Brrrr!!!

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:

Thanksgiving Week

Press play to view a pro target shooter... ...turns out its kind of startlingly loud when you fire a gun...

So I've only fired a gun like once ever, and it was a rifle, not a .45 caliber cute lil gun like this one.  Seriously I can see why people like em so much, it was a total blast!!  We went out a ways from Jim and Carm's house and practiced shooting at an empty can and a stump, which I totally obliterated.  Plus I looked cool doing it, as you can see.  Jason helped a little.

Showing me how its done...

Showing him how its done...

Totally blasted that stump!

FYI, upon examination of the stump target, he really was right on...

Speaking of targets, its hard to capture pictures of moving targets.  I tried to get some pics of our little Thanksgiving crew, but it required a lot of chasing around little rugrats, which I've gotten pretty good at anyway.  Carme did an awesome job preparing our Thanksgiving feast.  THANK YOU so much for preparing all that deliciousness!!

Avril said she was thankful for the sun.  McKel is thankful for her bottle (no words were necessary to convey this info), mommy is thankful for good company.  Carm and Jim were thankful that we left them with a house still standing.  Jason is thankful for graham cracker crusted pumpkin pie, and Billy is thankful for tummy rubs.

Here are some pics from our trip:

a messy, but overjoyed McKel

got her to hold still for a brief moment...

the best way to consume whipped cream...

finger-lickin good!

my lil punkin eatin her punkin pie!

love those baby blues...

Tickle tickle!!

one of Jason's arms is missing.  I think it wandered over to tickle Avril...

The amazing host and hostess

Flippity flip, up Avril goes!

Love seein that girl grin ear to ear :)

Mommy found some fun Thanksgiving crafts for the kids pilgrims.  We had turkey finger puppets, sticker crafts, and pilgrim hats!

Love em!!

Our second time shooting was a little more difficult, due to a lighting shortage.  Jason got some way cool actual targets this time... which once again I totally blew to smitherines.  I think I'll frame my target art.  Billy got take a turn shooting too, with a little bit o help from dad.

Pow pow!  Go Billy!

 And some more Turkey Day pics:

sippin cider and chillaxin

my brown-eyed beauty

probably copying something she saw Jason do would be my best guess...

...I tried to catch a McKel photo but only got her backside...

lucky me!  A front shot!

McKel could not get enough of Jason's kid-throwing skills.  Mommy had small heart attacks with each toss.

maybe a little future cheerleader...

of course Avril had to have a turn.  She took her baby and piglet along for the fun!

Me and my pretty mom-in-law

The Mitals...

Awww...

Two Tough Mudders, and tough gunners.. .is that a word?

Settling down for cuddling and movie-watching

way too cute

And finally, have to throw this pic in here... I came home one night to this in my bed.  Two beautiful girls catching some zzz's.  How sweet!!

Thanks again Carm and Jim for making the Thanksgiving holiday so special for the girls and I. Love, Love, Love you!!