Jaunting through July!

I don't know if it's because we have Tori or not, but the months seem to fly by way too quickly. Here are some of our fun snippets from July! Hope you enjoy...

Tori is just a much a Daddy's girl as she ever has been (I love watching the two of them)!!!
Tori and Daddy's latest trick - the good ol' high five!

Tylenol not only relieves pain, but the bottle is an excellent chew toy (are we horrible parents?)!

So cute!

Tori loves to chew on her caterpillar's feet, we often find her asleep with one still in her mouth!

The easy way to tell if Daddy gave Tori a bath - look at her hairstyle....

yep - we have a mohawk!!!

After we got back from Texas, Tori decided she didn't like taking naps or going to sleep at night. The last few weeks have been a little crazy with getting her back on some sort of schedule. We have used her boppy a few times.

One night we found her asleep like this - head against the edge of her crib and practically folded in half!

This one made my heart melt a little - sleeping with her Pooh Bear!!!

Happy July to your family from ours!!!

Give Me a 2!!!

Jared and I celebrated our two year anniversary yesterday! It is amazing to me how quickly the last two years have flown by, and how much our lives have changed in those years. But the great thing is that our lives (and our love) have grown deeper and stronger and much more full than I ever could have imagined. I love that Jared and I can laugh and cry together - that we really are a team in everything that comes are way. It really is fantastic being married to your very best friend!!! If the last two years have been this grand, I can't even wait to see what is in store for us in the future. One thing is for sure, I know we will tackle everything hand in hand!!! Jared - I love you oh so very much!!! Mwah!
We decided to continue our celebrations today by going golfing. We had a great time and if it hadn't been for my 18 on the first hole, I think I could have given Jared a real run for his money!!!

World Tour in Pajamas!!!

This year our youth are completing a pioneer trek for youth conference. To help out, we got to spend the night with some awesome kids in our ward while their parents and older sisters were on the trek. Talk about a great time! First off, we were met with this awesome sign, some great notes and puzzles! After a very yummy dinner made by Natalie, we all got ready for bed and commenced in playing a little Guitar Hero. Simon soon dubbed it our "world tour in pajamas!" Here is the band!!!

Drew was our killer lead singer!

Simon rocked out on both the guitar and the drums!

Natalie was stellar at everything!

Here is a little snippet to give you a taste of our talent!!!

I think we should go on tour - what do you think?

Texas Time!

We are so sad that we had to head home to Indy today. But we have really enjoyed our visit in Texas! Here are a few more of our fun memories that we will always keep with us!

Jared's family has a pool - and we enjoyed it several times! I really think that Tori is becoming a little fish!!!

We love swimming, but it sure wears us out!

Sharing secrets with Aunt Meesha!

Followed by a little cuddle time (I absolutely love this picture)!!!
Tori had a great time crawling around with the dogs - I think they were a little scared of her!

Taking a break!

I'm not quite sure what this look was meant to convey - but it sure makes me giggle!

Wake up Daddy, I'm ready to play!

Tori's first cake and ice cream!!! We figured we would give her a trial run before her birthday in a few weeks.

She must be our daughter - her tongue is always sticking out!!!

Tori and GGpa Jones - what a fantastic pair!

Thanks for such an awesome visit - we can't wait to come back!!!

A Day at the Shop

Today we were able to spend the whole day in Mom Allen and Grandma Jones' shop. Jared had the (not so fun) task of helping with tax stuff. I had the awesome opportunity to work mostly with Grandma on her kits for upcoming classes. But I think that Tori had the best day of all! I hope you enjoy all of her adventures...

First off, Tori had a great time crawling around and basically getting into everything!

To keep her occupied, we tried out many "toys" - this is the one that stuck!

Uncle Dillon got to feed her lunch....

and boy did she love it- yum!!!

Grandpa Allen took some time to teach Tori how to blow kisses!

She got the sound down - now we just need to work on the hand part!!!

As the day turned into evening, Uncle Dillon found another great play spot- inside the boxes!!!

Tori had so much fun!!!

Thanks for a great day at the shop - we all had a grand time!!!

The Fine Art of Taking a Picture...

Today we took Tori and Linken into Sears to have professional pictures taken of them together. I just have to say to all of you that have a job taking pictures of kids, you more than earn your paycheck and about a million brownie points as well. The girl that helped us was so patient - especially when Tori kept crawling around, pulling herself up, and basically making her job a nightmare. And it probably didn't help that we all thought it was hilarious. The first set of pictures were taken in festive 4th of July attire. Linken was an angel, and Tori just didn't understand that she needed to stay on her tummy!!!

Again- Linken is perfect and Tori looks like she is going to get him!

Finally, Tori is actually smiling and looking at the camera. Love the look on Linken's face!!!

This picture turned out great - I wish we had been taking video at this point. As soon as we would put her on her back, she would flip over and then start crawling all over the place. It was pretty funny!

Then we had a wardrobe change and a much needed break for the kids. The initial idea was to get both of them in these really cute wicker chairs - if only Tori had cooperated!

And here is the resulting picture!

Grandma Allen is a genius and suggested we have Tori stand behind Linken's chair. We had much better results with this setup!!!

The photographer was a glutton for punishment and tried getting Tori on Linken on their backs again. Here's some video of the ensuing chaos...

Here is our big girl - you would never know it was such a struggle to get this picture! But it really was a fun outing none the less!!!

Thanks Grandma Allen for the pictures, they are perfect!!!

A New Cousin

Tori (and Jared and I) were so excited to meet Linken this week! I have so many cousins that are still some of my very best friends, and it was so great watching Tori and Linken start to build their own cousin relationship. I hope that they will always be awesome friends!!!

This toy was perfect - Linken rocked out on the inside, while Tori played on the outside!

Tori was very fascinated with Linken's hands!

I love this one - so cute that they are holding hands!!!

There is nothing better than sharing story time with Grandma and your cousin!!!

Uncles!!!

Tori wasted no time getting reacquainted with her Uncle Alec and Uncle Dillon! They got her laughing so hard- she loves playing with them!!! And I love the crazy noises they came up with to make her laugh!

Uncle Alec was the first to get her rolling...

and then Uncle Dillon joined right on in!!!

Tori loved cuddling with Uncle Alec!!!

Uncle Dillon kept her thoroughly entertained!!!

Hurrah for awesome uncles!!!

Shhh...It's a Surprise!

Douglas is teaching a photo shop class for Mom Allen this weekend, so he, Nikki, and Linken are going to visit Jared's family in Texas. We knew that we wanted to visit this summer as well, and decided to jump on board. Somewhere along the way, everyone thought we weren't coming for some reason. We kept our plans, but decided to make it a surprise, especially for Grandpa Allen. Tori and I were very grateful that Jared was able to fly with us this time - it was so much better! We were all in good spirits as we were getting ready to leave Indy...

And Tori soon discovered things to climb on!

Tori was fascinated by looking out the window!

I am so grateful that simple things are very entertaining...

and that the airline offered cookies!!!

Due to a lot of careful planning and sneakiness from Douglas and Jared, Dad Allen thought he was coming to pick up Douglas, Nikki, and Linken. They even found a flight arriving from Phoenix when our flight got in, just in case Dad checked the status on line. I have to say that we pulled this off with flying colors - Dad had no idea that we were going to be waiting for him!

This is when Grandpa first saw Tori!

And about 2 seconds later he was holding her!

I just love the look on Grandpa Allen's face!

But this one is my all time favorite - so cute!!!

Sorry Dad, but I just couldn't pass up posting this video. Here is Dad recounting his version of our grand surprise to Mom!!!

Yeah for surprises- especially to visit family, they really are the best!!!