Please, don't call it a clunker.

It is official! Scott got his license plates put on his new car. A big thanks to your tax dollars in the Cash for Clunkers program.

We heard about Cash for Clunkers on the news and Scott started researching it. It sounded just right for our 1992 Saab. We love, love, loved that Saab! Seriously loved it. We paid $1,500 for that car in Boston. We bought it from a friend in the hopes that it would last us the rest of our time in Boston and then get us across the country. We then packed that car up with all of our belongings and made the big month long trek across the U.S. and Canada to move here. It got us to our new home and lasted 5 1/2 years with no problems! It was a good, good car and we were so lucky to never have a car payment.The last months of the Saab's life with us though were all downhill. It didn't have air conditioning anymore and Scott was driving to and from work in 90 degree heat with no air. It had no radio. And in the end Scott had to fill it up with water every morning to travel to work and every evening to go home. Even the morning we were to turn it into the dealership we were both just hoping and praying it would start and get to the lot. When we dropped the Saab off Scott actually asked the guy to please not refer to it as a clunker. It was much more to us than that.We were the second people to do Cash for Clunkers! We were ready. The car had been chosen, a deposit had been made and we just had to fill out the paper work. Then we were off in our brand new car! Yahoo! It has been very exciting for Scott to have all of the luxuries of a real working car. It is definitely his baby! He gets to pump the air and listen to sports radio! He is one happy man with his new car.

Happy Anniversary!

Sunday, September 6, was mine and Scott's 6th anniversary. It was good, but different too. We have made a tradition of going away on a little (or big) trip for our anniversary. Except the year we were in the hospital having Ava. This year was different. Things were different because I am very pregnant so we didn't go anywhere, we had my family here visiting, we went to church where I am always distracted and crazy doing Primary and then we went to a wedding of some friends in the evening. The wedding was actually a really cool way of remembering it was our anniversary. It was at La Caille and it was GORGEOUS! The ceremony was nice, the mingling and appetizers were fun and the dinner and dancing was great. We had a nice time being out together like that on our day. We took some time after leaving the chaos of the dance floor to walk around the grounds at La Caille. They are simply beautiful with flowers and trees and a full moon over the canyon and peacocks and bunnies . . . .etc, etc. We walked and talked and hugged and kissed and remembered how happy we are that we made the decision to marry each other 6 years ago. A lot has changed for us in 6 years, but knowing for sure that Scott is the man I want to be with forever has not. Happy Anniversary to us! Next year there better be a good trip!

Here we are headed out to the wedding.

Two, Two, Two!

I know. I haven't been great at updating the blog lately. Three reasons: 1. My arms and hands HURT SO BAD from carpal tunnel. It's especially bad using the computer. 2. Our camera is broken in that it won't upload to the computer. So I had to do these at Walgreens on a CD. 3. We've had a lot of visitors and other goings on that kept me from the computer. I'm back to do some updating though. Here we go:

Ava turned two years old on September 5. We were all lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Allred here to celebrate with us. They started the festivities the day before with Build-A-Bear. There could not have been a better present for Ava. Grandma let her pick out her animal of choice. She chose a puppy. They filled her, bathed her (Brie walked her through it all) and then found a U of U cheer leading outfit for her.Grandpa Roger was not all that thrilled about the red cheer leading outfit, so he actually bought another one . . . a blue one. So now, not only are each of us divided in our wearing of blue or red, but so are our stuffed animals. Thank you dad.

