Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is Grandpa Parkinson's 83rd birthday!! When I say Grandpa that can sometimes be confusing since now I refer to my parents as the Grandpa and Grandma (for Avril's sake, of course). Since my dad is not 83 I guess you can figure out that I'm referring to my dad's dad, the other Spencer Parkinson (just to make it more confusing, they have the same name).

To celebrate the occasion we all went out to eat at the Sizzler. Mmmm... Here are some pics:

sleeping beauty


really? i said to make a goofy face and that's what you came up with sweetie?


she's very loved, can you tell?


ketchup, anyone?


Avril started being a fussy pants. We tried to cheer her up with the new toy that Olivia gave to her but nothing seemed to be working.


the mama and her hot mama


the whole Parkinson clan


my little gumdrop head and me :)

Upstairs Rooms

A few people were asking for a picture of the nursery after all the decorating was complete. I decided to take pics of all the upstairs rooms since I've put quite a bit of work in to them lately. Finally the house is clean (at least the upstairs)!

Below are some pics of our bedroom:


I had a piece of wood cut at Home Depot for the shelf, and Jesse sanded it so that it was nice and smooth. We then painted it and had my dad put it up on the wall for us. My mother dear helped with the decorations on the shelf for the finishing touch.


View from master bathroom side.

View from entrance

Bathroom is on left

Our oh so comfy bed :)

I'm about to hop in to that nicely made bed, as soon as I finish this post!!

Below is the office: the shots are a little blurry for some reason. Oh well.

We didn't know where to put the love sac and just decided to throw it in the office. We actually love having it there because we can cuddle up and watch things on the computer. :)

I am sitting in that chair as I type this :)

And of course, we can't forget Avril's room, the Nursery:

Great Grandma was kind enough to get this crib for us and I just LOVE it! We decided to go with a neutral color for the walls so that we can make changes after Avril gets a little bigger, if we're still in this house. I think the color is called caramel creme. I saw the cute animal canvases online and just thought they'd be perfect so I ordered the set of them.

My mom bought this shelf at the Deseret Industries only it was blue with hearts and no pegs. We worked some magic by adding pegs, painting it brown, and painting some flowers that were glued on to make the cute shelf.

Not too exciting, just the changing area... we spend a lot of time here :)

My favorite chair in the world!! I fell in love with this when I was pregnant and could not get out of it when I was in the store. I waited and waited checking every week for this chair to go on sale. Finally it did so my mom and I drove down to Draper to pick it up. I spend a lot of time in this chair too, rocking Avril to sleep and feeding her in the middle of the night. It is sooooo comfy, I just love it!

I bought the wooden letters from Michael's back when we were considering spelling the name "Avrille" so I have an extra letter "L" and "E" if anyone needs them :) I painted the letters brown and added some cute scrapbooking baby items I found. My mom added the ribbons and.... walla! The pic from Avril's photoshoot I had framed and I couldn't be happier with the result. I think it looks so nice, even if I do say so myself.

Side shot of the crib and toy bag :)

And every post just must include a cute picture of Avril to make it complete :) I think Avril is pretty happy with her room!

Avril the Child Prodigy Pianist

I think we'll start Avril's piano lessons early. She seems to have a natural gift and just loves to practice. Amazing!!

Stampede Awards/ Avril's 1st Time in Pool!!

Jesse's football team had a post-season party at the Logan Aquatic Center. We were so excited to take Avril for a swim! I was pretty sure that she'd love it since her favorite part of the day is bath time.


Here we are at my parents' house just before we leave...


Avril's reaction when we told her that she gets to go swimming!!


Dave Williams and Jesse Yarger, two of the best offensive players on the team! They both received awards. Dave is wearing the pink Disney princess backpack because he "carries" the team. It had to do with the award he got. Suits him nicely :)


Jesse was awarded the "Rookie of the Year" since this was his first year playing for the Stampede. They gave him a newborn baby doll to go with this. Jesse was nice enough to share his doll with Avril.


Bracken Atkinson, Jesse's coach. He was awarded the coach of the year this year.


Mommy was eating the delicious bar-b-que food so grandpa took over with the baby for a bit. Thanks grandpa Bryan!


And here we are, about to dip in to the pool! Avril is clinging on for dear life!


Avril didn't even seem to notice that she was in the water. There were lots of rowdy boys running around and splashing which made mommy mad. It was time for bed, freezing, and Avril was getting cranky so it didn't turn out to be the big hit I'd thought it would. Maybe next time we can go earlier when its still warm outside and she's not so tired...


After swimming Jesse plays with our little sweetheart in her too-big swimsuit :)


Daughter-mommy playtime :)


The finger is often in the mouth... and usually its more than one finger. Avril does not like to suck on pacifiers, bottles, pretty much anything unless it is attached to a human. She will gladly suck on other people's fingers, arms, noses... :)


In the bathroom about to take a bath!


Soooo much fun, Avril just LOVES this!


Nice and clean!


Uncle Jared came over for a little FHE at our house.


Avril just brings a smile to everyone's face. She is such a joy and we love love love her to pieces!!!

This is for Britney!

I found this pic from the beloved Blue Door House. I have some others I should send you but I don't think I have your email... What good times!

Canal Breaks

Tragedy struck the neighborhood where my parents live this past Saturday. The canal above the 'island' neighborhood broke, causing a landslide and the collapse of a home. Several other homes were flooded and the area was evacuated. There was a mother and her two children residing in the home that collapsed. I learned today that so far two of the bodies have been recovered. This just breaks my heart. My parents and Jared were volunteers in the clean up crew. They have some pictures on their blog: www.sparkinsons.blogspot.com.


Since Jared works at the Herald Journal he was able to send me a couple pictures from the local newspaper. This is a shot taken of the canal where it completely drops off. This is so incredible. I used to run parallel to this canal every day (now I'm just getting back in to the habit of running since taking care of Avril has been plenty of exercise for me).


This rescue fireman's name is Casey Crockett. I don't think he's related to me (Crockett cousins, you'll have to let me know). Jesse works with this fireman at the hospital in the Behavioral Health Unit. He's quite the do-gooder.

For more pics and a video click the link: www.hjnews.com/photography/2009/07/11/landslide/

Mobile Uploads

Here are some recent pics I took on my phone that are just so adorable I thought I'd post them. I can't write much because Avril is screaming at the top of her lungs, "pay attention to me!!!" right now. Aaaahhhh!!! OK bye.