Our little sweetie pie face had her 18 month check up today, on her 1 and 1/2 birthday. Poor thing had to get her shots but she was a trooper and only cried for a minute. As soon as they handed her a sucker she felt much better and forgot about the shots. She kept pointing at the band-aid on her leg though, and saying, "owie."
Our cutie patootie is very underweight :( We feed her, we promise! She is developing well and knows all kinds of words now. She is curious all the time and explores all her surroundings. Her personality is just soooo sweet. She has the sweetest little voice and will tell us that she loves us all the time. It sounds kind of like, "I lucky." We lucky too! :)
Jesse's extended family pretty much all live in Montana. We got invited to meet up with them at a place called Swan Creek, which is a campsite area near Big Sky. I'm not gonna lie, I was skeptical of how much fun our trip would be with no showers and a pregnant mommy sleeping on the ground. The first night we were there, I thought I would nearly freeze to death. I was holding Avril close on top of me and my bulging belly, trying to keep warm. This had to be one of the most uncomfortable nights of my life. Avril did not sleep well, and I did not sleep at all.
However, things turned around the next day and it turned out to be an awesome camping trip. Watching Avril explore and seeing her so happy just made everything worth it. It was wonderful to see family as well. Jesse's family is always so kind and welcoming. We really did have a blast. Uncle Dick even saw a bear! We were very careful to keep our food locked in the car so those nosy bears didn't come snooping in our tent and have some Yargers for dinner.
Avril had no problem finding ways to keep herself entertained. She ran all over the place with her new friend, Mr. Walking Stick.
"Dada, that's MY walking stick!"
Jesse's Mommy :)
Doesn't get much cheesier...
Jesse taught Avril to raise her arms like this when we yell, "Touchdown!" She got a kick out of doing this over and over and over...
Another of Avril's favorite activities was feeding the dogs. Here she is feeding Sage some dinner. She also tried to feed Sage rocks, sticks and a slobbery ball. Unfortunately for Avril, all the dog fun led to itchy, swollen, red eyes. Turns out Avril is like her dada was at a young age, and is allergic to dogs.
Eat your food, Sage! Good doggy!
So cute :)
A Mommy/ Daughter shot. Aunt Star and Cousin Ally. We all played a game of Scrabble together. Jesse won. He'd probably want me to mention that.
Uncle Boose, Uncle Dick, Aunt Star, Cousin Annie, and Jess
Carme and Dick, Sis & Bro
Cousin Chad with Jesse's Mom
Grammy and Granddaughter
Our happy family :)
We had such a great time! Thank you for inviting us, Montana family. We love you!!
My dad's band, Deja Vu, had a gig at the Providence Park. Luckily, Jesse had the night off so we all got to attend. We even got to see our wonderful friends, the Mortensens there :)
Avril is already using her cute looks to get what she wants. She walked over to a family eating on their blanket and stared at them with her big brown eyes. The next thing we knew, Avril walked back over to us with a huge grin on her face and a brownie in her mouth! Maybe Avril can teach me a few tricks. That brownie looked good!
Here are some pics from the event:
Mommy playing with her little sweetheart's hair :)
I was so proud of Avril for successfully retrieving food from the bowl, loading it on to her fork, and managing to make it in to her mouth. She was also quite proud of herself. So proud, in fact, that she would not stop eating the eggs because she wanted to continue to show us how she could eat with a grown-up fork. We had to stop her from eating herself sick! She's growing up so fast...
It was a long drive back to Cali, but so worth it! Avril was in heaven; constant entertainment, perfect weather, the ocean waves, friends to play with, rides, it was oh sooo much fun!
My niece, Brittney, turned 13 recently so we headed down to Azusa, California to celebrate with her. Unfortunately, Jesse wasn't able to take off from work, so it was just Nana and Papa Parkinson, Avril and I. Jesse stayed home and enjoyed having a clean house for a whole week! No cutie pies to mess it up. We missed him though. He's the greatest dad/hubby in the world.
On the drive down, we stopped at a gas station in Scipio, Utah and low and behold, they had a petting zoo! The trip was starting out with fun already, and we hadn't even left Utah! Here are some pics of Avril enjoying the zoo:
While we were sitting at the picnic tables, Avril was stretching her legs and walking around. We told her not to hit her head on the table, so this is what she did:
We made it all the way to Las Vegas and decided to stay there for the night. We walked around the strip the next morning, hoping to get to show Avril the lions at the MGM Grand, but the lion exhibit wasn't open yet. Instead, we headed over to the Luxor. Jesse idolizes Criss Angel, so I took a pic of Criss and I to make him jealous (the cardboard Criss, that is).
