Big Brother

Parker is going to be a BIG BROTHER on July 11, 2010!

I figured out I was going to be around 12 weeks along by Christmas so we opted to wait until then to tell our families. I also wanted to be creative in how we told them the big news this time around so I googled some different ideas and the two that I chose to use were as follows:

1) For my mom, step-dad, brother and sister in Seattle we bought Parker a shirt that said "Big Brother Athletic Dept." and we put it in a box with another shirt that said "Old Navy" on it and waited until last to open it. Well, normally we are finished opening gifts by 9 or 10, however this year it lasted until around 1 or 2 because we kept taking breaks to eat breakfast, talk with Chris' brother on his mission, etc. So naturally I was very anxious to open the last of the gifts because I wasn't sure how much longer I could wait! Since pretty much all the rest of the gifts were for Parker I just handed everyone a gift and gave the one with Parker's shirts to my mom to open. She opened it and only saw the Old Navy shirt first. I asked if she had opened the gift and she said yes and pulled out the Old Navy shirt again. I said that there was another shirt in there so she pulled it out and after about a second asked if I was pregnant. Now, I can't give the reactions of everyone justice, so enjoy the video!!

2) For my dad, step-mom, sister, and step-brother I bought a card (that said "Surprise! You are going to be an Uncle again!!! He was at his dad's so he wouldn't have found out for a while) for my brother and three little gifts for the rest of my family (baby booties, rattle and bib that reads "I Love My Big Brother"). We also got them a web cam as their main gift. Now, when I shipped them I gave them some very specific instructions...they were to open the web cam on Christmas Eve so they could get it installed and tested and then open the small gifts Christmas morning ALL at the SAME time while using the web cam so that we could see their reactions! Well, instead since or internet was down for a while we just listened on the phone while they opened. They were very excited as well!

We just told Chris' family while everyone was on the line talking to his brother on the mission. They were all excited too!

Now, as far as the pregnancy goes, I haven't had ANY morning sickness, or heartburn (which I had with Parker from the very beginning). I have just been very tired.

Christmas Morning

The Beautiful tree before we got started Stockings were opened first around 7:30-8:00 ish and since the cinnamon rolls weren't quite ready to go in the oven we started opening our gifts. Parker got a little book, some twistable crayons and fruit snacks and Chris got some sport headphones and some candy. I received the new Scrabble Slam card game and some candy and Christmas socks! This was Parker's first gift that he found...he LOVES it!It was a very nice and relaxing Christmas that was spent with family. I'm so glad we were able to make it this year! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas Eve

We flew in to Seattle on Christmas Eve afternoon and everyone was very excited to see us. We had our picnic dinner under the tree that consisted of turkey frank hot dogs, chips, potato salad, carrots and rootbeer (it's a tradition to do this sometime before Christmas and since Kelsey wasn't here yet we waited to do the big Christmas dinner). After dinner we went Christmas Caroling to my step-dad's home-teachees and then it was time for the present wrapping to begin!! I didn't realize how much I actualy had to wrap, but Kelsey and my mom were in there too wrapping so it was a big fun party! Before my mom and step-dad went to pick up Kelsey at the airport Santa came to visit... He got some new Christmas pajamas!

Santa 2009

We went to the mall tonight to go visit Santa and as you can tell, Parker wasn't too fond of him!
Classic!

Liberty Jail

On our second day of driving we were going to go through Kansas City, MO and realized that Liberty was right there, so we decided to stop at the Liberty Jail since we've never been. It was amazing and we were so glad we stopped. Granted it was a little hard because Parker had been cooped up all day so all he wanted to do was run around (and it's possible that he may have thrown his pacifier into the jail...oops!Luckily it was close enough that Chris could lay on the ground and lean over to reach it, since nobody was allowed to step on the original slab.)
We didn't realize that the doors didn't have any knobs on the inside, the only way for the guards to get out was when they changed shifts and the next guards opened the door from the outside.The walls were 4 feet thick! It was so it was impossible for anyone to escape.The windows were so small, the ones on the bottom level were even a little smaller than these.The front door where Joseph went through. They don't have the original door, but they do have the original key. It was also interesting that when they brought the prophet to the jail the people that came to watch were disapointed that he looked just like a regular person.

