There's A Bun In Our Oven!

That's right! We're pregnant!!

I first found out on November 11th of 2012 and Bryce found out shortly thereafter. In fact, I woke up early that morning to take the test because I wanted to do it while Bryce was still asleep but I couldn't hold the news even long enough for him to wake up. After I found out I crawled back into bed and whispered into Bryce's sleeping ear, "We're pregnant, honey!"

Of course, though, I had to really break the exciting news to him in a creative and fun way! I couldn't do any of the fun make a T-shirt ideas or anything like that because those require time once I've found out and secrecy-- neither of which I could pull off (I whispered it in his ear while he was sleeping for Pete's sake!). So instead this is what I did. I took a picture of my positive pregnancy test and made it the background picture on his ipad!

I found out on a Sunday morning, meaning that as soon as Bryce woke up we'd be getting ready to go to church. I had to make sure he saw his ipad before we left or I would go crazy, haha! So I asked him, "Hey Bryce, do you need to charge your ipad?" I don't usually ask him that question so he looked at me kind of funny (plus, he was still half asleep), but the sudden inquiry did its job as he reached for his ipad. He unlocked the lock screen and looked at the background for a while, undoubtedly thinking, "Hey, this is different," but his half asleep mind wasn't able to take it in very quickly. Soon enough, though, I heard an excited "WHAT?!" come from the other room. I came in and said, "WE'RE PREGNANT!" and we kissed and talked and babbled in excitement for heaven knows how long. 

Bryce and I participated in a study for first time moms called NuMom2B. Through this program I gave various specimens for testing: blood, urine, and more. In exchange we received early sonograms and by the end we'll be $50 richer. But really, I was just excited to get a sonogram at 13 1/2 weeks along! Here's a small compilation of photos from that sonogram!

What a sweet little nugget, huh? Well, we're due July 17th of 2013 and we're STOKED! Oh, and here's a photo of our pregnancy announcement that we sent out to friends and family. :)

Well, since we just moved into a new area, I'm not sure if we'll be able to have  a baby shower of any sort, but I'll put links to our registries anyways, in case any of you guys are feeling super gracious. We would appreciate any sort of help. 

Walmart Registry

Target registry

Babies R Us Registry

Both of these registries pretty much have the same things on them, so if you've seen one you've seen them both. Anyways, we are so super excited to be bringing a little Allred into this world, and we'd love for you to share in our excitement! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

I'll leave you with a short video of when we first heard our baby's precious heartbeat ♥

An Eastern Anniversary

This past summer (2012) Bryce and I went out east for work. We were working with a company called Vivint and we installed security systems. Our office was in Voorhees, NJ but we also worked in Delaware and most often in Philadelphia. Living out east is definitely different than it is in the west or in the south. People have a different way of going about their days. There were many things about Philly that were so annoying, such as: people parking their car in the middle of the freaking road(!), no one ever uses crosswalks or waits to see if there is even a car, poor road quality, poor manners, almost no one has A/C (which was a bother when you're working in a hot basement for hours), and parking is almost impossible to find! I realize most of these things are about being on the road but that's what we were mostly doing, besides actually installing the security systems. All these things aside, there were some pretty neat things about the area also. One thing that I will always remember is how much work and pride people would put into their front door. Since most people lived in row houses and every single home looked exactly the same, they would make their front door as individual as they could.

Our goal that summer was to install 200 security systems. That put us at the highest pay-scale and also made us feel pretty good about ourselves! Bryce and I made this paper chain for Family Home Evening one of the first Mondays we were there. Every week we would take off a paper chain for each of the jobs we completed. Towards the end of the summer it was getting pretty close, too! But by the end of our time out east we had completed 208 jobs!

We called these fish "Vivint Bellies" because orange
 was the color of our company!

That's enough about work, though! What about the fun adventures, you ask?!? Lucky for us we had a little bit of time to enjoy ourselves that summer. When the weather would permit, and when we were in an area that was sufficient, between jobs all the technicians would fish. That was my first experience fishing and it was a blast! We weren't near any raging rivers, lakes, or oceans though, so we weren't super hardcore about the whole thing. We would use balled up bits of white bread for bait and sometimes we didn't even use poles, that's when we would just have a hook at the end of the line and we'd quickly tug when a fish grabbed on.

One of the birds at the store we were able to hold and play with.

