Thank You Valentine!

I've been eying this picture of the

for months and months now. I never really thought I'd get it (too pricey). But leave it to my Valentine to find a way (half price). Thank you Kent, I can't wait until it's hanging in our living room! What a great Valentine's surprise. If you'd like to look for your temple click here.

Daddy's Little Monster

Jack was Frankenstein for Halloween.We never posted pictures, just thought I'd share.

I had a drug problem when I was young

I found this on the internet yesterday and had to
I found this on the internet yesterday
and I had to chuckle. I'd like to thank my
parents for"druging" me. I'm so very lucky
that I was taught from an early age how to be
polite and respectable.

I will consider it my greatest
accomplishment if I can raise good
and righteous children.

My biggest accomplishment so far is that my
son says please and thank you.
I think he's on the right track,
but I won't pat myself on the back just yet.

6 Months Prego

Here I am in all my glory!

24 weeks Pregnant.
The funny thing is, when I
went in for my ultrasound at 20 weeks
no one would have suspected I was pregnant.
What a difference a
month can make.
Give me another month
and I'll really give you something to talk about...

Liza Jane Howe

Meet Jack's newest cousin.
Liza was born on January 29th.
I like to picture Liza and Jillian being future
best friend cousins. Of course this might
be a little premature considering
Jillian is still inutero...


Welcome into the family baby Liza.
We can't wait to meet you!

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello

Goodbye President Hinckley

I always felt like he knew me.
I always felt like he understood
my generation and our challenges.
I appreciated his humor and easygoing attitude.
I loved his ability to be kind and firm at the same time.

I loved his tenacity for building temples.

I knew he was a prophet of God.

Thank you for leading us these past 13 years;
you will always hold a special place in my heart.

*****

Hello President Monson

Today it was announced that Thomas S. Monson will
be the new Prophet of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

His counselors are Henry B. Eyring
and Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

President Monson won't be filling
President Hinckley's shoes;
he will be wearing his own and making his
own mark as an individual. I look forward to
Conference in April and hearing from
our new first presidency.
They are a powerful trio.

And I can't help but wonder what I will love
and appreciate about our new Prophet
as he serves the Church and our Lord.

Art?

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year
is to make life more meaningful for Jack.

To help fulfill this goal the two of us signed up for
Edible Art through the city's rec. department.

I was so excited our first day of class.
Jack loves to draw with pens, crayons, markers, chalk, etc.
He loves drawing on paper, sidewalks, and walls.
"This is so up his alley," I thought.

Wrong!

I forgot one little thing. I am anal.
Therefore, I am raising
an anal son.

Our first assignment: Finger paint with colored whipped cream and corn syrup.

Problem: This makes one's fingers
(and I quote Jack) a "mess, mess."
I'm pretty sure I was the only parent there
whose son refused to get dirty.

We did however manage to make these works of art:
I call this- "Mom made me dip my hands in corn syrup."


These 2 paintings are from Jack's whipped cream period.


Here we are after cleaning up our MESS.
I guess we need to work on playing
a little dirtier at our house.

And yes, UM (Jack's blanket) came along to class too.
Um was remarkably clean
despite the painting.

Hopefully we'll relax a bit in the classes that follow.
And maybe, just maybe we'll come to enjoy
the beauty in getting a little messy.

Blog Hijack Post Number 3

Have ya met CAPTAIN TUPPERWARE?

Blog Hijack Post Number 2 - Christmas update

Okay, so after spilling the beans about the new baby sister to join the family (see the previous post) here's an update to how much fun December was for us.

We first went to the Fountain Valley 3rd ward Christmas luau, and we had a hoot of a time. Grandma and Grandpa Allen joined us, which was all the more fun! We saw lots of Polynesian dancing, a fire breather, and we ate lots of cookies. Jack was very festive with his "Beatles" shirt. Hmm...I wonder who dressed him?


So, Dada has a great job and generous bosses that let him take some good time off to spend with the family. So, we ventured to Ventura to spend Christmas time with Grandma and Grandpa Allen.


As you can see, they were tickled pink to see us. Well, they were mostly tickled to see Jack. Who can contend with the life of the party?

On Christmas Eve, Jack and I took Momma to the Santa Barbara Zoo. We saw Momma's favorite animal, the giraffe.

Jack's favorite without a doubt was the CHOO CHOO!

On Christmas Day, Jack was pretty overwhelmed with all of the presents,
and but he did have fun tearing into them.


We're pretty sure that his favorite was the tricycle he received from Grandma and Grandpa Allen. It looks like Momma is enjoying the convenience of being able to steer her boy in the right direction.


On our way home from our Ventura Christmas adventure,
we stopped in Pasadena to visit the Great Allen Grandparents.



GO GRANDPA GO!

We Hijacked the blog again!!

So, because Momma is making a baby and so "tired" all the time, Jack and I decided to respond to all of the requests for an update. So, we had a good Christmas, but first things first. Jack's going to have a baby SISTER!


So, somewhere around May 27th - JILLIAN MARIE HOWE - is definitely going to shake things up in our all blue world. Momma likes to say that the scales are shifting.