Hotel Swimming

The first night we wanted to find a hotel that had an indoor pool so Parker could go swimming to help get some pent-up energy out. We drove all over town and went to like 6 different hotels checking rates and looking for that indoor pool. Well, we finally found one and so we took our stuff up to our room and got ready to go swimming. There was nobody in the pool, which was nice, except for one small detail...it wasn't HEATED!!! The water was freezing, which made swimming in it basically impossible. He played for a few minutes on the step about waist high and then he decided he was done and climbed out.
Our solution??Swimming in the bathtub!!!

Chipley, Florida to Rexburg, Idaho

We are FINALLY back in Idaho! We left on Tuesday morning from Chipley, Florida and arrived in Rexburg on Friday afternoon. It was a very LONG 2200 mile drive, but actually not too bad. Parker was really, really good and pretty much only screamed when we had to put him back into his seat. Let me just say that the built-in DVD player in the van we were driving was a LIFESAVER!!! He watched movie after movie. We drove on average about 9 hours each day, and ate out every day...which I'm glad to be done with! We tried really hard to eat as healthy as we could by going to Walmart and buying a salad for lunch, fruit to snack on, etc. I'm totally ready for nice home-cooked meals though!!

It's weird to come back, but not really have a place of our own to come back to. It doesn't really make coming home from a long trip feel the same. Oh well, we are still glad to be back and have a little break before we hit the road again for Boise to fly to Seattle for Christmas. Once we get back from Seattle however, it's off to Kansas for about 4 months. I mapquested the route from Idaho to Kansas, and it's ONLY 14 hours!!! I used to cringe when we would have to drive 12-14 hours to go somewhere, but now after about a 32 hour trip, 14 hours is nothing...funny how that is huh?

Happy Holidays

This was our Christmas Card photo for this year...

Panama City Beach

Yesterday Emily had to return a drill down in Panama City so Parker and I went with her and her two boys. We first went and had lunch with Chris and Nate (Emily's husband), which is always fun to do, then we headed down south. It was pretty chilly because of the wind, otherwise it wouldn't have been so bad. After dropping off the drill we went to Target for a little bit and I got Parker some new jeans and 2 long-sleeved shirts all for $14!! Then we headed to the beach...we at least wanted to see it! We found a place to park and then walked out onto the beach and Parker was in HEAVEN! He had so much fun playing in the sand, and he literally was covered head to foot in sand from throwing it in the air, rubbing his face and even trying to taste it. Needless to say, I'm glad I just bought him some new clothes because those were pretty dirty by the end! It was a cute little town and we wished that it was a little closer for us to go visit and that we were going to be here a little bit longer so we could go down on the weekend when the guys were off work...oh well.

Too excited to look at the camera! (I don't think I got even one picture of him looking at me!) The pier you could pay $2 to walk out on. And the digging begins! Before he really started getting into it... It's SNOWING!! After a few minutes of playing, but BEFORE he had just wiped sand ALL over his face!! (I don't have a picture of that though)

Pensacola Beach

Yesterday after church we drove down with Nate and Emily and their family to Pensacola Beach to go see a couple dome houses down there. It was FREEZING so we didn't really stay outside too long. We wanted to go on the beach and see the water and whatnot so we did for a few minutes. I also wanted to touch the water to see if it was warm...and it wasn't! It was beautiful though, nice fine, white sand and pretty turquoise water and the sunset was awesome :)
Pretty! Family Pic... My Boys :) Dome of a Home...it's a beach rental and pretty cool looking.