One of my absolute favorite places to go between jobs was this place called Todd Marcus Birds Exotic. (Check out the video of their famous bird Einstein on their webpage!) We visited this pet store while we were working in New Jersey once and we fell in love with the place. The neat thing about that store is that they let some of the birds loose, and others that are caged you can ask to hold them and they will totally let you! We learned a lot about birds there from some guy who we thought worked there, but he didn't! Haha. I guess he just liked to hang around there just as much as we did. Bryce and I both decided that one day we were gonna get a bird or two as pets. Our favorite ones to see there were the Toucans and the African Greys. African Grey, I decided, was my favorite kind of bird. 

We also had a fun time at home. Bryce and I liked to watch Cake Boss a lot that summer. One day we decided to have our own "Cake Boss Night." We bought some supplies and had a cake making contest! Unlike Buddy, though, Bryce and I are no pros at cake making. This is what we came up with. Haha. We gave one of the cakes to the other technicians because we decided that if we kept them both at home we would get sick. We took one cake to the office and all the other techs liked it! Anyways, in case you didn't already guess, I won the competition. ;) 

Liberty Bell!

One weekend we were able to visit downtown Philadelphia and see all the historical sights. That was a neat day. We saw some of the early meeting houses and courts, the homes of some very influential people, Benjamin Franklin's grave, and the Liberty Bell! One thing that was really funny about visiting Benjamin Franklin's grave-- people would toss pennies on it. When we visited, there was probably around a hundred pennies on his grave. They say that people do this because of his mantra "A penny saved is a penny earned." I think throwing your pennies away like that kinda defeats the purpose. What do you guys think?

Can you see our bellies about to burst? Haha.

One of the most delicious adventures we had was, when our office met its goals for a number of weeks, we were taken out to a Brazilian restaurant called Fogo De Chao. YUM! Meals there normally cost over $50 a plate, so you can bet we'll never be eating there again! What a treat it was to go there for free, though! The food was sooooo delicious! We ate till food practically started coming out of our noses, since it was buffet style and since we knew we'd never be able to do so again. 

The best adventure, by far, though was our first anniversary! Bryce was able to get work off early on one Saturday so that we could celebrate our first year of marriage together. Everything was a surprise to me, all I knew was that I needed to pack my bag and to make sure to include a swimsuit. We drove down to Ocean City where Bryce had a nice little hotel room set up for us. We spent the rest of the day at the beach. There Bryce also surprised me with what he called a "Janine Picnic." He made a basket full of all of my favorite snacks! What a sweetheart! 

My delicious picnic! 

Later that night I had the BIGGEST burger craving ever(!) so we had our dinner at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. We bought a small cake from our local Walmart and ate every delicious bit while we watched TV in our hotel room. The next day we spent the whole day at the beach again.We had lunch on the pier and before we knew it, it was time to go home. What an amazing anniversary it was! And what an amazing, yet difficult summer that was! Though it was a lot of hard work, we had some great times and some amazing adventures. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Thanks for the adventures, honey buns! 

And with all that being said, I leave you guys with one last thought, one last picture. Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

I do ♥

WARNING: This blog post contains tons of photos and videos. You have been warned. 

It was the best summer of my life! Everything was finished being planned. All we had to do before I could marry my best friend was take a few pictures with our photographer and do an open house at the in-laws for friends and family. We weren't entirely traditional in that we took our photos and had the open house the day before the wedding. What that means is that, yes, Bryce saw the dress before the actual wedding. Good thing neither of us are particularly superstitious. I would actually recommend this, to those of you who are wondering. It's so much nicer to have a reception and photos done on another day so that your wedding day isn't super stressful and you can just relax and enjoy the best day of your life. Here's a little snippet of when Bryce actually saw me in my dress and I saw him in his tux for the first time!

Sorry about the lighting. Because our photo session was planned just before our open house, the unveiling took place in my in law's basement. It was a very special moment (did you see how much of a stud my husband is?!), although a bit of a rushed one. The photo session was coming up on us fast! Soon after this video was taken, Bryce and I hurried to our photo session at the Mount Timpanogos LDS Temple, where the wedding would take place the next day. It was a beautiful, sunny day with a light breeze. I couldn't have asked for a better day! Our photographer's name was Amy and she was amazing! I mean, just check out some of her handy work!

This is one of my favorites! See what I meant about Amy being amazing? She sure can catch a moment!

                                                                                                     

It was so pleasant working with Amy. She was a sweetheart and had a lot of good ideas. We didn't know her very well, but she had the sweetest spirit. I'm sad to say that a few short months later, Amy passed away on the table during surgery. We are grateful that she was able to be a part of such an important day in our lives and we send our love to her family.

