Grandma Allred's Funeral

Phil's Grandma Allred passed away last September, and we had the opportunity to travel to Thatcher for the funeral and family gatherings. We so enjoyed being with family, and celebrating this amazing woman. The above picture is of Phil's parents, siblings and their families. I didn't get a shot of all that came, but every single one of Phil's cousins made it to the funeral. I was completely impressed by that, since the family is so spread out, and I know that it was a tribute to how much Grandma Ellen loved her family, and how much they wanted to honor her.


Cheryl, Wendy, Lisa, Diane,Bob, Evan, Bradley and Phil



Our little family (Jonathan and Ty didn't go to the funeral--they stayed and played with Grandpa Flake, but they joined us for the fun gathering afterwards).

The girl cousins minus Alyssa, who is way too grown up to get down on the floor and play anymore =)

Brendon and Grant. These two used to play together everyday when we lived in the apartment above Phil's cousin and family. Neither one remembers any of it. Sad, sad, sad.

Phil and his cousin Todd. Todd and Shawnee also lived by us back in our early married days. I think we counted at least 5 Allred cousins who lived in that apartment complex by ASU at or around the same time as us.

We are so grateful for Grandma Ellen and the life she lived and gave to her family. It was great to be together and learn more about her!!

Joy School

I started looking for preschools way too late, and all of those here in Kingman were already full. But I was lucky enough to find a joy school group to join, even if the name "joy school" seems a bit lame to me =) I prefer to call it a preschool co-op.

I love being a little more involved with Ty's preschool experience, and there's enough moms in our group that I don't have to teach very often (which I love even more!). But when it came time for my first turn to teach, Tyler was sick. So he hung out watching a movie in the bedroom while his friends were here, and then we did our own preschool when they left. Another advantage to being the teacher =)

Thanksgiving

Sooo....I have absolutely no pictures from Thanksgiving. Not even one. We had so much fun, though!! We stopped at a hotel in Mesa on our way, went swimming in the heated pool and enjoyed the warmer weather there. Then we drove to Thatcher early Thanksgiving morning and had a delicious dinner at Lisa & Phil's house. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time playing together, while the adults visited. On Friday, after getting up for the Black Friday sales and only getting a couple of things I wanted, we all got ready for a Flake family picture. That even went pretty good =) We enjoyed the rest of our time visiting with both our families and then headed for home Saturday afternoon. We finished off our great trip by stopping by the Cluff's in Phoenix to visit for a few minutes and to break up our trip a little. Six hours gets pretty long with all these kids we have!!

Halloween

Sooo....since it's almost Christmas, I think it's about time to post about our Halloween.

I snapped a quick picture in the back of the truck before they all headed out for trunk-or-treating at the church.

Jonathan as Anakin Skywalker

Tyler as Iron man

I let him pick out his costume with absolutely no help from me, and of course he chose the same costume as nearly every other boy his age!

Suzanna was happy to pose in her Spider Countess outfit. She was totally offended that the rest of the world didn't know what a Spider Countess was. Neither did she until she got this costume. But how dare they!! =) She was also pretty excited to wear makeup for the night!!

And Brendon was too cool for an individual pic, or to pick out a costume before a half an hour before the trunk-or-treating. He is so turning into a teenager. Grrrr.....

Our pumpkins...we need to buy a new pattern book so that we don't keep having repeat designs!! Luckily we've moved, so no one knows =) Maybe I don't need a new book after all....

Soccer

Way back in September I was asked to be a coach for Jonathan's soccer team. Apparently they were short on coaches this year, and got desperate enough to call a novice like me. So it was either coach, or Jonathan didn't get to play, so I said yes. One of the best perks of being the coach was getting a free pic of Jonathan and me =)

What an adventure! Luckily one of the dad's of the kids on my team volunteered to be an assistant coach--he was great at teaching the kids the skills they needed, and our team really learned a lot.

With both Brendon and Jonathan playing soccer, and coaching Jonathan's team, soccer pretty much consumed my entire fall, and as much as I loved it, I'm thankful the soccer season is over. But we're looking forward to next year!!

Angle Orchard Apples

While in Thatcher for Phil's Grandmother Allred's funeral, we were able to take Tyler up Mount Graham and pick some delicious apples. Ty had fun eating the apples, but didn't appreciate the gnats that accompanied the visit to the orchard. Phil and I were excited to get some great apples to take home, and it was fun to have just Ty with us while the others played at their cousins' home.

More Thatcher Fun

While in Thatcher we made a late night trip to Ice King for some snow cones. The kids had a great time deciding from the million flavors, and soon everyone's mouths were blue!

Suzanna had fun playing with her cousin Elizabeth. She is the happiest little girl I've ever seen, and we had so much fun getting to know her more.

The weather was beautiful while we were there, and the kids played outside so much. Ty was proud to show me the fun he and Ashlynn were having. I'm not so sure Grandma Allred will be so pleased to see their imaginative use of her clothesline!!

They boys spent most of their time playing soccer in the front yard--they especially liked it when Uncle Robert joined in!!