Friday Night

Friday night at the Parker Casa. Dilated Dad

Flashback Friday

When: June 2006

Why: Intense family bonding

Scripture to chew on: Psalm 16

Most memorable moment: When Dad said that as things change (marriages...none at the time, but there would soon be 2 in the next 3 years. jobs. families.) trips like this one would be few and far between. We all bust out crying in the middle of a bunch of tall, naked trees.

2nd most memorable moment: Ben flipping out and throwing his pack.

Snapshot

On a lighter note, here's a snapshot of Ma's garden.

Circle of Life

Some frogs make it out alive...and some frogs don't.
And we all start singing "Circle of Life" from The Lion King.

Mr. Chips

Chips romped around in the sunshine on Saturday. At some point in his life, he's going to run away less and with his fat lump, he can't jump or climb under fences as well as he used to. We hope to give him some dignity and liberty in his 11th hour.

Actually, he'll never be leash-less. On Saturday he was dragging around a 15 foot leash. We know he still has some spunk left in him. TRUE PALS!!
You can find this cheap yet reliable dog scratcher at your local Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot or Target. "A little to the left...to the right..over...ahhhh"

Step by Step

This is the before picture. It took...
1 Saturday afternoon, 2 couples, 1 large trashcan, 1 rake, 1 kayak paddle
2 muscle men, hard work
tons of buckets
peeling back a large, large tarp. & a little bit of yelling.
...to get to this picture!!!

When you were young...

We met up with Bub and some of his family for lunch. We brought along pictures from when he was with us to show him. Of course it only took a few pictures before tears came from Kait. One picture was him with a shirt on his head. We told him that he liked to pretend that he had long hair.

He got a kick out of seeing pictures of himself! After looking through the pictures, he seemed to relax a bit more around us.
Bub was such a good sport. How weird would it be as a 13 year old to suddenly have lunch with two people that you don't really remember? You've seen them in pictures, but that's it. Umm yeah, probably a little weird and awkward. We tried not to weird him out and we definitely didn't call him Bub! Robin came along and snapped some pictures.
It's funny.. he remembered our dog's name and our neighbor, Dorthy, the old lady with dementia. Of all the things to remember... he remembered Dorthy :)
Kait, Shelly, mom, Bub and sister. We intend to keep in close contact with them. What a blessing!

Flashback Friday

Have we introduced Bub, our friend of about 4 years, to you? It's not really "Bub" but it's a nickname that Dad started and it stuck. He came to us when he was 2 months old and left just a few months shy of his 4th birthday. We've recently reconnected with his Mom (thanks to Facebook- woot!) Mom & Kait met up with him...after 10 years...it kind of felt like the Oprah Show. Pictures of our lunch together are coming soon! Here is Dad, in '97, a fresh medical student graduate and Bub.

10 Years

In about 10 years (1999) a cute clown can turn into...a handsome young man! (2009)

Click Here

If you'd like to see Wes, the teacher on Spring Break, making progress (with the help of Sara who is not pictured) on his house, click here. You'll also see Sara's new logo for her photography business!

Wrap Up

The Road Trip Wrap Up...

The wedding we attended was gorgeous. We almost missed the beginning of it because we are bad city drivers and worse city Parkers (ha, parkers...get it?) Ma can parallel park with the best of them, but it was figuring out one way streets, bike lanes, etc. that got us tied in knots. We made it to the wedding just in time and Robin's car wasn't towed. Here is the dashing Julien Fam.
The gals. Robin was a great house host. She even had the space heater ready for us in our room!
Some of the Philly ladies
Shelly and Shelly! This friendship goes way back...before most of the 8 kids (total) were even a twinkle in their eyes. Both of their hubbies were pastors at New Life at the same time. Shelly's husband is still the pastor there. Shelly was a lovely MOG. (Mother of the Groom!)
Ma's picture of the reception.
Robin got to take home a center piece because...she's awesome!
Ma partied hard. This picture was taken about 15 minutes after we got home.
ALIVE AT 5...AM... and ready to hit the road. Mom drove with her eyes home, don't worry.
After 12 hours on the road, Chips headed up the Welcome Home Committee.
"Okay, let's look really tired and worn out. Don't smile."
It was a great road trip and we walked away with a great souvenir... Robin's famous, homemade candy!
There was one more special moment on the trip....stay tuned!!

Fellow Blogger

Just couple more posts about the trip to Phila, PA. Our dear friends had us over for dinner and we enjoyed really tasty pizza. We also forgot a camera...who does that?? Tucket it part of that family and he is a fellow blogger. He doesn't update his blog as much as we would hope (hint hint!) Click here to check it out! This picture below is Tucket and his buddy, Christina. If you could read Tucket's thoughts... (probably in a British accent) "Who is this strange woman tickling my paw? I'll have to blog about this."
Hello again!!

Pastels

We hope you enjoyed Easter & found joy in knowing that there is an empty tomb and King Jesus reigns over death. Amen, Pastor Chuck? Here's a group shot. We made sure to deck out in spring and pastels colors. We could hardly keep Benji and Chuck in their fancy outfits long enough to snap the pictures. Boys...Easter wouldn't be complete without a model shot. Check out Sara's blog to see America's Next Top Model, Shelly, in more action shots.

Egg Hunt

Ma said it was go-time and everybody took off running! Sara started to scope out the back of the yard. She was in it to win it.

Anna and Kait took on the front yard (which turned out to be a mistake).Ben and Kent grabbed the side yard.Searching.......Wes checked out his loot afterwards. (Sara beat Wes).
Ben and Kent chatted afterwards...probably discussing their search strategies. Kait rocked the socks and sandals look. Most of the eggs were empty so Ma distributed some more loot. Sara searched high and low and found the Big Egg which contained $10.00. WOOT. Doesn't Shelly look Easter-y and precious? It's a Goodwill outfit...another WOOT.