January goodness!

Ice sculptures in the snow

I froze a bunch of different shaped ice cubes (muffin trays, mixing bowls, a bundt pan, etc) for the girls to make ice sculptures. It kept them occupied for quite a while one cold day!

Tempe did some sidewalk chalk after her ice sculpture--this says "Love is all you need". Cute!

Window art

I had tons of activities for Tempe and Helena when they were Juno's age--art activities, Play School lessons, cooking experiments, etc. I've really dropped the ball with Juno so I'm trying my best to do more with her! I saw this on No Time for Flashcards. It's just contact paper taped sticky side out to the window and cotton balls and q-tips to stick all over it. I drew some snowflakes before taping the paper up for Juno to try and copy--she mostly just liked cutting the q-tips in half, but some cotton balls did make it up there!

New chairs!

My sweet mom let me pick out these new chairs (they were only $70 from Target, pretty good for chairs!) to replace the hated chairs we had in our living room. I made new pillows for them and the couch and love how it all turned out--this really warrants a whole post on our living room because I finally, after 5 years, like how it looks!

Girls' weekend in San Diego

My mom, sister, and I spent the long weekend in San Diego for a little girls' getaway. It was so much fun and so relaxing! We ate tons of great food, got pedicures, and watched Zombieland. Yes, Zombieland.

Bounce house afternoon

We made a goal in 2012 to read the Book of Mormon as a family and promised our kids we would take them to a bounce house when we finished. Well... after two full years, we finally met our goal! I took the girls to a little bounce house last week to celebrate and they had a blast!

Valentine's Day cloud dough

We tried out this great new playdough recipe that I found on pinterest--cloud dough. One part hair conditioner (we used a floral smell for V day) to two parts cornstarch plus a little food coloring. It turns out super soft and super yummy smelling! I gave the girls lots of pink and red beads, pompoms, and pipe cleaners to make Valentine's Day treats.

Third trimester!

Happy that baby girl should be in my arms in 10-12 weeks! Can't wait to see her!

Catch up--Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, my parents came out from TN and rented a ranch house in New Harmony (near Cedar City). With all five kids in Utah, plus their three adorable grandchildren, they decided they should just come to us!

The ranch was amazing. The house slept all of us comfortably and was stocked with toys for the kids and lots of board games, had a hot tub and fire pit and grill, and that's not even starting on the grounds. It was a working ranch with sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and the two cutest kittens EVER. Plus a river with three huge treehouses and a fire pit and a party barn with a pool table, air hockey, etc. 

So yeah, we had a good time. I was worried about cooking Thanksgiving dinner for a big group (there were 19 of us for dinner) in an unfamiliar kitchen, but it went really smoothly and the kitchen had everything we needed.

Highlights were playing bartender (Josh is the best at it), roasting hot dogs by the river, and watching the most epic home video EVAAAAAAA! We found one of the owner's personal home videos (dangerous, I know) and decided to watch it. It turned out the be a wedding from 1993 with the best wedding gown and bridesmaids dresses you've ever seen, plus the most awkward couple you've ever seen (no eye contact during the ceremony and a side hug instead of a kiss. Sad, right?) I kept expecting it to turn into a snuff film or something.

These two little kittens (Tempe named them Smoky and Scout) followed us around constantly and loved to be cuddled and carried around. They weren't allowed in the house but they sat on the deck watching on and one of them tried to jump through the window and smashed into it while we were watching a movie.

Treehouses look cool from the ground but are kind of scary when you're actually in them.

They even wrote "The Allan Family" on the sign at the gate!

Lots of snakes in New Harmony.

Like I said, working ranch--the sweet owners told Tempe and Helena they could collect eggs every morning. We even ate some!

New favorite Allan family picture. Notice Helena's little bum in the top right quadrant. Yep, she's always talking about her bum so there it is.

Oakland: Fairyland

(yep, I'm still posting about our trip to the Bay Area. We took a lot of pictures and it's taking me a while to get them all on here!)

After a few days at the beach, we left Stinson Beach for Oakland/San Francisco. My mom had discovered Fairyland while she was researching things to do on our trip and I knew I had to take our kids there. It's this super cute little theme park in Oakland. You know that Storybook Land ride at Disneyland? Fairyland is basically walking around that ride. It was really cute and fun for little girls! Admission is only $8/person, so it doesn't break the bank at all.

Three kids in a shoe.

Straw house...

Stick house...

And brick house!

There are these little blue boxes at pretty much every Fairyland attraction. You can buy a key for $3 to listen to the stories at the boxes. We splurged and got one and it was worth it. Juno especially loved racing around from box to box to listen to stories. Plus, you get to keep the key so we have a great souvenir from our trip.

Helena and Snow White.

Juno walked around and kissed Snow White and all of the dwarves (without prompting!) 

The Alice in Wonderland part was awesome. There was a "tunnel" that you have to go through and it starts off with a slide--just like Alice's fall down the rabbit hole! Then you wind your way through a little tunnel painted with scenes from Alice in Wonderland before coming out in a maze of cards.

Tempe and Helena found the Queen!

The White Rabbit.

This was another fun one. It was a butterfly/fairy music tunnel--a cute little sunlit tunnel with murals and interactive instruments all through it!

If you go down into this whale's belly you'll find a fishtank!

The girls and Willie the Whale.

Jack and Jill's sliding hill.

Fairyland is mostly these little walk through, interactive displays, but there are a few "carnival" type rides--a carousel, a train, and this ferris wheel. Everything's included in the $8 admission--plus, the food was really good and not that expensive!
All in all, we really liked Fairyland and I would recommend it if you are in the Bay Area!

Stinson Beach: sandcastles, swimming, and more!

We had a couple of days at the beach that were very sunny and pretty warm--perfect for hanging out at the beach and watching the surfers!

Caution, shark attack!

Sibling lunch at the Sandpiper Cafe. I got crabcakes and they were phenomenal. So yummy!

I won't lie, I was kind of nervous of a tsunami. I think that is my biggest fear!

Helena and Grandma Lisa helping Uncle Karl build "Crandall Castle". Helena was really good at doing dribble trees! I was surprised she liked crawling around in the  mud, because she doesn't usually like to get messy.

Helena and her dribble tree forest.

Uncle Karl perfecting the castle.

We missed the Crandalls/Rhoades/Hesters, the Crandall/Osbournes, and the Milligans/Browns!