Stories

A couple of things I want to remember:

During story time yesterday, Liam pointed at a ball and said, "ba." Big excitement coming from this mama.

Troy has been using my own words against me and it makes me laugh. I was making dinner yesterday and kind of ignoring, without realizing it, that he wanted a cracker. After a few minutes he finally said, "Mom, cracker! One, two, three, four...." I count to five before he goes in time out. I was laughing so hard and gave him his cracker.

This morning we were talking about boys vs girls and pointing to boys or girls in his books. I asked Troy, "Are you a boy or a girl?" He puts his hand on his chest and says, "boy!" Then he looked at me and spoke with the same tone that I had just had, "Mommy, are you boy or girl?" I guess he thinks that if he has to be tested on so many questions, then so should mommy.

Friends Always

Our friends the Garzas came to Utah for a visit and we loved every minute! We met at J Dawgs, a Provo original. Hung out till late at Melissa's house and enjoyed watching our kiddos play together.

This playroom is in the home and should be in a magazine. You don't even see the several shelves of toys and closet of books. Bad picture, but this was amazing!

On the random days that we have good weather, we have good times with neighbor kids outside. This is Brogan and Briggs (brothers that are very close in age) that Troy loves. This little cart is so cute. Briggs and Troy are enjoying some goldfish as they get pulled along.

Liam is walking everywhere and hardly falls anymore. He got used to his shoes pretty quick and uses them all the time to push this little toy around. It actually takes restraint to not pick him up and kiss him every 5 minutes. He's so adorable! Ben and I just can't believe how cute our boys are to us.

Troy gave a smile to the camera, on purpose. It's a moment to document.

My Grandpa F. turned 91 this week and we made a card for him and made a visit. I should have taken a picture at our visit! Troy loves his house, there are a lot of balls and a basketball hoop. My Aunt Nancy happened to be there, which made the visit even more fun. She is awesome. My Grandpa is amazingly healthy at his age and a joy to be around. We love him.

We had a fun weekend. We hung out with Rich and Rach on Friday and stayed the night. We made a huge crepe breakfast in the morning and we just kept eating for like an hour. Troy plays best with Noah. They play for a couple hours while we get to just talk. I LOVE it. They are so fun.

On Saturday we went on a date to City Creek and had dinner at Flemmings. It's a super nice restaurant that we happened to know the manager (Ben's friend Chris, his best man at our wedding.) He treated us to some ridiculously expensive and yummy filet mignon. We had the most amazing sauces with our bread to begin with, then a delicious salad, on to the filet mignon that Ben had to moan in pleasure while he ate... haha. The dessert was this amazing chocolate cake filled with gooey chocolate inside with the best ice cream ever, on top of a thin cookie-like dessert. Auh, I want it right now. Anyway, we had so much fun. Thanks Chris!!

p.s. Missed you Kitchens! And Mariannos, it's been too long!

Conference Fun

We got to GO to conference on Saturday afternoon. It was amazing. I loved listening to the speakers and seeing Elder Holland speak. It was also neat to see my Young Women's leader and high school friend's mom be announced as the new General Relief Society President! In fact, I just used one of her recipes for dinner tonight. She gave me a recipe book at my bridal shower. I can't wait to hear from her in the future! That session of conference as very special to me, the talks related to me on a deeper level and it was an amazing experience. We went with Devin, Sarah, Tyler and Annie.

After conference we walked through the new City Creek that is right next to temple square. It was very nice and beautiful. It will be fun to go back when there is a place to walk, haha. It took forever to get out, but it was fun to spend time with Tyler and Annie in their car. They are so fun. Oh and Devin and Sarah just moved in on the same street as us! We had dinner together tonight with Alan as well. I'm excited to have craft time with Sarah and just get together and hang out. They are just a walk away.

On Sunday we were at Mom Allsops. We made a huge breakfast at lunch time. Alit made crepes for us and we cut up a bunch of fruit. There was nutella, whip cream, lots of juice, eggs, bacon, and sausage. It was heavenly. Probably the best breakfast.

Troy played with his car while we were cooking.

Alit is a professional crepe flipper ;)

Even though it was freezing, Troy insisted on jumping on the tramp at least 3 different times. Daddy is so sweet. and loves his Troyster.

Mom had an Easter egg hunt for Troy and Liam because we will be with Ben's dad during Easter. Troy got into it, and Liam would let go of one to get another one. He also just shook them without knowing there was candy. Once we opened them, he was VERY intrigued. Haha. Mom spoiled us all with oodles of yummy candy that we have been feasting on. Happy Easter on Sunday! Isn't it wonderful that we know we will all live again! I'll have to testify more about that later.

My First Piano Recital

I didn't get pictures!! I forgot to ask Ben to take pictures, but it was still a great success. The recital was at Best In Music yesterday at 5 pm. I had 6 students that played, ages 5 (barely) to mid 20s. They each played 2 pieces memorized, well most of them. I played a piece at the end and then I gave out these cute little treat bags. I made them on Saturday morning during conference. I even made little music shapes out of foam paper.

