2008: The End of an Eventful Year!

2008 Yarger Family Newsletter

Dear Family & Friends:

What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time we were a completely stressed out engaged couple who were burnt out from coordinating strenuous wedding plans. Since that time we have gotten married, honeymooned, moved out of state, had numerous jobs, had a pregnancy that ended too soon, been the victims of identity theft, attended a professional basketball game (Clippers vs. stupid Lakers), baseball game (Mariners vs. Angels) and football game (Packers vs. Vikings), went to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Six Flags, and of course the beach lots of times… and we are currently planning the arrival of the newest addition to our family. All and all, it has been an excellent year.

Thoughts from Jesse the Husband:
The past year, as shown above, has been full of the good, the bad and the ugly. There were only two things that remained consistent in our lives. Those two things were inconsistency and love. We all know what it is like to have inconsistencies throughout our lives, but what is love?
We have all heard the cliché “there is no I in team,” but I respectfully disagree. I believe that marriage is a team, and obviously the fundamental component is love. Love begins with the conviction a person receives in their heart, and the choice of whether or not to act on that conviction, whether it is easy or hard. I believe the “team” Alicia and I have put together started with two “I’s” who chose to act on that conviction. There are times when I have had the worst day and Ali is waiting with love in her heart and choosing to love her grumpy, stubborn husband even though I know it’s hard sometimes. There have been times when our sweet baby was giving Ali such an awful time, that she was hardly functional. “I” chose to make her dinner and clean the room so she could be more comfortable. Alicia’s “I” and my “I” have made an incredible “we”, but we couldn’t do it without the unique, individual “I” efforts from both of us. There are times when the strengths on one “I” is counted on to carry the “we” and those “I’s” do so with joyous hearts of love. I can write this knowing full well that I love Alicia with all my heart and my unborn child who I can’t wait to hold for the first time. Merry Christmas and God bless.
P.S. If you are reading this letter, we love you and appreciate all that you have done for our “we”.

Thoughts from Alicia the Wife:
First of all, I have to comment that Jesse wrote the introductory paragraph for our newsletter, which explains the “stupid Lakers.” I, on the other hand, happen to think the Lakers are very smart to make it to the NBA, that’s kind of like my MBA, right?
Sorry, just had to add the “Parkinson” humor in here.
On a more serious note, this has been the most amazing year of my life. Although we’ve had our fair share of trials, I now have an incredibly strong, caring, loving, and compassionate husband to help me through anything. I feel truly blessed, and I can definitely say that it was worth the wait for me to find someone like Jesse. This year I recall LOTS of sickness. I think I have been sick more this year than the past 10 years of my life all combined. Most of the sickness has been pregnancy related, so it’s for a good cause. Jesse the Husband has become my caretaker and does such a great job of helping out so that I can take time out to rest.
This year I went through the takeover of WaMu, a bank I have worked for, for nearly 10 years. They are now known as JP Morgan Chase. They were one of the first fatalities in the economic crisis so prevalent in the year 2008. I decided to venture in to other fields and picked up a second job at the Behavioral Learning Center, where Jesse works, and where I now work 3 afternoons a week with autistic children. I have 3 clients and I LOVE them! This has been such an enjoyable place to work. I also applied to teach a Business course at the college here, College of the Canyons. I was hired at the last minute, a day after classes had begun, to teach an Intro to Investments course. This was definitely a challenge and kept me VERY busy, but it turned out to be the most rewarding job I’ve ever had. I grew quite attached to my students and was sad to see them go at the end of the semester. The college is soooo nice to their employees as well. I always feel so respected and appreciated there, even though I look like one of the students, instead of the instructor. All my students are so excited for our baby to be born. I even had them help with names (although we came up with hers all on our own).
I am so happy and can’t wait for the arrival of our newest family member coming in February… Avrille Carmel Yarger

We hope your 2009 is blessed with many memories.

Christmas 2008

This Christmas was a little different for us this year. First of all, we were in Southern California, meaning no snow (this new Christmas idea was fine by me as I have climatized to the Southern California weather rather quickly). We had Mom and Dad Parkinson visit as well as our brother Adrian, his wife Arleen and daughtor Brittney. It was a very Merry Christmas as you can tell from the pictures below.


