Graduation

Last weekend my baby brother and sister graduated. I still remember them when they were babies, and I can't believe how grown up they both are. We felt so lucky to be a part of their exciting day. I did Breanne's hair for grad, and Michael took some photos. Here are some of the photos Michael took! A lot of the photos we did were mostly of Breanne. (All film of coarse). Enjoy!

glasses

Since I got an iPhone, I take most of my photos on there. I have been trying lately to take more photos on my camera, and I've been doing pretty good.

 Ty is really enjoying having his Dad at home, all day everyday. Speaking of which, Michael saw the surgeon 2 weeks ago, and he told Michael he won't be able to go back to work for another 6 weeks.. If he goes back after that, it will be a total of 14 weeks off because of this injury. Michael's leg is slowly getting better. He is now able to walk on it a small amount, mostly around the house, and if he's on it too long it gets really sore and swollen. We hope these next 4 weeks we see much more healing. 

 I was watching Madison for a little while a week or so ago, and her and Ty were playing the keyboard. This is how we always have it set up so Ty can play.

 On the long weekend we went up to Waterton with Michael's parents and his sister. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy. We had a picnic, which was so good and then took the 20 minute drive up to Cameron Lake. After we came back to the townsite, the rain stopped, and it was just insanely windy. Not a great day to go to Waterton, but we are all in love with the place, so we were happy to go anyway. Here is everyone eating... :)

 My sweet blue eyed boy!

 Enjoying his time sheltered from the wind and rain. 

 Here is Cameron Lake. I'll admit it's much more beautiful in the summertime.

 I think this is the only photo I have of my sister-in-law Jody and I. I'm pretty lucky to have such an awesome sister-in-law! Excuse our insane hair. It was realllllly windy.  

 The biggest news for us lately is that Ty got glasses. His right eye has frequently turned in and it seemed to be getting worse, and I figured something was going on so we took him for an eye exam and we were told he is moderately far-sighted. So now my 11 month old is wearing glasses. Okay, he doesn't really wear them. We need to get a strap so he keeps them on a little better. This above photo is more like what he does with them. We have been able to get a few photos of him with them on. 

Sometimes they look a bit big on his face, and he has pulled them off so many times they already need to be refitted...  

 Today Grandpa Parker was able to get Ty to keep them on for a few minutes! He does look pretty dang cute in them.  

You tell me

Recently, a lot of people have been telling us how much Ty looks like me. I went back to my baby book to see what I looked like around Ty's age... the results were shocking. I almost felt like I was just looking at photos of Ty. Here are some photos to compare.... What do you think?

Ty

Me

Me

Ty

The Parker Family 2012

It's taken a while to get us all together. Most of us are still in Southern Alberta, but we have some in Utah, and some in Lloydminster. Here is all of my family on the Parker side. That includes my Dad, stepmom, step-siblings, and siblings. I've probably talked before about how there are 11 kids in my family (not including my two step-brothers on my Mom's side) so here they are. Even though I am one of the shortest, I'm actually the oldest child. This family is expanding.... fast! Three grandbabies in 2011, one in 2012, and who knows how many in 2013! Love you all, family!!!

Want to see if even bigger? Just click on the photo.

pictures and a video

Here are some photos to catch you up on a bit of what we have been doing.

 Heres Michael and Ty at a soccer game. A lot of our friends are playing on the team. Michael was suppose to be on it..... It was 6 degrees out, and Ty was getting too fussy from being so cold, so we ended up leaving.

 Getting ready for dinner with the Malmbergs and Bennetts up in Edmonton. This was the first time Ty, Cali, and Ollie have been together. Back in the day we actually got to visit with one another, but this time it felt like we were mostly watching after all of our own kids. Definitely a different dynamic once you bring kids into the mix! 

 Ty riding an elk

Ty having his second ride on a buffalo.

 We went to Vemilion-as I mentioned in my previous post, and this one worker at the Co-op there commented on Ty's outfit saying "That is the cutest little boy suit I've ever seen"... HAHA... Oh, you mean his church shirt and his sweat pants? Don't worry everyone... this isn't how we usually dress our son.. 

 Ty on the swings... he doesnt look too excited about it, but he actually was enjoying it.

 Michael joining us at the park in his wheel chair. 

And check out this video of Ty. Turn up the volume so you can hear him toot at :10, haha.

Vermilion, Alberta

A lot of this post may bore many of you. But I wanted to post this for our memories, and so those who lived here can see the photos. Michael did most of his growing up in Vermilion, Alberta(2 hours east of Edmonton). He moved there in grade 4 and his family moved down to Lethbridge when he was 26. For the past 6 years I have heard many memories and stories that took place in this town and always wished I could go, but since no family lived there anymore, we really didn't have a reason to go. This weekend we were up visiting friends and family in Edmonton, and we were planning to head home Sunday afternoon, and while in church Michael brought up the idea of taking a trip to Vermilion-one last time. This trip would add an extra 3 hours onto our already 5 hours back home, but since he is off work right now, we decided to just go ahead and make the trip! It was awesome to finally know what Vermilion is like. Michael really enjoyed being able to drive around and take some photos.

 Here we are halfway in Vegreville, seeing the worlds largest Pysanka!

