bremerton where they were attending a District Scouting event. They came down to get their old fridge out of our garage as they are going to put it back in the Utah home while the twins live there this next semester. We enjoyed a nice lunch with them and they brought a few things for Corrine for her birthday and of course CHOCOLATE MILK (her favorite treat)- they gave her the cutest little tool bag complete with gardening tools in it. She has carried it EVERYWHERE the last couple days! And she calls them her "toodles" as she can't quite get her mouth around the word "tools"- it's really cute. The visit was too short, but so much fun- we always enjoy having them here!

Corrine opening presents wrapped in traditional "Allen fashion"

And here's the yummy recipe for crockpot salsa chicken:
* 4 chicken breasts (I only used 3 and could have only done 2)
* 1 can cream of mushroom soup
* 1 16oz jar of salsa
* 1 pkt taco seasoning
Mix soup, salsa & seasoning together and pour over chicken in the crockpot
Cook on low for 8 hours (mine was done in about 4-5)
Shred chicken and add:
* 1 can black beans
* 1 cup sour cream
* 1 can corn
I also added onions, cilantro and some cooked rice that we had to make it less soupy and make it stretch a bit more.
* Serve over tortilla chips or with warm tortillas with taco type toppings. So easy and VERY YUMMY! We fed 4 adults and a child with PLENTY to spare!

Sunday, November 18th- Church was very full as it was "Invitation Sunday"- everyone was encouraged to invite someone to attend church with them. Lots of new faces! And they had a nice "Linger Longer" afterwards so everyone could visit.

We found a few fleas on Pikku, our small dog, that afternoon (we don't know if she got them from outside or what) but just to be sure we bathed both dogs and scoured the house- not my ideal Sunday activities, but sometimes it just needs to be done! Hopefully we were just overreacting- I don't want fleas in my house! The rest of the day was pretty mellow as we treid to keep warm and got ready to start another busy week!

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving with Chris' family later this week- we have so much to be grateful for! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday as well!