Category: Stephen

Unloading and getting ready to have a good timeI had the crazy idea this year of having Michelle do the swim part for me in the Rush Tri, I later found out that I couldn’t do that unless we changed to the relay team. So the night before the race we all (John, Michelle, Jodi and myself) went to the high school and paid the extra dues to switch over to the relay race. Michelle would be our swimmer, I would be the biker, Jodi would be the runner since she runs 4 miles everyday anyhow, and John would be the driver/baby sitter/team support/photographer.

Turns out that was money well spent because today Michelle swam an incredible swim time of just over 17 minutes for the 1/2 mile swim. She was one of the first ten out of the water. I misinformed her and didn’t give her the timing chip so the judges had to add an extra 5 minutes to her swim time. Then it was my turn to ride just over 13 miles, I took off riding full speed it seemed. I should have paced myself a little better because it sure made the 5 miles of hills more difficult to climb. Once I got to the top it was sure a relief, and went much better. I came into the transition area so fast that I almost fell down getting off of my bike. Jodi was there waiting to do the last leg, the 3.1 mile run. She did amazing because it also has a very steep hill for about 1 mile of it, she averaged just over a 9 minute mile. I met up with her for the last mile and ran to the gates with her, but she said she would rather finish it alone, so off she went.

When all was said and done we place first out of all the relay teams, so they awarded us with another medal and a sweet trophy. It was sure a fun experience to be part of a team effort. Next year I want to have Dad do the swim, I will bike and Mom can run 🙂 sounds like a winning team to me. Michelle should do the entire race herself since she is such a fast swimmer.

On your marks….get set…	Go!	Dave getting ready
Ryon getting used to the water	Ryon taking a breath
	Michelle flying across the water
		Me finishing the ride
		Go Jo!
		Jodi being honored by the mayor of Rexburg
Just saw that we had won!		Awards cermony
	Team “Parker”

Comments:

Mom and Dad Parker said…

Wow, what a great job! We would be impressed to just finish. If Mom and I were there, you woul
d have to give us a special timing chip that we ate or something to speed us up. We will be happy to support from the sidelines. We are glad you can do hard things.
Sunday, August 17, 2008 12:29:07 AM

John said…

That was a fun day. You guys were all a blast to watch. I especially liked Stephen riding full tilt on his bike right through the “walk you bike” area. It was a fun and exciting day. I was really impressed with everyone and their great winning attitudes. Well done Parker and Brewer teams.

Sunday, August 17, 2008 9:01:19 PM

magan said…

Good job guys!
Sunday, August 17, 2008 9:13:41 PM

Anne said…

Way to go! Great job guys, wish I could have been in on it! Maybe another year. I am proud of you…looks like nice weather too. Way to go!
Sunday, August 17, 2008 9:21:59 PM

Jana said…

You guys rocked the race!! way to go all of you…I was just glad to cross the finish line alive!! Way to go team!
Monday, August 18, 2008 9:46:20 AM

Here are some pics you can dl and use on your blogs if you would like, only logged in users can see them….

August 14th is a special day! It is the day when Stephen was born and he makes the world a very good place.

The morning began with Mason and I getting the gifts ready. He was cute and told me that we needed to find a blue bow for the present “because that is dad’s favorite color.” We ended up deciding on gold “because dad is the world’s greatest dad!” By this time all of the girls had woken up and the card making began. After this we bounded into dad’s bedroom and sang Happy Happy Birthday to wake him up. Stephen woke up and came out to the family room to open his gifts.

We ate breakfast and then he went to work. At lunch his office was having a BBQ and Stephen invited me to come. It was good to be with him. We had to go to soccer games from 5 – 8 pm after work. Stephen took photos of all of the kids with their soccer teams (see individual blogs for photos). We came home and ate fajitas and then celebrated with strawberry and banana cream pies! Stephen really wanted cotton candy, but decided it wasn’t worth the $20 to rent the machine for just our family! It was a sacrifice for him – I hope the pies were nice enough for second place.

WE LOVE STEPHEN!

Here is a little invite to the Luchador Shin Dig in honor of Harry’s and Stephen’s birthday! (just in case yours doesn’t make it in the mail)

Comments:

Jaun said…

Save me a piece of that corn!!! We will be there masks and tights ready. Happy Birthday!

