Fall has arrived in full color!

Last Saturday was our first one back in MS after our month long vacation. Things were so crazy at work this week for Bryan and our evenings consisted of club try-outs (that's right we are back coaching volleyball tell you more later). Bryan really wanted to take a drive and enjoy all the beautiful fall colors surrounding us. Our first thought was to drive the Natchez Trace Park Trail. After looking closer we realized it was too far for a day trip.

I remembered reading about a day trip our friends the Collins had taken. We called them and they just happened to be making a trip to the same area that day. We kind of invited ourselves along for their trip.

Our frist stop was to Holly Springs MS, it is about a half and hour South of where we live. We went to a hamburger joint called Phillips Grocery for lunch. I kind of forgot to fill Bryan in on where we were. He thought we were just looking at some old buildings by a run down railroad yard. Surprise we are eating at this place. We were informed the building was built in the 1800's and function as a saloon.


After lunch we went and took pictures and investigated the old abandoned box cars. I have to tell you I have officially fulfilled my "Boxcar Children" dream. I have always wanted to play inside an old boxcar.


After playing for a while we headed to Wall Doxey State Park to take some pictures. All the fall colors were amazing. We would like to go camping here some time in the future.


Our last destination was to Oxford, MS. It is the hometown of Ole Miss. Our friends showed us around downtown and we drove around campus before making our trip back home. It was a wonderful day. Thanks for letting us Tag along.

Body Worlds Exhibit

Bryan and I had the opportunity to go to the Leonardo Body Worlds Exhibit in Salt Lake. We have been wanting to go since hearing about it from Rayann and Justin. We lucked out it happened to be in Salt Lake when we were visiting. It was kind of a last minute decision to go (thanks Chris and Nikki for going). It is a little expensive, but so worth it. The exhibits were amazing,whole-body plastinates, organs and translucent body slices were available to view. It is amazing to see how intricate the human body is.

Volleyball, Volleyball, and more Volleyball

So if you don't already know Bryan and I love volleyball. We have missed it so much. I think we played more volleyball this trip than we have played in the last year and a half since we moved. We started out the trip with a coed sixes tournament. Bryan played in the A division while I played in the B division. Bryan's team ended up taking first without losing a set. I can be given the thanks for putting together such an awesome team. j/k I was sad not to be able to play with them. My team ended up taking third in the B division. I think we ran out of gas or at least I did. I hurt so bad after the tournament. It was not quite as bad as three a days, but close.

The following Tuesday Bryan was able to play with my sister's husband in a Coed A league tournament and they came from the losers bracket to win the league. For the record it was legal because he played in the league the last time we were in town.

The following couple of days we were able to go and play volleyball at some churches. Bryan's friend Katy from High School invited us to go and play at her church. It wasn't the greatest volleyball, but everyone was so nice and I actually knew a couple of the girls at the church. Nessa invited us to go and play at her church the next night for some stronger volleyball. Again everyone was so nice and I saw so many girls I played with at Hunter High. I feel so old, many of my friends have three or four kids. Crazy to think I am old enough to have that many kids.

Bryan played our last weekend in a triples tournament and ended up taking second. He said he had a lot of fun and was so sore after playing. I think he forgot how much harder you have to work in triples.

Thanks to everyone for inviting us to play or playing with us and to our family for understanding our need to play this trip. It will be my last until after the baby.

Babysitting

While Bryan and I were in Utah we got the opportunity to babysit our nieces and nephew. Bryan and I were a little nervous at first because our last babysitting job didn't go so well. The first day we were in town we went and stayed with my sister to help with Taija while Justin was in FL for an interview. Everything went so nice. Taija is such a good little girl. We watched a few times throughout our stay and the only thing she did that upset me was when she spit up her bottle all over me. It made me gag. I guess I better learn to get over it. It was so hard to leave knowing that she will have grown so much by the time we return next

Our next babysitting job was with our niece Kylie and our nephew Jackson. I was a little nervous because it takes a while for them to warm up to us. Things actually went well. They are so much, we get to play pretend with them. The things they come with are so crazy. We had a puppy spider, read books, played with dolls, and colored. I think this was the best visit with them because we actually got to spend more than a week. Miss you guys.

Paul and Jan's Wedding

Bryan's little sister was married on October 21, 2008 to Paul Matheson. The wedding was beautiful and everything turned out so nice. We are excited to have Paul as an addition to the family. He is such a great guy and has a wonderful family. We know Paul and Jan will be happy. We have already been able to see the influence Paul is in Jan's life. There wedding is one that would be hard to top. Paul is a helicopter pilot and he had a helicopter land at the reception center and fly them to Little America. They are such a cute couple. Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day.

Haunted Corn Maize

Last weekend a group of us decided to go to the haunted corn maize in Germantown. Besides the smokers and the high school kids it was a lot of fun. It took us about an hour to get through the maize. It was nice because they had questions with answers to choose from. Each answer would give you a direction to go. Sometimes we made the wrong choice, but were able to find our way. They had scary creatures lurking through out the maize. The scariest part was at the end with the chainsaw people. I really, really do not like them. It was a lot of fun, 100 times better than our haunted house experience last year.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

My Eating Habits

So, since I have been pregnant I have been the worst eater ever. Bryan would say that I am always the worst eater, mainly because I like pizza for breakfast. I feel like I am back in college. The things I like are the things you buy when you are a poor college student. I like the card board pizzas, ramen noodles, potatoes, rice, bananas, apples, yogurt, popsicles, doritos, grilled cheese sandwiches, burritos, chocolate milk, and fruit smoothies. Oh, don't worry I am getting my vegetables by cheating. I now drink the V8 Juice.

