Anniversary Trip

The first picture is of Rachel making a snow angel on our 10yr aniversary trip to Wolf Creek Colorado. We stayed in Pagosa Springs, which has a hot springs. The second picture is of me (justin) standing next to one of the places where the water comes out of the ground. Picture 3 is taken from a scenic overlook that we stopped at on our way back. I'll try and remember to post a picture of Rachel and I both on the slopes, and at the scenic overlook.

Girls growing up!!

Today we were reminded how much the girls are growing by 2 events. Megan found out tonight that she can reach the light switches on her tiptoes. Crazy. Jenna, not wanting to be shown up, then discovered how to climb on our bed (we have a sort of high bed). Wow.

Our girls are getting HUGE! It just reminds me that they will not always be my little princesses, but will turn into princesses who move off and find their own prince one day. A good thing - but a tough truth to swallow.

Bible Nerd Meetings for Justin

I was able to go to the national meetings for the Evangelical Theological Society, and the Society of Biblical Literature a few weeks ago. It was a pretty amazing week for a nerd like me. I also got to see some great sites. I've included some pics below.

2 Tired Girls

These two were pretty tired on the way home from Thanksgiving in Alabama. On the first day we played at the kids museum, 

ate with family, and looked at ads...

then came home, stopping for fun...

No that isn't our dog - i wish.

Tonight we've had two girls not want to sleep. I thought #2 was asleep as I sat there reading, and she made no sound and didn't move. Then a dog barked a few houses down. She whispered "woof woof" quietly. The dog barked again with the same result. I almost cracked up.

 #1 has resorted to crying loudly until someone goes in her room. She will claim she's scared so that she doesn't have to go to sleep. Good times.

Jenna Growing Up

Jenna has started playing by herself a little more. She loves playing with big sister, but she also enjoys her own play time. Another way she is growing up is that she loves singing songs. Jenna absolutely loves to dance, and do motions to songs. She's been able to do the motions to itsy bitsy spider for a few months, but never allowed me to get it on camera until now.

Daddy-Daughter Date Night

We started a tradition while back where I will take one of the girls out on Friday Night, and Rachel takes the other. Now that we are a part of a church which offers baby-sitting on the Friday of the month, we get a date night mixed in. So then we rotate, each parent with each girl, and then one "girls night" where Mommy and the girls do their own thing. That also will give me a little extra study time once a month - so I'm not complaining.

Here is a pic from last night's outing:

Kids Start School

I wanted to get a picture of Jenna too, but she wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get her to look at me. Jenna didn't cry when I dropped her off Tuesday (she did Thursday), which was HUGE. Megan seemed just a tad nervous, and A LOT excited!! Thursday, she was excited without nerves.

It was harder on me than them, I had to hurry out because I thought I might get emotional leaving them there. But, I stayed busy enough to keep from thinking about them too much during the day. So far so good!!

Back To Amarillo

Last weekend, we were back in Amarillo for the funeral of Joyce Hutchison, aka "Grandma Hutch". It was a wonderful celebration of her life, and witness in her family and church.

Thus concludes the summer travels of the Allison family. For those of you keeping count we racked up 2 trips to Amarillo (324 mi one way), a trip to Boston (1822mi one way), and a trip to the beach via Birmingham (700+277+706mi), for a grand total of 6,623 miles. Or, we traveled a little over a quarter of the way around the earth (at the equator).

here is one of my favorite pics for the summer

Orange Beach

After the wedding in Boston, we went to the Beach with Granny and Grandaddy. The girls were all able to get off the airplane in Alabama, since it stopped there on the way to DFW. I got to make the long drive back to Alabama later that night. We had a blast with the grandparents, and the whole family!!

Boston wedding

We had a blast being a part of Brandon and Marianna's wedding. Megan was an incredible flower girl and Jenna was a great helper. It was a beautiful ceremony for a beautiful couple.

Granny and Grandaddy Visit!

Before Granny and Grandaddy came to visit, we went to Maddie's birthday party, and saw my cousins and their families. Here's a pic of that:

We took Granny to the Library with us while she was here:

We had fun at home too!!

Plus we got to swim!!

Jenna Brushes her teeth

I had forgotten to post this last month. About the end of June, we remembered to buy Jenna a toothbrush - bad parents, right? Now it is her favorite activity!! This video is of the 2nd time that she got to brush her teeth - dad forgot to video the first time... As you can see she really enjoys it, and follows big sister's every move.

Daddy day with the Girls

Last week I took the girls to the mall for the morning/lunch. We were giving Mom some alone time (which she deserves!). We ate at the "little" tables in the food court. Megan had Pepperoni Pizza and Jenna had a kids meal from Chic-fil-a. Then we played at some of those quarter operated "rides" for kids - which cost a dollar now!! Next we went hat shopping for Jenna and didn't have any luck. Then it was over to the main playground for about 40 minutes of running around with other kids. After that we played on the escalators and then went home. It was a fun day of Daddy-daughter time!

the kids on the rides:

Visit from Friends!!

The kids are having a blast this summer! After our trip to Nana and Papa's house in June, we had some friends over the first week of July. I've included some pictures of our kids playing at the Forth Worth Museum of Science and History. It was great to have wonderful college friends in town - people that "get" you and that you can really laugh with. Will is one of the few boys I can already "approve of" for my girls - he comes from good parents!