Miss Sassy

Anyone who has ever met Aurora knows that she is the sassiest girl alive. She saw this denim jacket at Target a few weeks ago and flat out insisted that she have it for her birthday outfit. Our conversation went like this:

Aurora: "Mom! Oh my goodness! LOOK at this gorgeous jacket.

Me: " Yes, Aurora. It is gorgeous."

Aurora: "I must have it so I can be a fashion girl!"

Me: "I don't know Aurora, maybe for Easter"

Aurora: " No... I want it now. You can take back all my birthday presents but I MUST have this jacket!"

Me: "Okay, are you sure?"

Aurora: "Duh, Mom!"

Here she is in her new birthday outfit that she finally got to wear this last Sunday since she's been sick the last 2 weeks.

It's a good thing she's adorable.

Little Lady

My little lady is 6 today! I can't believe it, It seems like just yesterday she was born. She has filled our home with joy and laughter and definitely keeps us on our toes. 

Aurora 

February 23, 2013

20 Questions

1. What is your favorite color? - gold

2.What is your favorite toy? - Princess Cadence My Little Pony

3.What is you favorite fruit? - Bananas & Strawberries

4. What is your favorite tv show? - My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

6. What is your favorite outfit? - Pink and Silver Christmas Dress

7. What is your favorite game? - xbox 360 Kinect Adventures

8.What is your favorite snack? - Keebler Fudge Stripe Cookies

9. What is your favorite animal? - Cheetah

10. What is your favorite song?- Call Me Maybe and Gangnam Style

11. What is your favorite book? - Goldilicious and Bad Case of the Stripes

12. Who is your best friend? - Eva

13. What is your favorite cereal? - Cookie Crisp and Cocoa Puffs

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? - Jumping on the trampoline and 

swinging 

on the tire swing

15. What is your favorite drink? - Strawberry Milk and Stawberry Lemonade

16. What is your favorite holiday? - Christmas

17. What do you take to bed with you at night? - Stuffed Princess Cadence

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? - Special K with Strawberries

19. Where is your favorite place to visit? - Disneyland

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? - A teacher

Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago today in the University of Utah Hospital ICU I gave birth to our second son, Hayden Andrew Parker. To read Hayden's story click HERE. 

Since Aurora's birthday is tomorrow we will combine the family festivities at the restaurant of Aurora's choice at Disneyland the 25th and 26th. 

Can It Be???

I can't believe that my Baby will be 6 years old next week. It seems like just yesterday we brought her home from the Hospital. 

This year we are actually forgoing a big party and will be spending 2 days at Disneyland. However she has  been asking for a slumber/tea/dance party. She's picked one friend to come over and we'll do all the girly things that Aurora has been dying to do.

I made up two invitations because Aurora has this obsession with invitations

Over The Rainbow

Aurora has been begging me to make her class some treats like the ones I used to make for Sage's classes at least once a month. Yes, I was that awesome Mom who made something totally adorable for every holiday I could come up with.

I've been putting it off all school year because my desire to craft has been on hiatus for the last 2 1/2 years. After scouring Pinterest I finally found something that I could make using MDS and Costco Photo.

I made this little cloud tag and had it printed on photo paper. I cut it out and layered it on top of some Pink Pirouette cardstock, punched two small holes with my crop-a-dile and stuck the lollipop though it. For her teacher I just turned the cloud into a tag and tied it to a giant Hershey Kiss.

 I think they turned out pretty darn cute for my first attempt back at crafting. I've got to get it together.

Eleven Years

Wow... has it really been eleven years since I married my best friend? The time has flown by but yet it seems we've known each other forever. 

Exiting the San Diego Temple after our ceremony.

Our First Dance

One Pet, Two Pets.

That's right, we are no longer a one pet home. Today we went to the shelter and picked out the cutest little dog. He's 8 months old and is shy, loving, sweet and dang cute! He has a extremely sad story. 

He was born in Mississippi and spent the first 4 months of his life roaming 2 acres in Alpine, Ca. His owners were hoarders and the county seized him and all forty of his siblings. He had every worm a dog can have and was nursed back to health at the local shelter. He has scars from his siblings attacking him while he tried to eat. he's healing nicely and the staff were sad to see him go but glad that he will now have his forever home.

We are so excited to have in our home, and show him how a pet deserves to be loved. So without further ado...

MacGyver Vader Parker. 

Sage picked the first name with a little coaxing from me. It totally fits him, he seemed to be a little mischievous when we met with him. Aurora picked the middle name. Her choice comes as no surprise since she's a Star Wars freak.

We will be bringing him home Wednesday at 4. He's having his man surgery this weekend and they want him to rest a bit before we bring him to his forever home. We'll post more pictures once he's home, this is from the website.

2013 List

Here's our family fun List for 2013.

