As my brother Steven said, "Worst Christmas present ever!"

So my family does this rotation thing at Christmas so each family has another family to get a present for. Pretty standard stuff. Well, I'm the special lady that no one is sure if they ever want me to have them for Christmas. Remember last years gift to my younger brother? That's right -- it was the "Knights who say NI!" hat that I knitted for him.


Now, while that brother appreciated such a gift, my brother Josiah would probably not enjoy something like that. He likes useful things. I too like useful things. He got a whole lot of useful things.

oops...

Well, I must state the obvious -- I stink at blogging. But, I figure posting something once or twice a year still counts, right?

I think I'll do a quick run-down of things that have happened since I blogged last:

1. I started on the "secret" knitting project and then set it aside 1/2 way through after very painful carpal tunnel symptoms. I'm thinking it will be finished sometime in the next century. (which makes me oh so sad)

2. Shane and I completed another triathlon and it was SO much harder. It was absolutely freezing outside (which doesn't make for fun swimming), the bike course was literally one giant hill after another, and the run portion was cross country -- it was AWESOME!

3. Shane and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary on 09/09/09! He surprised me by taking me to our favorite sushi place where he had previously gone in and laid out a white table cloth with rose petals all over it. Then we did the triathlon to celebrate. We're weird like that.

4. Kelly got baptized! She was baptized with her cousin Isaiah on the same day AND she wore the same dress I wore when I was baptized.


5. Had two Thanksgivings again this year and vowed we will never do it again! Why do you people love Thanksgiving foods? Why?!?!

6. Had a family sleepover with some of our best friends. Yes, the whole family went. It was so much fun, we stayed up WAY too late, and at one point turned off all the lights to dance to techno music while twirling light sticks.

7. Did a count-down to Christmas this year and pooped out the last week and a half. We put in WAY too much stuff to do. We DID, however, do a cookie/heart attack doorbell ditch thing to some friends of ours and we later found out they were afraid to eat the cookies because they thought some weirdo did it. We had to come clean that it was us just so they would eat the cookies! I guess heart attacks are just a mormon thing?

8.My friend Kathee is making me do a 10k and I'm not happy about it.

Preparing for winter

I know I know... it's sweltering hot outside and I'm the nerd INSIDE knitting winter items. I already knitted a hat for me (and there will be more to come) and I while I really should attempt to make gloves again (using a better choice of yarn this time), I'm going to knit another pair of socks. YAY! (Did I ever mention I'm a SERIOUS nerd?)

What I'm knitting right now is a secret. There's no purpose to keeping it a secret other than I like secrets. And big reveals. Hopefully it'll be as cool as I think it will be! I knitted a test swatch the other day and I'm already in love......

The Triathlon

Well, I did it. Actually, I did it several weeks ago. I finally competed in and finished my first triathlon. I know I know, I've taken an awfully long time to write about it, but I've had a good reason. I'm sure most of you know already since most of you are friends with me on facebook, but for those of you who don't know, one of the triathletes died during the race. He was on the cycle portion of the race when a drunk/high driver hit him from behind killing him instantly. I won't go into the details, but you can click on the link to read the news article yourself.

After the news of the accident arrived at the finish line, the event coordinator decided to stop the triathlon. The only reason I got to finish was purely because I was farther ahead. The whole experience has been a strange one. I was telling Shane (who was also competing, but did not get to finish) that prior to finding out this news, the race was such an amazing experience. The competition was very small (only 325 people) and we met lots of new people while setting up our transition areas and waiting for the time to get in the water. While biking, I can't tell you how beautiful it was to be out in such a scenic area in the early morning and to constantly meet other cyclists who would cheer you on as you passed. When I got to the running stage (my weakest area) I was struggling and had to walk part of it. As I was walking, someone ran past me and said "Come on girl!! You've got this! Get movin'!" It was amazing how something so simple can get a person moving. The whole atmosphere was fantastic! I couldn't wait to do another one! Then, when I crossed the finish line, my friend Monica informed me that someone had died on their bike and they were cancelling the rest of the race. It was an eerie feeling thinking that something like that could have happened.

