Author: Stephen and Jodi

What fun little girl

Lily finally made it, she wouldn’t accept that she was 8 years old until 3:24PM today.  We were talking with Bishop Hymas and he asked her if she was 8 now, an she replied nope not until 3:24 PM.  I thought to myself she is pretty set on being 100% honest, and good for her.  She is set for her baptism date of Dec 5 and she so excited, I wish I could capture her spirit and share it here.  She can be heard often playing "When Jesus Christ was Baptized" on the piano, and adding little twists to it to jazz it up a bit.  I love it you can hear her excitement as she plays and smiles.

Jodi held a great birthday party for her with a long list of her closest friends.  She even invited one boy :-).  They each made their own little dish of Lasagna, baked it and ate it.  The house was like having 10 blenders and vacuums on at once, 10 little girls and one little boy can get pretty giggly and loud.  I would call it Chaos when I was trying to lead them in a game.  They had fun and that is the important part,

This morning Lily woke up happy and excited again, she opened the gifts from her siblings and Mom and Dad, she was a real treat to watch.  She was so excited when she opened each gift, but I think the Scriptures from Mom and Dad took the cake.  To top it all off Grandma and Grandpa Parker came to church with us today to see Lex give her first talk in sacrament meeting and to help babysit as Jodi and I sang in the ward choir.  Lex did a great job, but we will have to hear more from her on that.

Lily was able to Skype Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin this evening and she gave them about a 30 minute concert on the piano of all the songs she is learning.  She received a piano book from her birthday from Grandma Baldwin (via Jodi from the BYUI bookstore ask Jodi how the CTR ring fit Lily sometime) and within minutes she had learned a new song out of it.  She really loves to play the piano and to play on it.

We are all excited for her to be baptized in couple weeks, to make her a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  She will be a great addition to the fold.

Big Surprise!

Last night Stephen offered to go out to my Uncle Morgan’s house to help him with a computer problem. As we were talking earlier in the day, I remembered my mom once mentioning that Morgan has an ear piercing gun and earrings. Since Lily is only 2 weeks away from turning 8 (and the rule at our house for girl’s getting their ears pierced is 8), Stephen and I decided to call and ask Morgan if it was a possibility to have him do this while we were out there. He said yes and we decided to wait to tell Lily until we were in the moment at his house – for a surprise.

We ate dinner before going out to Burton, and during dinner Lily began talking about how excited she was for her 8th birthday. Number one she would be getting baptized and number 2 she would finally be able to get her ears pierced. Inside I was sooo excited because I knew what was about to happen.

We went out to my Uncle’s house and talked with Linda and Mandell (my cousin) while Stephen worked on computers. Mandell was a big hit because he taught Lex and Mason how to make a ring out of a dollar bill. He also had a minpin dog (mini Doberman pincher) that was making life exciting for me and Olivia and JT. Then the time came and to break the exciting news, I said, "Lily today is your lucky day". She looked puzzled and then I said, "You get to get your ears pierced right now!" To say she was excited is an understatement.

Mandell did the honors and unfortunately we had a couple of malfunctions – the gun wouldn’t come away from her ear after shooting the earring through. So he had to pull the earring out and then reinsert it by hand (on both ears). For those of you who know Lily, you will be as impressed as we were. She did NOT even shed one tear NOR did she scream or wince. She was very brave – the EXCITEMENT won out over the technicalities! I am so grateful Lexi was there to keep her focused and excited with me. She offered to hold her hand and was almost as excited as Lily. Uncle Morgan pulled out one of his giant boxes of full size candy bars and told Lily she deserved one – her eyes were wide and full of thrills. Mandell felt bad about the malfunctions and said he was going to have to give her something special too. He pulled out a very fancy heart necklace. WOW – Lily definitely felt special. Stephen and I are still in shock that she handled it all so well. It goes to show that if Lily has her mind made up about something she is committed.

The evening was a memory we will always remember!

Comments:

michelle said…

Wow Lily-I have a jealous little girl at my house. I would not have been as tough as you. Good job, you look so cute!
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:13:05 PM

Amy said…

Cute girl. Congratulations on all the exciting things happening in your life right now. Eight is a great age to experience.
Thursday, November 05, 2009 11:09:45 AM

Patricia said…

Way cute, Lily. You’re a brave girl getiing your ears peirced. I can’t wait to see you in person. Have a “Happy Birthday” on Sunday. We’ll see you soon.
Grandma Baldwin
Saturday, November 14, 2009 11:33:10 PM

Boo Hoo – Achoo Achoo, A 2009 Halloween Tale

We had a lot of boo hooing going on around here, coupled with lots of sneezing. Unfortunately, our family was hit with the flu as I mentioned in the previous post. Lex had it the worst of all, it had her home from school the entire week! We hope that she doesn’t ever get that sick again…it wasn’t fun for any of us! Lily, Olivia, and JT also took a turn and I was found quarantining them to their bedroom to get a handle on the germs. It was quite a challenge for me to take care of that many sick kids and keep up with the rest of a busy week that didn’t want to stop.  The day of the quarantine I took the meals on trays downstairs to the girls and had them eat on the beds. By dinner time Olivia was fever free and fine to be up with the rest of us, but she informed me she would take her dinner downstairs :). I think she was enjoying the pampering – who wouldn’t?

