Soccer season continues...

So, soccer is in it's third week...2 more to go. Maddie cracked me up this past Wednesday. The coach gathered all the kids into a big group and bless his heart, he was trying his hardest to teach these kids this new soccer move. He had gone through the move about 3 times and all of the kids had this blank look on their faces, eyes wide, mouths hanging open, having NO clue what the coach was trying to teach them. Finally, the coach gave up and asked if any of the kids had any questions or comments. Nobody moved and then I saw Maddie look around and her hand shoot up into the air. The coach got excited, thinking she had something to ask regarding the soccer move he was teaching the kids. He asked her what she wanted to say and very seriously, she held up both her hands and said, "Look, my mom just painted my fingers and toes and they're all sparkly with blue and silver sparkles! Do you want to see them?" It cracked me up! You can see in two of the pictures that the dance and cheer classes she has taken have not been a waste of money...after she scored a goal, she stuck out her hands and legs and did a cheer move...all she's missing are her pom poms! I guess tomboys and princesses can live together in harmony after all!

Josh's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

Okay, I need to apologize here because since I am so behind the times, I am posting alot of these things out of order but better late than never I hope! Back on January 18th, Josh ran his very first half-marathon, P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Half Marathon. It was crazy...if I remember correctly, they started out in Phoenix, ran through Scottsdale and ended up at ASU. I'd never seen so many people in one place at one time...there were something like 22,000 people who ran the half-marathon and 6,000 who ran the full marathon.

Waiting on the finish line for Josh to cross was one of the neatest things I've ever experienced...it was incredible. Josh had run that race for Doug and I definitely felt his presence there that morning. The second Josh crossed the finish line, I called Grandma on the phone and neither of us could stop crying for the longest time....it was incredibly emotional for all of us. I had never in my life seen such determination on someone's face as I did when I saw Josh about to finish. And, somehow, in the midst of trying to finish the race, he had still managed to send me a text to let me know when to expect him at the finish line... talk about the ultimate multi-tasker! His official time was 1 hour, 59 minutes and 35 seconds! This was really something to be proud of, Josh, and believe me when I tell you this will not soon be forgotten.

Maddie's first hike to Flat Top!

Maddie went on her first hike up Flat Top today! It was SO much fun though the only wildlife we saw was a lizard which probably suited Maddie just fine. Flat Top is what we have nicknamed the mountain that is directly across the street from our backyard because it actually is flat on top (which is an intentional coincidence because if I remember correctly, Doug used to also hike a mountain called Flat Top when he was growing up in Round Valley as a kid!) Josh has been hiking it for a few weeks and I decided Josh shouldn't be the only person around our house having so much fun so off we went and it turned out to be a great little hike to the top! What an incredible view! For some reason, it never fails to amaze me just how many mountains we have here in the desert. Absolutely gorgeous! In one of the pictures, you can see our house from the top of the mountain....it's the fourth house to the left (the one with the BBQ). Now that Maddie is 4 (and going on 14, it seems!), I'm starting to look for some hikes she and I can do together. She was a total trooper the whole way. I kept expecting her to get tired and wanting to be carried (yeah, that's going to happen on the uphill climb!) and then I kept trying to grab her hand to keep her from falling but she kept pushing me away, telling me she's totally got it handled and that she wanted to be the "line leader" coming down the mountain! Something tells me we've got a nature lover on our hands!

You'll probably notice I'm wearing an ASU shirt in one of the pictures...that's to celebrate that I was just accepted into the Speech and Hearing Science program at ASU for the fall. I'm pretty excited! Emily, you know what that means, don't you? Consider this advanced notice that I'll probably be constantly calling you for help, advice and support! :-)

Here are a few more pictures after the sealing and from the BBQ.....

The Allred Family Sealing

These pictures were taken this past Tuesday when Kacin, Kyler, Laura and Eric were sealed together as an eternal family at the Mesa Temple. What an incredibly special day. We are all so happy for you! Following the sealing, everybody headed to Fitch Park for a BBQ....it was a total blast! The kids went crazy and had so much fun playing together. Like usual, there were too many cousins to count! Rumor has it that Eric and his gang were heading to Disneyland for a few days.....we'll all be waiting for pictures! We can't wait to see the smiles on the boy's faces :-)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day with your families and enjoyed all of the fun Easter festivities! We had a great day....actually, a great weekend! On Saturday, Grandma, Maddie and I kicked off the festivities by going to an Easter Egg-stravaganza at church. It was raining pretty hard so we didn't know how it would turn out but they brought it all inside and it was awesome! They had a great pancake breakfast and lots of games and activities for the kids. Maddie kept doing this easter egg obstacle course over and over. It was so much fun and gave us all a chance to meet alot of new people in our ward. Maddie even got some pictures with the Easter Bunny (did you know that the Easter bunny actually lives in our ward? ha ha!) I'll hopefully have some pictures of that posted soon.

