Bombs Away!

When a certain Uncle is in town for the 4th there is always a very anticipated water fight that will take place at the family barbeque. Ethan asked me everyday the week before the 4th "Mom, when is the water fight?" My kids came prepared with their guns and plans and I came prepared with a set of dry clothes for each kid. I'm glad I did.

The girls attacking!

The boys attacking!

The attackee.....Uncle Travis! He spent the whole day preparing his fort. He had hoses, shields, barricades and an endless supply of water balloons and squirt guns. My kids were not deterred, even with the unfair advantage. They went after him with all they had! They threw and squirted till they could squirt no more. They ran and shrieked and laughed!

They got very wet and felt a little defeated .....

until Uncle Travis emerged from his fort.

When they saw that he was more wet than they were they felt vindicated and declared themselves champions!

Until next year Uncle Travis.

Be afraid.

Be very afraid!

I Love America!

It was kind of different having the 4th of July on a Sunday, but I enjoyed it. I felt the spirit strongly in church as we all stood and sang patriotic hymns in Sacrament meeting. I have always loved the patriotic hymns. It was also neat to have Kara up on the stand playing the songs on the organ. I also remember feeling the spirit strongly many many years ago in my American Heritage class at BYU when we watched the movie "A More Perfect Union." So this year, I bought the movie, and we all settled down to watch the miracle of the signing of the Constitution. We all enjoyed it and it started some great conversations.



I also planned a yummy barbeque for just our little family. Marinated chicken kabobs, grilled pineapple, grilled corn on the cob, rice and rolls. Trevor got out the barbeque and got all of the food placed ever so carefully and strategically so it would all fit. It looked so pretty and was starting to smell so good when........the propane ran out. Our propane tank lasts us about 2 years and seriously it ran out on the 4th of July! We quickly turned on the ovens and ran everything inside. It still tasted OK, but the moment was kind of ruined--oh well! We still very much enjoyed our quiet little 4th of July.

In grand 4th (or in this case 5th) of July tradition we arose early on Monday to get down to the parade. We never miss it. We sit in the same place every year. We cover our ears when the cannon comes by. We stand when the flag and any military veterans walk past. We cheer loudly for the pooper scoopers. We chant "turn, turn turn" when any big balloon is in front of us and then scream when they actually do it. We wonder who is keeping the streets safe when all of the policemen come by and do their little motorcycle routine. And of coarse we give a standing ovation when the Cougars, the Provo missionaries and the American Fork High School band parade past. We love every long hot minute of the Freedom Festival parade!

And of coarse, it wouldn't be tradition without Grandpa's flag shirt!

Every year after the parade we head over to Cracker Barrel for our traditional 4th of July brunch. It just seems right to sit on the porch of the restaurant and rock in rocking chairs and play checkers until our name is called. We then all pile in and eat eat eat. Even though we love this place, it seems like every year something happens. This year they forgot to bring Trevor's food. Even after we told them he didn't get his food it still didn't come until everyone had long since been done eating. He ate all by himself, quickly, because we all wanted to get home and rest.

There is truly no better place to have a barbeque than Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. There were 70 people this year at our family barbeque! That makes for one great party. We ate, visited, made homemade ice cream, launched water balloons and of coarse had a huge water fight! What a great holiday! We really do love America and love to celebrate in every way possible on this great day!

Cul-de-sac of Fire!

After we rested a bit from our outing to Colonial Days we headed around the corner for our neighborhood's annual Cul-de-Sac of Fire. It started in grand fashion with a patriotic bike parade. My 4 youngest kids rode around the block proud as can be. Ashlyn was the last one, pedaling as hard as she could on her little pink bike.
Bryson's bear den was in charge of the flag ceremony. What a cute little scout!

The night was so full. My kids ran around and shot off rockets, fished at the fish pond over and over, jumped in bounce houses, dunked people in a dunk tank and put temporary tattoos all over their bodies. We hardly saw them. It was a great night!

They (OK, Trevor and I did a little of this too) ate unlimited amounts of popcorn, nachos, hot dogs, snow-cones and cotton candy. Kind of sick when you think about it.

After all the games, music and food, they pulled out this giant pine-wood derby track. The boys raced their old cars and loved all the crashes, wipe outs and jumps that this awesome track created.

We had a fabulous night with our great neighbors and friends. We ended the night with a little firework show and of coarse glow sticks. We were exhausted and filthy and happy, just how you should be after a shin dig like that!