Luckily, from Lexi’s perspective, she mustered up enough energy (thanks to Kenzie and Haley) to make an appearance at her highly anticipated first Junior High Halloween Dance. She has been helping plan it for over a month and would have been very disappointed to have missed it. There might have even been a little boo hooing about it. How fun it was for her to take her cousin Haley and booogie down!I will leave the rest of this dance commentary for her to blog about…

We were excited to have John and Michelle’s cute family at our home for a visit this weekend. Hopefully they escaped our home unscathed and germ free??? We are glad they braved it out and came for Quinn’s baptism. It was fun to be able to get the whole Parker Family together for a quick mini reunion. At his baptism the bishop talked about "cousin power" – it really made me reflect on what a blessing cousins are to my little family (Baldwin’s and Parker’s). There is definitely some "cousin power" happening.

This year for Halloween I was in a sewing mood and made skirts for the girls. Olivia was very set on being a witch, and I talked to other girls into being 50s girls…I think they(the girls) looked so cute if I do say so myself. Mason was super excited to wear his Uncle John’s Air Pilot outfit and JT made a cute frog. Stephen and I ended up going to our ward Trunk or Treat as runners, because we didn’t get a chance to shower after our Trick or Treat Half Marathon from 10:30 am. I’m sure it wasn’t a treat for any of our fellow ward members to smell our stench, but what do you do? I hope this will let you know how darn important that candy was for me to eat out of their bags (he he).

Also pictured in this blog is Stephen’s latest invention…you know his motto "GO BIG or GO HOME". He made a gigantic food dehydrator! Out of a sheet of plywood…I would love for him to blog about all of the things he has made from a sheet of plywood since we have been married! It has been A LOT trust me. Anyway, it is making us some tasty apple (fruit) leather right this instant.

By the time we came home from the trunk or treat we were pooped! We decided to turn off all of the lights and hide downstairs to watch a scary movie…Stephen and I chose Alfred Hitchcock’s, "The Birds". So, I knew it was kinda freaky, but NOT that freaky! We ended up turning it off before it was too scarring for the children…what was I thinking? Stephen and I turned on a different "fun" show to clear their minds of any worry and then put them to bed at 9 pm. We forgot about the time change until after they were in bed and counted it as a bonus to be hopping in bed at 8:30 pm on Halloween night. We finished watching "the Birds" and I’m happy to report that Stephen didn’t even try to cover his head in his sleep.

Comments:

Anne said…

Way to make lemonade out of lemons. Not to fun to be sick when so much is going on. (I am with Lily, Maybe next time I am sick I will have to be at your house and be quarantined, hee hee) The costumes were all great. Loved the cute poodle skirts you made. Way to go on your trick or treating challenge. Happy Halloween!
Monday, November 02, 2009 8:58:38 PM

Magan said…

Love the skirts for the girls, I need to put my name on the halloween costume list.. By the way I love my apron
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 4:54:42 PM

Random Acts of the Stephen Parker Family

Here is a photo update of the random things we’ve been up to these past few days…

  • Applesauce Manufacturing
  • Pack Night where Mason received so many awards I lost track of how many he actually received.
  • Mason had a quick surgery in Idaho Falls on his non descending tooth (Not pictured)
  • Feeding the Spanish Speaking Missionaries – We found out that the one from Guatemala was on the Olympic Soccer Team!
  • Annual Primary Program (Lily was disappointed and unable to go because she had the flu, Olivia was scared to give her part in front of the whole ward so Jodi got to do it, Mason felt the pressure from trying to learn his part as well as both his sisters)
  • Piano Recital at the Nursing Home (Sickly Lex asked if she could "Dress Up" as a nurse and wear a mask so that she could go and perform the songs she has been practicing for that past 2 months – Jodi said "No". We will have to have a recital later for all to hear "Bella’s Lullaby" and the "Chicken Dance")
  • Current Mild Flu Infestation (Not photographed but hit Lily, Olivia, JT, and Lex) – low grade fever and a cough remedied by ibuporfen and cough meds, but doesn’t allow them to leave the house yet. Lily’s lasted 3 days, and we suspect to be done with all of this by Tomorrow. Just in time for Halloween festivies and House Guests…don’t worry we are stocked up on Lysol here!