That is me struggling to keep up with the rate of presents being opened on Christmas morning. I procrastinated un pocito.

My wife was so happy when I completed the wrapping of the presents in time for Christmas.

So happy that she ripped open the presents! Sometimes pregnancy can cause unexplained mania and a lack of impule control. Despite that, look how cute she is when she is manic.

I'm pretty much a sweats model with my hott PJ model.


That is the amazing food prepared by Mom Parkinson and a few other helpers. The ham was amazing and provided by the loving Grandma and Grandpa Parkinson. Oh and our beautiful family.

I think the motion picture speaks for itself...

Our Little Princess Fiona

On December 23, 2008 Avrille was at 30 weeks, 5 days and we got to see her! We made quite the spectacle at the Dr.'s office because I brought the whole family with me. My parents were just driving in to town from Utah and I wanted them to get to see the baby so they came back with Jesse and I... all 4 of us crammed in to the little tiny ultrasound room with Dr. Navi. Now the baby is getting so big she is kind of getting smashed in my little, I mean huge, tummy!

The Dr. said she weighed about 4.1 lbs and normal for this time is about 3.5 lbs so she is a big girl already! Must be all that iron she's sucking from my blood :) The Dr. said she looks good and everything is progressing well so now we just get to wait!


Here is our ultrasound pic from the appointment. Her poor, chubby little face is kind of squished. I couldn't see it at first and felt like Rachel on Friends (if you've seen the episodes where she repeatedly tries to see her baby in the ultrasound and can't see it).

Jesse and I think she looks like a little baby Shrek (and we say that in the most loving way), so we are re-naming her Princess Fiona. What a cute Princess she makes... just hope she's not green when she comes out :)

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

This year I was kind of dreading my birthday because I am no longer in my youthful twenties. I was born on Dec. 21, 1978. Since it is now Dec. 21, 2008 if you do the math, I guess that makes me 30? It really wasn't so bad turning the big 3-0. I am so grateful because I really have everything I ever wanted. I have a wonderful husband and we are starting our family with a baby girl soon! I am so happy :)

Anyway, I got lots of pampering and lots of comfy clothes. Just what a pregnant lady needs. It was just the hubby and I celebrating my bday. I opened my presents throughout the day, and just got a day off to relax, which was fantastic! The day started with a yummy pancake breakfast, a trip to church, a lunch out, a nap, homemade dinner, a nice long massage, and of course the unwrapping of gifts.


This was my new comfy outfit that Jesse gave me. As you can see, there is a lovely matching ensemble for the infant. I also got super soft slippers, socks, pajama pants, and a shirt that actually fits! It was a wonderful day. Thank you Jesse! You're pretty fun to grow old with :)
Happy Birthday to me!!

Kids say the Darndest Things

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work with a pair of 3 year old autistic kids and I just love them... Well, when I went to see them on Tuesday this week, one of them was trying to get me to crawl through this play tunnel. I told him that I couldn't fit because of the baby in my tummy. He was immediately so intrigued and asked, "you have a baby in your tummy?" I replied, yes, right here (pointing to my baby bump). He then said, "I don't see it!" He grabbed my shirt and tried to look down it for a baby. It was so funny. He then asked me if he had a baby in his tummy. :) I told him no, just me!

Then, yesterday when I went to visit my twins the same twin asked me if I still had a baby in my tummy. I replied that yes, the baby is still in my tummy. Then, the other twin chimed in with the "but I don't see it!" comment. He then asked if the baby was hiding. I replied that yes, the baby is hiding. He then declared, "oh, the baby is playing hide and seek!!!"

It was soooo cute. I had to write about it so I wouldn't forget the cute things they say.

Thank you, Mom!

We had a gift-bearing visitor drive up all the way from nope, not the North Pole, but Irvine, CA with Christmas treats for all! We were so happy that mom (Carme) could come spend our Sunday with us.


Isn't this the most adorable little Minnie dress you've ever seen? I think we have Halloween for next year all taken care of now.

We wanted to take some pictures for Xmas cards this year so we had mom take a few of Rudolph and Mrs. Clause. We couldn't find a red nose for Rudolph so we got a little mini tennis ball (intended to be a dog toy) and slit a Jesse-nose-sized hole in it and it turned out perfect! The only problem was that all the nose-pinching changed Jesse's voice making it quite entertaining to hear him talk.