Everyone should feel bad for Bryan I think I have cooked dinner maybe a total of five times in the past three months. He has been really great about dealing with my eating habits and letting me buy what I want to eat (even though he wants me to eat better). I know Bryan is excited to go visit our family because he might actually get to eat real food for a couple of weeks. :o)

We're Alive...

So I know it has been almost two months, but most of you may know that I have a good reason for not blogging. I have been extremely sick for the last two months and it seems that it may not end for another seven months. If you guessed that I am pregnant you are right. I am 14 weeks pregnant and other than being sick all the time things are going well. We will find out in November what the sex of the baby is. Here is our first picture of our baby.



To catch everyone up on the last two months we have been very busy. In August we got a visit from Dad, Mom, and Jenneca. We were able to do lots of fun things. it was really nice of them to come and visit us. We love having visitors.



For Labor Day we went to St. Louis with some friends and had a blast. If you are thinking about visiting St. Louis I highly recommend going. There are plenty of places to visit and the weather was great. Check out our pictures by clicking on the one below.



The end of September we were able to go to Utah and visit our family and friends. It was a short trip, but very enjoyable. We were able to get some camping in along with some volleyball. We also ate at places we don't have here in the South. We are excited because we get to return in a couple of weeks to attend Paul and Jan's wedding and also bless Taija.



Some of you may be wondering who Taija is. Well, Taija is our newest family member. My little sister Toshi delivered Taija on October 2. Just four days after we returned to MS.



I know this is a ton and I hope to do better about blogging.

Sometimes, truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded. ~ Batman

Well, we had a fun weekend with the Sullengers. Hopefully they are not too sick of us. Friday night we went and saw Dark Knight. Can I tell you unbelievable? I absolutely loved the movie; I wouldn't mind seeing it again. Christian Bale of course was as cute as ever and I really am beginning to like Aaron Eckhart (he seems to be in every movie we watch). I loved the cast everyone did a fantastic job.

Saturday morning we went picking peaches at Jone's Orchard in Millington TN. It was so much fun, even if it was early in the morning and we were soaked from sweat at the end. I learned a new term when picking fruit. You do not want to chunk your peaches because it will bruise them. It was hard not to eat peaches while picking. They taste so good. I can't wait for peach pie, peach cobbler, peach jam, peach pancakes, and whatever else I can make with peaches.

It was a fun weekend!

Landscaping

So, I have been meaning to post some pictures of the landscaping Bryan and I have done in the front yard. My family knows that I love plants and enjoy making things grow. Well, since we don't have a big bay window like my parents I can't have a bunch of house plants. The only thing I could do was plant them outside. I decided to take on this project in the middle of the summer. And of course I involved Bryan. We started working on the front yard in June and finished the beginning of July. You wouldn't think it would take so long to put a few flowerbeds in. Well, if you think this way you have never lived in the South where the ground is nothing but hard clay. We were to cheap to go and rent a tiller so we broke up the ground by hand and the end results turned out great. One little piece of advice do not start landscaping projects in the middle of summer.

Toby Park Volleyball Tournament

Bryan participated in the 1st Tournament of the Mid-South Digs Series with Jared Klepko. They only had one division and that was Men's Open. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, if they were both in shape. Another problem was that the tournament allowed 12 teams to enter, again that wouldn't be a problem if they had more than two nets. Needless to say they spent most of the day sitting around in 100 degree weather with a heat index of 110. Mid-South Digs has only been in operation for two years and they are growing, but they still have many things to work out. They don't turn teams away because they are trying to build the sport. Bryan and Jared did not do too hot after being seeded 12 and playing a top seed. Maybe next time, if there is one.

Thrillusions

 
On Friday we went to Harrah's out at Tunica for what we thought was going to be a magician show. But it was so much more than that. It was a rock and roll music/illusion show with some thrilliscious dancers. The rock concert and magician show featured International Award Winning Magician James Brandon and celebrity superstar Tina Turner, Rod Stewart and Prince. We went with the Sullengers and had a good time. Tina got rid of the Ike-ettes and hand picked her Tin-ettes from the audience. We had a good laugh. Bryan was really hoping to be picked, we were just too far back. We weren't able to take any pictures, but if they come to your city we recommend you attend.

Tunica Volleyball Tournament

On Saturday Bryan was able to play in the Mike Miller Foundation Volleyball Tournament with some friends. It was men's four so he had Jared, Ryan and Danny on his team. Jared and Heather Klepko just moved out here a week or two ago and we are so excited to have them here. Ryan attends the Southern College of Optometry with some of our friends and Danny was a good sport and played with guys he didn't even know.

The tournament didn't get started until 10, but finished early because there were only 4 men's "A" teams. Tournaments are pretty small here. The tournament furnished lunch for the participants and had drinks for everyone. The guys ended up taking first place and while doing so upsetting the local teams. They wanted to know who these guys thought they were. The officiating was horrible; nothing was called and the court behavior was the same. Looking past that, the day was really nice.

It's indescribably beautiful! It reminds me of the Fourth of July!

This past 4th of July was spent with our friends here in Southaven, MS. We were able to enjoy fireworks at the Redbirds baseball game on Thursday night and Friday night we attended a Christian Rock (something they failed to mention BEFORE we went... :) fireworks celebration. The fireworks were ok, but the company was great!

The Ketchers, Collins, and Sullengers all came over to our house on Saturday to light fireworks (this was our way of involving our handicapped neighbor, Kash). Think of it as our charitable deed for the month. :) In keeping with true Allred tradition, we bought out the fireworks store and loaded up on roman candles. And mom, you'll be happy to know that we didn't purchase a single illegal firework (probably because there ARE no illegal fireworks). We made homemade ice cream, and Reiko made a delicious peach cobbler. It was a lot of fun!

Needless to say we had a fun weekend. We are grateful for the privilege to honor those who have given and continue to give so much for us to enjoy the freedoms that we do.