On Saturday night, Maddie and I colored eggs and she had a total blast! It must be a girl thing because she is so much fun to do these types of activities with (sorry guys...honestly, you were fun when you were little, too...she just gets so EXCITED when she does these things!) I even learned something after 22 years of coloring eggs with my kids. I can't believe I'm even admitting this but here goes...you know those plastic sleeves that come in the Paas coloring kits that go around the eggs? I've always wondered what the heck you're supposed to do with those things because they never really stayed on too well when I put them on those easter eggs. Well, after taking about 10 seconds and actually reading the directions at Maddie's insistence, I learned that after you put those plastic sleeves on the eggs, you are supposed to blow dry them which will, in turn, cause the plastic to melt onto the egg, creating a beautiful easter picture. DUH...do I feel stupid! (Guess I better think twice about going back to school this fall!)

Anyways, Justin came over and we had our traditional all-out, every-man-for-himself easter egg hunt. Both Josh and Justin thought they had won but as predicted, Maddie kicked both their butts. Better luck next year, guys! We ran into a little problem, though, when Maddie searched and searched but wasn't able to find her basket anywhere! Luckily, we live in this incredible age of technology so I did what any attentive parent would do. I whipped out my cell phone and called the Easter bunny himself. It took a few tries to get through because he was obviously busy but I finally got to talk to him and he was able to give Maddie some clues as to where he had hidden her basket. That's what I call a close call! All in all, we had a great day relaxing, eating, playing and just hanging out together. We hope you all had the same.

V is for Victory!

I can't resist one more soccer post. As you can tell, I'm having as much fun as Maddie (if not more!) so I wanted to post just a few more pictures from her second day of soccer. It cracked me up because she was trying so hard to make a goal and when she finally did, she threw her hands up in the air and yelled "touchdown"! She then high-tailed it over to me to make sure I was watching and she was so excited that she did her version of the "happy dance" (princess style, of course!)

Another first!

Josh took Maddie and I fishing last week up to Canyon Lake. It was awesome! This was Maddie's first fishing trip and she loved it! She was set up with none else but a pink and purple fishing pole! While Maddie and I were there, we had some pretty bad luck, fish wise, but as soon as Maddie and I took off (we left a little before Josh and his buddy), they caught a small bass plus saw a rattler swimming in front of them in the lake! We did see quite a few cute little lizards while we were there, though (imagine, lizards in Arizona? ha ha) Josh has already been back to Canyon but we're planning our next family fishing trip sometime in the next week. It's been around 30 years since I've fished (uh oh, I think I'm dating myself here!) so I'm in desperate need of a refresher course when it comes to fishing so thank you, Josh, for helping me out big time. It's so much fun! Anytime anybody wants to go fishing, feel free to give Josh or me a call and you're on!

Soccer Fun!

Yesterday was Maddie's very first soccer practice... what an exciting day it was! I guess this means I've finally joined the ranks of "soccer moms" everywhere! We spent the day in search of the "perfect" soccer shoes (she's a girl so they HAD to have pink in them. Why was I surprised by this?) We finally found the perfect pair at the last minute and even managed to make it to practice on time! It was a total blast. She ran around with all the kids and started learning all the basics of the game, laughing, running and having fun the entire time. I had the best time of all, I think, because I was able to sit on the sidelines in my little chair and just watch her run! Ah, the perks of being a grown-up! Here are some pictures... the kids were so adorable. I am so proud of her....you can see how focused she was in some of the pictures! It looks like she's going to be a little go-getter because on the way home from soccer, she was to tired she could barely keep her eyes open yet she decided that on top of going to soccer on Mondays and Wednesdays, she wants to start taking karate as well as swimming lessons, just like Gunnar! (She's been a little nervous about the swimming lessons until she heard that Gunnar is taking swimming lessons so now she's all over it and can't wait to take lessons just like her cuz!) She's also begging me to let her take more dance classes. Looks like the word "bored" won't be in either of our vocabularies anytime soon! On a side note, I took Maddie to get her hair cut today (these pictures are before her haircut) and they cut 4 inches of her hair off and it's still long! I'd say the cut was way past due!