And here we all are, the photographer (mom) and the hot models.

Baby Update

Haha, I just saw this cartoon and it was just so funny I had to post it. Jesse can certainly relate to this. He hasn't seen it yet so I can't wait to see his reaction when he reads this post. It is so dead on (at least in my case). Jesse gets a good laugh out of the things I cry at. He monitors what shows we watch because he's worried I might cry, even on the happy endings. I think I cried on an episode of Gossip Girls. Yes, I watch that show since I had the flu for a week and needed a TV series to get in to. XOXO, u know u love me :)

Anyway, pregnancy news is nothing too new and exciting. We are just counting down the days now. Its only a couple months now, I can't believe it! The baby kicks a lot more now throughout the day and I can often watch my stomach suddenly expand out of nowhere. I started having very painful contractions in my lower abdomen but they are sporadic and the doc says not to worry unless I have more than 6 or so in an hour, so I'm not gonna worry.

Also, I finally had my dreaded glucose test where you get to drink the very concentrated Pepsi-tasting drink and you only have 5 minutes to get it down. That was harder for me than the drawing of the blood. It didn't taste THAT bad I guess, it just was a lot to swallow and made my head all spinny. I just got the results back and there was good news and bad. The good news was that I do not have have gestational diabetes so I don't have to go back for the 3 hour blood test. The bad news is that I do have a severe iron-deficiency so I am officially anemic. I have all the symptoms and have suspected anemia for months now (especially after my fainting spells) but the nurse told me I tested normal last time and everything I'm experiencing is normal during pregnancy. I told her that I really think I'm anemic and she insisted that I'm fine. Anyway, the point of that story was that I was RIGHT! Ah, so satisfying. I just have to take iron supplements so the baby doesn't keep stealing all my blood and all my iron stores. She must be like a little baby Iron-girl. That's ok, I'd give up all my metallic substances for her :)

In Memory of our First

Today was the official due date of when our first baby was to be born. It is weird to think I would've been all done with the pregnancy by now. We feel very blessed that we were able to become pregnant again so quickly after the first. I just wanted to post something in memory of our first little one.
This was the poem I found on my bed, from my amazing husband, after we found out the news that I was pregnant the first time...

...and here is a poem from us now, dedicated to our first:

To the baby that I carried
But never saw your eyes
Or told you how much I loved you
Or ever heard your cries.
You will never be forgotten
The excitement we had for your coming
When I realized I'd never hold you,
The feeling I had was numbing.
My angel baby is who you are.
My angel baby you'll always be.
Your loving memory will live in my heart
So you will always be right here with me.

Thanksgiving in Montana

As long as Jesse and I have known each other, he's been talking about visiting his family in Montana. Finally we found the time to make it up there, and I'm so glad we did! It was so nice to get to meet all the cousins, aunts, and uncles. We had a DELICIOUS Thanksgiving dinner, and felt so welcomed and loved. I can see why Jesse likes them so much :)
The plane trip from Burbank to Billings was incredibly pricey so we opted for the part fly/ part drive option. We flew in to Salt Lake City, quickly visited family in Logan, then took off for the 8 hour drive with Shelby. Shelby was kind enough to let us use his car for the trip. Luckily, the weather was beautiful with no storms so we arrived safely.
On Thanksgiving day Jesse and Shelby got up and played football in the annual Turkey Bowl. I am going to brag a little and say that my husband made 3 of the 4 touchdowns. But alas, they lost to the old guys somehow. I wish my camera had been working to get some action pics :(
Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everyone. My camera battery only likes to last for a few shots so here's what we got:


At Aunt Suze and Uncle Dick's place. We got to stay in their beautiful home :)

Jesse with his cousin Annie. They were sooooo happy to see each other...

Shelby and his Grandma

Shelby stole my camera and took some pictures with it. Here he is with his cousin Annie....

...and here with his Aunt Star.


Aunt Star took us shopping at the Hobby Lobby and the Cracker Barrel where we looked for some great after Thanksgiving sales. I bought some letters to paint and hang on the wall in our little girl's nursery and some scrapbooking supplies. Jesse took a pic of me being a goof ball.

