AWESOME NEWS!!!!

well, for us anyways, it's great news. chuck is entering his 3rd and last year of law school this fall. each summer, you want to intern somewhere. paid internships are even better. we were blessed last summer for chuck to intern with an immigration lawyer. he learned a ton and enjoyed it. then this summer, not wanting to drive to the city each day or be away from us for parts of the week and travel, he wanted to find an internship here in town. well, he was offered one at a great firm downtown. and he's been there all summer. again, he's learned alot and made great contacts and networks. the internship was offered only for the summer. but we were hoping that they'd extend it throughout the school year. extra experience and money is always good. so, last week, his boss asked him if he could talk him into staying for the school year!!! we were soooooo relieved!! money will be extra tight this last year, so anything helps. plus, he enjoys working there. so we were on a high about that for a few days. then, a few days later, some of the attorneys pull him into their office to talk to him. he was pretty nervous he said. they told him that they want to start an immigration dept and would like him to basically run it!!!!!!!!! since he's not an attorney yet, he'll have to work under his boss still. meaning chuck will do the work, but his boss' name will be on it and he'll go to court with him and so forth!!!!!! nothing in writing for a permanent position after school yet, but we have our fingers crossed for sure!

exactly how long does it take to clean your room!?!?

so, kurtis and blake share a room. it had been a mess since last sunday. each day this week, i sent them in there to clean it all up. each day, i would walk by and check on them and find them laying on their backs playing with bionicles and legos. all of which are strewed all over the room still. so on thursday, i went in there and helped. i did about half of it. then, i told them to finish up. guess what, never happened! so, yesterday (saturday) i told them that i am going out for pizza in one hour. if they want to eat, they have to have it done. an hour came and went and still......you guessed it, not done. chuck was getting after them and so was i...all afternoon. i don't know about you, but things like that just wear me out so fast! i give myself a headache from all my griping! i was going down the hallway and i see chuck going to tell them to get up and clean. i stopped him before he said anything. i went into the room and told them they didn't have to clean anymore and that i would finish it all. they immediately perked right up and darted out of the room. nothing else expected, of course. well, i cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. i cleaned so much, that there weren't any toys left in the room after i was done. i packed it all up. they have books and they can color. but other than that....nothing. and to tell you the truth, i don't feel sorry for them right now. they weren't taking care of their things, so i don't think they need them. today, i heard blake ask kurtis if he wanted to play star wars. kurtis told him yes, but they don't have anything to play with. i then heard blake say, "oh yeah." chuck and i were evil and were laughing quietly in the next room. now i didn't throw them away. just packed them all up. they earn tickets for good behavior each day. and at the end of the week, they get to buy stuff that i have in this big container. well, i'm going to save money for the next few months. cause i'm not buying anything for the box. i am putting their toys in there and they will have to earn enough tickets to purchase their toys back. i'm just fed up with toys. i don't think my kids have a ton of toys. but the ones they do have are all over the place all the time. well.....not anymore.

summer 2009

well, it's been a few months since i updated the blog. i thought i'd post some pics and let you know what we've been up to. obviously, it's summer. you'd think that things should slow down and be more calm since i'm not running the kids back and forth to school. but no. kurtis and blake have been in little league. i'm not complaining, but i guess i am in a way too. with all the practices and games, it just really kept us busy during the week. luckily this is the last week of games. both the boys did really well, and enjoyed it alot. one of the more exciting things that happened is kurtis' baptism! it was really wonderful. my extended family was there and then chuck's parents and brother and his family came out for the event. it was totally a parrish event. first, the library was locked. the key we were given didn't work. so we couldn't make copies of the program. then, the air conditioner was on, but it was stifling in there!!!! then the program starts......time for the actual baptism. chuck and kurtis go back there and we are waiting for them to walk down the stairs into the water. instead, we hear a muffled voice telling us the font door is locked. it was chuck on the other side. again, the key wouldn't work. so the bishopric member had to ho over the font and unlock it and then hop back. other than that, it went really really well. chuck and i are so proud of kurtis and his accomplishments. afterwards, we had a big party at my house. and yes, like a parrish event, there was lots of food and good times. jared and blake also had great birthdays this summer. blake is 5 now. he will be starting all day kindergarten this fall. yes, you read right. all day. i will have only one child with me!!!!!!!!!! i've already decided....i'm napping when he does!!!! jared is now 2. he thinks he's one of the big boys now. he's talking a ton and putting sentences together pretty well. i waited way too long to take the binky away. it was after his birthday. i know i know. but he's the third kid. and lets face it, ya just don't care as much about those things with the later kids. just how it goes. he'd need braces anyways. kurtis did football camp last week. the draft is sunday, so monday we'll know what team he's on and stuff. since he's a 3rd grader now, they won't play other people in the district. they will be playing other towns and traveling for games. we will be very busy with all of it. now that he's older, they allow the teams to practice more a week. they are allowed 4 events. so 3 practices and 1 game. he'll be a tired little man, that's for sure. but football season is lots of fun!
we've done lots of family things all summer. you know us, we like to get together and eat and play. it's been fun. school starts here in 3 weeks for the kids. i'm so ready for them to go back. they are just around each other so much right now and fighting way too much. plus, it's harder to keep the house clean too. so anyways, that's just a little update on us. we're hanging out and trying to keep cool in this terrible heat!!

this was a fun day! ben and dori came for a visit to tulsa! they live in texas now...just 3 hours from us! we had a blast! of course ate lots of food and the kiddos played and played.

emma and kurtis. i took this pic while dori was telling to make all these funny faces. i love this one of emma.

lola and jared eating their popsicles.

okay, the Hill's kids and my kids. you see, i've had this problem with bunnies eating the fruit in my garden. even though i had already put up a fence to keep them out.....the kids took it upon themselves to make rabbit traps. they picked all my spicy peppers first. then dug holes and placed the peppers inside and covered it with leaves. this way, the bunnies would fall into the hole and then eat hot peppers and never come back again. no, i didn't get mad. i have lots of peppers again, and hey, the bunnies are gone. :)

brooke and blake. they were having so much fun.

the boys on the carousel at an amusement park.

blake didn't want to get on the log ride...can you tell?

everyone else did though!!!

my mom and sister and then kurtis and his cousins...we all went to the amusement park that day. lots of fun...waiting in line.

jared was super excited to get on the log ride. he loves all the rides actually. he raises both arms and loves it!

kids at the aquarium with their cousin abby.

birthday at Ted's Escondido!!!!

yes we are still here

so we are still here. things have just been really busy. seems like we are always on the go. taking someone somewhere. and then my sister mallory and her new baby beck came to visit at the beginning of the month. that was fun. we went to the aquarium and got to hang out with the fam. before my brother left on his mission, we started this thing at my parent's house. they have one of those portable fire pits in their backyard. so we build a fire and roast marshmallows and make smores. it's alot of fun. so this time was mallory's first time for the family campfire. we laugh and sing songs, and we also do this mean thing. we try to take horrible pictures of each other. that's where alot of the fun comes in actually. i am on facebook and i post most of our pics there. you can come find me if you want. but we are all on facebook...my entire family. so we take these bad pics and post them and make funny comments about them. mean, but very fun. all the kids are doing well. all growing and getting smarter everyday. amazing what they know at such young ages. jared loves his big brothers. he runs and chases after them everyday. he naps late in the afternoon. then we go get the big boys from school. and when they come home, he immediately asks them "outside! outside!" it's cute. he gives them both a light saber, (we have 3 of course) and then they play star wars. it's so cute. he really thinks he's one of them, trying to keep up. blake is still loving school, pre-K. he does well, and has lots of friends. kurtis is doing well, too. he's such a good reader now and his teacher told me i didn't even need to come in for parent teacher conference! now those of you that know of kurtis and last year's reports...he's doing a world of difference this year. we are so happy about that. he's excited for football this summer and fall. he also got the news today that he is going to have his tonsils out in a couple weeks. yay! he needs them out!! they are huge and he gets strep all the time! it's awful. he's actually excited as well. he told me he's ready to eat popsicles and ice cream. typical kurtis. he's funny. chuck is chugging along in school as well. almost done with this semester. you know, it's actually more difficult in the summers that the school year for us. summers include classes and work...that doesn't pay much at all. last summer he was gone alot. so when school started in the fall, it was a relief. backwards, huh. we will see how this summer goes. anyways, i will try to keep up the blog better. hope this finds you all well.

this is my nephew alex. we just got through with pics of the cousins at target. he was so naughty. but of course, what a cute adorable smile he gives me after wards. you'll see....the other pics.

here i am with my sister faith at our favorite mexican restaurant.

i took this pic. while the photographer was trying to get the kids all in order, i was taking snap shots. one girl is still missing. she's bawling somewhere.

this is my new nephew beck. he's a cutie. and funny, i didn't notice before, but he looks like the turtle on his head.

kurtis and his basketball medal.

blake with his team and medal.

blake at the anaconda tank at the aquarium.

TTFN Trent

that's what was written on trent's (my little brother) cake at his open house or farewell party. for those of you that don't know tigger, TTFN is Ta Ta For Now. trent used to love tigger. he watched the cartoons over and over and over. trent left for utah today. he's entering the MTC this week and will be moving on to the Oakland, CA mission, Laotian speaking. we are all very excited for him. this last month has flown by so fast. we've been going down to norman each weekend to spend time with him. it was a lot of fun. we will miss him so much while he's gone. but we are also very proud of him.

mom and dad helping trent pack.
mom and trent

jared and trent

chuck and trent

trent, me and jared

blake, trent, jared and kurtis. when we come over they spend alot of time in trent's room singing and jammin'.

mom and trent. trent is web camming with lauren, larry and blythe. they were sick and couldn't come to see him off :(

mostly, trent and chuck are the ones jammin'. they sing like no one can hear them. lets just say they have a great time. :)

jared cried the whole time at the restaurant. the whole ride home. total of about an hour and a half. maybe more. i mean constant. all he wanted to do was swing. that made him a happy boy again. that and a little IB Profen.

here is my little man.

trent saying bye to jared.

big hugs from blake.

aww a big hug from jared too.

kurtis and trent. we are going to see who grows the most while he's gone. hee hee.

this hug made us all cry.

trent and my family.

trent and the boys.

Congrats to Trent!!

my little brother received his mission call the other night. drum roll......he's going to the Oakland, CA Mission, Laotian speaking!!!!! congrats trent. chuck and the kids and i love you very much. good luck!

