The Allred Family

Noah Balogna

2009-06-05T23:45:00.007-06:00

Caught some great moments on film (or gygabyte or nanosyncrometer or whatever the equivalent to film is on a digital camera). Anyways.. thought I would share the laughs.
Oh silly duck, how you amuse me...See the spit string? Noah has a perma-spit ring around any shirt I put on him. Why not put on a bib you say? He just learned to rip bibs off. Cheeky little monkey.
Noah decided that the DVD's looked better on the floor than stacked orderly on the shelves. Who am I to argue?I'm really glad that I get to be home with Noah because I get to see all the awesome things he does. I should start calling him Sponge Bob, because he soaks up everything! He's learning so fast. I'm so happy to see him growing up, but a part of me get depressed when I see him learning to crawl and learning how to feed himself a cookie (this may seem little, but after nursing for almost 9 months, having him feed himself is a feat equal to the parting of the red seas in my book). I want him to stay my little boy. Seeing Maren (our new niece) this week made me realize how huge Noah is and how much I need to appreciate every stage in his life. It's amazing how much I love this little boy. Being a parent is a gabillion times harder than I expected, but I'm so grateful we took the great dive into parenthood. It really is worth it.

Madam, there's no such thing as a tough child - if you parboil them first for seven hours, they always come out tender. -W.C. Fields

2009-06-05T23:28:00.004-06:00

We have a new niece! Her name is Maren (undecided middle name) Allred. She was born on June 1st.I forgot how tiny newborns are. She feels like a feather compared to my chunky monkey, Noah. Maren with her uncle Kristo.

To the park!

2009-05-30T22:33:00.012-06:00

Today we visited Fairmont Park in Sugarhouse with Noah. We brought lots of bread to feed the ducks (I claimed it was for Noah, but it was totally for me, ducks are rad).

We went at the perfect time because there were A TON of ducklings and goslings (not to be confused with gosslins, which are on Jon and Kate Plus 8).
We lost Noah a couple times because his camo was just that good. Never again...

This is a cute goose family, we will name them the Gooselins. The goslings still had some of their fluffy down feathers. It was cute, the parents were shielding their babies from the other birds, so we could feed them. I thought it was a little overprotective, until we saw just what seagulls can do. I now fully reject them as our state birds. I don't care how many crickets they ate.... but I'll get to that later.Baby goose, he totally looks like an ostrich.Now for the wretched story of the evil seagulls. We were having a great time feeding the ducks and geese and even the occasional seagull. I looked over and saw two seagulls duking it out over something and then a seagull flying away with something in his beak. Kristo said it was a tiny duckling, but I said no way, it's just a frog. The seagull landed a few yards away and lo and behold... the stupid bird had stolen a baby duckling from its mom. I don't know if it's just because I have a kid now, but it totally broke my heart. The poor mama duck was trying to keep the seagulls away from her dying baby. I know that it's just nature, survival of the fittest... but I wanted to kick that bastard seagull as hard as I could. So boycott all seagulls! They are evil minions of the underworld!

Since that last paragraph was such a downer, here is a cute puppy who loves you to make you feel better...

Yum!

2009-05-14T19:00:00.003-06:00

I never let Kristo use his deep fryer, so I decided to make fried chicken to make up for it. It was so so good, I had to post the recipe!

Tony's Chicken Tenders with Honey Mustard Sauce -The Neely's
Ingredients

Peanut oil, for frying
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon lemon-pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Honey Mustard, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oil to 350 degrees F.

Cut the chicken breasts into long strips and set aside.

Beat the 3 eggs in a separate bowl and measure the flour into another separate dish.

Measure the panko into a pie plate or shallow bowl and season with garlic powder, lemon-pepper, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Dip the chicken strips into the flour, the beaten egg and then dredge them into the seasoned panko.

Fry in the hot peanut oil for 6 to 8 minutes, until golden brown, and remove to a paper towel lined sheet tray. Serve with honey mustard sauce.

