Woes of a Sixth Grader

The following is a poem that Jared wrote for Language Arts class:

Trampoline

I shouldn't have gone on the trampoline

Without shoes, then my toe wouldn't be green

I wouldn't be wearing this boot, but a shoe

Also my toenail wouldn't be blue

Man I should've worn that shoe

I wouldn't have to go to the doctor too

I wouldn't be out for five to six weeks

Maybe I could still play and wear my basketball sneaks

Or I could go outside and play in the snow

But no, I have a throbbing toe

I could go outside to play

And try to enjoy this wonderful day

But I have to stay inside and rest

My throbbing toe cause it's not at its best

I shouldn't have gone on the trampoline

Without shoes, then my toe wouldn't be green

All That Goes With Fall

Bear with me as I take a deep breath and cover a lot of ground. That's just the way we roll here. : )I put Megan in jail at her school fall social. She didn't seem to mind and I didn't, either (hee hee).
RHS volleyball is officially over for Amanda. She absolutely loved it and wants to continue to play. This is her counterpart, Claire. They both played middle blocker and enjoyed sharing that position together.
We had some families over who recently moved to the area who are in our ward at church. We did some donuts on a string and bobbing for apples for the kids in the garage to get us ready for Halloween.

This happens to be the last week of soccer but Nate caught a beautiful rainbow shot during a cold, rainy game.
Megan was playing goalie here but not seeing much action.
Jared had to participate in a school choir concert. I say had to because it is an elective that kids have to take at least once during middle school. He was relieved when two of his fellow football teammates were in the class, as well. They even had practice cancelled the night of the concert! I had to take a picture because they look so different without their gear on--so handsome!
Bradley pretty much has the run of the orthopedic clinic I transcribe for. They adore him and look forward to his daily visits. I brought him in his costume right before Halloween and he got to go to each nurse and the front desk staff and Trick-or-Treat. He really didn't need to go out on Halloween night he got so much stuff that day but he had fun getting the idea of candy collecting down.
Megan's class party was very fun!
Ahhh, the trick-or-treaters! We ventured out for our traditional Halloween activities of trick-or-treating at Uptown (with friends and grandparents), grabbing some pizza and then off to neighborhoods and trunk-or-treats. Amanda was a greek goddess (Aphrodite(?), Jared was a nerd, Megan a zombie princess and Bradley was a bat.

One of our friends made the cutest costumes for their kids. Their three-year-old was a John Deere tractor and below is a picture of their son as an alien abduction.
Jared was able to meet up with his friends and had a great time collecting as much candy as possible.
Hope your Halloween was full of treats!

The Pumpkin Patch Kidnap

Miracle of all miracles--I found myself and the kids all together at the same time on a Saturday afternoon! Jared had a football game in Prosser and we got a tip about a cute pumpkin patch a little farther down the road in the happening town of Toppenish. I decided to shirk only a couple of responsibilities and kidnap the kids after the game and get us all to the pumpkin patch! I'm so glad I had a "stolen afternoon" with them. It was a little chilly but we had a lot of fun.

Megan on the "bumpy" slide.
Top of the hay pyramid.
A fairly difficult corn maze. We spent a while in there.
Bradley loved the petting zoo.
Everyone loved roasting marshmallows at the end. Not sure why I didn't get a picture of the pumpkins but we got 'em!

Bump, Set, Spike, etc.

