Monday, November 2, 2009

7 months

dear mobile little creature,
hello! tomorrow you turn 7 months! over half way to a year, little parks! congrats buddy. you are a bucket of fun! if i could describe your personality right now, it would be a mix of a mellow fellow and bulldozing lion. you stick everything into your mouth--still love those feet, fingers, paper, toys, mom's hair, necklaces, etc.

you are in between the scoot and crawl, but we have to keep an eye on you because you move all around the room. tonight you even crawled from the living room to kitchen when i was out of the room for 2 minutes. good job, parker! it is so cute to see you get up on all fours and rock back and forth and then inchworm your way around.

your vocabulary consists of "ga-ga-ga-ga-ba-ba-ba-ba-cooo--ahh--goooo-arrrhhhhhhhh!" someday you will say "mama" or "dada," and someday you may get teeth. still no signs of anything yet (which means that they will be healthier, right? that is what everyone keeps telling me).

you tried several new foods this month--peas, carrots, sweet potatoes and squash! this was your first month to eat anything besides rice cereal and oatmeal. you are getting much better at opening your mouth and swallowing when we feed you, even if you always make a huge mess.

you said goodbye to daycare when dad finished rookie school, and mom cried the whole way home. mom really liked your teachers there and was sad that you had to leave your "friends." your class made you a super sweet going away card with a picture of each of your friends inside, a framed picture of you with your name on it, and some books and toys. mom knows this is just the beginning of watching you grow up. don't do it, parks! stay my sweet little 6 month old forever!

you went on your first hiking trip at horseshoe canyon this month. the leaves were beautiful, so beautiful that when we tried to go to hawksbill crag it was so overcrowded that we decided it was not worth the traffic problems even though we drove all the way there. we spent the day at horseshoe instead. it was not exactly our weekend as granola-fest was happening the same day. right before this picture was taken dad saw a young woman with full armpit hair belaying another climber. needless to say, he doesn't look overjoyed in the pic.


you, sweet thing, fell asleep in the pack. and that is how i will remember your sixth month. sweet smiles, laughs, and tons of fun. love ya little guy!!!

love,
momma

Sunday, November 1, 2009

rahhrrrr!

before it is way too late to post halloween pics, here are a few of parker the (cowardly) lion. all week we worked on his growl and it was so strong, but then he froze up on halloween. i guess a cowardly lion is better than a crying lion so i can't complain. we had a wonderful, full weekend. didn't quite get as much laundry or cleaning done, but i'd rather spend time with friends than have a spotless house.


where's parker? he must be staying warm under his costume!
all bundled up. thankfully it was 61 degrees, but parker's hands were still chilly
"mom, why did you bring me to work?"
trick or treating with dad around the neighborhood
hope everyone had a happy halloween! (and yes, parker was going to be a football, but the lion costume fit his personality much better and it was only $5 at a second-hand store and james' and my costume were borrowed. yay for recession 2009! :)) love yall.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

pumpkins


even though it was cold and rainy, we still had a great time at the mcgarrah pumpkin patch last week!
aww what a cutie
"look, mom, i am eating the straw. i eat everything!!"
ooooh a big one!
can't wait to go again next year!

and just because, here is a picture of some pumpkin bread i made. it was actually edible (and delicious!!) love yall. have a great week!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

team china

i am really happy tonight. after years of supporting our husbands at rec. basketball games, my girlfriends and i officially signed up for a city volleyball league! it is our husbands' turn to come and watch us play :).

i've struggled the last couple of years with having a consistent group of girl friends to hang out with. in high school, our friends were so close and i am incredibly thankful for our friendships that continue today, but everyone is spread out accross the country. in college i was blessed to constantly be surrounded by great girls, as living together breeds deep relationships, but most of the girls don't live close and the ones that do are at different stages of life.

after getting married (and having a kid), i've struggled with finding my group. don't get me wrong--i have a many friends and even friends who know me very well and i can always count on here, but just not a good group. the hardest part is deciding what group i want to be in. i have my work friends. we enjoy happy hours, go out to lunch for each others' birthdays, throw wedding and baby showers, but sometimes i wonder if our connecting thread is simply working for the same company and we don't share many interests outside of work.

then i have my mom friends. i enjoy hanging out with them and talking all things baby. but most of them are stay at home moms and get together during the day for play groups and bible studies, and i don't feel like i would ever fully be part of the intimate group without staying at home.

james and i also have many, many couple friends, but couple friends just aren't the same as girl friends. plus, i think most of our couple friends like to hang out more with james than me and i just get invited because i'm his wife :). j/k...sorta.

anyway, this is all why i am so excited to play volleyball. it is all about the girls, doing something we love, getting a little exercising and building relationships. i don't know if i will ever have such close girlfriends again now that i am a wife, mother, sister, etc. and girl friend, but here's to hoping. love yall!

p.s. college friends accross the country--miss you!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

christmas pics

my friend jen came through town this past weekend and was kind enough to take a few pictures of the dees and us! i am excited to get an early start on christmas cards this year. here are a few of the shots (i used http://www.picnik.com/ to edit them. i love that website--and it is free!)


hopefully my blog will undergo a fall/christmas makeover soon. love yall!