Directly after our photo session, we had the open house back home at the Allred's. It was such a beautiful occasion. The front yard was decorated in our colors of black, white, and lime green, not to mention all the lights in the trees! We had our wedding video slideshow playing on a loop in the background, showing the evolution of our lives and our relationship. We had ice cream, cookies, and Italian sodas for treats! The big miracle of the day? Well, it was an outdoor celebration and the weather man insisted on rain. Yet there was no rain! Many guests told us that they prayed the rain would stay away as they walked through the line shaking our hands and hugging us. We are grateful for those prayers and for all the hard work that was put into that open house.

Here is a snap shot of our Italian Soda boys! Left to Right: Mike, Papa Allred, Spencer, and Brian.
Don't mind Brian, he was actually having a good time and being silly for the picture. 

As the sun set on the beautiful day, anxiety and excitement rose for the day to come! I woke up early to meet with my hair dresser. Then my mama helped me with my dress and my make up. The drive to the Timpanogos temple was crazy! There was an 18 wheeler that broke down somewhere on the highway, and I thought I was going to be late to my own wedding! Luckily we all made it in time. The ceremony was beautiful and life changing. I could finally say that I was married to the man of my dreams! After the ceremony we took some photos in front of the temple with the friends and family members that came to support us that day.

Here is a sweet little clip of us coming out of the temple right after the ceremony! Newly married!

And of course, some pictures!

Check out the heights of my family! Haha

Directly after all the photos, we made our way to our wedding luncheon. It was at this nice little Italian place called La Dolce Vita. The lunch was delicious and I recommend the place to anyone who is looking for a lovely Italian meal! People's glasses were clinked many times and so Bryce and I did a lot of smooching (not that either of us minded). 

It was the perfect day! The only hard thing about it was taking the elastics and bobby pins out of my hair later that evening! Haha. A week or so later, there was a reception for us in San Antonio. ROAD TRIP! My mom and aunt worked so hard to make the reception nice. And boy, was it beautiful! The room was filled with lights and flowers and delicious foods. And of course, everything was black, white, and lime green! It was a pretty traditional reception in that there was dinner provided, music playing, the first dance, the garter throw, the bouquet toss, and all that fun stuff. What a fun night it was! Celebrating this big, new step in our relationship with friends and family was so special. Bryce and I were lucky because we were able to do that in both of our "hometowns." Thanks to everyone who came out and made the evening so great! My uncle took pictures that night. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure. 

Props to Charly Allred for the amazing cakes! We love the traditional cake and the grooms-cake soo much! 

Well, that was almost two whole years ago! What a summer to remember! Thank you to everyone who made these memories so precious, and a big thank you to my husband for asking me to marry him! Life is grand, everyone. 

Will You Marry Me?

I remember the day we got engaged as if it were just yesterday. It was the first nice day after a much-too-long winter, which was a blessing in and of itself because Bryce was taking me on a picnic! It was March 31st (yeah, the first nice day was at the end of March! What a dreadfully long winter that was!) and I wore a dress to school to celebrate the splendid weather.

Bryce picked me up from school that day. He had food waiting in the back of the car, which drove me crazy on the drive that seemed to go on forever! I had never before experienced Panda Express, but it was one of  Bryce's favorites so that, in addition to some sparkling cider, filled our picnic basket. From the BYU campus we drove to Mt. Timpanogos Park which was beautiful and green and sparsely populated with picnic tables. We found a spot that we liked then we began to eat our meal. After washing it down with some carbonated goodness I reached for my fortune cookie (my absolute FAVORITE part about eating Asian). My fortune cookie said,

"A tempting proposal will soon present itself to you."

Now, by this time I had been teasing Bryce for a while about when he would pop the question, so when I read my fortune I laughed aloud and told Bryce what it said as I poked and winked at him. I playfully suggested, "Eh Bryce, come on!" Then I asked him what his fortune cookie said. He slipped me his little piece of paper and I read...

"Will you marry me?"

He then knelt down next to the bench and popped out the ring. I smiled so big, hid my blushing face, and then exclaimed "OF COURSE!" And then we smooched... a lot. 

So, apparently fortune cookies become pliable if you microwave them. He certainly did pick out the perfect fortunes! Later, when we returned to the car he gave me the actual fortune cookie that came with my meal. I opened that one and it said...

