Primary Angels DVD

There are so many exciting things happening in the world of autism, advances are being m

ade, tons of research has been done and understanding has increased so much in the last 6 years. Before we moved down to Nephi, Alex went to an amazing school with some pretty special kids! We got to be really close friends, sharing our adventures through the world of Autism. Since we have moved, I'm a little "out of the loop" but these people are like family to us! Some of my incredible friends have been working on resources to help our children with autism (and other special needs, and in fact, I've found this stuff works really well for "typical" kids too) in Primary, because we all know how stressful it can be for them. Annie Campbell has just come out with a dvd for teachers, leaders and parents to help kids in Primary. I know sometimes special needs kids are "difficult" but each of us, as parents and teachers, needs to realize that they're not trying to be naughty. If w

e can understand how they're feeling to cause them to act the way they do the problem will be solved and each one of them will feel much safer, more secure and not need to be afraid. Remember (yes, I'm talking to myself lol) the way they're acting makes perfect sense to them in their own bodies with the information they have. :) The blog address is http://www.autismandprimary.blogspot.com/ go check it out, Annie is one of the most amazing people I know! One of my other friends, Crystal Hendrix is giving away a free copy of the dvd on her blog, if anyone is interested http://hendrixville.blogspot.com/

The Lord has blessed our family so much over the years, as we have struggled to understand Alex and his disability. We have had so many people brought into our lives at exactly the moment we needed them, who had the knowledge and information to help us through! I am so grateful the He trusts me enough to give me these choice children to raise and teach! Thanks to each of your for the part you have played in our lives, for the patience, support, love and understanding!

Our Newest Family Member

This is Thunder, we adopted him a few days ago. He is the sweetest, most mellow thing you will ever meet! I never thought I was a pet person, but I love having him around.

He loves to sleep on my feet (I never thought I would have a cat sleeping with me lol), Alex is jealous that Thunder sleeps with me not him lol He has settled into our family life quite well.

The boys just love him and he seems to like them too.

Thunder has very silky fur and is so soft and snuggly!

Wesley's Tooth is Gone

Wesley was eating a hot dog and his tooth popped half way out, then he pulled it the rest of the way all by himself. He was so excited and proud that he didn't even need help this time. Luckily for him, his Dad is friends with the tooth fairy, so Dad talked the tooth fairy into letting Wes get $1 AND keep the tooth-it sure is great to be in good with the tooth fairy!

New Family Pictures

We had Allred family pictures done in July and I'm finally getting them back, here are a few of the best ones, displayed with the photographer's permission- I can't wait to get my prints!

This is the whole family, Grandma and Grandpa Allred in the middle. Each of their kids was assigned a color to have their family wear (my Dad's assigned color was red). We haven't done a huge family picture like this for years and years, with one exception, everyone is pictured. My cousin Brandon is on a mission, so he wasn't here for the photo (notice the cardboard cutout of him in a yellow shirt on the back row- hilarious), and within the next few months 2 babies will arrive, so this picture is only up to date for a few more months :)

Here is Grandpa and Grandma with all their grandchildren.

Here's Grandpa and Grandma with all the great-grandkids.

It was an adventure trying to get this photo!

See, look at all the adults trying to keep all the kids looking in the

direction of the photographer and smiling- lol

Oh my goodness, trying to get 3 little boys to hold still, keep their hands down and not

do wired things for the picture is hard work!

The most handsome, amazing boys on the planet!

Adam and Daddy, hanging out, Adam was very done posing for pictures!

Our newest family picture; we hadn't had any done since Adam was a tiny baby.

The photographer took a special liking to Alex, she let him take some

pictures on her huge camera and let him pose for this shot all by himself.

The 5 grand sons- Mom is offering a reward to the first of her kids to produce a girl

(not really, it is just funny that the boys out number the girls in our family now,

a huge turn around from when we were growing up!).

The boys loved playing in the leaves, just not posing for pictures.

I love, Love, LOVE my sisters!

It just wouldn't be family pictures without a silly pose

The Wayne and Robyn Allred Family

Even though everyone isn't smiling, we consider it a huge success just to have

all eyes on the camera lol

My Jedi Knights

For months, Alex and Wesley have been adamant about what they want to be for Halloween; Wesley is going to be Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars and Alex wants to be Count Dooku. They want Adam to be Yoda and Dad to be a Jedi Warrior. Well, what does every self respecting Star Wars character have?...a Jedi Robe.







My mom came and helped me this week make Mike's, then I have been working aaaaallllllllllllll day on the boy's. Here are pictures of the final product; now keep in mind, I still have to make a Yoda hat, tunics and whatever else they decide they need to complete their costumes, but I am very impressed with my craftieness- this is by far the biggest sewing project of my Susie Home-maker career! The boys, LOVED them! I only finished them a few minutes before bed time, but they didn't want to take them off. I'm hoping I'll be able to convince them not to wear them to church tomorrow! Oh and for those of you, like me, who don't know all the inns and outs of Star Wars etiquette, good Jedi Knights wear brown robes and the bad guys have black ones. Wesley was thrilled to be the hero and wanted a whole team of good guys with him, so he assigned Mike and Adam to be brown robed with him. I tried to talk Alex into being a good guy, but he was sure he wanted to be a villain with a black robe. Now, what is Mom going to be?....

Tomato Soup

I have never bottled anything before, so my good friend Staci taught me how to bottle tomato soup today. It was delicious. That's all :)

8 Years and Counting

The Mike and Kelsey Dollar Family was established 8 years ago today! It has been quite the adventure; in those 8 years, we have had 3 boys, moved 9 times, have had 12 jobs between us (not all at once lol, but often 3 or 4 at a time), earned a Bachelor's Degree and a half, endured a little heartache and stress and enjoyed amazing blessings, love and happiness! I am so lucky to be married to my best friend- here's to another wonderful year of our eternal marriage.

Tomatoes and Body Art

Mike made this delicious lunch from our own tomatoes and fresh basil from our garden- I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband!


We are growing tomatoes for the first time, we planted about 12 plants and now we have tomatoes coming out our ears...




It was the school carnival last night at the boy's school. I forgot my camera for the actual event, but the boys wanted to show off their painted faces. For those of you who might not have the imagination to tell (lol) Alex has a dinosaur on his face and Wes has a dalmatian dog.

All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

Ok, so its no where near Christmas yet, but Alex is missing his two front teeth! He has been wiggling and wiggling it for days now and this evening he pulled it out... you heard right, he pulled it himself! Way to go guy!!

School is Back In Session

First Day of School 2010