Summer Fun Part II (Oregon Addition)

For the second installment of our summer fun series, I'll cover July.  We started off with our big trip for the year.  Since Sam's grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year, the entire family traveled to Oregon for a few days of fun and celebration.  I was a little concerned since it was Joseph's first time to fly, but he was a champ.  I didn't get any pictures of him on the plane, but this is how we killed some of the time on our layover.  Yup, he ditched the shoes as soon as he could and I really didn't feel like fighting that battle in the middle of the airport.  He was great on the plane only getting slightly fussy once and sleeping on all but one flight. 

While in Oregon, we ate with the family every night.  When I say we ate with the family, I'm talking about 25-40 people per meal.  Since Sam's grandparents are ranchers (or at least were until recently), we ate some kind of grilled beef pretty much every night which is great with me. 

It was so much fun to have all of the cousins together.  Between Sam's grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, we had people representing Oregon, Washington, California, Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida there.  Of course, a few games of volleyball took place.  What's a family get together without a little friendly competition?

Oh, and what family gathering is complete without a beer truck?  Yup, it was present every night.

While we were there, Joseph got to ride a horse for the first time.  He has been around horses many times, and even sat on the back of a couple, but this was his first real-deal ride.  You couldn't wipe the smile off of that little boy's face.

Since we weren't too far from the McNary Dam, we decided to take Joseph over to watch the salmon swim up the fish ladders around the electric plants.  If you have never witnessed this, you should.  I'm no fish expert, but I'm pretty sure the fish in this picture aren't salmon, but they were still swimming against the current.  Unfortunately, it was the wrong time of year to witness the baby fish being brought back downstream which is even more of a spectacle.  While we were there, we also toured the electric plant, but they have really high security and you aren't even allowed to take your phone in there (you even have to present a photo id to get in).  Sam and his brothers were in heaven touring that place and talking to the guard on duty (us girls laughed thinking they were probable the highlight of the guards day since they were actually asking pertinent questions instead of the regular tourist questions).

This picture was taken the night we sat up all the tables and chairs at Sam's uncle's house.  It really melts my heart because of what I overheard Sam's grandma telling the man in the picture.  She said, "This is our great-grandson, Joseph.  His parents lost a little girl, then adopted him.  He's a very special little boy."  I know it's a simple statement and it's how most great-grandparents feel, but it's still nice to hear that your child is loved unconditionally by their family. 

Joseph also found some cars to play with that night, so he was a happy boy.

The night of the anniversary dinner, all of the family arrived early to take pictures.  Of course we had the whole family shot.  Yes, you are seeing that correctly.  Just from Sam' grandparents down, there are 38 family members with two more on the way (one has since made his appearance).  Sam's grandparents had four children who each had three children.  Add spouses, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and a family can get big really quickly. 

Just the children.

Grandchildren.

Great-Grandchildren.  Yup, ours is the one crying. 

We took a picture of just the Parks family.

And a couple of just our little branch of the Parks family.

Over all, it was a great night celebrating an amazing couple.  They truly are an example of what a marriage should be.

The anniversary party was on a Saturday, so most people flew home the next day.  Luckily we didn't since Joseph developed a sinus infection (his first ear infection of any kind) while we were up there and needed a couple of days for the meds to kick in before he flew again.  Thank goodness for walk-in clinics!  Once we learned about his sinus infection paired with teething molars, it explained why  he was acting like this during the party.

And insisted on sleeping on top of me at the hotel (he normally doesn't even want me to rock him to sleep).

By the last night, he was ok with just being in bed with us (still a shocker).

Since we knew this was our vacation for the summer and had decided to stay a couple of extra days, Sam's grandpa took us to look at a cattle chute and pens designed by THE Temple Grandin!  As an early childhood educator and farm kid, I was extremely, geeky interested in seeing this!  As boys who grew up on a ranch, Sam and his brother, Ty, were too.  We even left Joseph at the house with grandma and great-grandma while we went (he wasn't too upset since they feed him lots of ice cream).  Of course I was so excited I forgot my camera, but I did take a few pictures with my phone (I have lots more for anyone interested).

After our return from Oregon, I started twice a week doctor visits (not because anything is wrong, just because I'm considered high risk), so our lives have really slowed down.  I have a couple more blog posts floating around in my head, but we'll see how many actually get written.

Spring/Summer Fun Part I

Since I am obviously not going to get around to writing a blog post for each thing we did this spring/summer, you're stuck with a couple of longish posts highlighting some of our most memorable activities. 

