Parker Family Reunion 2008, Bear Lake, Utah

Whew! i'm finally getting this post up~

let me just say that this was definately the most fun our family has had, ever. isla LOVED every minute of being with her parker cousins. she and genevive were two little princess peas in a pod from the moment they met! not to mention, all of the other cousins she rolled with in the sun and sand all week. macrae loved his cousins so much that when we got back home he was shy around the dyers.

we spent every waking moment playing with the entire parker family! it's been almost 5 years since the last time we were all together. so we made the most of our week together!

brian and his family brought out the malibu boat from california...what a haul!! and we were so glad he did! let me just say that we all had a great time cruising the lake, tubing, and wakeboarding. almost all of the adults learned to wakeboard! yay! even i took a turn on the board (baby and all). although i was careful not to try anything crazy, it was glorious! did i mention even grandma and grandpa rode the tube? see, it's true! they both wore swimsuits all week and did nothing but play with their kids and grandchildren. i think they were in grandparent heaven!

we had a few adult nights getting fresh berry shakes at Le Beau's and lots of game nights. it was so fun being with everyone, making meals together, laughing, and just listening to the original parkers reminsce on their childhoods.

hopefully it won't be another 5 years before we are all together again!!

Alice in Wonderland...ballet or play?

isla spent the last 6 months practicing for alice in wonderland....lots of jete's, plie's, and learning ballet positions, and oh, don't forget learning to be a caterpillar?? yes, she was a caterpillar. although she was completely adorable, i was a little confused as to whether we were watching a ballet or a play. there was a mix of dance styles (definately NOT ballet) and oh, some dialogue?

isla did have a great time with her friends, elsie and victoria. and she loved being on stage. that's all that matters, right? here are the caterpillars backstage...

grandma and booboo each represented the grandparents. booboo took off before isla saw him (go firgure). poor brandon, he had to hold macrae throughout the entire program. what a stud!

the "little sis" gets a little older

miss isla turned 4 this year! i can't believe she's getting so old and big. from the moment she made me a mommy, i have been so in love with her. i remember feeling naked when i would leave her with brandon just to go to the store. i cried the first day i went back to work even though it was just for 4 hours. and when she was two, brandon and i visited palm desert and had a great time BUT i missed her so terribly. she's my dose of sunshine every morning.

she loves to be busy...already a budding chef, wanting to help me in the kitchen, saying things like, "only big people get to cut raw meat." she loves to help me do anything, even my chores.

last summer she learned how to swim by herself, although i think she forgot by the time summer rolled around this year. but she loves the water! she's the kind of kid who will just sit in the water until no one else is out there even if it means missing dinner.

isla's my good eater. her favorite foods include broccoli, bananas, berries, yogurt, cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms (yes, i said mushrooms)...just to name a few. she's the kind of child who would actually eat a fruit instead of a cookie any day. seriously, how did she come from ME? (although i should have known something was different about her since while i was pregnant i craved hotdogs and felt nauseated EVERY DAY.)

this past year has been filled with so many new experiences...

she had her tonsils removed just days after her 3rd birthday. it was a little traumatic for both of us. but after i fought with the doctor on the floor at Mary Bridge, we made it home and recovered on our own. since then she has not had tonsilitis once! yay! her snoring is gone, her runny noses are gone, oh, and she only saw the doc once last year! (previously we were there about once a month)

isla started ballet this year. i might be a little partial to my own child but i thought she was pretty talented with her jete's and she had a lot of fun being in the alice in wonderland production. i can only hope that she has as much rhythm as i do and will love to dance. but next year we might also try some sports. she's got brandon's perfect athletic build, so we just might have a little athlete on our hands.


she loved preschool and once it was over, taught herself to write her own name....one of her attempts to write her name. this would be cute, if it weren't on her little table.

one sad thing that happened this year is we had to say good-bye to her curls. i was giving her the usual trim one day...and well, they just didn't come back. when i see old pictures of her hair i think i might cry.

when her brother was born she became my best helper AND loves the fact that there's a little person who wants to be just like her. she loves to wrestle with macrae until he cries for mercy. and she always wants to see him as soon as she gets up in the morning.

brandon was in the Savior of the World production last winter. and isla memorized the songs as well as the acts. she never tired of watching the play and still watches the dvd once in a while.

the little missy also started primary this year. she loves being a sunbeam and her teachers often tell me how good she is in class...which makes me BEAM. when i read her bible stories she usually tells me that she knows it already from primary or that it's from "daddy's play." her favorite stories are always about the baby jesus.

and let's not forget her best quote last year from a prayer "please bless us that we can be jesus guys."

isla loves princesses! barbie princess, disney princess, she's not particular. but she also memorizes who their princes are. she also loves to play dress up.

of course, meme is still her best friend.


so this year when i told her she could invite friends from school to her birthday party, she said she just wanted to have her cousins and a pinata...oh, and it had to be a princess party.






HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG SISTER!!

now, who are you callin' fat?

macrae is getting soooo big! and i don't mean that in a "he's getting older" kind of way. well, he is getting older. officially, 9 months now. his first word is "isla" though sometimes it sounds more like "ida." and he has 5 teeth..three on the bottom and two on the top. the top teeth are growing on the left side of his mouth and he looks like a jack-o-lantern. very funny. it also seems important to note that he is crawling. to some this might seem like a simple 9-month-old act. but for this 26 (or more?) pound wonder of a child, it's no easy feat, i'm sure. also, he is cruising on the furniture and letting go, testing the balancing waters. he tries to stand up from sitting, which is a very humerous sight (especially when naked)!
last night after dinner i decided to hose him off in the sink since he was covered in orange. here's a few (okay, more than a few...) shots of him, just incase you don't believe what i say about how big he is.

this one kind of shows you his jack-o-lantern smile

good, bad, and ugly

good: breaking news! we are pregnant again!!
bad: i'm pregnant again
ugly: it's unplanned...um, having babies 15 1/2 months apart...?

good: i love my babies/kids so much!!
bad: being pregnant makes me too tired to enjoy them sometimes
ugly: being pregnant makes me feel too sick to enjoy much of anything

good: being pregnant during the summer means being tan and feeling the warmth of the sun
bad: being pregnant this summer means another summer that i can't wakeboard (remember, i was prego last summer too?)
ugly: being pregnant again this summer means maternity swimsuits and a scary prego body

good: this pregnancy has been fairly easy...not as much nausea, and i even ran a 5K last saturday! man, was i slow but it was fun!! and nice to know i can still run (okay, very slow jog, at least)
bad: i'm too tired to go for runs
ugly: i also started working again. man, am I TIRED!


sheesh, i hope this one is a girl!! i have so many cute girl clothes and shoes from isla that could really use some daylight!! and let's be honest...two parker boys so close in age could really be the END of me.