Park Family Halloween Party

Every Halloween the Park family has a party to showcase family costumes, play Ghost Bingo and Pass the Rat, and to eat great food, of course. This has always been a favorite tradition that we all look forward to each year. I think my biggest anticipation is to see what everyone will come up with for costume ideas. The family did not disappoint (as you will see from the pictures below). Some of the costumes were themed. Our family was a bunch of monkeys and a banana, Heather and Craig came as Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo, Greg and Tilly's family were the Ghostbusters with Coulter as the Marshmallow man, and my personal favorite was Noell and Jason who came as John McCain and Sarah Palin. They even took time for a photo opt. with "Joe the Plumber."

This Post authored by Amber

Addison's First Birthday

It seems like yesterday when Brad had phoned to tell me that his baby girl had been born. As I recall, it had been a long labor for Jenny, but the baby finally arrived safe and sound...Addison Elanor Funk. "Does she have a lot of hair?" I inquired. "Yes, but not as much as Sophie," came the response. I suppose that's not saying much. I've never seen a baby with more hair than Sophie, but Addie had a lot of hair by most standards.

Well, now a year has come and gone and we found ourselves in Farr West to celebrate. I have to say, Addie was probably the most entertaining baby to see eat her cake! As we watched her grunt and pull the cake in close so her sister couldn't swipe at the frosting (all the while smearing frosting across the front of her onesie that read, "Daddy's Little Girl"), I couldn't help but think, Brad must be watching this and cracking up right now! What a fun party and certainly worth the trip!

This post authored by Amber

A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

At the beginning of the month, Brevin bit into a plum and quickly complained of tooth pain. When he indicated to me which tooth he hurt, I became a bit suspicious. What I had suspected was confirmed when I reached into his mouth and gave the tooth a little wiggle. It didn't move much, but it was definitely loose. Over the course of the following weeks there were daily requests to, "feel my loose tooth!" as it was slowly being worked to the point of extraction. Well, Friday morning (October 24th) at 3:30 am, Brevin was out of bed and in the bathroom. He then came into my room and woke me with, "Mom. I need you to check something out!"

In his hand he held the tiny tooth. He had awaken in the night, and while laying in bed, decided to pull it out himself. It certainly was not the traumatic ordeal I remembered during my childhood teeth-pulling experiences, and there wasn't any bleeding either. To cap it all off, the tooth fairy visited Brevin and left him with a personalized letter and a gold coin dollar!

This post authored by Amber

Garrett at Five Months

The months seem to pass all too quickly, making it hard to believe that an infant could possibly change so much during that time...but do they ever! Garrett has developed a greater sense of hand eye coordination. That, in combination with an increased ability in fine motor skills, has him reaching out to grasp for things to bring to his mouth. Most often it is his pacifier that is the object of desire, but he also seems to enjoy a fistful of my hair from time to time. And speaking of fists, he likes to suck on his own, and has a preference for his ring finger and middle finger. He is also more responsive to baby toys and the like. Garrett has started to eat one meal of solid foods in the evening and does pretty well with that. He still wakes up several times in the night for nursing (bummer!) and just when I think there is an improvement, he will throw in an "off" night. He really enjoys observing the antics of his two older brothers and likes to laugh and smile. He doesn't seem to mind if strangers hold him, so long as the person holding him is standing and walking around. He is pretty mellow, too. Yep! He's a keeper!

This post authored by Amber

The Pick of the Patch

Almost two weeks ago our family made a traditional trip to the local Harward Farm fields to pick out a few pumpkins to display on the porch until we harvested the pumpkins from our own garden. We also made sure to purchase a hay bale in order to properly display our findings. I think the boys enjoyed running through the maze of hay bales and jumping off them more than finding and cutting pumpkins.

This post authored by Amber

At Julie's Request...

...I am providing the world with intimate details about my "quirkiness!" Okay, that was a gross exaggeration. I know the world does not read my blog. But for those of you who do, here are my responses to being tagged. Be forewarned: There may be excessive "horn tooting" by yours truly in this post!

Ten quirky things you may not know about me (but then again maybe you do...oh well):

1) I am a bit of a show-off. I know. You are all shocked. I especially enjoyed showing-off in front of my young women when I served in that auxiliary. I guess I wanted them to know that just because you are old (and not that I am, but I'm sure they think I am) doesn't mean you can't kick everybody's trash when it comes to canoe racing, potato sack races, and mashed potato eating contests. I guess this also reveals that I am a bit competitive, too.

2) I love the TV show Survivor. I have faithfully watched every episode since season two. To justify my addiction to the reality show, I have attempted to draw parallels between the show and gospel topics and even put them into a Sacrament meeting talk. Lame, I know! I would say that I also love The Office, but so does everyone, so that's not exactly quirky. Plus, I don't think I can talk about it in church!

3) I like to make really cool cakes for birthdays. It's probably my only artistic talent. They're all about looks, though. Using that much food coloring makes the frosting taste bitter.

4) I really like all holidays, but Halloween is especially fun because it allows me to play out a childhood favorite pastime of dress-ups.

5) Lately I have been hooked on the story of Stephanie Nielson. I follow her blog and her sister's religiously. One thing I have picked up from that is a desire to take self-portraits more often, as Stephanie was known to do. Jason rolled his eyes the last time he went through our memory card and saw my face all over the place.

Did I say ten quirky things? Well, I'm going to have to give up at five. Now all of you who have taken the time to read this post are realizing that you've just wasted five minutes of your time!

This post authored by Amber

The End of a Season

I remember sitting at my kitchen table and writing all of the dates in my calendar for Brevin's soccer practices and games and thinking, "This is insane! My life will now be so completely devoted to soccer, and the season's going to last forever!" It didn't do anything to relive my anxiety to add to the mix Jason's appointment as coach (he found out about a week and a half before the first game that he was expected at a coaches meeting the next evening).

Well, as it turned out, it wasn't so bad after all. I'm surprised at how quickly the time passed, abruptly bringing an end to another sport season. Brevin's teamates, the "Eagles", were relatively young and inexperienced, but they developed into decent players after all of those games. Then again, so did every other team, so I guess it's all relative.

This post authored by Amber