1. Go to the Car Show(boys), Tea Party(girls)
2. Play-dates with friends
3. Go to Disneyland 2-3 more times before our passes expire in June
4. Complete 2 service projects - one down, one to go
5. Go camping we've done this twice so far
6. Go to the beach at least once a week when the weather permits
7. Play Just Dance on the xbox every Friday for family time
8. Fix up backyard
9. Go swimming at Grandma Pool's house 2-3 days a week
10. Have a girls day with Grandma Elaine
11. Go on more bike rides
12. Cuddle more
13. Regular dates for Mom and Dad
14. Regular Mommy/Daughter/Son and Daddy/Daughter/Son dates

2012 Revisited

Last year we made a list of all the stuff we wanted to do. I am happy to announce that we got it all done, except for the deck, since we moved to a new house right during the time of year that we usually take care of that.


1. Read the Book of Mormon as a family. (working on it, so far so good)
2. Buy bikes for Mom & Dad and go bike riding as a family
3. Visit family in Utah for Sage's baptism.
4. Sleepover with Grandma Mary.
5. Re-stain the deck
6. Go to Sea World twice before our passes expire in May
7. Trampoline Sleepovers
8. Go camping
9. Go to the beach more
10. Clean out and organize the garage
11. Buy annual passes to Disneyland / California Adventure and surprise Sage for his birthday with a two day trip and then go back every other month.

Tonight we will be making our 2013 list.

Goodbye 2012, Hello.... 2013!

Wow, 2012 was quite a year. The year started off with some changes for our family and ended with a fabulous opportunity for our family. Heavenly Father blessed our family more than we could have hoped for and we are extremely grateful.

We have decided to adopt a Family Theme this year. When deciding what we wanted to work on as a family I remembered THIS talk from the April 2012 General Conference.

                "Remove any of your fear with faith.
                Trust the power of God to guide you"

We will work on developing more faith and turning more over to God and let him guide us more. We are looking forward to 2013 and the lessons and blessings it will bring to our family.

Christmas Eve

Not having parents to spend Christmas with is hard for me. This year Christmas Eve was a ton of fun. We had dinner, opened pj's, and played some fun Minute to Win It games with the Hunt's.

 Sage throwing Marshmallows through a wreath. He totally dominated that game.

 Robert and I didn't fare to well with the Marshmallow toss and Aurora refused to play most of the games.

 Sage was really good at the cookie game.

 The Nut stacking game was really easy.

The rest of the evening was spent wrestling and laughing. 

Thank you Hunt Family for inviting us to share in Christmas Eve with you.

Simply Perfect

I found this today and as soon as I read it, I knew I had to share it.

Twas' 11 days before Christmas, around 9:38,
When 20 beautiful children stormed through heaven's gate.
Their smiles were contagious, their laughter filled the air.
They could hardly believe all the beauty they saw there.
They were filled with such joy, they didn't know what to say.

They remembered nothing of what had happened earlier that day.
"Where are we?" asked a little girl, as quiet as a mouse.
"This is heaven." declared a small boy. "We're spending Christmas at God's house."
When what to their wondering eyes did appear,
But Jesus, their savior, the children gathered near.
He looked at them and smiled, and they smiled just the same.
Then He opened His arms and He called them by name,
And in that moment was joy, that only heaven can bring.
Those children all flew into the arms of their King,
And as they lingered in the warmth of His embrace,
One small girl turned and looked at Jesus' face.
And as if He could read all the questions she had,
He gently whispered to her, "I'll take care of Mom and Dad."
Then He looked down on earth, the world far below,
He saw all of the hurt, the sorrow, and woe.
Then He closed His eyes and He outstretched His hand,
"Let My power and presence re-enter this land!"
"May this country be delivered from the hands of fools."
"I'm taking back my nation. I'm taking back my schools!"

Then He and the children stood up without a sound.
"Come now my children, let me show you around."
Excitement filled the space, some skipped and some ran.
All displaying enthusiasm that only a small child can.
And I heard Him proclaim as He walked out of sight,
"In the midst of this darkness, I AM STILL THE LIGHT."

Written by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA

No Words

There are no words to accurately describe how much yesterday's horrific event has affected me. This time of year is always hard for me but I can usually snap out of it for the kids but I just can't seem to snap out of it.

People have been saying that the gunman must have been severely depressed or suffering from a mental issue to be able to commit that kind of act but, it is my belief that is no excuse. It takes a heartless, animal with no soul to commit such a heinous crime. In fact calling him an animal is far too nice. He is nothing.

Yesterday after picking up kids I brought them home and snuggled them all on the couch while watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Eventually, they all went and did their own thing but it was nice to hold them so close. I keep thanking Heavenly Father for keeping my family safe and I hope that those families who are suffering the unimaginable will eventually find peace.