How I Know They Are Glad to be Home...

Yesterday, I found myself mostly tethered to the bottom half of my house. I was busy getting caught up on laundry, paying bills, banking, returning e-mails, downloading pictures, reading blogs, and Facebook- you know doing the important stuff that has to be done after you've been away. The kids played relatively quietly upstairs. I rarely saw them except for the occasional request for a drink or meal. PJs weren't exchanged for clothes until friends showed up late in the day and when a friend suggested they play at his house my son declined, wanting to stay home. I couldn't blame him; it was nice to just stay where we were.

Later I went upstairs and found what had been keeping  my little munchkins so busily employed. I knew that all of the Legos were being played with as I found two fully clothed children in the bathtub the night before (and a third who I would bet good money on was in the tub until he heard me coming in) testing the seaworthiness of their creations. But yesterday their creativity stretched from ships to forts and bases which were all promptly bombed and blown to smithereens in a myriad of different, yet ultimately cool ways.

Or so I hear.

Operation Destruction, in turn littered Emma's and the playroom with toys, stuffys, action figures, Legos, and books galore.

To describe it in a word- disaster.

Today, we made Mickey Mouse sugar cookies for the neighbors who helped out with the cat, turtle, and the pile of mail I forgot to suspend delivery of.

We also played with play dough.

Then we painted.

Basically, we just moved from one mess to another.

In other words, things at the Parke home are back to normal.

It's good to be back.

I think.

BTW- I don't always take picture of messes around my house. But my new camera finally came, after we left for Disneyland I might add, and he and I are taking some time and of course pictures in order to get to know one another.

Vacation Hang Over

Vacations despite their good intentions, can be hard on you. The travel, lack of schedule, and just plain being out of your normal environment can take its toll on your psyche and physical body. Just ask poor Dallin. 

After spending 11 hours on Saturday crammed in the back seat of our minivan with two brothers, countless souvenirs, and fast food wrappers as we made our way home from sunny/smoggy So Cal, I think the hour drive to visit our Grandpas yesterday pushed him over the edge.

After visiting with Grandma & Grandpa Parke, we made our way to Grandma Jeanne and Pop Marlin's house where Dallin, after complaining of a sick stomach, lost all color in his face and started to turn a ghastly shade of green.  A trusty barf bucket was located and he took up residence on the floor of the upstairs bathroom. Richard checked in on him after a few minutes and this was what he found...

...poor Dallin suffering from a vacation hang over.

Luckily, it was nothing that a little nap on Grandma Jeanne's fluffy mauve bath mats couldn't fix.

Hmmm....Do you think those magic mats could help with the vacation laundry abyss that's awaiting me?

This Interruption Was Brought to You By....

This 2+ week interruption Of a View from the Parke Bench was brought to you courtesy of the last week of school and the first week of summer vacation.

Events worthy of being too busy to post included;

-Benjamin's Pre-School graduation. He was beyond ready to move on from pre-school and is excited to start kindergarten in the fall. I, his mother, am really excited too. I think his pre-school teacher was ecstatic.



Dallin's acting debut in his class play/musical titled the "Three Piggy Opera". He played the part of one of the very nervous and shy straw peddlers.

As you can see he was a complete natural.



-Ashton's class award presentation where he received an award for making it into the "Foot Hall of Fame". To make it into the "Foot Hall of Fame," one must read as many books that are at least 120 pages as your foot is tall. And for a 5th grader whose feet are bigger than his mothers that is quite a feat. No pun intended.


The first week of summer;

-Memorial Day found us up north visiting with family, barbecuing, and sitting around the campfire. We made S'mores and a mess with these gigantic marshmallows that were about 4 times the size of a normal one.
They were awesome. Can you tell?

-Pedicures in the backyard. I did Emma's and she did mine. She gives a new definition to 'Glitter Toes'.

-A new chore system. Like anything new this is taking some getting used to and called for the resurrection of the "Nazi Mom".

