December 23rd

December 23rd was spent at my Mom's house. All the boys and their wives came and stayed the night. The boys finished putting all of the furniture back (see previous post) and then we got to put up all of Mom's Christmas decorations just in time for Christmas. The boys were assigned the tree.

The girls put up ornaments, lights, and stockings. I love having sister-n-laws!

*Missed you Meg and Mad!

Tyler was pretty intense about the lights on the tree. :) He wanted them to go very deep. It turned out beautiful!

While the girl's finished decorating, the boys played Smash Brothers. Apparently it's a tradition.

Sarah hung up all of the 14 stockings (Conan has one too.)

After decorating was game time. Settlers of course. This is about midnight.

Ben got done about 2:00 am with all of the games and I went to bed long before that. Troy woke up around 1:00 am and so I just put him next to me. I guess he liked knowing I was next to him. We have other pictures with his hand on my face.

The next morning we had a huge breakfast that Devin and Sarah were in charge of. It was amazing. Then we went to the church to play basketball, like we do every year. Sarah was a genius and found the nursery for Troy. We brought in two toys and he was occupied for quite a while. The boys played elimination or speed and a very competitive game of 21. Sarah and I played speed a little bit but I was pretty tired after one game. Not to mention my hips felt like they were splitting open when I ran just a little.

We all went home after basketball to split off into our other activities. We came back on Christmas to exchange gifts and have a Christmas devotional together. I didn't get any pictures of it but it was the best part of our family Christmas. My family is so wonderful.

I will post about Christmas with Ben's family soon. I'm still figuring out my new camera that Ben got me!! A total surprise!!!!

Corey and Mom's Condo Part 2 - Carpet

Wednesday was dedicated to moving all of the furniture into the garage and taking up the carpet, padding, dirt and nails. This included the front room, the master bedroom, and the other bedroom. Jason and Ben took on the moving by themselves. I knew they were pretty strong, but I didn't realize how strong they were until that Wednesday.

I only got a picture of the first thing they moved. The master bedroom furniture and the T.V. made this furniture look light.

Furniture is cleared, so it was time to take out the carpet. Exciting!

Carpet is much heavier than I thought. I only helped take out the padding, being pregnant and all. Mom made sure I didn't do anything too strenuous and helped the boys a lot.

Troy was quite the helper. Anything he saw Ben do, he would copy. Even taking out staples or nails. Don't worry, the blade on the tool broke off because Ben was a little too strong.

It took all of Wednesday to get everything done. Corey and Mom stayed up with us to finish cleaning up all of the dirt and padding.

The following day, Thursday, was carpet installation day! Hurray for professionals doing the work! I thought we would go relax, but Ben wanted to finish up caulking the bathrooms. I think Ben is secretly the energizer bunny. So Troy and I went to Target to get his wiggles out.

Here is Maddy's room with the new carpet!

The rest of the boys and their wives came that night to help put all of the furniture back and spend the night. Here they are just after finishing their hard work. Alan didn't want to sit on the couch because the carpet was so nice! All of us have enjoyed the carpet so much!

Merrill Christmas Party

The annual Merrill Christmas Party was a success again this year. Ben and I decided to coordinate outfits for it... (not :)

Troy received a beautiful blanket and toy car from the cousin gift exchange. He is really into cars lately.

The BYU bowl game was on of course. The boys got lucky and we ate right at half time.

Brayden is Troy's favorite.

Ben and Mom. Family is so wonderful to have close by, especially this time of year.

Brittany and Aaron enjoying the festivities.

We stuffed ourselves. I made my first funeral potatoes. Troy had a blast with all of the cousins. The newspaper gift game was pretty intense this year. Ben pulled away with some nerds. We played battle of the sexes and I was laughing so hard that it hurt. We still owe a big thanks to the Garzas for teaching us that game. There were lots of great $25 gifts and we got Despicable me on Blu-Ray with some candy.

Like I said, it was a success!

Nothing Stops Troy

Troy wanted to go outside so badly but I was hesitant because he had no snow shoes. I gave in and as soon as I got his stuff on, he went to the door and said, "O, O" which means open.

I thought that I would keep him on the sidewalks so his feet would stay dry, but of course he went to the snow first thing.

He must have remembered about the playground because he took my hand to cross the street and then took off.

The playground is still 100 yards away once you turn right at that corner, but he knew what he wanted. The snow didn't bother him at all.

Success! He was so happy to find the playground, but was not a huge fan of slipping every 5 seconds because of the snow. It was a short lived adventure.

Troy is still not a fan of taking pictures with me, but that doesn't mean they are going to stop! Luckily his feet were still pretty dry when we got home, but I still bought him boots the next day. Gotta love kid-to-kid.

Merry Christmas!

So I tried to make a cute Christmas Card and it is cute, but after printing them out the pictures did not turn out so well. I did something wrong and I don't know how to fix it. So I won't be sending them out, but I still want you all to feel the love from our little Allsop family. We wish you a Merry Christmas and are so grateful for our knowledge of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are so grateful for our faith in Christ and love this time of year when everyone is focused on his birth. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

December Happenings

I wanted to take some Christmas pictures of our little family, but it didn't turn out as I planned. Every time we would tell Troy to smile he would do this..

I couldn't help but laugh hysterically when I saw his face. Plus, you can't even see our tree. Ha.

Troy was much more interested in playing "horsey" than taking pictures. Ben can keep him laughing for 10 minutes straight.

My man, husband, and best friend.

My little man in his adorable sweater. This sweater was handmade by Sterling's mom last year.

