A Visit to Grandma & Grandpa's House In California

Back in August, John, McKenna and I went to visit my parents in California for a week before my manager went on maternity leave... my last hurrah (sp?) before the purgatory I now find myself in.

McKenna had so much fun! Grandma bought her some galoshes for all the rain we were going to experience in August in California... as you can tell she only wanted to wear her new boots. She continually said, "I need boots on." She loves them.

We also took her to the beach for the first time since she was 3 months old, and I'm pretty sure she didn't remember that it was A. Sandy, and B. Noisy, and C. Filled with other people. She wanted to go home from the moment we arrived... even though we bought her $50 worth of sand shovels, umbrellas, sandcastle building tools etc.

Pinkalicious!

For those of you with little girls, you may or may not of heard of the children's book, Pinkalicious, by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann.

Several of my friends had told me what a fun story it was, and while we were in California McKenna was desperately looking for something for us to read to her. We ran across the book at Target and bought it for her. Since then, she and Pinkalicious have become inseparable. I'm not sure if we can blame McKenna's recent terrible twos on Pinkalicious, but I'm about to the point where I'd like to blame someone!

Either way, McKenna's new found obsession for cupcakes had to have come from somewhere. The other day we were at the grocery store (Jocelyn - see: Market) and she asked me for a cupcake. I came up with the idea to make pink cupcakes like the ones Pinkalicious and her mom make in the book. I told her we were going to bake them before dinner last night... she was so excited! I let her help with adding ingredients, she was able to sit on the counter while we added food coloring to achieve the perfect color of pink, all and all a positive first baking experience. John shot a little video of the affair, it's rather long, but please stick with it. It's well worth the wait... trust me!

McKenna Turns Two!

It's hard to believe McKenna is two years old! Maybe her grouchiness is directly correlated to her age...Hmm... Then I realized, "she's two" is a great explanation for a lot of the things she does.

Like when she wants to wear her bathing suit (Mommy, I wanna wear Baby Soup)...

Or when she is fighting us about eating...and accidentally falls asleep at the table:

Or wants to wear her sunglasses indoors:

She's already one of the funniest people I know, and believe me that's saying something (I have my humor as a benchmark for funniness... 'cause I'm hilarious). I love the little girl she's turning in to, she is shy but confident, loving and goofy... just a joy producing kiddo. I don't know what we'd do without her... and in the future she'll be able to reach things for me on the high shelves in the kitchen... she's already 3'1.5" tall... her predicted height is between 5'9" & 5'11"... she's going to blow past me and my height-challengedness.

Here are some pictures of her from her birthday party (can you believe how much she's changed in a year?):

Last Year:

This year:

Here are some pics of her completed big girl room (is it a problem that I'm jealous of my two year old's room?):

We love you little bubba! Can't wait to find out what the next year with you will bring :-)

McKenna Gets a Big Girl Room!

So McKenna turns 2 in two weeks! I can't believe how fast she's grown... so for the occasion, John and I gave her a big girl room... She slept in her new bed for the first time yesterday, and she seems to be off to the races.

Crested Butte - Our First "Just the Three of Us" Vacation

I finally broke down and pulled a few hundred photos off of my camera which were 'blog worthy.' So it's your lucky day! A few new posts from the Boyle Family!

A few weeks ago, John McKenna and I went to Crested Butte so I could race in the Mountain States Cup event, The Wildflower Rush. We'd never been there before, so we thought it would be a good excuse for a quick trip to a beautiful place. We took our time driving down, and even took the scenic route, which for an impatient person like me is difficult.

Here we are on the top of Cottonwood Pass on the Continental Divide:

So then we made it... and it was SPECTACULAR! I could totally live there if I had a trust fund, no ambition and only wanted to snowboard and ride all day every day:


Then it was time for the beat down, also known as the Wildflower Rush (in no particular order):

All in all a very fun weekend... we can't wait to go back!

Our Little Skier!

For future 2026 Olympic bragging rights we decided McKenna needed to be on skis before she was two. We finally accomplished this goal last weekend... here are some videos of her first skiing experience. You can plainly see she loved it (best evidenced by her softly crying in the background).

Enjoy:

Happy Easter!

No time for a long post... just wanted to share a few pictures from Easter!

Post For Jocelyn

Hi, it's me... it's been a long time, like since Christmas Eve... but I had a moment, and a friend (Jocelyn) who really, really wanted a new blog post, so here it is:

McKenna is a little girl now, she walks and talks and knows what she wants, before we know it she'll be off to college at the University of Colorado (if she knows what's good for her, and wants us to pay for it).

She loves the finer things in life, like a good filet mignon or prime rib, a fine wine and dinner with friends and family (here is a video of her at Christmas Dinner):

She has learned a foreign language (if you watch closely she'll sign 'shoes'):

She has learned what things are called (notice the blanket):

She has taken an interest in interior design and decorating (yes, that's the Pottery Barn Kids Catalogue):

She's ridden exotic animals:

She's learned to love cooking:

She has eaten sushi:

She has discovered a deep love for literature (and monkeys):

All in all McKenna is a joy to have around, we laugh so hard we cry most days. It's so fun to see her little personality develop... her language skills are changing on a daily basis too; her favorite words currently are: No, Uh huh...,This is a..., Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grammy, Where, Why, What is this, Cereal, Baby, Puppy (or Rar-Rar), Doggy, Kitty, More, All Done, Shoe, Sock, Blanket, Milk, Drink, Water, Waffle, Please, Thank you, Welcome (instead of you're welcome), Sorry, Up, Buckle, Tree, Leaf, Down, Book, Going, Eat, Sleepy, Stairs, Brush Teeth, OK, etc... I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them off the top of my head. It's hard to believe that in 4 short months she'll be two. Where did that time go? Feels like yesterday I was painfully swollen, 7,000 lbs and praying she would leave the human hot tub she was living in. Glad she's on the outside, it's a lot more fun for all of us.

That's all for now!