November

So I am having technical difficulites with this post and the pictures staying by what is written about them. You'll just have to muddle through.

We reandomly made a rocket ship cake that Mark had seen a picture of in a magazine. This kids don't really eat cake, but they had fun watching me do most the work while snacking on the m&ms. We have had another awesome month and this time I have a few pictures thanks to Uncle Bryson. For Christmas this year we got wood flooring and Santa delivered it a little early. Our awesome neighbor Milas and the "Monkey Uncles" helped out with the install. The kids had a blast with the whole project and we even finished up early enough to make it to the Air Force show. It was there that we witnessed the coolest jet ever- but no pictures of that sorry.

Thanksgiving was fun and entirely too short. We spent the day at Grandpa and Grandma P's. I just have to say that fried turkey is so easy and ridiculously yummy. Friday we came home and Grandpa and Grandma B and the monkey uncles again came for the weekend. We took a trip out to the new Big Bridge by the Hoover Dam. We weren't the only ones with the idea either. Megan had no fear and kept trying to lean over to see. Mark likes to keep his feet on the ground.

October

October was another awesome month and I am again totally without cool pictures. To start off we had a visit from Papa and Mimi. We had so much fun spending time with them. They treated the whole family to a visit to Tuacahn to see Crazy for You. The kids watched the whole thing- we were so impressed. We spent most of our time just relaxing and visiting.

The weekend after they left was the primary program. Both grandparents came to watch Mark. He loves singing and was one of the youngest kids to know most of the words to the songs.

We had a family home evening about the armor of God. Our little warriors- Mark above and Megan below have their helmet, shield, sward, breastplate, loin cloth and shoes on. They each got to take turns having the whole armor on while the "fiery darts of the adversary" aka marshmallows were being thrown at them.
Of course we ended the month with Halloween. Megan was a purple fairy princess and Mark was a fireman. He really wanted an ax and a hose but we never got around to making them. They loaded up on candy at the trunk or treat and on Sunday we went and decorated cookies with some neighbors.
Oh and I keep forgetting to post that we found out we are having a baby boy. Its funny this pregnancy is exactly the same as my pregnancy with Mark- down to the due date and everything. I wonder if they'll look the same too?

Remember September

Boy does time fly. I'm gonna have to go all the way back to August to catch you up on whats been happening. The last weekend of August we had our Parrish Family Reunion. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast, I don't think Mark stopped bouncing the whole time. We started off by setting up a Summer Christmas because Aunt Randi wont be here for the holidays we celebrated a little early. Mark could hardly stand it that he had to wait until Sunday morning to open them.

Saturday while the boys golfed the girls had a little spa morning. Megan was tickled to get her nails painted. After naps we went for family pictures and a little mini golf. Sunday was church, water games and some plain old family fun.

That Thursday was our anniversary. Mike surprised me with dancing lessons- which were quite the experience. The next weekend my parents came into town. Mike and I got to go on another date. Two in one week- we almost ran out of things to say to each other (ha! I don't think I ever run out of things to say). We played and relaxed and had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa. They even took Megan shoe shopping- every pair she tried on she said "I like it!"

We took a trip to the temple because Megan kept asking to go live there. We went and walked around and explained to her that we just visit.

A night of pizza making- the kids a such good helpers.

Mark giving Grandma B the greatest form of flattery- imitation. Nothing scratches a back like a spatula.

Slow Sunday Evenings

So Sunday was an interesting day for us. I played the organ for the first time in my entire life for the congregation. Nervous doesn't even begin to express what I was feeling. I was also accompaning the musical number. Needless to say I was relieved when we were done with church. It actually all went really well. Mike said I sounded good- I can point out every mistake I made. Considering my total lack of organ experience I think the fact that I made it through all three songs without fainting should be considered a sucess.

Anyway, we totally crashed on Sunday afternoon- everyone took naps. We enjoyed a nice dinner together and just as we were all finishing Mike turns to me and asks, "What do you want to do with the rest of the evening?" As we sat there trying to come up with something remotely exciting- fate intervened and we heard this really loud exploding sound. When I heard another equally loud one I ran to the front of our home and looked out my bedroom window. What did I see? Only our neighbor's garage completely engulfed in flames. The aforementioned boredom was completely gone. I ran to the phone called 911 and (I still can't believe this) I got put on HOLD! Yes for thirty seconds I sat there on hold while I watched my neighbor's car blowing up in his garage all the while thinking that he was in there with it becuase he always works on his car on the weekend. Well when I finally got through the nice lady assured me that units were already responding. They got there within a minute or so. By that time I had seen my neighbor run into his backyard to get his dog, so I knew he was okay. Thankfully his mother was not at home so she was okay too. Thirty seconds after the calvary arrived the house looked like this.

About two minutes later it looked like this.

