The girls spent the first half of Christmas with their dad. For them, Christmas just never ended!! After the girls got back from their dad's we went to Nana and Papa's place for more present opening fun. After that, we headed up to Grandma Joyce's for more presents from grandma and grandpa Parkinson, as well as the Tracine/Robert Parkinson family. THEN... we headed up to Montana the next morning with Shelby, to spend another Christmas with the other side extended fam. It was a jam-packed-with-fun kind of Christmas!!
Here are some pics from the Christmas as Nana and Papa's:
And an adorable video:
And some pics from Grandma Joyce's place:
I know Christmas isn't supposed to be all about the presents, but when you have little kids it kinda just is! It just makes my heart happy inside to watch the girls excitement at opening a gift. Doesn't so much even matter what it is, its just so fun for them to open anything. Watching the girls so happy is the best gift for me. I am so glad we got to spend the holiday with those we love. We are so blessed.
Autnie Arleen helps McKel open her new doll
A positively overjoyed Avril. Bring on the presents! :)
Papa helps Avril with the gift unwrapping. What could it be??
The girls love their dollies...
Grandma Joyce has the perfect place for taking care of dolls. A little girl's dream...
Papa reads to the girls. They love story time! They are wearing new PJ's from JJ
The Glenn family in Salt Lake City, held a family gathering for Christmas with yummy food and lots of friendly faces. Jesse had the girls at the time so Avril and McKel missed out on the occasion, but we all still enjoyed our time together. The triplet boys are always the center of attention of course... we all loved taking turns holding the cutie pie boys :)
Aunt Tracine holding Edison, and Grandma Parkinson holding... ?? I really can't keep them straight... Parker or George!
Mommy daughter shot
Phones always make good chew toys...
Ali, Arleen, and Robert Crockett
Brothers holding brothers. Robert and Spencer P. holding two of the three triplets.
In an effort to make new friends and expand my horizons... lately I've been trying to be a bit more social. With that being said, I even go to football games sometimes! I am not a huge Aggie fan, but football games can be pretty fun. I loved watching Jesse play... but now that I don't have a husband to watch the games have lost the appeal for me. Anyway, this game was totally worth the drive!! It was an incredible success for the Aggies. I went with some fun people and had a great day!
A little game info:
"Williams' fourth-quarter spree fueled a 28-point Aggies scoring burst
that turned a close game into a blowout. Williams finished
with a career-best 235 yards rushing on 18 carries, with 182 of
those yards coming on six carries in the fourth quarter, and
was voted MVP.
Williams' heroics also capped the most successful season in the history of Utah State football. The Aggies finished 11-2,
won the Western Athletic Conference title outright and won a bowl game for the first time since 1993. Utah State also will
likely finish ranked for the first time since 1961."
My talented niece, Brittney Parkinson, helped us with our family photo shoot this year. I didn't want to front the money for a "professional." Figured the girls would rather use that $ on Christmas presents!! Brittney took a photo class in school and has fun playing around with some special effects. The hard part was getting both girls to smile at the same time...scratch that, just getting them to look in direction of the photographer at the same time was an ordeal! McKel had actually been sick with a fever, so she wasn't her usual chipper self. She was a good sport though. I was happy with the results. Thank you so much Brittney! Love having you as a freaking awesome niece :) Here are some of my fave shots:
The beautiful photographer with mommy :)
Avril took a book break. My little book nerd! Mwa!
My little bundle of joy is 2 already!?!?! She is not a baby anymore... I can't believe how fast she is growing up. McKel still amazes me with her maturity... for a two year old, that is. She is a very independent girl. She doesn't let anything stop her. She will try anything. She even loves green beans! I can never get Avril to eat most vegetables, but McKel doesn't have the picky eater genes, thank goodness!
McKel doesn't let anyone tell her what to do or push her around. She is my tough girl. She has the most hilarious sense of humor. She is so creative with her ways to make us laugh, I have no idea where she comes up with her little acts of random cuteness. McKel loves music. She can pick up a song after hearing it just once and will actually blow you away at her ability to carry a tune. She also has some KILLER dance moves. She loves her big sister and will often mimic whatever Avril does/says.
McKel has the ability to make you smile when you are feeling at your lowest low. She just has this goofy grin and energy for days. She often jumps from place to place instead of walking like most people do. She bounces! She has the most gorgeous big blue eyes, and AMAZING hair for a two year old! She just oozes cuteness! So grateful to have you in our lives McKel. You are a gift from God :)
For McKel's party we just had a family gathering at Nana and Papa's. Nana made a cheesecake and a delicious dinner for everyone. We opened presents and had a great time. The biggest hit for the girls were the helium balloons... so entertaining!
the birthday girl loves to come hop in mommy's bed with her...
Family eating din din at Kel's party :)
YUM!!
Some fun videos:
Auntie Arleen loves to cook for the girls and have some play time with them on their special days. Here she is with the girls on McKel's birthday:
Having grown up in sunny Southern California, I never thought I would be able to survive temperatures this cold. I get up in the morning and head to the gym before 6:30 am and the car temperature reading is often in the negatives. It seems like the coldness weather never lets up. I can't wait for the winter to be over. Not my favorite part of living in Logan, Utah. When I head to the gym I usually make myself a protein smoothie and drink it on my way there. I usually do not finish the entire drink on the drive over. Well, I learned that if I leave the remainder of my shake in the car to finish when I am done with my workout... it is solid! The shake freezes completely during my one hour workout! That is freaking cold!!!
So most of the time we are indoors and mommy is trying to get things cleaned up and we try to find indoor activities to keep us entertained. If we venture outside that means lots of bundling up!!
Here are some shots of the girls over at nana and papas playing outside with nana and Auntie Arleen:
Here are some shots of the girls playing inside at our house. They found some fun hats and markers. Mommy had to watch that the markers didn't end up all over the walls and furniture...
Avril focuses intently on her coloring
One of the most exciting things to me about our new home is the fireplace. I have been wanting to start a fire ever since the cold weather started. HOWEVER... I do not know how to make a fire. Not a skill I ever have had to use. So one morning I spent about two hours unsuccessfully trying to get the logs to burn. I called for reinforcement. After some help, we got a fire going, woo hoo! And now I am pretty good at getting them started. I'm still not super quick at it, but it suffices :)
McKel watches mommy trying to start the fire
Beautiful! Nothing beats hanging out by the warmth of the fire...
Another good indoor activity for girls is painting nails! My girls decided that to thank Joe, the neighbor/friend down the street, they would paint his nails. He didn't seem to mind, surprisingly :)
The cold weather also brought some fun visitors. Mommy's best friend Ina was in town visiting from Colorado. It was so great to see her and get to spend some time with her!!
And here is an absolutely adorable video of McKel trying to mimic some of her favorite animal sounds:
