Ben, Jessica, & Allyson

we like to move it move it!

2012-01-27T09:43:00.001-08:00

32 weeks!

2012-01-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

I had my 32 week checkup today. I am at the "go every two weeks" point which is good but highly annoying since my doctor's office takes forever for even the simplest appointment. The baby's heartbeat was good (I'm assuming since he didn't really say anything about it!). I have gained 25 pounds so far. My belly measured 34 weeks this time, so who knows...maybe she will come early or maybe she will just be big like her sister was! I am kinda starting to freak out though because today I learned that my doctor's kid's spring break is the week before I'm due! I am not sure if he is planning to be out of town yet...all I know is I BETTER have him during labor! He was so good with Allyson and I would be so mad if I had to rely on some 'on call' doctor that I don't know! So needless to say, he will be getting lots of questions from me about his spring break plans when I go back in two weeks! And last, but not least, here is a cute pic I took of Allyson during my appointment today...love my happy girl:)

project for allyson's toys

2012-01-22T22:01:00.000-08:00

My living room has doubled as allyson's toy room for FAR TOO LONG! I decided that I wanted my living room back so it motivated me enough to make or buy something to hold all of her toys. Everything that I shopped for was either ugly or too expensive, so Ben & I made this...

I LOVE IT! I think I ended up spending around $75 for everything (wood, paint, crates, & ribbon). Not too shabby!

Thanks babe for all your help:)

photography fun part 1!

2012-01-17T21:22:00.001-08:00

So my sister-in-law Lauren (Ben's sister) asked me to take some senior pictures of her! She graduated last May but wasn't too thrilled with her initial pictures, so I was happy to help:) I definitely do not know what I'm doing (I plan to take a class SOMEday!) but I sure do have fun snapping pictures and editing them! I posted one edit of each of my favorite poses (I did sooooo many edits of each that it was hard choosing!) Anyways, I had fun:)

photography fun part 2!

2012-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

Richard (Ben's brother) & his fiancee Alivia asked me to take some extra engagement photos of them...just for fun:) So here are a few of my favs and some funny ones...these two really are meant for each other! lol! These are all "raw" photos...they wanted to edit them themselves:)

hahahha - we took these pics by Bailey's house & Richard wanted to throw the baby in them!

LOL...goofballs....but seriously, how cute is Tillman?!

ahh...couldn't get enough of this chunk!

my fav

LOL - they wanted a farmer pic since we were by a dairy

best choc chip cookies EVER

2012-01-11T16:24:00.000-08:00

Ingredients
◦1 cup salted butter (softened)
◦3/4 cup brown sugar
◦1/4 cup sugar
◦3.4 oz package vanilla instant pudding mix
◦2 eggs
◦1 teaspoon vanilla
◦2 1/4 cups flour
◦1/2 teaspoon salt
◦1 teaspoon baking soda
◦2 cups milk chocolate chips
Instructions
1. Cream together butter and sugar. Add pudding mix and vanilla. Beat in one egg at a time. In a separate bowl, mix together, flour, salt and baking soda. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips until combined.
2. Preheat oven to 350. Spoon cookie dough onto baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
3. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk!

30 weeks

2012-01-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

Let the countdown begin! Or maybe 10 weeks is too early to start counting?? lol...I'm already ready to be DONE, so that's probably a bad sign! I know I am smaller this time around but MAN do I still have all the same aches and pains! My back just KILLS. I still have nausea (so lovely), but all this is expected because this is exactly how I was when prego with Allyson. At least this time I dont seem to be retaining as much water...knock on wood! (a LOT can happen in 10 weeks:/ I had my 30 week appointment today...I have gained 22 pounds so far and my tummy was measuring exactly 30 weeks. I am taking it as a sign that she is NOT going to come early, but I can always hope!! I had my second (and last) ultra sound today as well - baby is weighing in around three and a half pounds. My doctor said she is on track to be around a seven pound baby - which means I MIGHT have a normal size baby this time - haha!

I took some senior pictures for my sister-in-law Lauren and after we were finished, we passed this sign. At which point, Lauren and my sister Alissa INSISTED that we turn around so I could pose by it...silly girls! So I humored them:)

Profile view of baby girl #2 (head is to the right, looking up) - you can kinda see her facial features. We are tight on money at the moment, so no 3D/4D pics this time:( These old school 2D ones will have to do! I am still undecided on her name...and I probably wont decide until I see her face:)

During the ultra sound my doc said "wow, look at all that hair! she is definitely not going to be a baldy!" It is kinda hard to see but all that stuff that looks like grass is hair...so glad I'm gonna have another girl with a full head of hair:)

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T19:02:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas this year with my family in SJ. It was nice to be home for Christmas since I hadn't been HOME for Christmas in about five years:)

aaaaannnddd on top of being home, we had a white Christmas! it snowed lots a couple days before Christmas day:)

playing in the snow with gramma! (maw maw)

she wasnt the biggest fan of snow...was more interested in the doggies lol

isnt our snowman adoreable?!

aunt ashee was coming to get her!

allyson & mommy

going on a walk with grawma

I put our snowman in this pot to save him from the dogs!

she tried to steal the baby from my mom's nativity lol (obsessed with babies!)

LOVES nana!

SJ snowfall (kinda melted tho)

Christmas morning...she wasnt quite sure what to think at first!

"babys first christmas" hat! so cute.

checking out her toy from santa!

ben and ellie are dorks

Eli's wrapping job of my mom's slippers LOL special

Eli's Christmas present from ben!

I thought it was funny to look over and see a random deer head lol

opening one of her MANY gifts! (so spoiled)

ava's 1st christmas!

LOVES to give her kisses:)

griffen taking allysons new baby for a stroll...I love the look on allysons face in the background! like no he didnt!

griff giving her loves:) she is 6 months older but they are the same size lol

ashtyn loves babies!

opening gifts at grampa and gramma crosby's house:)

such a poser:)

love those baby blues!

mommy & allyson ready for church!

daddy & allyson ready for church!

she is like lets go already!!! ps- she was SO good at church which was a shocker since we woke her up so early and she got no nap!

so intrigued by the diaper changing

cheeseballs

loves her new laptop & puppy!

this pic describes us to a tee! allyson not cooperating, me trying to get her to smile, and ben being a goober LOL

this is as good as we got!

allyson & ava in their pretty christmas dresses:)

more kisses for baby ava! (who allyson calls nice baby)

she's like uhhh...am I done now???

uncle Jason already teaching her how to pop a wheelie! :-)

soooo many new toys!

kisses for the play baby too!

sleeping babies everywhere!

Alissa thought she could take Eli...

allyson and ashley thinking "what the heck is goin on?!"

showing grampa (paw paw) her laptop!

lissa thought wrong LOL

allyson watching all the wrestling with a look of "is this okay?"

the deer hung in ellie's room:)

grampa being a tease! (he thinks he's soo funny!)

We had a great time relaxing, eating, playing games, etc. And the boys went coyote calling every chance they got! christmas is truly my favorite time of year:)

27 weeks

2011-12-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

I am very proud of myself for taking so many more pics with this pregnancy! I think I literally have ONE from my pregnancy with Allyson. Even though I don't have pics to prove it, I believe I am smaller this time around. I pulled out a maternity shirt that I wore during Christmas during my last pregnancy and it was huge! And, I am even farther along this time! I know it seems silly but it made me feel better about myself...lol....and I will take anything at this point. As every prego woman will tell you, pregnancy definitely takes a toll on the self confidence! I think that being able to stay at home has made all the difference. With Allyson, I was working 50-60 hours a week, sitting behind a computer. And by the end of the day, I would just be SO swollen! Not to mention, I ate out a lot more since I was hardly home. At home I am able to eat small meals throughout the day, take naps, sit with my feet up in the air, and the best part - wear sweats ALL day EVERY day! But I guess I really shouldn't get my hopes up, there is still plenty of time for me to 'balloon' up! The body is gonna do what it wants, so I guess I just need to accept it whether good or bad:) I had an appointment last week and I am measuring two weeks ahead of schedule and have gained 16 pounds so far. Makes me curious as to whether I will have another HUGE baby or a normal size one:) I will take either; just want her to be healthy! I was supposed to have an ultra sound at that appointment but my doc was nice enough to work with me on my insurance and pushed it back to January. So at my 30 week appointment, I will get another ultrasound:) She kicks and moves around like crazy every day. I am still nauseous and probably will be the entire pregnancy but at least there is no puking! The back pains have started and I have a hard time sleeping at night. All I can say is thank goodness for Unisom! But overall, all is well!

