Parkinson Family: December 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

December Events

On December 17th, Aaron and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. We went down that night and dropped the kids off with my parents, who took them all to grandma's Christmas party. (It seems like every year, because we were married the week before Christmas, there is always something going on. Last year we didn't do anything for our anniversary so this year we wanted to do something extra nice.)

We decided to go to THE ROOF, the restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. We had a beautiful view of the temple from our table, and it was a delicious buffet. We have never been there before and really enjoyed it. We had a nice evening together. We walked around temple square for a few minutes (it was freezing cold!) and then headed back to my parent's house.

Come to find out while we were gone, Jared cried for over 2 hours straight, which is so unlike him. I felt so bad. I am thankful to my parents for letting us get out for a nice evening. I hope they know we appreciate it. I am thankful for eleven wonderful years with my amazing husband. Marriage is so good when you both give everything to eachother and make your relationship a priority. He is my best friend and I look forward to many more years together.

The next day we spent at my parents' house. In the morning Aaron and I did some last minute shopping and went out to lunch with my brother Nathan and his wife Jordan. They are a lot of fun to be with. Mom and dad took our three older kids to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point and they absolutely LOVED it!! They love spending time with their grandkids and I know the kids love it, too. I am thankful my parents make such an effort to spend time with our kids.

That night, we had a special dinner, our "last supper" together, before mom and dad would leave. We made the traditional German favorite meal- Rouladin, Glaze, and Rotkohl, and it was delicious!! We had a little devotional where we talked about Christmas memories and shared spiritual thoughts. Then the kids opened a few gifts. It was a great night together. The following Tuesday, my parents flew out to Vietnam for their 18 month mission. We will miss them a lot. It was hard to say goodbye, but not so hard in another way because I know it will go by fast and they will be on the Lord's errand. I'm proud of you mom and dad, and excited for this opportunity for you!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

A time of Thanksgiving

The month of November was a busy one for the Michels. My parents were getting ready to leave on their mission. We went down for their farewell the weekend of Nov 21st and came back Sunday night. It was a great day- nice to see so many extended family there. I enjoyed listening to my parents' talks and felt the spirit in the meeting. I am so excited for them and hope it is a great experience for them.

Me and my mom

My dad on the right with his friend Mike

Later that week we celebrated Thanksgiving with them. We enjoyed a nice meal together with my parents and siblings and also both sets of my grandparents. I am so grateful for the blessing of such wonderful family. I hope my siblings and also my parents know how much I love them!

Opa reading to the grandkids (and Jeremy)

Thanksgiving day we got to go out with the horses and pull the kids on a sled behind them on the roads behind the houses in the neighborhood by my parents' house. This is something we did almost every year on Christmas day when I was growing up so it brought back a lot of memories for me. The kids had a blast being pulled on the sled. (I prefer to stay on the horse :)

The day after Thanksgiving we went out again, this time with my mom and we took all 3 horses. We rode down to the gully and pulled the kids on the sleds at different spots. I think that was the highlight of my weekend down there. There's nothing like a good horseback ride for me. I am thankful to Aaron for staying back with the baby while I got to have some fun with my family. It will be a good memory for me.

Getting ready for a fun ride with the horses.

That weekend Aaron and I also took the opportunity to record a few of our grandparents' life histories as they spoke to us. We were especially grateful to have the chance to listen to his grandma and grandpa Christensen for many hours. His grandma has grown quite frail with alzheimers and has a hard time expressing herself at this point. But, we are thankful for what she was able to share. We are starting to feel the urgency in learning all we can from our grandparents before they are gone. We feel very strongly that this is the most important family history we can do at this time. We are so thankful for wonderful grandparents who have lived faithful lives and set such valiant examples for us to follow.

Grandma and Grandpa Christensen with their great-grandchildren

Uncle Ryan holding Jared

Is there anything sweeter than holding a sleeping baby?

