U2 concert 2011

Ok so these video's come in 2, the third wasn't loading up yet so hopefully I'll get it working so you can see the rest of the first part of their concert. We're learning how to run the camcorder so sorry for the jumping around but hey! we were excited!!!



Well what can I say other than it was a dream come true to breath the same air as Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam! those boys know how to ROCK! What was funny was when my oldest brother Mike found out that we went he said "I can't believe you guys are rockers!" and when Courtney came home to tell me I said how shock I was to find out that Mike listed to U2..... crazy you live your life and not realizing you and your oldest brother like the same music.

It was fun to be able to see Josh and Julie Miller at the concert! We haven't seen them for several years!!! it was so good to catch up with them!

Catch-up on my life....

So it's been too long since I've posted about what's happening in my life. My sister asked me if I wanted to go with her to see Studio 5 on a live broadcast. we went with my sister in law Becky and her sister Amy and Dana's friend Truda. It was so much fun! These ladies are so fun. Becky made a sign that said "We Love Darin" on it which got us noticed and made Darin blush. We even got to see carol Makita! you just can't get better than that... :)


On Mother's Day, we of course had to take pictures and the best ones are of us being silly. I think Andrew's favorite pictures are those with his tongue sticking out! Silly Andrew and Abbey! I just love our kids, they are sure the sweetest kids and they are so good to listen and mind when we ask them to do things.



Every 3 weeks on a Friday my sister has gone with my mom to her chemo appointments. My mom is such a ROCK STAR! She has a lot of pain after her treatments but it doesn't seem to diminish her faith or her positive outlook! God is with her and she feels his presence everywhere she goes. It's been good to go with her and Dana to have time to talk and laugh and remember fond memories. I love you mom, I'm so grateful I get to learn from you!


Andrew and Shanner-banner doing what they love to do in pictures, stick their tongues out (more Andrew than Shannon). Andrew from the time he was young to now has had a special bond with my lovely niece Shannon. Yesterday was my niece Dawn's birthday so we went over and Shannon had a Ipad that only she uses and if anyone else touches she flips out on them, but Andrew had full rain on it and it kept him occupied perfectly!!!! Thanks Shannon!



These two What can I say!!!! They laugh, fight and play together. Just what brother's and sister's do. We just celebrated Abbey's 4th birthday and I still can't believe she is 4 and that she is learning her numbers and letters and doing so well in pretend playing (I never got that with Andrew) She helps Andrew get out of his 'zone', What a blessing she is to have in our home. They both listening to music and they LOVE to go outside and play with friends.

One of Andrew's friends 'Grace' keeps saying to me "Annemarie, I think that Andrew's autism is gone" and I said "oh, really?" "tell me why you think so" and she said that because he was racing bikes with her and being with her not just side by side and that HE WON the race!!!! I thought that was so cute. Then she told him that he needed to get his autism out of him and so then he was telling me "Mom, I need to get my autism out!" and all I can do is tell him that he has to overcome the effects of autism. But hey, if he can get it out that's ok with me, but I love him whatever he has. He brings a kind of sweetness to our family that's hard to describe. I'm so grateful for his 'one liners' you can't hide his thoughts.... so so cute both my kids are!

Our new family photos

Last Saturday we took a trip to the Union Railroad Station in downtown Ogden and got our family photos done by our friends Linda and Miland. They are fantastic to work with and I feel they did such a wonderful job.

so here's the line up:


Courtney and I
Our happy marriage stance



Abbey with her cute little ' miss personality' smile. It just melts my heart.



I love this one, you can almost hear them both laughing "har, har, har" too too funny! There a bunch of hams.



My sweet little Andrew, how I just LOVE his face.



Thank you all for your wonderful words of support and love for my mom. Today is her first day for chemotherapy. We found out that she's in between stages 3 and 4. She felt pretty anxious this morning because the nurses hadn't started her on her therapy yet. I'm grateful my sister and my dad were able to be there to give her comfort. My sister brought her a purple snuggie and a book for her to read. One thing you have to know about my mom is that she NEVER takes medicine unless she absolutely needs it and so my sister said they were pumping her with all sorts of drugs, heaven help her!

I'm just praying through all of this that she will be able to feel the love and comfort of her parents who have passed on. She'll make it through and it just makes me think about all the wonderful things she has done and what a wonderful example she continues to be. She truly has great faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and he will help her to be able to bare this huge burden she is having to deal with.

Love to you all!

Keeping up with the Allen's

ok, so blogging isn't on my mind a lot lately. so to update you I figured pictures are worth a thousand words. So here are some pictures to show what the Allen's have been up to lately. I hope you enjoy!!

Baking my own whole wheat bread, yummy!!!!


Going Trick or Treating



carving pumpkins and decorating for Halloween!




Having fun at our house on Thanksgiving.
Look how tall Abbey (3 1/2 yrs) is compared to her 6 yr old cousin Stephanie, wow she's tall!
Thanks Courtney for your tall genes.


Everyone looking at all the great Black Friday deals.
My sister Dana, My niece Crystal and I went out in sub below freezing temperatures to buy our Christmas gifts!!! We got the killer deal at Target with 40" Westinhouse 1080 pixel flat screen tv's for 298.00, it was said in the paper to be the best Black Friday deal!



Abbey and her Friend Mia, waiting to see Santa!



Andrew and Courtney also waiting for Santa to come.



Andrew had lots of questions for dear Santa.... it was fun to see him asking about him landing the sleigh on the roof with the reindeer.


We had a fabulous Christmas and we were able to go see my nephew Garrett and his new wife get sealed in the Logan Temple. The last time we went into the Logan Temple was to get married ourselves about 9 1/2 years ago. It was such a beautiful day, they are such great people. I'm really proud of the right choices that they have made already!


Here's my most favorite mom in the whole world and my wonderful sister-in-law who works as the office manager for Courtney's dental office, I have but two words "she rocks"!!!

During our family Christmas party my mom came to us with heavy news. She has recently been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin s follicular lymphoma. she'll be starting chemotherapy this upcoming Friday. She'll have 8 treatments which I don't know how long that will take. We have been praying and fasting on her behalf and hope that whatever she must go through she will be able to do so with great strength. We love her and pray for her triumph!



Here's to looking ahead in 2011.With lot's of dreams and ambitions and hopes and some fears but when we stick together we can do and accomplish anything!!! I'm grateful to a family that truly fills my life with great RICHES!!