Backyard....DONE!!

When we bought our first home it was brand new!! When I say brand new, I mean BRAND NEW- never lived in! It was so nice but it had its drawbacks…the landscaping- there was NONE! It was dirt, weeds and more dirt. It has been on our long “home improvement” list but things always seemed to pop up. So we’ve been collecting bids and flyers from local landscaping companies and finally found the money and the perfect landscaper to come in and get the job done. The amazing thing, the crew got the entire job done in about 7 hours!


Nick and I really wanted to make the backyard not only versatile but also aesthetically appealing. We did our research on the plants that would do well in the heat and took a trip down to the nursery with our landscaper. He not only suggested plants and trees that would thrive but also gave us an idea of some of the options we would have down the road.

Here are some photos from beginning to end.

Here is the before picture- pretty sad huh?

A day at the nursery...picking out the plants and trees

YAY!! WE HAVE A LAWN!!

I think we both just as excited to see the workers get started!

The final seal of approval!

HOORAY!! IT'S DONE!!!

We are so excited to have it finished. 

Sofie can't wait for us to buy her all the toys she's spotted in the store!!

She came home from Nonnie and Ba-Pa's house today and ran to the back yard and said..."ahh my backyard"!  It wa too cute!  

Our dare devil.


Sofia is becoming such a little dare devil! She loves to push the limits…well a little. She is still apprehensive when it comes to the unknown. Once she experiences something, she won’t let it go! We love the adventurous, curious and unique little person she has become. Right now, she is fascinated with movies and “the big screen” as she calls it. To beat the heat here in Arizona, we’ve taken up the Saturday morning tradition of hitting the theater. Sofia loves to eat her “cupcorn” and enjoy whatever is playing. Recently, we took her to see “Toy Story 3”, “Despicable Me” and “How to train your Dragon”. She also loves the movie “UP”, I’ve must have watched it about 50 time already!!

Anyway, here are some recent pictures of our beautiful baby girl!

She is becoming such a "Daddy's Girl"!! Nick loves it!

Baby Allen #2...

Nick and I are so excited to be expecting another little addition to the family. Being parents has been the most amazing adventure yet!! We’ve learned as we went but experiencing Sofie grow into such a unique little girl has been so rewarding. We love the fact Sofie is not the “typical girly girl”. She enjoys things that Nick loves like wresting, comics, and dominos and yet she still plays with her Barbie, has tea parties and plays dress up. She is such an amazing kid!
Throughout this pregnancy, it’s been a bit different. When I was pregnant with Sofie, I was working 10 hour days in the kitchen, on my feet and moving around ALL DAY!! Now, I’m behind a desk and it’s been really challenging for me to get comfortable. I’ve been trying to keep active but find that working full time, going to school full time and running after a toddler has depleted my energy level beyond belief.
So far, I am 20 weeks along in my pregnancy. I’ve made it to the half way mark and feel overall pretty good! A few days ago Nick and I had our ultrasound and everything came back PERFECT!
BABYGIRL ALLEN- yes, it’s another girl! And we couldn’t be happier!

They measured her heart chambers, brain and made sure she had all 10 toes and fingers. Here is a picture of the ultrasound pic…Baby was not cooperating and would not hold still for a profile shot :O(


I was so excited when my calendar reminder came up! Little butterflies in my tummy...or maby it was the baby getting excited too?

"let's get the show on the road"

We are still thinking about names...but one of our favorites is Emilia Valentina- I'm sure we'll change our minds have dozen more times~!  

The Many Faces of Sofie

Nick bought me a new Camera and Sofie has been such a sport being my little model! Here are some pictures we took....just messing around!

WE LOVE HER!!

Catching Up!

These last few months have been pretty busy around the Allen house. We’ve been preparing for our big, long awaited backyard landscaping project, trying to potty train Sofia and still chiseling away at school. Needless to say, extra time is something we’re lacking.


Sofia has been really coming into her personality. She is really enjoying her time at school. It’s too cute to listen to her tell stories at the end of the day. She knows all the names of her friends (these are all the same kids that have been with her since she was 7 month old) and loves all her teachers. She has been doing well with the whole potty training endeavors. We do however, need to buckle down and really concentrate. Sofia really enjoys wearing her “plew-ups” a.k.a Pull Ups and understands that diapers are for babies and she wants to wear her “plew-ups”.

The weekends are our times to spend all day with our baby girl! Last weekend, we took Sofia on a field trip to the spice store. One of the biggest things I want to expose Sofia to good food and exotic ingredients. I love the fact that she enjoys trying new foods like halibut, jicama, artichokes and prosciutto. So, I enjoy that she likes going with me to places like the spice store and still enjoys going with Nick to the comic book store.

I love the fact that Nick enjoys learning new things about cooking and food too! He is awesome!

After the trip to the spice store, we treated Dad to a sandwich at his favorite Deli.  His favorite sandwich is a classic pastrami topped with coleslaw...DELICIOUS!!

All in all, great weekend!

We moved to the country and we're eatin' lots of peaches! This weekend we attended the local peach festival.  It was so much fun! We took a hay ride into the orchard, Sofie had her first pony ride and we all enjoyed tasting tons of fresh peaches, right off the tree.  We ended up picking about 10 pounds and I'm planning on putting it all to good, yummy use! 

Sofia was a little unsure about the pony rides...

Daddy told her he would walk with her...

And then...the tears came!

But she finally came around~ and really started to enjoy herself!

In the middle of Schnepf Farms, there was a beautiful wild sunflower field.

It was a perfect summer afternoon! And then, we loaded up on the hay ride that took us to orchards-

It was too cute, the whole day Sofie kept saying she was going to "peek peeches" as she pinched the air.

Here is Sofie picking her very 1st fresh peach!

And here she is eating her 1st "right off the tree" peach!

Nick enjoyed himself too!

WE had a great day!!