Belly Laughs!

I have no pics for this post, so you will have to use your imagination and i will do my best decribing the scene.

We had a rager family party last night with 3 generations there, thanks to my mom. We celebrated my nephew bringing a new baby girl into the family.

My niece has a spectacular back yard. Through the trees that surround her home you can see the pond they play in. Her yard has a fire pit, basketball court, bar & grill, a treehouse my son Tandin built complete with beds and TV and a big twisting slide as one of the exits.

The most peaceful spot and the best view is the 3 seater swing that overlooks the beauty and where my mom and i sat with such joy last night as we watched all of our babies thoroughly love being together. I raised my kids with my sisters kids, and oh what fun they had.

TJ my oldest son didn't become a Dad until he was 37. He had quite the single life and now to see him throw himself into fatherhood as he has, well often times brings me to tears. Bode his one and a half year old trusts his dad and rightly so. TJ stuffed his tall self from the bottom half up inside this steep twisted long slide, enough to coax Bode down. Bode had a little help from his cousin Collin the first time, and pretty soon, yep, all 3 of them popped out the bottom. And the repeat sessions were on. Bode is an angel with the sweetest disposition. He gets that from both of his parents.

All the big boys decided to have a friendly game of corn hole. Two against two, where you throw a bean bag towards a slanted wooden deck with a hole in it. You earn points depending on how close you get, better yet if it goes in the hole! Collin my 3 year old grandson has alread stripped to his underwear long ago and has been streaking through the yard like a little Mogley from Jungle Book with his tan skin. His mom is literally sleeping over on the sectional couch around the fire pit from a long bike ride that day and how exhausting this little guy is. When he's awake, he's moving.

The belly laugh part -- The guys are doing that "guy bonding thing" as they play corn hole. The women sit around supporting their men. Mom & I sit on the swing above it all and observe. Then Mogley (Collin) starts into action and the next thing you know he is shagging the bean bags and the guys are happy about that, they don't have to walk and pick them up. But wait, he's now pushing the bean bags in the hole everytime, they need to stay in place for accurate score keeping. And then he figures out his butt is the perfect size to fit in the corn hole. So this is the next place you continue to find him sitting! He is stopping up the hole, and stopping up the game. His Dad pulls him off and he throws a fit, but only for a minute. He has now found a long blue plastic plunger-like stick that he continues to put down the hole and stir, again stopping the game. Mom & I are hysterical, Chase thinks his kid is cute, but is frustrated. As for the other guys, depending on their personalities they're either chill or getting slightly annoyed. The game took twice as long as it should have from Collin interference. What is Chase to do with this little 3 year old pistol? He is who he is.

What should one do about a little 3 year old like this? Spank him for making his Grandma's belly laugh and take all the fun out of life?! Never!! That's what they would have done back in the day..

Allen Legacy Ends

Some things have to come to an end. Sometimes we don't have a choice and we have to let go.

How i remember the farm growing up

The Allen farm was sold last month after 73 years. When i reflect back on my childhood years, most of my memories are playing on the farm. I was the youngest of 3 children. My older siblings memories would be of more work than play. Both my brother and sister knew a lot of early mornings getting up at the crack of dawn to milk the cows during the summer and before school. It was hard work and Dad ruled, often times with an iron fist. Being the baby i got away with a lot more. That was hard for my brother and sister.

Dad was a tough man, he worked around the clock, he usually came in for dinner and spent Sunday afternoons resting. I never felt bad about it, i knew if i needed him i could usually find him. I was a confident little girl and didn't need much more than the company of the animals, my siblings, my extended family who lived on the farm and the other workers. I had friends that lived a mile away and i would often time walk to their house or they would come to mine. I was never ever bored.

I always remember thinking to myself..."When is Dad going to get this place cleaned up?!" How naive was I? Farming is some the the hardest, thankless, never ending poor mans job there is. Nevertheless there are things that it brings to a family that cannot be bought and are irreplaceable.

Dad's dream was we would be millionaires one day, and we would have been, but sometimes things don't turn out quite like you expected, but we are all well enough off.

A farm provides a constant playground of adventure in your own backyard and plenty of cousins to play with.

There were so many shenanigans from generation to generation from motorcycles chases with my brother, cousins and me, to my boys playing chicken with fire in the haystack to tease my youngest nephew and scare him to death. It's all things we laugh about around the table now. I am horrified i never knew my boys were such hoodlums.

Bode at Ching Sanctuary

Tandin & Collin at Ching Sanctuary

There is now a fourth and fifth generation of Allen blood that loves animals, farming and building. Tandin, my youngest son started volunteering at Ching Farm Rescue & Sanctuary. He has dedicated himself to a passion and love for animals by building barns, excavating the land for better water drainage and petitioning for donations for a new tractor. He has become Faith Ching, the owners right hand man. Tandin's engineer mind has brought about more change in 6 months than in 17 years, so Chris the next door neighbor told me this past Sunday.

I got paid 10 cents a week to feed the calves.

I fed this 3 week old rescue calf at Ching Sanctuary with tears last Sunday. I left from Herriman and drove to Taylor to finish some business and say my last goodbye to a legacy that so many many people had worked so hard to create. The Allen farm was sold to a neighbor.

These are my siblings. There's not much that can be said about the bond you have with your siblings. When my brother was jerked out of this life suddenly on July 2, 1994, i felt like i had lost a part of myself. In time we all adjusted, i think it's been hardest on my mom. Our family has never been the same.

My heart is so touched when i see puppies and newborn animals snuggle and bond, then play boundlessly with their siblings. Blood runs deep. It cannot be changed. People can hurt you, whether they are neighbors, acquaintances or even, and especially your own family,  forgive them. I believe most people really do their very best with the circumstances they are given. Carrying bitterness, condemnation, judgment and feeling as if you own the morale high ground is shaky territory and leads to lonliness. The answer is always love.