Parkinson Family: February 2014

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Snowman fun!

On January 11th, my brother Jeremy came up to visit with his new wife Alisa and they hung out for a few hours. It was fun to hear their stories about their honeymoon cruise (jealous!!!). They had fun playing outside with us and building a snowman family.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Christmas 2013

Heidi, tickled to sit on Santa's lap and talk to him. :)

This past Christmas seemed like it arrived much too quickly, although I had been preparing for it months before. Christmas is such a big holiday for us, and it is so much fun! Just before Thanksgiving Erika had her Tavaci Christmas concert and at the end a special guest arrived to see the kids. Of course, our kids wanted to wait in the long line to see Santa!

Jared said he wanted to see Santa, but once he got there, he wasn't so sure... Sorry, Santa!

Notice that Erika didn't take a turn. She hasn't wanted to for the last couple years.
Hmmm... She hasn't said why, but I have my guesses...

Just 2 days after Jeremy's wedding, on December 23rd, we went back down to Salt Lake for my parents' Christmas party with my siblings. We would've just stayed down there all weekend, but I am the ward Choir director and had to be to our ward on Sunday to lead the choir.

We had a fun Christmas party with almost all of my siblings there! It's a pretty amazing thing when we can all be together and it doesn't happen very often. My sister was here from California for the wedding so we got to see her for Christmas, too! The next morning after my parents' party was Dec 24th. We stayed there till the afternoon. The kids went on a horseback ride to the gully being pulled behind the horses in sleds. And, we just hung out the rest of the morning. Then, we headed back home. We didn't get home until about 5 pm and Aaron's parents arrived just before 7, so we had to hurry and unload and prepare dinner. We had our traditional Fettucine Alfredo for dinner with everyone. Aaron's brother Ryan and his brother Thayne was also there with his two girls. It was great to have everyone there! That night, we read some scriptures about Christ in the Book of Mormon, sang some hymns and shared our feelings about Christ with each other.

Jared absolutely LOVED the knight costume
he got from Oma and Opa and refused to take
it off until bedtime. Even when he went to sleep,
he kept his sword by him!

Kyle showing off his Skylanders. Just a note-
He chose not to change his mis-matched
PJ's even after mom's warning that someday
he'd be embarrassed by the pictures.. :)

Heidi got her first Lego set- Lego Friends Stables

Erika got the American Girl doll she's always wanted

Christmas morning the kids were so excited to open their presents. It was busy and messy, but fun too. After the kids opened their presents, we just hung out and they played. The kids went out and played in the snow a little, too. David and Tara arrived just after noon and we had our traditional Christmas dinner with turkey and the works. Then, that night we had the kids dress up and act out the Nativity Story. They were so cute!

Our Nativity reenactment- Kyle was Joseph, Kaidynce- Mary, Konae- shepherd, Jared- a Roman Centurion (with his knight costume), Erika- an angel, and Heidi- a "wise man" (with the graduation hat on).

The kids had a lot of fun playing their new "just dance" wii game

On the 26th, the kids had fun making big gingerbread men and a gingerbread house.

Jordan getting some luvs from grandma!

Heid and Aaron showing off the Lego stables they put together.
(while mommy got an AMAZING nap!)

"Yes, we made this gingerbread house- with a little bit of help from mom..."

Jeremy's Wedding

Erika and Lucy at the wedding luncheon

My brother Jeremy had his big day on December 21st, 2013. It was a very exciting day for all of us!! He has made the most of his single years and finally found someone special to settle down with. His new wife, Alisa, is wonderful! We are so happy that he found her, and that she is so good for him!

Their wedding day was pretty cold and snowy. They were married in the Draper temple at 9 am that morning. We brought all of our kids and they stayed in the waiting room with a few family members who watched them. The ceremony was really nice! I love the spirit that is in the temple, especially in the sealing room. There is just something really special you can feel there that can not be duplicated anywhere else. I also love all of the things I am taught by the spirit during a temple sealing. I am so grateful for the knowledge we have that families can be eternal! I am also always grateful for the memories that come back to me of our wedding day and the covenants we made with each other.

After the ceremony, we all stood out in front of the temple while the snow flurried around us and got a quick picture. A couple hours later, we attended the wedding luncheon at the country club at Thanksgiving Point. It was such a lovely setting with delicious food! Here we got to listen to the bride and groom and their parents each give a little speech.

Later that evening was the reception at Millenial Falls in Draper. We had a fun time visiting with everyone and celebrating this special event in Jeremy and Alisa's lives. I am so happy for Jeremy and wish him a future filled with love and happiness!

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."