Parker & his Baseball

Parker is finally on a baseball team. It's actually t-ball, but he doesn't care. He is on a real team with a real coach that thinks he is a rock star on the field. It's been so much fun to see him play. He is constantly smiling, and you can tell that he is having a blast out there. I don't know where he got the love for the game. Definately not from his parents. Some might see and say, "Ah, cute. He loves baseball." But he doesn't just love baseball, he LOVES baseball. He could play it 24/7. He would sleep with his glove & bat if we let him (he's actually done that before).

So ever since we went to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park when he was two, we've been fans. He has posters up in his room of Fenway, the Red Sox winning the World Series & even one of Babe Ruth in his Red Sox uniform. Parker was so sure that he would be on the Red Sox t-ball team. However, I'm sure you can guess what happened. He ended up on the Yankees. At first he said, "AWE MAN! THE YANKEES?!" But his tone has changed. His uncle and cousins love the Yankees and Parker has actually wanted a excuse to cheer for the Yankees. So now he love both teams. Both Yankees & Red Sox fans may say, "If you love one, you CAN'T love the other." People have even explained to Parker that the Red Sox & Yankees are rivals, but he doesn't care about that. He says, "I don't care if they are enemies, I love the Red Sox and the Yankees." So that's that. No changing his mind.


Parker is a natural at the game. Well, way more natural at it than Chris or me. The first time he was catcher, get got out to his position in the get-up and squatted right down with his hand behind his back and everything. When he was short stop he even sacrificed his body a couple times to catch the ball and throw it to first. I know I'm braggin a lot, but I just can't believe he's my kid. Don't get me wrong, he's still clumsy like me, but he recovers so fast and is still able to block a goal in soccer or throw the ball to first from his knees. It's crazy to watch. Anyway, enough of that.

Writers Block

I've have writers block for the past 32 years of my life. I love reading and wish I loved to write. I know what good writing looks like. So I know that my writing is not "good writing". Number 1, I have horrible spelling (keep reading and you'll see). B. I have good ideas, but struggle getting them down right. Well, whatever, I am going to rebel and write anyway. (I know that's not true rebellion, but I'm not a real rebel.)

It's Here!

The Holidays have finally arrived. I am sitting at my in-laws home in Vegas, taking in the feelings and sounds of the season. Family has gathered to give thanks together. The adults are chatting and laughing around the table. Cousins are running around in all directions so excited to be together, with one sitting at the piano playing Christmas songs. It is wonderful chaos. I am so blessed. I love this time of year.

Since I last posted

Since I last posted, nothing much has changed in our lives...well not Chris or mine. However, Parker has gone through preschool and loved it; started kindergarten and loves it; and started playing soccer and LOVES it!

He and I really enjoy being at the same school together. I love being able to peek my head in when the door of the classroom is open and give him a wink. Plus, I love seeing him and getting a hug right after school lets out.

Parker has been waiting over the past 5 years of his life to play in an organized sport. He has watched his older cousins compete, and longed for the day that people would cheer him on. The time finally came this soccer season. He loves having a uniform to put on every Saturday. He puts it on as soon as he wakes up...complete with shin guards and cleats. I enjoy watching him run around, going after the ball, and even scoring every once in a while.

So, your probably thinking, "OK! Let's see the pictures of his first day of school and first game!" Well, I don't have any. I have two pictures of his first day trapped on the internal memory of my camera (which I don't know where the cord is), and I forgot my camera for the first game. Thank goodness Uncle Troy and Pappy remembered theirs. Now I just need to get the pictures from them.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

So, I know I haven't blogged forever. It's not that I haven't had anything to blog about, I just haven't done it. Every time I sit down and think about blogging I never know where to start. It's like when I open my journal to write and it's been months (or years) I feel obligated to "catch everyone up". It's a daunting task (at least for me) to write about everything that has gone on the past several months. So many ups, a couple downs, however, I decided I'm not gonna do that. I'm just going to keep it short and sweet. (I'll paste pics up in Facebook someday of major events)

Today when we were driving home from church Parker was holding an old tennis racket of mine that I got from my dad's house. We were talking about how tomorrow we would go to the store to buy some tennis balls and find a tennis court and play together. The following conversation then took place:

Parker: I have an idea. Let's go today.
Chris: Well, remember it's Sunday and we don't go buy things at the store on Sunday.
Parker: Why?
Chris: Because Heavenly Father asked us not to.
Parker: Well, why don't you ask Him?