photoshoot with Ava Chrystine

2011-12-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know this is picture overload, but she is just so cute I had to include them ALL! I am definitely no photographer but I sure do have fun taking and editing pictures! Especially cute lil newborns:) so ash and I had some fun:) she really was only fussy in this first shot (and only because she was hungry!) so ash fed her and she was SO good the rest of the shoot:) I wanted to put her in a million outfits but she is so tiny that she hardly fits in ANYTHING! she totally looks like her daddy:) love her!

haha

lol

baby feet are sooooo precious!

meeting cousin ava

2011-12-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

so these pictures are kind of out of order but its too much of a pain for me to rearrange them, so here we go!

can this pic be ANY sweeter?!

allyson was obsessed with ava's bouncer!

she would lay in it and say "bed" and pretend to be asleep lol

ava chrystine doubt was born on december 8, 2011 weighing in at 7 pounds 8 ounces and 21 inches long! she is just a tiny little thing. so sweet! we were able to meet her the following Saturday:)

allyson is saying "awwwww"

pointing to her nose!

this was so funny. allyson was holding ava and ava had her fists clenched and kind of hanging in the air, so allyson randomly gave her "knuckles" cutest thing ever! so then of course we told her to do it again so we could get a pic:)

she was obsessed with her. she did pretty good...you have to watch her close because she tries to smother her lol. or should I say "overly love" her:)

giving kisses!

showing daddy the baby!

so happy!

more lovin:)

this is the first time she held her. it was so cute! until...about two minutes into it, she said "done!" and just dropped her hands lol

my first niece:)

uncle benji:)

so interested!

kisses for baby!

i love this shot. she got soooo concerned when she started to cry!

here, let me kiss it better:)

family pics 2011

2011-12-03T22:43:00.001-08:00

I just realized that I never posted the family pictures that we took to go along with our Christmas letter. We just had my sister take them for us at a nearby park and I was pleasantly surprised how they turned out! (aside from the fact that we couldn't get Allyson to smile - the stinker)

running with daddy to the truck (they were overly excited to be done - the brats!)

our first Christmas letter:)

2011-12-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

I sent a letter out with our Christmas cards this year...I hope to keep up the tradition. My gramma and mom write one every year (and yes, my gramma mentions EVERY kid, grandkid, and great-grandkid!) A few years ago my gramma gave me a notebook of all her Christmas letters (starting back when my mom was a baby) and I just think they are so neat. A little piece of history! So here is my first attempt:)

Barney Christmas Letter 2011
Hello Everyone! Ben & I have been married for over five years now and I have yet to ever write a Christmas letter! So I figured this year was a good time to start, so here is a little recap of the past five years...
This year we bought a new house! With the current very low home prices, we were fortunate to be able to buy a much bigger house in a much nicer area. We absolutely love it and have already gotten good use out of the pool!
Ben started a new job this year at Grand Canyon University as an enrollment counselor and is doing well there. He also just started doing some taxidermy work on the side, so if you know anyone interested, let us know! Last year, Ben finished his Bachelor’s degree in IT Security from University of Phoenix Online. He has plans to start his MBA in the near future at GCU. Ben enjoys everything outdoors...in fact, if he could, I think he would move our family to the mountains and live off the land! But his wife says no...because I enjoy hot showers and a flushing toilet! Before we moved, Ben served as the Scout Master for our church, which was the perfect calling for him! It was lots of work but he sure did enjoy being outdoors with those boys. He is a hunting fanatic and his highlight of 2011 was getting drawn for an awesome elk tag. He was able to tag a HUGE one on opening morning and the proof is already hanging in my living room! Ben loves most all sports and is able to get his ‘fix’ in by playing softball and basketball once or twice a week.
Jessica is pregnant again! Pregnancy sure is hard on me, but I am excited to have another little girl coming in March! Poor Ben...as someone told him...it is his lot in life to be surrounded by beautiful women! As a little recap for me, I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Arizona State University in 2008 and landed a job with a public accounting firm where I worked as an auditor until we had our first daughter. Right before the birth of our daughter, I completed my Master’s degree in accounting from University of Phoenix Online. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to stay home with our little girl and I love it! There is nothing more
rewarding than being a mommy. I recently started doing some part-time work from my home as a data analyst. I hope to be able to do bookkeeping and tax preparation from my home someday in the near future (but obviously not next year since my baby is due right in the middle of tax season!) When I am able to, I enjoy playing in softball leagues (sometimes co-ed leagues with Ben). My favorite activity is just being with our families, especially when that time involves a lake! Before we moved, I was serving in our church as the 2nd counselor in Young Womens. I loved that calling and I truly miss those girls! In our new ward, Ben and I serve together as primary teachers. I love the little boys that we teach and it is a nice change up!
Allyson is our spunky 20 month old. She was born on April 8, 2010 weighing in at a whopping 9.5 pounds! She started out so chunky and is now our skinny, petite little girl! She started walking at her one year birthday and hasn’t stopped moving since! She is such a busy-body; gets into EVERYTHING! She climbs up on everything and loves being outside. She is obsessed with babies and doggies. Her vocabulary is quite impressive for her age and she can point out almost all the body parts! As a warning: she is not scared to lift up your shirt if you ask her where your belly button is! She loves to dance. She will shimmy her shoulders on cue every time you say ‘shake it’! She is a social butterfly and loves most everyone. She says hi to complete strangers all the time (usually while we are grocery shopping). Whenever anyone, and I mean anyone, comes to our house, she always wants to leave with them. Mommy must be pretty boring! Good thing a little sister is coming soon to help entertain her! She is definitely a girly girl. She loves to paint her toes and put on makeup with mommy. Anytime she puts on cute shoes or clothes she says ‘awwww’! She is the light of our lives and brings us pure joy every day.
Alissa needs her own short paragraph because she is sort of our adopted daughter this year. She moved in with us in August and has been attending ASU. We don’t see her that often due to her school schedule and social life, but we enjoy having her (I think Allyson likes it the most!) and it is definitely nice to have a live-in babysitter!
We have been very blessed the past five years and we are so grateful for such loving and supportive friends and family. May the Christmas season fill your home with joy, your heart with love, and your life with laughter.
Love,
The Barney Family

Light Parade in Prescott!

2011-12-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Prescott always has a light parade to kickoff the holiday season (they actually do an event every weekend until Christmas...so neat!) I loved it because it gave us something to do, plus I love Christmas lights!

allyson loved waving to every float! she would also say hi!

she started on my lap, but then decided it was much cooler to sit on aunt lauren's lap:)

cute:)

I had to put this pic on here because Richard looks like such a creeper in the background! lol

drinking hot cocoa in her sippy:)

apparently, aunt lauren was much more entertaining than the float behind her! haha

there were some really cool ones...a pirate ship!

and a rocking horse!

our Christmas tree 2011

2011-12-01T15:46:00.001-08:00

I was excited to get our tree this year because I could finally have a nice tall tree! (thanks to our hugely vaulted ceilings in the new house:)

allyson helping daddy:)

such a good lil helper!

we got her to help put up a few but she mostly just wanted to sit and watched daddy while eating her applejacks:)

our Christmas tree 2011:)

Christmas tree hunting 2011

2011-12-01T15:19:00.001-08:00

We went Christmas tree hunting the Saturday after Thanksgiving with some of Ben's family. We spent Thanksgiving up in Prescott with Ben's family and I forgot to take pictures! I brought my camera with me and everything! gosh darn it! Oh well...at least I documented SOME of the weekend:)

Allyson thought she was such a big girl for getting to sit in daddy's seat!

hmmm...what can I get into up here?!

sticks her tongue out while concentrating...just like her daddy!

turning on the windshield wipers lol

silly girl:)

so cute:)

allyson & daddy

the lovebirds! richard & alivia:)

she waved to me:)

look mom! no hands!

she was loving it!

hunter loved it as well:)

two peas in a pod! the sun makes richard's hair look so red! (as a side note: his hair is not normally this color...it was a dye job gone bad:)

Stake Rodeo

2011-12-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

Our stake does a neat little rodeo every year. It was so cute and fun! We didn't get to stay too long because Eli's semi final playoff football game was that night as well, but we had enough time to eat some chili dogs, a piece of pie, and take allyson to the petting zoo area. she loves animals! ironically, she wasnt scared of the calf, pig, or goat...she was scared of the duck! hahahahaha...she must haver a fear of birds like her mama:)

Lady A Concert

2011-11-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday my awesome hubby took me to the Lady Antebellum concert. It was AWESOME! They sound soooo good live and I just love their songs:) The two opening acts were Randy Montana (loved his voice) and Josh Kelley (brother of Lady A's lead singer and is married to Katherine Heigl). They were both great. We had a lot of fun and we were able to go with some of Ben's family. The concert was at the new GCU stadium which is really just a glorified high school gym so every seat in there is a good one! We were soooo close to the center stage! Thanks for taking me babe! And thanks Lissa for watching Allyson:)

please excuse the crappy cell phone pics!