Merry Christmas 2008

jared likes to get free rides around the house on papa's walker. they have a good time.
me in the kitchen. i actually fell asleep and got up right in time for dinner. all i made was the mashed potatoes.

here is blake and new fighter jet. he's quite proud.

here's kurtis and his nerf gun. he has alot of nerf guns already, but wanted another and loves this one too.

jared opening his wonder pets toy. he loves it.

jared and papa rocking. jared is quite taken with his papa.

jared loves mashed potatoes.

this one is actually in oklahoma before we left it was like super super cold. and this is what kurtis wore to get the mail. it's his hat that my dad brought back from Azerbaijan.

well well well. what have the parrish's been up to you ask? a ton!! i haven't posted in such a long time. football finally ended for kurtis. they had a great season and he wants to play next year too. now the boys, kurtis and blake are playing basketball. both of them are doing pretty well. seems that alot of the parents had the same idea as chuck and i and put their football players in basketball. kurtis' first game was going well, and then 2 players on his team totally wrapped up and tackled these two other kids! poor things. the gym floor is so hard. the coach took a time out and gathered them together and yelled pretty loud, "DO NOT WRAP UP!!!" he said it a couple of times. the kids were fine so all was well. it was funny. thank goodness kurtis wasn't one of the tacklers. he actually stopped to help the hurt kids. we thought that was nice for a sec and then yelled for him to tun down court!! blake's game was cute as could be. all these 3 and 4 year olds were making alot of baskets. blake is really good at rebounding the ball. no tackling during that game. :) chuck has been studying and going to school of course. this semester was just as bad as the first two so he says. i'm sure he did fine. we are still waiting on grades. hopefully they will post this week. i've been keeping busy of course. with the kids in sports, it really makes those days really really busy. late dinner and late to bed it seems. but i have to admit, i like the sports. i like seeing the kids out there playing and being competitive. i think i get a little overboard sometimes, but i can't help it. i am a yeller at the games. so far the kids haven't told me that i embarrass them. jared is growing so fast these days. we do alot of get togethers with my friends and their kids as well. blake and jared both enjoy those. as do i. we all get a break. sadly, lauren, larry and blythe moved away this last month. jared and blythe are quite close and miss each other very much when apart. they ask for each other frequently. it's sad. but lauren comes down to tulsa a couple times a week. so we get together and play. i only have a few pics to post right now. we are currently in washington visiting chuck's family. we are having a fun time...besides the horrible weather. in all the years i lived here, it never did this here. tons and tons of snow with temps below freezing or in the one digits. i'm happy we live in oklahoma with the warmer winters now. we want to get out and visit friends, but not sure we can make it up north with all the snow. the other thing that we've been doing, is seeing the TWILIGHT movie!!! i've seen it 6 times now. yes you read it right. 6 times. and i'll go more. hey, it's not just me. all my sisters but one, and my mother have seen it several times too. actually, 4 out of the 6 times has been with them. we all love it and can't get enough! we all love edward!! so i guess that's been taking some of my time :) so here are some pics since we have been here in washington. i'll post past pics another time after our trip. hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

BOOMER SOONER!!

we've been staying busy here at the parrish house hold. i posted a ton of pics to show what we've been up to. actually, chuck isn't in most of them. he's at school. so alot of it is what i do most days not to go insane!

my dad, sister carly, mom, aunt saisunee, me! we went to kurtis' football game and then rushed home to watch the OU Texas game. yes, we sadly lost. can you see that each of us has red hair spray in our hair??
jared and my brother trent.
my dad and brother trent.
blake and jared. we played at the park and then ate pizza at Lala's house.
kurtis, blake and jared all going down the slide together.

this is just last week. we went to one of the pumpkins patches here. not too bad. the kids had alot of fun. jared wanted to pick this one up himself. he thinks he's such a big boy.

big brother kurtis came to the rescue.

jared goes down the slide all by himself now.

here is lala and blythe and ari in the back. on this day we shopped at Michael's.
blake and mia with their cat ears on.
jared found a pumpkin just his size.
it's a big one!

some pics

blake's self take.blake told me to lay my head on lauren's shoulder and then told lauren to lay her head on my head. he told us it looked good and took the pic.
here is jared...red mohawk on games days of course.
playing in the water in the backyard!
we love the backyard! i love letting them go play in the water.
kurtis and blake at the fair.
lauren has photo booth on her mac laptop. super cool and super weird! we had such a good time taking these pics.
kurtis looks like something out of Lord of the Rings.
two headed blake.
we keep telling lauren that blythe's hair is crazy. she takes her hair elastics out and this is what she looks like.

blake came home wearing these the other day. we all cracked up. they are so cute!
they loved washing the car. i thought it was so nice to have a drive way to wash it in!

here is kurtis' self take.

fall is in the air

so i didn't get to have my semi annual cinnamon roll party. that was a bummer. i missed the fun and not to mention the cinnamon rolls! we did have a good weekend though. kurtis has had football games every saturday for a while now. so besides the game, it was a relaxing time at home....much needed not to mention. it seems like we are going somewhere and doing something all the time.
the kids are doing well. they are all growing at the same time. all of the sudden, everyones clothes are too small. chuck is still enjoying school. he's busy, but we all manage. blake is loving pre-K. he thinks he's just such a big boy now. kurtis is doing well in 2nd grade. he's made lots of friends this year and is having a fun time. football is still fun too. jared is getting big. well, not that big. he's a little guy. kurtis and blake were always so big. jared is our little one. chuck says he takes after my genes. that would actually be sad. his brothers are huge and then he's tiny. hopefully he'll catch up. either way, he'll be tough as nails. i've been hanging out with lauren and our friends alot. we do lunch or just go run errands or something. larry, lauren's husband is in Iraq. he left last month. so we've been keeping lauren busy. we've been having a good time. for one of our friends birthdays, we went to see a Boyz II Men concert. they were playing at the fair! since they were there, we only had to pay the admission price to the fair. it was a great concert! loved it. and on top of that, our other friend melani, who loves Boyz II Men, got a back stage pass to meet them!!!! i think she cried 3-4 times afterwards from sheer happiness...not kidding.
well, october is here...and it's still too hot here. that is one thing about oklahoma. i'm always so ready for it to cool down. but in washington, in the spring, it doesn't warm up fast enough. oh well. i did see a few trees' leaves changing colors this morning. we've made our halloween wreath and hung up the skeletons and the lights. the kids really like it. it's so fun for them. i better get dinner going. yea....fall is in the air.

funny prayer

lastnight, as blake was praying, he asked, like always, that Heavenly Father make him "not afraid of the darkness." then he said, "wait, nevermind, i have my flashlight." it was so funny!! he was just talking with Heavenly Father.

so ever since kurtis has been in football, our lives have been scheduled around his practices, scrimmages and games. we've spent many hot evenings and nights watching football. don't get me wrong, it's been worth it and it's been fun. but realistically, our lives are Jenks Trojans Football right now. they even have the Trojan Preview. which if you are familiar with OU football, is similar to the Big Red Rally. i'm sure that other colleges do the same thing. kinda to show off all the players this year. well, in Jenks Football, there isn't just high school players. there are players from K-12. now the K-2nd graders (kurtis) are called the mighty mights. there are a little over 100 of them. then the others are divided by weight and grade. well, at the Jenks preview, all the players get to come out on the field and be introduced with their teams. afterwards, the high players come out and it's a huge deal here. lots of fun.

this is chuck and jared at the jenks preview.
kurtis and a few of his football buddies before the preview.
there is kurtis #50 with his friend. they sat along the fence getting high school players autographs. it was so cute! they look up to them so much.
this was just sat. sept. 6th. kurtis' 2nd game. it was also OU's 2nd game. so we are dressed for BOOMER SOONER!! check out jared and blake's hair!! yes, i used red hair gel. it's awesome. it went with the trojans and the sooners!!!
this is what jared does when you say "TOUCHDOWN!!!!!" so adorable!! we train them early in this family!!
there is kurtis, 4th in line from the right. he's waving to me. i think he has a football body. like he stands like them and stuff. he looks tough.

this is at the preview. oh i forgot. the cheerleaders start at Kindergarten too. so at each game there is a cheer group there to cheer on the players!! it's really cute. i don't necessarily agree that the girls should be doing that so early, but whatever. they came out on the field first and then made an isle for the football players. kurtis and his team was one of the first to bust out of the big helmet and run the field.

after the little guys came out, they closed the helmet for the high schoolers. that was a big deal man. the music started and all...and then they come busting out and all the little players have their hands out for high fives and are just loving it all.

the rest of august....

the rest of august was so busy. first of all, we moved to a new place here in town. we love it so much. lots of room, backyard, laundry room and even a 2 car garage. it's great and we are very excited about it all. it was such a blessing to find, and our land lady is great too. with kurtis' football, both big boys in school, and chuck in school, it can be a mad house at times. we've done lots of activities and family functions. all in all it's been a great summer that flew by!

this is some of my family here, they were here for kurtis' first football game. this is also our new house.
it's like their classic usual picture together. trent and chuck.
our living room. not the most updated fireplace, but we'll deal with it.
first OU football game! lots of fun. of course...we won!
i sat with my aunt. we had a good time.
one of jared's favorite games is peek a boo.

okay, chuck and were driving and saw this guy on his motorcycle. luckily, i had the camera with me!!! what the heck?!!?

here are the boys eating their popsicles on the back patio.

this is me and my brother trent, then chuck and his brother tim. tim lives in colorado and came down for a visit, and to go to the Dave Matthews concert with us. here we are, waiting...on the 2nd row, center!!!!!!! it was freakishly hot and humid of course. i'll just tell ya now, it wasn't pleasant waiting there from 5-8....waiting with all those people. but it was so worth it!! you'd understand if you were a Dave fan.
chuck and i at the concert,
here is Dave. we were so so close to him!!
and here is my brother. his first Dave concert, and he catches a

guitar pick and the play list. and not to mention our awesome seats!!!! he was so lucky!
chuck and tim at the concert.

chuck and tim vegging on the couch....at the old apt.
we took tim to eskimo joes in stillwater. lots of fun that night too.
we also toured the Blue Bell ice creak factory. the sign said,"no pictures". so what does chuck do?? yes, here is a pic of the factory.
jared eating his free dish of Blue Bell rainbow sherbet. yum!!
blake eating his cotton candy ice cream.