Honey Mustard:

1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. The sauce can be held in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Florida

2009-05-06T12:47:00.013-06:00

A few weeks ago we went down to Florida with my family. We had so much fun and I've been so busy since we got back that I'm just getting around to posting pictures. Plus we have a million pics and it was hard for me to stop adding more!! I finally drew the line on the pictures (I'll post more later) Above is Noah at this pirate golf course in Orlando. Very pirates of the Caribbean, but not quite that cool.
At Grande Vista in Orlando they had these signs all around the lake in the middle of the property. So we went alligator hunting...No sooner did we start then a slightly drunk man sitting out on his room's balcony told us of a monster gater 10 feet long! He said that the man-eater sun bathed in the morning. The next day we found the "monster". More like 6 feet instead of ten, but still pretty freaking cool.
Noah explaining just how big the alligator was. He's totally exaggerating.
My little angel boy. Such a ham and we love him for it.
BLIZZARD BEACH!!! One of the things I was most excited for. It was sooooo fun! Only drawback, the water in the kids area was frigid! Noah wasn't a fan.
He sure looked cute in his swimmin suit though
Well that was our trip. I'll post more pictures later. Everything is going well with our little family. Noah started crawling a few days ago and now cruises around the house after Olive (our dog). Hope you all are doing well and happy!

It's 12:30 AM so this post will be short and sweet

2009-03-04T00:32:00.003-07:00

Hello avid 'Kristo, Ashley and Noah' blog readers. There are probably very few of you left after our disappointing absence from the blogger scene. We are still alive and feebly kicking. I spent all my bloggy time trying to find a cute new background and now I am so wiped that I can barely keep my eyes open. So I will have to charm you with my bloggarific stories another time. I'll leave you with a scary picture of Noah to whet your palate for my next blog entry. Bloggity blog blog blog. I believe I will be appearing in the Guiness Record books shortly for the most uses of the word 'blog' in a single blog post. Blog.
Love you all! Don't let Noah scare you. He only bites people who deserve it...

CHRIS-A-MAS!!!

2008-12-27T17:00:00.005-07:00

Chris-a-mas is here!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Santa is real, guys! We saw him!

2008-12-27T16:40:00.007-07:00

So Noah and Asher had their first visit to Santa on the 23rd. We went to the Santa Shack on 21st South. Asher was not a happy boy and was trying to squirm away from Santa the whole time.Promptly after leaving the Santa Shack Asher threw up. Poor little guy, not the best first Santa experience.
Noah got a chance on Santa's lap as well. He was much more mellow, probably because he had no idea what was going on.
After the Santa Shack, we headed to Olive Garden.

You will give me a breadstick!

After an exciting day, Noah and Asher fell asleep on the way home.

Noah's blessing

2008-12-19T18:07:00.002-07:00

Ketchup (not the tomato kind...)

2008-11-18T22:35:00.006-07:00

Well lots has happened in the Allred home. Kristo is still working on his promotion at the bank. He hopes to be assistant manager by the end of November.

My maternity leave was about to end and I was set to go back to Marriott on November 17th. When I was pregnant, we planned on me working a little more than part time, about 30 hours. After having Noah and spending all my time with him over the past 9 weeks I couldn't imagine leaving him to go back to work. Luckily my father in law, Arnie, offered me a job doing some accounting for his company. His office is just right up the street and I can bring Noah with me to work! Hooray! So after four year of working for Marriott, I quit my job. I'm not going to miss the job itself, but I already miss the people I worked with. It was a very hard decision, but I know it's worth it to be here for my baby boy.

Noah and Kristo post bath-time. If you can't tell, his towel is a moster and is eating his head. Noah wasn't afraid, he eats monsters for breakfast.
Getting so big! Those monsters make Noah big and strong!
The Cabbage Patch company is replicating this photo to create a new Cabbage Patch Kid. Coming to a store near you!
Noah likes to sing along with Dad.
Skeleton Noah! His spooky belated Halloween costume, the only place Noah got to wear this was at Tres Hombres the day after Thanksgiving.

Being a skeleton is sweet.

Well we're looking forward to our first Thanksgiving as a family. We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and lots of love!

Sir Smiles-A-Lot

2008-11-09T21:50:00.003-07:00

Smiley

2008-10-31T00:43:00.003-06:00

Below we have some rare photographs of the elusive Noah smile. Be warned, these photographs may contain levels of cuteness not suitable for the faint of heart... View at your own risk.
Seen here in the jungles of Africa, we were lucky to have the camera ready for Noah's dimply cheeks.
The smile was captured here in the midst of a frequent diaper changing ritual...
Though not smiling here, we have caught a pose just as elusive as the smile. Here we have the fencing postition. En guarde ye scurvy dogs!

Pictures!!!

2008-10-30T20:57:00.006-06:00

Family picture time!! Hoorah! A few weeks ago we went up to Mueller Park and took some family pictures. The leaves were amazing! I'd never been to Mueller Park before and rounding the corner at the top of the mountain when all the beautiful leaves came into view took our breath away.

