Our Home for the Holidays

Here are a few photos of our home for Christmas. I have been itching to put out the decorations since October. Morris kept telling me not until after Thanksgiving. The minute we returned from my sisters on Friday I began putting out the decorations. We are very limited on storage space in our little place so we have little to put our but I thought I would share a few photos to spread some cheer.

Black Friday

There is one positive to not spending Thanksgiving in Boise-you get to sleep in the day after Thanksgiving. Every year my mother assembles a large team of shoppers to help her score the great deals on Black Friday. With so many grandchildren to shop for she has to stretch those dollars around the holidays. After the turkey is all put away the adds come out and we start our battle plan for the next day. It usually goes something along the lines of one shopper walking in the door and standing in line while the others run crazy through the store gathering all of the items and then joining the shopper in line. The day will usually begin at Best Buy or Target depending on who has the hottest item. The day is not complete until the trip to Fred Meyer to purchase socks at 50% off. Only once have I seen blood drawn on our early morning outings. This year my sister Brooke and I did not go out and fight the early morning crowds, we opted for sleep over the great savings. We did however, head to Target in the late afternoon just to say we have not forgotten everything we have been taught. I snapped this photo at Target while my sister was modeling a cute hat for her son.

Turkey Bowl

My brother in law Bill has been so pumped for Turkey Bowl this year. This is all he talked about every time he saw Morris. Even after all of the hype they were defeated. Bill did reassure us however he would be taking over the quarterback position next year as it has been lacking the last two years. The photo is evidence that the boys still had a great time playing in the mud.

On the Big Screen

Wednesday night Morris and I went to see Nicole perform at the Clippers game. Nicole is a good friend from Boise who is living here in LA and has always wanted to dance for a NBA team, this year she made the Clippers Spirit Dance Team. The Clippers were not able to pull of a victory over the Sonics that night. I wasn't affected by the loss because I was only there to watch Nicole anyway. Those sitting around us found it a bit odd I was only snapping pictures when the dancers came out but at least I was able to snap one of Nicole on the big screen.

Beautiful Day

Friday was the day of Zachary's funeral in Austin. The funeral was a beautiful service. It is such a comfort to have the gospel in our lives and to know that we will have the opportunity to be reunited with Zachary once again. Greg and Tieryn (Zach's parents) both delivered beautiful messages about eternal families and Zach's mission on earth and in heaven. I am so happy I was able to attend the funeral and support my brother and family at this time. It was amazing to see the number of lives this little spirit touched. Zachary was an amazing boy, I know his presence will continue to be felt forever. These pictures were from the graveside service. We all wrote messages to Zachary on balloons and sent them to heaven where Zachary is looking down on us now. The other picture is from the last Allen family "squish" with all of Zachary's family gathered around his coffin for one last hug at the end of the graveside service.

In Loving Memory of Zachary

Zachary Thomas Allen passed away on Monday November 13th. My nephew Zachary www.zacharyprogress.blogspot.com left earth peacefully in the arms of his mother and father. Zachary was born in January and in his short 10 months on earth he has touched the lives of many. Zacharys sweet spirit has been such a joy to experience. My family will be forever blessed by being a part of Zacharys life. I will be traveling to Texas on Wednesday to attend the funeral services on Friday. I look forward to the day our family will once again be reunited with Zachary and be able to once again spend time with this special boy. I love you Zachary.

DeJaVu

Yes another trip down to Disneyland for the Poole Clan. This time new visitors--The Poole Train. All of Morris's family was in town for a Disneyland vacation. Not exactly a vacation for these So. Cal Pooles but we still had a great time. We love spending time with our family, Mickey and Friends are just an added bonus. As annual passholders Morris and I will often go to Disneyland for the evening hop on one ride with a short line, catch the fireworks, grab a churro(with caramel dipping sauce of course) and head home. This weekend however we had 2 full days of the Happiest Place on Earth. Disneyland has just put up all of the Holiday decorations so I enjoyed the magic of the Holiday season. We spent time walking through shops and seeing things we often pass right by. It was so great to get to spend time with family.

Congratulations LA!

You are the proud owners of a very brand new H & M. H & M opened it's doors to Los Angeles on Nov. 9th at the Beverly Center(6.68 miles from me). This is a special day for me--I love H & M. For those of you have never been--GO, it is a fantastic treat. Happy Shopping!