ummm...duh! i love TWILIGHT!!!!

so of course, we went to the breaking dawm release party!! my friend melani, the one on my left in the pic below, introduced me to them last fall. i was hesitant at first. she was telling me how wonderful this edward guy was and everything. i thought that was a little weird...i mean he's fictional and all. we were just getting to know each other too. so i was kinda thinking, "i really like this girl, but she's in love with a fictional character in this book!" so she brought the book over one night. it sat for a couple weeks. she kept asking me about it, so i HAD to read it. and now, i'm so terribly grateful that she did!!!! thank you mel!! i too, am in love with edward now. i passed it along to my little sister carly, my mom, my older sister faith and my younger sister lauren (though people think she looks older than me). we are now all in love with the most wonderful vampire, yes vampire, ever created. ashton, monica, me, melani and lauren in our home made tees.

melani, me and lauren in line getting our books!!
here we are at ihop. you know how there is always an annoying table of loud people? that was us. we were the annoying people. laughing too loud, saying obviously stupid things that just cracked us up to no end.
lauren and me. and yes, our hair is alike. people keep telling me this. i go to her hair guy now. she talked me into getting it cut like hers. i like it alot. but since people are telling us that she looks older...she growing hers out. i'm growing mine out on the other side to make it even again. i like lop sided, but my hair grows too fast.
this is during the edward vs. jacob debate. ummm duh...we're on the edward side!

we had a blast that night. it was the break that i'd been needing for so long. but now, i need another break. i've been reading and reading and reading. i totally loved it. maybe i should start them all over again. i'm craving it!!

to discipline or not to discipline??

here is blake...fell asleep sorting, again!!
and here's kurty. hmmm...that's a big bowl of beans. i actually didn't make him do all of them. when he wasn't looking, i scooped a ton out, but he was still left with plenty.

my aunt janet from utah came to visit last month. i went down to norman and hung out a few days here and there. we went to an amusement park called Frontier City and had a great time. also while she was here, she noticed some of the problems that i have with my kids. if you didn't know, kurtis is quick to anger, gives the worst looks you can imagine, and has a very sharp tongue. blake, well, that child just doesn't listen!! don't get me wrong, i love them dearly. but man, they can be naughty! well, my aunt janet had the CURE!! it wasn't the usual...time out, take priviledges, spanks or anything like the ordinary things you hear all the time. i'll just give you an extremely short run down. we prompt and guide. now for major mis- behaviors, the kids are put on level one. that consists of separation and sorting. they sort colored paper clips and beans. you'll see in the pics. then level 2 which is mostly separation, missing out on fun stuff. then there is level 3 which is freedom again. there is a whole reward system and everything, but i'm going to go into details about it all. if you want more info, comment and let me know. anyways, when blake gets put on level one, it lasts forever because he never sorts. he will try to do anything, besides sort. even though he know how and all, it's just "too boring" he says. but all in all, this system is working wonders. of course we still have our bad days. but they aren't nearly as bad or often!! and that is wonderful. thanks janet!

down, set, HUT!

alot and not much as been going on. we've been busy with football practice mostly. it's 3 times a week in the evenings. and on practice days, i don't let kurtis do alot of physical activity. it just drains him too much. i let him go swimming the day of the first practice...lets just say that it didn't go well. so now we are staying indoors alot more. kurtis is an awesome football player so far. his positions are right guard and right tackle. he uses his brute strength...and is very successful. when they are practicing, they line the kids up facing one another. they get into the 3 point stance, (when the bend over with one hand on the ground and their butts in the air) and then the whistle blows and they tackle each other. kurtis is always the last one standing. it's really fun to watch. i mean, i don't mean to brag, but my kid is tough!! they were teaching them plays the other night. 3 times in a row, this kid in front of kurtis (the one he's going to tackle/block) turns high tail and runs the other direction!! kurtis just put his hands in the air like, "what the heck?" chuck and i were cracking up. the coach was telling the kid that he had to engage kurtis and try to get him down, but he turned and ran instead. i do feel sorry for the kids that kurtis tackles. i can hear the sounds they make when they hit the ground. poor little guys. in this video, kurtis is going against the only other kid that is bigger than he is. you'll see at the end, i cut it off too early, but the kid goes down! yes, i'm very much getting into this!! kurtis is the one that has red tape on his helmet, and black cleats.

football camp

well, kurtis' football camp was yesterday and today. it only lasted an hour and a half each day. but in the grooling heat, it seemed like all day. kurtis was just pouring sweat. he was expelling it as fast as he could drink the water. they had them do various drills and so forth. while they are doing the drills and going station to station, there are coaches evaluating the players. the draft is this sunday and we'll be contacted about which team he'll be on and so forth. this was a pretty serious thing. i mean, we had been told it was serious, but it was nothing like i expected. i only saw 2 more people with cameras the first night and then one other one tonight. this isn't the cutsie thing like t-ball is. these parents are out here to not only win, but make NFL stars out of their kids. so are the coaches. but it's not serious enough so that the kids don't have fun. so that is really good. so far, kurtis is really liking it. the coaches have pulled him over to talk to him a few times. they have been timing their 40 meters and kurtis came in under 6 last night and under 5 tonight. that's great. we are really excited for him. if you know kurtis, he's got the build for the game. it's one of those things that we just know he can do so awesome if he gives it his all. so far, he's loving it. and we are really happy about it as well. it's just so cute to see those little guys out there in all their gear. games will be coming up soon and i'll keep you updated.

this is at the end when the coach is talking to them all. kurtis has his head turned to the left.
he's in the middle with the red tape on his helmet. he'll get his Jenks sticker later.

the teething blues

hmmm...there are teething rings, frozen gogurts, Popsicles, and even numbing ointment. but what works best?? the new Reese's peanut butter cup cookies. they are an instant cure for the teething blues! i recommend them to everyone. (they also come in Hershey, toffee, and almond joy.)

must serve with milk! mmm...look at all that peanut butter! yum!

Our little "big" football player

this is our football player. he's pretty excited for football camp in july. yes, they play full pads. it's actually really cute to see them all out there on the fields. all these little guys look like little big football players. after football camp, they'll have a draft and we'll see which team kurtis will be on. we're all hoping kurtis will love and flurish in the sport!! doesn't he look adorable in these pads??!! this is just his practice jersey and pants. his uniform will be here this fall in time for the games. he will get to ride on a float in the homecoming parade. he's excited about that. he'll also get to wear his jersey to school on game days. chuck and i decided to go ahead and get him in the program, because here, they are really serious about football. if he doesn't play now, then later, he'll be inexperienced and most likely will not be able to get on a team. you gotta start'em out early. so we'll be posting pics of camp and games as they come!

another party!

all 3 boys' birthdays are so close together. the end of may almost through all of june, we are partying non-stop. we've had alot of fun. they all had great birthdays and got great presents that they are still playing with. these are pics from kurtis' party. he got the OU clothes and hat he wanted so badly. he looks so cute in them. after the party we all went swimming and wore ourselves out! i can't believe that kurtis is 7. it's all gone by so quickly. about a week later, chuck and i celebrated our 9th anniversary. yes, 9th. lauren and larry so very nicely babysat all the boys and chuck and i went out for a nice dinner. we went to a place called The Gaucho. it's a Brazilian restaurant. they have a buffet of sides and salads, and then they bring you the meats out on skewers and cut it for you. it was all you can eat...they just keep bringing all kinds of steaks, chicken and pork out. it was delicious. we loved the food and quiet dinner all to ourselves.
now it's almost july. kurtis is done with summer school this week. he's looking forward to that i know. chuck turns the last of his research in this week for his summer class as well. hopefully, we will get to see more often now before the school year starts up again. it's been a long summer already. we've had such busy schedules. i hope things can slow down a bit now.

pics of birthdays and more!

here is jared eating his birthday cake. it was june 13th. it was a fun party. all the family came and celebrated with us.

jared and blythe playing with jared's new birthday toys.
yummy!
birthday boy!
jared and his presents
we had a party at my aunt's house the other night. they were visiting from cali. there was wonderful food and great company. it was so nice to see everyone. that is my cousin, tanida in the greeen shirt and my other cousin natalee in the very back.
here is carly and evan
here's evan playing guitar hero...he's actually really good
what a sweet first birthday.
kurtis...he has a sweet smile.
tanida and i
carly and i playing guitar hero..i'm not good at all!

chuck and i playing boxing on the wii. my arms are still sore. it was a good workout man!
kurtis and blake

jared
oops...i put this one in twice...it's so cute though!
my little blake
tanida, her baby natira, and jared and me. our babies are just 6 weeks apart.

we swim everyday that we can. it's been so fun. the kids and i are loving it. here are some pics of the pool time. and for those of you that know kurtis, you know that seeing him this deep of water...to his chest is a major improvement. he's been much more daring in the water. baby steps....

jared, i think all the boys look so cute in there swim clothes.
see..what an improvement from last year!
all 3 boys
kurtis had blake do this...he told him to raise his arms and yell, "kurtis!!" right before he jumped in the water. blake timed it just right.

kurtis and i at the bowling alley

birthday boy!

blythe is sharing her snacks with jared...how sweet.
blake is so proud of all his tickets!

kurtis' birthday

today is kurtis' birthday. it was alot of fun. we started it off by going to lunch at Wings To Go. kurtis and i love wings. it wasn't as good as we thought it was going to be, but we got full. then, lauren suggested bowling. such a great thing. the bowling alley just so happened to be having their grand opening today. everyone bowled FREE!!!! so awesome. they also got to play in the arcade and win a ton a tickets. they found this one machine that was just spewing tickets. luck was with us today. well, after that, we were all tired. so we went home and geared up for the birthday dinner. i called around and found that TGI Fridays has the best birthday deal. they let the kids spin a wheel and win a prize and they get a dessert. i also recommend the "brownie obsession" for all the adults. it's too good for kids. it was a really fun day all in all. well, almost. while we were getting into the car, blake was on his side of the van. i told him to go ahead and get in. i was on the other side buckling jared in and kurtis was already in and buckled. i looked out the window and i saw the top of his head, and there was a lady there kinda blocking the way of the van door opening. he got the door opened only about 3 inches and i heard him tell that lady, "get your butt out of my face." i of course died. then i told him in the most mad stern voice possible, "get in the car!" well, sadly, he still couldn't get the door open enough. so, he impatiently looked at the lady again and said, "get your butt out of my face!" this time there was no doubt that she heard him. poor lady had this embarrassed, shocked and forced uncomfortable smile on her face. she then moved and he proceeded to get into the van. i immediately had him apologize and then i apologized. it was horrible!! you know, i had this relex feeling...that i'm sure all you parents have felt...to beat your kid!!!! but i, and lucky for blake, resisted. i did lay into him pretty well. needless to say, he will be having no fun tomorrow. he had to come right home and wash his mouth out with soap and go to bed. i've just had it!! i now know that whatever it was that i was doing to teach him...wasn't working. we are knocking it up a notch on discipline and punishments. but other than that incident, it was a really great day....and kurtis got his new bike! he was really happy about that. his party is this weekend, he's looking forward to that.