Fruitcake Anyone?

So I got an email today that originated from my Uncle Jim. He was sending a picture out to the family of my Grandpa baking his last batch of fruitcakes. I guess he bakes a bunch every Christmas time to give to family and friends. I love that my Grandpa does this. He is 90-some years old (I can never remember his exact age), is practically blind and his body is worn down from many decades of hard work, but still bakes fruitcake! He also keeps his household running as well as finds time to get to the temple several times a week. I love his magnifing glasses. It reminds me of the scene from Toy Story 2 where the old man fixes Woody up. My G'pa (as he signs his emails and letters) is a good man, and I am grateful to be apart of his family.

I am blessed.

I am very grateful for this time of year. I love that Thanksgiving and Christmas are so close together. I am often reminded during this time how blessed I am. Even with all the craziness and drama that comes along with family, I realize that I am so blessed to have so many people who love me no matter my flaws and idiosyncrasies. I am grateful to have a ball of energy that calls me mom and runs to give me a hug every time I pick him up from Jenny's house. I love my wonderful husband, who puts up with me. His siblings might say that I put up with a lot being married to him, but he really does have to put up with a lot being married to me too. (I can hide my craziness from pretty much everyone but him.) Thank you to all you family who might read this. I love and appreciate you.


ps Don't you love the hair and glasses?

I Dedicate This Song...

I dedticate this song to my loving husband, who put our beautiful son to bed tonight, and to...

Favorite Shel Silverstein

class blog and bad spelling

I don't know why, but I decided to do a blog for my class this year. Mostly stuff for parents, but we took a field trip up to the mountains and got some pretty pictures of the changing colors. I figured out how to make a movie/slide show on a pc which is nice, but I can't for the life of me remember how to get music on my class blog...it's driving me crazy!!!! Help me Johanna!!!!!

ashclass.blogspot.com

(ASH stands for the three teachers that teach our class...it's explained on the blog)

I also want to thank all of you who endure my bad grammar, spelling, mechanics, and so on, in my blog. I really do read over my writing before I post it, but things slip through. My grandmas would be ashamed. But I figure, if your reading this you love me and take me how I am...misspellings and all.

A Happy Little Bubble @ Comanche E.S.

The other day I was outside on the field during recess watching the student's at my school play. As I was watching, I noticed that there were about 10 games of catch going on, one kickball game, several games of tag, and a couple groups just sitting/standing around talking. This was all going on within half the size of a soccer field and all the games interweaving into each other. Kids were playing catch through the middle of the kickball game, and the kids playing tag were running through the kids sitting and visiting. The miraculous thing was no one was getting mad at each other. Everyone was having fun and tolerating everything else that was going on around them. If a football was accidentally thrown into the middle of a group of girls talking, the girls would just pick it up and nicely throw it back to whoever threw it. I was in amazed! I was ready to break up any fights of kids who would get mad for someone running through the kickball game, but I didn't need to interfere once. Now this doesn't happen all the time where I teach, but it does happen often. It made me sad to think that this is rare on a school playground (at least at the majority of the schools in Albuquerque). I wanted to freeze that moment so that everyone, young and old, could see this little piece of heaven. People can get along. We can all be doing different things and not get bent out of shape if someone else's actions briefly interrupt what is going on in our own lives. It was inspiring.

I'm Perfect, I Don't Have Quirks!

