McKinley's first primary party!

Saturday morning was McKinley's first primary party! The primary put on a fun pajama party at the church with a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and juice. The kids ate breakfast and talked and got to know their teachers better. They then played an M&M game where they had to answer a question about themselves. McKinley's question was, "What is your favorite primary song?" She answered, "Sunbeam!"

After the party, all the kids played duck duck goose and although McKinley was rather shy, she loved being involved and sitting with the big kids. She had a great morning and is really loving primary!

Carolyne, McKinley, and Kylie J.

Aliante Park and U-Swirl

Last Friday we met some friends at Aliante park to play, eat lunch, and feed the ducks. (Even though we got in trouble by the park security guard for feeding the ducks. I guess you can't anymore, what?!) Anyway, it was great weather and we had fun at the park. After we all headed to U-Swirl for some frozen yogurt, yum!!

Kylie of course was scared of the birds and ducks.

Ava, McKinley, and Brinley enjoying their frozen yogurt creations.

Kylie having to share "her" frozen yogurt with her mom.

Obsessed much?

Well Karrissa has told me that I should write about a new obsession of mine. If you know me, I seem to have a little quirk, and I become obsessed with things easily.
Last week I was talking with a friend, Ryan Nelson, about doing a triathlon. I've always wanted to try one so when he said he was set on doing one I jumped at the opportunity. I had been looking at an inexpensive bike for a while but never had a "good" excuse to buy it until I told Karrissa that I would be participating in this triathlon. Now that I've decided to go forward with it, I have become obsessed and I spend far too much time reading about it, finding training programs, and looking at all the "gear" you can have for it. I guess this might be an OK thing to get into so I'm fine with my new obsession.
I'm sure some of you are wondering what am I thinking, how can a 5'11" 210lb guy be doing something like this? I know my exercise routines have primarily focused on getting my arms bigger and making sure I could significantly improve my bench press, but now I'm enjoying a little mix up at the gym. I'm still lifting weights, but I've incorporated swimming, biking, and running too.
So I say let me embrace this new obsession and go all out. Even though Karrissa told me I would look terrible in biking shorts, I say let me be. I don't care what I look like, I just want to have fun with this new obsession and work hard for a respectable goal.
By the way, does anyone have any suggestions about protecting my nipples so my shirt doesn't rub them off? HAHA.

Swimming .5 mile

Biking 13 miles

Run 3.2 miles

Time-Out

On Wednesday, Kylie colored on the wall with a red crayon. This is the third time she has done this. McKinley never did anything like this and I remember thinking, "What kind of parent's let their kids color on walls? It's not that hard, just don't leave them unsupervised with crayons!" Well, apparently that is easier said then done with the second child who is a little more mischievous than her big sister was at her age.

Well, we had her sit on time out on the stairs and it was hilarious. She had the best pouty face and if we would say, "Kylie, no no. We don't color on the walls." She would just put her down and say, "Ok." It was so sad but so funny! Luckily Joe was able to capture her pouty face on camera. Oh, Ky bug, what are we going to do with you?

(Don't mind the crazy hair, she won't leave ponytails in during her nap and I don't redo them after she wakes up! And her face is a mess!)

McKinley

McKinley is getting so good at writing her name- I love it!

Valentines Day

Valentines Day was a fun day celebrated with my little family. We made pink, heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast and gave the girls little gifts.
The girls made and received so many fun Valentines things at church. It was cute to see their crafts and see their gifts from their teachers.
For dinner we made homemade pizza, a yummy salad, and had sparkling cider.
That night we ate pie for dessert with some friends. It was a fun, relaxing day. Joe even surprised me with a gift certificate to get my nails done! I really do love Joe and our girls so much and it was a great day to celebrate all that love!

Valentines Dinner

Friday evening was absolutely wonderful! We are participating in a babysitting switch with a few friends this month and it was our second Friday night date night. We dropped our kids off at the Andrews, picked up our friends the Kinghorns and Plickas, and drove downtown to a nice seafood restaurant- McCormick and Schmick. The Martins also met us there for dinner. We found out about it through some friends in the ward and we were able to get a gift card to there through restaurants.com. We bought the gift card last February and needed to use it before the end of the month. Valentines was the perfect excuse to visit McCormick and Schmick. It was such a nice restaurant with daily printed menus and fancy, beautifully-plated food.

Everyone ordered something different and fun. Joe and Danny ordered Swordfish, Kaitlin had the red wine creamy chicken, Klisa ordered the tuna, Jeff and Dane had the steak and stuffed shrimp, Camille had steak, and I ordered the Asian BBQ Salmon. The food was wonderful and the presentation was awesome. The appetizers- calamari for Joe and coconut shrimp for Dane, were fun and yummy. The sides- mashed potatoes, buttered asparagus, salads, and macaroni and cheese were equally delicious. Even the sour dough rolls were amazing. And the desserts, oh wow- chocolate silk cake, white chocolate mousse with berries in a peanut brittle bowl, and a kiwi/strawberry pastry.

