I feel like I have had to remind myself to do a lot more of this than normal lately. I have been neglecting many things in my life lately including this blog. Work has officially taken over my life. After spending several weeks training someone to take over my job so I could go part time and eventually quit before moving to Virginia she decided to quit and make my life pretty miserable until we go. It gets worse but I need to stop before the tears start again.

P.S. Thank you to my sweet husband, Morris, who is keeping life together at the Poole house.

Its Official!

We got the official word in the mail yesterday--He passed!

Yep, this guy is now Dr.Poole. Well, I guess he still has to graduate but at least he has a license now to be a Dentist. We went to Fatburger to celebrate the very important piece of mail. It was good. Morris always treats himself to a Fatburger at the end of finals week and since there won't be anymore of those we thought this was a worthy occasion. Congratulations, Dr. Poole!

Day with Mom

Last week my mom was in town for a convention so Morris and I snuck down to Anaheim to spend the day with her at Disneyland. We had a great afternoon at California Adventures taking my Mom on all of our favorite rides. We took a break from the hot sun and saw the Aladdin show and it was just as good as it was the first time--the genie is hilarious! Thanks for coming to town Mom, it was so fun to see you.

For The Grads

I can't believe it already came and went. Several months ago we began planning a cruise with several of Morris's classmates to celebrate their upcoming graduation. We have had so much fun together during dental school and wanted to take a little vacation together before we all go our separate ways.

We boarded the ship in Los Angeles and headed south to San Diego. We got off the ship early in the morning and took the ferry over to Coronado Island. We rented some bicycles and saw the best of the island. Our first stop was Hotel Del Coronado, a beautiful historic hotel. Spending time at this hotel made me really sad we didn't spend a weekend there like we planned last year.

Group shot near the hotel after a game of ultimate frisbee on the beach.
A view of Coronado Bridge from a pit stop.

We had a great time that evening getting all dressed up and spending a night on the town--or ship.
Morris was so excited for the cruise he forgot to include something in his suitcase--a dress shirt.
A good look, don't you think? This was the best shirt we could come up with. Luckily Sean forgot one as well so they went tie less to the "formal" dinner.

We spent the next day on Catalina Island. Morris and I had been to Catalina once before and we were excited to spend some more time there.

A photo on the small boat to Catalina with the big boat in the back ground.

Most of our time spent on Catalina relaxing and playing cards near the beach. It was nice to spend the day on ground that was not moving.

Last stop--Ensenada,Mexico. While in Ensenada we visited La Bufadora--an underwater cave blowhole thing. Morris was more excited about finding some Mexican Tacos and I was searching for some Manzana Lift--a really yummy apple soda. We both walked away satisfied with our visit to Mexico.

Just above La Bufadora. The tide was not very high so there was not much of a water show while we were there.
The ladies checking out the beaches of Mexico--I think California has them beat as far as beaches go.
This was our last view of Mexico. We boarded the ship to catch some rays and head back to Los Angeles.

We had such a great time on the cruise and look forward to many more cruises and vacations together and with those who could not make it this year.

Our Young Family "sad face photo" at the end of our vacation. Until 2011.

Beach Date

The weather has been so beautiful in LA. The sun was shining yesterday and I was out of work early so Morris and I decided to spend the afternoon at the beach. Morris is on Spring Break right now but you would never know it with how much time he has been spending at school getting ready for the WREB. We are going to miss being a few miles from the beach and spending our free time this way.

For the Last Time

Morris can no longer give me the excuse "No we can't have any fun, I have to study for finals". Yesterday Morris took his last final ever. Next quarter he will finish up his requirements in the clinic and then it is graduation day (June 1)! And the best part of this story is that he won't have any tests or finals in his residency program either. He is not totally stress free yet, he has the WREB (the REALLY REALLY big exam that decides if he gets to be a dentist or not) in about a week. Good Luck on the WREB Morris and our other fellow dental friends!

Newest Allen

On Sunday, grandchild #18 on the Allen side came home from the hospital. My brother Greg and his wife Tieryn adopted this sweet angel. This little boy finding his way home to this family is a such a blessing and a display of God's love for each of his children. I love you Tyler and I can't wait to hold you and play with you.

I'd Rather be in Hawaii

5 days was not nearly long enough. Last week Morris and I decided to take advantage of some free flights and a condo in Waikiki and take a last minute vacation to Hawaii. We booked our tickets on Saturday and by Wednesday we were sun bathing in Oahu. We met up with two of Morris's sisters and their husbands our second day there and had the best vacation.

Our second day on the island we explored the North Shore and the beautiful beaches. The waves were huge and incredible to watch. Morris and Lance got taken out a few times while they were body surfing at Waimea Bay.