Ava's birthday was a completely fun filled day. She woke up to the house decorated in streamers and balloons. Both Brie and Ava were thrilled with the streamer doorway Grandma and Scott created for them. We had a good, big breakfast with eggs. Ava LOVES eggs! She was taught at breakfast how to hold her fingers and say "two, two, two" to show how old she is. We then headed off to visit the zoo. Grandma, Landon, Sarah, Aiden and Anne joined us there. It is a good time to be at the zoo. All of the animals have babies! We saw EVERY SINGLE animal and even rode the train.Baby giraffe that was born while were at the zoo the last time.We then met up with Grandma and Grandpa Buchanan, Grandma Great, Grandpa Allred and Tawna at Noodles & Co. for Ava's favorite meal EVER . . . Mac n' Cheese! It was fun to have everyone together for lunch. I don't think Ava noticed though, she just CHOWED on that mac n' cheese!After a good long nap, the party continued with the watching of the BYU vs. OU football game. Wow. What a gift OU handed over to Ava for her birthday, by letting BYU beat them. Awesome game! We had dinner, then cake and ice cream and a lot of cheering and yelling from Grandpa Allred because of the game. We love, love, love our Ava Potata! She is hilarious right now. She gets so crazy! She is talking a ton and saying more every day. She follows and copies everything Brie does. She is still attached like velcro to me and really, I don't mind. She is so cute and I'm so happy to spend my days with her. Brie goes off to preschool now, so Ava and I have good times together running errands and going to Kindermusic together those mornings. I hope she is ok to be a big sister soon. She seems excited. She is always trying to look at my belly under my shirt to find the "baby boy". I'm glad she had such a happy birthday with so much fun and family!

These are Ava's stats at her 2 year old visit to Dr. Brian:
Weight: 21 lbs. 7 oz.
Length: 32.5 in.
Head: 45.4 cm.
Still not on the charts, but following it along from below.

Brie's First Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Brielle's first day of preschool. She was VERY excited! She couldn't wait for me to actually leave her there at school all by herself with her friends and Ms. Chris. She kissed me, Ava and grandma good-bye and was off! She had a fun time and learned about how she is great! We are very excited for her to have such a good time at preschool and for Ava and Mom to have some time together until little baby boy joins us.

P.S. She chose to wear this polka dot skirt because Grandpa Roger would be here and "he loves polka dots!"

Deer Creek

Brielle has been asking since the snow melted to go to the beach. She wants to swim and build sand castles and for sure fill her bathing suit with sand. Well, we didn't go anywhere that has a beach this summer. We had to try to have a beach day in Utah. So, we started our day at the Farmer's Market where we bought DELICIOUS peaches, raspberries, corn, apples, apricots, etc. We took it all to Deer Creek to play in the water and sand. Deer Creek is not that great when looking for a beach. It makes for a much better day if you have a boat there. So we found our friends and climbed aboard their boat. It was a fun day and Scott even got in some knee boarding. I decided to opt out of any water sports. Ava buried her head from any wind coming her way. I think Brie was plenty happy with her day at "the beach".

Our Summer Vacation . . . . At Home

This year we made no plans to go on a big vacation. The last two years have been big ones (Europe 1 month, Boston 3 weeks) and I'm feeling pretty pregnant. So, lucky for us, the vacationers came to us. We had a GREAT time with everyone here at home.

My sister, Jessica, arrived from New York City. We were SO EXCITED to have her hang out with us. We don't see her very often and she is great to be with. Ava is still asking about her. We went up the canyon to roast hot dogs, went to the Thanksgiving Point gardens, died laughing watching Blades of Glory and watched her go in and out the door to see all of her other people. Man, I wish she lived closer. She even overlapped a day when my other sister, Laura, arrived with her family. We had breakfast at Silver Fork Lodge up Big Cottonwood Canyon and then hiked/walked around Silver Lake. Then Jess was off to the airport and back to crazy life in NYC.Ava determined to get in with the ducks.
Brie in her own personal musical. She was singing and dancing all over the boardwalk.
Ava climbed in the stroller to play peek-a-boo with baby Lila. Talk about a love affair, Ava LOVES baby Lila!
Every day with the Skinners was packed and I was not the best picture taker. If you've ever tried to take a picture of my girls you would know why. It's like pulling teeth!

One day was Wheeler Farm to see all of the animals and go on a tractor ride. My sister-in-law, Sarah, and kids were able to join us here. Aiden, Anne, Ava and Brie are feeding ducks.That evening was a walk (or a chase the kids around) around Temple Square.
One day was spent at the Ancient Life Museum. Davin loved it. I think my kids were the wrong age and gender, but they had a good ol' time playing in the sand.

