New Years too???

So you can't post Christmas pictures without posting New Years pictures, so indulge me please once again......

This year we decided to CeLeBrAtE New Years Eve by staying home and having our own little party with the kids. We ate tons of yummy food, played Disney's "Scene It," and watched, a Mr. Bean movie until the Ball dropped. Then we took our party outside by lighting sparklers and yelling "Happy New Year." It was a lot of fun just hanging out together to bring in 2009.

Playing Disney's "Scene It".

The spread; rolls, ham, turkey, cheese, veggie tray, cheese ball, crackers, chips, dip, cookies, salads, YUM!

Christmas in August!?!?!

No, No, the crazy store merchants haven't started putting up Christmas stuff yet, but I really expect some to start cropping up in about a month or so. So what's with Christmas in August? Let me tell you. I was reviewing all the things I need to catch up blogging about and I realized that I had not blogged ANYTHING about Christmas 2008! So before they start putting things out for Christmas 2009 please, indulge me, by allowing me to post Christmas pics in the middle of August!!! So for journaling/family history's sake here we go....

Pop Marlin & Grandma Jeanne (my parents) shared Christmas Eve Dinner, the reading of the Nativity story, and Christmas morning with us.
Pop Marlin even shared a Christmas message with us about a little girl and a Christmas dress.

Grandma Jeanne trying out the "Cuddle Wrap" (it is a blanket you can wear) we gave her.

Christmas Cuties in new church clothes.

Dallin's favorite gift, a vibrating football game. (I think that all the football players are now either missing or playing handicapped with missing appendages.)

Ben & Emma checking out his 2 favorite gifts- his own tent and a blowup "Lightning McQueen bed". (The tent poles were quite flimsy and after many fiberglass slivers & bandages of duct & electrical tape the tent went in the garbage about a month ago. The bed quickly developed a leak, *imagine that* and hasn't been used since.)

Emma's first dollhouse. I am hoping the older she gets, the more use it will get. But it has been used by the boys and still is in great shape. Gotta love Fisher Price!

Ashton's absolute favorite gift of his entire life, thus far, a pellet gun! Which I think he has been able to shoot a total of 2 days since Christmas. Poor guy, but living in a suburban area isn't really conducive to getting in a lot of target practice. (I don't think Chastina wants Ashton shooting out her kids eyes !)

Christmas Eve Jammies! This is one of our yearly traditions and the kids still get excited about opening a present on Christmas Eve even if they know it is going to be PJ's.

Emma trying out her new chair she got with a little help from Pop and Grandma Jeanne.

Christmas Morning, we normally, have a big breakfast and then head north to Richard's parents where we meet up with his siblings (he has 9 of them) and eat, watch the kids compare their goods from the Jolly Fat Man, and try not to fall asleep. But with the threat of a big snow storm this year we opted to stay put. Which turned out to be wonderful. We missed seeing the family, but the kids were able to really play with all of their toys and mom and dad were able to catch up on some sleep we missed from waiting too long for children to start dreaming of sugarplums the night before.

All in all, we had a very, merry, Christmas.

(I know you were dying to know. Well, now your suspense is over- 8 months later!)

Making Our Voice Heard

A couple of months ago Richard and I started a Neighborhood/Community group called the "Freedom Forum". We meet on the 1st & 3rd Thursdays of every month and discuss topics such as the Constitution, our Founding Fathers, and the principles that our country was founded on. We educate each other, engage in discussions regarding current events and yes, we express some frustrations. I would like to invite anyone who is remotely interested to come join us and check the group out. Here is the link to the blog regarding the "Freedom Forum" & our meetings. http://freedomforumprovo.blogspot.com/


We have also put together a letter to send to all members of Congress (both in the House and Senate) along with a copy of the essay written by Ezra Taft Benson, when he was the Sec. of Agriculture in the Eisenhower administration, titled the "Proper Role of Government." Knowing that our letter with our 2 signatures on it would not make much of an impact in Washington, we set up a petition online where others who share our same view about the role government should play in our lives, could add their signature and give more "weight" to our letter & cause. We set our goal for 1000 signatures and got to work. We have sent e-mails, set up a Facebook Group, passed out fliers, and yesterday, Richard was given the opportunity to do an interview on a radio talk show out of Spokane, WA about our efforts and what the average citizen can do . Here is the link to the web cam & audio of the radio interview http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1938717
He talks about what inspired him to get involved, the genesis of the group and the petition , and he just did an over all great job. I am really proud of him.


We have been doing the printing of the letter & essay a little at a time, due to the cost of printing, but we have the essays ready to go and are just waiting to accumulate signatures. So I am humbly asking that if you haven't signed onto the letter, that you read it & the essay and add your name if you feel the same way. Here is the link to a blog where you can read the letter, listen to or read the essay by Sec. Benson and find a link for you to add your signature along with ours http://properrole.blogspot.com/. Just a side note-the petition site asks for a donation, YOU DO NOT have to give a donation to add your name and the money does not go to our cause, but to the petition site for upkeep.


If you have added your name (which many of you have & I thank you), please just think of who (a spouse, sibling, parent, friend, etc.) you might share it with that might be interested in signing too. I am asking you to help me get the word out, anyway YOU know how.