We got all packed and ready to drive back to Utah and as we started to drive off we noticed there was a major problem. The tire was completely flat. Here is my handy husband putting the spare on. Turns out the tire needed replacing. We went to a lovely church service with the family, picked up a tire on the way home, and off we went on our road trip back.


Back in Logan the next day... we had to fly out that night so we crammed all kinds of errands in to one day. While dining with grandma and grandpa Parkinson at the Sizzler, Ina stopped by with quite the surprise! Look at all the cute little girl clothes! Thank you Ina :), and much thanks from our little one too, I'm sure she'll love wearing these.

Since we can't make it back up to Utah for my birthday and Christmas this December, we celebrated early and fit a mini birthday party in to our jam-packed day. My mom made this yummy pineapple cake for me with 3 candles.... I think its for 23, maybe? :)

Happy Birthday Jesse!

For my birthday this year, I was taken out of my bed at five in the morning on the 8th of November. I was driven to the nearby airport and had no clue where we were going. My sneaky wife checked in our bags while I parked the car. However, I found out where we were going when the bag checking lady said "So these two go to Minnesota, correct?" Alicia was pretty shocked that the secret she had kept so well was revealed and still tried to tell me that we were going to Arizona (where our connecting flight was). However, it was to no avail. I put two and two together and since she had gotten me a Minnesota Vikings gym bag, I knew we were going to a Vikings game!

Adrian Peterson.... TOUCHDOWN! Awesome game, even Alicia liked it!

My ridiculously good-looking wife after an insanely close football game.

I'm pretty sure we won't make the next home game for the Vikings, but it's against the bears as you can see. If you look really closely towards the bottom of the picture you can faintly make out the final score-- Vikings 28, Packers 27.

I think at the point this picture was taken the Vikings must have been losing. You can tell by the guy who is in the top right-hand corner's face.

This game was the 111th straight sell-out game at the metradome for the Vikings.

She may look sweet and innocent but she was telling off the Packer's fans who dared to come to the game. In fact she verbally abused one guy so badly that after the Packer's missed what would have been the game-winning field goal, he was no where to be found... I had to tell her to calm down like 50 times.

Here are those people you get at every game who refuse to sit down even though they paid good money for their seats. It didn't matter whether there was a timeout (as the picture indicates), halftime or any other stoppage of play. I think these people deserve their own seatless section.

My wife and I and one of the Packer faithful that Alicia verbally routed.

This is before the game just outside the Metradome. I think it was right at 32 degrees, a day of tropic proportion for Minnesota natives. Unfortunately, the only included one of us.

This is also just outside the Metradome.

I got this shirt as a birthday present the night before the game. I faithfully wore it under my sweatshirt.

These are more birthday presents. Apparently the baby is going to like her daddy :-)

Really really like her daddy

And of course she will be a Vikings fan, decked out in Vikings gear.

This is what I like to think of as my Antonio Banderas impression with a Twins cape/fuzzy blanket.

More of the blanket.

This is just the roller coaster inside that one mall we went to located in the heart of Minnesota

And this is Lego Land, Minnesota!

We got these ice creams for free for agreeing to post the video below on YouTube! Pretty sweet huh?

This guy had some mad skills with his ice cream. He thought it was so cool that people from California were going to post him and his unique talent on YouTube.

Another video of the ice cream tossing team in the Mall of America.

Baby's 1st Halloween!

BOO!!!



Our little girl didn't want to miss out on Halloween festivities just because she is in utero! So she decided to dress up as a creepy, but cute, little alien creature :) She's got so much personality already!


This one is a little hard to see, but her hand is up by her face and she's laying sideways. Can you see her? She was being so cute during this ultrasound! She kept opening and closing her mouth and rubbing her hands on her face the whole time. The nurse thought it was so adorable that she let us watch her in motion for awhile as she kept smacking her lips together. It was unbelievably precious. We are so lucky and love our little alien cutie so much already. :)

This is a side profile shot, you can see the outline of her nose and lips here. Again, kinda hard to see. I think we are already critical parents because Jesse's first words when he saw this pic were "she has an overbite!" Haha, going to the doctor is so much fun when you get to just watch your baby on the ultrasound the whole time.

