Last Post...

Sadly, this is my last posting on this blog.  It is the end of an era.  The reason being:  I have started on a new and exciting chapter of my life...and its an incredible one!  I met someone who treats the girls and I like we are the most precious girls on the planet.  I have been carrying a deep sadness the past few years, since our family of four went down to a family of three.  Being a single mom was the most difficult struggle of my life, hands down.  However, my life feels fulfilled again, and I feel happy again.  I have met a truly amazing person who has made me feel whole again.  I could go on and on about him... but I won't because you can see lots of him in our new blog :)
With that, I end the postings to the Yarger blog... and since I plan to marry this wonderful man... I am starting the Andrus blog.  I am adding two more to our family:  Mike (my husband-to-be), and Bret (my stepson-to-be).  Our new blog will be at:  www.andrus-r-us.blogspot.com
Come pay us a visit!  :)
-Alicia

Miscellaneous April

Arleen has been so kind to come over early in the mornings and watch the girls while mommy does a boot camp at the gym. The boot camp has been amazing, and keeps mommy sane. The girls and Arleen have become quite attached since they get to spend 3 mornings a week together. We are so lucky to live so close to family who is always happy to help out with the kiddos. Thank you Arleen, we love you! Here are some pics of Arleen with the girls :)

Sweet McKel with her Auntie Arleen

Auntie Arleen and sweetheart girl Avril

Dress up time at Nana's!  The girls LOVE playing dress up.  Hats, dresses, and necklaces galore = fun times for the girls!

Since I spend most of my time at work, guessI will throw in a work pic here.  I have such great employees at our little Logan Lee's branch.  As you can see from the pic, we have a cramped little office space, but we are a tight knit group!  And we can do grocery shopping any time of day, which is a pretty nice treat!  So here I am in my Chase attire, at my desk in the back room...

ABM (Assistant Branch Manager) Alicia sporting Chase blue!

I just love this quote, so I am including it in the blog.  Hits close to home...

Here is a shot of something that does make me happy, and helps me forget the pain for a bit...

Found this nice little dock overlooking the water on my bike ride.  Beautiful day out, beautiful scenery...

In the mornings the girls almost always ask for toast with honey.  What a mess, right?  Even messier (but more fun) when you use cookie cutters and make the toast in to heart shapes!  Plus the girls don't have to eat the crust then, which they always try to get mom to eat anyway...

Just some recent videos of the girls to finish off with:

video video video

Just Us Girls...

So there is this amazing photographer named Kellie "Mac" Larsen, who owns Elements Photography.  I was on Hi-Lo's dance team with her way back in the day in high school.  She now lives in St. George, but happened to be up in Logan so she agreed to take some shots of the girls and I.  I wanted something nice to put up in our home.  I was thrilled with the way the photos turned out.  It was pretty freezing and chaotic for the photo shoot, as I'm sure it always goes with a 2 and 4 year old... and yet Kellie managed to get some wall-worthy photos.  Since pics speak a thousand words I will let them do the talking the rest of this post:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos courtesy of:  http://www.elementsphotographystudio.com/
Thanks Kellie!  Treasure these pictures :)

Colorado Trip

Mom needed a vacation. Badly. So I went ahead and booked a trip for some R&R in lovely Aurora, Colorado. My best friend Ina lived there while she was completing her internship in dietetics. It was so nice to get away, although I always do miss those girlies when I'm not with them. It had been a loooong time since I last visited Colorado, and I was so happy I got to have a little taste of all it has to offer. A girl I met in Phoenix, Arizona, at my Assistant Manager training happened to be from the area in Colorado, so I went to visit her and bring a little gift for her baby boy on the way... it was so nice getting to be with good friends, and having some time to myself. I am a little embarrassed to include this pic, but since Ina was away at her internship I had a lot of time to do whatever I wanted, which was WONDERFUL! I spent quite a bit of time at the gym in Ina's apartment complex. I was just so proud of my muscles I tried to snap a shot so that someday when I'm not so buff, I can look back and go, "see, I did it then, I can do it again!" Anywho, here is my embarrassing work out shot:

luckily I had the whole gym all to myself...

And here I am driving to visit my pregnant Chase friend Alexis :)

Ina and I wanted to hit up all the hot spots in Denver while I was in town.  So here I am about to take off with Ina and visit downtown Denver.  We had such a blast together!

Ready for our Girls Night Out

Ina and I at a fancy Italian restaurant in downtown Denver.  We feasted on mussels and other completely delicious Italian fine dining food!

A line from a movie comes to mind:  "You have a baby!... in a bar?!  It is from Sweet Home Alabama.  Haha, we went to hear this band play in this pub in downtown Denver and this baby was there!  Had to snap a photo of that...

Just because I was so totally missing my girls, I am including some shots of them that my parents sent to me. So completely adorable. Nana and Papa watched the girls while I was away in Denver. Lucky to have so many people who love them.


Avril doesn't look too thrilled here... but here she is showing off her lovely locks



Goldi locks McKel with the bright blue eyes...

Some more shots of the girls all dolled up :)

Meanwhile... back in Denver... us girls had another feast up in Red Rock.  It was such a fun day with a wonderful friend :)

We took a scenic drive up to Red Rock and snapped a few photos in front of the lovely scenery.

Ina in front of rocks up at Red Rock... imagine that!

Just me!

Thank you Ina, for being such a sweet host.  I had a blast visiting, and fell in love with beautiful Colorado!  It was exactly what I needed.

You Belong With Me...

So Avril has an obsession with Taylor Swift songs. Particularly "You Belong With Me"... she can recite all the words of the song surprisingly well for a 4 year old, and it is just adorable. I tried to take a couple videos, but it really doesn't do the cuteness justice. We try to get out and enjoy the sunshine whenever possible, seeing as how it lasts for like a minute in Utah. We especially enjoy riding in the big red wagon. This day it was super duper windy though, which makes it hard to hear Avril's serenade.
 

A little easier to understand her in the car...

Avril tries to hold on the her hoodie by the skin of her teeth!

I am also including some pics of a recent trip to Grandma Joyce's house. Of course we took some pics of the girls on the famous deer in front of the house. That is the first thing they do when we arrive at Grandma Joyce's house... jump on the deer and go for a wonderful stationary ride! Grandma Joyce is also famous for having goodies and the girls know exactly which drawer Grandma Joyce keeps those goodies in. Below you will find some evidence of the treats all over their faces :) Looks like this time the treat came out of the freezer... ice cream and chocolate toppings! Wait till you see McKel's chocolate mustache!!

Complete with a 'stache and soul patch... McKel is oblivious to the mess on her face!  Soooo cute!

Haha, McKel doesn't seem to excited with Nana's attempts to remove her facial decor... just love the looks on both the girls' faces :)

To my two sweet cutie pies: Just as Avril and Taylor Swift say... "You Belong With Me". Love you girls more than words can say...

I'll finish off with some more random recent shots:

Hot tubbin it up in our back yard!  :)

Spaghetti is always a treat!

This old swingset in our backyard is so much fun for the girls!  They just totally love it!

You can see the garden behind has been tilled and is already starting to grow weeds.  Soon yumminess will be growing from there!  We are so blessed to have such an AMAZING backyard :)

 That's all folks!