Stealing a quick kiss while Noah was distracted.

Our first official family pictures. Noah's such a stud, holding his head up already :)

My brother Aaron and his fiance Rochelle. He told us that day that they are engaged! We love her! I'm so excited for her to join our family. Their wedding date will be 12/30, which is also my parent's anniversary.

Mama and Papa McCombs with baby Asher.

Tyler and Aaron, my brothers (I think they both look exactly like my dad). Tyler just got his mission call to South Africa. He'll be camping out with the hippos and giraffes.

Baby Asher looking perfect as can be ('sup ladies!).

The whole family (minus Rochelle-we didn't know at the time that they were engaged or she would have been in the picture).

So that's my family! I'm glad we were able to get some good pictures of us with the gorgeous fall leaves! Everything is going really well. I'm probably going back to work on November 17th, though I really don't want to go. It's been so much fun being a full time mom these past few weeks, I don't want to give it up. Leaving Noah will be next to impossible, but what can I do? At least I'm lucky enough to have great friends I get to work with. I'll just miss my baby boy. We're excited for Noah's first Halloween (though we couldn't find a costume small enough for him). He'll be dressing up as himself, because honestly, what could be cooler? Loves from our family!

Noah's 1st bath

2008-10-16T23:06:00.005-06:00

Noah's first bath wasn't today, it was a few weeks ago....but we just barely uploaded the video. So don't go thinking that we just got around to washing our baby, it just isn't true.

Luckily Noah LOVES baths, so it's a happy time for him :)

Hiya!

2008-10-11T20:27:00.004-06:00

It's been a crazy month in the Allred home. Noah is now one month old and such a sweetheart. Even now, not long after his birth, it's hard to imagine what I did with the abundant free time I had pre-baby. We've had A LOT of sleepless nights and lots of tears, but he's such a cute little monkey that it's worth it.

Noah's first trip to the mountains. This was taken up at the Alpine Loop.

Sleeping in his carrier...

The fall leaves were gorgeous!

Flashing a little smile ;)

Olive loves giving Noah kisses, Noah doesn't like it so much...

This is my pouty face, give me a kiss...

Bathtime! He loves the water.Post-bathtime. Olive wants a sniff...

Noah giving himself a big hug!

Noah is here!!

2008-09-17T13:09:00.002-06:00

HAPPY DAY! Noah is here! We went to the State Fair on September 9th and walked around for about four hours. At 2:30 AM the next morning I started having contractions. I didn't know they were contractions at the time... I thought I just got food poisoning from the pulled pork sandwich I had at the fair. I cursed the man who made that sandwich because I felt awful! Later the morning of the 10th (my due date) I realized that the cramping stomach aches were coming at regular intervals. I thought "Hey maybe these are contractions!" and immediately started timing. After hours of timing the now very painful contractions, my water broke at about 7:30 PM and we rushed to the hospital.

At four thirty in the morning of the 11th of September Noah Kristopher Allred was born, weighing 6 lbs 9 oz and measuring 21 inches long.

He's such an angel and we love him so much!

Something wicked this way comes

2008-09-06T00:32:00.005-06:00

Today Lizz and I went up to Fruit Heights to see our mom. We went to The Bun Basket (delicious bakery/deli I used to work at) for lunch and then Secret Haven (home decor store). They have all their Halloween and autumn decorations out and it got me SO excited for Halloween! I've already put up my very few fall decorations and am tempted to haul out the Halloween stuff as well...tacky? Kristo and I have been thinking of costume ideas for the family. I think my favorite so far is for Kristo to be Captain Ahab and baby Noah (if he decides to be born by Halloween :) be a little white whale, but I'm not sure what I could be?? We also thought of Kristo being Willy Wonka, I'd be Violet and baby Noah would be an Umpa Lumpa or a lollipop... We're a bit nerdy, but come on... Halloween is fun!
As far as the baby countdown goes, we're four days from my due date and still waiting on pins and needles. I feel like if my belly gets any bigger I'll need a walker to get around. Our last doctor's appointment was last Wednesday and at that time there wasn't really any progress. We've tried to speed things along by trying a few home remedies. I've tried the Raspberry Leaf supplements, acupressure points, massage (deep tissue and foot massages are said to induce labor), long long walks, etc, but to no avail.

Kristo made me feel a bit less impatient by suggesting that there's a destined time for Noah to come. So I guess for now I'll be patient and keep nesting (our house will be spotless by the time he arrives) and trust that Noah will come when he's good and ready.

Eeek!

2008-08-21T19:04:00.006-06:00

19 days to go and trust me, if I could get this baby out any earlier I would! My doctor doomed me to impatience. At our last appointment he said that the baby is fully developed and at this point just keeps packin on the pounds. So now dreading a 10 pound baby is added to my list of concerns... I'm just so ready to have him. I'm terrified, but I can't wait to have that tiny little boy in my arms. Mostly to reminisce about early pregnancy, I re-read the ending of my favorite pregnancy book.

Oddly enough, it's the book that's been the most helpful. It's called Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy. I laughed and cried through the entire book. Nothing I've read since has been as informative and hilarious. So to honor the blessed Jenny McCarthy for giving me some humor on the subject of pregnancy, I've written the ending paragraphs from her book below... enjoy!

"Once they had our baby all cleaned up and ready for his closeup, my husband walked over to me and showed me my little boy wrapped like a burrito. I cried and cried. They unstrapped my hand so I could touch his little cheek and give him a peck. I couldn't believe my eyes, I said, "Look at him honey; he blinks." To see the baby blink and look at you makes it so much more real than kicks in your belly. Chills came over my body as I started to feel a new chamber in my heart growing. My husband's face glowed like he had seen the gates of heaven open, and we stared in awe at the most beautiful thing we had ever seen.

Life was good. Life was going to be great. I had plans for this boy. I would fill him with so much love that he'd be able to conquer the world. Watching my husband glow with love also took my breath away. I don't think he had enough room in his body to contain the amount of love he was feeling at that point. Our baby was alive and well, and we adored him."

Artist for hire?

2008-08-16T14:11:00.000-06:00

I drew quite a bit through high school and then ran out of interesting things to draw. I'm thinking of maybe doing portraits as a side job, especially since I'll be at home a lot once the baby comes. So I'm putting a few of my drawings on here as a start, hoping that one of you might have a picture you'd like me to draw. I'm horrible at still life pics, but I'm pretty good at drawing something from a photograph. Well you can be the judge, my drawing are below. All were done from magazines or pictures... I guess if you can tell who the pictures are of, it will be a good way to judge the quality. Let me know what you think! :)

It's a baby shower!

2008-08-16T12:54:00.000-06:00

I'm incredibly behind on posting anything because, well, I'm lazy... So, I'll recap a few things that went on in the past few weeks.

Kelly Garvey and Tiffany Brewster threw Annalisa and I a fantastic baby shower at Kelly's house. Everyone was so generous, I received a boppy nursing pillow, cute little baby outfits, tons of books, baby nail clippers, baby Einstein DVDs, a teddy bear, a baby bath kit, diapers and other things.

We played a hilarious memory game where the word corresponded with candy bars. Whoppers were 10 lb babies, pap smears were Butter Fingers, conception was a Scor bar. Oh, it was hilarious!

Lizz brought her baby, Asher, to the shower and he was a hit. He's such a good kid, I only hope my kid is as well behaved as Asher. He had a blast with the tissue paper and bags (his favorite bag was gold and sparkly). I had such a fun time!

Movie Night resurrection!

2008-07-31T12:58:00.000-06:00

A few weeks back Kristo and I started a (belated) New Years resolution to have a movie and take-out night every Thursday. An idea inspired by Ace of Cakes.
We did a fantastic job keeping up with this new tradition for about three weeks and then it sort of fizzled out. We recently realized that movie night went kaput so we're starting it up again! Hooray!

In honor of our goal, I'm asking for some movie suggestions. I'm also including some of our all time favorite, must-see movies.

V for Vendetta (VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!)

Love Actually

Garden State (I could be biased on this one because Natalie Portman is my all-time favorite actress. Also, Zach Braff is in it and also directed the movie and I love him, ever seen Scrubs?)

The Producers

Sabrina (The classic with Audrey Hepburn is much better than the remake with Harrison Ford. Even Kristo liked this one :)

Stardust (I mercilessly mocked the previews, but the movie is hilarious)

Once (Great movie, beautiful soundtrack)

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

The Jerk

Saved! (Jena Malone plays a pregnant born again Christian, Mandy Moore plays the holier-than-thou villain)

3:10 to Yuma

Tombstone

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Mama on the brain...

2008-07-25T22:25:00.000-06:00

I seem unable to think of anything but our growing baby in my belly...