I haven't gone back out on my bike yet. I'm still too nervous. I'm still training, I'm just using an indoor bike for now. I'm still not sure how I feel about everything. On the one hand it's been a great experience and the journey to get there has NOT been an easy one. I had to over come a LOT of hurdles to get there. On the other hand it made me realize that this sport (and the training involved) is maybe a little more risk than I'm wanting to take. I'm still not sure.

The other day I recieved a letter including all of the times of everyone who finished (I think there was a little over 100 of us). Obviously I don't know how I did in my age group or anything, but I did really well for ME. Here are my times:

1/2 mile swim -- 15:46 (This was at a slow and easy pace -- Not too bad!)

transition 1 -- 3:56 (I took way too long to get my shoes on)

14 mile bike -- 56:06 (Once again, at a slow and easy pace. Still learning how to pace myself)

transition 2 -- 1:37 (still too long)

5k run -- 39:01 (I'm so freakin' slow)

Total time: 1 hour, 56 minutes, and 28 seconds

the guy who came in first? 1 hour and 8 minutes. that dude was fast

The Mother Load

This September Shane and I will have been married for nine years. Of those nine years we have lived in various apartments and only one included a washer and dryer -- we only lived there for 2 years. When we moved for law school, we had to "down grade" to save on money. That meant moving into a smaller apartment and either forgoing a dishwasher or washer and dryer (the cheap ones apparently only come with one or the other). Having been without both, I knew I could not live without a dishwasher again. I LOATH washing dishes by hand. The past 5 years (that's how long we've been in this apartment) have been interesting when it comes to our laundry. We typically wear an item of clothing until it's more grime than cloth. So far we still have friends and they still hug us goodbye when we leave, so apparently it's all OK. We also seem to stockpile clothes. Even if clothes don't fit or they have stains/holes in them, we still keep and wear them simply because that means we can go that much longer without doing laundry. There are only two washers and dryers in our building and they are all the way down at the end of the building. I can't tell you how deflating it is to pack up a bag of laundry, carry it down 3 flights of stairs, drag it all the way to the end of the building, just to have them full with a line of laundry baskets waiting. Ugh.... That's a major reason why we don't do laundry very often. What that also means is that once in a while I have to go to the laundry mat to do a BIG wash.

Today was that day.

I sorted, packed up, carried down 3 flights of stairs to load in the car 14 loads of laundry. That's right -- the Mother load. You might have wondered where that expression came from and now you know. 14 freakin' loads of laundry! You should have seen everybody's faces when I went into the laundry mat. What's sad is that I've done this several times before -- with the kids.

The Mother Load

The kids do pretty well at the laundry mat. They have cable TV there and what's not to love about that? That's better than Disney Land when all you have is bunny ears at home! What's funny about going to the laundry mat is that when you leave you think, "Man, I just spent 2 hours in there and came out with 14 loads of clean laundry. That's incredible!" Then you get home and haul all of it BACK up the 3 flights of stairs only to realize you still have to FOLD said laundry. Well, I've taken my break long enough and now it's back to folding. Wish me luck and hopefully I'll come out alive!

P.S. Anyone can feel free to come and help if they are looking for the best time of their lives!

Swim, Ollie, Swim!

This past Saturday I had my first swim meet with the Swim Masters. I was unbelievably nervous because everybody I swim with is incredibly fast. Fortunately my friend Tamy (who is also a newbie) decided to go as well. It was nice having someone else there who was just as nervous and just as slow as I am.

In case you are not familiar with Masters Swimming, it's a national organization that provides workouts with a coach and competitions. I only go two times a week, but they offer workouts 6 days a week. And let me tell you, they're not easy!!! Those coaches know how to work you! It was also through the Masters that I learned more about triathlons. Just about everybody on the team uses Masters to get better at their swimming for triathlons.

The girls came out to cheer me on!

My friend Tamy and I. Look at that pasty skin! Woo!

