Braelyn turned three on Saturday. For the past few months she has been in love with the Disney Princess. Heather found the Snow White costume that I made for them and Braelyn wears it everyday. I bought her more costumes for Christmas but she continues to wear the Snow White one. So for the family party Heather invited us all to dress up like royalty. Everyone was a great sport and dressed up. Taylor even wore a red velvet shirt, Taryn's pink prom dress from DI was a hit and Heather looked like a fairy princess. Even Berkley had a fairy skirt on. The best was Great-Grandma and Grandpa Allred in their red robes and crowns on their heads. She told everybody that they looked beautiful and thanked everyone for their gifts. She would open one up and then want to look and play with it before opening another one. She is our princess.

Preference

Taylor was asked to Preference this year. He went with Loriane

the girl he asked to homecoming. For their day date they made their dates

corsages. I thought this was a great idea and it saved them alot of money.

I thought Taylor made a cute one. It looks like a bird on a flower. His was very creative and the clothespin worked well to stick it on. He went with his friend to get his tux and was very excited about it. I didn't see the white jacket until the end. Luckily Lorianne loved it. It's scary to think that Steve wore the same coat to our reception and it was in style back then. He had a great time at the dance but admitted that he fell twice because his shoes were so slick and our driveway and the parking lot at Lone Peak was icy.

Holidays

I love the Christmas season and this year I have enjoyed it more being able to share it with my granddaughters. Little children bring such a joy to the season. Braelyn has quite the imagination and the things she says makes us laugh. One day she asked if I wanted to see Santa. I said yes and she ran in to the office and grabbed the Santa hat and then sat down in the chair. She put on the hat and had everyone sit on her lap and tell her what we wanted for

Christmas. She would reach into her pocket and pull out our present and hand it to us.

For our company party we went bowling and out to dinner. I lost, but it wasn't my fault since I couldn't find a ball that worked for me. Taryn won and we wonder if she really is attending school or if she spends her time bowling. We ate at Los Hermonos and our waitress told Taryn that her friend would give her five dollars if she got Taryns phone number for her. After finding out he was older then Taryn and a returned missionary she gave him her number. We will have to find out how it went. Christmas Eve we saw Australia and enjoyed it. Then that night we had a WII tournament. I had some hope that I would do okay since I had beat Taylor a few times playing air hockey and bowling. I guess it was just a fluke because Taylor won most of the games and got the prized trophy, that he has to display in his room until next year.

Christmas day was the only day Braelyn has ever slept in. So we changed out plans, had a big breakfast and then gathered to talk to Greg. It's great hearing his voice and being able to talk to him. He is doing great and loves teaching the gospel. Only two more phone calls, two more general conference's and he is home. So for the first time ever we didn't start opening presents until 10:30. By then Berkely was asleep but we figured she wouldn't care. Braelyn was so cute and sweet over every gift. Everything she got was beautiful and she loved it. But then the two-year old side kicked in and she didn't want the gifts to stop. When Berkley finally woke up Braelyn was more then happy to help her open the gifts. The snow had started that night and didn't stop until that afternoon. Luckily the plows came by that afternoon so I grabbed Taylor and tried out my GPS. I'm now ready to drive anywhere. It was a nice Christmas.

Fat and Bald

Berkley will be 7 months in a few days. She is a happy sweet baby. When you walk in a room she smiles so big that you can fill how much she loves you.

For a few days she was doing this crazy smile, she would tilt her head back and close her eyes. It's fun to have a baby in our house again.

Greg's Mission

In a week I will be happy to report that Greg has been out on his mission for 10 months. Since I am his mom I will be thrilled when he hits the one year mark and I can start counting down the months until his return. This mission thing has been bittersweet.

I wouldn't want him anywhere else, but I still miss his quirky personality. But he is loving his mission. I hope that when his time is up he will come home. In this picture he is with Elder Rangel. He was companions with him in the CTM and loved him, so he was thrilled when they were made companions in the field. They served together for a few months and were a great team. They hope to be able to serve together again.

Every Wednesday we wait anxiously for Greg's e-mail. I don't know how mothers made it through before e-mail. It helps to hear from him every week. His letters are inspirational. He has such a love for his Savior and the Atonement. He is an example to his family and everyone he teaches.

He was transferred a couple of weeks ago and went to an area that had a ward and their own building. He got there and the missionaries before him had no contacts, no investigators and said the ward mission leader wouldn't help them. Alot has changed in a few weeks. They have baptisms lined up and the ward mission leader is working with all his family and friends. They do splits most every night with members from the ward.

I hope when it's time for me and Steve to serve I will be as great of a missionary as my son.

Closing the cabin

I always dread the weekend when we have to drain the pipes and put things away for the winter. I keep dreaming of the time when we can keep it heated all winter and we won't have to close it up. Here are the two rooms we finished this year in the basement. We have a bedroom and a small family room. This gives us space to sleep six more people, so we hope next year to have plenty of company up there. The first couple of years we were so tired from working hard that it was nice to shut it up for awhile. But the last couple of years we have learned to relax a little and take the four-wheelers out for a spin. Last weekend we were sitting around the fire at dusk and I asked Steve if he wanted to drive the loop in the dark. He took me up on the offer, which in hind-sight was not the smartest idea. The temperature was in the 30's and it was dark and we had to cross the river two-times. So we got dressed really warm, I grabbed my gun but of course left the flashlight and we headed out. Luckily we had a half moon to give us some light. It wasn't scary until we started talking about Cain and how Joseph Smith looked him in the eye from the back of a horse. We ended that conversation and concentrated on seeing any wild life. By the time we made it down we were cold. Crossing the river at the bottom of the loop was scary. There is a part that is un-even and it feels like your going to tip over. We made it and hurried home to sit by the fire and get warm.

Halloween

This will be the last year that Taylor can dress up for Halloween at school. Unfortunately I am not creative and couldn't help him come up with a good costume. He searched the internet and somehow came up with the little Caeser Pizza Guy. He bought the cloth and found the leaves for behind his head. I did help him make the pizza. I had made the snow white costume for my girls when they were little. Braelyn loves princess and made the cutest Snow White. While we were putting Taylor's costume together we pulled out the wigs. I had the black one on and Braelyn thought I was beautiful, so I put it on her. Then we had to put one on Berkley so we could see what she looked like with hair. I think she looks like a cabbage patch doll.