Donovan's Elk (If Sqeemish Do Not Proceed)...

Donovan's Elk!

She was very pretty!

Over 500 lbs!

Grandpa and the grandkids next to Donovan's Elk!

Uncle Dave, Don Sr. Donovan and his Elk!
About 200 lbs. of meat from her!

I'm so excited, yesterday while out hunting Donovan was able to get his elk. The elk he tagged was huge! We now have 3 elk in Don Sr. garage. Way to go boys! I am very proud of my husband, he brought home a nice big and beautiful elk. When I saw her I almost cried. It truly was a blessing, what an awesome experience. This beautiful animal gave her life so my family would have meat to live off of. I am truly grateful to this animal and to the Lord for letting us take this magnificent creature. We are very blessed this winter for all the meat we have received! I love you Baby, you did a great job and the elk you tagged was beautiful!

Merry Christmas...

We had a great Christmas, however to me the true meaning of Christmas is not the gifts that I or my family received, it is Christ. I have been amazed at my friends and how Christ-like they truly are. I look up to you all, each one I hold dear to my heart. You all amaze me! Thank you for your friendship, support, love and help you have given me and my family. I love you very much. Merry Christmas.

I would also like to say I love you to My Mom, Dad, Don Sr., Jerri and all my other family for without them I would be lost. I love you all and I am very thankful for your support and love. You all mean so much to me. Thank you and Merry Christmas.

Ember, We love you and miss you very much! I hope you had a great day! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve...

Another tradition is opening one present on Christmas Eve. This is always pj's. So here are the girls in their jamma's. Also we read The Night Before Christmas.

Gingerbread Houses...

This is a tradition in the Allphin family. Every year we make gingerbread houses. This is year is no different, except that we were missing Ember. We miss you Ember. This is the finished product!

Frosty the Snowman...

Here is a picture that I took of the snowman that Kenzie and Ashlynn made on the day it just snowed and snowed!

A Hunting We Will Go...

As a family we took a trip with Donovan up to his hunting grounds. It was a lot of fun and we actually found and tracked some elk. The herd was huge, about 150 head. However there were other hunters around that split the group up. There were only a little over 50 head when we got a closer look. There were 3 that Donovan could have shot, however, they were on private property, or so we thought. Come to find out later the land they were on wasn't private. So we watched the heard and tracked them...the later we got the harder it was to figure out where they were headed. Little did we know that the other hunters had found them and where running the heard higher and higher up the mountain. It wasn't until we talked to some other hunters when we found out that we weren't going to get any of the elk today.

The nice thing about us going up when we did, we were able to tell Don Sr. right where to look. Sure enough, they went up on Tuesday and Don Sr. and Brent were able to get their elk right after they got up the mountain.

An Amazing Date with My Sweetheart...

Donovan, Brian, Me and Babe!

Scott Humphrey (Tenor) and Danny Rogers (Bass)
Tim Hodgson (Tenor and High Baritone)

Donny Cook (flat-top guitar, steel guitar, dobro, banjo and anything that has strings)

Grandma!

Bryan Humphrey is my favorite! Famous for his yodeling.

Babe Humphrey!

Donovan was lucky enough to get tickets to a private showing of the Bar J Wranglers for their Christmas Show! We had six so we invited Mark, Talara, Jon and Brittany. Before the show we met Jon and Brittany over at Olive Garden for a little dinner before heading out to see the Concert. It was a very good dinner and followed by the best show I have seen by the Bar J Wranglers! Thank you Honey, it was a great date night! I have posted a few pictures from that evening and also was able to get video. Bryan, is my favorite by far, very talented. He has a beautiful voice...but my favorite part is his yodeling! I also like Grandma...she kind of fell a little flat that night though. ;-) I hope you enjoy the picture and video, I know I did. Thank you Mark, Talara, Jon and Britt for coming and sharing this time with us.

Bar J Wranglers Talent...

Bryan Yodeling, all I have to say is that he is amazing!



Donny Cook and Tim Hodgson, amazing at the Banjo and Fiddle!

The Festival of Lights...

Every year for another family tradition we go to Spanish Fork to view the Festival of Lights. We like this one a lot better then the one at Thanksgiving Point. They have an amazing display. The girls had a fun time and so did Donovan and I. We actually took the loop twice this year. We were a little late or we would have maybe done one more loop. There is always next week! If you haven't gone, think about taking the kids they will love it!

The Second Snow of the Season...

I love the Snow!!! It was so beautiful yesterday with the snow falling and all around just a pure snow white! I just had to take some pictures from our house to capture the true beauty. I hope we have a couple more storms like this before Christmas. I really miss having a White Christmas. Alaska Christmas' were amazing! I am praying that we will have a record snow like they did back in '80 something. I think winter is just on a late start, we will be getting hit hard soon, here's hoping!

Merry Christmas From the Allphin Elves!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
We love you! Have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season.

Love,

The Allphins
Don Jr., Jennifer, Ember, Kenzie and Ashlynn

The Big Christmas Dance Recital...

 

Here are some pictures that were taken of the Girls after their dance recital. They did so well! I am very proud of them, so beautiful!

Both girls were able to dance 3 dances! How awesome is that? Way to go! It was also great to see other girls from the ward dancing, they were beautiful as well. Good job to everyone!

I guess I should name the dance and the style for each girl.