These ultrasound pics were taken from the specialist that our regular doctor referred us to. He said that the bright spot on the heart is still there but reassured us LOTS of times that is really nothing to worry about. She is growing normally and everything looks beautiful. She is even growing 3 days ahead of schedule. The appt was at 23 weeks exactly, but she measured at 23 weeks and 3 days.

Mom's finally feeling a little better too now. I still have lots of the not so fun pregnancy symptoms but the constant nausea and vomiting has finally subsided (that was only supposed to last the first trimester). We've been keeping SUPER busy and are both SOOOOO excited for February 2009!

Just another day...

So yesterday I thought it would be just another, same as usual day. I got in the shower before heading off to work and I guess maybe it was too steamy or something, but I felt fine and then all of a sudden I knew I was going to faint, so I stepped out and somehow ended up on the floor of the bathroom, passed out. I woke up not feeling so well, but just got some breakfast and was back to normal, well... as normal as can be for the pregnant version of me. That was the first unusual event to start off the day. Anyway, I wasn't too worried because I have fainted many a times in my life and with all the light-headedness I've been experiencing while pregnant I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. So off I went merrily on my way off to work...

This is me, arriving at work in the morning, ready for whatever the day had in store. Little did I know that there were 2 masked bandits waiting for me at the bank. I saw them lurking in the bank front lobby. They saw me and knew they were in trouble and took off running. I came running after them, full speed, managing to tackle both of them and hold them down until the police arrived. All of this while 5 1/2 months pregnant! What a morning!

:) ok, ok, the real story....

So I arrived at the bank at approximately 9:00 am on Tuesday morning. The entire parking lot was full of police cars so I could not enter. I parked over by Wendy's and walked over to see what all the commotion was about. About 30 police officers were standing in front of the bank so I had no idea what to think. My first thought was Hmmm, maybe I won't have to go to work today! The police officer informed me that someone had seen 2 men wearing ski masks come running out of the front of the bank and jump in a getaway car. The witness followed them in their getaway car as took off down the 126 freeway and while in hot pursuit, called the police.

Upon arrival, the police officers tried to contact the two opening tellers inside the branch who were completely unaware of what was going on. They called and after several attempts at trying to reach the inside employees, they decided to take drastic measures and break in to the bank! One of the officers took his baton thingy and broke through the glass of the side window, only to find the tellers both safely inside the branch, shocked to see the swarm of police officers coming through the window.

I guess the tellers had been in the vault counting cash and did not hear the phone ring when the police officers tried to get ahold of them. So it was all much ado about nothing, really! Well, sort of nothing...

turns out the license plate belonged to a rental car from Palmdale, CA and had been rented out to 2 hispanic males. As far as I know, they still haven't been caught. Apparently they were waiting in the front lobby where the ATM's are, for the branch openers. They expected the openers to come in around 8:30 and didn't know that they'd come in early, at 8:00 that day, to fill the cash machines. Had the openers arrived at 8:30, the masked bad guys would have been there to greet them, so it was a lucky escape!

The good news is that we only ended up with a missing window, the bad news is that I still had to work that day.

On another note, I have my next doctor's appt tomorrow with the specialist so I'll update again with more baby news after that! :)

Over the Weekend...

Well I neglected to take any pictures so I'll just write a quickie about our weekend. Jesse's little brother Shelby flew out from Utah to visit his mom in Irvine so we decided to hop in the car and head farther down South. We attended church services with mom and Rick on Saturday evening and then Rick treated us to dinner afterwards. We learned that Jesse is not the only one to be sporting a new hairdo. Shelby dyed his hair multi-colors, dark in the front and lighter in the back. I really should've taken a picture.
Everyone had fun feeling my belly and seeing if our little girl would kick. She seems to move like crazy some days and other days not at all. That night we drove down to Dana Point and stayed at Rick's parents' place. They have the most breathtaking view of the ocean from their house. They even had a spot upstairs in a room surrounded by windows, with a telescope set up so that you could look down at the waves crashing on the shore, and see all the surfer dudes in the water. I could not get over what an amazing house they had. Don't judge, but I must admit Jesse and I may have coveted their house a little. We watched a movie, National Treasure, and I fell sound asleep (oopsy, I was sooo tired though).
The next day we all went out to breakfast at IHOP and watched some football (yay). Jesse and I have a deal that if I sit and watch football with him I get massages. Its a pretty good deal if you ask me. Who knows, I might even start to like watching it but I would never tell!
Next we dropped Shelby off at the airport and said goodbye to a way-too-short weekend.