On the way home we stopped for lunch in the cutest little surf town called Haleiwa. After lunch we stopped at a local favorite--Matsumotos, for the best Hawaiian shaved ice. This is my kind of treat, shaved ice with ice cream in the bottom--there really is nothing better.
The next day we got up early to hike Diamond Head. The trail takes you through the inside of the extinct volcanic crater. When you reach the top of the crater there is a beautiful view of the island and the Pacific Ocean. Behind us is Waikiki and downtown Honolulu.
Morris decided he would braves the waves again but this time with a boogie board in hand. We spent the afternoon at Lanikai beach. Morris even convinced me to take a turn on the boogie board.
I caught a few waves and then went back to my book on the sand. This is how the ladies spent our time in the sun.
Then it was my BIRTHDAY--the big 26! We celebrated over dinner at Dukes. The restaurant is right on the beach with beautiful views of the sunset. Jason and Lance even arranged for a birthday song and a huge piece of Hula Pie. It was delicious!
We had one rainy day during our vacation so we decided to spend the day visiting Pearl Harbor. There is a very nice, peaceful spirit at the USS Arizona Memorial. It was great to visit and remember this day in American history.

The rain cleared up for a few hours so we took advantage of the rays and spent some time on the beaches of Ko Olina at the JW Marriott. This was my favorite part of the island, it was beautiful and the beaches were very calm and very few people.
Just before we were heading home for the day the rains picked up again and we watched the storm clouds move in. We stopped for a few shots with the waves, Mindy and Lance almost got washed away. Just as we were finishing up our photos a huge wave crashed onto the shore and we all got drenched including the cameras we were all holding.
Mindy and Melanie spent the day at the JW spa while the rest of us hiked through a beautiful rain forest to Moana Falls just a few minutes north of downtown Honolulu.
Our last night in Hawaii we went to dinner at the Kahala Hotel. The grounds of the hotel were beautiful and the dinner was delicious. Before our dinner arrived we took advantage of the photo op. I thought this photo of Melanie and Jason turned out best.

This was just a few hours before getting on the plane. We are smiling but I was very sad to go back to real life so soon.
Thank you Rices and Ponds for letting us tag along on your vacation, we had a wonderful time with you. We will be sure to invite ourselves on your next vacation as well--he he.

Aloha!

This where Morris and I will be hanging out tomorrow. See you in a couple days.

My Famous Moment

For those of you who did not catch the Ellen show yesterday here is your second chance.

Ellen

Today I went to a taping of the Ellen show with some friends. Jackie and Janae got some last minute tickets and invited Marrisa and I to join them for the show. It was a long afternoon waiting for the taping to begin but once we finally made it into the studio it was a great time. We thought we were going to a taping of the Valentines Day show but when we got there we found out it was actually the taping for Wednesdays (Feb. 12th) show. We saw several guests but the most exciting was Richard Branson who had a very nice gift for the audience (2 round trip tickets on Virgin America) and a crazy scientist guy who called ME on stage to walk on water. You will have to watch tomorrow to see my TV debut.

Necessities

In preperation of our upcoming move across the country I have been obsessed with trying to get as much information about Richmond as I can before we move. We don't know exactly where we are going to live yet and probably won't know for a few months. So I have decided to locate all of the places I have grown to love over the years and see if they will still be avaliable to me on the east coast.

Target--1 for sure maybe 3 within 20 minutes.

Nordstrom--1. We will still be poor students so 1 should be enough.

Barnes and Noble--At least 5. And hopefully a good public library system.

L.D.S. Temple--0. Washington D.C. is our closest and is about 2 hours away. 1 guarnteed trip to D.C. each month-yeah.

Beach--1 hr. 20 min. to Newport News.

Einsteins Bagels-- 4 in the area. I love Bagels. I have missed them while living in CA.

Trader Joe's--0 right now, closest is in Newport News but Richmond is coming soon and is already on the map. Hopefully it will be open by the time we arrive.

Art Museum--1. I have heard the Richmond Art Museum is a decent museum for the size of the city. But don't worry the National Gallery will be a regular stop our monthly visits to D.C. and N.Y.C. is a short train ride away with several of my favorite museums to choose from.

Costco--1. Hooray we can still enjoy Hewbrew National dogs and our Costco date nights.

Ikea--1 in Woodbridge, VA about an hour and a half from Richmond. I will still be able to get all kinds of inexpensive items to furnish our new home.

Airport--1 but that is all you need. Delta and Jet Blue fly from there but no direct flights to any family--boo.

Now we just have to find a place to live and figure out how to get there. Once we arrive I think we will be well taken care of and we will love the east just as much as we have loved the west.

