Fishing for Ducks

We got a fishing pole for Laney, with the plan being that after the baby comes, and Kim needs a break, Laney and I can head down to Salem pond and spend some time together there.

Obviously we needed to break in the fishing pole and get a good feel for the surroundings, as opposed to just showing up there one day. It's all about being prepared

Cookies!

Laney, Kim and I decided we needed to make some cookies to fill our newly painted cookie jar!!
This is the finished product to our Color me mine adventure! Obviously we are so proud and feel we could probably sell this item for around $250.

















Here is a little snippet from the process.







Laney loves helping.

The Mystery of Max and Ruby . . .

Josh has ruined forever one of Laney's favorite shows. Max and Ruby, for those who don't know, is a sweet little kid's show about brother and sister bunnies. Essentially, every episode has Ruby bossing around her little brother. In the end, baby bro seems to have had the right idea all along.

What could possibly ruin this show?

Josh pointed this out the other day: there are no parents on the show. Never. Grandma sometimes "comes to visit," but any other adults are non-existent. And now it's bugging me. Especially when there are episodes with the following plot elements:

Ruby bosses Max around when it's time for bed. SHE gives the bath, gets him in his pajamas, and forces him to bed. So maybe these latch key kids might play together when Ruby gets home from school (oh wait--there are no episodes with Ruby in school, even though she's old enough to be. . . . The plot thickens), but the parents aren't home by dinner/bed time? This smells of neglect.

Grandma comes to visit for Ruby's birthday party. But there are no parents there. EVER. Even on her birthday. I mean, come on folks--take a day off of work. Josh's response: "Isn't Grandma concerned that she hasn't seen the parents in months?"

Ruby and Max get on the bus, travel across town to the mall, and purchase new clothes for Max. Okay--really. Things are getting VERY disturbing.

Can someone PLEASE call DCFS? Or at least explain to me WHERE ARE THE PARENTS OF THESE RABBIT CHILDREN?

Just to Get Josh's Goat . . .

So, Josh hates blog posts that are just writing. He calls those the "boring" ones. Of course, he thinks he's the wittiest/funniest person on the planet, so all of HIS posts are brilliant. For all those who wondered why I fell off the face of the blogging earth . . . this is why. I am horribly self-conscious. Always have been. Thought I kicked it when I met Josh--I actually had a pretty healthy self-esteem then. But there's something about pregnancy and mood issues and body changes that just puts me in the black abyss category called, "I'm giving up . . . for now anyway."

So after blog stalking again (I feel ridiculous that my HUSBAND gives me the updates on my friends blogs), here are just some of the reasons why I feel off the face of the earth for awhile--my friends are freaking intimidating. Of course, that makes me feel cool by association. However, you may notice a lack of pictures of ME on our family blog. Also, I try not to talk about ME. Why? Here are just a few things that make me self-conscious:

1. Friends who (1) have houses (with yards) and (2) can turn their houses into better than Martha Stewart photo quality show cases on a budget (I think you know who you are--Cali lovin).

2. Friends who, even though I taught them at BYU, have freaking amazing writing/blogging skills and who, I hope, will someday come out with some novels.

3. Friends who (1) are smaller than me their whole pregnancy and (2) look freaking amazing in their HOSPITAL pics post birth. There's just something wrong about that.

4. Friends who have more creative talent in one pinkie than I have ever hoped of having. You know--the ones who make adorable monsters and high quality coupons--you know who you are :).

5. Friends who update their blogs regularly, are super moms with immaculately clean homes, and who don't whine routinely when pregnant.

6. Friends who use words like "dissertation," "hegemony," and "PhD." Oh--and who still punctuate and spell posts correctly.