22.5 weeks

2011-11-18T23:51:00.001-08:00

I am FINALLY starting to feel semi-normal again! I am still nauseous but I haven't thrown up for almost two weeks! woot woot! I started feeling better around 20 weeks but then I got some sort of virus that I swear nearly killed me...at one point I literally wanted to die. Not fun! And then of course, Ben and Allyson caught it as well. There is nothing sadder for me than watching my baby girl puke all night:( But luckily they got over it in about a day. It took me about five days to start feeling semi-normal again! At my check up this week, the scale said I have gained about 7 pounds and I am measuring one week ahead of schedule. The baby's heartbeat was good and healthy. She is still sitting VERY low! Which is not very nice for my bladder:( I swear my bladder never fully recovered from the last pregnancy. The baby is VERY active now...I swear she never stops moving! We get to see her again in another ultra sound during the first week of January:)

Uncle E's football game:)

2011-11-14T17:53:00.001-08:00

I love when my siblings have sporting events in the valley because it gives me the opportunity to watch! Eli (a sophomore) is on the varsity football team and their playoff game was down here last weekend.

Here he is at kickoff...he is really fast!

Not only do I get to watch my little bro play, I get to watch SIX cousins play! Here they are sportin' the Crosby Crew sign! (everyone is pictured except Sam:)

supporting uncle E:)

such an evil smile!

loves her uncle E:)

running around on the field after they won! she was so excited to wear the tutu:) such a girly girl! way to go ellie and all you boys! excited to watch you all again next weekend:)

Happy Halloween 2011!

2011-11-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

the tail just cracks me up!

she was finally old enough to actually walk around trick or treating! she was so cute...Ben and I had so much fun taking her:)

she wouldn't say trick or treat but she would say 'tank tee!' after they gave her candy:)

big bootie costumes are the cutest.

Once anyone would open the door, she would try to just walk in their house! No fear with strangers! And after seeing a few houses that had dogs inside the house, at EVERY house she would say "doggie?" when they opened the door. LOL...obsessed! Doggies and babies...her two obsessions!

Ashley's Baby Shower

2011-11-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! so yummy!

my auntie's and mom made different soups and my gramma made homemade rolls:)

thanks for all the help mom, auntie's, and gramma!

she gets NO attention. ever.

candy bar memory game:) thanks for doing the games amy!

allyson wanted to keep some of the clothes haha. she would hold them up and say 'aawwww'

always has to have her baby!

its an obsession. literally.

she made ashley give both her AND her baby 'loves' lol

loves her aunteee

cheeseball

ashley taught her to hit lissa....BAD AUNTIE

Overall, the shower was a great success. Ash got tons of stuff, CUTE stuff!!!

Schnepf Farms 2011

2011-10-20T18:44:00.001-07:00

I had never been to Schenpf Farms before, so I decided it would be fun to tag along with Brody's (my friend Bailey's son) preschool class. It was pretty fun...we got a great deal going with his class. Otherwise, I don't think it'd really be worth your money to pay full price for everything. Anyways, it was something fun for Allyson and I to do so thanks for inviting us 'bay wee'!

can we just say DRAMA QUEEN?! seriously? its hay.

therefore, she had to have mommy hold her. (please excuse the grown out nasty roots...getting my hair done next week! yay!)

cuties Brody & Rigden!

snacks and milk are a must have!

on the hay ride...looking at the 'dee'

waiting for the choo choo train ride!

riding the train!

so thirsty! it was HOT!

allyson's favorite part was the petting zoo! she LOVES animals.

the baby goats wanted to eat her shirt! haha

she liked the baby goats the best...probably because they were smaller than her:)

my lil cowgirl:)

watching the chickens!

picking a pumpkin!

so many to choose from!

awww a little one!

but mommy made her get a bigger one and it smushed her! lol

allyson is going to have...

2011-10-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

a baby SISTER!

As my cousin Naomi stated to Ben, "It is your lot in life to be surrounded by beautiful women!"

Bring back those cute clothes and adoreable headbands:)

oh the joys...

2011-10-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I would like to document more about my pregnancy this time. I didn't document ANYTHING with Allyson (only TWO pics!) and I am regretting it because I would love to compare. But then again, I understand why I didn't...I was working at least 50 hours a week along with finishing my Master's program...its no wonder! No time and no energy! I feel like I am such a wuss this time. That, or I was superwoman last time!

I am just over 17 weeks now and I am FINALLY starting to get my energy back. I say starting because I will feel good one day and cruddy the next. Yesterday I felt so good that I cleaned my ENTIRE house! (which has been neglected for FOUR months) AND I did the laundry as well! AND made a yummy dinner. GO ME! But of course now today, I am feeling so lazy and zero energy. My nausea has lessened but it is still there. Still am not able to drink water. I THINK my nausea really died down at 20 weeks with Allyson so I am hoping it will be GONE in the next couple weeks! I definitely feel like my belly is growing so much faster this time. And it gets really frustrating at times because I haven't gained any weight yet but I feel like my belly is already huge! (for this stage, that is) Anyways, I guess we just cant help how our bodies react:)

Here are a couple pics I took after church on Sunday (17 weeks)

It took both sides because I feel like I look like two different sizes, depending on the angle.

I took this one at 14 weeks.

Next Tuesday we get our first ultra sound! Which means we get to find out the sex! Ben and I are really hoping for a boy this time of course but I wouldn't mind a girl either because I wouldn't need to buy a thing! Plus, I have a girl name already picked out. NO BOY NAMES! I will post the verdict next week:)

my HUGE 18 month TODDLER

2011-10-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

21 pounds 6 ounces (10%)
32 inches tall (50%)
size 5 shoes

favorite words: daddy, mommy, doggie, puppy, feesh (fish), dee (deer), bean (bear), duck, bub (for belly button), eyes, nose, mouth, ears, cheese, cookie, milk, baby (most fav!), drink, nack (snack), side (outside), bye bye, muah (for kisses), book, dat (that), fwee (three), yuck, no no, awwww, baf (bath), shoes, and Im sure there is more but those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head!

favorite things to do: read books! jump off anything and everything and everytime saying fwee fwee FWEE! (one two three). says 'awwwwww' when she puts on clothes, holds her babies, sees pictures, etc. loves to kiss and 'give loves' to her babies. she can tell you where the following are located: eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hair, fingers, toes, and belly button. funny side note on the belly button: she is not scared to lift up anyone's shirt to find their belly button and poke it. its so funny! she LOVES to dance and loves music. its almost like she cant help but dance whenever she hears music. if we tell her to 'shake it', she will shimme her shoulders. its so cute! she loves to follow around aunt wissa. she will sit on the kitchen table next to alissa's laptop and just talk her ear off. she loves to sit a 'play' the piano. one time i think she played it for an hour straight which works for me! keeps her occupied.

when you ask her how old she is, she will put up one finger and say fwee! haha...at least its half right? when we ask her if she wants a spanking she will start spanking her own bootie. funny girl! she will occasionally give her baby spankings too! when you hold up a cell phone to take a pic she will automatically start saying cheese! (funny how she says it only with cell phones and not my actual camera!) even though she likes the outdoors and playing with cars, she also such a girly girl! she wants her toes painted whenever i paint mine and she loves to put on makeup with mommy!

she is a social butterfly. she waves and says hi to complete strangers all the time (she is a hit with everyone at church!) and speaking of church, she went to nursery for the first time last sunday (yay!) and she did so well! not one tear! so relieved. hopefully it lasts! she is a busy busy girl. has to be doing something every minute and just jibber jabbers all day long. she climbs on everything and LOVES being outside. anytime ANYONE is leaving our house, she tries to go with them and will just wave bye bye to me! she is a little scaredy cat with EVERYTHING. her favorite tv show is yo gabba gabba (weirdest show ever!) - probably because they sing for most of the show.

