Mom's Funeral

I already posted about my Mom but never about her funeral. It was a horrible day but in ways it was a wonderful one. I have the most amazing family most of whom are more like brothers or sisters to me than cousins.

Here's the program.

Opening Song: Master the Tempest is Raging

Opening Song: Heather Vallieres

Eulogy: Debbie Spangler

Musical Number: The Test by Cula Parker, Diane Dering & Juniper Riddle

Speakers: Dan Vallieres, Joseph Vallieres and Cula Parker

Musical Number: Jake, Trever & Sid Vallieres, Sage & Aurora Parker & Jessica & Savannah Rinder

Musical Number: Spangler Sisters

Closing Remarks: Bishop Leavitt

Closing Song: I Stand all Amazed

Closing Prayer: Robert Parker

Pallbearers: Dan, Joseph, Jake, Trever & Sid Vallieres, Robert and & Sage Parker, William, Robert and Jason Bigler

My Mom loved music and wanted her funeral to be filled with it. I'm glad that she had the foresight to plan it out with me years ago.

My Mother, My Friend

I've been putting off writing this because it would mean that this horrible tragedy was real and I was really trying to avoid it. Here's it goes.

Those who were close to me knew that my Mother was undergoing her third round of Chemotherapy. She had been fighting Cancer bravely for 8 years and lost her battle earlier this month on August 18th, 2010.

My mother was the most amazing woman to ever live on this planet. She was the perfect example of Christ-like love and service. She never put her needs first and always took care of others. My close friends also know that my Mother was my best friend in the world. We loved to be together and laugh together. She was there for me at the major points in my life. She would hold me and let me cry about boys who broke my heart in high school, she was there after I got engaged and when I got married. She was there when Hayden died and helped me mourn him. She was in the room with me holding my hands when both Sage & Aurora were born.

She was also Sage & Aurora's second bed. She loved to take naps with them and hold them in her chair. They knew they could always come and sit with her and most times talk her into letting them sleep there at night with her

Her favorite place to be was with her children and especially her grandchildren. They all loved her more than anything. She will me missed by our entire family and many friends.

This is the only picture I have of her with me and Aurora. She was not one who liked having her picture taken. She taught me many things and unfortunately for me I never learned to sew. I want to be just like her and hopefully one day I will be able to make her proud of me.

I miss her everyday and think of her every second of the day. In fact, she is what keeps me going.

Two Utah Trips

Wow, it was a crazy 3 weeks! I traveled to Utah twice, once with my Mom and then once with Robert and the Kids.

The first trip was a Girls Trip for my Mom and I. I spent my days at the Stampin' Up! Convention and the evenings with my brother and his family. It was a great 5 days!

Me, Jenn, Megan an MJ at the Stampin' Up! Offices

Fireworks with my Brother and Nephews

For our second trip we went for Robert's Parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was a great weekend!

We took the kids to go see Hayden and some of Temple Square. It was so fun to see they're reaction to all the beautiful sights.

It was busy but a great 3 weeks of travel. This next year we're going to have a Staycation, I'm really looking forward to it.

Summer of Travel

Life has been crazy busy this summer. We're leaving tomorrow for our Third trip to Utah this year and Second trip this summer. Next year we're just going once. There's just been so much going on these last two months that I haven't really had time to blog about it all. I promise that when I get back I'll post all the pictures and adventures from the Summer.

Happy Birthday Sage

I can't believe that my little boy is six today! Sage has brought so much joy into our lives. I can't imagine life without him. He's growing up so fast in the last few months and I look forward to all the growing he'll do in the next year.

6 things he loves:
1. Spiderman
2. Chocolate Milk
3. Hayden & Aurora
4. His Girlfriend, Analia
5. His Grandma a.k.a. Sleeping Buddy
6. His stuffed dog Peter Parker

6 things he severely dislikes:
1. Tomatoes
2. Food touching on his plate (he gets his OCD from his momma)
3. Losing at anything
4. The Purple People Eater
5. Going to bed without a song
6. Being away from his girlfriend

Family Day

We got up bright and early today and headed to Sea World to spend a few hours riding some rides and see some animals. We arrived at 9am when they opened and stayed till 11:30 just as it was getting busy. Sage and Robert rode Shipwreck Rapids, Wild Artic and Sage's personal favorite Journey to Atlantis.