Ember Danced:
Hip Hop: Elevator
Ballet: Sing Noel
Jazz: Santa Baby

Kenzie Danced:
Tap: Santa Clause is Coming to Town
Ballet: Never go to Bed
And she was able to do: I must practice everyday!

The Christmas Gift...

The Gift was not just the picture of the ship Angie gave me...it was being able to see very special people in my life at Christmas time. These sisters from my old ward in Lehi are Angels. I have been waiting a whole year to let them know how truly wonderful last years Christmas was. Because of these dear friends My Girls had an amazing Christmas! I can not express the gratitude, love, humility and many other words to describe. I went over to another friends house to say "HI" and let her and her husband know how truly blessed we were to have them in our lives. I was trying not to cry since I was only able to see her husband and tell him how grateful we were for their love and support.

I love how the Lord knows what we need and when we need it. Last year at this time we really were struggling with Christmas, the possible move to Provo (still did not know at that time), and many other things. The Relief Society, The Owen Family, The Miller Family and The Dorsey Family really listened to the Lord and knew our needs, for this we had an amazing Christmas. Not only was Christmas great, we came out with some friends we will always hold dear to our hearts, they were our Angels. They were there in our time of need. When we moved Donovan and I said that we would be there for Testimony meeting and thank all those that helped us and to say "good-bye". Well that 1st Sunday in January came and went and I felt horrible that I was not able to tell all we loved how touched we were by their willingness to serve the Lord. I am so happy to say that the Lord knows. So here it is 1 year later and Christmas time. I was able to thank those sisters and let them know how grateful we are to them, how we try and be like them and pay it forward. How the Lord knew we NEEDED to be here in our new ward. I love my ward in Lehi and I will never forget them. I also want to say how much I love our new ward here in Provo. These sisters are amazing! The love, the service and talent this ward has. How they have made us feel very welcome. I love you all. I know we were sent here for a reason...sometimes like my story we have to wait a year, maybe longer, maybe shorter. However long it maybe the Lord really does have a hand in all we do. I am so grateful to you all. I love you!

Thank you Ang for the beautiful picture, it is in the perfect place above my fireplace. What a great gift, the best from you is our friendship. Thank you!

An Amazing Christmas Light Display...

Every year Donovan and I take the girls up to Cedar Hills to see this amazing Christmas Light Show. This year we had the opportunity to take along one of Ember's good friends Katie. Before we left we bundled up and made some Hot Chocolate (you always need some good hot cocoa for viewing lights). So we ventured up to Cedar Hills. We got there and the Holdman's had moved. How sad...we had planned this now for a year and here we are with out a show. Nope, not the case, the Holdman's had placed a box and map to their new location. Yeah!!! We were able to go. So we drove back to Lindon where they now live. If any of you would like to go and see this light show I will gladly give you the address. The girls had a lot of fun with the music, lights and hot chocolate!

I was a little bummed because the past several years the show was so elaborate and the lane with the house just seemed to set the setting well. This one was very good and beautifully done, however not as big. It is worth going and seeing.

Breakfast with Santa...

Grandma Jeri was able to get tickets for the grand kids to see Santa this year. The kids first sat on Santa's lap, then off the eat breakfast. There were a few other things they were able to do as well. First was the Days of Christmas, a Christmas Ornament making, The Polar Express book, and Letters to Santa. The girls did it all, this with Ember in the lead. Thank you Grandma Jeri for taking us! We had a lot of fun!

Ember's 10th Birthday...

Ember had a great 10th Birthday, we decided that it would be better just keep it small and our little family this year. Friday started off with a full day of hair and make-up, then off to two dance recitals. It was a lot of fun, yet a really long day. I posted a few things Ember received on her birthday. she received the willow tree 'dancer' from Grandma Newman. From her mom she was able to get her ears pierced. She had a great day! Happy Birthday! We love you very much and we are so blessed to have you in our lives! We are very proud of you!

Dance Recitals...

Friday was quite hectic. I got up really early to get the girls ready for their dance recitals. So onto hair and make-up! Kenzie had the opportunity to dance for a local Old Folks home. This was her first performance in front of a crowd. We were a little scared since she is very shy and not wanting to get up in front of people. She knew her dance inside and out at home and the studio...with an audience it is a little different. We had to arrive at 11:45 am and she would perform at 12:20 pm. Once arriving we split up into the little dance groups. Grandpa Allphin was able to attend, which was great! Thank you so much for coming that meant a lot to Kenzie! Kenzie did awesome for her first performance. She was great, she was born to dance and be in front of a crowd!

Next we had just enough time to stop by McDonald's and rush home to change Ember into costume. After changing we rushed up to the Festival of Trees. Yes, that is where Ember was able to dance. It was so great for her. She is such the performer! We had to be up there at 3:00pm and Ember danced at 4:10 pm. She did great! Ember is really turning into a beautiful dancer. Being here at her new dance company she has really blossomed. Her Ballet teacher is great! Good Job Ember!

Once we were done with dance we headed over to view the trees. Ember was blessed not only to have danced in the Festival of Trees she also had a tree in the Festival. For her Activity Days group they were able to make a tree for the Festival, thanks to Jen Stemmons. The tree turned out absolutely gorgeous! I have a couple of pictures of the tree with Ember. I am so glad that she had that opportunity to participate in such a great fund raiser for Primary Children's Hospital.

Thank you Jen, the tree turned out so cute!