I believe she has 17 teeth (its kinda hard to count them!). her favorite dinner is chicken nuggets. she is not a big eater (not even with sweets!) she LOVES meat! her daddy's girl for sure! (not that I dont like meat, but Ben loves it) she drinks lots of liquids all day long. its almost like she would rather just drink liquids all day rather than eat! she sleeps pretty good most nights. so far I have been lucky and she never resists bed time. actually, if i say ok its bed time! or even when I say ok its nap time! she will just start heading up the stairs. she must like her sleep like her mommy!

She is just the light of our lives and brings me pure joy every day. love you baby girl!
Here are the 18 month pics I took of allyson while we were up in SJ for Ben's hunt...

Ben's Elk Hunt 2011

2011-10-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

It's Ben's favorite time of year! He hadn't been drawn for an elk hunt since 2007 so he was like a kid at Disneyland with his tag this year!

He got a NICE one!

6x6. scores somewhere between 350-360.

you forget how big they are!

got him opening morning, literally ten minutes after it became light enough to shoot!

hahahha he is in LOVE

we dressed allyson in her camo dress just for daddy's special day! she wasnt really liking the elk tho!

hahahaha allyson's face is priceless! i dont blame her...they are kinda scary! but she better get used to it I guess because it will soon be hanging in our living room!

ben with his dad

ben took allyson for a ride on the three wheeler...she did NOT wanna go at first.

she switched to this position! lol!

now thinking, hey this aint so bad!

I wouldnt say she loved it at the end, but hey, at least she wasnt crying! gotta love my drama queen!

How Great Thou Art

2011-09-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

I was in need for some feel good music today…this is an older video, but holy cow. Makes me tear up every time:) So, if you are stressed or feeling down at the moment, takes a few minutes to watch this video…I PROMISE you will not be disappointed!

Apache County Fair 2011

2011-09-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, we left Allyson to stay with my parents for a couple days, so to relieve my mom from my little nusiance, I rode back to SJ early with Alissa on Wednesday night (she had to be back for the pig show on Thursday morning). Allyson did really well without us! (which didn't surprise me - she likes everyone else better than her parents most days! guess we are not 'cool' enough! or maybe we just dont spoil her enough:) I enjoyed the break but was glad to get my little girl back:)

here she is being spoiled rotten by her aunt ashee!

Alissa with her pig!

allyson LOVED the pig show!

grampa & momma

eli doing his 'swag' walk while showing his pig!

playing with the pig stick!

now playing with the steer stick!

watch out!

such innocent eyes!

Eli with his good lookin' steer (which placed first in its class:)

The steer show was Friday morning. I know I am such a redneck, but I love watching the 4H shows. Brings back good memories:)

Griffin loving some cotton candy!

Ben got off at noon on Friday and met my dad up by Springerville for his Unit 1 Archery Elk tag. They hunted on Saturday morning as well but had no luck! However today (wednesday), my dad got a nice one!

We watched the animal auction on Saturday afternoon and Ben did some scouting for his elk hunt coming up in unit 2.

On Saturday night we watched the rodeo and took allyson on a few rides at the carnival!

this is the 'before' pic

and here is the after! so funny. she was almost asleep!

I just loved that it was sweatshirt weather! yay!

Labor Day Weekend 2011

2011-09-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

We orginally had no plans for Labor Day weekend (a first for us!) but we knew we did NOT wanna stay in this outrageous heat. So it was either Prescott or SJ; and since Ben's parents were out of town on vacation, SJ it was! Alissa and I were able to ride up early on Friday morning with my dad (he had come down for a business meeting), which meant we got to go to the RV-SJ football game!

allyson loves her aunt ashee!

the are two peas in a pod! cheeseballs for sure!

Lissa with griffdawg...okay he looks pissed at me in this pic but I swear he loves me! ;)

Gooooo Redskins!!

the boyz. PS - we won 18 to 8!

she actually paid attention! who knew she was a football fan?

ash made her a shirt:)

little monkey

love him:)

gramma with spoiled rotten

allyson was obsessed with feeding griffen. it was so funny!

this was allyson's best friend for the weekend! her name is Nana but allyson calls her 'nono'

giving nana kisses!

do you see that huge crater on the side of her face? so disturbing! we are not sure what it was from but it has since 'popped' and is now healed:)

ellie's scars from the stupid dome turf!

aunt wissa

eli's doing his backflip!

dad keeps up with the boys too! :)

dad tearin' up the kneeboard!

she LOVES grampa's boat!

lol and this is why i love him:)

eli doin' his grab!

love sleeping babies:)

ben getting some major air!

uncle E let her drive! loved it.

it was a great weekend away from the heat! We already knew we were coming back the following weekend for the fair (and for my dad's elk hunt) so we left Allyson in SJ to stay with grampa & grampa for a couple days!

hello world

2011-09-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

This is an older song but I never really paid attention to the lyrics until I watched the music video thing morning. Holy cow...what a great message! Made me cry. Take a moment to listen:)

Hello World - Lady Antebellum - Lady Antebellum Videos

allyson is going to be...

2011-08-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

A BIG SISTER!

Due March 20th:)

I am a little over 11 weeks. Morning sickness hit me FULL FORCE starting at week 5. I have been super sick:( oh the joys of pregnancy! pregnancy is so horrible for me that I am seriously debating being DONE with two! we'll see:) and all you women who 'enjoy' pregnancy, I HATE YOU. seriously.

on a more positive note, I am super excited for a new baby! can't wait:)

25

2011-08-27T18:26:00.000-07:00

I kinda took a few weeks off of blogging in August, so I also missed my birthday! The big 2-5 on August 15th. Man, I feel old. I had a great day...my sisters gift was an hour long massage and then my dad took us all out to Olive Garden for dinner! This is the only pic I got of the day...a cell phone pic from ash! haha.

On this birthday, I am feeling very blessed. I have an education, , an awesome house, a wonderful husband with a good job, a gorgeous daughter who makes me smile every day (who I get to stay home with every day!), great friends, a family who loves me, and most of all - the gospel in my life. I just hope I can live worthy of all of these blessings:)

summa time

2011-08-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

So I was watching CMT Countdown this morning and this video was #3. I just love it:) reminds me of summertime and goodtimes:)

And a sweet sidenote: they interviewed Jake Owen during the countdown, and it turns out that the guy wakeboarding in the video is actually him! awesome.

Tags: Barefoot Blue Jean Night, Jake Owen, Jake Owen Videos

an addition to the family...

2011-08-25T10:50:00.001-07:00

not the kind you are thinking!

my sister Alissa moved in with us last week, attending ASU (go sundevils!). she is a good helper and we are glad to have her:) i think allyson might like it the best though...she likes aunt wissa better than her parents! she about had a heart attack when lissa left for school this morning. hurry up and come home so we can play aunt wissa!

happy anniversary to my love!

2011-08-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

I am a couple weeks late on posting this, but better late than never, right? August 10th marked five years for Ben & I. It has been the best five years and it seems to have to flown by. Ben and I don't typically make our anniversary a big deal, so I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to this! Along with a card that almost made me cry:)

He made me dinner earlier in the week and the night of our actual anniversary, Uncle Richard watched Allyson while we went to a movie. We watched 17 Miracles (movie about the pioneers which was awesome). I hadn't been to a movie in forever so it was nice to get out!

I can truly say that I married my best friend. No one else can make me smile and laugh the way he does:) He is the BEST daddy and husband and I love the fact that I get to spend eternity with him:) Love you babe!

annual trip to Roosevelt!

