Parkinson Family: My Parents' Homecoming

Sunday, June 3, 2012

My Parents' Homecoming

On May 17th, the big day finally arrived when my parents came home from their mission in Vietnam. The kids were so excited to drive down to Sandy and see their Oma and Opa again. They have been gone for 18 months and we have really missed them. We are thankful for the blessing of Skype, though, which has really helped us keep in touch. In all honesty, the time has actually gone by really fast, just speaking for myself, although there were hard times. When I was standing there next to them, it just felt so natural, like they hadn't even left- like it was a dream or something. The kids warmed up to them so quickly as if they had been here the whole time. (Except for Jared, who was 6 mo when they left, but he is still shy around everyone and actually did pretty well with them.)

We are so proud of them for making the sacrifice to go on a mission. Not many people have the opportunity to serve at such a young age. They experienced a lot of challenges, but I know they have learned from it and I could tell that they have grown spiritually, too. We are grateful for their example to us of service to the Lord. It also nice to have them home again.

This isn't everyone who was there- my family was all in the car
when a bunch of us just jumped into the picture.

The day after their arrival, we spent the night down at their house for a few events. Friday night we went to the wedding reception of my cousin Camille Sparks. The kids had a great time with their cousins at the reception. They especially enjoyed groovin' out on the dance floor, totally uninhibited. It was nice to visit with many of my family there.

The next day, the kids got to hang out at Oma and Opa's house and have fun together. They got to play outside and go for a little horse ride. They also had a lot of fun going out to the barn to gather eggs and see the animals. Erika, Lucy, Kyle, and Logan were almost inseparable.

Erika and Lucy enjoying a nice lunch

We had a little baby shower for my sister Amanda, who will be having a baby girl in July. There were several other people there, but this is a picture of just me and my two sisters and sister-in-law. We had a good time playing games and eating, and planning for babies soon to arrive. It was a great weekend!

Candice, Jordan, Amanda, and Me

1 comment:

SarahJune 12, 2012 at 8:25 PM
Wow your parents are back already! Time really does fly. I am sure it's wonderful to spend time with them again. And what a wonderful example they have set for your children!
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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."