Trip to Grandma & Grandpas' Houses

I have gotten so far behind in my blogging....so little time, too much to do...

When Chase had a couple weeks off for the summer break, we took a random trip to our parents' houses.  We flew to my parents' then drove 6 hours to Chase's family, then flew home from there.  We loved it but always feel like we could use another week or two with everybody.  Here are just a few pictures of our trip. 

First off, I wanna recognize Chase & his brilliance!  This is my SIL with her little man, Kasen, & the one who captured this beauty-Chase!  He has been getting into panoramic and HDR photography and so this was him trying out the panoramic technique (he took 3 different pictures lengthwise and put them together using photoshop). I don't have any idea how he got that dog to not move. :)

 This woman (and camera) are so special to me.  That is my grandmother and this camera was her father's.  My grandmother gave this to me and I took it in a heartbeat.  I love how she kept it over the years and was so willing to hand it down to me.  Thanks, Grandma.  I love you.

 And the other half.

We went down to the river for a picnic & some jet skiing.

 

My other grandparents were in town for a short while from their long work trip.  After serving a full time mission at the Nauvoo Temple, they set out on a year long journey working for a company that sells steaks & other meat products to Walmart.  They have driven to all the southeastern states and now are traveling north stopping in all the coastline states including Washington DC.  They grill steaks and distribute  them up for samples outside of Walmart.  Yes, they are a HARD WORKING couple. I admire them so much for that.

And in case you were wondering, after a year long of grilling steaks my grandfather sure knows how to cook to perfection. I got a taste of that!

Darn that, technology!!!!!  I have a love, but mostly hate, relationship with it.  I tend to think I would love to live back in the day when all we had were books and rakes.  You either read or worked. I like simplicity. So when I walked into the living room at my parents house, you could imagine how flabbergasted I was to see this! Yes, every one of them had a phone, IPAD, or computer in their hands.

(if you can't tell, the little one in the middle of the above picture is my Sailor...arghh, already old enough to figure out the computer)

I loved watching Sailor help her Grandma make some blackberry pies from freshly picked blackberries from the bushes outside.

Kasen helped too. :)

Goof Ball

One of my favorite parts of this trip (as usual) was getting to casually converse with family.  One of our conversation was trying to come up with some catchy names for all the members of our family.  Names that all the grand-kids could use when referring to Gma & Gpa S, Aunt Tierney, & Uncle Sawyer for example. These are several that we came up with & we were definitely having some fun with it:

Grandpa Parrish: "Big Papa Par" or "Papa Par" for short
Grandma Shanna: "Nana Shan", "Grandma Shan," & "Sha Nana"
Kalvin: "Unc-Kal"
Macey: "Auntie Mace"
Madison: "Aunt Madi"
Payten: "Uncle Payt"
Sawyer: "Uncle Soy"
Tierney: "Aunt T" or "Aun-T"

We've decided my family likes to shorten everything hence all the incomplete names.  Tierney for instance has probably been called "Tierney" only a handful a times in her life.  From the moment she was born she was "Tier-Bo", then "Tier", then "T-Bo," now it's "T"....and just "T."  :)  We love her and love all the fun we have together......


This is when we packed our bags and jumped in the car & headed to the other Grandma & Grandpa's house!  We are so happy to have so much family that loves and supports us.....AND will drive 6 hours to come pick us up. :)

 

The next post will be the remaining part of our summer trip back to our homes.

Turning 3 Under the Sea

When I asked Sailor what kind of birthday cake she wanted, her first response was "a Sally cake."  Sally is a character from the Tim Burton claymation movie, "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

 If you don't know what I'm talking about click the link.......Now, you all are probably thinking that that is a tad far from typical for a 3 year old girl's top choice for a birthday cake, and that may or may not be her mother's fault (that movie is one of my guilty pleasures). All that aside though, she's funny in that way- she likes creepy things.  I've decided she gets it from Chase because he may or may not have been that one kid in your class in elementary school that drew pictures of people getting "chainsawed" into pieces & the like ..........for those who know Chase I think that's hilarious because it just isn't him at all (luckily).

A couple months ago when Sailor got hooked on "The Nightmare Before Christmas,"  she told us she wanted to be Sally for Halloween.  This was a good reason to tell her she should pick a different birthday cake, so it was pretty obvious to me what her second choice would be: "Ariel."

