The Baby Bump

Here you go, a picture of the belly. I'm not a huge fan of taking pictures of myself so this is the best I could do. John snapped it before he would let me in the door.

Oh, Christmas Tree!

This entry is for my mom. She bought me all of the accessories for my tree for my birthday and I am obsessed with every single thing she picked out!! She'll probably see this picture and cringe since she is the Christmas tree queen but this picture does not do it justice. It is beautiful and sparkly and I leave the lights on all day and just smile. Thanks Momma! Love you.

Our Comings and Goings

What a week! John surprised Johnny and I with a trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving and my birthday. I decided last minute that while I was now only 10 hours away, I needed to go to Utah to see my grandpa who has been in the hospital for two months. We were there for 48 hours and it was jam packed with plenty of action!


Ryan got engaged! He surprised Jess with her bling bling last Sunday so the date is set for June 21st! Let the 7 month engagement begin!


Here is my mom and her sweet parents. They are two of the greatest people on the earth! Keep getting better papa Baker! We love you!


Katy had her little baby the day I got to Utah-sweet timing Andrew! I was SOOO happy to see her and her new addition. He might be the cutest new born ever!



We stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Baker's house on the way in and out of Utah and got to see their horsies. Johnny forgot what real cold feels like. I definitely don't miss it either!

I've been Tagged

I've been tagged.Let me begin by telling you that when contemplating my answers to these questions, I've realized that I am the most un-interesting person ever. With that said, let us begin.

I am supposed to tell you, the readers, 7 interesting/special/weird things about myself that you may not know.....Let's see....

1. I was a synchronized swimmer when I was 8-12 years old. I was pretty good at it too! Anyone who actually knows me, knows this but I guess this one is for all you blog stalkers out there. :)

2. I LOVE to cook and HATE to bake. And by hate to bake, I mean I am horrible at it. Just last night I tried to be a cute wife and make cookies for John and they came out of the oven looking like chocolate chip tortillas. I should have taken a picture. I will next time. If there is a next time...

3. I'm pretty sure I have road rage. And I've decided that what fuels my rage the most is when someone speeds up, cuts me off and then turns right in front of me. I'm gritting my teeth just thinking about it.

4. I am a total home body. I love being at home. Just me and Johnny, our backyard swing set, a movie, some snacks, a nap, cleaning my cute house, and making dinner-a great day for me! And of course I have to have my daily phone calls with my five favorite people, you know who you are.

5. My dream job is to be a whale trainer at Sea World. Yes, I want to swim with Shamu. I have had that dream ever since I was 5 and I never got over it. We went to Sea World this Summer and I got teary eyed when the whales came out. Maybe I was an Orca in another life.

6. I've never broken a bone, had a bloody nose or been stung by a bee. I'm running out of ideas here.

7. I love vacuuming. And I love vacuums. I aspire to owning a Kirby vacuum one day but for now, I'm trying to convince John that we need a Dyson.

The end.

Happy Halloween Y'all!

This was Johnny's first official year of trick-or-treating and he went as a cowboy or "Woody" (from Toy Story) if you were to ask him. He's been wearing the boots and hat all week and even slept with them the first night. He's always LOVED cowboys, I think he gets that from his grandpa Baker who is a REAL cowboy!


All dressed up and ready for our friends to show up!


Ummm...can we stop the pictures and go get some CANDY!?


Gotta love those brown eyes


The boys


Here's the little trick-or-treater on his way to another house. We were out for about an hour and only went to 10 houses. Don't ever give candy to a two year old while trick or treating, they lose all motivation.

Pumpkin Carving Party!

Johnny and I threw our first pumpkin carving party-one of my favorite childhood traditions! Here are a few pictures of our friends. Sorry there aren't too many pictures of Johnny and I, we were too busy entertaining!


Here are most of the kids and our Halloween masterpieces.


Sheree opted for a miniature pumpkin and was done cleaning it out and carving in about five mintues-great idea!


Christian Bloomgren, aka, Mr. Martha Stewart and his boys Mason and Maddox. He didn't use a pattern and still had the coolest pumpkin!


This is Marci and Johnny's only girl friend, Ella. She is always playing with a big bunch of boys.


Here's the gang admiring their work. They're such cute little punks!

There are no pictures of me, of course, I was too busy taking the pictures, Josie, Christian's wife, Jeff and Amy and their little girl Lauren and Tamara who was running aournd with her three boys. It was so fun. We will for sure be carrying this tradition on!

Little Miracles

I know, a room full of two year olds and they're ALL sleeping-even Johnny! It truly is a miracle. The women who teach Johnny's class are miracle workers. I had never seen this before and never really believed it until I walked in last week and saw it-sleeping toddlers all over the room!

Dewbury Farm

We drove out west this weekend to a little farm for some family fun with the Nixons. It was a beautiful fall day and everyone had a blast!


The little Allen family at the top of the corn maze


Go carts


Lost in the corn maze


Male bonding at the goat pen


Johnny and Mommy

Johnny and his best friends Andrew and Eva on a little train ride


This is what you do for fun when you live in the country.