the devil

so, yesterday we went to the mall with lauren, my sister and my friend melani. kurtis was in a horrible grumpy mood. it all started after school, he asked if we were going to go swimming today. i told him no because jared still has a cough, but that we were going to the mall. my plan was to shop, and then let them play at the play yard thing in the mall, and maybe get them a little treat. well, lets just say, things didn't go as planned. things just weren't going kurtis' way at all. he and blake couldn't stop picking at each other...they seem to fight and argue more and more. that alone is driving me nuts!! now, on a side note....two weeks ago, we went to my parent's stake conference with them. a woman that we've known for years, was one of the speakers. she started out talking about one summer years ago that her kids were just driving her crazy with their fighting. i immediately listened closer. she proceeded to tell this story. her kids were fighting and so she went to them and asked them..."who are you serving when you fight?" they told her, "the devil". and so she talked to them about who they wanted to serve...Heavenly Father...and so forth. so that week, i tested this out on my kids. lo and behold, we had the exact same outcome. same answers and all. ok, so back to the mall story. while we were eating a snack, kurtis and blake were playing on these old arcade games. something happened and kurtis hit blake. blake told on him. i had just had it! i excused myself with kurtis. well, while we were gone, blake stayed with lauren. when i came back, this is the conversation she told me they had together.

Blake: "Isn't Kurtis mean?"
Lala: "No, he's just having a hard day."
Blake: "Kurtis is mean to me. He hit me. Do you know who Kurtis is serving?"
Lala: "Huh?"
Blake: "DO YOU KNOW WHO KURTIS IS SERVING?" [said more clearly with bulging eyes looking up at me this time]
Lala: "No, who?"
Blake: "Kurtis is serving the Devil."
Lala: "What?"
Blake: "Kurtis is serving the Devil because he hit me. When you do bad things, you're serving the Devil. When you do good things, you're serving Jesus. So, Kurtis is serving the Devil today."
And I just smiled, trying to keep the laugh in. This was a serious conversation for him. No laughs or smiles on his party. Very matter-of-fact. He's so funny!!!!

well, at least it's sinking in with one of them!!! that's all i have to say about that!!

now, while we were in macy's, lauren and i were looking in the little girls section. kurtis is always on the look out for a place to sit down. so he finds a spot on the manican platform. he was coming out of his grumpiness and just chillin'. so after i check out, i walk over to him and i see him kneeling on the floor and he looked at me coming and dropped the end of one the manican's dresses. "no way" i think to myself. no way he was looking up their dresses. so i casually asked, "what are you doing?" with a guilty look, he just shrugged his shoulders. so i just came out and asked, "were you looking up the dresses?" and he shrugged his shoulders and with the most serious look on his face said, "yeah, i just wondered if they put underwear on them."
oh geez....it's beginning!!!! not yet!!!!
now, i know this was in all innocence, but still...come on.

same ol' things...

well, kurtis got a game boy. and this is what it looks like when anyone is playing it. the kids are looking over one another's shoulders to see what's happening!

this is a walker we saw at babies r us. it's a little car and it was so cute. jared loved it. too bad i don't believe in walkers.
just a cute pic. he loves to laugh. look at those teeth!!
he loves to knock towers we build with blocks. he just can not resist.
here's kurtis on his bike. poor little guy doesn't know he's getting a new bike for his birthday. he's huge on his old one.

happy birthday to blake

it was a great weekend. we celebrated blake's birthday. thank you to all that were able to come. we all had a blast with everyone. we went to a tulsa driller's baseball game friday night. thank goodness it wasn't too hot or humid. yeah right. it was really hot and humid. but it later cooled off a bit with a breeze. chuck and trent of course stayed for the entire game. the rest of us left early. around the 7th inning...i'm done and so were the kids. so it worked out. blake is 4 now and is such a big boy. he uses such big boy words too. like, "dang it" and "what the heck?" i have no idea where he's learned such things. he'll be in pre-k next year and that will be great for him. and for a few hours of the day it'll just be jared and i at home....what can that be like?!

my aunt saisunee, me and my lil sis carly. these aren't our regular clothes...jammies.
here's blake w/ his birthday balloons!
blake's giving kurtis a giant thank hug for the huge bad of m&m's he got him.
blake is sporting the new ou basketball outfit he got. he just put it right over his regular clothes.
this is what chuck and i got him. he loves it of course and is riding it daily.

there was a big group of us! lots of fun!!
here's blake polishing off his ballpark hot dog.
i tried getting a pic of everyone looking at me...as you can see, only a few cooperated.
here are a great friends brad and melani and their little girl ari.
this is my aunt saisunee holding blythe, then my dad, my mom.

any similarities??

see any similarities??

rainy days

chuck has one more final on friday. we haven't seen too much of him for a few weeks now. he's really ready for the semester to be over. we can't believe we are almost done with the first year of law school!! yea!!
this last weekend my dad was out of town, so my mom and the kids came up to visit. we went to the zoo...tulsa zoo isn't anything special. but it gave us something to do i guess. then on sunday, i made a big cinco de mayo dinner. it was alot of fun. nikki and liz, the mango salsa was so good. brought back some memories of last summer and being pregnant and not being able to stop myself from the salsa! i miss that! i also made the bacon wrapped jalapenos. those of course are always awesome! anyways, they are all coming back up for mother's day this weekend and we are making chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra and i think i'll make the mango salsa again cause it was just so darn good!!! and, my dad didn't get to try it yet.
well, right now we are having a big storm. there have been 6 tornadoes touch down in the tulsa area this evening. our sirens went off twice. once we knew that it was skimming by us, chuck and i did a drill with the kids. we showed them what we would do if there really was a tornado. it went pretty well. school is almost out and summer is about to begin. here are some pics of what's been going on here. lauren and i went to the mall twice this week already. it's only wednesday. but it was rainy both days and we wanted out of the house!

here is jared and kurtis. this is before i cut jared's mohawk. i think they look so much alike.
here is jared in his new life jacket. we got it free at a kid's safety thing last weekend! score!
jared likes to steal blythe's snacks...even though they are the same as his own.
lauren and blythe
blythe having lunch at the mall. she likes her food!
here's jared...he's already done with his lunch. he's a happy boy.
blake got new Cars flip flips from the Disney store. he was extremely proud of them that day. so proud, he took of picture of them.
here is blake at the mall play yard. he got to play while we fed the babies.
here's kurtis posing.
blythe and jared got to ride around together at the aquarium. looks like they are on some kind of ride.

new hair cut

here is jared's new haircut!

summer is just around the corner and we can feel it here. it's been so humid the last couple days. especially this morning, cause we had huge thunderstorms for so long last night. then instead of that nice crisp morning air, it's all thick, warm and humid. it was windy though so that was nice. it's so much worse with no wind. well, it's thursday night, you know what that means...good shows. gotta go!

jared fell asleep in his paypen sitting up the other night. here are kurtis and jared snuggling in the morning while i get ready. they are so much alike these two.
jared is balancing on his own now. i wanted a cute pic by the flowers, but he wouldn't cooperate.
blake and kurtis played nerf dart game thing at my mom's this last weekend. i think they look cute in all their "protective" gear.
just watching tv....

before watching the video, you will need to click the pause button on the music player. (black box on the right hand side of screen) the music interferes.

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

anyone know eleanor rigby??

well, thanks to kurtis, i do! i've woke up for 2 mornings in a row to him singing eleanor rigby....loudly. for those of you that don't know, it's a beatles song. and kurtis loves the beatles. so does blake. a few weeks ago, blake was at the bank with chuck and he was singing, "she loves you yeah yeah yeah." the bank teller leaned down and asked him if he was singing about the Lord or the beatles. it was cute. he told her the beatles and she told him that he just made her day.
the boys love music. and i think it's funny that they like the beatles so much. it's the cd in car that they ask for the most.

pics of the week

not too much to report this week. here are some pics.

here's what happens when you fall asleep holding a magic marker all night.

hmmm..remember the old tv show fame?
two buddies...most of the time.
this is just a sweet pic i got of jared sleeping on me.
we didn't do much, we were mostly sick with strep throat and we all had to stay indoors away from other people. i think kurtis missed recess the most from school. and i think he's just about all caught up on school work. blake is staying busy during the day with jared. he's a great big brother. he's loving the new nickelodeon show: Ni Hao Ki Lan. he and kurtis are learning chinese. they love it. and i do too. they like to talk to my dad and tell him the new words they know. even though my dad speaks thai, he knows a tiny bit of chinese as well. chuck is doing well. he's studying alot. but what's new with that?

i've been wanting to start a quilt lately. i think this is the wrong timing though, with chuck starting finals here soon. i'll just have too much going on. well, i am going to go to bed now. ya'll take care now, ya hear?!

p.s. all the good show come back on this week!!!!

april fool's...

well, it's been a eventful weekend and week so far. kurtis got sick in the middle of the night on saturday. then he was sick all day sunday. monday, his tummy was better, but he had a fever and a sore throat. today, we went to the dr. and you guessed it....strep throat. poor thing. he's been laying around feeling so bad. and if you know kurtis, something is definitely wrong if he's down and doing nothing. after the dr. told me it was strep i asked if she would please swab blake's throat. for those of you that don't know, blake can be a silent carrier of strep. he doesn't get the fever and sore throat like most. he gets a light itchy rash on his back...or that's what's happened the last 2 times. it just looks like eczema. so it didn't alarm me at all. but then when the strep thing came up today, i KNEW he had it too. his little rash is just going away. and i was right, he tested positive. so, we have kurtis who is just laid up with this illness and then we have blake who has the same illness and is still bouncing off the walls. so far, jared doesn't have it, or isn't showing signs at least. but anyways, i took these pics of blake today. i thought they were funny. oh, and happy april fools! i did fool my mom and lauren that i was pregnant today. that was funny. my mom fell for it longer than lauren...hee hee.

ok, first you have to know that blake drank out of a water bottle today and obviously put his top lip in and sucked on the bottle. yes, that is a hickey above his upper lip. anyways... i asked blake to make a happy face.
i'm scared face!
a mad face!
this one is my favorite...i'm sad face.
wasn't it nice of blake to refill jared's tray with a million cheerios? he's done it before with more!