I put together a little party for her with just a few of her friends.  I wished we could have had all her little friends over though :(. Darn apartment space.

The Invite

 

The point of the streamers was to make it look like we were under the sea.  So the doorways were filled with streamers like above.  The kids loved it!

 We also had a bubble machine running as they walked in, and wow, that was worth the $6 bucks it cost for that little gadget. Kids loved that as well.

Sailor's reaction to the bubble machine.

 The friends!

Dallin, Kelsi, Adelyn, Seryn, Sailor, Spencer, James, & Roman

The party table.

 For the table I tried to decorate it with articles from "Ariel's Cave." I was pretty proud of myself for the fork in the candlestick detail.  Do you remember that scene?

 

The "dinglehoppers."  My girls love this word and laugh when they hear it or say it.

 I didn't have a statue, so I thought a portrait of Eric would suffice.

 The party favors were these little jars that had a seashell in it that obtained a piece of "Ariel's Voice" inside.  We did a scavenger hunt to find them and at the end was a little simple poem explaining what they were suppose to do with them (the kids didn't care even a little to hear it but, dang it, I thought it was cute). :) They were to take the seashell home and keep it safe from Ursula.  Next time they were to see Ariel, their job was to take the jarred seashell to her so she could sing again!

 

The cake.

 These shoes have been Sailor's first choice for a gift. She has been asking for them for a couple months now. 

 So, I made her a costume to go along with it: Minnie Ears & Dress.  She has really liked dressing up so she love it.

And....well, Seryn is just sweet.  

Nothing else to say except thanks to all the little friends (& moms) who came.  We love having great friends to share these special days with!

A Little Out of the Ordinary

I grew up in a small town. Well, to be more accurate, I grew up on the far outskirts of a very small town.  Growing up in our small 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house (oh, did I mention 9 people lived there???!....it's the truth), I didn't appreciate so much that I had to share a room with my three sisters & get on the bus 1hr & 30 min before school started.  I also didn't care that we lived just under 15 miles away from our school.  Have you seen the movie, "We Bought a Zoo"?  I happen to watch it with my family back at home for the first time, and for those who haven't seen it, the zoo they had bought was out of town and the closest store was a Target that was 10 whole minutes away from their home.....in the movie, they refer to this Target as the "ten-minute Target." As my family & I watched this, all of us started laughing at the line.  Sarcastically we'd say things like..."haha, Target is 10 minutes away....kill me next time I have to take THAT drive...bother!"

The truth is, any Target around our humble little town is about 1hr and 20 minutes......so you understand why our sympathy was absent.

Anyways, back to the point of this post:

Now that I have moved away & have grown up a bit, I appreciate my childhood home & environment soooo much more.  When I go home to visit my family, part of me longs to return there with my family & live the way that I did.  I learned how to be patient, hard-working, adaptable, & how to sing by practicing in the comfort of our 15-passanger van- the place we spent a VERY good portion of our waking hours in :) (ok I was trying to be little comical about the singing, but we really did sing...ALL THE TIME....whether or not we were any good). 

...ok back to the point, again:
This last quick trip back to my parent's house,  I saw so many beautiful things that I hadn't appreciated in the past. One morning I got up right before the sun rose just to get out and get a few shots of the farm.  Here are a few of my favorites.....& then a couple more. :)

The chicken coop. 

 The cows looked AMAZINGly beautiful to me.  (I think I've been in AZ for too long).

 the paintball course.

And then there's the 25 year old 4-wheeler. I'm surprised we never named her.  Chase took this picture of us and I'm so glad he did.  Having the girls out there with me was something special, even though it may look like Seryn's reaching for her dad, begging him to rescue her. :)



So, to finish my rambling:

I guess I just feel so blessed for all that I've been given.  The beautiful world around us, my family, life lessons, relationships, the knowledge of the gospel and why we are on this earth.... I have a testimony that all 'good' is from God.  I think it's easy to forget where our blessings come from.  Our Father in Heaven has given us so much good, and it's ALL around us. It's easy to forget to pause, look, and truly witness it all WITH a grateful heart. 

I am forever grateful!