Lily and Sam played two duets, “Indians at the Fair” and “Ghosts”.
Lily played “What should I Be for Halloween”, and “Halloween Witches” – she did great!
Mason played his solo – “Chopsticks”.

Mason and Ashlyn played a duet, “Magical March” – they did great! BTW – this is a staged photo because I was video taping the original performance…I’m pretty sure Mason wouldn’t have been smiling in the real performance :).

FHE Laundry Basketball


Stephen grabbed the camera to document this for posterity sake

Usually on Monday Night I still haven’t gotten my laundry folded that I washed on Saturday. It just sits pooling in the laundry room crying to be folded. Earlier this year, I got a brainstorm one Monday after school –  Laundry Basketball. Of course my  kids (like all kids) need to be tricked into working so I told them to grab their laundry basket – we were going to play some basketball. I told them to be ready to catch anything that belonged to them.  I would toss up the first thing my hands laid on from the mountainous pile and they would swoosh in to collect their item. It was the start of something really good for me and them. Sometimes Stephen even plays. This past Monday, we found ourselves in the above mentioned laundry predicament so I explained that for our FHE activity we would be playing laundry basketball. There were moans and groans (they now have come to realize the trick involved), but they grabbed their baskets and we played.  By the end of the process I had 5 silly, happy, giggly children. They were all wearing a pair of underwear on their heads as they walked down the stairs to put it away.

I have now come to realize that I am a true Parker – they can make any type of work sound fun by calling it a "party". Maybe that is why my husband is a workaholic?


Most times JT causes more damage than help
Those are Olivia’s underwear – hope this doesn’t embarrass her

Pumpkin Carving 2009

Saturday night came and we participated in the annual Parker Pumpkin Carving at Rick and Stacie’s house. We had lots of fun and there were plenty of interesting pumpkins to look at when it was all over. This traditional Pumpkin Carving has evolved as we have had more kids and many were old enough to carve their own. This was Lily’s first year of carving her own from start to finish. Thanks to the Puzey’s for sharing the pumpkins from their garden. Next year we plan to plant our own patch – we are really excited about that!

Mason’s pumpkin was voted "pumpkin with the smallest smile".

Lily’s pumpkin was voted "worst breath pumpkin".

Olivia’s pumpkin was voted "smallest face pumpkin".

Alexis’ pumpkin was voted "most likely to start a fire".

JT thought Uncle Ricks tools were very interesting and had fun hanging out with birthday boy, Cooper, in a metal basket and also the in saw dust. A little boy’s dream!

One more fun fall memory to bottle up in our souls and perserve until next year.


Jana carved Jodi’s favorite (the Grinch)

October Birthdays (just missing Sami from Utah)

Comments:

michelle said…

What a fun time-I am impressed with the creativity going on
! Wish we could have joined y’all.
Monday, October 19, 2009 1:07:05 PM

Patricia said…

This sure looks like a fun activity. There are lots of interesting and creative pumpkins! The best part is the memories you are creating. They’ll be with you forever!
Friday, October 23, 2009 9:37:03 AM

My Eternal Family

Conference is now over for another 6 months and our little family is making our way home from a great weekend.

Because we were on harvest break we wanted to doing something a little extra special and a trip to Utah seemed to fit best. I personally love to visit Utah because of nostalgic reasons and also because we have so many people we love to see and visit with. Stephen likes that part but isn’t a fan of traffic and city life so much, so he was very happy that his brother John threw their bikes (along with Mason’s) in the back of his truck for a ride at Yellow Fork Canyon. He said it was a blast, a great workout going up with a sweet payback coming down. He said he had to work hard to keep up with Mason. John said Mason is as skilled as any adult he has ridden with – that made Mason feel cool.

Michelle P took the rest of us on a fun afternoon to Gardenier’s Village to see the witches. It really got us in a festive mood and gave us fun ideas for home decorations. I love the witch riding the bike over the pond – all of the witches were just so clever! It was UEA in Utah this weekend, which brought out the masses, especially at the Village. We had to park far away, but it really was worth it all (crowd and walk). After visiting the witches we went to Jumping Jacks – a fun bouncy toy place. All of the children loved it from Lexi to JT.

That evening we were able to fit our traditional Friday date in – this week to Cafe Rio! Yummy! Then John and Stephen encouraged Michelle and I to go do a little shopping – imagine that… 🙂 I had fun finding some fun items and Michelle resisted her temptations well.

Saturday we stopped by IKEA (love that store) on our way to visit the Baldwin children and Grandpa and Grandma Baldwin. We couldn’t believe how tall Jed has become, how much facial hair Dallen had grown, how much money Bridget made babysitting, and how fun Abby’s toy room was! It was a VERY QUICK stop, considering we listened to conference and then said good-bye, but great to see everyone. I wish I would have taken our camera in! Lex got to stay a little longer to go shopping with Grandma and Bridget! They met Haley, JT, and I at Jordan Landing where JT had his first shoplifting experience. He threw a bottle of shoe polish in Haley’s bag – we realized the problem when we weren’t too far away. Lex and Haley ran in back in to the store for him.