Monday, August 11, 2008 9:34:07 PM

Jana said…

I love the invites!! Harry is so excited! Glad you two were both born.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 11:52:23 AM

Steph said…

Trevin’s family has a reunion this weekend so we won’t be there. I am more than sad about it. I will teach you how to make homemade beans another time. Happy Birthday.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 1:22:12 PM

Anne said…

We wish we could be there! Sounds like a fun time…everything you guys do sounds like lots of fun! Happy Birthday to you both!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 2:46:01 PM

Grandma and Grandpa Parker said…

Happy birthday Harry and Stephen. You are two happy guys. Stephen is a good boy and Harry is being a good boy. Have a fun party.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:18:15 AM

While I was gone hiking Moran last week we received a letter from the county informing us that we were “Breaking the Law”. That is pretty good when we didn’t even know we were, I called them to see what was going on and they informed me that we could no longer rent out our apartment. Code says one house per every 2 acres and we have 3.79 acres so we are just a tad short. Rather than kick against the pricks we informed our renters that they would need to move out.

I then called the county back to tell them we had vacated the apartment, the next morning I received another call from the county informing us that we were “Breaking the Law”. Turns out they had no record of our final inspection on our home. So I called them and scheduled an inspection today. When the inspector came he was almost laughing, I could quickly see he felt my pain. He also thought we had already had our final inspection, but none the less inspected our home again, we chatted for a few minutes about life in general. He is a good guy with some not so common sense. He passed us off and went on his way. So we are now no longer “Breaking the Law”…that we know of 🙂 btw check out that cold sore to add to the fun.

Comments:

Mom and Dad Parker said…

We are glad you are not living outside the law any more. That really is a fine cold sore. Uncle Dale Parker always said he put chicken pucky on his. It didn’t do anything in the way of medication, but it kept him from licking it. Love you.
Thursday, August 07, 2008 3:24:53 PM

Anne said…

Sounds like a big headache…glad you got it all worked out. As for the cold sores, unfortunately, I totally relate. Dealt with them off and on my whole life, hope it isn’t bugging you to bad. It will be better in a few days though.
Friday, August 08, 2008 11:52:24 AM

Jodi said…

You are funny partner in crime! (Nice song)
Monday, August 11, 2008 4:54:08 PM

What a hike, climb, scramble. More details when I get my energy back, but it was a heck of a climb. My camera battery died so I had to use my cell phone. We left Rexburg at 10:00 PM and returned home at 12:20 AM the next day. We are a little tired.

Comments:

Dad said…

Good work on the camera. I almost felt I was there with you guys. What a beautiful mountain and fun climb. Almost you have convinced me. It is sure different than what I thought it would be. I’ll be looking for the details. Thanks for the vicarious experience. You guys can certainly do hard things.
Saturday, August 02, 2008 12:29:39 PM

Anne said…

I can’t wait to hear more! It looks beautiful and rugged. So glad you did it, I know you were wanting to for awhile. Maybe sometime, you can take Lance and I, maybe once you forgot about all the tiredness in a few years.
Saturday, August 02, 2008 7:51:03 PM

Jana said…

You crazy boys..I still can’t believe you left to go on a hike at 11pm crazy heads!! It looks amazing though and I am glad that you all made it home safe and sound!
Sunday, August 03, 2008 2:03:37 PM

John said…

Nice Work Boys. I am pretty jealous. We need to go climb it with Dad next summer. It looks like a pretty good memory. Way to go!
Sunday, August 03, 2008 9:56:29 PM

Stacie said…

I am just happy you are all alive! I can’t believe you did it during those hours! It is always great to be on a mountain summit! Way to go! I can’t believe the snow!
Monday, August 04, 2008 11:00:32 AM

This last weekend at the Reunion I think I caused some mixed feelings. I was just trying to add a little more excitement and fun to the event. Just so everyone knows it was all in fun. I wasn’t trying to hurt myself or make anyone nervous…sometimes you just can’t please them all. 🙂

Comments:

Jodi said…

Your idea of fun is a little different than mine! 🙂
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 9:00:27 AM

Anne said…

Maybe it was good we weren’t there to get nervous! Anyways, glad you had fun.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 11:58:24 AM

Aunt Susan said…

I’m glad that you didn’t get hurt and I’m sorry that we didn’t have a more action-packed time planned so that you didn’t have to find your own excitement. All in all, I think the kids think you rock.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 4:45:58 PM