Easter 2008

easter was really nice this year. we went to a huge egg hunt. 30,000 eggs to be exact!! they had jupiter jumps for the kids and free hot dogs with chips and a drink. it was loads of fun. as you can see below, my kids were successful at gathering alot of eggs. saturday afternoon we got together with the family at lauren and larry's house and decorated egg shaped cakes and of course, dyed eggs. then on sunday, we had a great easter dinner. we were happy to have a great friends, melani, brad and their cute daughter ari join us in our festivities. hope your easter was as fun as ours....april

blake and ari at the egg hunt.

enough eggs you think???
my mom and the cake eggs she decorated.
my sister carly with her egg that looks like mr. potato. my dad and blythe are in the background.
what's inside these eggs??
tye dye eggs!!
my brother trent and his cake egg...very proud.
carly and her boyfriend evan and their cakes....awww
these are my eggs. the one has a B on it for my niece blythe and then the other is a J for jared...both of their first easters.
far left is my aunt saisunee then my mom and lauren and then blythe and larry.

Spring Break...San Antonio, TX

well, this week was spring break. and for the first time, we took a break and went on a vacation. my parents, little sister carly, little brother trent, older sister faith, her husband brad, their 3 kids austin, abby, and alex and then the 5 of us, all went down to san antonio, tx. the first day we went to the alamo and took a boat ride on the river walk. it was really cool to tour the alamo. alot of history and interesting. kurtis says it was cool but while touring, he was just ready for the next day....seaworld. we had 2 day passes...which i would recommend to anyone going. you can't do it all in one day and be satisfied. it was really great. all the shows were amazing. what an oppurtunity to see those animals up close and performing. they are so smart. by far our favorite was the shamu show. we saw it twice. we were going to go to the beluga/dolphin show again, but kurtis wanted to ride some rides so i took advantage of it and went with him. he's a tough guy that wimpers out on these rides!! we got him on the log ride, the rapids and finally the new one, journey to atlantis. it's like a water roller coaster. he hated it. but he rode it non the less. we stayed on lackland air force base. my dad is in the air national guard and all bases have hotels. so, for $27.00 a night, we stayed on base. so for that price we didn't drive home after the last night. we slept there and got up and had a leisure drive back to faith's. they live in the dallas area. but my most favorite place we ate, was on the way back. it was at Centerpoint Station. i got the most awesome bacon cheeseburger ever!!!! it was so good. and their cinnamon rolls were wonderful. all in all we had a wonderful trip. not too long, not too short. next time, i'll skip the alamo and go straight to seaworld though. the kids had a blast with their cousins too. what a fun time!!!

here is the whole group of us except chuck who took the pic. we are waiting in line to get into the alamo.

here is austin and kurtis at Ripley's...largest woman ever too funnny. i have no idea why they decided to plug their noses.
yes, this is blake with a cannon!
here is our family in front of the alamo!
the night before we left the kids were just so excited! it was alot of fun.
trent my brother and jared.

now, faith, my sister and i had already told these guys to quit picking the flowers. but did they listen??? no, so we took a cute pic instead.
kurtis and abby on the egg ride.
all my boys at the shamu show!


the boys with shamu!!

kurtis and abby are on the last car!
silly face pic of the kids...austin, kurtis, abby and blake in front of the beluga whale tank.
chuck is feeding the dolphins...his favorite!
here is kurtis at seaworld as we left.

here are two orcas splashing the audience. the sign says that shamu can splash up to the 16th row!!!
the shamu show is amazing!! we loved it so much, we went twice. i would have gone a third if there was time.

michael buble

well, can you believe that i almost didn't go to the concert?? our original plan did not include the fact that jared had surgery on his bum. so putting him through the drive there and back in one day was out of the question for me. i didn't really want to drive alone there and come back so later either. but after my family members talked me into it, i went. and honestly, i'm so glad!!!! it was a very fun concert. i loved all of it. the group Naturally 7, opened for him. they are so so awesome. they are vocal play. look them up on you tube. there are no instrumnents...they make all the noises with their voices. i got a few pictures with a few of them. then there are a few pics of michael. all in all, i'm so happy i went. i sat by trent my brother, and cami and jeff. we had a great time!!

big post!!

well, needless to say, we have been busy. first off, thank you for all your prayers and concerns for jared. we appreciate it so much. he's doing so much better. he's got his appetite back and is eating normal again. he turned 9 months today! he's also pulling up on the furniture already. but he gets stuck once he's standing, he can't get down. and well, i don't really blame him. i wouldn't want to plop down on my bum if i were him either...not yet. we went to the surgeon's office today and received good news. looks good and is healing properly. we go back for another check in a few weeks. so far, the kids have been well, meaning not sick. so that is awesome!! this last weekend, my sister mallory and her husband casey came to visit. we had alot of fun hanging out. chuck is doing well in school. he's got a job lined up for the summer, which is paid. that's awesome, cause not only could we use the money, but only 3 first year law students had paid positions last year. so we are very proud of him! kurtis is doing well too. i had parent teacher conference last week. it was a 10 minute conversation compared to the hour and half of last semester. her main concern is his manners....that was great news!! we can handle that!! for those of you that don't know, kurtis faked that he couldn't read last semester. he'd read for us at home and would play dumb at school. i finally went in and asked the teacher if she could send some more challenging material home and she gave me this weird look. i told her that he brings the books home he reads them quickly and then we are done. then she continued to say,"kurtis, you can read?" so stunned. i was furious and embarrassed. so i had him read for her of course she was shocked. she was so happy that he could read!!!! so see what we were dealing with?? so if the news is that we need to work on his manners this semester, it's all good!! blake is doing good too. he's such a good big helper for me during the day. he's addicted to watching dora and diego though. and his new favorite is Ne Hao Ki Lan. it's a cartoon with a chinese little girl and she teaches you how to speak chinese!! seriously, blake knows alot of words. it's cute.

and now, there is me. to tell you the truth, i'm tired. no seriously, i've been well. i've been hanging out with lauren and my friend melani alot and having a good time. the weather here is warm and it's glorious! i'm loving it! spring break is coming and we are all so excited. don't worry, i'll tell you all about it when we get back!!

this is what blake does at the target. he gets underneath the shelves and lays on the big boxes. he thinks he's very clever for finding a hiding spot.
here's jared just chillin in the cart.
this is my new haircut. i'm loving it. super short in the back and it feels so nice! it's kind of addictive...getting your hair shorter and shorter.

me (old haircut), then my sister lauren, sister mallory who came to visit from utah and sister carly. faith is missing, she went back to TX before we took a pic.
here's carly and her boyfriend evan...so cute.
lauren and blythe...she's smiling so much now. she likes auntie april!
my dad and jared. he walked him all over the playground while the big kids played. what a nice bumba. (that is what the kids call my dad. it was started by my nephew and it stuck. so my dad is bumba.)
blake is so proud of how high he can climb.

hmmmm....does she fit??? we love you blythe!
jared at the doctors office today. we got good news. he's healing well and on the right track! yea!!!! such a sweet face.
we went to the park, it was a beautiful day! the babies love to swing. dirty swings though.
what a happy time! yes, warm enough for shorts!!
blythe loving the swing too!

milestones....

yes, it's a string hanging out of his mouth. we used to do this when we were little and losing teeth. my mom would tie a string around the tooth and no, not tie the other end to the door knob!! though i must admit i did that once. when the door slammed, i ran with it so it wouldn't pull my tooth. but anyways, back to the picture. you have the string tied to the loose tooth and you just tug on it over and over and it helps loosen it. but when it gets super loose, usually the tooth pops right out!
pretty messed up huh!! chuck and i think it looks like one of those fake mouth pieces with bad teeth. but these are the real thing. he's lost 5 teeth now. he bites into food funny and talks funny now and then. but he likes it.
blake had to get a funny face in there too with kurtis.
it's dark, it's kurtis reading his new book from mugga and papa to blake and jared. they love i when he reads to them.
and here is sweet blakey.

jared's surgery

here is jared and i in recovery. he was just super out of it and sleepy.
this was about 45 minutes later. he was more alert and very very grumpy. poor thing.
these are two of the most bored children on the face of the earth this day.
there is a story behind his picture. each family is given a cubbie to wait in that has a phone and such in the waiting room. well, the tv is in the neighboring cubbie. so kurtis was hanging over the wall watching tv. that was all fine, until he started farting....loudly!! that's where the big grin comes from. and you know, i gotta tell ya, by that time, i didn't care. he was bored out of his mind and if letting some gas go was bringing him some happiness, that was great. i must say, we all laughed and it took our minds off the surgery for a bit.
this is right before they took jared back to surgery. they brought the bed to transport him, but of course i held him...he would have crawled off. so kurtis hopped on and got to ride through the hospital.