Johnny boy on a tractor. He asked for this huge tractor for christmas...and not a little one, mommy!


Both mommy and Johnny were afraid to touch the horse so we just looked and looked.

It's A GIRL!!!

Johnny and I went to the doctor's today to find out what we were having and the doctor found a little girl in there! We are so excited! Little Olivia Rene Allen will be here March 2nd!

A Day at the Houston Zoo

John had Columbus day off of work so we went to the zoo. Johnny was so excited to see all of his animal friends again! We used to go to the zoo once a week back when we lived five minutes away and it wasn't 100 degrees outside. It was such a fun day. Here are some pics.


"Johnny, this is a mean lizard, and if you don't behave, it will eat you for lunch!" Just kidding.


Huge python. HUGE!


This is Johnny's favorite animal in the whole wide world. The elephant.


These crazy primates are howler monkeys and they make the funniest noises we've ever heard. They have big frog necks that fill up with air and make this crazy synthesizer noise and then they yell and scream like crazy people all day.

Johnny's second favorite animal is the giraffe. This guy LOVES people and is always at the fence to let people oooh and ahhhh at him....I'm talking about the giraffe by the way.


Isn't this cute? The poor animal can't bend down.


I have no idea what Johnny is pointing at but he's acutally smiling in a picture so I had to add it!


Johnny and daddy took a ride on the carousel. If any of you know Johnny, you know he hates swings, trampolines, pretty much anything that moves. So he enjoyed it before and after it started moving. I should have just asked if he could sit on it for awhile. Poor kid was terrified. He must get that from the Allens :)


Johnny thought he was so cool when he was brushing those smelly goats!

Jack and the Bean Stalk

When we moved into our house we were told that come summer, a vine would pop out of the ground and start winding around our cute little bench swing...and sure enough, it did!!! I love this magic plant becuase it grows and grows and I never have to water it!

Here it is, our magic bean stalk

And here is the rest of it, I swear it's tall enough to reach the sky and the big giant who lives in the clouds...isnt' that how that story goes?

And now our magic plant is growing these round balls (they're actually called potatoes and the vine is actually a potato vine but they look more like round avocados to me). I could send you all a magic "potato" and you could grow magic vines in YOUR backyard!

Sadly, the next step for our magic bean stalk is to shrivel up and die and then we have to figure out how to rip it out of our trees. Good thing I'm married to my very own giant!

I'm a Big Kid Now!

Johnny boy had his first day of preschool at Holy Covenant two weeks ago! He goes one day a week from 9-2:30 where they play, sing, do crafts, eat lunch and even take naps! He LOVES it. The first day he walked in, turned around and said "bye bye mommy, have fun!" I cried all the way home and then went out to lunch and shopping all day! My little guy is so grown up!

I know, I know

I know I am the world's worst blogger! But there is a very legitimate excuse, I have NO idea how to use my cool Apple computer and can't seem to find all of the pictures I've been trying to upload. The minute my sweet hubby gets a free minute, he will figure it out and we'll post some pictures. Until then, here's one taken on my cool computer of Johnny, Sheree's little girl Eva, and myself. Johnny and I like to have mac photo shoots when we're really, really bored.

Mis Hermanos

Many of you have asked how my cute little brothers are doing so here is a post dedicated just to them!
Ryan returned home from his mission in Guatemala a year ago in June. He continued playing basketball at UVSC and had an incredible season! He had the best free throw percentage in the entire NCAA-97%! He is still living it up in Provo, lifting weights, going to school, and dating an adorable girl named Jessica Campbell. Ryan has a blast with her and her family. Their picture is from a family vacation Ryan took with the Campbells in Northern Cali. I can't wait for this year's basketball season because his team comes to Texas once and Lousianna twice. I'm there baby!

Sean is on his mission in Lima, Peru. He is an incredible missionary. He works so hard and sometimes says he has to work even harder so he doesn't think about hunting:) Yes, he still is Mr. Hunter and has no plans after the mission besides which animals he is going to kill and with what weapon. His room is already FILLED with dead, stuffed animals so we'll see what he decides to do with the new ones....maybe above mom's mantle!!

Cute little KC is now 6'4'' and a JUNIOR in highschool (gasp)! He loves basketball and is very good at it, I might add. He's a total womanizer and is definitely the style guru of the family. He's got a great group of friends that totally remind me of my little group in high school so I can't even roll my eyes when he says he went to Wal-Mart and went turkey bowling at midnight...I think I did that too!

Baby Allen

Today was baby allen's first photo shoot! I had my first ultrasound this morning. Johnny and Grandma Denise were there to watch. Johnny thought it was the most boring cartoon he had ever seen!! But he did love the tractor noise coming from my belly (the heart beat). Everything looks great and my official due date is March 2nd.

More San Diego...

Here are some more pictures! Andrew, Cason and Johnny were buds at the beach. It was fun watching them play. Taylor looked gorgeous in her wedding dress, my picture does her NO justice. And all of those hot singles are my cousins Jessica (the one who looks like she just got married to Ryan-my brother), Emma, Owen and their friends. So if anyone has family or friends in Provo, look them up!