OK, so my sis, Becky, tagged me. Now I'm supposed to tell you 5 quirks about myself. (I actually like these things) Here I go:
1. The cloths in my closet need to be organized! I'm not that quick about doing laundry or folding it, but once it's in my closet, it drives me crazy if it is not organized (jeans, then khakis, skirts (short then long), short sleeve shirts (by color), polos (by color), short sleeve button ups (by color), long sleeve button ups (by color), sweatshirts and jackets, then misc)...who would have thought I was so neurotic about a closet?!
2. So my sis is obsessed with tweezed eye brows, and I'm obsessed with clean ears. People, have you ever heard of Q-Tips?

3. I still make weird "clearing my throat" noises when I brush my teeth that my siblings made fun of me for when I was younger.

4. I set my alarm 30 minutes before I need to get up because I know I will hit my snooze button at least 3 times before I really wake up.

5. Unlike my sisters, I don't like going to sleep without touching my husband. I'm not talking about in a kinky way...just, feet touching, spooning, hand on arm/hand, etc...I love having someone (mostly my husband) in the same bed as me.

Just for fun...
6&7 ...this is worth two quirks!...I like Miley Cyrus' music.

So now, Heidi, Johanna, and Tammy, "TAG! YOU'RE IT!"
If want to do it just follow these rules:
1. Tell about 5 quirks you have.
2. Tag 3 fellow bloggers and leave a comment to let them know

Parkerisms

Last week Parker asked, "Mommy, can I have some spitting nuts?" I was so confused. I said, "What?" He said, "Some spitting nuts. Can I have some?" I was looking around trying to figure out what he was wanting. Then it clicked! A friend had some sunflower seeds...I bursted out laughing...kids are so logical when they come up with names!

Also last week, Parker was playing with one of our cats, Chester (an old grumpy male) under the table. I was in the back of the house and suddenly I heard, "OW! I'M GOING TO TELL MOMMY!", and then his little feet running to tell me that he got scratched from the cat and he added, "Go tell Chester 'No! No!'." Oh, the woes of being an only child. You have no one to tattle on, but the cat.

I Love the Summer Olympics!!!

So I'm sitting here watching some swimming events and I find myself holding my breath and taking quick breaths as if I was racing right along with the Olympians (of course, I would be half way across the first length when they would be finishing their 4th) Anyway, the swimming is my favorite, then the gymnastics and water polo are tied for silver.

I swam all growing up. I was never really good, but I loved it. I loved the rush you felt gliding through the water. I miss that feeling. Also when I was 10 and 11 I played water polo. Watching one of the Olympic matches brought back a flood of memories. I remember my first game. I got ejected because I did something wrong, but I remember breaking down because I had no idea what I did...I guess I wasn't paying attention while the coach was going over the rules. I also remember trying to play when I was 12 (which placed me in the older team), but everyone was starting to hit puberty and I hadn't yet (I've been the same height since 6th grade). So that pretty much ended my career playing water polo, but I loved coaching it the summer after my freshman year in college. If you haven't seen any of the H2O Polo games yet, try and catch one.

Check it out!!!

I saw this on someone else's blog and I had to try it. It's a website (http://wordle.net) that looks over all the words in your blog and displays them in different sizes, according to which ones are used the most. So I wonder who I report about the most in my blog?

Sounds like fun!

As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you (if you already haven't). It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Viva La Vida!!!!!

Well, I'm finally getting to reporting about our trip to Las Vegas. It was a great trip away from Albuquerque. I love road trips. I have grown to love the landscape of New Mexico. I know a lot of people might think I'm crazy, but I do. No, there is not a lot of green, and there is a lot of dirt, but there are so many colors in that dirt! There's old lava flows, layers of color, erosion that makes interesting shapes...OK, I'll stop. I know - I'm a science nerd.

Back to Vegas. We had a fun time being together. It was hotter than Hades, but LV has the best air conditioning in the world. We stayed on "The Strip" thanks to a timeshare seminar which was an experience all it's own. As much as they try to market Vegas as family friendly, it is not. We went to the Coke Factory which was fun, ate at the Rainforest Cafe in the MGM (Parker loved that, but not the "rain storms"), and took Parker to the Excalibur where he won a sword.
Sharing a milkshake @ Roxy's (The waitstaff sang and were good!)