Sage is defintely a roller coaster lover, just like his daddy. I'm glad he has someone to share it with.

Mormon Battalion

We took the kids to the Mormon Battalion this week and they had a blast! After we were done playing we had a picnic across the street at Heritage Park. It was a great day!

Sea World Adventures

We wanted to keep busy this Summer, so all the kids got Sea World passes. Here's some pictures form our first two trips.

Our favorite part was defintely the NEW Dolphin Show BLUE HORIZONS. It's amazing!

Graduation

My little big boy graduated from Kindergarten. I am so proud of him! Here he is with his entire class, his teacher, Mrs. Patrick and his partner in crime, Andrew.

Kindergarten Farewell

Today is Sage's last full day of Kindergarten. He has come so far and learned so much in the last year, I am truly proud of all he has accomplished. He has a Class Party today and I'll be taking the Cap Pops I made yesterday to pass out to his classmates.

Here's what I made his Teacher.

Grad Cap Candy Pops

A few weeks ago I was blog surfing and came across THIS POST from Bakerella. I knew that I had to make them for Sage's Kindergarten Graduation Party. So today, I tackled what seemed like cake, but it turned out to be very involved and time consuming, but all in all totally worth it.

I LOVE them and am happy with how they turned out. I just hope that Sage's Teacher and Friends are happy with them.

If You Can't Beat Em'... Join Em'.

Due to some comments that were linked to very inappropriate websites, I will unfortunately have to go Private as of Monday. I'm tired of monitoring these nasty comments. If you would still like to keep up with my family please send me your email address to culaparker at yahoo dot com and I will send you an invite to view it. Make sure you check your spam folder as blogger messages almost always go there. Thanks and sorry for the inconvience.

Wonderful Weekend

It all started a few months ago when talking to my Bishop. He asked me if I had ever considered volunteering to work in The San Diego Temple once a month. I told him that I have always wanted to, but was never sure of how to go about it.

Fast forward to 5 weeks ago, I got a call from the Temple President's Secretary asking me to come to the Temple the next morning for an interview. At first, I  freaked out and couldn't figure out why the Temple President would want to talk to me, then I remembered my conversation with the Bishop and immediately calmed down. I got up and drove to the Temple and met with the President and He asked me to serve at the Temple the First Saturday of every month from 11:30 - 5:30, I accepted.

This last Saturday June 5th was my first day. While it was a little nerve racking at first, I quickly felt at ease as soon as I met all the wonderful women with whom I would be serving with. I've only know them for two days now, but they all feel like Mother's and Friends to me.

It was an amazing experience and while there were a few incidents it was easily the best day I've ever spent in the Temple(besides my wedding day). If your ever at the San Diego Temple on the first Saturday of the month, come and find me I'd love to see you!

The weekend just got better on Sunday. I was asked last week if I could teach the 7yr. old Primary class of course I jumped at the chance. I haven't been in Primary for 2 years now and it is next to Young Women's my all time favorite place to be in Church.

I had a blast with my Class. We went on a Treasure Hunt looking for various treasures and ended with the ultimate treasure the Scriptures which represents the Gospel. We then went back to our classroom and had a great time learning and sharing our treasures with each other.

After class we went to Sharing Time where we sang songs and played a game. I was also privileged to hear the new song the children are learning this year for the Primary Program. As I sat there listening to the children I was moved to tears to hear their sweet voices singing about our Heavenly Father. CLICK HERE to listen to the song and click on the words and music mp3 for I Know That My Savior Loves Me. If you haven't heard it already I guarantee you will be in tears by the end.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me exactly what I needed this weekend! He truly knows us all and loves each of us more than we could ever comprehend.