Ryan is Published!!!!

Ryan did this amazing project at his work for Siemens (they make light rail train cars). Anyways, Ryan is in charge of testing the vehicles and the equipment to ensure safety when the cars go into service. He also lately has become in charge of solving problems that occur in vehicles currently in service and you can read what he did to solve a reoccurring problem with the train cars in Denver, CO. National Instruments, a major engineering company in the US has published his work on this project using their equipment. Check it out. I can't hardly figure out what in the world he did, but it sure makes me think of my husband as quite the genius.  http://sine.ni.com/cs/app/doc/p/id/cs-14528

My Valentines Dinner... I'm Spoiled....

Ryan was so cute this past Valentines Day. He got off of work early, went to his buddy Jason's house and together they made their wives a nice dinner. He later came home and had it all set up for me. It was delicious and I love that he made it for me! As I'm sure anyone who knows me would guess the chocolate strawberries were my favorite from the evening. Gotta love my hubby:)

Catching up just a little...

My Brother Nick & his wife Jessaca were married on Feb. 18th (my Birthday) of this year in the Salt Lake City Temple. So, plane tickets being what they were at the time lead Ryan and I to take a leap of faith and make the long 12 hour drive to Utah with our little one. The trip out there could not have gone more smoothly. Avery was an angel and what really saved us was the car TV we had set up for her just for the trip. Thank goodness for today's technology. And of course, since Ryan's family lives in Utah as well, we ended up making a 2 week trip out of the whole thing. We had sooo much fun. The wedding was beautiful, I had a great birthday with my family & my in-laws, my Best Friends Brittney & Oakley from high school took me out for a birthday lunch to Cafe Rio (love Cafe Rio), Ryan got to go Snow Shoeing with his sister, and I went with Ryan's Mom, Avery had lots of fun with Grandma and learned to eat lots of new solid foods, we watched Landon (ryan's little brother) play in one of his Basketball games, i had tons of fun hanging out with Karyann doing baby crafts & watching movies, and we caught up with some old college buddies, Nate, Erin, & Jessica. Loads of fun. Here are some fun pics my aunt KC took from the wedding and more from the trip to come later.

Here's Me with my Niece Kamay. Everyone has always said she looks like me, and after seeing this picture I would certainly agree.

Family Shot in front of SLC Temple

Our Beautiful Avery.

Ringing in the New Year with the KINGS GAME!

First off, Christmas this last year was a memorable one to be sure. It was the first time in 4 years since the whole Parkinson family was together. It was soo fun to see everyone. However, 10 out of the 12 people in Ryan's family got the flu while we were there. We thought we missed the bug when 4 days passed with no one sick, and then Avery went down with the flu at 12:20 am on Christmas Morning. Poor Avery had a rough one.. she threw up at least 15 times and was up most of the night, but luckily High School Musical was there to help her and us pass the time. She loved her toys from Santa, but then got a pretty bad fever latter that day (Which was the PITS because we didn't have any fever medicine and EVERYTHING in Utah was closed as it was Christmas day and Sunday. Eventually we got a hold of some). Ryan was sick with the flu the next day and then I had a milder taste of it the day after he did. It was CRAZY! We still managed to enjoy our time relaxing and hanging out with the family. I also got to see my friends from high school, Brittney & Oakley, with their little baby girls too. So, it was eventful in its own way, but we still really enjoyed being with the family.

JIMMER TIME! So, Ryan and I have recently gotten excited about the Kings basketball team ever since they signed our favorite BYU basketball player Jimmer Fredette. Apparently the King's gear sales have been up by 500% from last year, and 75% of which was all Jimmer stuff.  Ryan had never been to a professional NBA game, and we were spoiled with a great game to watch. The Kings were down by 22 or so at the half and somehow slowly chipped away at the Bucks lead coming back with a win in the final seconds of the game. It was SOOOOO fun! We're excited to watch and see how Jimmer progresses in his NBA career.

Us enjoying the game

 JIMMER #7

 The Final Score

 Our New Jimmer Shirts

 What good is a post without a picture of Avery???

Trunk or Treat

Our ward's Trunk or Treat activity was just last weekend and little A went as a Fairy. Isn't Avery "Fairy" cute? It was so fun getting her into costume. She could see the wings just over her shoulder and so she kept spinning in circles trying to grab them (not realizing they were strapped to her back). It was hilarious to watch. Avery was a little nervous at the Trunk or Treat party at first because everyone one looked well... a little bit "different" than usual. Mom and Dad were no exception either.

Ryan and I went as teen punk rockers.. I wish we had taken a full body picture of us because Ryan was wearing MY SKINNY JEANS!!! It was SOOOOO Funny. We got a lot of comments on the costumes and really I think the best part of Halloween sometimes is the actually getting dressed up crazy part. This was a great fun Memory:).

Walking!!!!

Avery started walking while we were in Denver. She now walks like a champ everywhere she goes. It really is amazing how fast they learn.. here is a video of when she was learning. enjoy:)

Denver

 I love this picture of Avery. It totally captures the expression she makes every time she's showing me something she's found. 

 Brittney took some fun pictures for us while we were out there. Thanks Britt!

 Waiting for the Dad's to come home... so cute!

 Brittney, Josh, & Drew at the Red rocks with us.

 Avery and Drew like to hold hands.. this was too sweet not to get a picture of it.

 Our little family at the Red Rocks! It really was an amazing view.

Last month Ryan had to go to Denver for 3 weeks for work. After about one week, we decided that that was just toooooo long not to be together. So, Avery and I jumped on a plane and and spent the remaining 2 weeks with Ryan in Denver. The flight out there with a baby by myself wasn't easy, but somehow I don't think it could have gone much better than it did. Avery and I sat next to a young grandmother who was sooo helpful; I almost felt as though my own mother was sitting with me and helping me with Avery. She has no idea how much that meant to me.
The trip turned out to be tons of fun as Ryan's college buddy and his family happen to live in Denver. Josh, Brittney and little Drew made our trip to Denver so much fun. While the boys were at work, Avery and I got to hang out with Brittney and Drew quite a bit. Brittney and I had only really met once before this trip and that was at her and Josh's wedding. Who would have thought that we would be so similar.. we're kind of like the same person. By the end of this vacation we had become super good friends and had lots of fun watching Drew and Avery play together.  Hope you enjoyed some of the fun pics from the trip.
Oh.. how could I possibly forget to mention that Avery learned to walk while she was in Denver. That's right everyone... AVERY IS WALKING!!!!! So fun!