Getting ready for the 200 meter medley relay

Here's a video of me swimming the 100 meter freestyle. It's not the best footage..... apparently Isabelle kept tugging on Shane the whole time he was trying to film it. (FYI -- 100 meters is all the way down the pool and back). In the end I almost came in first, but that pesky 68 yr old lady beat me! lol! That's okay though, it's not too bad since my goggles were filled with water the whole time. I was lucky I could even see the wall at the end!

Only FIVE days left until my first
Triathlon!!!

Wish me luck!

Look whose wearing glasses now!

Kelly picked out her first pair of glasses today and couldn't be more excited! She loves that her glasses have zebra print on the inside to give it some more style. Her eyes really aren't that bad, it's just a little hard to see the board at school. Since she's a tall one, there's the chance she'll be placed in the back of the classroom and we didn't want 2nd grade to start off with frustration! So far she's in love with them and never wants to take them off. We'll see how long that lasts!

Catch-up post #3 -- Monica's 'Stache Bash

Monica and Justin

My best friend Monica is my best friend for a reason -- she's probably one of the funniest people I know. For her birthday this year she decided to have a 'stache bash to celebrate the occasion. We were all to meet up at the bowling alley with our mustaches to bowl the night away!!!! Of course, I couldn't just BUY a mustache. What's the fun in that? So, I knitted mine:


You know what the best part of that 'stache was? It was bendable!!!! We had a lot of fun bending it into different shapes throughout the night.

Here's Dixon and Denise. I thought they had the most creative mustaches of them all:



Cassandra's mustache was dubbed the Nast-a-stache. Hers was made from her own hair. Clever, but gross. Therefore, the Nast-a-stache.


Showing off my moves while bowling. You know what's funny? when I got up to bowl the first time I was truly convinced that I was a great bowler because I had been playing Wii bowling so much. Turns out virtual is NOT reality.


This is a great picture of Leah and I. I'm pretty sure we stare each other down like this every Sunday in Relief Society.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONICA!

FHE Parker Style

For family home evening this past Monday Isabelle asked if we could do an activity that she found in a book. It was making "flowers" out of construction paper and old magazine pictures. Almost all of the flowers ended up being circles since apparently that's the only shape we all know how to cut. We probably ended up making about 15 flowers and then took them over to Kelly's Sunday school teacher's house. Below is a picture of a flower that each of us made:


1. Kelly's cat flower. To this day she is still more fascinated with pretend cats than the real one that she has.

2. Isabelle's crazy swirl flower. As she cut it out she just kept saying "Crazy!!!!!!!!!" in a weird voice.

3. Shane's dictator flower. He was trying to assert his manliness during a very feminine activity.

4. My ice cream flower. Mmmmmm..... ice cream


Maybe one of you lucky readers will receive an awesome gift like this from us one day!

Nauvoo Family Vacation

My family decided to take a vacation together this year and what better place to visit than Nauvoo! It's only a six hour drive and fortunately our kids are old enough that it's not too painful to travel with them. We had a wonderful time seeing all of the sites (including Carthage). Well, I can't quite say "wonderful". It really was hard to hear all of the hardships the saints went through and to actually be in the room where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred.

One thing that WAS really neat was my parents renting a house for us to stay in. This would be my dad and my brother hanging out on the porch:

And this would be the view from said porch:


Pretty nice, eh? We thought so!
The trip was filled with lots and lots of things to do. Now, I'm not trying to be a theater snob, but some of the productions were LAME!!!!!! At least they were free, right? One of them was really strange. I swear some lady from Utah that was the stake road show coordinator wrote this musical. It was about this girl having to choose between two guys that she liked set during the time of Old Nauvoo. They danced and sang during the good times of Nauvoo, and then mourned during the time of Joseph's death. Then, very oddly, they broke out in jubilant song and dance again because they were moving west! Yee Haw!