2011-08-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

If you are a fan of my blog, then you know that this trip happens every year! family, food, boating, beautiful SRP homes WITH A/C, great views, awesome monsoon storms, card playing...do you see why my family continues this tradition?! :-)

the babies! they got NO attention;)

love how they are looking at each other in this one!

my dad's pretty boat:) and yeah, the water was GLASS every morning. be jealous!

and here is my high maintenance daughter who HATES walking on sand! weirdest thing ever?

my love with drama queen

the sweet Cassidy:) this pic sums up Roosevelt right there....relaxation!

i love sleeping babies!

my 69 year old gramma decided to ski! yeah, she rocks.

she got up! and she even cut out...bad A:)

my daddy tearin' it up! i love to watch him:)

being a goofball haha

my grampa (74, i think?) decided to take a stab at skiing...I told he just wanted to show up gramma! he got so close! next year gramps:)

my uncle Mad Dog cuttin' it up!

gramma & aunt tonya:)

love my gramps:)

ash & griffdog

the husbands:)

allyson with her grampa:)

its becoming a tradition to make these yummy fajitas! so good!

cuties Ty & Ellie

visiting with great company after eating a yummy dinner, all with a great view!

hey grampa, i like your hat

i think i will just take it, thanks!

it almost fits!

picaboo!

my baby getting some BIG air!

cuddling up against gramma:)

ben tackling ellie!

miss princess was very easy to watch because she wouldnt leave the chair unless she had shoes on!

pointing to the airplane! (she's OBSESSED with them)

eli launching josh!

yes, i was a mean mommy and made her get on the kneeboard!

save my grampa! save me!

boating puts babies to sleep:)

surfer girl! (surfing is a BLAST!)

grampa looking for gold!

the camp! we know we look good:)

cliff jumping! they look like little ants up there. and yes, ALL of these people are from our camp!

allyson will sleep anywhere:)

**a special thanks to my daddy for making this happen every year! i love it:) counting down to next year...only 11 month to go! :-)

i just thought it was funny that we were floating right next to the DANGER sign! haha!

this doesnt happen very often, so when it does, it MUST be documented! mom skiied:)

aunt leah brought these cheesballs just for allyson! lets just say she LOVED them:)

pioneer days

2011-08-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

its like Christmas in July:)

my sisters were nice enough to come get Allyson and I early so that I could play on the "crosby girls" volleyball team:)

it was so much fun!

grampa keeping allyson entertained with a cookie!

bre & allyson:)

this picture just makes me laugh! love my grampa!

pretty girl sitting so nicely! (not for long, im sure:)

me and my girl all ready for the family dance!

love her. always has food!

we stayed with aunt ashee on this trip:) her new house is so cute!

love him.

waiting for the parade to start!

mmm tootsie roll!

my crosby crew boys! cutest. boys. ever.

had to document this float. just awesome.

eating lunch at gramma's after the parade! love being with family:)

**other unpictured events included: all the usual events (rodeo, campfire circle, swimming, ice cream social), Lyman Lake (it wouldn't be a true Frazier weekend without some skiing and boarding!), and I must document that I ran the 5K! I trained for it and I met my goal of running the entire thing! I want to make it an annual thing:)

baby girl is 15 months!

2011-07-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

she weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds! (10th%) and is 30 inches tall! (35th%)
Here are a few facts about my little munchkin:

such a HAPPY girl!!

she LOVES to drink mommy's soda! she also loves to watch daddy play softball:)

looking annoyed! she pulls out her hair clips/hair ties when she gets mad at me

she loves napping on daddy:) when daddy comes home, she always yells hi! and runs to him:)

waving hi! she LOVES to say hi to EVERYONE. we will walk down the aisle at walmart and she will just say "hi!" to everyone we see:)

shakin' it! she loves to dance:)

mommy's little fish:) she loves to swim in our pool...holding on to someone of course:) she is such a little chicken!

loves to brush her teeth:)

she is always BUSY BUSY...getting into EVERYTHING!

loves to bang on things:)

she smiles ALL the time:) here she is saying cheese! (my all time favorite pic:)

one of her favorite foods is dino nuggets!

she loves to climb on anything and everything. she pushed the laundry basket over to the counter, flipped it over, and climbed up! smart girl!

she learned to drink thru a straw! she KNOWS what is in mommy's circle K cups! lol

she loves to play dress up with whatever clothes or towells she can find, and then will pose for mommy:)

she loves to keep mommy company and is always so interested in whatever I am doing. in this pic, she pulled up her chair and sat by my while I was making dinner:)

a few others:

*loves to give kisses! (to mommy, daddy, and her stuffed animals)

*loves her doggie! (she will stand by his gate for hours talking to him and giving him rocks to eat)

*loves being outside!

*loves to read books!

*favorite words: no no no! (while pointing), daaeee (daddy), doeeee (doggie), feees (fish)

*can point to her nose, eyes, ears, and mouth when asked

*loves to play patty cake and picaboo!

she is just so much fun:) we love you allyson marie!

4th of July Celebrations!

2011-07-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

We are so blessed to be free! I love this holiday that celebrates that freedom and honors our sevice men and women! We headed up to celebrate in Prescott!

allyson with uncle Richard waiting for the parade to start!

my love & I

richard likes to take pictures of himself lol

yes, i am rocking the braids. its easy and keeps my hair out of my face...dont make fun!

allyson loves her chair that gwama gave her!

did NOT wanna be held! busy busy all the time

benny boo boo

lovin' that apple juice! it was hot out! well, hot for prescott:)

mmm cookies!

Had to get a pic of the Marines. Ben's brother Wayne is serving in the Marines right now...stay safe Wayne!

love this pic. God Bless the USA!

Mater! so cute.

awesome. just awesome.

We were back home for the actual night of the 4th. I love how Allyson is watching them so intently trying to light sparklers!

lovin' it!

spelling Ben with a heart (aka Richard loves Ben lol)

such a neat shot! love my camera:)

my creation: a star! lol

hope y'all had a nice weekend!

we are fam-i-ly

2011-06-29T23:16:00.001-07:00

We just love it when family comes to visit:) my dad had meetings down here monday thru wednesday so the family tagged along! well, Alissa also had to take a placement exam at ASU too so it just worked out to be great timing!

On Monday we just relaxed and there was LOTS of swimming! Let's just say Ash & I DOMINATED at the water toss game! haha! We also had a BBQ at my house Monday night and roasted marshmallows for smores afterwards. yum!

ellie cracks me up!

love this little squirt:)

Allyson got wayyyy too much attention from her aunties and uncle of course but she loved it! Here is Eli teaching her how to pop a wheelie! haha

on Tuesday Eli relaxed (and tanned-the child looks Mexican!) while the girls went shopping! Of which, by the way, we rocked some KILLER deals! We ended the night by watching a couple of Ben's softball games, and of course stopping by Bahama Bucks on the way home;)

They left on Wednesday morning and it was a sad day. Allyson stood by the door for about ten minutes just crying! She wanted to go with them! But the good news is that we are headed up to Prescott for the 4th of July on Friday so she will be getting lots more attention soon! (good news for her, bad news for me! haha)

this guy.

2011-06-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

just turned 26!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE! I LOVE YOU!

love this song.

2011-06-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

i wish we all could be california girls...

2011-06-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we made a quick trip to Cali. We had a couple extra free flights that were going to expire so we figured we might as well! My cousin Jordan Frazier graduated from high school (they live in Huntington Beach) so we were able to attend his grad party at the beach!

Allyson was SO high maintenance at the beach. wouldn't even walk on the sand. such a girlie girl!

there is my daddy! haha! i think he was cold.

i know, i know. i'm a mean mommy, but i laughed so hard at this!

its torture mom! torture!

Eli & Joshie (tryin' to look good for the babes)

auntie lisha! love this pic

lovin' her great uncle Jeff:)

great pic:)

I convinced Alissa to go boogie boarding with me! Lissa wiped out so hard! lol!

while Lissa wiped out, i surfed ALL the way in like a pro;)

weee! it was so much fun! love the ocean.

walkin' with gramps

love this pic!

lovin' on daddy! she is thinking "dont you DARE put me down!" (notice the grip)

if you go to the beach with the Frazier's, there is ALWAYS volleyball!

get some.

loves her grampa:)

havin' some editing fun:)

little turd trying to grab my camera!

she is thinking hmmm....should i touch that sand!?

we flew into the Burbank airport, so stayed with my uncle Justin & aunt Tonya and their two kiddos. this is allyson with her cousin Michael:)

she loved her cousin Nicole! while we were there we were able to catch some of Nicole's softball games...she rocks!

thank you SO much for picking us up and letting us stay with you guys!

the SC Fraziers (minus Michael who is taking the pic:)

she was so much better on the plane ride home than on the flights to Reno:)

now onto our next summer adventure!

RENO TRIP!

2011-06-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

Well we have started out our summer with a bang! We were fortunate enough to get some free flights to go visit our favorite Tyler, Naomi, & Ronnee! We started off the trip on Thursday by doing some shopping (always required:) and a BBQ with some of my cousins that live in Reno!

allyson is not so sure about the slide!