Here are some miscellaneous photos of what we've been up to lately . . . We added some concrete to our driveway and side yard which enabled Nate to capitalize on an opportunity to put a "Mammoth" in our driveway. Boys and men from near and far came to worship the Mammoth.
We had a Labor Day BBQ to commemerate the event and the moms kicked booty in a backyard volleyball game.
Jared and Logan were able to play for a few minutes until the dads took over and sent them to sit on the bench.
If I haven't mentioned this before, we watch a lot of kids' sports. Jared is in his third season playing for the Cowboys. He is now the quarterback/running back for his 11-year-old team.
We've really enjoyed Amanda's volleyball season as well. She plays middle blocker for the Bomber's Freshman team and they recently took 3rd overall and 1st in their pool at an invite in Yakima last weekend. Not to be overlooked, Megan is having a great time playing soccer on the Pumas--we just need a picture or two at some of the upcoming games.
Nate and I managed a quick night out to catch Heart when they came to town for a concert. They sound so good and can still rock it.
It was nice to get out with our friends, Craig and Rebecca. We were pretty wild on a "school night." : )
Speaking of school, don't you wish you could go to homecoming, take nerdy dance pictures and embarass your children? That's what we got to do! Hope you are having a happy fall!

The Parkers Go to Washington

Not all of summer was carefree and happy. Some of it was hard. For the past ten years we have lived near my sister and her kids. They moved back to the Tri-Cities right out of college and just days after their oldest, Ashley, was born. With that amount of time being close by, you tend to take a lot for granted. When they announced their "two-year assignment" to Washington, D.C. I was excited for them but could not picture the day ever coming. Now, they've been there for just a short time but it feels like a lot longer. I really miss them but can't wait to visit and love hearing about their adventures. You can check up on them as well at parkerprofile.blogspot.com.

Blink and You'll Miss It

It seems so quick that the rug of summer was pulled out from under us. I may have mentioned this before but I LOVE summer and am so sad to see it go. So, I'm indulging myself in a few more snapshots of the last part of summer--sigh!We had a church ward campout at Windust Park. It was a last minute decision to go because our other plans fell through with the Elsassers. However, we had a great time!
The next day we hiked through an old train tunnel. It felt good to be in the shade and cool--the tunnel was quite long.
The kids found several owl pellets they loved digging through and several larger skulls (rodents?) and we saw the owls themselves.
We went to Palouse falls with a couple of other families after the train tunnel. It is strange but this is in the middle of nowhere--not a body of water in sight until you see this interesting waterfall and rock formations.
Nate and I had a weekly ritual of hiking Badger Mountain early in the morning. I'm sad to give that up--it was really fun for us to do that together.
One more trip to Idaho to do a little four-wheeling and playing at Silverwood.



It was fun to have Nannee and Papa with a "place on the lake." The kids enjoyed visiting them there. Looking forward to next summer already!

Bring on the Heat!

Q: How do we stay cool when temps reach triple digits for over a week?
A: We Don't!
You won't hear any complaining (at least from me) about temperatures at this time of the year--at least as long as the air conditioning in my home and car work (hee hee). I just have to get up a little earlier to go running and we try and hit the river a little more often at this point in time.
Some reasons why I love the heat:
We go camping and pack light! Actually the kids spent two nights camping in the backyard before our recent camping trip with our ward at church (more on that later). We also eat lots of ice cream--Dairy Queen loves us, I'm sure!
We play hard and sleep hard. Something about the outdoors, water and sun wears us out!

I cook very little because we're not that hungry so we end up grilling a lot and eating more fresh fruits (Hermiston melon time) and veggies--the corn from the garden tastes yummy this year!

Note to self: Come back and read this post in January :)

We Can't Be That Old!

It's hard to admit that Nate and I had our 20-year High School Reunion this month. When I think of how we feel I could swear it was our 10-year reunion. Reunions are interesting things and we had a great time. I was too busy to take pictures but I at least got a group one at our evening event.

I really enjoyed working with one of my classmates, Rob, on the family picnic. It was a lot of work to get ready for but I think everyone had a good time. Nate was a great support and my parents also came and helped out. My dad and Nate did all the grilling and the kids were troopers to hang out while mom and dad were totally ignoring them. This is a shot of us getting ready to feed about 200 people.

Until next time, class of '89!

Megan's Baptism

What a special day Megan's baptism was! It was fun for her to get baptized on her actual birthday and we are so glad we got to be with almost all of our family that day as well as dear friends. We appreciate her example and willingess to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I'll never forget her big smile as she came out of the water and she whispered to me, "that was fun!"