Since we were so lucky to get such cute baby stuffs from the baby shower we decided to go ahead and start decorating Noah's room. We're sticking with the space theme which is a miracle because we've changed our minds a dozen times :)

It looks adorable! I can't believe we only have 6 1/2 weeks left until we have a baby boy. I can't help sitting in his room and imagining him playing in his crib, falling asleep on my chest, playing with Astro (his space themed stuffed puppy) and watching him grow up way too fast...

I'm so scared to go through labor and even more scared to be a mom, but my excitement outweighs my fear. I'm glad that Kristo is with me because I have no doubt he'll be a fantastic dad. I don't know how single parents do it because I would be lost without him. I think one of the happiest moments will be seeing Kristo hold Noah for the first time. I love them both so much.

And since I've now filled my sappy quota for a lifetime, I'll move on to less weepy subjects ;)

Rocket...I'm takin' a rocket...

2008-07-03T15:42:00.000-06:00

Update on baby Noah's room:

We bought the cutest little rocket and flying saucer decals for the wall in Noah's room (courtesy of http://vinylwallart.com/). The colors we got are different than the picture.

We also bought these really cute star lights from Ikea to use as night lights.
Everything looks so cute! It's so fun to decorate a baby's room! I'll put a picture of the room on once we get everything decorated.

Ultrawhat?

2008-06-27T22:25:00.000-06:00

I wish I had more up-to-date photo's but I don't think they'll do another ultrasound. These are from my 20 week appointment.
Side profile of Noah. I think it's crazy that you can see his spine...
Little mouth hanging open.

Baby stuffs...

2008-06-27T16:55:00.000-06:00

So we bought a crib from Target and it finally came last night! I was so excited!!! Now that we're starting to get Noah baby stuff it seems so real.
Feeling him kick and move around makes me so happy. He's a bloody acrobat sometimes! The other night when I got home from work he had the hiccups. It was amazing feeling my belly jump every couple of seconds. It seems impossible that there's a tiny person inside my stomach. Granted right now he still looks a bit like an alien, but thankfully he's getting more human everyday. He's already sucking his thumb and swallowing. It's completely unbelievable.
We have decided on a theme for Noah's room (We'll probably change our minds again next week). I found the cutest bed set with old school rocket ships and stars all over. I think we'll paint some rocket ships flying around on the wall and some stars on the ceiling and walls.

It's super cute, but kind of expensive, so we'll probably change our minds again. It's nice to at least start planning though...

Baby Asher!

2008-06-27T09:36:00.000-06:00

Adorable pics of my nephew Asher. He's such a sweetheart. I'm excited that Noah and Asher will be so close in age. Noah is due exactly nine months from Asher's birthday :)

Motley who?

2008-06-25T17:23:00.000-06:00

Oh yeah, look at those tight white jeans and silky jungle top. No Halloween costume will ever come close to the magnificence that is this ensemble...
Wait a minute people... we may have just topped the Motley Crue craze...

All who loathe their jobs, please raise your hands...

2008-06-25T16:13:00.000-06:00

So alright, a freakin' adorable angry puppy doesn't have anything to do with work, but sometimes you just need a puppy...

Kristo and I are having some hardcore job hatred lately.

Kristo works for the bank and because of some heavy firing, they've been really understaffed and by extension, really overworked. He's also the acting assistance manager, but hasn't officially been given the title or raise yet. So he's doing a management job for a banker's salary... Poo poo stupid bank, poo poo.

Thankfully, he's just applied at the Art Institute in Draper and hopefully he'll get accepted so he can start pursuing a career in Graphic Design. He's wickedly talented and I really hope he gets accepted. It will be hard juggling baby and work and school, but it will be worth it if he can be in a job he loves.

I work for a timeshare company and the people I work with are great, but the job sucks kaboodle. My absolute dream job would be to own a bakery, but owning my own business scares the crap out of me. Maybe it will happen someday :)

Olive's first trip to Pineview

2008-06-25T11:42:00.000-06:00

Pineview: Where Olive discovered her love for eating sand and sticks and Tyler discovered that Olive's comfort comes first...

Kristo, Ashley and puppy Olive last summer

2008-06-25T11:29:00.000-06:00

Our first family picture. Olive is such a cutie, I love her little tongue sticking out. When we first got her and took her anywhere in the car, she'd crawl up on my shoulder and just cuddle. Even now when we close any door in the house without letting her come in, she whines and paws at the door. She's so spoiled, but so freakin cute!