It took them about thirty more minutes before the fire in the attic was completely out. I was way impressed with how efficient the firemen were. It was amazing to watch. By the end of the night we had four fire engines and one ambulance here. They even had the really long ladder truck here with the ladder extended so they could check on the attic fire. The bomb squad showed up- probably because of all the exploding things in his garage. The whole neighborhood was out to watch and I met people I have never seen before.

This is what the poor guys garage looked like about two hours later. Yes that is his prize mustang in the middle burnt to a crisp and the supposed cause of this whole thing.

Crews were here until about one or two this morning wetting the whole house down and then the construction crew came in a boarded up the garage and two windows. Our neighbor has a long road in front of him. Luckily he has family close to help. We are just glad he is okay. It turned out to be quite an evening. I wonder what we will do next Sunday?

Summer Update

So here are some random things in random order about our life lately.

Megan is getting quite a bit more girly. She has what we call her Barbie voice- it expresses great excitement at everything. She has begun the long journey of potty training. The end is not in sight yet, but we'll get there. She has started assigning emotion to her toys. She woke up the other day and informed me that her baby was mad at her- go figure.

Mark has figured out his whole life. He is going to be a train engineer when he grows up. He is going to marry Lydia because she is so beautiful. They are going to have "two kids that they are going to teach." He told me, "When I grow up I'll go on an adventure with my wife. We'll get a babysitter for our kids and go on an adventure."

Spaghetti-o's are a new favorite in our house. Megan is a fan of any food lately. She discovered yesterday that she likes sweet pickles- really likes them. She is the only two year old I know that asks for more salad.

Mark told me the other day -and this will only make sense if you know Disney- "Mom Flo is a fish and a car!"

Megan's hair is getting long enough to do some fun things. Its always in her way. The minute she wakes up she is asking for a bow so she can get it out of her face.

Mark took swim lessons this summer. He did great and is a lot more confident in the water. His teacher was awesome.

The really big news I saved for last. Mike got his engineering license!!! It doesn't sound that great in print but it is a huge accomplishment. We are really proud of all his hard work to get it- the tests, work hours and all the time assembling the application. This will hopefully open up a lot of opportunities to him.

Whew!

We have been on the run again. Mark, Megan and I made the trip back to Utah. We had an awesome time camping with Grandma and Grandpa and the uncles at Granite Flats. The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast just puttering around in nature. I of course, took no pictures except for this one on the way home in the car with my phone.

We drove back to Mesquite and spent a couple days with the other Grandma and Grandpa. The kids swam and played in the sand. We tried sparklers, but the made them both a little nervous.
Sunday and Monday we spent at home just enjoying the holiday and recovering from all our fun the week before. Having awesome family really just makes life so much fun.

The Wisdom of Mark

Mark: Hey, Mom do you know that when you go to Disneyland all your dreams come true?

Mom: Really? Where did you learn that?

Mark: From a movie.

June So Far

We just got back from a fun visit to Utah. We had our family reunion and celebrated my Dad's birthday. The kids had a blast going to the zoo, This is the Place, a hike, a picnic, Hill Air Force Museum and tons of fun play time.

Here is a quick update on the last couple of weeks.

At home our prince and princess trying to dance.

We had a fun family home evening about the tree of life. Do you see the tree, the iron rod and the light.
Megan took a big tumble and split her eye open. We took a trip to the doctor but no stitches. Its black and blue and green now, but its healing nicely.
Mark got his first wasp sting while playing on our slip-n-slide. Man do those things swell up! He handled it like a champ.

Memorial Day

Awesome Day. No pictures, but we had a great time. We camped out in our backyard last night to the sound of the freeway and our neighbors ac. The kids were in heaven. Pancakes for breakfast thanks to dad. A quick trip to Wal-Mart to get a slip and slide which we promptly set up when we got home. Mark loved it, Megan not so much. Near the end of the morning Mark was kind of getting the idea of how to jump on your belly, but mostly it was a lot of slipping and not much sliding. Megan enjoyed a long nap (because you don't get that much sleep in a tent) and Mark was treated to a Diego movie. We inventoried all of our 72-hour kits stuff, went shopping for some things we didn't have. We ended the day with a BBQ with some great friends, great food and great weather (it was only 85 after the sun went down). Camping, pancakes, water slide, movies, preparedness, and good company- what more could you ask for?

Mother's Day

Megan's nursery teacher at church prepared the cutest little mother's day gift for the kids to give to their Moms. Megan however was not in the mood to accommodate the camera.

Her cute little flower had a sour puss face in the middle complete with a bonk on the head. I am still laughing about it. Isn't she a cutie?

Megan's 2

Megan turned two on Saturday. We had celebrated in Utah the week before with my family and on Saturday we had Grandma and Grandpa P over. I made her some dress up things and found some gloves for her and she wanted to wear it all at once. Between the dress ups and the new sunglasses she was really workin' it.