What made this oh-so-strange was that we had just gone on a carriage ride tour of historical Nauvoo. At one point we actually went down the "Trail of Tears" now called the "Trail of Hope". Anyway, while we passed this part of the tour, the tour guide told us a little of what happened that day. The saints were given a 4 hour notice to leave Nauvoo. It was -30 degrees. We all were told to turn around and look at the beautiful temple that they all had sacrificed to build, and to realize that they never saw it again. I'm sorry, but you can re-name it "Trail of Hope" all you want, but I still don't believe the saints were THAT jubilant when they were packing up to head west. We were slightly weirded out.

Here are the kids at the visitor's center:


Playing Pioneer games before the pageant (which, by the way, there were NINE adults in the house when we were trying to figure out how to spell "pageant" and only ONE knew how to spell it correctly -- Shane. He was also the only one who recieved his primary education outside of KY. Thank you Oregon Public School Systems!)




The whole family outside of the Nauvoo Temple: (minus Guy and Rebecca)

The best picture in the world of my parents with all of the grandkids. Priceless, no?


We had a wonderful time and the kids loved being with their cousins so much. My favorite part was the pageant (spelled correctly after a google search). I would even go so far as to say that it was better than the Palmyra pageant. But that's just me.

And, for your pleasure, I thought I'd add one more thing. You see, we do lots of really neat things as a family and we take lots of pictures to document those really neat things. However, I am usually the one holding the camera. My thinking is this: If I were to die today, what pictures would there be for the kids to remember me by? What would you put in those sappy memorial slideshows at my funeral? Pictures from high school? Get outta here! So I explained all of this to Shane and asked him if he could please make sure that it was recorded for all of my posterity to know that I, Ollie, went on this vacation. All I have to say is this -- Job well done honey.

Catch-up post #2 -- 10 yr HS reunion

Aaaahhhhh..... High School. It was somethin', right? I had a lot of fun in high school. To give you a little background, I am from a very small town smack dab in the middle of Kentucky. When I was growing up, there was only one high school in the whole county. At the time of our graduation we had the largest graduating class to date -- 111 students! The people that I graduated with were the same people I went to kindergarten with. These were people that I spent the majority of my life with! For the most part the school was pretty good. We didn't have a whole lot of selection when it came to classes, but we had some really good teachers (and of course some not so good teachers). Everybody knew everybody even if you never spoke a word to each other. You knew every person in the school, no matter what grade they were in, and their entire family. Very different from where I live now.

It was really good to go back home and see everyone just to see how much everyone had changed. So many people had kids, careers, and other things going on in their lives. It wasn't high school anymore! (Well, until the booze came out -- then it started to become more like high school) Most of the people that I graduated with still live in my hometown and keep in regular contact. What Shane and I found to be the funniest was that there were about 7 or 8 girls that all worked at the same Elementary school. These girls were also best friends in HS. Shane also found all of the southern accents funny as well. I was a little surprised that so many had actually married someone else from our graduating class. But all in all it was really good to go and I'm really bummed that more people didn't come. We only had about 50 from our graduating class to show up, so that was kind of a let down. Hopefully more people will come to the 20 year!

Class of 1999

My Cousin Adam and I

C.D. and Jaime -- they got married right after we graduated and now have 2 kids together


Crystal and Jotisha -- Crystal and I have been friends since before kindergarten. She lived down the street from me and we would spend our summers together doing crazy stuff!

The loss of a loved one...

On the morning of July 4th my sweet Uncle Kris passed away. Just a couple of months ago he was diagnosed with refractory anemia with excess blasts / high grade myelodysplastic syndrome. It's basically a really weird form of Leukemia. They're still not sure what causes it, but they are pretty sure it's not genetic. His course of treatment was very involved and ultimately led to an intense course of chemo followed by a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately his body just couldn't handle everything and he passed away early that morning.

I loved my Uncle Kris. He married my Aunt Krista shortly after Shane and I got married. I had Kelly a few months before their son John was born and so we all grew really close together since our children were so close in age. We also loved Kris right away simply because he was the most sweet and loving person you could ever meet. One of my most favorite memories of my Uncle Kris was from this past Thanksgiving. They flew in from Arizona and had reserved a small car to rent and use while they were here. Well, for some reason or another the reservation got mixed up and they ended up with a big, shiny, red Hummer. It was awesome! Kris took Shane and I out for a drive in it and we were having a little too much fun with it. We took it over to the church parking lot and had him drive over sidewalks and other stuff (sorry Mom!). It was like we were all dumb 17 year olds again.