Heros Wanted

Morris and I spent Saturday in Carlsbad at Legoland with our friends the Shamos and my sister Brooke and her kids. It has been so rainy here for the last two weeks we were really hoping the weather would be nice for our day at the park. The rain held off and we had a great day.

Tate gave us a few heart attacks when he wander off out of sight, thankfully we found him both times. He is such a cutie and had a great time on every ride.
The boys were the only ones who wanted to ride the water rides since it was so cold.
Janae and I took a ride on the crazy "claw" thing ride. You can decide how intense you want your ride to be 1-5. We chose to go with level 5 and I think both of us suffered from a head rush for the rest of the day. I think level 5 just meant you spent more than half the time upside down with all the blood rushing to your head.
Rick teaching Wyatt a few things about flying a plane.
Thanks Shamos and Camps for spending the day with us at Legoland.

I'm A Fan

On Friday Morris and I went to Red Mango for the first time. I love Pinkberry so I was very excited to try out the Red Mango down the street. And my vote goes to Red Mango, it is so much better. Red Mango is much creamier (real yogurt versus the powder that Pinkberry uses) and I think the fruit was fresher as well. Oh and no lines, we were the only people there--well for most of the time, until a bunch of crazy kids came over and ran us out.

Jammers in L.A.

Last week my good friend Jamie came from Boise for a visit to L.A. Jamies husband surprised her with tickets to Wicked for Christmas. The Burgers were not in town very long but we managed to squeeze in a quick visit and a bite to eat at C&O's. It was so fun to see Jamie and Bryce, hopefully next time we will get to spend more time with one another. I hope we will get as many visitors in Virginia as we do in California.

We're having a Cake!

In class this week we made a baby shower cake. I have been wanting to make this cake for a while; you can see how the occasion for a baby shower cake may be a bit more frequent than a Bart Simpson cake. This cake was a bit labor intense but I think it turned out pretty cute. I decided to make my cake blue for a boy for my sister Holly and my sis in law Heidi who are both expecting boys. I know neither of you are close enough to partake of this goodness so I guess I will sacrifice and have a piece for each of you myself. Yeah for more boys in the Allen family.

A Root Beer Birthday

On Saturday we celebrated Morris's 28th Birthday! For my husband--the lover of root beer I thought a root beer tasting party would be perfect. We sampled 12 different flavors of brew and rated each on flavor, aroma and bite. We had a great time and thanks to everyone who came and made Morris's birthday a great day.

January Dive

This last Friday we had our almost monthly "Dive of the Month" with our friends from church. This Friday's selection was Taqueria Chihuahua--Morris was in heaven and I would go back again for another enchilada. Thanks to Marissa for always finding new local hot spots for us to check out.

Return of the Cakes

My friend Marissa and I started our cake class again this week. We have now moved from beginner to intermediate. I can't believe it has almost been almost a year since our last class. Our first assignment was a bit strange but I am glad to know the technique. I never thought I would ever make a Bart Simpson cake but stranger things have happened. Here is the first cake from our 8 week course.

Christmas Holiday

I know Christmas is now a distant memory for many of you but I am just now finding time to post about our wonderful vacation spent with family over the holiday. Now that we are home in California it seems very weird to be posting pictures of us all bundled up in snow gear when it is a warm 75 degrees outside. We were able to spend time with both my family as well as Morris's family on our Christmas break. We spent the first part of our vacation with the Poole's and had a great time visiting with family, puzzling, and eating crepes and other delicious treats. We spent a week there and I managed to not take any pictures the whole time.

Next we were off to Idaho to spend some time with my family. With my family growing at such a rapid rate it is difficult for us to all get together anymore. All of my siblings were able to make it to Idaho for a quick visit with the exception of two--6 out of 8 is not bad. We had so much fun with my family. First activity on the agenda was some sledding at Bogus Basin Ski Resort. Group shot of all of the sledders.
Addie was such a good sport in these frigid temps. She had a grin on her face the whole time. I love this little Addie Cakes.
Morris and I waiting to get on the lift for another run.
After everyone arrived in Boise we headed to the mountains and more SNOW! We had a cabin with a beautiful lake view and plenty of activities to keep the kids entertained. Isaac was a master of the ping pong defeating all of his opponents while Reagan kept the Air Hockey table warm. The men spent most of their time watching movies in the theatre and way too much football and the ladies worked together to complete newborn baby kits for charity. I also face planted into the ice while attempting to show my nieces and nephews how to take the hill, it didn't work out quite like I planned--sorry no picture of the damage done. I was so happy finally got to meet baby Claire, she is a treat and to see Heidi's baby bump.

We had so much fun with our families, we wish every visit could be longer. Can't wait until our next trip.