In April, Joseph got to meet Pistol Pete for the first time.  Luckily, he wasn't scared of him, just curious.  This might not seem like a big deal to most of you, but my fellow loyal OSU alums understand that his first Pistol Pete meeting needed documented. 

Shortly after Joseph's birthday, we went camping with Ben and Kim at Keystone Lake.  It was Joseph's first camping trip and the first time we got to use our new family size tent. 

Of course, we took Bella and Rufus which made Joseph happy.

This might be my new favorite picture of Joseph and Sam.  I love how Joseph is pulling Sam's face closer to him.

A couple of weeks later, we went camping again.  This time we were with three other families and had a total of nine boys and one girl present (as far as kids go)!  We went to the Great Salt Plains, but decided Joseph was a little young to actually go digging for crystals, so we skipped that part.

Our little guy is a great camper!  It helps that he loves to be outdoors.

In June, we took mommy and me swim lessons (which are a lot of work for mommy) with our friend Ethan and his mommy.

In mid-June, Joseph and I were in a car wreck that totaled our car.  It's crazy how having kids changes the way you think about things.  My first thought was "the air bag just went off and hit my stomach" my immediate second thought was "Joseph is in the back seat."  We all escaped with me just having a bruise on my upper stomach (luckily, Sarah sits really low) and some seatbelt burn.  Since Joseph is still rear-facing (and will be until he's 12 ;), he didn't realize anything happened and didn't have a single bruise.  In case you are curious as to what happened, a college girl didn't know where her exit was to get onto I-35 and came into my lane at near highway speeds.  Thank you, Subaru and your amazing safety ratings!  And yes, we went and got everybody checked out and we were all fine.  After a long wait (who knew Subarus are so popular right now), I finally got my replacement last week. 

The weekend after my wreck, Sam and I took Joseph to Nash to see wheat harvest.  Boy did we have a little boy in tractor heaven!  He helped Daddy plow.

Watched the combines with Grandpa Parks.

And even rode a combine with Daddy and Uncle Mat.

Great-grandpa Parks was there too. 

On June 25, we celebrated Joseph's Gotcha Day (the day we legally got him) by going to the Wondertorium (a children's museum here in Stillwater) with some friends, playing outside with shaving cream,

and his favorite treat, ice cream.  (And a hair cut a couple of days later.  Man, does it grow fast!)

A summer post wouldn't be complete without documenting what we do almost daily around here... play in the backyard.  Have I mentioned that this little boy loves being outside?!

Ok, now that I'm caught up through the end of June, I can get to work on my next super long post.

Has it Really Been 9 Years

9 years!  Has it really been that long?  Sometimes it seems like just last week I was excitedly preparing to vow to love this man for the rest of my life in front of our family and friends.  Most days, it simply feels so right to be together that I can't remember what life was like before.  We've had our ups and downs (as all marriages do) and faced challenges I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy (infertility and infant loss are not for the weak of heart or mind), but our relationship is stronger because of it.  Through all of our challenges, I was and still am so thankful to have my rock to help me through (when asked how we do it, I often tell people we turn to God, each other, and our family, otherwise we would be just another statistic of couples torn apart by these circumstances). 

I think part of what makes Sam an amazing husband is how deeply he loves his family.  His concern for the safety of me and the kids is evident (and a little annoying sometimes ;), and truly comes from the bottom of his heart.  His desire to have kids is enduring (not every man is as on board with fertility treatments and adoption {both extremely long, tiring processes} as Sam was/is).  Seeing the tears in his eyes when we visit Aubrey's grave or when he saw Sarah for the first time in her ultrasound turns my heart to mush and seeing him play with Joseph and the love they share is the highlight of my day. 

A few weeks ago, our sermon at church was over being Godly wives (don't worry, being Godly husbands was the next week :).  As I sat there overcome with how much room for improvement I have, Sam leaned over and whispered, "Thank you for being such a great wife.  You are a crown that I wear proudly."  Talk about turning on the waterworks.  Sam, the truth is, I'm only the wife I am because of the husband you are.  Thank you for everything you do for me and our family!  Thank you for working hard every day to provide for us.  Thank you for being supportive of me staying home with the kids and understanding that comforting and playing come above housework (although I probably need to work on that a little).  Above all, thank you for loving me more than I'll ever deserve.  I look forward to enjoying many more years of wedded bliss with you!

July 30, 2004

 

July 6, 2013

 

His First Easter

I know, I know, you're probable thinking "Doesn't she realize Easter was three months ago!"  Yes, I do.  But you see, it was my baby's first Easter and I need to document in on the ol blog so I can print it out in his book and remember it forever. 

