Time Out

I went on a little weekend getaway--solo.

Both Jason's family and mine had special extended family events that took place on the same weekend, but in different locations.  His brother and sister-in-law were scheduled to have their adopted baby girl sealed to their family in the Provo temple.  My brother and sister each had their oldest daughters going through the St. George temple for the first time in preparation for upcoming mission departures.  Both events were of significant importance to us and we wanted to be sure to support our families for each occasion.  Jason and I decided to "divide and conquer."  The only question that remained was what to do with the children.  We discussed several scenarios, explored every possible option, and the decision that seemed to fit best for our family was to have me travel to St. George with my younger brother and his family and to leave the children in Jason's care for the weekend.  So that is what we did.

I haven't spent a night away from Jason and the children in nearly five years, with the exception of hospital stays when babies were born.  While a getaway experience is not necessarily something I seek out for myself, I will admit, I began to look forward to the excursion as the trip drew near. It was going to be a welcomed change to visit with family without worrying over the needs of my children. (Road trips are quite pleasant when you are not the designated snack-hander-outer.)

I thoroughly enjoyed riding and visiting with Clark and Lisa. They picked me up after dinner and drove all the way to St. George through slight, sporadic snowstorms and fog.  We arrived at Lance and Sharley's not long after 11:00 p.m.  My sweet niece, Morgan, offered her room and bed to me for that night, and I slept, without interruption, until the next morning.

Saturday I met with family in the temple and enjoyed participating in an endowment session where the room was filled with familiar faces.  It was so lovely.  I was happy to be there in support of my two beautiful nieces whom I think the world of.  I imagined Jason, hours away in another temple in a sealing room filled with familiar faces.  I'm certain it was just as lovely.  I'm glad that he was there in support of his brother's family whom I think the world of.

After the session, we went to Golden Corral for lunch.  I returned to Lance and Sharley's home to pack up my things and we began to head north.  This time I hitched a ride with my father and step-mother who flew in from Texas to be a part of the weekend's events.

We stopped in Cedar City where my sister, Cheryl, had prepared a dinner for all of the visitors who were in town to watch her perform in her community theater's production of Annie.  Cheryl secured the lead role of Miss Hannigan in the play, and she was fantastic!  I enjoyed the musical immensely.  It has been nearly 25 years since I, myself, had the lead role of Annie in our community theater in Del Rio, Texas.  Watching the show again brought back many fond memories.

Following the show, Clark, Cheryl and her good friend, and I stayed up late, reminiscing and laughing about old memories, all the while creating new ones.  We finally went to bed, exhausted but happy.  The next  morning we readied ourselves for church, had some delicious pancakes (courtesy of Cheryl), then attended sacrament meeting.  After the meeting it was time to head back home in hopes of keeping ahead of the next storm that was forecasted for northern Utah.

I arrived home feeling refreshed and giddy after having spent a wonderful weekend with my family.  It was fabulous!

This post authored by Amber

Nothing Says "Thanksgiving" Quite Like Family, Pies, And Dodge Ball

The above photo only shows a fraction of the pies we had to choose from at our Thanksgiving dinner.  That can only mean one thing--Thanksgiving with the Funks.

The designated time to gather at Lance and Sharley's for dinner was 4:00 p.m.  That gave us the morning to prepare and pack and clean the house before we left for St. George.  While we didn't leave as early as Jason was hoping, we were making good time and on track to arrive with time to check into our hotel before our dinner, but just outside of Cedar City, our back left tire blew out and we found ourselves on the side of the freeway, putting on the spare (which was a little deflated itself).  We managed the fifteen miles to the nearest Wal-Mart going 45mph on the freeway, all the while feeling grateful that things had not been much worse.

One hour and four new tires later, we were back on track to our destination.  We arrived just as the prayer had been said and everyone was going through the line, filling their plates with delicious food.  We gave hugs, we ate, we visited, we played, and the younger children did some film-making under the direction of their cousin, Jessica.  Here's what the final product of their acting produced:

When the children weren't busy "playing dead,"they were being entertained on the trampoline by my brother, Lance. (My nickname for Lance is "The Pied Piper of Children."  You can see why they like him so much.)

We all went to bed Thursday night with full tummy's and happy hearts, eager for the next day's activities, which we knew included dodge ball games--YAY!

Friday morning found us in a church gym, getting pre-game instructions from my brother, Clark.  Once the children understood the rules, they were divided into teams and allowed to play several three-minute games.   
  

The children's games were rotated between sets of games played by the older group of teenagers against the  adults.  I am pleased to report that all of us "old folks" handily beat the teens in nearly every game.  I didn't get any good pictures of the those games because I was busy playing, but Jessica did put together this cinematic masterpiece:

We went back to the hotel after the dodge ball games so Ella could take a nap and the boys could play in the pool and hot tub.

 We took advantage of the great weather and went to the park, as well.

The evening was finished off with dinner at a Japanese steakhouse, Sakura, where Brevin got his first taste of sushi. 

After the meal, we went back to Lance and Sharley's to play Just Dance 4 and look at photos from a recent trip to Hawaii that Lance and Cheryl took.  We gave our good-bye hugs and returned to the hotel.  We headed home to Springville first thing Saturday morning after having enjoyed a most wonderful Thanksgiving vacation. 

