A Weekend Apart

Two weekends ago we had to divide and conquer.  It was finally time for my half marathon in Salt Lake so Cody and the kids went to Declo to party with Grandma and Grandpa :)  It was hard and a little weird being away from them all for 2 1/2 days but I had a great time and so did they.

Taylor and Wyatt had a blast; they got to help with the cows, ride 4 wheelers, ride the horse and tons of other fun stuff.  (like falling asleep while drinking sprite) :)

 The race was fun as well!  Granted, it was a bit painful and it was hard (but you have to fully expect that when signing up for a 13 mile race) but it was fun!  It was me, Brianne, my Mom and Dad who ran it, and I love doing these races together with them, it makes it so much more fun!

Our Debt Free Pledge!

Some of you may know this about us already but we absolutely love Dave Ramsey! (He is a financial guru for those of you who don't know)  We have been listening to his radio show and reading his books for a couple of years.  Following his advice has gotten us to a financially stable place in our lives.  We are completely debt free except for our mortgage!  Following his steps we paid off student loans and a car and then bought our Durango with cash.

The reason I am telling you this is that we had a life changing event take place last night and we have to say it out loud to our family and friends so that we will be held accountable to stick to our decision.  So hold us accountable!! :)   We officially began our "Total Money Makeover" last night (Dave Ramsey book, look it up, it will change your life!)   We were already half way done with his steps but the big ones are left and thats what we have officially committed to.  We pledge to you all that we will pay our house off in 7 years from now and will be 100% debt free!!!  We will never borrow again and we can't wait for the freedom and peace this will bring!  This will involve hard work and sacrifice but we are willing to do it.  As Dave says "If you will live like no one else, later you can LIVE like no one else"!

Thanks for your support guys! Wow see, this was a good idea, there is no going back now!  If you want to know more about the process feel free to ask :)  The other steps we have left in his program include investing for retirement (no relying on the government for these Allens), saving for the babies missions and college, and building wealth so we can have fun with a peace filled mind and GIVE to others!

And yes we may very well be nerds but we wrote our goal on the inside cover of the book and signed it :)

A week behind

These are some pics from last week.  You just get a pic post this time :)

I was printing stuff off for a couple of minutes and Little Lady decided to move half of the house into the front room.  This girl loves to organize, sort and rearrange things.  So though she moved a ton of stuff and it was a mess, at least it was organized!

She wanted to go running with me one night, so we got on our hoodies, our matching ponytails and pink headbands and headed out. Once we left she didn't want to run but be carried (which is crazy cause usually when we go for walks she runs)

The Ocean!

     
        No we did not go to the ocean this week.  Taylor, however, thinks that we did :)  We went to Bear Lake with a bunch of my family this week and we kept telling her it was the lake and she kept replying (with arms spread wide open, head tipped back) "the ocean"!  Kinda just went with if after a while.

      We have water babies for sure.  It was quite windy and chilly when we first got there and we had to wear jackets for a bit.  Throughout the day that blasted wind kept coming back.  We would go out and play in the water until they were shivering so hard it was like full body convulsions and their lips were purple and then we would drag them in, strip them down, and make them cuddle in towels and blankets till they warmed up.  Did you notice that I said 'drag them in'?  Yeah, even tho they were absolutely freezing they got mad every time we made them go in to warm up, they love the water!

      The only other thing we really had going on this week was Cody starting school.  Yikes! Yay!  Boo!  Yahoo!  We can't really decide how we feel about this yet if you can't tell.  He is getting his Masters in Geology and Monsanto will pay for it so that is absolutely amazing!  Hard to pass up an opportunity like that.   Down side is that he has to drive 50 minutes (in good weather) one way to get to class.  So lots of Daddy hours are being sacrificed for this little escapade.  But he will be an awesome student and hopefully these next 2 years will go by quickly and then he will be graduated, a totally brilliant scholar, and we will be on to more money and time with him :)