7. Truly brilliant people. I'm smart enough to fake it, but smart enough to know that I'm largely a fraud. I KNOW truly brilliant people. I bask in their brilliance from my "smart" hill far away. :)

So yes--I'm in my black abyss called, "I give up . . . for now." I accept the fact that I am doing a mediocre job at filling my callings, a less than mediocre job staying up on house work, and a really lousy job at looking at all presentable (no make up, sweats, pony tail--that's how I roll these days. If I'm showered, it's a good day). My parenting skills involve cuddling in a recliner and watching kid shows and saying, "Mommy can't give you a piggy back ride, honey. Mommy's ________ (fill in with back, stomach, ligament, head, etc.) hurts."

Sigh. So thank you amazing people for being my friends! :) I will live vicariously by blog stalking your amazing lives and be quite content with trying to make it through these last two months of pregnancy.

Family Time

Today we decided to focus on family time. We wanted to spend the whole day just being together. We decided to try out a place called Jaxie's in Spanish Fork. It is little cafe that Kim has been excited to try for a few weeks. We finally fed her fancy. It is a nice little place, but seems like the food is a bit overpriced. They have yummy panini's and fun drinks and a little play area upstairs, where Laney could have probably played all day. Next we went to Color Me Mine. For those that don't know, this is a place where you pick out a piece of ceramic, which can range from a cup or bowl to a mermaid or frog. We chose a little plate for Laney and a cookie jar for Kim and I. We spent a good 3 hours in this place! It is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it to those looking to burn a few hours and a few bucks.

Laney loves to paint! Her plate started out with some beautiful pastel colors, but the longer we stayed, the more layers she added. When she was done it was a lot more like earth tones. OK.. more like mud and clay.

It's no secret that the Parry's love dessert. The problem has always been, where do we store these desserts when not eating them. Hopefully the Parry Family Treats jar will remedy some of this issue.

Obviously as the picture taker, I was saddened to the core to not see any pictures of myself. Through the tears I asked Kim if she would take one of me:

They fire them in a kiln and then we can bring them home. I will update our viewers on Thursday with updated pics! Stay tuned folks...

It's all fun and games...

Laney was practicing her painting skills, and going through "who is the cutest", "who is the smartest" and "who is the strongest", and then... Well watch:










She's okay...

The Story of the Background . . .

So, the family blog used to be my responsibility. As the woman of the house, along with cooking, cleaning, changing diapers (okay, so I really don't do most of that right now; I'm currently spending most of my time cooking the bun in the oven and complaining loudly about the process), etc. apparently blogging, scrapbooking, and other such activities are "woman's work."

If you follow our blog at all, you've probably noted that, along with some of my other wifely/motherly duties, I've been slacking. As a good Mormon mother, I am inflicting sufficient amounts of self-loathing, guilt, and general disgust at my failure to meet the "Super Mom" standard.

Consequently, as you can tell (by the recent appearance of a certain plastic trophy), Josh has commandeered the blog. This is the reason many of you have started reading/commenting on our blog again. As this transition has taken place, I've heard comments such as, "Why don't you keep this updated? This is fun!"

"You need to post about . . ." (To which I reply, you're doing such a good job honey--you keep it up.)

And . . . today . . .

"So, can we pick a new background. This one is old news."

So, TAH DAH (as Laney says), we're announcing the new image of the Parry family blog. :) (And for the record, I did write this post all by myself without Josh pushing, prodding, or generally guilting me into blogging. There's hope yet.)

Today it all becomes worth it!

My trophy came in the mail today. The NFL season has been over for a couple of months. I have trudged through feet and feet of snow each day en route to the mailbox, in hopes that it might arrive, but each day I had returned empty handed... until now. All the hours of studying, the sleepless nights, the sweat, the tears, the heartbreak after each loss, the sleeping on the couch after taking a loss out on Kim... today it becomes worth it.I am in a fantasy football league that has become pretty competitive. I have been a member of this league for 6 years now. The first year in the league I tried my best, but came in last. Today I look back on that team and no longer have to hang my head in shame, because... I am the champion.

Oh yeah... Kim got a trophy too. Her's may be a little more prestigious - BYU Idaho sent it to her in honor of her piloting a class for them.

Best friends...