Update

Well I just thought I would give a little update on what we are doing. We finished up the job in Gainesville, Florida this past Wednesday and we packed up, cleaned the apartments and headed out to Chipley, Florida where Chris and the guys have a small job to fix. That should only take about a week and a half, two weeks tops and then we are headed back to Idaho for a few days to see Chris' family and get doctor's appointments taken care of (Parker is about a month overdue!). We aren't sure yet if we are driving back to Idaho or flying...it all depends on how much time we have left over after this project. Then on Christmas Eve we are flying to Seattle to see my family!! We are really excited...it's been since last Thanksgiving since we've been back there and I sure do miss it :)

Now for a little update on Parker...he is growing so much. He still isn't really talking all that much, however we have been teaching him some sign language to be able to communicate better with us. So far he has learned "Please", "Thank you", "Eat", and "Drink". It's pretty cute...plus he says "Amen" after the prayers (during the meal prayers he always trys to say it early in hopes that he can start eating sooner!). He also says "Bye-Bye", "Ball", "Hello". It's so fun hearing him start to say things and watching him grow into this little person. Well, I guess that's all for now...sorry there aren't any pictures...perhaps later!

Florida Museum of Natural History

Today Emily and I took the kids to the Butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. It was pretty cool, but pretty small. There were tons of butterflys though of all different sizes and colors. A couple of them landed on Parker's pants and head. He didn't really like the one on his pants and tried to bat it away, the one on his head he didn't notice!!
It was really pretty in there... Parker really liked the railing...there was a cool little pond and waterfall on the other side that had some turtles and some HUGE orange fish!Lunch time!Parker thought it was pretty and watned a closer look...There were a TON that still needed to hatch...

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Florida with Nathan and Emily South and their two boys as well as Emily's brother, Bridger and the two Mexican guys that work with Chris too. It was pretty low-key. We had a nice dinner and then hung out the rest of the day at home since Parker needed his naps. It was weird not being around any family this year, but it was still pretty fun. Now I'm stoked for Christmas since we get to go back to Seattle for a week!! Sorry, I don't have ANY pictures from Thanksgiving. I would like to list out a few things I'm thankful for...

- Chris and Parker, I'm not sure what I would do without either of them!
- My family
- A place to live
- My education
- That Chris has a job in this economy
- The gospel
- Good food to eat
- My friends
- Nap times ;)

There are so many more things I'm thankful for, these are just a few of them!

Front Door

Tonight we discovered that Parker can now reach the front door handle in our apartment!! This is NOT good news for us. We had just come back from the store and were putting away the cold groceries before heading back out for dinner. Now normally we lock the door when we come in, unless we are just going right back out. So Chris and I were putting away groceries and all of a sudden I heard the front door close. I was like "OH NO!!" Chris could have sworn he shut the door tight and he opened the door and Parker was half way to the parking lot. So when he brought him back in he shut it tight and then watched to see if Parker actually did open it...turns out HE DID! Awesome! He now tries literally every chance he gets to open the door. Looks like we are going to hve to make sure it's locked at all times. To clarify, the handle on the door is one of those you just have to push down and then push the door open...pretty easy for a toddler to open and get out! Who puts those kind of handles on the FRONT door...I mean seriously?!?

Santa Fe Teaching Zoo

Last week Parker and I went with Emily and her two kids to this little zoo that the Santa Fe Community College has for the Zoology department. It was pretty fun, however I think Parker would have liked it more if he were a little older. They had a lot of birds and smaller animals that didn't reall move or catch his attention. He did like the Capuchin Monkeys though because they were swinging all over the place. Perhaps we'll just have to try an actual bigger zoo that has the more common zoon animals!

Toy Story

Right now Parker's FAVORITE movie is Toy Story. It is the only movie that he will watch like 98% of. Last night he was watching so intently on his little chair, I just couldn't resist taking a couple pictures!

Loungin' Around

Chris let Parker play with my Ipod Nano and he decided to go relax on his bean bag chair while looking it over and pretending it was a phone. It was pretty cute!

New PJ's

Parker needed some new pajamas and I found these really cute ones at Walmart.