Our church held their children's service and Easter egg hunt the Saturday before Easter and we thought it was a perfect opportunity for Joseph to enjoy the festivities.  This was the first time he had sat in the sanctuary with us since he was three or four months old (when he decided that the people around us would rather hear him talk than the preacher).  Luckily it was kid directed (lively and quick), so he did a pretty good job.  No, I didn't take pictures during the service, this is while we were waiting for it to start.

After the service, we went outside.  The little guys and gals hunt wasn't much of a hunt, but more of a run around and grab as many eggs off of the ground as you can free for all.  Joseph crawled to the nearest egg, shook it, realized it made noise, and was finished.  I grabbed another egg that happened to be close and he was more than happy with his two pink Easter eggs. 

The next morning, his Easter basket was waiting for him when he woke up.  I might have gone a little over board, but I've dreamed of making Easter baskets for my kids for a long time.

Of course, his favorite items were a truck and ball.  Go figure, this kid is all boy!

Somehow I managed to not get any pictures other than his Easter basket ones on the actual Easter Sunday, but just picture our little guy looking all dapper hanging out in the church nursery then coming home to a meal of ham and all the fixings prepared by yours truly.  Overall, I think he had a great first Easter.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I see a birthday boy looking at me.  For Joseph's first birthday party, I decided to pick one of his favorite books and use it for our theme.  Since I had been taking his monthly pictures on an Eric Carle fabric, Brown Bear, Brown Bear was a logical choice.  I tried not to go too over the top since it was, after all, just a birthday party for a baby, but I still had fun with the theme.  Since his birthday is in mid-May and it normally isn't too terribly hot by then, we decided to have a cookout at the house and invite family and friends over.  It ended up being hotter than anticipated, but that's ok, we still enjoyed everyone's company even if we were all in the house instead of spread out in the back yard.

My friend, Jen, did an awesome job on a cake that included some of the animals from the book. 

The rest of the desert/kid refreshment table.  We had to incorporate balloons somewhere since Joseph loves them so much.  Did you know you can buy balloons like this at Dollar Tree for $1 each (and they will replace them for free if they happen to come untied from the weight and float away in the parking lot)?

For snacks, I found little kid friendly treats to go along with a few characters from the book then labeled containers using vinyl I cut with my silhouette.  It's hard to see, but the light brown objects are smiley faces. 

 

The main course table.  We served brisket, seasoned mashed potatoes, baked beans, rolls, chips and queso, and a fruit platter.  Man, was it tasty!  My mother-in-law makes a mean brisket!

Joseph's monthly photos were proudly displayed on the mantle.  I love how they turned out!

A canvas I painted, multi-colored pom-pom balls, and other Brown Bear type books also adorned the mantle.

Since our little guy always chooses ice cream over cake, we thought it was fitting to get an ice cream cake for his smash cake. Too bad I didn't think to let it set out a little bit so it would be soft for him.  He wasn't too sure about it at first,

so we helped him out a little.

He quickly decided he liked what we were offering and tried to tear into it.

We didn't mind him getting his 1st birthday shirt that I made him all dirty because we knew he would be changing after his cake smash.  Since so many family and close friends were present at his party, we decided it was the perfect time to make a little announcement.  So, we took him to his room, cleaned him up, and he appeared with a second shirt that I made him.  This picture makes me laugh, but I assure you he isn't upset about getting a little sister (because he still doesn't realize what's going on), he was just wanting me to put him down and people to stop taking his picture. 

We then opened way too many gifts (that boy is spoiled loved!) with the help of friends.  You can tell it was May in Oklahoma because the weather is on in the background and Mike Morgan has a severe weather tie on :).

Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated Joseph's special day with us!  It means more than you will ever know!

Joseph's 12 Month Update (a Couple Months Late)

I realize that Joseph is already 14 months old, but I want to write a quick 12 month post for him so I can have his entire first year printed into a book since I'm not doing a good job keeping up with a baby book.  Since the hubs got me a new computer for our anniversary, I should be able to do a better job keeping everyone updated on the Parks family happenings now :). 

On Saturday, May 18, our little Joseph turned one year old.  At the time, he would only walk about three steps between two people.  He had six teeth (four on top, two on bottom).  He was still getting a night time bottle, but drank out of a sippy cup the rest of the day.  He had completely weaned himself off of baby food and ate anything and everything we were eating. 

Joseph - 12 Months



(Since his birthday was on a Saturday, I decided to use this picture instead of trying to get another picture in a solid white onesie.)

 

 

 We met up with Cousin Bryar at Papa Joe's house one afternoon.  This is how they felt about taking pictures.

We also visited their Great-Grandparents McMahan while we were there.