This is my cousin Jaime's daughter Eliana...she LOVED the 'dirt pit'!

my stinker

givin' the puppy a smooch!

she just wanted to squeeze them!

playin' some backyard ball:)

this pic is so funny....ronnee wants to swing!

wasnt sure if allyson would like it since she is such a chicken...

but she LOVED it!

chasing bubbles!

ellie wanted to play ball too!

hi! (she says hi ALL the time to everyone)

lovin' the trampoline!

cousin fun! (ronnee, allyson, ellie, & sierra)

bouncin' with aunt lisa:) (love ellie's facial expression!)

the mommies:) (Jaime, me, & Naomi) - both are my second cousins, just from separate sides!

Jaime, Allyson, me, Sierra, Lisa, Eliana (Lisa & my dad are first cousins)

the lovebirds taking a stroll down to the river!

the beautiful and very full Truckee River! (minutes from Lisa's house and Jaime's house is right on the river!)

checkin' out the river (love Ty's facial expression!)

Ben & I with our little monkey

the daddys (Ben, Tyler, & Josiah)

On Friday we spent the day at Lake Tahoe!

ben wont ever smile forreals!

Tyler is a dork!

ronnee is just too cute!

yum!

look how clear that water is!

family pic:)

please excuse the no make-up! regretting that decision because this is the perfect pic for a christmas card!

the breath-takingly beautiful Lake Tahoe:)

crazy ronnee! love this girl!

allyson would rather sit and eat chips! lol

stage 1: cry/throw fit for mommy's soda

stage 2: acquire mommy's soda

stage 3: bask in the glory (spoiled rotten, i know)

me & my sexy husband!

our little family june 2011:)

she didnt even wanna play in the sand! my child is not normal!

such a chicken!!

After Tahoe, we had another BBQ that night with my cousins Seth & Jeri and their little girls (Jeri is my mom's first cousin). I forgot to take pics but it was so fun to hang out with them! On Saturday morning we had breakfast at Harrah's casino...

biggest. breakfast portions. ever.

even the little girl's chocolate chip pancake was HUGE!

tyler & his momma:) check out the size of her salad!

my pancake was 18 inches in diameter!

after breakfast we walked around downtown Reno at a carshow that was going on...

love this pic of allyson:)

family photo op:)

this was ben's favorite car lol

tyler kissin' some bootay! lol

now this was MY fav! bad. to. the bone.

there were some bands playing and ben felt the urge to shake it! lol

then on Saturday night (and all the other nights as well) we played some Michael Jackson dancing on the Kinect! SO much fun and lots of good laughs:)

we flew out bright and early on sunday morning! thanks nomi & ty for everything! you were the BEST hosts and we had a blast!

we be ridin'

2011-06-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

While in SJ, Jason was nice enough to take us out riding at the blue hills! (although I think they should be called the purple hills) And the boys cousins just happened to be out there as well:)

Ben being a speed demon

I told Jason that this totally coulda been one of his senior pics! haha!

Eli is a weirdo! lol

ricardo & benny boo gettin' ready to ride!

Richard got stuck. LOL (same place that Ash got stuck!)

proof that baby Doubt was doing wheelies in the womb!

garrett:)

the boyz! love them:)

richard riding on the back with Jason....hahahahahahahahah!

richard being a dork before riding!

austin was trying to hang onto the back...failed.

hahahha! austin you are too big!

weirdos!

the photographer didnt wanna walk up and down the hills:)

a gangsta & michael jackson

tyler:)

"i believe i can flyyyyyy" LOL (the wind was HORRIBLE!)

hi-yah! (eli)

Jason (and ashley in the background!)

austin:)

Eli:)

Levi:)

jason:)

Graduations 2011!

2011-06-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

It was all about graduations this Memorial Day weekend! the pics are out of order, but first was Levi, Kyla, & Sam's (all cousins!) 8th grade graduation and then it was Alissa's high school graduation! We love you lisha!

Alissa & Briton

Ben & Richard can't contain their excitement!

Hannah (cousin), Marci, & Lissa! (senior class presidency)

G&G Crosby

BCF! (best cousins forever) ~ Kelsey, Liss, Jacy

Richard (Ben's step-brother) decided to join us for the weekend! goofball just like ben!

G&G Frazier

the parentals <3

Ash & Jase

Benjamin and Alissa being goofy as usual!

my gorgeous sista

holy silly string!

Lissa sang during their ceremony. she did such a great job!

where is lisha?!

Kyky and her awards! (all-around athelete & salutatorian:)

the gorgeous Ferrin Crosby fam!

~cousins~

the ever-so-handsome Levi!

Kyla getting one of her awards:)

She played a piano solo during the ceremony and ROCKED it!

Way to go grads!

MTV cribs

2011-05-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

A few of my 'peeps' have asked me to put up pics of my new place, so here we go! get ready for my virtual tour:)

This is the view when you first walk thru out front door. I painted the accent wall...its kinda hard to see the color in a picture but i LOVE this color. MUCH better than the green that was there before!

the stairs!

formal dining room. we changed the chandelier...they had the ugliest gold one there before! (random sidenote: that fish tank was a pain in booty to move!)

view of front door

once you walk past the stairs, you get this view of the family room

if you take a left from the entry way, you walk into our guest room

and right next to it, is the guest bathroom...to be painted at some point.

and right next to the bathroom, is the laundry room/entrance to the garage

a view of our 3 car garage...LOVE all the room! and storage:) so excited to be able to park our new car in the garage! PS-that jetski over there is for sale! let me know if you are interested!

looking from family room towards entry way

family room/kitchen

my kitchen! LOVE all the cabinet space! we painted it this dark maroon color (it was green before) and changed out the orginal white appliances with our black ones....one million percent better!

looking into formal dining room from kitchen

view from the little dining area

and now onto the backyard! (my favorite:)

pool & jacuzzi:)

firepit/seating area

the back patio. ben wired and hung his old speakers (you can kinda see one up in the corner) so now we have music in the backyard! perfection.

the sideyard. aka Hunters crib. its a pretty decent size side yard, bigger than it looks! they left us that shed which was super nice! more storage baby! ben installed the black fence, so that we could keep Hunter away from the backyard. He doesnt chew on things anymore, but he pees on EVERYTHING! no bueno from our plants and pool, so he has to stay locked up unless supervised!

now onto our upstairs! at the top of the stairs we have a loft, which we made into our office/ben's sport room. he told me he wants to paint it U of A colors, but I think white works just fine;)

view of the downstairs from the loft

if you turn left from the stairs, you go down this hall

this spare bedroom (aka Alissa's temporary room-she will be living with us starting in August when she starts as ASU) is on the right side of the hall. and no, I did not paint those colors. I plan to paint it a khaki color (because they left us ten gallons of khaki paint!) but I told Alissa she has to paint it herself because I'm sick of painting! :P

on the left-hand side of the hall is Allyson's/Alissa's bathroom...will be painted at somepoint.

and then at the end of the hall is Allyson's room! biggest room of em all (besides the master of course). I painted her room exactly the same as before since I loved it so much:)

she even has a walk-in closet! once again, LOVING all the storage space!

view of the whole room

if you turn right at the top of the stairs, you walk into my room:)

I painted the wall red and the chair railing black and I LOVE the way it turned out:) soo glad because it took me forever! and yes, my room is red/white/black again...its my favorite color scheme!

view from the bathroom

master bathroom:) eventually we wanna lay tile in this area, but carpet works for now!

tub/shower and the toilet is on the right hand side (at least there is tile in the toilet room:) and then behind that, you can kinda see my closet. i am in LOVE with my closet. its HUGE! when I first showed my family the house, Eli walked into my closet and said "ok, this is my room!" haha!

and that's all she wrote folks! we really did get an awesome deal on this house. we had to be VERY patient, but it definitely paid off. We put our first bid in before Thanksgiving and we did not close till mid April! Everything that could go wrong in a short-sale, went wrong. At one point, my dad even told us to find another house. I kept telling him no! I love this house and there hasnt been anything this nice in our price range! not to mention i love the school districts in this area. well, the Lord blessed us and we are forever grateful:) it was a short sale, and the family was still living in it when we bid on it so we weren't sure what to expect as far as what shape the house would be in. Well, the house was immaculate! very, very clean. they left lots of left over paint, left over chlorine, and just little things like that that they didn't need to:) we are always up for a BBQ or company, so don't hesitate to call us if ya'll want to visit!

State Softball Weekend 2011

2011-05-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were able to go watch my sister's state softball games. They played so well! This is Alissa pitching during the first game (which they won 11 to 9).

Allyson dressed up as their cheerleader:)

doin' a little dance for the camera:)

aunt ashley spoiled her all weekend!

