Hi! We are the Allens, in case you hadn’t guessed as much. Our blog is a way for us to document our life’s happenings and keep our families and friends up-to-date with what’s going on.
Alex and I met each other on the first day of college in 2004, then, four years later, moved from the Midwest to Seattle where we live in a quaint neighborhood with our son Ben, our daughter Hannah, and our two pets.
We have embraced the Pacific Northwest lifestyle wholeheartedly and love where we live. Seattle and the entire state of Washington allows us to enjoy our passions without having to go very far in our Subaru. We are 45 minutes away from extreme skiing, very near to all sorts of hiking and water activities, we are in the third second largest wine producing state in the country, and we have amazing farm fresh food available to enjoy year-round. These are just a few of the reasons we love living here!
Alex’s hobbies include skiing and all things related, biking, being outside, designing websites, and of course playing video games. Alex works as a software development manager for a large tech company in Seattle. His career is the reason we relocated to Seattle after college.
Ali loves to cook, read, write, ski, travel, run and volunteer as a PEPS leader. During the winter of 2019 after facing significant childcare challenges Ali left her job running a non-profit to stay home and raise their two kids. She hasn’t looked back!
Ben was born on May 31st, 2016. He arrived seven weeks early and spent four weeks in the NICU – read his birth story here. You’d never know about his beginning-of-life circumstances today! Ben is an extremely active, athletic and rambunctious little boy – he loves making people smile and laugh and enjoys reading books, riding his bike and doing puzzles. He is just the sweetest.
Hannah Maxine arrived on July 22nd, 2018. You can read her birth story here. She is our little spitfire. Hannah’s personality is infectious and she makes people smile and laugh wherever she goes. She adores her big brother and wants to do anything he can do. She is the biggest cuddle bug!
In July of 2017 we purchased some land out in Leavenworth, Washington – in the heart of the Cascade Mountains. The following year we built our second home. Our dreams have come true as we have begun spending most weekends and several weeks during the year raising our kids in the mountains. Our dual life provides us so much joy and we are making a lifetime of memories.
Jackson is our adorably sweet golden retriever. He came into our lives at the age of 7.5 weeks mid-May 2013 and we have been smitten ever since. Jackson loves to play ball, swim, cuddle with Alex and play the role of my shadow. Since the kids arrived he’s taken on the duty of “family protector” and is never far from the kids or me.
Henry is our laid back cat. He and his brother joined our family in May 2011 and we can’t quite imagine life before our pets. Henry is very chill, loves to climb trees and/or telephone poles, also loves to jump onto roofs and get himself in hairy situations. He’s an outdoor cat for sure and spends most of his time roaming our neighborhood.
Welcome to our life!