My one regret, besides not taking pictures, was forgetting 2 duets for the level one students. I did one by memory and the other was totally impromptu. It actually turned out fine, but I felt bad for one student that looked at me with a "What are you playing?" look. It was a very basic accompaniment, so no one could tell. Luckily she did great and we just laughed. There was some rushing and nervous mistakes but honestly everyone did very well. I was SO pleased. A BIG thank you to Ben and my mom for coming to support me.

Tumbling and Bday Parties

Troy finished his second tumbling class. He loved every minute and I think he will be doing it again in the future. Good job Troyster!

Finally some food in this class! Haha. Troy loves gold fish.

Coach Robert giving Troy a medal.

Troy has been to two birthday parties besides his own. He's been invited to many because we have a lot of little kids in the neighborhood, but we've only been able to attend two. These moms are so creative! Nathan's party was an easter egg hunt. But they let everyone decorate their bags with stickers and crayons. They got sunglasses, a bracelet and blue cupcakes. Yumm.

Liam was a good boy most of the time, but tried to steal everybody's cupcake. his own cupcake ended up smashed into the carpet. Luckily the clubhouse has a good vacuum.

Here is Troy and Taryn. Troy is literally saying, "Cheese."

Taryn had a party as well. She turned 5 and knows us well because she is one of my piano students. My youngest and she does really well. I was skeptic at first, but she retains amazing amounts of information when she can concentrate. Although, her attention span is just as good as a couple of my older students.

Anyway, her mom went ALL out. It was a princess ball. Troy had to dress up and be a prince. All of the girls were in princess dresses. Taryn wore her dress to the piano recital yesterday. It was fun. At the party, the girls decorated bracelets and the boys decorated shields. He had an individual nametag necklace that said, Prince Phillip. There was a castle they got to color and a pinata.

Troy's first pinata hit. He hit is three times very quickly and then went back in line. Haha. It was cute. Most kids had to be told to stop.

The cake was this rediculously amazing fruit cake. She had a ton of cupcakes that looked the same. There were also wand cookies. It was a way cool party.

Troy got a kite for his birthday and we flew it yesterday morning. One good thing about wind. Possibly the only thing. Troy actually got it really high. We only did it for 5 minutes because Troy kept saying. "Ow!" when the wind would blow hard.

Troy is "tree" 3

For Troy's 3rd birthday (March 16th) we had a "play date" party. I had some chex mix and other snacks, cupcakes and just a huge play area for the kids to go crazy. I planned some games, but just as I had expected they just wanted to run around and throw some balls.


Liam's favorite was the cup cake. Mom was daring to feed this messy meal to him. She was covered by the time he was done.

Here is Troy and some of the party attenders. Caden, Becca, Kelsey, Taryn, Troy, Jack and John. There were others there, Ellie, Paige, Luke, and Izek.

Troy's party was in the morning of his birthday. The next day we celebrated at Grandma Allsops (Troy's Grandma, Ben's mom.) Mom decorated the house with fun balloons and presents. Troy's favorite presents were nerf guns and his Cars scooter.

Izek gave Troy some fruit loops to make a necklace. Troy LOVED it. Such a cute idea. Heidi, Izek's mom, put fruit loops in a bag and tied it with a ribbon. You untie the ribbon and use it for the necklace.

This is a random picture of Noah and Troy at a play date a little while ago. They held hands while we went to the park. They are SO cute together. Rachel's and my dream is coming true! ;)

Some facts about my Troy boy:

- He likes attention from his parents, but not so much from strangers. If strangers give him attention he gives a very fake, loud laugh. Haha.

- Troy is a very good big brother and quick to say sorry when he isn't sharing. Sharing is done less often than trading. I get Troy to go get a toy that Liam would want in order for Liam to give up the toy that Troy wants. It works right now at least. But Troy actually shares with Liam quite well when we does have to share. I have to convince him to do it of course :)

- He is 50% potty trained. He always goes pee, and even stands up. But he won't go poop. EVER. It's a working progress.

- His favorite character is Thomas the Train. They have all of the characters in nursery, so nursery is his favorite place. Second and third place goes to Curious George and Lightning McQueen.

- Troy is very loving. With his emotional character, he is SO sweet. He gives hugs and random I love yous. He is much better at controlling his emotions and getting across what he wants.

- Troy is getting more and more independent. It's really nice with morning routine, but a struggle at other times. School time takes a little bit more time for him to learn new things, but he is sweet as long as I stay patient. He spelled his name at a friends birthday party. I couldn't believe it. Go Troyster.

- He now knows he is a boy, that he is 3, and his last name is Allsop. He pronounces it "osop."

- Troy plays very well other kids and everyone in the neighborhood loves him. He's a good friend.

I honestly can't believe that Troy is 3 and I love him SO much. His little toes, fingers, and big eyes. Our little conversations and how he asks people, "How ya doin? Good?" He loves to use the language that he knows. Sometimes he just starts randomly saying different words and sentences because he just wants to talk. I love our morning and bedtime routine. He knows the characters in his Book of Mormon book that we read in the morning and thinks that anyone with a feather hat is a king. At bedtime we read the same story and we leave off the end of the sentences for him to finish. We touch fingers at the end and he is very ready to go to sleep. I can't get enough of this boy and I can't believe that God gave me the opportunity to be with him all of the time. I am so grateful. He teaches me, loves me, and gives me purpose. Love you bud.