(Sorry, no pictures are available because she ain't pretty.)

-Lessons in getting dressed by ourselves. These lesson include, but are not exclusive to the correct appendages in which underwear are applied.

(Note- If you are ever in need of a straight jacket try inserting the offending child's arms into the underwear and wrapping them around the shoulders. It works pretty well. I am considering this trick for all 4 children on our upcoming vacation.)

-Simply enjoying summer with my friends. Four of the best you'll ever meet.

Thank you for your patience. Regular posting, which is usually irregular at its best, will now resume into your regular blog reading which obviously, is already in progress. 

*Sorry about all the camera phone pictures, but I figured bad pictures were better than no pictures at all.

My camera is having issues with its shutter and is currently awaiting surgery at the camera hospital. No need to fret, if by some unfortunate circumstance he does not return, a replacement is already on its way.  

Definitely Devilishly Handsome

Do you remember this photo?

Doesn't that oozing ooey gooey chocolate grin just make you want to squeeze those cheeks and kiss that nose dappled with freckles?

Okay...maybe not.

The result may not be very pleasant or cute. But you do have to admit that kid is charming, even if it is in a devilish sort of way.

Right?

Well, now that you've admitted it, you can let the rest of the cyber world know how devilishly handsome you think Ben is by clicking HERE and voting for him in a contest by Backroads Photography.  You can even let them know multiple times since you may vote once a day up until Sunday, May 30th at midnight.

Thank You from Ben and me.

*And I promise that I will enter no more contests or ask for your help or participation in any way for a nice long while...or until there is another great contest to try to win.*

Remembering & Race Report

The weather last Saturday was beautiful. I really couldn't have asked for it to be any better.

In Ogden Canyon it framed the lake and the surrounding mountains with the feel of summer; yet the chill of the air and one glance at Snowbasin, with its runs still blanketed in snow and I was reminded that spring had only just made her debut. Still those subtle reminders couldn't keep me from recalling all the good times in summers past that I've spent in that same canyon. From night hiking & fishing at Causey, to waterskiing on Pineview Reservoir with the Young Men and Young Women, to sluffing school to lay out at Cemetery Point trying to bronze myself into looking like the Hawaiian Tropic model, only to end up looking like a lobster. They were good times. Really good times; all of them, but that day they were distracting me from the task at hand- creating another memorable time.

One that I hoped would be under 2 hours.

So with memories set aside, I got back to work on completing my first half marathon.

And never has 'work' been more awesome until I reached the point where the 5K portion of race starts and this happened...

I ran the 5K last year so I knew when I had arrived towards the last part of the course. I figured that I just got excited that there were only 3 miles left and.....  tripped. As I fell I tried to save my legs because I needed them to take me to the finish line, so I caught myself with my hands, then my elbow, then rolled to my left side, and landed on my hip.

My legs were unscathed, so I kept going.

The funniest part is that I didn't care that my elbow and knuckles were bleeding, that my hands were hashed, that my hip would have a bruise the size of a softball on it, or that I took a not-so-little roll on the pavement in front of about 75 people (okay, that one bothered me a little), what I cared about was that it all cost me seconds on the clock.

 Seconds to get off the ground.

Seconds to assess myself and my injuries.

Seconds to get back up to my pace.

And even more seconds when a half a mile later I almost did it again before  discovering my tripping culprit- my blasted untied shoelace.

That meant more seconds to finish untying and then retying the darn thing and more seconds to get up to pace again.

  Ugh!

 Luckily, I still made it to the finish line in less than 2 hours. My official finishing time ended up being 1:59:02.

I was thrilled!

I managed to make another memorable time...despite seconds lost.

Family Finishers

Natalie- 1:59:02, my SIL, Shaleece- 1:57:00, my brother, Dan- 1:51:08, my brother Nate, 2:12:55 

This was the first time running a half marathon for Dan, Nathan & me.  