This post authored by Amber

A Day at the Park

While we were in St. George for Christmas celebrations, we found the weather to be nice enough to visit the park with cousins.  We went to Cottonwood Cove Park, and I have to say that it has the coolest playground I've seen in some time. 

I loved merry go rounds as a child, but because they are deemed as "unsafe", you just don't see them anymore.  Well, this park has enough spinning, twirling, and nausea inducing equipment to keep children and adults occupied for hours on end.  It also has rock walls, rope bridges, and slides. It's fantastic!

Everything looked like it came from Bill Nye's backyard (you know, the "Science Guy"), and I don't think you can find those type of playground accessories anywhere.

But Ella just wanted to eat the wood chips...and you can find those at just about any park, I guess.

And the boys get just as much excitement from jumping between hotel beds.

This post authored by Amber

How It All "Went Down" - Christmas 2011

This is the final post where I will elaborate on our family Christmas traditions and how they were carried out for the year 2011.  I know...I'm posting this at about the same time everyone is giving up on their New Year's resolutions (I obviously didn't make a resolution to keep current on my blog--or did I?).  Well, as the saying goes, better late than never.  I'll let the readers be the judge of that!

Tradition:  Grandma's Christmas Drawers

The children are each assigned three drawers from Grandma Park's advent box, and as they visit throughout the month of December, they are alowed to open one of their drawers.  This year, the boxes contained clues which led giddily excited youth through Grandma and Grandpa's house on a treasure hunt for their little gifts. 

Tradition:  Chocolate Advent Calendars

The month of December is traditionally kicked-off with a delivery of advent calendars for each child from Grandma and Grandpa Park.  One year, Spencer got into his and Brevin's and prematurely ate some of the chocolate pieces.  Remembering that my own mother had melted chocolate and filled empty molds when I had done the same thing as a child, I remedied the situation in a like manner.  I think you will understand why I did not try that again this year.  Yes, we have quite the chocoholic on our hands (and he has a tendency to be a bit destructive, too).

Tradition: Christmas Carol Singing

Brevin and Spencer love to sing Christmas songs and they have strong singing voices.  When a young woman in our neighborhood put together a Christmas choir to sing for a community assisted living center, we gladly involved the boys.  It was such a treat to watch them perform.  They even took personal initiative to go around the room after the program and wish each elderly person a merry Christmas.

Tradition: Park Family Christmas Program

As Christmas approaches, we set aside a night to get together with extended family for a meal, a talent program, white elephant gift exchanges, and Grandpa Park's chocolate mouse hunt.

We like to let Brevin and Spencer represent our family for the talent portion.  This year they sang Frosty the Snowman, a song they had learned for their choir concert.  Jason also showed a DVD with the portrayal of the nativity entitled AGift to the World.

Oh, and I did lousy this year when it came to finding the chocolate mice.

Tradition: Christmas Eve Dinner

Each year I try my hand at preparing a fancy feast and we bring out the tablecloth, china, and real silverware in celebration of the birth of the Savior.  We follow it up with a birthday cake for Jesus.  This is one of my favorite traditions.

Tradition:  Christmas Eve Pajamas

The children get to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and it is always new pajamas.  They put them on, and then it is off to bed.

Tradition: Christmas Day

The children woke around 7:30 a.m. and waited patiently for Mom and Dad to get cameras set up before being called into the room to see what had been delivered by Santa.  Everyone loved their gifts, but seemed to like Mom and Dad's Kindle Fire the best.

After a little time with new toys, we ate breakfast and readied ourselves for 9:00 a.m. church.  It was so perfect to have sacrament services on Christmas day.  I am also glad it was early in the morning.  That helped set the tone for the rest of the day, and it was lovely!

After church, we took some family pictures then opened the gifts from under the tree.  We felt a great sense of gratitude for an abundance of blessings and for time spent with family on that special day.

 (Oh, and I totally rock at Just Dance 3!)

Tradition: Funk, Page, and Gilliland Family Christmas Gathering

Our uniquely blended families gathered in St. George for a couple of days of celebration.  Activities involved the traditional Grab Bag, gift exchanges, and family dodgeball games.  There was plenty of good eating, too. 

I am pleased to report that no one was seriously injured while playing dodgeball, although Cheryl did take a pretty hard hit to the face.  That is the risk we all assume when we step onto the court with a bunch of competitive maniacs.  Man, it's fun!

Well, Christmas, you've been downright good to us.  Until next year, my friend!

This post authored by Amber

Just A Little Road Trip

A quick weekend "jaunt" to St. George allowed the children and I to have a chance to visit with extended family and to cheer on competitors who ran in the triathlon in Brad's memory.  Although the visit was brief, it was fabulous!

Ella got to meet Grandma & Grandpa Funk for the very first time (and they got to see just how cute she is in person).

At the event, the children kept themselves entertained by blowing bubbles and telling silly jokes.  They loved it!

At the end of the day, I put Ella and Garrett down in my bed and went into another room to visit with my brother.  When I came back into the room, they looked like this:  

Isn't that the sweetest thing!

This post authored by Amber