"You will soon witness a miracle"

Hahahahahhahahhahahaaaa! And a miracle it was. It was the most perfect day. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera there at the park, but here are a few of  our engagement pictures for your viewing pleasure. 

I took this picture when I got home that day. 

Oh, and did I mention that this beautiful day happened the day before April Fools? So yeah, when I announced my engagement on Facebook no one believed me, at least not for a few days, haha! 

And It's All Thanks To A Slumber Party

The Day We Met

The summer of 2010 was a busy, enchanted, and life changing summer. Among things like high school graduation, my brother Brian returning from a two-year mission in Virginia, a long-awaited trip to Spain, and a road trip around the US, that was the summer that I met my honey buns. ♥

It was on that crazy road trip actually. Family friends from Spain visited with us that summer and we all decided to take a LDS church history road trip (and stop by a few fun places on the way to visit family friends). Our stops were as followed: Nauvoo IL, Estes Park CO, Los Angeles CA, Las Vegas NV, and of course St. George and Salt Lake City UT.

Here is a map of our travels so you can imagine indeed how crazy of a trip this was. Oh! And did I mention that this was in fact a ROAD trip. There were 10 (sometimes 11) of us in an eleven passenger van. It could get stuffy at times with those long hours on the road with ten other people in an enclosed space. Needless to say, it was an adventure.

Well, there were many adventures to speak of on that trip, but this my dear friends, is about the day I met the love of my life. As I mentioned earlier my brother Brian served a 2 year  LDS mission in Virginia. While he was there he had multiple mission companions, many of whom (you guessed it!) lived in Utah. ;) Brian met up with many of his mission companions on that trip, Bryce Allred being one of them (who am I kidding, he wasn't just one of them, he was THE one!)

That fated day my family was visiting the MTC in Provo, UT. Brian had previously arranged to meet with Bryce there and then leave to what he called a "slumber party with Allred." We were standing at the legendary Missionary Training Center plaque when I had my first real-life-slow-motion-moment. The street light turned red and the walk sign came on as the stud-muffin of my future husband walked along the cross walk towards me -- well, towards Brian, but we were standing right next to each other.

Left to Right: Brian, Brandon, Bryce, Stephanie, Mama, Me

How flattering, right? I will always look back on this photo as the first picture my husband and I took together and my hand is in front of my face. :P 

Well, after we all met one another and hugged, as we Spaniards often do when meeting strangers, Brian and Bryce went off and had their slumber party that night. The next day was my day. Bryce tagged along with my family as we walked around temple square. That was the day that Bryce and I talked for hours, getting to know one another and sure, a  little flirting. We basically became best friends that day. 

After that trip I had to go back home to Texas, but Bryce and I kept contact via text messaging, phone calls, and of course facebook. Months passed and we kept contact this way. In the month of October, on the day of Halloween, Bryce made it official by asking me to be his girlfriend. And  thus began our long distance relationship. Luckily it wasn't long distance for all that long. Sometime that fall I was accepted into Brigham Young University and the following January I moved to Provo, Utah, where Bryce and I continued to date, fall in love, and eventually get married. But that story, my dear friends, is cause for an entirely new blog post. 

Until then...

Introduction To Our Family

Well as great as 120 characters in the "About Me" section are, I thought you guys might want a more in-depth introduction to our little Allred clan.
My name is Janine Allred. I have no middle name because I was born in Barcelona, Spain where a child receives the first last name of each parent. My maiden name was Janine Loppe Navarro, but when I got married I just stuck with the one last name. When I was young my mother remarried and we moved to the USA, Texas, more specifically. I have 5 brothers and sisters and I am the second oldest. I am a student at Brigham Young University and I am majoring in Human Development in the School of Family Life. As much as I love being a student, I am currently putting my studies on hold because I am expecting a little bundle of joy this summer. I'll write plenty about her in upcoming posts so keep a lookout.

I am married to my right hand man. His name is Bryce Allred and he ROCKS! He was born in Brigham City, Utah and soon after moved to Mapleton, Utah where he was raised by his amazing parents! He is the oldest of four children. He is currently attending Utah Valley University and he is majoring in Computer Science. He is also working with UPS and in about 11 1/2 months we are gonna get some awesome benefits from his job! Woot woot! :) He is also very excited to become a daddy! 

And Olivia? Well, we'll introduce her later. All you need to know for now is that she's as cute as a button and as comfy as a rollie pollie under a damp rock.