My time on my running watch. Check out my distance in the right hand corner. I went over a half a mile more than the 13.15 miles of the course. I guess I need to learn to run and stay in a straight line. 

Things I don't want to forget:

*My mom was there to cheer us on and see us at the finish line.

*Richard had all 4 kids up, dressed, and there to meet me at the finish line.

*My brother Nate, who trained only about once a week and only got up to a maximum mileage of 7 miles on a treadmill came in only 13 almost 14 minutes behind me. He sucks, but I still love him 

*The man along the course with the sprinkler and the other spectators that blew bubbles for us to chase.

*The site of clothes flying off up into the air and off to the side of the road as everyone started to heat up and shed their long sleeves as we climbed the one and only hill.

* That I came into the finish line listening to "Wonderful" by Gary Go. Not exactly the heart pounding, adrenaline pumping music I had planned on, but I found it very fitting so it became just what I needed to carry me across.

*And most of all, the tributes to little Ethan Stacy, who lost his life by the hands of his stepfather and whose mother tried to cover it up by burying his body in a unmarked grave at Powder Mountain just north of our start line. On Saturday, I think we all ran for Ethan. I know a part of me did.

Benism: The Wasp

Today Ben found a wasp trying to make its way into our house. He couldn't have that nasty thing getting in where it might sting us, so he took it upon himself to annihilate it- with a squirt gun. What else?

I worried he would end up just really ticking it off and instead of worrying about getting stung in the house he would need to start worrying about getting stung in the yard. But come to find out, Ben is a pretty good shot. He had that wasp on the ground in no time where I swiftly stepped on it. (Is it just me or are there a lot of posts about dead animals lately?)

Anyways, I forgot all about the wasp until tonight at bedtime when Ben mentioned that he needed to tell me something. As he led me into another room away from eavesdropping siblings, I wondered what horrible thing he was going to confess to doing now. I was surprisingly somewhat relieved when I knelt down to look into his eyes and he confessed in a whisper,

"You remember that wasp we killed today? I 'accidently' touched it with my mouth."

???

CPR perhaps?

Maybe he felt bad and tried to kiss it better?

Don't ask... because I didn't either. It has been one of those days and I didn't think I could handle the real answer.

But apparently, it is definitely something that needs confessing to your mom. 

The Secret to Recovery

At 5:00 yesterday morning I was awakened by the sound of my name. I worked to peel myself off the love seat where I had fallen asleep when my body gave out late Saturday night. After a busy Saturday of finishing my first half marathon, attending a bridal shower for my niece, and a belated Mother's Day dinner with my family, the 13 stairs to my bed were too much; I simply couldn't go any further. But at 5 a.m. with much effort I made it up those stairs and to the source of the call of my name. It was Ashton, hot with fever and a really sore throat.

He was given a drink and I took my sore quads back down the stairs to locate the thermometer. By the time I got back up to his room he was complaining of nausea and asking for a bucket, so my sore quads and I went down the stairs again to retrieve a basin. We made it back just in time.

After a few more trips up and down the stairs of agony, I made my bed on the playroom couch right outside his room, but I didn't sleep; luckily, Ashton did. When he woke up he felt better in the way that you do after you have almost turned yourself inside out beginning with your stomach and the exhaustive sleep that follows. He called to me and I went in to find a wide eyed excited looking boy. He said, "Wow, I feel better." I replied with some remark of how glad I was. He continued as serious as can be, "I guess while I slept my white blood cells must have opened a spicy can of kick-butt on that virus." I nodded and smiled and after trying to hold it in, I laughed. How could I not? A spicy can of kick-butt. Where do they come up with this stuff?

(My sickie)

The thing is that spicy can of kick-butt must have not been spicy enough since his fever and sore throat stuck around and he stayed home from school today. So if you happen to know where I can find a can that is spicy enough- please, let me know. I have 3 other children that love to play follow the leader.