i'll start with monday. everyone but jared had recovered from the stomach flu. he still had a sour stomach. we've also known for sometime that he has a peri-anal fistula. it's like cyst. this one just so happened to be located on the right side of his rectum. it's been there since he was born. it is like a lump. it gets bigger and smaller now and then and has never caused a problem. if it were to get inflamed, then we would put him on antibiotics. well, by monday i knew it was inflamed, so i took him to the doctor. we did the antibotic thing and waited for it to go down. unfortunately, it didn't get smaller. it kept growing. on wed, the pediatrician told me to go ahead and make another appt with the pediatric surgeon...whom we have already seen. well, i did that, and i couldn't get in until the following monday. meanwhile, jared is in alot of pain. i had him on ibuprofen and tylenol around the clock. and he wouldn't sit. it hurt too much. thursday morning he woke up with a fever. later that day i called the pediatric surgeon's office again to get advice about what to do about this lump until my appt. well, after describing how fast it's been growing, and how he had the fever, and how obviously painful it was, she told me to bring him to the urgent care at the children's hospital. well, we got there at about 4pm. i had all 3 kids with me and chuck was in his last class of the day. chuck and i didn't have cell phones. but our great friends, melani and brad do. and brad was in class with chuck. so i called melani and melani called brad and chuck got the message and got to the hospital. in the meantime, jared was checked by the nurses and the surgeon. they said they were going to need to drain the fistula and that was done in the operating room. he would be put under using general anesthetic. they tranported us to the operating room entrance...where you drop off your loved one. we waited there with jared for probably 20 minutes while the nurses and dr. got ready. sadly, chuck was in the hospital, but couldn't find us. they told him to go where we would be waiting after jared was taken back to surgery. well, moms out there, i tell you what. no matter how minor the surgery, having to hand your precious baby over to the nurse who takes him back to surgery is horrible. i've watched it happen in movies and tv shows many times, and i've told chuck that i never want to have to do that. well, i've done it twice now, and i hate it. jared's surgery only lasted for about 30 minutes. he did very well, and we were able to take him home that night. his wound as some of you know, is very gruesome. it's large and let's say ...very open. it's shocking how fast he's recovering and how much he's wanting to play and crawl around as if nothing happened. i love that about children. they are so resilient. it's been super busy around here since then. everytime he has a stool he has to have a 5 minute sits bath. and being on an antibiotic means he has the runs and has many stools a day. but even with all that, we are so happy to have him home with us and feeling so much better.

recuperating

well, it's been another week. not too bad here at the parrish's. wait! i take that back...sort of. the two big boys had the puking flu all weekend. jared kinda has it. poor baby still has a sour stomach. but man, thank goodness it's a 24 hour thing. i was sick on friday night, but felt better saturday. it wiped kurtis out all weekend. needless to say, we watched lots of movies. blake only had a touch of it this time, but he had it a few weeks ago as well. chuck was a trooper, only had a little stomach ache for a bit, and cleaned up all "flu messes". thank you chuck!! so i'm still trying to catch up on the laundry. i did a ton today and will still do a ton tomorrow. also, the disinfecting thing is so old now. i'm tired of it. we clean and clean so our kids don't get sick...yet they get sick anyways. not much else is happening around here. just recuperating from the weekend.

here is kurtis reading his new book from mugga and papa to blake and jared. so nice while i was cooking dinner!
i just think this one is so cute.
jared is just so comfortable here on chuck napping. his mouth gaping open and snoozing! and of course still has ahold of that binky.
i love this picture of blake. it's hooked onto his primary bag for church. they took pictures and made them bags for scriptures and blake didn't want his taken. he either looks so annoyed, like go away, or chuck says he looks like the ladies man. cracks us up!
here's just a cute picture of kurtis. he's missing lots of teeth these days. another on top is about to come out. what a gap that will be!

i've been tagged...

what was i doing 10 years ago?

i was freezing in rexburg, id. i was a mere freshman at ricks college, now known as byu-idaho. my room mates and i were having a blast eating and staying up too late. i was also cooking for everyone. that's what we did...eat! it's almost all you can do in the winter there! or you could go skiing for the first time and fall and strain your knee. i did that too. you can break curfew and get community service hours. or if you were my room mates, you get always get your step aerobics video out and exercise!!! go brianne, linley and tiff!!


what was i doing 5 years ago?

chuck and i had just moved to pullman a few months before. we had kurtis and chuck was getting a masters degree at washington state university. i was making lots of new friends and enjoying my little family.


what was i doing 1 year ago?

well, we were in pullman and i was huge pregnant expecting our 3rd baby boy. chuck and i were also awaiting law school replies. obviously he was accepted cause here we are now in law school. almost 2 semesters down!! i was also religiously walking each day with nikki, liz and sharon. hey if it was 40 degrees that was warm, so we walked outside. if not, we walked inside the Beasley. we also loved to have these big dinners with friends. it was so great to have friends that were interested in food and cooking and eating as much as me! so fun, i miss it alot. and i can't leave out the fart bombs. maybe not so much a year ago, but definitely a year and half ago!!

I enjoy...

i enjoy hearing my kids laugh, reading, listening to good music, watching old movies, cooking and eating. i also love to fart bomb people.

Shows i love...

american idol, heroes, LOST, the office, survivor, the amazing race

Things i hate...

the smell after a candle is blown out, being carsick/nauseated, changing diapers, all housework, being woke up too early, bugs in the house, traffic

Biggest joys...

my family, and the gospel


i tag, melani, nikki, & sharon

happy valentines!

well, kurtis had a nice time at his party. he of course ate all his goodies before he got home. i looked for his valentine bag they make and he told me he dumped everything in his back pack and threw it away. why are boys like that? i remember keeping mine and all my valentines on my dresser for a long time. just different i guess. blake, jared and i went to a valentine playgroup. she had make these cute little heart shaped sandwiches and had goldfish and things. he loved it.
i've slacked off this past week with working out. this cold i've had has just wiped me out. i'm still not totally well. but i'm getting back in the game this week. i'm so glad that i have someone to work out with...thank you melani!! she's my work out buddy. we put the kids to sleep and then we are off to the gym. well, and while i've been sick....i've been eating. lastnight i made Cafe Rio tacos. they are slightly marvelous! lauren, larry and blythe came over to eat with us. i think we probably all over ate. so working out will be that much harder this week...yea.
good news, chuck got a job on campus. he will translate in an on-campus pro bono office. they will call him when they need him type of thing. very little pay, but more beneficial on his resume. so that's good. well, i guess that's about it. we are looking forward to spring break!! have a good one!!

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

why you shouldn't chew on legos....

why you shouldn't chew on legos is what my sister titled her email. this is my neice abby. she was obviously chewing on this lego piece and it just popped in between her two front teeth. my sister tried getting it out, but feared it might break her teeth. it was wedged pretty badly. so they took her into the dentist's office. while the hygenist took her back and tried comforting her, he turned and asked for a camera. my sister had her camera as well, and snapped this shot. poor thing. i'm sure it hurt!! but i couldn't resist posting this!!

Our little Arthur Spooner

so if you watch the show, King of Queens, you know who i'm talking about. my sister gave jared this sweater vest and we think it looks like Arthur on King of Queens. we think it's pretty cute.

When did they start teaching entrepreneurship in 1st grade?

i know, another post. two in one day. well, i just had to get this on the blog. i promise it will give you a good laugh. here goes....last friday, we picked kurtis up from school. chuck and i were both there. as we were driving off, kurtis held up a $10 bill. he went on to tell us that his friend jonathan gave it to him. of course, chuck and i inquired. he told us that he sold jonathan his marker and his eraser for $10. (i knew which eraser he was talking about. a few days before i found it in his pocket while doing laundry. it was used on both ends and it had been stabbed in the middle with a pencil. kurtis found it on the washing machine and was excited. he went into the bathroom and washed it with soap and spiffed it up. now i know why.) well, we told him how that wasn't an honest deal. and that he will have to give the money back to jonathan. chuck and i were thinking that jonathan probably gave kurtis his lunch account money, cause why else would a kid come to school with a $10 bill? so, on this past monday, kurtis gets in the car after school and is sooooo excited about his new $10 bill. this is the second one! he continues to tell me that he sold all his markers to jonathan. jonathan supposedly wanted these markers really bad. by the way, these are the classroom markers. they belong to the teacher if anyone! kurtis said that his friend jacob used to have them and when he moved he handed them down to kurtis. and now jonathan wanted them. well, anyways, kurtis was very excited. he told us that all the needed wasd 3 more $10 bills and then he will have $50. (good job on the addition there kurtis, it's one good thing that came out of this!) he said with the $50 he is going to buy a surprise from sabrina. who the heck is sabrina?!?!!? i told kurtis, "honey this girl is going to take your money and run!" of course he argued that she really does have a surprise he can buy. we later found out it's a gameboy. kurtis is currently earning his gameboy. i guess he found an easier way to get it....selling school markers and used erasers on the black market.
well, needless to say, i tried calling jonathan's mother and father. but their number didn't work. so i emailed the teacher and let her know about the "dealings" going on with kurtis. she called and was of course shocked. i told her i was going bring her the money and she could get it to jonathan's parents. she said that she's been teaching them about money. i told her, "well, they get it!" we were laughing so hard. oh, and she also said she was going to talk to the kids today. well, yesterday after school, i asked kurtis if his teacher said anything about it. he said, "yeah, she said no buying or selling at school". hopefully, that is that. chuck and i have decided....at least it wasn't kurtis buying the crap for $10!!!!

oklahoma weather...bizzare

it was normal for oklahoma. bizzare for all the other places that have actual seasons. it was 85 degrees on monday. it was marvelous, really. chuck came home in the afternoon and we went to pick kurtis up from school. then we headed over their favorite park, where lauren, larry and blythe met us later. it was alot of fun. the sun was warm. chuck noticed the humidity, of course. there was a nice warm breeze. the kids loved it so much. they ran and played and climbed until the sun started to set. they probably played for around 2 hours. it didn't seem that long though. there was a ton of kids there. and then that night, the temp dropped into the 30's. it was cold all day yesterday. we had a thunderstorm, which was fun. i like the thunder! i missed loud thunderous thunder while we lived in washington. the thunder here rattles the windows. well, anyways, we woke up to snow. just a light dusting, really. i don't think chuck had to scrape the windows this morning.

sliding gone wrong. he liked it actually.
little miss blythe
blake will always pose. he loved being out to play!
all 3 boys on the slide.
ummm...is it okay if i play in the dirt???

me and my boys

okay, so i typically i don't put up 2 of almost the same picture. but i thought the looks on the boys' faces were so funny. they were so done taking pictures. and of course, i wanted just one really good one of my 3 boys and me. kurtis still can't open his eyes. he was suppose to open them on the count of 3. and then in last one blake's smile looks like it's begging to the last picture. so cute.

Austin's Baptism

it was a fun weekend. we went to texas for my nephew's Baptism. i'm so glad we got to go. he was suppose to get baptized last weekend. but due to some sick babies, it ws postponed until yesterday. but of course, my baby was sick just in time for the occasion. we all had a really good time. of course we ate good food, that's what my family does best...eat good food. the kids played with their cousins and had fun jumping on the trampoline. i should have taken pictures of them out there. oh well, next time. and to all those who commented about LOST. here are a few websites you might be interested in. www.flyoceanicair.com and www.find815.com

i haven't been able to dive into those yet, but i will this week. hope everyone has a good one. and Dori, what else could you have done??? i don't blame you one bit!

left, my dad, then my brother in law brad, his son austin and then my mom
jared, a rare moment this weekend. he's sick and has been super grumpy.
well, this is also rare. to get all of us in one picture. except i had been taking pictures of the kids for a while. and blake is obviously all smiled out. poor kurtis was having allergy problems. when he opened his eyes, the sun was making them water a ton. and jared, poor little guy, like i said is sick.
this one is good. but i think jared is just about too big for kurtis to carry now!
this is my sister faith and her husband brad and her son austin. it's blurry, but it's the only one i have!

