September 2001

I met Aaron for the first time at my friend Shawna's apartment. My friends and I were watching a movie when Aaron and his friends came to visit. We paused the movie to meet these guys and my first impression of Aaron was "I can definitely tell he is Brett's brother" (nothing more, nothing less), and I think that was the first thing I said to him. (His older brother, Brett, had married a girl who grew up in my neighborhood.) Well, I went back to watching my movie, and Aaron, along with a few other people, went into the kitchen to socialize. Several minutes later I heard laughing coming from the kitchen and saw that they were having a great time in there. My FOMO (fear of missing out) kicked in, so of course I got in on the conversation, which consisted of us joking around about how awesome it is to be a sophomore, and generally just have a very silly and funny conversation (you would have had to have been there to appreciate it) :) That night I talked to Shawna on the phone and told her she had to set me up on a date with that Aaron guy!

Well, a few weeks later I got a call from Aaron! (Major excitement and butterflies on my part!) He said, "I have a question to ask you.... what kind of weed killer do you use?" (it's a line from the seminary movie "The Telephone Call") We laughed (mostly a nervous, giddy laugh from me). Then he told me that he and his friends had a special date planned on Saturday the 20th (of October) and he wanted take me. I was scheduled to work that day, but said that I would try to switch with someone. He told me to just let him know as soon as I could so he could ask someone else if I couldn't go (I still remember being a little bugged that he said that - ha ha!).

Journal entry September 2001: 

"After I hung up with him I started screaming and I announced to my whole apartment that I was going out with Aaron Parsen [yes, I spelled it incorrectly] - I was soooo excited! I talked to Shawna about it later and she told me that he had a list of 3 girls that he wanted to go with and I was one of them. He choose me mainly because he had already gone out with the other 2 girls before."

Ha ha! It's so funny (and embarrassing) to read back through my journals!

Next installment: The Coffin Date

The Parsons and the Big Apple!

I LOVE to go places and see things! So, it's been on our bucket list to take the girls to NYC while we live out here. Here are some highlights:

 Aaron getting his upper-body workout while walking down the city streets. :) The girls were such troopers - we walked at least 4 hours just on Friday! Aubree didn't even whine or complain once! She did sleep for 13 hours Saturday night though.

 Central Park (p.s. I found these cute shirts for $2.95 at JC Penney a couple months ago)

 We ate lunch at Uno's. It's popular for it's pizza - which is SO so good!

 Sitting on Roosevelt's lap at the American Museum of Natural History. There was a lot of really interesting stuff to see. We really liked looking at the taxidermy animals - they were very real looking.

 Central Park again. They have so many beautiful bridges! We didn't even see a third of the park, it is so huge!

 A raccoon in Turtle Pond

 Another beautiful bridge

 Carly took this picture of me. Pretty impressive.

 At Bethesda Fountain. If you look closely at Aubree, you will see her new picture smile.

 Ellie making bubbles at Central Park

Carly making bubbles

 Of course it's always a special treat to watch TV at the hotel! AND our hotel was one of the only one's in Manhattan with an indoor pool - another special treat.

 Grand Central Station - love that place!

 Governor's Island is an old military base that's turned into a tourist attraction. The ferry ride out there is free and gives you a view of the Statue of Liberty. Also, Gov. Island has an authentic old French fair with beautiful old rides. This is Carly standing in front of the pretty little pavilion.

Overall, the trip was ..... expensive! We did have a good time though and I don't think I would have been satisfied until I crossed this thing off my bucket list.  But, considering what the girls really love to do, I think we would have been just as happy to stay in a hotel with a pool (anywhere), go out to eat and ride public transportation. :)

Random pictures

We went to the Washington County Fair in August. I did not realize what a rip off fairs are around here. We paid $20 dollars to get in, then another $20 for the girls to do this ride (pictured below) two times!! After spending that $40, we didn't feel like spending any more for food. 

 It was pretty hot and the girls were NOT very happy about their choices in rides (considering the money and height restrictions), so this is a good picture of the overall attitude:

BUT (this is the highlight of the fair), we participated in the egg toss competition and Aaron and I won third place!! We got ribbons and $2 - woo hoo! (which almost made the fair worth it .... almost.)

Girls playing in the hot weather with our neighbor

Aubree and her friend Aiden playing battleship. They basically just do designs with the pegs and pretend they're playing the game.

What Aaron would look like with a mustache:

Girls and I at the Providence Children's Museum

 Midget pictures at the museum:

 The girls wanted to have a little tea party with the tea set Nanny Nette gave Aubree for her last birthday. They had s'mores with their tea.

We watched our friend's kids while they went to the temple, and the kids did some yard work for us.

These little girls played and played with the chalk until their clothes were totally covered in chalk.

Aubree and I went to the Westerly Farmers Market. Our family used to love to go to the Farmer's Market in Moscow, but we haven't really been to one since. This one was really tiny, but still kind of fun to see all the local produce.