Hangin' with the Coke Bear.


Parker and his dad...ha ha! Just kidding Chris. Love ya!

So those things were neat, but not worth putting up with all the filth that is around. Thank goodness Parker didn't really notice any of that till the last night when he looked up and saw a billboard for a Vegas Showgirl show and said, "That gill (girl) is showing her bumb." So that was that, and he will not be going to "The Strip" ever again!!

While we were there, we got to see my bro & sis-in-laws' new home, and it is beautiful. We also were able to visit with the family for a little while, which was fun, but I wish we would have spent more time with them...next time!!!

Now for the highlight of the trip. The homemade potato chips at Roxy's...just kidding. They were good, but not the highlight. THE COLDPLAY CONCERT!!!!!

First of all, I have a bunch of shout outs for the people I thought about during the show:

Corey & Michelle: Chris and I are really sorry we didn't call you to come with us. We missed having you there!

Michelle & Becky & Brad: We missed seeing the concert with you too!!!

The Premies: (my little brother's band before he and the rest of the band went on their missions) I don't remember the name of the guy that was the opening act, but he did his whole gig on 2 digital keyboards with Macs on either side of him. While he played his music (trance) he projected this psychedelic animation behind him. I thought you guys really would have liked that.

The Giranimals: (Connie & Maury's band) You guys should have been the 2nd opening act. Not whoever was the 2nd opening act.

Connie H.: (favorite thing in the world besides Bret Farve & Tim McGraw is confetti.) During the song, "Lovers in Japan", there was confetti that dropped from the ceiling. Not just a little, but a ton! And it wasn't ordinary confetti. It was shaped like butterflies the size of your palm. It was beautiful. The first time they dropped it (Well they didn't just drop it. It was shot out of canons or something.) they shown white lights on them. Then the second time they used black lights, so the butterflies looked like they were glowing. Connie you would have LOVED IT!!!!!

(Please no one be offended if I didn't think of you during the concert...I still love you!!!!!)

The concert was great. Those guys are talented! I wont blog about every single song they did, but I will say that every song they did play was entertaining and fantastic. I am so glad I finally got to see them in concert.

So, all our little summer adventures are now over (except for the ward camp out...yeah!), and I'm starting to feel the pressure of school starting. I can't believe I only have 8 more days of summer. The good thing about that is between now and the first day I report back Breaking Dawn comes out, so I'll be busy this weekend!

Hello All!

I know I haven't updated my blog in almost two months. I'm sorry. I've gotten (is that a word?) caught up in the "Facebook" world. I have been re-acquainted with so many old friends..it's great. So every time I get online, there's another email from someone through Facebook, and I end up spending my computer time there instead of blogging.

So here's what we've been up to since I last blogged.
I've visited my sister, Patty, in Baltimore. I miss her, Malan and Nate. It was so good to see them and hang out for awhile. We also got the chance to visit Washington D.C.. It was great, but we forgot the stroller in Nate's car and ended up dragging Parker around everywhere. He was exhausted from walking everywhere, and almost tumbled off of Chris' shoulders from falling asleep up there, but I think he enjoyed it more in the end! Parker and Malan pretending to be pirates!
Parker LOVED this Elephant at the Natural Hisotry Museum @ the Smithsonian.

Patty was also nice enough to watch Parker for us overnight so we could go up to New York City. This was quite an adventurous mini-trip. If you're interested you'll have to ask me about the bus ride up and down (there were only 5 non-Asian passengers on the whole bus). We had fun trying to figure out the subway and making sure we got in the right line and got off on the right stop...we did pretty good. We saw two musicals, Mary Poppins (Awesome!) and Wicked (A MUST SEE!!!! It's going to be in Salt Lake City April '09...you HAVE to go see it). We also went to Carnegie Deli (Yummo!) and got a huge corned beef sandwich and the best piece of cheesecake I've ever had! We also shopped at F.A.O. Swartz (ya know the toy store in the movie "BIG"?) and just walked around and soaked in the atmosphere.
Thank you Patty!!!!!!