This is pretty much Troy every morning, afternoon, and night. Except he usually has a shirt on :) When we were thinking of what to get him for Christmas, it really wasn't too hard. A basketball hoop and more balls. I'm also getting him things I want him to play with, like books and puzzles.

Painting at Mom's

Last Saturday we painted my Mom and Corey's place. We were planning on doing the front room and the kitchen, but we got a lot more done than expected thanks to some experienced Card boys and lots of family help. Every wall was white before we came in. We painted the whole front room light tan with a chocolate brown accent wall. The kitchen was done in a beautiful red and the cabinets were painted white again. We were also able to tan the upstairs hallway, two more walls, and the stairway to the basement. The pictures explain it best, although I didn't get pictures of everything.

Tyler is ready to paint! :)

Ben, Danny, Dave, Mom, Dave, and Devin. We had to wash all the walls before we painted. Mom got a lot done before hand with putty and sanding.

Corey got right into it. He was a pro painter by the end. I love that chocolate brown!

The Card boys: cousin Danny, cousin Dave, and uncle Dave. These three were the freight train. Ben and I could not believe how fast they were. They have lots of experience and a cool little tool that made it so we didn't have to tape as much. Uncle Dave's height was a huge help as well :)

Mom's ceilings were a challenge but we had 3 ladders and some tall men.

Annie and Sarah were awesome tapers and brush painters.

This is the main room before..

And after...

Kitchen Before...

And after...

Sarah taping like a pro.

Mom and Alan in the new red kitchen..

Kitchen table area before..

And after..

Hallway...

Thanks to all who helped! It was a most successful painting day!!

Thanksgiving Holiday

This is about a fourth of the junk food that we munched on during the Thanksgiving Holiday. Ben's Dad and Beverly came for six days and we had so much fun with them. Ironically, this is the only picture I took with our camera. All of the other pictures were taken with phones and so I don't have them on the computer yet.

Tuesday: We were supposed to go to Salt Lake for Grandpa Allsop's 80th Surprise birthday party at the Lion House. Due to the "Storm of all storms" they had to move it to the next day. Instead we went with Dad, Beverly, Grandpa and Grandma to Grandpa's favorite restaurant, Golden Corral. We got there 5 minutes after 6 and they said they were closed due to the weather. Grandpa was persistent and we got in but we only had "45 minutes to eat because they were on lockdown." We shoveled in the food that was actually amazing. I was a fan. We were the last ones to leave the restaurant and the employees waved us off as if we were off to our doom. Luckily, the storm never really came...

Wednesday: Made french toast and eggs for breakfast. Troy ate just as many eggs as Ben. I wonder if their related. Grandpa's 80th birthday party at the Lion House was spectacular. Amazing dinner and rolls, a slideshow and pretty much everyone in the family came except for those in Hawaii and missions. After the party the clan went to the grocery store to get the items in the picture above, as well as other treats, drinks, and snacks. We watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and we Loved it.

Thursday: Thanksgiving at Aunt Sues with reruns of BYU-Utah games in the background. The kids and Ben played basketball outside in the 10 degree weather. Troy loved their big house and just ran around throwing a ball at anyone who would throw it back. After the incredible and beautiful thanksgiving feast we went to Grandma and Grandpa Allsop's for some snarf (a game.) It got pretty intense, which made it all the more fun :) That night consisted of more snacking and movie watching probably.

Friday: Black Friday. We were participators of the Black Friday shopping craze. We convinced Dad and Bev to go with us. I got up early for a specific secret gift and came back to leave with everyone to the rest of the stores. We hit Kohls, Maceys, Sports Authority, and R C Willey. Troy was such a trooper. He was completely occupied in Sports Authority because of all the balls. He just fell asleep in Ben's arms at our last stop. Dad and Bev spoiled us to no end, Ben got some basketball shoes (he has bloody feet every Tuesday after basketball, so I'm very grateful), and Troy got a toddler bed!! It's beautiful and we can't wait to set it up. I want to switch him before the baby comes. Many other gifts were bought at great prices. It was a very successful Black Friday!

Friday night we went to Macaroni Grill with Dad, Bev, Brittany, Aaron, and Brayden. Troy destroyed his area of the table with crayons and water. We had so much fun talking and laughing. After dinner we made another stop at Smith's to get more treats and drinks. We watched August Rush while we pigged out for the fourth night in a row. :)

Saturday: Stayed at the house in the morning to catch our breath and then headed out for some more shopping at Kohls. We got back in time for the game. We had family over at our clubhouse to watch a very fun and intense BYU-Utah game. We had tons of pizza, drinks, chips, dips, veggies, and candy. Aaron was the only Ute fan, so the ending wasn't very exciting :) Ben took it really well though! He was proud of our cougars. We headed to temple square that night to look at the lights and drink hot chocolate. Troy was so bundled he could barely see. He couldn't really move but he was warm, so he was ok with it. The lights were so beautiful. My favorite was walking through the trees by the conference center to our car.

Sunday: We all went to church and Ben and I stayed while Dad and Bev left home for a very long trip due to a gas truck spill on the freeway. We were sad to see them go, but they are coming back in a couple weeks! After ward choir we headed to Ben's mom's for dinner and it was nice to catch up with her and hear about black Friday over a delicious meal. She is the queen of black Friday.

Sunday night we had a Kalza reunion at the Garzas! Oh we loved seeing them!! Troy followed Jay around the whole time, who is four. We stayed as late as we could to soak up their company, but Troy didn't want to sleep in his port-a-crib, so we left. I hope to see Melissa and little Brooklyn again before they leave.

It was a blast of a Thanksgiving Holiday to say the least!