The Haircut

BEFORE:



















AFTER:














I'm so sorry, love!
I've been bugging Jesse for weeks now that his hair is getting too long and its time to chop it off. Well.... he suggested that I just cut his hair (REMEMBER that it was YOUR idea) instead of going to the hairdresser. He asked me if I'd ever cut hair before and I did not lie. About 10 years ago I cut 2 people's hair. They were some neighbors at BYU and they were happy with the results. So maybe I was a little out of practice.
My poor husband gasped in horror at every sound I made while snipping away. At first I couldn't stop laughing at how the chunks just did not come out as nice and evenly as I'd imagined. I used the razor thingy with the different numbers and thought I'd start with a 1 at the bottom and a 2 at the top. A 2 at the top was what killed me. That was pretty short so I stopped and tried a 4. Then it was all uneven so I tried to even it out with scissors. It doesn't look THAT bad though in the end, right?
Apparently it did. Jesse wore a hat today. He said I'm not allowed to cut our child's hair :( But look! My husband has ears and even eyebrows! You couldn't tell before. Sweetie you're so handsome. I love you. :)

My Hubby- I've Been Tagged

1. Where did you meet your husband?
In Logan, UT at my house. He was friends with my roommate and a big flirt! We were friends first until he convinced me I should date him. It was the best decision I ever made.

2. How long did you date before you married?
Not long at all, I always thought I'd date someone at least a year but I knew Jesse had this amazing heart that loved me so much. We didn't want to wait. I would say we only dated a few months... I'm not sure exactly.

3. How long have you been married?
About 9 months, give or take some. We're still newlyweds growing closer each day :)

4. What does he do that surprises you?
He gets up at 4:30 a.m. and goes to the gym to play basketball. This surprises me that anyone could be so in sane! On a more romantic note... he sometimes leaves me love notes in our P.O. Box so when I go get the mail there is a letter from my sweet husband. He sometimes will surprise me and have the bed made and room cleaned with a cute poem or love note on the bed. He also massages my back and feet pretty much every night. I keep thinking he'll get tired of doing this for me and it'll stop but every night he surprises me and even helps me put cocoa butter on my stretching tummy :)

5. What is his favorite feature?
Probably his athletic ability. Physically, probably his eyes.

6. What is your favorite quality of his?
Physically its definitely his eyes. Non-physical: his genuinely kind heart.

7. Does he have a nickname for you?
Sweetie mostly

8. What is his favorite food?
Hamburger and fries, that's what he always orders.

9. What is his favorite sport?
That's easy! Football..GO VIKINGS!!!

10. When & where was your first kiss?
In his car, when he was on a break at work and I went to visit him. He didn't think I'd show but I did!

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
Cuddle and spend time together in any form

12. Do you have any children?
One on the way!

13. Does he have any hidden talents?
He is so amazing with kids. I watch what he does with his kids at work and I am in awe. He is also extremely gifted with creative writing. He gets these story ideas and just starts writing when he's bored. He'll also write poems and raps just for fun. I could never think of such creative things.

14. Who said I love you first?
I'm pretty sure he did but I said, "I do, you know" first, if that counts

15. What is his favorite music?
It changes all the time, he pretty much likes everything, like me so I'm not sure the right answer for that one.

16. What do you admire most about him?
His ability to love

17. What is his favorite color?
Black

18. Will he read this?
Yep :) I get on his case when he doesn't check out our blog. I love you sweetheart!

19. Who do you tag? Keesa and Kandi and anyone else who wants to be tagged!

Jesse and Alicia's dance encore

So I guess the director of High School Musical 3 saw our wedding dance and really liked what he saw. He asked us to take the places of Zac and Vanessa in the new High School Musical. Of course, being 5 months pregnant I was a little worried about whether or not I could pull it off, but wow, you can't even tell! Its amazing what they can do with cameras nowadays. Enjoy! See the post below:

High School Musical

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