Enough about the amazing food, the company was equally as wonderful. You can tell we are good friends because all the girls matched in pink hues and all the boys matched wearing blue. It was so fun to have a nice evening out with friends eating at a fancy restaurant, without kids, and enjoying new and different foods then we normal have. It was fun to spend time together just talking and enjoying a unique expereince, especially for dental students. :) I loved being with Joe and enjoyed celebrating Valentines day with him. Happy Valentines Day!

Playgroup Valentines Party

Friday morning was our annual playgroup breakfast and pajama Valentines Party. Amanda was nice enough to host the party at her home and to make delicious crepes! The breakfast was delicious and obviously the Nutella was the girls' favorite part. After breakfast the kids exchanged Valentines with each other and played hide-n-go-seek. It was a fun morning spent with friends and celebrating Valentines day.

Free Cupcakes and the Park

On Wednesday a local cupcake bakery, Retro Bakery, was giving away free cupcakes for their anniversary. Camille, Afton, and I took the kids down there to pick out a cupcake and then over to the park to enjoy the treat and the nice weather. McKinley chose Pink Lemonade, Kylie wanted the Vanilla with sprinkles, and I had the Toffee Break cupcake. The cupcakes were of course delicious and it was fun to spend time with friends at the park!

A Lucky Mom

I really am such a lucky mom. I love my girls and love the time I spend with them. They are cute, creative, sassy, imaginative, girly, energetic, lovable, independent, emotional, and talkative.
For journaling purposes:
McKinley loves to imaginative/pretend play- she loves to pretend she is a mom, play kitchen and dinner parties, dress up as princesses, or pretend she is a baby. She loves to draw, paint, cut, color, and do playdough. She loves to watch Arthur, Dinosaur Train, Dragon Tales, and any Barbie, Ariel, or Tinkebell movie. She constantly wants to be playing with a friend. She loves preschool and especially loves to be the weather helper and show-n-tell. She loves dance class and loves to show daddy what she learned that day. She is also a big helper. She still loves her blanky and sleeps with it by her face every night. She occasionally takes an afternoon nap. She doesn't like bubbles in the bathtub. She refers to everything in the past as "lesterday" and everything in the future as "a few couple days". She looses things all the time and gets very frustrated about finding them. She loves coins and takes them in and out of her piggy bank often. She still comes in our bed in the middle of the night and she is tough to sleep with because she is usually sideways. She wants to play hide-n-go-seek all day long. She loves juice, treats, and asked for macaroni and cheese everyday for lunch. She is getting better at writing her name but never writes the letters in order, just random spots on the paper. She loves to read books and sing "two songs" before bed. She sleeps with her lamp on the entire night. She is so great about letting me do her hair. She holds so still and for the most part, doesn't care what I do to it. She calls Kylie "girl" most of the time.

Kylie has mastered the temper tatrum. She can say lots of words and repeats just about anything you say. She still takes two naps a day (most days but I can see it fading out soon) and sleeps 12 hours at night. She is very easy to put to bed. She loves Ariel, Tinkerbell, and Barbie (just like her big sister of course) and points to the tv and says, "Tinkerbell" or "Ariel" quite a few times a day. She loves Honey Bunches of Oats for breakfast- as soon as she gets up she is saying "cereal, cereal!" She loves when you guess right at what she is saying and exclaims, "Uh huh!!" She has recently learned the word "No" and says it to just about anything. She is really scared of slides, swings, jumping high, spinning, being thrown up in the air, running down the stairs too fast, etc. She loves to say "Daddy, Mommy, Coco, Kylie" all day long. She LOVES her binky and blanky. She hates nursery. She is a really good eater but her appetite has definitely slowed down. She is starting to show interest in the little potty. She loves bubbles in her bath. She follows McKinley around all day. She loves to wear dress-ups and sometimes even takes naps in them. She likes to hand me the clean silverware from the dishwasher and I put it away. I love the way she says "Sorry" and hugs McKinley. She calls all fruit "apple". She hates to have her hair done. If you ask her what noise an animal says she repeats back "Ho ho ho!" and then laughs. She can count to five but she never says "one" and just starts at two. She usually covers her eyes with her hands while she counts because of playing hide-n-go-seek so much. She pretty much has shoes on all day.

I feel like it is important to record their little quirks, habits, and traits that make them who they are at 3 1/2 and almost 2!

Super Bowl Party

So I didn't take that many great pictures of our Super Bowl party but we sure did have fun! The Kinghorns, Martins, Plickas, and Wilburs came over and enjoyed TONS of yummy food, the game, crafts for the little kids, and visiting.
I bought a few different crafts for the girls to do so they weren't bored. We made cute foam shape bracelets and did melty bead shapes.
The kids always have a fun time playing together! McKinley and Kylie love to play and "help" Madisyn.
Thanks for a fun football, Sunday afternoon!