Stepping back in time

Since the 4th of July was on a Sunday this year, our family literally celebrated for 3 straight days. Here is the first post to honor this fabulous holiday,

one of our favorites.

On Saturday afternoon we headed down to Colonial Days at the Scera Park. We couldn't have asked for a better afternoon. The weather was perfect, there was tons of shade and it wasn't too crowded. We walked along the path of the park and enjoyed stepping back in time.

(Brandon is looking over my shoulder as I write this and he thinks he looks like he had cornrows in his hair in this picture-and I kind of have to agree. (: )

The kids were fascinated by the calligrapher who wrote with a real quill. He wrote all of our names on little pieces of paper and Ethan was very proud because the writer said "E" was his favorite letter to write (very curly and flowy). I can't imagine writing back then. He had to dip his quill in the pot after every couple of letters- what a pain.

(Brandon feels he looks "demented" in this picture.)

As we were looking at some of the displays a bell rang and they called school into session. All the kids gathered in a tent, put on their hats (can you see Alyssa on the girl side?) and began a lesson. They were told and shown what it was like to have school back in the day. They had to stand and bow before giving an answer, did some arithmetic on little slate boards, and were introduced to the dunce cap. Don't they look thrilled to be back in school during the summer?
(Brandon is now begging me to change this picture because he thinks he looks like a woman, legs crossed and lips pursed.)

Here we talked to an Indian. Ashlyn wouldn't get anywhere near him for the picture and Tyler called him a fake because he saw a little white skin around his ankle. He was still fascinating to listen to and told us how his people were so skilled with the bow and arrow that they could shoot 10 arrows into the air before the first one landed. I think my boys are going to want to try that one.

It was a great way to start our festive weekend. We got home brewed cream soda, ate popcorn and old fashioned candy, took an immigration test (and passed), played with cannons and rifles, and Brandon passed off almost all of his requirements for the Citizenship in the Nation merit badge (they actually had a whole booth dedicated to that!). You can't beat that-even if you are a demented womanly kind of boy with cornrows!

It's for the Dogs!

On my birthday, Trevor and I found this quaint little restaurant in Carmel, to eat lunch at. We sat down, looked over the yummy menu, and ordered our food. We were waiting for our food to come and having a lovely conversation I'm sure, when we noticed someone walk into our little garden room with a dog. We looked at each other a little surprised and then overheard the customer at the next table say "oh, now Poochie (I made up that name) will have a friend"

We heard some dogs yipping, and the dog that had just entered had indeed found a friend, the dog who was sitting under the next table. We slowly looked around and noticed there was literally a dog sitting under each table in the room, even one on his owner's lap! We were dying! I then overheard the conversation of the couple sitting next to us, she was getting into way too much detail about her dog's pooping schedule and telling her parents that if anything happened to her dogs while she was gone on vacation, she would sue them. Then I heard her husband mention kids. So we figured her kids were at home with a babysitter, while they dined out with their dogs! A waiter then came into the room and asked one couple if their dog wanted water. The dog apparently did, and it was brought out and set on the ground in a silver bowl. This is the same waiter that would be handing us our food. The icing on the cake was when a man was walking out of the restaurant with his large dog. They stopped right by our table and the dog did one of those shake things, like when they are wet and trying to dry off. I swear we could almost see little black hairs flying through the air and landing on our table. I thought we were both going to lose it. Trevor picked up the menu again and sure enough right there in the bottom corner it said "dog friendly restaurant" Never in my life have I heard of a dog friendly restaurant, but apparently they exist and we found it! We had no choice but to eat our food, which was still yummy, and we laughed all the way home.

Reason # 1

...to not take your husband grocery shopping with you.

You might come home with a

giant tennis ball!

I am still waiting to see exactly what he plans on doing

with this great find of his!

He endures it well!

This is the doctor's office waiting room. It is where Tyler and I spend every Monday afternoon together. Because of Tyler's severe allergies he has to get shots every week for at least 3 years! We have been having this little mother son date for almost 2 years now. We visit, read magazines, read books, do homework and people watch. (there is a lot of interesting stuff that goes on in a doctor's office)

When they call his name he goes into the back and Wendy, our wonderful nurse, gives Tyler his shots. We love Wendy and Tyler actually refuses to have anyone else give him his shots. He also figured out that if he holds his arms exactly like he is in the picture, the shots hurt less. He then comes back out into the waiting room, pushes the button on his timer and we wait out the required 20 minutes to see if he has a reaction.