 Lakeland College where Michael's Dad worked

 The soccer fields they had practices on.

 Vermilion LDS church

 Your one stop shop for Mother's Day gifts.

 Michaels friends parents owned this and they lived in it.

 The Mendenhalls old home. There used to be a tree, but it fell over once.

 J.R. Robson High School

 Michaels elementary school

 Elementary School park.

The home they first lived when they first moved to Vermilion. 

sushi and mystery ice cream

Tonight we went for all-you-can-eat sushi with Nikki, Jake, and Jessica. We always try to go with a group of people so we can have a little of everything so I had been waiting since January to go... and let me tell you, it was worth the wait. We ate a lot and we weren't sure on what to have for dessert so the guy that runs the place said he could bring us a scoop of each flavor of ice cream they have. We had vanilla, coconut(my favorite), strawberry, red bean(actually pretty good, as long as you don't get a whole bean*insert jake and nikki shuddering*), mango, green tea, two mystery flavors, and lastly- SESAME. That's right. It was terrible. We weren't sure what all the flavors were when we got them so we all dug in. The reactions from everyone were pretty funny. For the sesame ice cream(that top blue one) I thought seaweed salad flavor and Michael guessed dirt. I think we will all be passing next time we are offered sesame ice cream.

expired film

Michael has had a hobby in film photography for a couple years now and is always wanting to take photos. Last week we had a beautiful day out, and decided to go take a few shots with some old expired film (like film his grandma owned but never used) and an expired roll my dad gave to him,  proabably purchased at Walmart. So here are a couple shots we got. A lot of them didn't turn out because of the low quality of film but here were a few that did. Also remember, I am NOT a model at all. I don't know what I am doing. In fact I usually feel I look SO awkward when I see myself in any type of "pose".

Ty is still doing awesome with sleeping through the night. Also, since my last post he has started singing. If we have the radio on in the car he sings... sometimes when he plays the piano he sings along with it... and if we are ever singing, he joins in. It's the sweetest sound ever... so angelic.. his little "ahhh". We aren't up to much around here. Mostly housebound with Michael not able to go very far. We found out today he won't be getting surgery but will be off work for at least another month. If he goes back in 4 weeks, that will have been nearly 7 weeks off work due to this injury! I think he is going a bit crazy with boredom, so we are trying to think of something to do for the next 4 weeks... any ideas?

 Ty being so cute at home in his diaper.

Ty this morning at the hospital waiting to see the surgeon. We left really early so he was still in his PJ's.



Remember our New Years Resolution? Well we reached our goal for February, but got soo busy after that, that we totally forgot about it. Oops!

progress

This week Ty has made some great progress. For the past week he has been sleeping 10-12 hours at a time each night. It's been so wonderful to not get up after all these months of waiting patiently... 9 1/2 months to be exact!! He also learned to clap and does it all the time now. He will even clap when we tell him to. I put my keyboard on the floor and Ty loves to clap after he plays something. It's so cute!!!!! Check out the video. He is clapping at the very beginning. Also, you will see him dancing during the song on the keyboard. Ty has also learned this week to wave bye bye. He only does it with his left and it's so cute!! One more thing Ty learned to do this week is bounce when we say "jump". This past week has been a really fun one for Michael and I.

Update: Michael most likely won't be getting surgery but the surgeon said he will probably cast Michaels leg.

an injury

First off, I'll leave you with a couple photos Michael took with one of his film cameras.

 This one is of Ty and I one Saturday morning just after we woke up.

Look at those juicy lips on my little boy!! This was taken at my niece Madisons 1st birthday party.

We just found out Becky and Brent are expecting their second child, due October 31. I'm LOVING all these babies in my life.

 Heres our family just hanging out at home. Ty busy playing with some books, me reading/relaxing, and Michael probably looking at something to do with photography.

Michael went to play church Basketball Tuesday night, and has been going once a week for probably over two months now, but after about 10 minutes into his game, he walked in the front door limping. He made a shot on the court and was going to go for the rebound but someone else got it, and he planted his foot and turned off to go, and he heard and felt a POP in his ankle/leg! He could put no weight on it, and headed home. Shortly after getting home he was in SO much pain. It was 11pm and we decided to take him to emergency so we called my Mom to come watch Ty, and headed. The wait in emergency was about 6 hours and nothing was moving along, and the pain had started to subside if he wasn't using his leg, so we came home. The next day we went to the doctors and he said Michael should get an ultrasound. We called and they wouldn't be able to get us in until April 26, so we went on a waiting list. Friday they called and said they could squeeze him in that morning. He had the ultrasound and they said it was a severe partial tear of the achilles and would need to see a surgeon as soon as possible. So we went to the doctor to get a referral and he said Michael won't be able to go to work for at least 2 weeks and he prescribed an aircast. So hopefully we will see the surgeon early this coming week to see if Michael will need surgery at all, and if not, hopefully we can get a better idea of how long this healing process will be. Michael is kind of sad about not being able to play on a soccer team this summer that he had planned to. We are just praying that he will be able to heal well enough to play sports again. So at least the next two weeks will consist of lots of time with my two favorite guys. I'm definitely looking forward to the time together with our little family.

I'm sure there will be lots more photos like this to come.