Catching up with The Allens

Ok so it's been since Thanksgiving I've posted anything. I decided I have no more excuses to not post anything as there have so much change in our lives and so many things to report on that are very worth while... at least for me. So I'm going to quickly catch everyone up starting with

Dec: We had such a fun Christmas while we were staying with my sister's family. Ethan and Dallin got a guitar hero and we had so much fun playing it, it made me feel like I was back in high school listening to hits like Barracuda from Heart. We would also stay up until midnight almost every-night during winter break playing Euker with Dallin, Ethan, Chloe, Dana (my sis) Courtney and I. What a blast we had. Abbey was trying to sit up and crawl. For Christmas saw Santa 2x it was truly amazing that Santa would see our family twice as we know how busy he gets during the Christmas season :D We loved being with my sister Dana and her family they are such a wonderful family to let us stay at their home and Thanks to Dallin and Ethan for letting me inspect all their chores... they don't call me the clean Nazi for noth'n.

Jan - May: One of my good friends Cathy W. had a house that was empty (they were in the process of selling) and offered to have us stay their for a very good price on a house rental and so we moved to South Weber and had a bedroom for each of us. We will be forever grateful to Cathy and her family to give us a home to call our own for a little bit. It was like a breath of fresh air to have some room of our own.

During this time Andrew started Early Intervention Pre-school and he absolutely loved it! especially going on the bus. During this time we had Andrew evaluated by a Psychologist and she determined Andrew has a mild/moderate form of Autism. This news was very difficult but a relief at the same time. We now know what makes Andrew tic and why he loves to spin things and why he has a hard time communicating w/ us. We have learned a lot these few short months. I'm so grateful for the EI pre-school, He has learned and overcome so many obstacles with having autism, I'm so proud of him, he brings me so much joy in our lives. He still echo's things we say but he is starting to say things that are from him not us. Abbey learned to walk and walk up 14 flights of stairs while she was 10mo old. She is a firecracker and she sounds like one when you take anything away from her. She loves her brother so much and she has helped Andrew become a better communicator. I love to watch them together.

One thing Andrew loves is to put my make-up on w/out any help. One Sunday the house was more quiet than usual (Abbey was taking a nap) and I went in search for Andrew (our budding artist) and found him plastering my "waterproof" mascera above his eyebrows and all over his white shirt. So we had to do what any parent should do and that is to laugh and grab the camera. Tammy Faye watch out!!!

May to Current: Abbey had her first birthday! I can't believe she's growing so fast. What an absolute doll she is. Abbey gets so excited when Daddy comes home or when Andrew's running around. She loves to say Dada and Mama and dog and kitty cat. She'll point to stuff and say "that" for what's that and so were constantly telling her what everything is, she is very smart.

My friend Cathy W. couldn't sell their house (due to a very tough market) and they needed to raise the rent to pay for the kitchen that they remodeled, so after careful thought on what our goals were (getting out of debt) we knew we needed to move once more. We loved the area so much and our ward that we wanted to stay so we found apartments that were in our ward and we moved and we will be here for two years, that is our timeline for getting out of debt. As Dave Ramsey say's "Live like no one lives... and then you will LIVE LIKE NO ONE LIVES." and that is why we are still renting. We are madly paying off student loans (it's like owning a big house but we just can't live in it.) and saving money for the day we do buy home we will be "all set" as Bostonians say.

Courtney has an incredible job(s). He works for Dr. Otto down in Taylorsville and he has signed a contract with Dr. Mackley's group. He is already doing so well, it's so fun to see his success everyday. He loves what he does and he does it very very well. Lot's of patients will see Courtney and then come in with their family and tell him "he's their new Dentist" Courtney will be able to become a partner in a year and then eventually buy this practice. If you dream long enough it will come to you.

Annemarie has been busy learning with Andrew and Abbey and decorating/cleaning/organizing and now blogging. Life is good, it all comes from a Father in Heaven who wants us to be happy and successful in what is placed in front of us. Big hugs from all of us to all of you. I hope this has caught everyone up on current events, I promise to continue.... Loves