The game times were 9:30am and 4pm, so we hit up the pool during the break! A nice cool down since it was 100 degrees out!

Eli accidentally threw the ball into the neighbors yard! lol

eli and ben had to show off their dunking skillz

no foul!

Ben threw Hunter in pool!

the big meanie! hunter looks so scared! we arent sure why he wont jump in? he LOVES the water!

showing off their best sides;) this is the start of the second game. They played SO well in this game but ended up losing 5 to 0 :(

allyson is like "really? we have to go thru this again?!"

Alissa up to bat

Jacy up to bat

um, can we say spoiled?! look at her dirty face! wayy too much attention:)

aunt lissa with allyson's game face!

allyson thought alissa's game face was pretty funny

G'pa & G'ma Fraz

her favorite people;)

I heart the pitcher!

lissa and coach (mommy)

g'pa fraz & allyson

then of course there had to night swimming!

eli & ben had too much fun being goofballs!

hahahahahahahah nuff said!

Ben's MJ dunk

Easter 2011

2011-05-01T17:58:00.001-07:00

We spent Easter weekend up in Prescott this year. It was nice to be around family:)
Here is allyson with crazy uncle richard!

we got her to finally smile while looking at the camera!

allyson & mommy

so happy with her eggs!

she put one down...

to pick a different one up!

egg huntin'

she would rather just eat the plastic eggs:)

she was good with just one!

grampa barney helping her find eggs!

we have moved!

2011-04-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

there have been a lot of changes going on in the Barney household lately; one of them being that we purchased a new home! it was a long and hard decision but it was time to leave south phoenix. i will miss being close to downtown. i will not miss being woken up at 2am by the sound of police dogs and a helicopter search. i will REALLY miss our ward and my young women; i truly loved my church calling. i will not miss driving thru junk yards everyday. i will miss living two feet away from ten circle k's. i will not miss living in a small house.

we purchased a BEAUTIFUL 4 bedroom (plus a loft), 3 bathroom home in south Chandler. great area, great school district. we hope that we can stay here a LONG time:) lets not mention that the backyard is BOMB! pool+jacuzzi+firepit. i see good times ahead. we feel very blessed. and the crazy thing is that this house cost the SAME as our first home...craziness.

pictures to come, once i finish painting and get time to breathe:)

allyson's one year stats

2011-04-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

WEIGHT: 18lb 7oz (15th %)
HEIGHT: 29in (50th %)

Allyson is a skinny minny! Makes me so sad that she is already one. People keep asking me about baby #2 but I feel weird even thinking about another kid because I feel like Allyson is still a baby! I know that this is going to change quickly in the next few months, but for now, I will soak up all her babiness! haha. Here are some tidbits:

*LOVES to dance...to anything, include the beat of the shopping cart going over cracks in the road! (silly girl)

*loves to eat vanilla wafers, pretzels, & cheez-its

*still breastfeeds twice a day (once right before bed and once right when she wakes up) but I plan to have her completely weaned in the next couple weeks

*has 9 teeth (i think?)

*loves to play patty cake and read books!

*FINALLY will sleep thru the night...but will only sleep good if she's in her own crib

*likes to have screaming contests

*will smile REALLY easily at ANYONE

*prefers walking over crawling

*loves to play games with her daddy

we love you allyson marie!

Allyson Marie turns 1!

2011-04-20T21:36:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby girl is one! We celebrated her special day by having a BBQ with friends and family:)

she was so excited she could hardly contain herself!

she loves to walk now! prefers it over crawling:)

looking so innocent!

gets her goofy faces from her father!

mommy & daddy got her this cute lil quad!

she loves it!

playing patty cake on grampa frazier's head!

chillin' with grampa barney!

her cupcakes! which, were SO yummy, if I do say so myself!

her cupcake cake:)

had to put this pic in here because my dad built this lego car...LOL

jason & ashley

susanna & marc and elyse & brian :-)

the 'words with friends' players! aunt wissa is gorgeous...uncle richard is uh... lol

the food! (notice my dad was first up lol)

the master BBQ chef:)

gramma frazier brought her this cute birthday headband but she did NOT like it! haha

riggie is so cute!

checkin' out her cute sock doll

brody & rigden were showing her how it worked!

hahaha goofy face! allyson is like, um, i think thats mine!

new vans from aunt ashee!

uncle E & uncle J

she is looking at me like im nuts!

yay!

haha! eat that cake!

look at my hands!

here, have some:) (always has that one foot up! lol)

yummy!

Thank you everyone for coming! (especially our families that had to travel long distance!) We love you all:)

i live with 2 characters!

2011-04-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

Per my friend Lycie "I think Ben was an angry Chinese man & Allyson was a customer lookin for egg rolls:) That's what I got from it" LOL

Maricopa Tourney

2011-03-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go watch Alissa and cousin Jacy play in the Maricopa softball tournament. (alissa pitches, jacy plays second, and my parents still coach also) They are fun girls to watch!

at times allyson would cheer for aunt wissa, but most of the time she was just busy getting into things.

Pitching like a pro:)

she rocks:)

baby girl is 11 months

2011-03-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

oh how i love my little happy girl! cant believe she is almost one! here is a little picture update:)

modeling her new swimsuit while eating potato chips!

all pretty for church:)

she makes me laugh everyday:)

rockin' the jeggings!

bringing back the side pony:)

this picture perfectly describes my cRaZy kid!

pic from last month...

baby steps...

2011-03-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

here is a video of allyson walking with her little walker toy. she loves it! and i think its so cute:)

State Wrestling & Bball Weekend(s)

2011-02-24T21:43:00.000-08:00

The state wrestling and basketball playoffs were held in Prescott this year. Allyson and I were able to go watch Eli's first couple matches on Friday. He did so well!! So proud of him:)

Allyson was so cute...she cheered and yelled the whole time! (she did the same thing at Lissa's games, so I guess she just wanted to fit in and yell with everyone else!)

We headed back home Friday night because Lissa had her first game down here in the valley the following Saturday. We had the pleasure of Ashley and Jason staying with us as well. We all got in some quality 'Just Dance' time on the Wii!

allyson is thinking "what the heck is going on?!"

this one is the best! ashley's pose and allyson's facial expression says it all!

I am a bad sister and didn't take any pics of Lissa during her games! She won her first game, but then lost a heartbreaker game the following weekend up in Prescott. She did well though! We love you aunt Wissa!

Allyson Marie - 10 months

2011-02-03T17:43:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe my sweet little allyson is almost 10 months old! I feel so fortunately to get to stay home with her...she is my life! Every morning, I get to wake up to this cute lil' face and it just makes my day:)

allyson makes this commute over to Hunter every day more than once! It really bums me out that he is such a hyper dog; otherwise I would just let her go play!

She has mastered crawling quite well now. She just follows me around from room-to-room. She is definitely a mommy's girl, but she will go to anyone!

she loves to blow bubbles! one of her many tricks!

I just absolutely LOVE her eyes! makes it super hard to say no to her!

she lovesss toys that make noise! the toy she is holding (from great g'ma crosby) is super noisy. she will shake it like crazy while screaming. crazy kid!

she is very smart...knows exactly when she is into things she cant have!

she is now pulling herself up onto EVERYTHING! she has already had quite a few falls...she's quite the dare devil.

sticks her tongue out all the time...just like her daddy! (he claims its "cool" because Michael Jordan does it! lol)

And here is my little begger!

This girl just brings pure joy! she is almost ALWAYS happy!! its so fun to take her to stores because she just smiles at everyone and it makes people so excited/happy when they smile at her (the most fun are the circle K cashiers:)

what is she begging for now?!

oh, thats right! my circle K pepsi! startin' her young! haha! (notice how she is sad because I told her no)

sportin' her camo! she is bound to be a hunter with Ben as her daddy. And yes, her nose looks orange. She is a VERY picky eater and only likes the orange vegetables - (sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash) and the dang things stain her face almost instantly!