Stephen went to the Priesthood session with John and then we had a delicious ice cream party!

Today we made our way over to the Babcock home where we were greeted with happy smiles and cute little conference care bags from aunt Michelle B. Kind of funny that on the way to their house Olivia wondered if Aunt Michelle had crayons…well Aunt Michelle got had her covered in that department. Crayons, Conference Packet, and Treats! Livia settled right on Ashely’s lap and we enjoyed conference and the wonderful food for lunch. Ashley made Lily a couple of CDs making her feel special and Jake and Mason had fun teasing Emily and Lex. My sister really makes me giggle – notice the picture of her awesome shoes, usually worn by Jake. She is also just so fun to be around – it would really be great to live close enough to her to go to lunch once in a while. Stephen and Brian loaded up the bunk beds we are toting home for JT and Mason’s room. It has been an adventure in the rain – thank heaven’s for tarp and new trailer lights!

As we listened to conference (particularly Elder Bednar, President Erying, and President Monson) and drove out of the city my heart swelled in gratitude for such a wonderful family – Baldwins and Parkers wherever they may be and who you are, young and old alike, blood relative, and in-law too! Lexi has been crying in the back seat because we have to go home now, and I have come to realize how much of a blessing our good family is to each of us. We have been abundantly blessed with amazing examples of faith, love, and goodness. We are normal families – everything doesn’t always go perfect and minor character flaws are here to keep us learning, trying to be patient, and refining ourselves, but when I stop to look at the grand eternal perspective of things I feel content and satisfied with the prospect of my Eternal Family. In fact, my testimony has been strengthened with the wisdom and understanding of this truth this weekend. We have been learning about Eternal Families in primary this year too- a comforting message.

Comments:

Anne said…

How fun! Wish we could have been in 10 places at once this weekend. Cute photos and fun memories. Hope you get home safe and enjoy the rest of your potato harvest break.
Sunday, October 04, 2009 9:25:23 PM

michelle said…

Thanks for the fun times. I love the photo’s. It was fun spending some time with you.
Monday, October 05, 2009 8:32:56 AM

Trevin and Stephanie said…

That looks like a blast! I love Gardener’s Village in the fall. The leaves down there are spectacular and the company looks great too. Family is a great thing.
Monday, October 05, 2009 6:14:14 PM

Michelle said…

We loved having you stop by – even if it was only for a short time. You need to stay longer next time. We loved seeing your cute family. Loved seeing all the great pictures! Your family always knows how to make the most of their time and in doing fun things together. The memories – priceless! I love you!
Friday, October 16, 2009 10:24:19 PM

First day of Preschool & Immunizations

Olivia enjoyed her first day of preschool last Friday! She was so ready and so cute. She will be attending the BYUI child lab this semester. Stephen and I had to go to a parent orientation meeting a couple of weeks ago and they reminded us to bring immunization records. I fished hers out and realized that she was not up to date on 2-3 shots. I quickly made an appointment to get her up to date on those shots the day before Preschool (Thursday)- well, what I didn’t know was that they would take care of the whole kindergaren shot shabang too! She ended up receiving 8 shots – 4 in each leg and one was the flu shot! It was hard to hold her down (physically and emotionallyl), but my heart was healed when the nurse gave her 8 suckers (one for each shot) and she instantly stopped crying. A sucker will go a  long way with a 4 year old people! Now she is good to go immunization-wise for many years! And the kindergarten turned Preschool shots are now history, never to visit Olivia again.

I felt so guilty that I took her over to the dollar store for some princess lipgloss and stamps, followed by a trip through the McDonalds drive thru for a happy meal. I think she thought she hit the lottery, I almost NEVER go to McDonalds – she even reminded me that I hate it.

 It was worth it to make a sweet little girl feel like a princess after being poked relentlessly as her mom helped pinn her down – I hope I was able to condition her memory to hold onto the good things.

Comments:

michelle said…

Ouch-poor little girl. I guess its good to have it all over with. She looks so cute and ready for school.
Monday, September 28, 2009 8:22:56 AM

Anne said…

Will went to that preschool to and loved it! Hope you have lots of fun Olivia! Owie! Still don’t like the shots either. Hope you got some real cool bandaids!
Monday, September 28, 2009 11:09:54 AM

Riley said…

You’re such a big girl Olivia!!!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 6:31:12 PM

Trevin and Stephanie said…

Way to be tough! Your mom is so nice to make sure you are safe from sicknesses and even nicer to take you to McDonald’s. Good luck with school.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 5:04:11 PM