I am grateful for this thanksgiving season when we have a chance to reflect upon all we've been given. I am truly thankful for all of my many blessings, among which are family and friends, the blessing of being alive at this time with so many opportunities, to be a mother of 4 wonderful children, to have such a great husband and best friend, and to have the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. Life is so good!

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Parkinson funnies

Nov 2012- Aaron was watching football on TV and Jared came out saying, "I want to go watch grass!"

Dec 2011- Heidi said one morning, "Mom, there's frosting on the house!" (on a cold day when frost was on the house).

June 2, 2011- Driving in the car Kyle said to his sister, "If you don't learn to talk, Jesus will make you talk Spanish." (He explained later that he actually meant sign language. That's how he thought it worked.)

Feb 28, 2011- Kyle said, "I don't like to have babysitters because they are only supposed to take care of babies!" Then we explained that they can take care of bigger kids too.

Dec 15, 2010- Kyle said, "I know how they make egg nog. First they dump in the eggs and mix them around. Then they put in the nog..."

Oct 20, 2010- Kyle said, "Mom, is some cheese blue?" I said it is called blue cheese but isn't really that blue. He said, "Well, then does it taste like blueberries?" I love all the questions he asks about how the world works- He's really trying to figure things out.

Oct 7, 2010- We were driving by Arctic Circle and Kyle said, "Is that the hamburger hut? I like that hut." I am wondering if he was remembering a time when we went to "Pizza Hut".

Aug 12, 2010- We were driving by a farm where there was a big fire burning up the field and Kyle said, "Dad, is that where the indians live?"

Aug 8, 2010- We were driving in the car and Kyle said, "Dad, I think I 'm truck-sick." "You mean car sick?" "No, truck sick- when you're sick in the truck."

Aug 2, 2010- We were headed off to a doctor's appointment for the baby and he was crying. Kyle said, "Mom, I think he's crying because you said he is going to get a shot."

June 28, 2010- The other day at dinner it was Heidi's turn to pray and daddy was helping her. She was just repeating everything word for word when he got to "Please bless it.." and said it 3 times. Finally I had to open my eyes to see what the hold up was. Well, little Heidi was just stuffing spaghetti in her mouth as fast as she could and it was hanging out all over. We all just bust up laughing. I guess she just couldn't wait any longer!

May 19, 2010- On the way home from the hospital after seeing their new baby brother, Erika said, "When I was born mom and dad said that I looked blue." Kyle said, "And when I was born I was pink and red. "

Dec 9,2009- The other day we were eating dinner and Kyle didn't want to eat. He said, "I don't like to eat aliens!" We told him there were no aliens in his dinner. Then, realizing what he was talking about, I said, "You mean onions?" He kept calling onions "aliens" and we got a kick out of it.

Nov 20, 2009- Erika lost another tooth at school today. Kyle said to her, "Erika, when my tooth gets loose and comes out, I'll give mine to you."

Oct 10, 2009- Today Erika said, "Mom, someday when I'm older, I want to get that recipe from you!"

Sept 9, 2009- We couldn't find our puppy anywhere and had driven all over the neighborhood to find him. Finally about 2 hours later Kyle showed up holding him and I said, "Where did you find him?" He said, "In the killer-box". "The what?" "The cooler-box". He had stuck him in a cooler in our backyard and forgotten about it. We were glad he was okay!! I felt terrible and gave him some extra TLC for a little while.

Sept 4, 2009- Erika said tonight, "You know what my favorite thing is about school? It's lunch... and learning... and break!" We said, "Isn't that the whole thing?"

Aug 17,2009- We were camping and had brought all our bikes. As we were leaving camp for a little while, Aaron commented that it might have been wise to bring a chain to lock up our bikes so they wouldn't get stolen. Erika said, "Or, we could have just brought a sign that said, 'DON'T STEAL!'".

July 12, 2009- Today at church Kyle looked at my Young Women's Medallion and said, "Mom, is that you on the necklace?"

July 3, 2009- Kyle had been sleeping down in Erika's room with some friends and came upstairs before we went to bed. He said, "Mom, there was some noise down there. I think it was the tooth fairy, coming to get the loose tooth."