If you asked her how old she was going to be she would tell you "Three." That explains a lot about her- she wants to be older and bigger and doing all the same things that Mark is. She loves wrestling with Dad and Mark. She is a good tickler. She enjoys her dolls except when they wont stay in their blankets. She is my little organizer and loves arranging things. Give her a stack of cards and a bag and she can be happy just taking them out and putting them back in. Her favorite colors are pink and yellow. She wears at least three different pairs of shoes every day (not all of them are hers either). She is happy and content nearly every minute that she is not being bothered by Mark. We are so lucky to have such a cute little girl in our family.

The beach

On Sunday afternoon of our trip we went to the Huntinton Beach. We got there a little later than planned because our kids had taken really long naps so we only ended up staying for a little over an hour. There was a storm rolling in which made it really beautiful, but Megan is not a huge fan of the wind.

She refused to touch the water and spent most of the time bundled in a hotel towel on the sand. I loved it because she is usually not a snuggler, but she let me hold her for quite a long time.

Mark was in heaven as soon as he learned that there was no way a shark could get him if he was just jumping the waves or playing on the sand. Mike and Mark set about building the best sand castle ever- the engineer and his protege.

Megan relaxed a little bit near the end and we played in the sand with our matching pink painted piggies.

Mark and Mike played in the waves and then broke out Mike's birthday present- a new baseball glove and played catch. It was a really fun time.

DISNEYLAND!!!

Wahoo! We went to Disneyland for our first official family vacation. It was an experience.We had a bit of a slow start due to Mom forgetting her ID and needing that to get our tickets. So this is Mark waiting patiently while Dad runs back to the car to get Mom's wallet.
We got into the park and began planning our day. Megan and Mark had a whole lot to say about what they wanted to see. Mark was mostly worried about everything being scary. We did a lot of reassuring. Saturday was pretty busy, but we got a lot of the lesser loved rides in. The kids had the most fun on the train that goes around the park. The parade was their other favorite thing. Those dancers really put on a good show. I was amazed.
Sunday we went to church and then to the beach (I'll post about the beach later- I took a ton of pictures). We stayed at La Quinta Inn and I was so impressed with the meals I was able to make with just a microwave. Here is our fabulous Sunday dinner- microwavable mac and cheese, hot dogs, corn and mandarin oranges. That's like all the food groups out of a can or the microwave.
Monday we went back to Disneyland. While Mike and Mark went on some big stuff like a roller coaster and Dumbo, Megan and I met some princesses. She got totally shy as soon as she saw them (notice the finger in the mouth) but they were really nice to her.
We popped over to California adventure in the afternoon and really the only highlight there was the Muppet 3D movie. Mark is so handsome in his glasses. It was a great trip. We had a lot of fun. The kids survived all the waiting in line like champs. Taking a day off in between our days at Disneyland proved to be the smartest thing we did. It gave us all a chance to rest and the kids were ready to go back to the park the next day. We ended our trip getting a light saber for Mark, some Minnie ears for Megan and some theme park lolly pops. It happened to be Mike's birthday and we were going to celebrate with dinner but because everyone was pretty pooped we postponed to the next night. We hopped in the car at around 4:15. The kids were asleep by 4:17 and we got home around 8:45 that night. It was awesome!

State Fair

So we took a trip to the state fair a couple of weekends ago. We met Grandparents P there. We had a great time. The only downer was that the pig races didn't happen but other than that it was great.

Mark and Megan loved the rides.

Megan completely inhaled her corn dog and even ate some of Mike's too. I guess we did have another downer- we all got a stomach flu from the fair. Mark had it that night, Mike the next night and Megan the night after that. I was lucky and only got a fever, but I did have to clean up after everybody else so its a toss up.
Here Megan is looking at the baby animals. There was so much to see and smell. All the animals were cute. Mark's favorite was the mama pig and all the babies. The kids really enjoyed all of it. We went to Mesquite after the fair and had a great weekend celebrating Mike's birthday and having fun.

Even super heroes have chores!

Oregon Vacation

Mike had to go to Oregon for work training at the beginning of March. I was pretty bummed because he was going to be gone for my birthday. It turned out that I could go with him- my parents were awesome and watched the kids. It was the best birthday present ever. We were staying in Eugene and I got to explore a lot of the city. It is really a cool place. They had miles of walking trails along their river and a nice downtown area. The first night there we headed out to the beach. It had been raining all day, but let up just as we got there.

I convinced Mike that we had to at least get our feet wet even though it was cold. He had never been in the Pacific Ocean.

It was freezing and as you can see we weren't very good at watching the waves- our pants were soaked too. We saw some seals playing in the water and got to watch the sun set.

The other nights we were there we saw a movie, explored the town and had some really great dinners at the local restaurants. On our way back to the airport we stopped by the Portland Temple- I didn't get a picture, but it is one of the prettiest in my opinion. The whole trip was so much fun, we had a great time.