Thanksgiving 2009

In a moment of insanity I said I would host Thanksgiving for my family of 33. And in retrospect, I'm so glad I did! Josh got to cook the turkey trying his hand at an outdoor pit, I got to make myself crazy with preparations for a perfect Thanksgiving dinner (maybe I'd let that one go next time) and we discovered our little home could do it! Not without a bit of crowding, but then my family is big...we're a crowd wherever we are.

I hope they all enjoyed it as much as I did!

Maddy, Faith, Emma and Ellie...cute girls or what?!

The extent of my creativity comes in the form of plagiarizing other people's brilliant ideas. This one comes from my friend Shawni. I loved it! Thanks, Shawni!

Notice a bit of role reversal? I tried to tell Josh that "MOM" inside-out was still "MOM." But when it comes to these big events he might as well take the credit. His smoked turkey was a-maaa-zing! I'm not one for turkey ordinarily, but was all a gobble about this year's bird. A job well done to my honey.

Char can't get enough of her cuz, Preston. Of course he is the only one that will give her piece after piece of "gon" (gum).

The feast...or half of it anyway.

A little hanging out after stuffing our faces with turkey and not yet quite feeling the effects of the tryptophan.

I love that these cousins are all best buds.

And of course I love, love, love my Allred girls! Here we are in order from oldest to youngest even (left to right): Cassi, Mikki, Kristin, Bekki, Mom (a little out of order, but then probably younger in spirit than all of us put together) and me.

Thanks to Mik for being our Thanksgiving photographer!

Shark Tooth

There's a pile of yucky dishes in the sink that need some serious tending to so of course I'm blogging. The way I see it, life history also needs tending to and if one has to go...well then I'm perfectly happy to plop my tired little bum into a chair, force my tired little eyes to stay open (at 8:24 PM) and document the oh so exciting events of our oh so exciting family. Actually, this is a big one and I've been meaning to get to it for a while...

My Jonah bubs has lost his first tooth! And grown in two more. It's a little creepy looking. See for yourself.


This was taken before the one fell out. We've still got one more to go before he no longer looks like a shark.

Jonah's note to the tooth fairy was cute...


Translation: "I want the tooth fairy to pick up (my tooth). Love, Jonah." And then partially erased at the bottom, "Lost my tooth." He wrote that while Josh and I were scouring the house looking for the lost prize. We eventually found it...in the garbage.

A friend just wrote a cute post, The Truth Fairy, and it was something I've been thinking about lately. I was so afraid Jonah was going to ask if the Tooth Fairy were real because I don't ever remember believing it as a child. And I wasn't sure if I was prepared to lie about it either because let's face it, she doesn't play a super important role in the land of make believe. I'd say she ranks right up there with the Easter Bunny (not a fave with me). But more than that, I was afraid if he figured out the Tooth Fairy weren't real he'd assume Santa was no more either. A truly devastating thought.

And yet, I'm not a good liar. Let's just say I let out a big sigh of relief when he took the announcement of a magical fairy who comes in the middle of the night to snatch your tooth from underneath your pillow leaving a few coins in its place, without question.

This one's for the whole family!

Tubby the Tuba and Friends, Nov 21st

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Dear Friends, Tubby the Tuba will be performed at the Mesa Arts Center - Ikeda Theater, November 21, 2009 at 2:30 PM. This concert is held on a Saturday and will be held in the afternoon at 2:30 PM. Tubby the Tuba and Friends will be a fun afternoon for the entire family with the Youth Symphony performing Debussy's Children's Corner, Symphony of the Southwest performing Carnival of the Animals featuring acclaimed pianists Walter Cosand and Robert Hamilton, and finally Tubby the Tuba will be narrated by special guest, the Honorable Scott Smith, Mayor of Mesa. Concert is at the Mesa Arts Center - Ikeda Theater, November 21, 2009 at 2:30 PM. Tickets may be purchased through the Mesa Arts Center Box Office for $17. Memberships are still available starting at $50. That's the equivalent of going to the next three concerts and getting into the final concert free. And we've got some great concerts coming up with the Christmas Delights concert, the Space and Science concert performing Holst's The Planets, and our Mother's Day concert "From Paris . . . with Love." It's a great season and a great value. More membership options are listed below or can be found at our website: Memberships This will be an entertaining afternoon, so be sure to invite your friends and family. They'll thank you for it! * * * * * * Walter Cosand Walter Cosand, pianist and Professor of Music at Arizona State University, studied at Eastman School of Music with Cecile Genhart and Barry Snyder. He also studied with Joerg Demus in Europe on a grant from the DAAD. He has won several significant awards including the Eastman Concerto Competition, the grand prize from the International Piano Recording Competition and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit http://www.waltercosand.com/index.html * * * * * * Robert Hamilton Hamilton has made countless concert tours of four continents, appearing in the major halls of most music capitals. His orchestral engagements have included the Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Grant Park Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony and S.O.D.R.E. Mr. Hamilton has been heard over numerous radio networks including NPR, ABC, BBC London, Voice of America, Armed Forces Network, DRS Zurich and Radio Warsaw. He has recorded for Phillips, Orion and Summit Records. Hamilton currently has an exciting class of international students at ASU, and has given master classes throughout the world. * * * * * * The Honorable Scott Smith, Mayor of Mesa Mayor Smith serves on many boards and committees a few are the US Conference of Mayors Advisory Board, National League of Cities Transportation Infrastructure Committee, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport Board and Maricopa Association of Governments Regional Council Executive Committee. Professionally, Mayor Smith has worked for both Price Waterhouse and ExecuShare, LTD. He also worked for the University of Phoenix as an accounting and finance instructor. Most recently, Mayor Smith served as President for both Great Western Homes and K. Hovnanian Homes. Mayor Smith earned a degree in Accounting from Brigham Young University, after completing a two-year mission in Bolivia. He continued his studies at Arizona State University earning a Master's Degree in Business Administration and a Juris Doctorate.

Do your feet have names?

If you were to ask Ellie this question, the answer would be, "Yes!" And then pointing at the bottoms of her feet, "This one's Jonah and this one's Ellie."

Josh and I discovered this little secret of hers during Sacrament Meeting yesterday when, shoes kicked off, she was sitting on her knees facing the back of the pew. I look down and on the soles of her feet were written "Ellie" on her right foot and "Jonah" on her left. Looks like we need to have the FHE lesson "Our Bodies are a Temple" tonight...again.

I got a picture of it later, but it had already faded quite a bit. A close look though and you'll see what I got to see in the middle of Sacrament Meeting...not the most opportune time to bust a laugh.

Halloween 2009

I have to admit, Halloween's not my favorite. The gore, the cheesy Walgreens decorations, the bucket loads of candy that inevitably I end up eating, the endless costume parties...it's all a bit much for me. This year however, I took a more chilled approach. The kids wore whatever costumes they wanted to the various parties, we carved pumpkins last minute with no expectations of winning any contests, after trick-or-treating we sat around our fire pit in our driveway with good friends and family and a few days later we set up a makeshift store of toys/gifts that required payment in candy so that hardly any is left. All in all, I'd say Halloween was a huge success. The kids are now gearing up for Christmas, asking every other minute how far away it is. It's the most wonderful time of the year around here.



Pictures from Halloween...











These are from the Allred get together we had before trick-or-treating...




Just a few of the Allred cousins getting all geared up for some serious candy snatching.