LOST

i can't help it....i love the show LOST!! and to all you other LOST fans out there, i know you understand. a few of my friends and i have come to the conclusion that with LOST, the more you watch, the less you know! drives me crazy. but anyways, the season premiere is tonight! chuck and i are so excited. i am actually going to record it. i'm going to watch it with chuck and then i'm going to start it again and watch at the sametime as my pacific time zone friends. that way, i can call and we can analyze during the commercials!! i know it's pathetic. but it's fun...good old days! what else is there to do in eastern washington right now? they are all snowed in anyways!

just some pics

jared and i were playing today and we took some pictures. his hair is naturally like this. this is the way kurtis' grew too. a crew cut may be in jared's near future as well. i'm not really sporting my new hair style here. i didn't fix it at all today. i was late getting ready...like 2:30pm. so by that time i didn't want to waste the hair products for just a few hours of the day! i worked out tonight. it was a doozy. my friend melanie and i work out together. i usually walk the treadmill and run/jog here and there. so we've been doing this for about 3 weeks. and i've not been sore once. so i thought i should do a little more...raise the bar. so tonight, i ran more and longer. i hated it the whole time! i was so tired. but it felt good after i was done. now, my legs are sore...so mission accomplished. i did more reps with the weights as well. but i'm really not that sore. i think was stronger than i thought...i mean i do carry a big baby around alot. so we will see.

tooth fairy time!

finally, after working on this tooth for 2 weeks, the tooth came out!! he thinks he did it all himself, but he had some help from my mom. anyways, he didn't even realize that it came out. so i took him to the mirror to show him. he was super happy! the tooth fairy came and brought him a whole dollar!

it's been a good week here at the parrish's. we are in our new semester groove. kurtis is doing well in school. his teacher let him call home the other day to tell me about something good he'd accomplished. he loved it and so did i. the boys are well, and growing fast. it's a warm day today. but it's suppose to snow on thursday. not good. kurtis will be excited though. he might get out of school for the snow. hmmm we will see. good luck to our pacific northwest family and friends....you have sooooo much snow and more to come. signing off for now!

poor baby, he gets stuck alot these days.
this blythe our neice. isn't she cute and sassy in her new sunglasses!
jared loves the swing!
and this is kurtis and his funny face. it's all he'd do for the camera that day. steph, you know what i'm talking about!

American Idol Is Back!!

yes, we love american idol! at least it's one show that is not being affected by the writer's strike. chuck and i are quite bummed about The Office.

so, new things around here...jared is sitting up now. he absolutely loves it! he loves being able to sit and play with his toys. he's also doing somewhat of an army crawl. he gets up on all fours to start crawling and then lunges forward, to fall on his face. either that, or he scoots backwards and gets caught under the couch. but he's getting better and better. i'm not really sure if i want him crawling yet. i mean i know it would relieve alot of frustration for him. but on the other hand, it will be causing me more frustration! he is also waving bye bye and hello. he's alot of fun.

yesterday, i went and got my hair cut. that was fun. he cut about 10 inches off. you know me, when i'm ready, i'm ready. i like my hair alot now. it's short and very easy to manage and take care of. not to mention that it looks so much healthier now.

chuck is enjoying school still. he's very busy already with the new semester. but that is good. to me, it means something is getting done. the two big boys are doing good as well. they are still full of energy, what else! well, i better get going. i want to eat a delicious blueberry muffin before i leave. the batch makes so many, so my lucky sister and her husband will get some too!

Sweet Little Kurtis

i had gotten the boys ready for bed. teeth brushed and jammies on. jared was fussing in his bed and was ready for a bottle. but i needed to get the big boys in bed first. they had already said their prayers, all we had left was reading scriptures. well, as i started reading, blake and kurtis, as usual started talking and goofing off. so tonight, in my efforts to get kurtis to be reverent, i asked him, "how would you be sitting if Heavenly Father came in your room right now?" on his bed, he knelt down and had a huge grin on his face with open arms. it took a second for me to process, but i asked, "ready for a hug from Heavenly Father?" and of course, he told me yes. well, i couldn't really say too much after that, except that it was sweet and how wonderful that would be. but it touched my heart to see how close our little ones are to our Heavenly Father, and how they must think of Him.

2008

new years....mean new resolutions! well, not so new i guess. i had another baby last year so that means my new year's resolution is losing weight again. fun. and for those of you that know me, you know that i hate working out. but....i love to eat. the whole losing weight thing clashes with the eating thing i know. i don't have a terrible amount to lose, but it's enough to keep me busy for a while. instead of setting my goal for the year, i've set short term. my first goal is for march. in time for the michael buble concert i'm going to in okc. so, we will see. wish me luck, you know i need it.

the kids are good. we are all adjusting back to our real life routine again. chuck doesn't go back to school for a bit still. he has plans to work in a law office for the rest of his break. he's excited about that. i guess we are all staying busy here.

i can't believe it's 2008. time has flown by to quickly. for the first time in my adult life, i feel older. i feel like i'm not a young adult anymore. even though the guy that does my hair is amazed that i don't color it, i still feel like i'm "older" now. maybe it was the 3rd kid that did me in. not sure. but maybe this weight loss thing will help...we will see!

A True Christmas Family.

we look forward to this day all year long!! we got to have 2 Christmas celebrations this year! one early one at my parent's house and then one here in tulsa. it was all so much fun. the kids loved playing with their cousins. if you know my family, our get togethers are set around food. no, really, they are! we talk about getting together for whatever occasion and the topic moves to food....always. so of course we had a lot of food. at my parents house, my sister made brisket, and we all made side dishes to go along. mm mm good. then we came back up here to tulsa for Christmas Eve and Christmas. needless to say, chuck and i were up so so so so late wrapping presents that we had had in hiding for months. it was fun though, always is. Christmas morning was a blast. the kids were loving every minute of it. they were so excited to see what Santa had brought them. especially kurtis, he changed his letter 3 times. the 3rd time being that night! he prayed that Santa would know what he wanted. so cute. it's always so nice to see the kids excited and giddy for Santa. it's a fun time for chuck and i both. well, i had my family come over for breakfast this morning. we of course ate too much. but it was just beginning. for the time was growing closer for the Thai feast that we were about to prepare! after breakfast, my 2 aunts, nunsri and saisunee, stayed and helped me make Chinese dumplings. they were alot of work and and it took until 1pm to finish. but they were delicious!!!! then we headed over to lauren's house for the feast. so so so so much food! we ate too much again and loved it all! one of the best things about living closer to home, is having my dad cook. it's so nice to have someone else cook what i want to eat, and they cook it the right way! thanks dad! it was all so much fun. we all enjoyed ourselves. the kids loved their presents and being with family. tonight, on the way home, the kids and i were talking about how Christmas will soon be over and people will take their lights down. blake mentioned that we will all have to wait for Christmas to come next year. and they boys truly do that very thing. they are waiting for Christmas starting the day after Christmas.

i can't believe all that has happened this year. it's all gone by so fast. this time last year chuck and i were praying that he get accepted to a law school and i was pregnant with jared. we've now moved and chuck is finished with his first semester of law school. we have 3 boys which seem to have grown a ton. it's all flying by so quickly. chuck and i have been truly blessed. we hope your Christmas was wonderful and that you have a happy new years as well.

this is the group picture we took over Thanksgiving. it was a surprise for my parents. these are all the cousins together. obviously you know my boys, the other two boys: austin the older one, the younger one is alex and their sister is abby, the older girl. then the baby girl is blythe. she is the newest.
they got to open 2 presents Christmas Eve...think he's happy about what's inside?? it's Megatron!! he is a transformer for those of you that don't know. really, it was a true miracle we found him.
blake loves his new jammies! thank you uncle timmy and auntie rebecca!
here is what Santa left for the kids. boy were they surprised. this was the first time they were up before us on a Christmas morning. chuck is usually the giddy one waking the kids up Christmas morning. but we heard gasping and little excited whispers coming back up the stairs this morning at 6:30am. it was alot of fun.

jared didn't care for the cold snow.
top left:my little sister lauren, then my youngest sister carly. bottom row: my aunt nunsri, my older sister faith and my little brother trent. the only one of us missing is mallory.

all the same except my aunt saisunee in the bottom middle.
here is my nephew austin and his huge gigantic muscles!! he's qite proud of them.

last week, kurtis asked me, "mom 3 days before Christmas, can i play in the snow as long as i want?" my reply was something along the lines..."if we have snow, sure!" well, sure enough, 3 days before Christmas, it snows!! this is kurtis and his cousin austin catching snow in their mouths. we didn't even pack coats cause it was 60 degrees the day before!!
blake lost his little Elmo. he's so happy it's been replaced!!
this is one of blake's prized presents this year. it's a "lap top" just like dad's.
kurtis finally got the spy watch he's been wanting so badly.
and here's jared, just as happy as can be.