We also went to a beach in Delaware for 15 minutes (there was a huge storm), and an Oreals vs Red Sox game (There were just as many Red Sox fans as Oreals!)

(I'll get more pics of the trip up soon...I'm getting tired, it's 12:45am...plus those pics are a different computer...)

Patty gets the best auntie award for helping Parker get all the way potty-trained! Yes, Parker is now potty-trained. YEAH!!!!!! When we arrived in Baltimore Parker was still having trouble with going #2. Anyway, when we were riding the bus up to New York we texted Nate to ask how thing were. His reply... "OK, Patty's a little stressed...Parker just [messed] in his pants...but Malan ate his yellow crayon, so we're even!" Chris and I almost died. I felt awful. Well, Patty made Parker clean up his mess by himself. Patty relayed to me later that Parker said while cleaning his shorts, "This is really yucky!" I am proud to say Parker hasn't pooped his pants since. So THANK YOU PATTY!

Independence Day was great. The Ward had a great pancake breakfast and flag raising ceremony. Then we went over to Jenny & Troy's house for a HUGE family (Navarrettes-elder and younger, Shepherds--elder and younger & two brothers with their family, sister-in-laws parents, and my dad) get together. We had a blast. Food, kids swimming, hanging' out, playing baseball and fireworks (Parker didn't like that). It was blast!






Lastly, Parker is taking swimming lessons with his two cousins that just moved down from Boston! It is so much fun to see him out there with a class. This is his first formal class where he has to listen and follow directions (well, besides Nursery). He cried at the beginning of class the first couple times, but then he finally figured out that I'm staying to watch and swimming is fun! He is going all the way under on his own, doing alligator walks like a champ (walking on your hands in the baby pool while blowing bubbles and kicking), can hold his breath for 3 alligators (1 alligator, 2 alligator...), and loves finding treasure at the bottom of the baby pool! It's weird to be on the outside of the baby pool fence...I've come full circle...I took swimming lessons, then taught them for 6 years, now my son is taking them. I love it! Notice the shirt...yes his skin is very sensitive (he's already gotten one really, really bad burn this summer) Also, I think his hair is getting blonder from being out in the sun so much...what do you think?





I hope you all are having a fantastic summer!

Next adventure? Coldplay in Vegas baby!!!!!!

The Zoo!

I LOVE our Albuquerque Zoo. It is one of my most favorite places in Albuquerque. Fortunately I get to work there over the summer as a day camp instructor. My sister Becky and her family, Brad and Eli, came up from Texas this past weekend. Saturday we went to the zoo to celebrate my dad's birthday early since I will be out of town for his real birthday. Anyway, we had a lot of fun!

Look! Same color hair/fur!




Becky made a cake for the birthday boy. YUM-MY!!!!!

My Husband Loves Me

So we have a tree in our front yard that is getting pretty big and unruly, and has a couple branches that hang over our flat roof. One morning last week, Parker and I heard Charlie (my cat) meowing outside my bedroom window. I thought that was weird, but Parker said he saw her so I didn't question anything. I just thought she found a new way to tell me she was hungry. Well when Chris and I were going to bed that night, we heard her meowing again outside our window, and Chris says, "I think she's on the roof." I yelled to have him go get her... a little side note, Chris DOES NOT like my cat. I don't know why he despises her so much, but he does...Well despite his bad feelings for Charlie and not so secret wish that she would stay up there and pass on into "Kitty Heaven", he climbed up a splintery board (because we did not have our ladder) at 11:30 at night, when it was beginning to sprinkle to get my cat that he doesn't like all because he loves me and wants me to be happy. I think I'll keep him!!!!

Picture of the week.

You've heard of car phones right? Well, what about tricycle phones? And no he is not pretending to talk on the phone. He is actually carrying on a conversation with his cuz, Madelyn.