Here is one of his arms after his shots. This is not a bad reaction, they usually look like this. The allergist told us that you can fit 50 allergens into 1 shot (to build up the immunity) Tyler gets 2 shots every week which means he is allergic to up to 100 different things. He is allergic to weeds, pollen, dogs, cats, horses, cockroaches (really!) and dust to name a few. These weekly visits are a pain and time consuming, but he endures it well and rarely complains. And I don't mind the good one on one time I get with this cute teenager!

Love this girl!

As I was cleaning out Alyssa's school box I came across

this paper she wrote entitled-

IF I WERE THE PRESIDENT!

In today's day, after reading this, I wish she was!

"If I were the President I would make everybody have a home. (Not a house, but a HOME) Then I would let everybody go to different schools.

Then I would tell the world to follow Jesus."

Alyssa Jane Allred for President!

She's got my vote!

Oh, what do you do in the Summertime?

I have not blogged lately. Our summer has been very full-and I truly haven't had the time. Here is what we are trying to fit in this summer: (all of these things have nothing to do with the pictures. The pictures are some of the things we do, in between all this other stuff!)



1 week at Snowbird

1 week of Scout Camp

1 week of Soccer Camp

3 weeks of swimming lessons


1 18 year anniversary

1 Cub Scout Day Camp

1 family reunion at Bear Lake

1 week of Girls Camp


1 week at 5th Grade Clear Creek Camp

1 Fathers and Sons Campout

1 birthday celebration for a great 42 year old guy

1 parade that Kara is in


1 very full 4th of July weekend

1 High Adventure Scout Camp

1 Soccer Tournament

1 Week at EFY


2 Student Government Retreats

1 eleven year old campout

1 family reunion in Oregon

3 business trips

I will try to document most of these activities in future blogs.

It is busy.

It is often crazy.

It is our life this summer!

Summer lovin with some cousins

Nothing says summer better than a hot June day, a plastic pool with a slide...

..a wild and wacky slip and slide....

...and some of your best friends to share it with!

Memories in the making!

Brace yourself!

We now officially have 3 boys in braces--this was not necessarily part of our plan, but here we are. Bryson was very excited to get his on to be like his older brothers, but has since changed his mind and now claims he hates his braces.

And while we are on the subject of braces, I will give a brief update on the orthodontic perils of these three stooges.

Brandon had his teeth pulled over six months ago. As you can see from the picture they have not come in yet. They keep wanting to take off his braces. I keep saying no. We are now scheduled for an appointment next week where he will have his gums lasered open to hopefully help his teeth come in faster. That really doesn't sound fun. My hope is that he will have some teeth before he starts 6th grade in August!

Bryson just recently had his first appointment since getting his braces on. Things are looking OK, but the orthodontist says he needs to have major oral surgery this summer to get rid of 8 more teeth (4 baby and 4 permanent). That's just the way he wanted to spend his summer.

And Tyler...oh Tyler. We recently found out that the roots of his front four top permanent teeth are damaged from the excessive crowding. When I asked what the worse case scenario was they said bluntly, "he could loose his front four teeth!" The goal now is to keep his teeth as long as we can. That's reassuring. They are still trying to get the impacted teeth into position so they can start to pull them down, but this requires frequent visits that are very painful. Tyler claims they hurt worse than getting his wisdom teeth out. OUCH!

At the last visit I told the orthodontist that my oldest daughter didn't have any problems with her mouth, just a normal orthodontic experience. He stopped what he was doing (which happened to be digging around in Tyler's mouth to get out a spring that had embedded itself in his gum) and looked at me in disbelief. He said, "I can't believe that !" Neither can I, because it is looking like the last 3 are going to be just as bad.

Give me strength...oh, and a give me a few million bucks!

Our Graduate!

Ethan graduated with honors from Busy Bear Pre-school a couple of weeks ago. The ceremony was precious. It does not get cuter than little 4 year olds in full length gowns and caps. My favorite line of the whole program was

"My name is Ethan Kurt Allred, son of Lisa and Trevor."

Here he is with his good buddy, Jared.

They had so much fun together this year.

All of the Busy Bear Boys.

Thanks Ms. Sherri, for a wonderful year!
We are now officially kindergarten bound and we can't wait!