Ice Storm!!!!

well, as a lot of you know, Oklahoma had a horrible ice storm this last week. we were without power for a day and part of a night. we went to my sister's house and hung out there all day....thank goodness. it was freezing in our house! the power came back on that evening and we came home and put the kids to bed in the warm house and it was fine. the pictures i've posted are of my parent's house. they got hit really badly. all of their trees are broken. they had some really close calls of being crushed by the limbs and things. the young men from church came yesterday and helped clean up the yard. a lot of people are still without power. we were very blessed. the kids held up quite well. kurtis was out of school everyday but friday last week. he was pleased about that. he only has 3 days this week. our Christmas shopping is almost done. we have a few things left to get still. we'll see if toys r us restocks in what i need. well, i hope all is well, and you are having a wonderful holiday season!

the kids in front of the tree!

cheesey blake
jared and his Sonic Tots

Christmas kickoff!!

well, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. we hope you all did as well. we went to my parent's house. it was lots of fun. the only family we were missing was my sister mallory and her husband casey. other than them we were all able to make it for thanksgiving. we had turkey and ham and all the fixin's. yes, i said fixin's. it was so yummy. but i'm tired of turkey for sure now. the next day, my dad takes the ham leftovers and makes a thai salad that is spicy and so good to eat. we stayed in norman for the OU vs. OSU football game, too. i took the kids up to campus and to the stadium to see all the partying and the fun. they were loving it. then we walked all the way up to the stadium and we all just wanted to go inside. but no tickets. it was a sell out game. not to mention, we couldn't afford $77.00 per ticket. then, i saw this man selling them. they were only $5. the 3rd quarter had just started. and i had cash. so i bought them and the kids and i went up. it was so great cause blake just kept asking if we could go in and see the Sooners play football. and i kept telling him that we didn't have tickets. so it was awesome. we were way up high, but we could see so great. beautiful view of norman as well. to top it off, OU, of course won!! so all in all, we had a great time. thanksgiving and the game was a blast.

now, the kids are ready for Christmas. chuck and i did the black friday thing. we shopped and got some great deals. chuck was too late for a few of the items. that was too bad. but we are keeping our eyes open for some more sales. the kids and their cousins helped decorate grammy's tree. they had tons of fun doing that activity. tonight, we put up their little tree in their bedroom. it's a small fiber optic tree and they love it to pieces. so, the Christmas season has officially begun!!!! yea!!

the boys and i scored $5 tickets to the ou vs. osu game on saturday. chuck was studying of course. but we had a great time, especially since OU won!!!!

here are blake and kurtis before they start to complain how cold they are!!!
jared in his crimson and cream!!
kurtis and mommy.

kurtis, jared and blake in their OU shirts!!!!
here is my sister lauren, her husband larry and their baby girl blythe.
jared and his bumba, my dad.
jared and me. i tried taking our pic myself.
here i am with blake, kurtis, and their cousins alex and abby. we were decorating grammy's Christmas tree!!

Happy Thanksgiving

poor jared. blake decorated him. i think blake thought "why give one, he'll love them all!!"
jared is ready for church today.
did i mention that none of my boys ever wear their shirts??
blake loves the camera!

sweet little guy.

well life at the parrish house hold was busy this last week. oh nothing terribly pressing, but just the same ol' stuff keeping us all going. chuck has finals coming up. he's preparing for all of those. he's been told they will most likely be the most stressful event in his life up to this point. hmmm...can't wait for that! needless to say, we haven't seen so much of him this week. so, the thanksgiving break is sounding awesome right now. especially since i need to make about 4 pumpkin rolls in the next 2 days. and those of you that know me, and my baking abilities, i need to get all that organized and ready to go. i hope chuck can take a time out from studying and help clean the kitchen, cause there WILL be a mess!! i am also making the ham this year. love that!! we are going to my family's house this year. we haven't been here for the holidays in 5 years. so that will be nice. but we will also be missing the parrish side of the family. we've enjoyed being there in the past and will miss them all greatly.



i can't help but be even more grateful for my family and friends this time of year. it's taken chuck a long time to finally get into law school. 3 years for those of you that don't know. and it may seem weird, but i am grateful for that laspe in school. chuck didn't have some awesome job and we didn't become rich by any means. and the town we lived in didn't offer much growth. but i look back on our time there with gratefulness. we were able to spend much time with chuck's family and get to know them and share holidays and other special times. we also made wonderful friends that we will keep forever. of course i didn't always see it this way. there were many times in those 3 years that we were very frustrated and tested. but looking back, it was all for the good. we learned alot and grew as a family. when some people learn that we havc 3 boys and chuck is a first year law student, they look like they feel sorry for us. but i'm pleased to say i don't feel that way. i'm happy to have begun the journey!!!! for us, it was a joureny to get the journey. so i'm thankful to be where we are now.



happy thanksgiving to you all.

Happy Birthday Chuck

well, we celebrated Chuck's birthday this week. don't even ask....he's old!! no not really. i made a birthday dinner Sunday, tonight. we had my sister and her family over. it was a good time. i asked chuck what he wanted me to make this year. usually, it's a mix of some Thai food, and Mexican food, just favorites. but this year, he said that he wanted turkey and cheese on white bread. i asked if he wanted sub sandwiches. nope. just the plain sandwich. i went on to tell him that most likely no one else is going to want that for dinner. so i made that after church today for lunch. tonight i made a roast chicken. he picked out a blackberry cobbler for dessert. I'm not a berry person. but he totally loves blackberries. so all in all, we ate well, and had a good time. happy birthday chuckers!!

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

Trick or Treat!!!!

well, it's been a good couple of weeks. Halloween was awesome. i think it was around 60 degrees that night. the kids didn't have to layer tons of clothes under their costumes this year, unlike in washington. the first year in pullman on halloween it was 4 degrees. i think kurtis got like 5 pieces of candy. he was so cold. his little 16 month old fingers holding so tightly to his candy bucket were going to break off! but this year, it was nice. they both got a ton of candy. filled up their buckets almost to the brim. we somehow found a neighborhood that was prepared with candy, but didn't have many trick or treaters. so, one guy gave kurtis 4 big handfuls of good candy. needless to say he was thrilled. now, onto these pics with the kids on the couch. this is the morning before picture re-takes for kurtis. the first ones he hardly smiled and they were a bit blury. well, he was putting up a bit of resistance to the idea of getting pictures done again. so, worried that he would conviently forget to give his packet to his teacher, i paper clipped a note on his shirt. well, after school when kurtis climbed into the van, i noticed the paper clips still on his shirt. in fear that one wouldn't be enough, of course i used 2 of them...the big ones. well, they were both still there. after talking to him about it all, he told me the paper clips would just not come off. so, for re-takes, the smile will probably be adorable, but he has 2 huge shiney paper clips on his shirt. geez. i told him to make sure he gives the note to his teacher. i never mentioned anything about the clips!!!! i guess that's life, right??

chuck is doing well. he's staying super busy with school. saturday he had a study group that met from 9-4:15pm. well, when he came home we went to dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant, Ted's. that was fun. on the way home, he told me that he was going to do his take home test tomorrow (which would be sunday). chuck normally doesn't plan homework for sunday. so i asked why. well, come to find out, chuck thought it was friday again. he actually had his whole "saturday" planned out. sleeping in and so forth. he said he was wondering why there were so many football games that day, which he thought was friday but was really saturday. ha ha. well, his finals are coming up the first 2 weeks of december. i wish the kids and i could leave for them, but kurtis has school. his professors have told them that these finals will most likely be the most stressful event in their lives so far. so, super exciting for me. he's learning so much so fast. time is going by faster than i thought it would. true, we are only into the first semester. i'm sure this is the tip of the iceberg. but we feel very blessed. even though law school is not the easiest thing to do, we love our 3 beautiful and wonderful boys. we all stay busy and are stressed at times. and though the kids do cause some of the stress, they are most often the stress reliever for the both of us. their smiles, funny jokes, comments and quick whit keep us going. we are truly blessed. well, 2 smiles out of 3 was good, i thought!!
these guys are buddies. jared loves it when kurtis comes home from school. he smiles and laughs when he gets in the car. then when kurtis has to go to the back and buckle up, he yells and cries.
jared and blake. jared is getting so big. he's putting everything into his mouth now. it's going by so fast! and yes, that is my exercise ball in the play pen in the background. hey, at least i have it out.
blake's a ham for the camera!
here's kurtis and jared before school on tuesday. they get good play time in each morning.

this is our go at Transformer Pumpkin.
kurtis is a ninja and blake is spiderman!
kurtis, blake and jared. jared was too hot with his costume on. we had to take it off for pics or he wouldn't stop crying.
so proud of his candy.
someone's excited ya think??? they need to make those candy buckets smaller!!

Fall Break

there is this bird tent you can go into and feed the birds sugar water. they just come and land on you. for some reason they really liked my mom and her purse.
kurtis loved it!!
blake, not so much.
we could have taken it home!! little nosey thing.

here are the boys, kurtis, blake and jared.

Fall Break October 21, 2007

i guess it stinks in the pacaderm building...where the elephants and hippos live
Jared
my mom, grammie, helping with the painting.
water misters were set up around the zoo. of course my kids played in them until they were half soaked.
here is blake feeding a sheep a grape.

Fall Break October 21, 2007

i'm a nice mom!!
kurtis and his pumpkin...it's a spider
blake and his pumpkin...pirate ship

scary!!

Fall Break October 21, 2007

well, it was fall break this week. the kids and i have been looking forward to it for a while now. the kids and i went down to norman to visit their grandparents, grammie and bumba and their aunt carly and uncle trent. chuck stayed behind and went to school. needless to say, he got a lot of studying done, and caught up on some much needed sleep. we had a great time. we carved pumpkins, i mean, i carved the pumpkins. the kids painted them. they had a blast doing the pumpkins. not an easy task i must say...very tedious. then we went to the zoo. that was fun. hot day, but the cool breeze was nice. i think our favorites were the apes. and lets see....what else did we do? oh yeah, when we weren't entertaining the kids, we were eating. :)

Kurtis and Blake 4-07

Mommy, Blake and Jared 9-07

Kurtis is so sweet. He loves taking care of Jared, and he does such a great job. This is right before we moved to Oklahoma. Chuck and I were packing up the house while Kurtis held Jared. It was probably midnight, and he just sat and held Jared until he passed out himself.7-07

My sister Carly with Jared 8-18-07

Sweet Kurtis 4-07

Chuck with Kurtis and Blake 7-07

Here's Kurtis at the Tulsa Zoo park. 9-28-07

Awesome set up, huh?!?!

Far left, my sister Carly, then my sister Lauren, in the back, my mom, then my dad and then Kurtis. 10-6-07

10-6-07 Jared

CHEESE!!!

Hmmm...now I can't see the T.V!!!

Kurtis got his hair spray painted at the school carnival. He was pretty proud. 10-5-07

the boys got to do a Home Depot project on Saturday. they made firetrucks. Of course, they loved it!! 10-6-07

One of Jared's favorites is Bath Time!! He loves the warm water running on him. It's when he's most relaxed and content. I thought I better snap some pictures since he's not going to fit in the sink much longer!!

here's kurtis on his 1st day of school. looks like it was a good day! 8-16-07

here is blake and jared.

this is our little jared. he's 3 months old now. he's so much fun.

welcome to our blog! this is our family's first blog! i thought this would be a great way for everyone to keep up with the Parrish's.