The Ghosts of Gettysburg!

Last month, Justin and his girlfriend, Erica, drove to Ohio to attend her uncle's funeral. Erica, we are all so sorry for your loss. Our prayers are with you and your family. While they were back there, they visited Erica's hometown and then decided that since they were already in the vicinity, they would take some time and visit some of the beautiful and historical landmarks found only in the eastern United States. Erica grew up in Ohio but Justin had never ventured beyond Utah so this was a great opportunity for the two of them to do some exploring! I'm going to post more details and many more pictures of their trip in an upcoming post but I HAD to tell you about the ghosts.

Of all the places they visited, Justin and Erica couldn't get enough of Gettysburg. In fact, they had planned on being in Gettysburg for only a day or two and then moving on to Washington D.C. to visit places like the White House and the Smithsonian but after only one day in Washington, they decided to get out of the hustle bustle of the big city and return to beautiful Gettysburg because they had simply fallen it love with it and wanted to spend more time there. For those of us who still remember our history (Justin and Erica had to re-educate me on these facts and I probably STILL have them wrong so please forgive me if I'm off!), the Battle of Gettysburg was a significant battle in the Civil War where sadly, between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers were killed from both sides over the course of three days. In fact, between July 1-3 of 1863, more men actually fought and died than in any other battle before or since on North American soil. That is absolutely incredible and gives me goose bumps when I think about it. Justin and Erica explained to me that since there were so many injured and dead soldiers, most of the buildings in Gettysburg were transformed into makeshift hospitals where many of the soldiers ultimately died. I didn't realize this but as a result of all these casualties, on top of being historically significant, Gettysburg has also earned itself a reputation as being one of the most haunted locales in the nation.

Justin and Erica found this aspect of Gettysburg fascinating (so do I!) and one of the major highlights of their trip was a ghost they saw while out exploring. One night, they were checking out a place called Pennsylvania Hall. I may have some of these facts mixed up so I'll verify with Justin and Erica but I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track. Anyways, that night, Justin and Erica were literally the only people there (it was late at night) and as they approached the front of the hall, they found themselves standing in front of a group of steps leading up to a porch which led to the entrance of the hall. However, because it was late at night, the steps to the porch were blocked off with chains prohibiting anybody from climbing the steps or entering the building. As Justin and Erica were standing there, checking out the hall from below, they thought they saw something, or someone, moving or walking on the porch in front of them, in front of the entrance to the hall. They quickly snapped a picture. They looked around to see if anybody was around but they found absolutely no other person in the vicinity and, since the entrance to the hall was locked up tight, nobody would have been able to get up to the porch where they had just seen whatever it was they had just seen. After checking it out for awhile, they left, neither of them sure of what they had just seen.

That night, when they downloaded their pictures onto their computer, they looked at the picture they had taken in front of Pennsylvania Hall and were able to see what clearly looks like the outline of a person, or a spirit, standing or walking, even dressed in what looks like someone from the 1800's would be wearing. Justin and Erica swear that NOBODY was there at all. You may have to look at the picture for awhile to focus on the "entity" but once you make it out, it really makes you wonder what it could be because it's definitely not a picture of a "regular" living, breathing person. Let me note that this picture was taken with a simple digital camera, no special lenses or filters. The second picture is the same exact picture as the first but Erica outlined the "ghost" to help us be able to see it more clearly. Again, this was taken at night, the steps were chained so nobody could walk up onto the porch and not one other person was around. You have to admit it's very interesting....and spooky! After ruling out every other logical explanation, Justin and Erica have come to the conclusion that this was, indeed, a ghost and I have to admit that the picture has convinced me! Since then, Justin and Erica have been doing alot of research on ghost sightings in Gettysburg and you would be amazed at what other ghosts people have seen in that area. Justin and Erica also saw what they are sure is another ghost in the field, on the edge of the woods, directly behind their hotel and I'll try to post those pictures, as well. They will be able to give you many more details about this. I think this is fascinating and they've convinced me that Maddie and I have to make a trip to Gettysburg at some point in the future to see these things for ourselves! I'll post more pics about their trip soon...Pretty cool, huh?