All the cousins (except the Hughes fam)!!Ava had a hard time being ok with her hands being sandy.What you don't know is that Brie accidentally peed on the floor right here. She just couldn't tear herself away from the fun I guess. I was shocked. She hasn't had an accident in a year and then there she is peeing on the museum floor. She had to go commando because I had no back up clothes.Kea giving a great scared look running from JAWS!And Brie, happy as a clam sitting bare bummed in a new sand pit. Gross. Lila saved the day with her diaper cover up that turned into panties.Our last day was a hike up to Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It was still beautiful. The kids did GREAT on this hike, especially baby Lila. Scott had a new audience for his tutorial on how to skip a rock.
The hikers!
It really was so fun to have everyone here. We miss them. Now we are just waiting for the next round of visitors when my parents and sister show up on Tuesday. Yahoo!

Open For Discussion: Boy Names

I went to my 30 week appointment this morning. I'm actually quite shocked that I am 30 weeks pregnant. This one has gone VERY quickly and we are feeling like baby boy Buchanan will be here in no time. And guess what . . . we still have no idea what to name him. I know a lot of people don't want to tell their name choices until the baby comes so you don't get lots of comments about it, but that is exactly what I am looking for. I want to hear new ideas and I want to hear what you think about our ideas. We need some help here. We both do want something that is more on the traditional and classic side. I think that is important for a boy's name. So here we go:

Top Four Favorites (that Scott and I agree on):

James Scott: We have both always liked this name. It's classic and strong. Only negative is that it was one of our president's name and he wasn't so great. That's fine though.

Reid Scott: Scott's name is Scott Reid, so it would be a nice way to name a son after him. Reid is a good Scottish name and it means "red", so that ties in to my last name being Allred. Kinda cool. And I love what our baby name book says about it, "Reid somehow manages to make preppiness sexy, which is a good recipe for success in life."

Luke Scott: Luke just sounds like a really cool name to me. We both really like it. It has good history in Luke from the New Testament and Luke Skywalker.

Zachary Scott: Another just cool name that we both like. I think Zach and Luke go well together, if we were to ever have another boy.


Individual Favorites:

Beckett Scott: Scott really likes this name. At first it was because of the Red Sox pitcher, Josh Beckett. The nick name would be Beck. I like it. I do think it is a cute name for a boy and a cool name for when he's older. It is just a little too different for a boy's name for me though.

Alexander Scott: This has been, and may always be, Alicia's favorite. I think it sounds so classy. It is a name that has always been popular. I love, love, love the name Xander as a nick name for when he is young. Then as an adult he can be Alexander. Older people (and Kamber) think Xander sounds weird.

I also like Thomas. I've noticed I like all the biblical names. We both like Lincoln, but our good friend's named their son Lincoln Scott 5 years ago. And Scott of course would love to go with Big Papi or Youkalis.

So, go ahead and give us your opinions. If we can't come to some conclusion Scott is planning on selling the naming rights on Ebay or to my Dad. Neither would be a good idea. Thanks.

A Perfect Saturday

Last Saturday was the perfect Saturday. I have a list of things that I want us to do this summer and we were able to check two things off of the list. Hooray!

We woke up, had breakfast and then drove right up our canyon (Little Cottonwood Canyon) to hike Cecret Lake. I wanted to do this now because it is wildflower time. And it certainly was wildflower time! The flowers were blooming everywhere, all over the mountains and it was beautiful! I'm sad to say that our camera died when we got to the lake, so there aren't too many pictures of the flowers or the mama and baby Moose that we saw on the way back down. We really did try to take a family picture too, so that I could be in one, but that is when it died. Too bad.

Scott helping the girls across the river.
Brie and the wildflowers. Brielle hiked the full one mile up and one mile back all by herself. Never carried. It was an elevation gain of 450 ft. She did GREAT!! The whining started just as we were finishing. Perfect!Scott in Cecret Lake. I was wishing so bad we could jump in. Nope. Watershed.
Brie and Ava LOVED throwing rocks in the water. Here they are showing off the rocks they are about to chuck.Scott teaching the girls how to properly skip a rock.Ava really liking her granola bar.
Snacks for the Red Sox duo.

We all came home from the canyon, took baths and went to bed for naps! Glorious naps!

That evening Scott and I had a babysitter come over to be with Brie and Ava. We went on a date. We got subway sandwiches and went to an outdoor Peter Brienholt concert at the Sandy Amphitheater. It was a beautiful summer night, a good concert and so fun to be with Scott. Loved it.What a day!