Little Miss Polka Dot:

At our bus stop there are about 12 girls that wait for the bus and no boys!

Nine Years

Nine years ago I became a Mom. Even though it's full of frustrations and craziness and half the time I have no clue what I'm doing, it truly is my dream come true - I've ALWAYS wanted to be a Mom! When Carly was born I had no idea how quickly and how deeply I could love a little person, and I love her even more now! Unfortunately, I sometimes forget that I am living my dream. (I think I maybe pictured it with less yelling and drama.) :) But it's also better and more rewarding than I could imagine (and when I have perspective, even the frustrating moments are pretty funny). I really am so lucky to have three healthy, cute, smart, funny, sweet, full-of-personality little girls! I love this part of President Uchtdorf's talk from the October 2012 Conference: 

Doesn’t it seem foolish to spoil sweet and joyful experiences because we are constantly anticipating the moment when they will end? We shouldn’t wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available—all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect. “This is the day which the Lord hath made … ,” the Psalmist wrote. “Rejoice and be glad in it.”... There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it.

So, I've been praying and trying to recognize my blessings and my happiness in the moment and I think I'm getting better at it. :)

For Carly's birthday this year she had a late-night movie party. Unfortunately it didn't quite turn out as she had planned which is kind of hard for someone who is a meticulous planner and perfectionist. And on top of that, there was one major party pooper (a girl who moped around and caused drama throughout the whole party). I wish I wouldn't have forgotten to take pictures of the party and decorations! :( But here are some recent pictures of Carly:

 Carly and her BFF - we are so glad that she and Carly are friends. They are only 4 days apart, but notice the height difference!

 Carly only asks me to do her hair about 3 times a year, so of course I had to take a picture. 

Opening some birthday presents before school.

Back to School

In our village (seriously, we live in a village within a township) there is an elementary school for k-2nd and another elementary school for 3rd and 4th. So, Carly and Ellie go to different schools this year.

 Waiting for the bus with our neighbor. 

Carly - 3rd Grade!

Ellie - 2nd Grade!

Aubree and I had such a great first day of school. (She's staying home with me again this year.) We took a nice walk to Wilcox Park and then to Other Tiger Bookstore where we hung out and read books for over an hour. We walked home and met Daddy at home for lunch. Afterward I had Aubree go upstairs for a quiet time with books (I was pretty sure she wouldn't take a nap since she didn't all summer), but when I went to check on her she had tucked herself in for a nice afternoon nap!

Ellie had a wonderful first day of school - she loves her teacher, her classmates, school in general...
Carly on the other hand was not in a good mood - apparently she has the worst 3rd grade teacher and no BFF's in her class (just regular friends). Poor Carly. I've been telling her that she can be like Anne of Green Gables - always making other people (even people who are hard to get along with) like her.

Family happenings

 Now that we're in our little branch we get to have the missionaries over for dinner every week. Here we are with Sister Blair and Sister Preszlar. Sister Blair's first name is Christine, but she told me that her sister and a lot of other people call her Camile. Totally random, but pretty cool - Camile is a good name.

 The girls have been taking karate lessons. I just about die whenever I see Aubree in her little outfit doing her karate moves! (She is quite possibly the cutest human being on earth... in my humble opinion.)

 Nanny Nette sent Aubree some makeup when she found out that Aubree was always sneaking my makeup. (Stephanie and I used to have a hard time sharing our makeup and we would fight about it. I guess with three girls I'll finally have to learn to share my makeup - I was just hoping to wait a few more years.)

 Last time we went to the temple we went to Walden Pond. It was only a 12 minute drive away - so we will definitely be doing this again. Here we are in a replica of Henry David Thoreau's home. I read part of Walden Pond a few years ago, so it was really neat for me to be there.

 Me and my man Thoreau

 Walden Pond - we all LOVED being there! The girls thought it was nice to swim in fresh water and I loved being somewhere so historical and beautiful.

 Mystic Y beach - one of the only free beaches I've found in our area.

 The girls went to their first vacation bible school (VBS) last week and had a fabulous time! There are VBS's pretty much every week of the summer put on by different churches in the community. I chose the Baptist church that my friend goes to and was really happy with how they organized it and what a positive experience it was for the girls. I think it was a good way for them to see the positive things in other churches and how much we have in common. And last but not least (in fact probably top of my reasons why) I also enjoyed having a free break for three hours every day - unfortunately I got very little accomplished.

Aubree won these cool sunglasses at VBS.

 Aubree and her friend at the VBS BBQ.

 The Mormons, the Catholics and the Baptists at the BBQ

 Playing Apples to Apples. Aubree would just choose random cards from her pile and she ended up winning by a landslide.

 I taught Carly and Ellie how to hand stitch some little dresses for their stuffed animals. Here's Carly's end product.

This is what Aubree would look like with bangs.

When I saw these at the candy store it brought back happy memories of when my Dad would come home from a business trip and bring us Neccos.