I really miss my Uncle Kris and I'm so sad that I won't be able to attend his memorial service in Arizona. My Aunt Krista and my cousin John are doing as well as they can and have forunately recieved a lot of help throughout this whole process.

Mr. Monopoly's Loose Change

Once a week Shane teaches a night class at a local college, which leaves me and the girls to entertain ourselves. Usually I'm pretty grumpy and banish them to the bathtub (they've since learned to wash their own hair -- YAY!).

Maybe it's because the sun is out longer or maybe I was just in an extra special mood tonight because of the pork chops we had for dinner, but I decided to actually DO something with the girls. They suggested Monopoly Junior and I figured anything was better than playing "pet shop" with stuffed animals.

I learned something from tonight's game -- my daughters are very "special". What's even sadder is that they got their "special" gene from me.

These two couldn't sit still for more than two seconds. Kelly was in her own world singing some song and occasionally stepping all over the board (why?!?!). Isabelle was either chasing our cat or kissing Mr. Stinky Eyeball.


This is Mr. Stinky Eyeball. I'm sure you've already guessed that Isabelle named him. Remember her fascination with the word eyeball? Yeah.... "special". Mr. Stinky Eyeball played Monopoly with us too. It was great having another adult there to have civilized conversation with.

After 30 MINUTES of playing, I was getting a little restless and decided to try and "throw" the game. You see, in Monopoly Junior, as soon as the first person loses all of their money, the whole game stops. So, I decided to start sneaking some money under Mr. Monopoly's loose change square. This would have worked, if I hadn't landed on it two rolls later.


THEN, the girls kept landing on all THREE of my properties and having to pay me money! But I would not give up! Since Isabelle can't add, I paid her a LOT extra whenever I landed on her property and also continued to pay Mr. Monopoly a little money on the side. It only took 15 more minutes, but I finally prevailed in losing the game.

Here's a little video to give you an idea of what the game was like. Make sure you watch the end, Isabelle's pretty funny!

Catch-up post #1

So remember how we were serving in the Spanish branch for a long time? Well, we still keep in contact with several of our friends from the branch and several months ago we attended a baby shower for one of them. My friend Diana is from Cuba and for those of you who don't know any Cubans, you are missing out. First of all, the food is INCREDIBLE. There's always great food whenever Cubans are around. Second, they like to party. A lot. I'm pretty sure I was Cuban in a past life.

Diana & Henry

There was loud music, dancing, and all sorts of crazyness at this baby shower. Why can't we Americans have baby showers like that?

BUT you know what the best part was? There were more MEN at this baby shower than there were women!







And believe it or not, but that was not every man there!!!!! There were MORE!!! I even was able to convince Shane to come after awhile. How great is that????

Okay Okay Okay....

Alright!!! You guys have finally guilted me enough into updating this blog. I'll do my best to get to it this evening!

Sheesh! You guys are a tough crowd!

P.S. I've also decided to make the blog public again (for now at least)

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Click here for
a little something while you wait

Guess who?

Isabelle decided that today was a great day for playing board games. After playing a couple of different games, she decided that "Guess Who" would be fun. I just have to say this -- she is a freak at this game. She will ask the most random questions and beat me within a few rounds. I always ask the standard: "Is it a boy?" "Are they wearing a hat?" "Do they have red hair".

She asks things like: "Does your person have red lips?" "Does your person have a big nose?"

Who asks a question like that? I never even noticed the nose sizes until she pointed it out and I've been playing this dumb game since I was her age. But yeah, she never asks the obvious, only the minute details and she can clear the board WAY fast. She thought it would be funny to take a video of us playing, so here it is:

Playing catch-up

Meeting Zak and Weezy

Playing in the snow/ice
(when it was here)

Making some home made chicken broth. Mmmmmmmm..