She loves to mess with daddy's toys (which he does NOT like!) Whenever she hears music, she starts to dance...and she actually has rythm! its so dang cute (not that i'm biased:)

She talks to Hunter every morning...I always am curios what babies talk about!

can i go play? please?!

and here comes the crazy kid! she gets more fun every day. will play 'patty cake' on que, has screaming contests with her aunts, has everyone wrapped around her little finger, still likes to cuddle (which i love!), loves vanilla wafers, and will eat everything on the ground! (I am pretty sure she has eaten a couple of her little plastic hair ties)

She sleeps pretty well through the night...is having a tougher time at the moment because she has FIVE teeth coming in at the same time! We love you allyson marie!

my 'not-so-professional' photography skillz

2011-02-03T16:44:00.000-08:00

So, for my birthday Ben bought me a super nice Nikon camera. So Ash let me have a little fun taking some wedding pics of them. They are a gorgeous couple, so they made it easy!
disclaimer: I am in NO way professional, actually, I just point and click! its so much fun:)

(this one is horrible lighting, but the pic idea was so cute!)

Ashley & Jason's Wedding

2011-02-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

My sister, Ashley Chrystine, married Jason Doubt on December 30, 2010 in the Mesa Temple. It was a FREEZING and windy day, but she looked beautiful:) Congrats guys!

they did it!!

the whole group

Ashley & Rachel <3

Ashley's side

pretty girlies! (Bre, Lis, Kels, Jord)

Kyla & Allyson

my pretty sister "aunt wissa"

my goofball husband!

after the ceremony, we all went to Macayos for dinner!

goofy kids

the reception decor...great job mom!

the food table...they had pizza and cupcakes! so fun

Allyson & mommy

the pretty centerpieces

the gift table

the sign-in table/entryway

the little flower girls! allyson & alora

cuttin' the cake!

kinley caught the bouquet!

the bridesmaids:)

the groomsmen:)

the frazier family (minus two spouses!)

at the end of a fun weekend, allyson playin with uncle E!

Wanye & Preet's Wedding

2011-02-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

Ben's brother Wayne got married the same weekend as my sister Ashley, so after Ashley's wedding (which was on a Thursday) we headed up to SJ. Allyson and I stayed in SJ to attend Ashley's reception Friday evening. Early Friday morning, Ben and his brother started the long trek over to Oklahoma (in horrible road conditions no less!) So they drove all day Friday, attended the wedding ceremony on Saturday, and then headed back to SJ early Sunday morning. Picked Allyson & I back up on Sunday evening, and then we headed back to the valley!

Ben said it was a beautiful ceremony and lots of fun! Congrats to Wayne & Preet!

christmas 2o1o

2011-01-11T19:12:00.000-08:00

We started off the weekend by going to visit with Ben's mom at Grandma Vona's house in Chino Valley.

Susan fed us some yummy wings and french fries!

here is wayne watching john wayne! haha!

allyson beat up auntie sammie:)

then she gave gramma susie some loves:)

on christmas eve we all had a nice dinner at Arden & Capri's!

allyson loved the mashed potatoes!

she thinks her uncle richard is a weirdo...

but she still loves to have fun with him!

picture perfect christmas eve:)

~our lil family on christmas eve 2010~

i look so dumb in this pic but i had to post it because ben and allyson look hilarious!

allyson with her "game face"

on christmas eve we went to the courthouse in downtown prescott to look at the lights!

allyson got some noisy toys on christmas morning:)

allyson & mommy christmas day 2010

after opening presents, we went over to visit with Susan again. Here are Susan, Samantha, Ben, Allyson, Wayne, Amanda, & G'ma Vona

allyson in her christmas dress!

we went over to Grampa & Gramma Barney's house for Christmas day dinner

we hope your christmas was a sweet as ours!

9 month stats

2011-01-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

*28.5 inches long (80th percentile)
*17 pounds 10 ounces (30th percentile)

so we have a tall and skinny little girl! i just cant believe she is already 9 months! she is just now starting to steadily crawl up on her hands and knees. she is starting to pull herself up on everything too. she is a little vacuum and tries to eat even the tiniest little spec on the floor...its so funny cuz she will lay on the tile and try to pick up the little specs that are in the design of the tile. lol! she is pretty easy going and will go to almost anyone. she has mastered patty cake and will wave bye-bye sometimes. she loves to scream (happy screams) and say mama and dada. she seems to only like the orange baby foods (sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash). she is STILL not on a consistent sleeping schedule (probably because we have been so busy in the past couple months). she has two teeth on the bottom that came in at 4 months and is just now starting to get one on the top....but it hasnt broken thru quite yet. she loves to crawl over to watch her doggie thru the door. she has cuter clothes and shoes than me but thats ok:) as long as she looks cute, it doesnt matter what i look like! love you baby girl!

and so it begins...

2010-12-26T19:03:00.000-08:00

she has been doin' the stinkbug/army crawl thing for a while but she is getting much faster! its so dang cute:)

rag quilts

2010-12-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

I received a couple rag quilts when allyson was born and I just thought they were so cool lookin! As I was looking at them one day, I thought 'hey, that doesn't look too hard! I bet I can do that..." So I decided to make a couple for Christmas gifts this year. They aren't too hard, just sooooo TEDIOUS!! hours and hours of work and some bruised fingers but fun! Here is how they turned out...

This is the second one I did...for my friend Lycie (turned out a little better than my first:) practice makes perfect!

the front (flat) side

Here is the first one I made...for my cousin Jason. He just finished his fire academy training so I really wanted to make him one with some kind of fireman print on it but fireman flannel is impossible to find! So he got red and plaid pattern instead:)

picture with santa:)

2010-12-17T18:28:00.001-08:00

I realize that she isn't old enough to understand, but I had to get the pic:) plus it was free!

I figured she probably wouldn't cry because she will go to just about anyone. When I handed her to him she was just infatuated with his beard! so when we finally got to look at us, the lady didn't give me anytime to let me get her to smile! oh well...so we ended up with a pic where she looks confused! the lady taking the pics told me "it looks like she is ready to box!" haha.

PS - please excuse the bad quality as this is a pic of pic!

Ashley's Bridal Shower

2010-12-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

The auntie's and I threw ashley a bridal shower on December 2:) Tara was so nice to let us use her house!

Ashley with her adopted kids!

aunti brandee, aunt tara, & kim:)

it was very well attended!

the memory game - matching the phrase to a candy bar:)

the kiddos were really into it:)

the wedding dress game! each team had a couple minutes to make a wedding dress out of one roll of TP:) Team 1 - Hope

Team 2 - Skippy

Team 3 - Kyla

Team 4 - Jacy

Team 5 - Addison

Ashley got to choose the winner!

Team Jacy won!

Next up: the bubble gum game...answering questions that I asked Jason. She had to eat a piece of gum for each wrong answer!

hahahahha...i would say she failed!

holy gifts!

lovely ladies:)

it was soooo funny to watch ash open her gifts!

so embarrassed about everything! haha!

allyson takin it all in:)

kinley loves allyson:)

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

Uncle Justin & Aunt Tonya hosted Thanksgiving this year over in Cali:) It's always a blast gettin' the Frazier crew together!

Nicole sportin' her pearly whites:)

snackin'

watchin' football

great pic of Gramps and uncle Justin!

lots of cards were played!

~sisters~

**cheeseballs**

i love the way she is looking at him! like "uhh who are you?!"

she didn't get ANY attention! :P

waitin' for the food!

master chef:)

~goofballs!

Jake & Victoria!

our turkey pinata!

ashley wrestled down lissa....shocker!

nicole got to throw the football at it first!

got it on the first try!

the next day, we went to a skatepark! here is ben showin' off his moves!

my daddy...lol!

aunt wissa! it was freezing!

i gave it a try...LOL emphasis on the try!

im thinking...should i go?!

we also hiked up to the hollywood sign that day! i love how allyson is just crackin up in this pic!

the hiking gang

had to put this one in there....look at jordan trying to kiss ben! haha!

our lil fam

liss'n'me

holly-WOOD! i swear we passed by heidi and spencers house...

finally at the top!

just plain gorgeous!

Eli, daddy-o, and liss

Jason...lookin like a model~!

the look on her face says it all!

Jeff you are in the net!!

ben gots hops fo sho

allyson with her great aunt tonya:) shortly after this pic, allyson pooped all over her! sorry aunt tonya!

i didnt bring any extra clothes so she was only wearing her jacket in this pic (hence why she is so bundled up!)

aahhhh....she was SO glad to be home:)

cousin Ronnee comes to visit!

2010-11-29T09:01:00.000-08:00

Naomi flew in a few days early for thanksgiving so they were able to stay with us a couple nights! It was so fun to get the girls together...a tradition for years to come!

got allyson to smile!

now ronnee smiles! (never together haha)

"here, have a shoe"

so cute!

"ok mom, seriously...enough pictures!"

hangin out! lol