Update coming soon!

Ok so I will be a little slow posting our Hawaii trip. I was amazed that we actually made it. It has been planned for almost a year and all chaos started Friday before we left. Avrie had her toe nail incident and on Saturday Andrew got into some chocolates that a friend brought us back from Germany. They were tucked safely away in the carry on bag until his sister showed them how to get them. Well apparently his peanut allergy would also include pistachios. Needless to say we made a trip to the ER because I wasn't sure if I should use his Epi and we would have ended up there anyway if I had. They gave it to him there and also some medicine through IV and a breathing treatment because his asthma flared up. I was so worried about leaving him. He cheered right up after the meds and we took him home and he was back to normal. I was tempted to lock Kelsie in her room just to make sure I didn't have to make another trip to the doctor before we left. My great sister in law Lisa came with her two kids to stay with the girls and Andrew and we were able to finally get away. We got home Monday, Randy was back to work Tuesday and headed to Salt Lake today for training. I brought the kids to Cedar City to the dentist and just decided to stay and visit mom for a while so I will write all about Hawaii when I get home.

Update on David

I just thought I would post this email mom sent for David's update.
Hi everyone, David just got out of the doctor's office and called and asked if I would e-mail everyone with the results of today. He sounded pretty tired. Well he met with the medical oncoligist today and came away with a little bit of hope. He will be doing radiation on his shoulder to try to knock that down. He will be able to do that here in Cedar City. If it works it should help with the pain that he is having. He will do that for 5 to 6 weeks. He will meet with the doctor again in 3 weeks to see if it is helping and to start some chemo therapy. It sounds like he will get it every three weeks and that will make him pretty sick for a few days and then he will start feeling a little bit better. (This is new, we didn't think that there would be any chemo except biochemo which David would not do....very bad stuff) The doctor will also be looking closer at the spot in his stomach and may do surgery to see exactly what it is and if they can remove it. It turns out that the spot in his foot was probably a typing error on the report and he couldn't see anything but he may have two spots in the stomach. The good news is that so far there is nothing in any of his vital organs that would cause falure and immediate death . He asked the doctor what his life expectancy would be and he said that he would hopefully be around for at least one year. He is excited because now he will be able to baptize Jake....then only one more year and baptize Allison. He has a wonderful attitude and a grateful out look on life. The doctor told him today that he wished that all of his patients had as good an outlook as he did. David told him that being down would only waste the time he had so why not enjoy what's left. I guess that's what we all need to do...enjoy him while we have him, endure with a cheerful heart, never give up hope, pray, and have faith in our Savior's Plan. We will be having a fast for David next Sunday, July 27th if any of you would like to join us. Thank you for your love and support. Thanks to all of you who put his name in the Temples all over the country and world. You will never know how much it means to all of us. Thanks again...We love you all. Love Mom (Vickie)

Camp Invention

Kelsie and Avrie just finished up a week at a summer camp called Camp Invention. Randy gets recruited to teach this camp every year and so this year they were both old enough to go so we sent them with dad. They get to become little inventors and make strange looking things from basically garbage. They took apart ruined appliances and electronics and made something new with them. Kelsie made a robot and named it "Chaibaley it's a cross between charity and kimberly" (2 of her cousins) and it "will stop my brother from tising me" She might need that in a couple of years. Avrie made a dog out of a VCR, it took me a minute to figure that out but notice the ears and the mouth is the opening where you put in tapes. In dad's class they learned about the planet Mars and built rocket ships and just had a good time.













They both are excited and want to go next year and Avrie will remember to wear better shoes. (see post below)

Why you DON"T let your kids where flip flops to school!!

So here is proof that you should NOT let your kids wear flip flops to school. Avrie was already having a rough morning but it just got worse when she showed up to her last day of Camp Invention. She was opening the door to go inside when the door caught on her toe nail and ripped it off. She was screaming and Randy grabbed her and put her in the car. I thought I would just run her home and clip off the top. Well I got her home and looked a little closer and realized it ripped the whole nail off. The only thing holding it on was the cuticle. So I took her to insta-care where she screamed bloody murder and had 2 nurses, me and the doctor holding her while they gave her a shot to numb it. Once it was numb she insisted that she watch while they finished removing it. The Doctor says it will take 6-12 months to grow back. I thought he was just joking but I guess it really does take that long. After it was all over all she was worried about was weather Randy had saved her things from camp and if she was going to make it back in time for the snack. She did. Randy's first comment was "that is why kids don't wear shoes like that to school." He saw it as a teacher too. YUCK!