Also, on the ride down, we met this cute little girl named Angelina at the Barstow station. She and Avril were the same age and seemed to get along quite well :)
Once we made it to Azusa, California, Avril enjoyed spending some quality time with her cousin Brittney. Avril found one of Brittney's old tutus and wanted to put it on. Pretty much the rest of the trip, she was sporting her new tutu. She loves it and still asks for us to put it on every time she sees it. She will start dancing around in circles as soon as its on. So cute!
Blowing bubbles :)
Avril thinks about taking off her tutu... nope, she's gotta have it back on!
Of course we couldn't go all the way to California without hitting the beach. That was our next adventure. I don't know if I have ever seen Avril so excited. She was squealing with delight at the waves. We had to hold her back from running in to catch a wave. It was just perfect California beach weather. Sunny, cool breeze, not too hot. What a fantastic day!
On the Santa Monica pier
We had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp, on the pier. Brittney was thoroughly embarrassed when they sang Happy Birthday to her :)
Avril has the fry-dipping down to an art. She daintily dips her fry in the sauce, getting just a tiny dab on the tip before taking a nice, big bite!
My mom and I thought the waiter there looked like Shelby (Jesse's little bro) so we inconspicuously snuck a photo of him to prove it. So weird.
I sent this pic to Jesse via pic-text and this was the response I got: "Why is avril holding beer in her hand dear?" Haha, I didn't even notice that!
Father and son, filling Forrest Gump's shoes...
Walking to the beach. Now we're ready for some fun and sun!
Just relaxing and soaking it all in...
That's my doll face! Love you to pieces :)
Avril takes after her mama. She is a total ocean lover already. I don't know if I've ever seen this girl so excited. She LOVED chasing the waves with her grandpa and cousin Brittney :)
While in Santa Monica, we also visited the famous 3rd Street Promenade and had a blast shopping at H&M. Grandma bought Brittney a cute new outfit for her birthday... Brittney was pleased as punch!
Auntie CC(me) helped Britt get ready for her big day. We were going to a party at John's Incredible Pizza Co. with all her family and friends. I put make up on Brittney for her first time ever, now that she's a teenager! Yikes! Doesn't she look gorgeous?
Brittney at her party with her two BFF's, Ariel and Paige
Auntie and the teenage niece. Party time!
Getting older can be fun!
Some of the guests: My sister-in-law Arlene with all her sisters and mother.
Here is little Av, melting her mommy's heart :)
The many faces of Avril... I was trying to get a good grandma/ granddaughter shot and these are some of the faces Avril pulled. What a ham!
Driving the firetruck and riding the carousel were some of Avril's favorites!
The fun never ends!
The next day we went to church at our old Saugus 3rd Ward and visited with old friends. It was so good to be back and see everyone.
We tried to curl Avril's hair in a flip-up do for church. So cute!
After church we went to eat and visit with some friendly, familiar faces, the Larges. Here are Kevin and Nancee Large with my mom and dad. Good friends reuniting :)
Yay! More BFF's reuniting :) Avril and Cali are only about a week apart. Kristy and I got to be pregnant together, or sick together I should say. But look how cute they turned out! They had a blast playing with each other. I just wish we could live closer so they could play together like Kristy and I did growing up...
The Larges have an incredible backyard. Its an enormous dreamland for little kids. In fact, Jesse helped to make it that way :) He used to work for Kevin when we lived in Saugus. The cutest thing ever was when Avril started pushing Cali around in her little stroller. I'm not so sure Cali liked it as much as we did. She seemed a little unsure of Avril's stroller-pushing skills.
Since the whole Large family happened to be in town that day, we decided to take a family pic for them. What a good-looking group :) We even got to have Nathan's company on our ride home. He hitched a ride with us to St. George so that he could go to Lake Powell with some friends up there. Sound like fun!
Of course, I could not leave without seeing my other wonderful friend, Karen and her two kids! That was where Avril's next fun adventure began. She loved playing with all the toys at the Lightner's house!
Sharon made some delicious cookies while we were there. Avril helped herself to three of them! Eva and Liam made her feel very welcome and were delighted to show off all their toys. Liam even put some cool Batman shades on Avril! :)
I just love this girl! Its always a treat to get to see Karen and her family :)
Cheesy smile! I told Avril to smile for dada and I sent him this pic. We are on our way home!
...and so this brings our fun-filled journey to an end... and also the world's longest blog post to an end. I am exhausted! Time for nigh nigh, as Avril would say :)