I am sorry if this is such a heavy and serious post, but I feel like our country is in a perilous place right now & I appreciate you listening to me. I promise I will get back to writing "fluff" about the goings on in our family soon.

"Oh crap" & a heart attack

Every year that we go camping to Tony Grove, located in beautiful Logan Canyon, with our extended Parke family, we take home more than bug bites and the smell of camfire; we take home a story. 

There is always an adventure, which is usually a misadventure, which gets talked about at family gatherings for the next few months. The next summer it becomes resurrected and we laugh and joke about it all over again around the campfire.

This year the 'story' starred my brother-in-law, Steve and Richard's sister, Susie. And thanks to the quick thinking and camera work of Richard's other sister Mary; we have it all on film.

Oops!

Possible solution.

Susie dying that Steve got the van, with the brand new bumper they just put on, high centered on a rock.

I think this one is priceless.

(Notice my niece Ashlyn crossing her fingers)

Whew! It's down safe and sound.

Here's to reminiscing, next year's story, and praying it doesn't include me.

A Tirade & Dallin's Hand

Many of you have noticed that Dallin is sporting a new accessory these days. A lovely arm ornament made of gauzy material and ace bandage. And recently, the ace bandage has been upgraded with a fantastic fiberglass shell! Yes, it sounds a lot like a cast because it is. He has officially broken his hand.

I wish I could say he was doing something adventurous and exciting, but really he just was running up the stairs, slipped, and landed on it wrong. Richard and I were gone to our niece Brittney's wedding and Grandma Jeanne was keeping an eye on the kids. She heard and saw him do it and got the frozen veggies to put on it and he did not complain about it until I got home around 8:00pm which then was too late to take him anywhere. We wrapped it and said we'd go tomorrow. That was until he woke up with the stomach flu that had been ravaging our family that week. We tried to go anyway, but poor Dallin kept "losing his lunch" in the car and he just wanted to go home. By the time he was better he didn't complain too much about his hand and the swelling had gone down, so I chalked it up to a sprain, until I noticed he couldn't grip things with it. So off to the Dr's we went.......

(1st Visit to the InstaCare)

........and this is where the tirade begins.

I am not a fan of "Universal Health care". After living in Canada, and experiencing their Socialized medicine, I can live without it! Thank You very much! (Side Note: Most of my Canadian friends could live without it too & wonder why America is so anxious to jump into it). It is NOT efficient, quality care, and it is definitely NOT free.

Now, I am not saying that our health care system is perfect either. There are definitely some pretty big kinks to work out. Part of those kinks are constructed by the wonderful litigious society we live in. WE SUE OVER EVERYTHING! Do you know that in Canada, if people are traveling to the states, the insurance company requires them to have special insurance? Just in case, they get sued. We, the American citizen are viewed as "sue happy, warmongers", as the nice little Canadian grandma told me, not so nicely, in the check out line one day.

(Dallin with Todd Seamons, our PA, that we absolutely love.)

So, I figure one of the kinks in our system is that our Dr.'s are afraid of getting sued to death! (And from having a brother who is a Dr, I know that their malpractice insurance is outrageous). Thus they are trying to cover their butts, all the while, making their "loin cloths" out of our cash.

My example of this is the experience we have had with Dallin breaking his hand. It has taken 2 weeks, 2 different Dr's, 3 office visits, 2 X-rays, and $110.00 of co pays (not to mention my deductible) to figure out just "how much" his hand is broken. But now they have all their bases or butts covered and Dallin's hand is in a "permanent cast" for another 2 1/2 weeks due to a spiral fracture. But he is getting along with his cast just fine and has enjoyed having everyone sign it.

The Finished Product.

Voting for NieNie

I know that some of you fellow bloggers of mine read NieNie's blog the "NieNie Dialouges", ( http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com )what you may not have known is that you can vote for her blog to be awarded "Most Inspiring Blog" from the Blogluxe Awards that recognizes women bloggers.
I have only read Nie's blog for about a year or less and I may not catch each one, but I never leave her blog without reaffirming my resolve to be a better mom, wife, and to just be grateful for all the blessings that Heavenly Father has so graciously given me. If you feel the same, I would encourage you to vote for Nie too and encourage a blog that uplifts and encourages by viewing struggles through Nie's unique take on life.


To vote go to www.socialluxelounge.com/blogluxe . You can vote once in each category per day.



Please, feel free to spread the word.

The Other Reason Why

Besides running, my other reason for not blogging is because I had a piano recital coming up and I was struggling to learn my piece. Since this was the last recital before my teacher, Nathan Giles, leaves on his mission to Toronto, Canada, he asked if there was a piece I wanted to learn. I love "Canon in D" by Jhoanne Pachelbel, so I said if we could find a easy enough version of it, that would definitely be my choice.

From the video of me playing my piece you can not tell that I had practiced at all!!! I only played half as well, as I had practiced. I am not a performer. My hands were shaking and I was extremely nervous. But I did make it through and recieved my 1 year completion certificate.

For now, this will be the extent of my piano education. My piano lesson budget has now been changed to a guitar lesson budget for Ashton. At least, we are still making some sort of music.

Sorry, I couldn't get the video to upload, but you really didn't want to see it anyway, believe me.