Clay's New Mission President

Connor, Sister King, President King, Elder Peterson, Elder Allred

Clay's new Mission President and his Wife sent us this picture. If you're from Utah you should recognize Sister King. She used to be a news anchor for channel 2. Clay's companion sure does look like a sweetie ;) maybe he didn't realize they were taking his picture. Clay is doing well and having good success in Georgia and working with the Latino's. They are good people who want to hear the gospel. His Spanish seems to be coming along nicely. Kelsie and Avrie love to write him little notes in Spanish it is good practice for them all. He's such a good kid!

Swimming Lessons

Kelsie and Avrie just finished their swimming lessons for the summer. They were only able to do one session because we have been gone so much. They did really well. I thought Kelsie was going to move on after week one but during week 2 she started getting afraid of the water. I don't know what was up with that. Avrie progressed really well and is ready for the next level. That child has no fear. They both need to learn to breath a little better while swimming (that's a little important ;) Kelsie looks like she's drowning and she is really just trying to breath. If they could get that part figured out they wouldn't get so tired and would do much better. I guess that's what practice is for.

Adventures at Uncle Kaleb's

After we Left Ben's house we headed to Green Valley, just south of Tucson to visit Kaleb. He wasn't able to make it to the reunion so it was nice to see him and Steph and their cute little one's We went to the Zoo and then to Chucke Cheese (is that how you spell that?) Anyway they had a really good time. The zoo wasn't very big but they loved seeing the animals and for some reason it was "wrestling" day for quite a few of them so I'm glad the visit wasn't too long. Avrie and Andrew even dared to touch the big lizards and snakes they had out to hold (yuck). They all got their turn pretending to be a turtle too! Playing games at chucke cheese was a highlight for them they loved it. Andrew got to ride the Choo Choo with Barney Avrie played the games to collect tickets for prizes and Kelsie was just having fun riding what she could. Kaleb even got in on the action and couldn't get enough of the shooting games. I guess he doesn't get to use his gun enough at work. Watch out criminals in Tucson Kaleb's been practicitng;). Kaleb is the Sarg. for the police department in Saurita and is doing an awesome job he took us to see his new building and let Andrew sit on the motorcycle and in the Taho and he even gave him a little badge. I forgot to take my camera though. The kids loved their time at Kalebs and playing with Isaac, Aubrey, Hailey, and little Kayla.

Fun at Uncle Ben's

After the Allred Reunion Randy had to come back to work (one of the downfalls of the district office employee they don't get summers off) so I took the kids with mom and we went to Ben's house. The kids have been wanting to go to Charity's house for a long time. We went to Nutrioso first for another night of camping in the trailer. I was really thankful for that and having a potty was extra nice for those night time runs. Ben had to do some work on a cabin he was building there. It is a really beautiful place and he has some good plans for this cabin. On monday afternoon we finally headed to Safford and I was able to really bathe the kids and get cleaned up myself it was nice after 5 days to be totally clean. The kids enjoyed swimming. Kelsie and her goggles and Andrew hating the life jacket because it just kept flipping him over to his back. The girls told me Charity put sun screen on them and refused to let me apply more so as you can see I think she missed a few spots and the girls we're flaming red, especially Avrie. They had a good time anyway. Andrew had so much fun playing swords and dress up with Clayton he didn't know what to think. It has taken us a week or two to get his to stop swinging things like a sword. He loved being bat man though. The girls loved putting on makeup and being rock stars. We were able to look at some of the houses Ben has been building he does such a wonderful job I wish he lived closer to get our addition put on. It was a good time in Safford.

Allred Family Reunion

So Since I am new to this blog I thought I would just do a little update of our summer journeys. We had our Allred Reunion the end of June by Mormon Lake in Arizona. I am not much for camping but we knew the kids would enjoy it and they did. They got to go fishing (without any luck), go to a petting zoo, eat popsicles,




















swing in the hammock, go on a nature hike with the ranger, play with their favorite cousin Kim, play games and just have fun! Randy was also excited we actually got to use our new camp chef that will probably only be used in emergencies or the next time we have a reunion because we won't be camping on our own anytime soon. ;) Thanks Grandma for getting this fun family started and for keeping traditions alive. I love you.

The beginning

Ok, So I have been told I need to start one of these and so with Randy, my computer genius sitting beside me we are figuring out how this works. I am looking forward to keeping track of the joy in our lives and sharing it with friends. This is a picture of our family in March enjoying Disneyland it's the latest family photo and we had a great time.