Tio Pablo said…

mi hermano esta loco.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 6:18:18 PM

Dad said…

I thought it looked exciting.
We really enjoyed the pictures.
It only looked unto breaking of bones and not death, so it was within the realm of excitement.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 2:55:01 AM

Paul instant messaged me earlier today wanting to know if I wanted to have a Rock Band Fiesta. I am always up for a little fun so we set it up for 6:30. He brought Matt, Riley and Hannah. It was a blast! We partied a good 3 1/2 hours. Thanks Paul. I have to admit it is hard to keep up with Paul and his crazy fun lifestyle but it sure is fun. Who needs sleep anyway?

	Jodi is a natural
		Hannah and Olivia had their own party
	Mason was too busy making lego rubber band guns to play

Comments:

Mom and Dad P said…

Looks like a lot of good wholesome fun. You guys can play at our next victory dance as the Parker family rock band. We could have a great dance.
Thursday, July 24, 2008 2:01:29 AM

Jana said…

Rock on you guys look like the real deal!!
Thursday, July 24, 2008 9:29:46 AM

Paul said…

I’m gonna rockin roll all night and party every day! Just keeping us up to date with todays technology. I want to see Stacie play that guitar with her big belly. Rockin roll!!!!
Thursday, July 24, 2008 9:49:07 AM

John said…

Put another dime in the jukebox baby…! You guys rock hard! See you in the mini dome.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:01:49 PM

I have been whistling this song all day so I figured you all may as well hear it. Very soothing music and video. I remember when I was a kid dad used to watch this on an old VCR with bad tracking…seeing and hearing it again takes me right back, good times.

You can listen or save the song below.

Comments:

DAD said…

Just like I remember. Beautiful song by Andrew Lloyd Weber. Thanks.
Thursday, July 17, 2008 12:12:48 AM

John said…

Marva would be proud. (South America inside joke) Thanks for the tribute.
Thursday, July 17, 2008 3:11:37 PM

Anne said…

What a nice song! I love that picture…maybe that is where Lance’s off road passion stems from, his dad.
Friday, July 18, 2008 7:53:42 AM

Aunt Susan said…

I love that song! I have never seen the movie of it, but i have sung the entire Weber requiem. It is so passionate and beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Love,
Friday, July 18, 2008 8:25:21 PM

Jana said…

I remember that old VCR tape… this song and video is beautiful. Thanks for reminding me of another great dad moment!!
Saturday, July 19, 2008 9:53:45 AM

pancakes for allDay three was the Marathon on the beach. We had a great skype call with Mom and Dad in the morning then headed for the beach all day long. It was great fun, I promised Olivia that I would make her a sand castle that was taller than her. We both had a good time building it. Mason and I did most of the work. Once we got going it became a father and sons sand castle party. Good times. Just before leaving the beach for the night Mason and I made a jump in the sand and jumped his DI special bike into the lake. Water wasn’t quite deep enough to get the full effect but it was still fun.

Later that night Mason and I built a bow and arrow and had some fun with it. It was a hit and before your knew it all the little boys looked like Indians with their bows and arrows. Trevin raised the bar by making a Bat out of a piece of firewood and of course everyone wanted one once they saw it. What a fun time we all had. Paul was a hit with all the little chica’s he has he own little swarm that follows him around. Fun stuff for all of us.

Dad leading us in little old house in the middle of the woods		lets make a whistle
cowboys and indians, look out Harry is down
		Monkey see Monkey do
Lily loved to jump the waves	John and Paul sailing…kinda	Olivia was our compactor
Olivia loves Tio Pablo
Making homemade ice cream…great idea Jana and Paul
Pablo con el chica’s	Home sweet home	what a party

Comments:

Mom and Dad Parker said…

Boy, you guys crammed a lot of fun in a few days. I’ll bet you’re tired and full of satisfaction. What a bunch of great Mons and dads. We’ll try to keep in shape for next year. Thanks for the fine blogs to share the experience. It takes a lot of energy to raise a happy family. It’s not for the faint-hearted.
Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:24:52 AM

Stacie said…

I hear ya! I need a vacation from the vacation! It is worth all of the energy it takes though! My kids favorite bedtime stories are fun times from my childhood! Thanks for the memories! The pics are great Stephen!
Sunday, July 13, 2008 10:56:42 PM