SREIOUSLY?! PART DEUCE

Again - I have no time, but had to jot this story down.......

This is how a what should have been a 15 minute trip to Target turned into a 40 minute trip to Target....

We ran into Target (Me & Jadyn after dropping off Kylie at school) really fast to grab something for Jadyn to color because I had to go into the office again today. While browsing the coloring isle Jadyn turned around to look at something & bumped her nose into the cart. (**Jadyn has a very sensitive nose. She can smell stinky things a mile away & if it's bad enough she will literally start gagging. She also has a tendency to hit her nose & have it start bleeding uncontrollably.**) At first nothing happens & I didn't think she hit it that hard. She, in true Jadyn fashion, starts freaking out. I told her it was fine. She kept asking if it was bleeding & I told her no. Then, it started... I saw a little trickle & she went to wipe her nose on her sleeve. First of all - GROSS!!! Second of all - I knew as soon as she saw that she would REALLLY start freaking out. And she did. We had toilet paper in our cart & I tried to bust into it, but couldn't get it open. At this point it's really coming down. I then hold my hand under her nose & start running for the bathroom.

She's trying really hard not to gag because the blood was all over her face & still free flowing. (Sorry if this is too graphic.) Some workers see us & ask if we're ok. I told them we had an accident in the coloring isle & there's blood on the floor - while I was running. That got them moving. We find the bathroom & start the clean up process with a very distraught child. She had blood ALL OVER her face. Some workers come in & ask if we had an accident in the store. I told them what happened & they asked if we needed anything. (I think they were worried we were going to sue them or something.) I'm cleaning her off & trying to get her to hold her nose to stop the bleeding & she was shaking all over in fear. Her hands were shaking so hard. I felt so bad for her at that point.

Finally the bleeding stopped & we got her cleaned up. We took a minute to assess the damage & noticed she had blood on her clothes. Which meant she got a new outfit out of the deal because we couldn't go home. So, for my girlie-girl.....she got some coloring stuff & a new outfit. Not so bad after all. But, for me & my lovely aversion to blood (thanks for that trait as well Dad) I am still shaking. Now, if I can calm myself down....

SERIOUS?!

I am WAY behind on blogging. I still have last weekend to update with, but I'm starting with this..... I have been up for an hour & a half & here's what has happened so far.

I was awoken at 7:00 AM by a ridiculously loud phone ring. Yeah - that would be my phone. Luckily it was my mom wanting to be the first one to wish me Happy Birthday, otherwise I might be really upset. As I was walking downstairs I noticed balloons at the front of my house. After I got off the phone I went outside to see what it was. There was balloons & a Happy Birthday poster taped out side my door. CUTE!! It looked like Allison's handwriting so I text her to say thank you & she asks what I'm talking about. Apparently it wasn't her - it was my other sister Stephanie. WOOPS!! Then, my husband comes downstairs & tells me that he just got a call from his parents that his Dad fell off his truck last night at work & is hurt. He needs help getting dressed & getting to the doctor. So, he takes off to go help. As he's leaving he tells me I better go look at my car. I do & Steph had also written all over my windows. Silly girl! I grab the girls to come look & my camera to take pictures. After looking we go to walk into the house.........well, we were locked out. Someone - who knows who - accidentally locked the door. I, of course, have no keys & no phone. We walk to a neighbors house & use a cell phone to call Erik. He had to quickly drive all the way back to let us back in. He also tells me his Dad's hip is hurting & he can't move it. He's broken it once before & Erik thinks it may be broke again. He informs me this may be an all day trip. I'm not worried about that - I just hope he's ok.

Anyway, that's my day so far. What a wonderful beginning! I can't wait to see what other disasters occur today. Maybe I'll just stay locked IN my house all day & forget everywhere I need to be today....

P.S. - I'll post pictures later. I've got to get back to work now.

KYLIE'S POEM

Kylie came home from school yesterday & informed us that she had won the poetry contest in her class along with another girl. Now her poem will be sent to the principal to see if she can win for her grade in the school. (I think that's how it works.) Anyway, I just had to post this poem because it made Erik & I laugh out loud. I talked to her teacher today about it & she said she had to pick it because she laughed out loud as well. Now let's see if you do.....


FAMILY by Kylie Parkinson

My family is the best,
there is no one who is a pest.
That's how my family rolls,
and we love to shop at Kohl's.
We are always in a rush.
We don't live in Alaska,
so we don't say "Mush"!
We love to watch T.V.,
especially ABC.
We have a loving house,
that is even loving for a mouse!


We did not help her in anyway on this one. We didn't even know anything about it until she came home & told us she had won. Her teacher said she asked Kylie when she read it, "Does this say 'That's how my family rolls'?" Kylie said "yeah" - as if to say "duh". So, her teacher picked it because that was too funny. She said Kylie's quite a good writer & is very creative in her stories. Creativity is definitely not something that child is lacking!! We love that girl!

TRICKER

I'm not the best at jotting down little stories & silly phrases that my kids say. Here's an attempt at that one...

Jadyn says the funniest things & I sometimes forget that she's only 5. She uses some big words at times & I'm not quite sure where she gets them. For example, my stepmom told me that they were in the car with my girls & that they were talking about one of my younger nieces Abbi & how she use to say "you naughty" all the time when you did something she didn't like. They elaborated at how she doesn't say that very much anymore because she's older. To which - I'm told - Jadyn replied,"Yeah, she's in preschool now & that's impressive." What 5 year old says that? Maybe a lot & I'm being silly, but I thought it was funny.

Here's another one....This past weekend we were talking about who knows what & the topic of some dinner came up that Jadyn liked. She told me that it was an "outstanding" dinner. What? I almost fell on the floor because who even says that anymore? I really don't know where that one came from.

Our Jadyn is quite the silly kid also! She loves to tease. She teases Kylie quite often & Kylie hates it. It's a trait that she has inherited from her dad. He's a big teaser.

Well, this past Sunday Jadyn decided she wanted to bear her testimony in church. She talked Erik into going up with her. She told Erik to please go first & he said ok - assuming she'd stand next to him & be ready to go, of course. Well, they walked up together & headed to the pulpit. As soon as Erik moved the mic to start talking Jadyn headed to a seat on the side to sit & wait her turn. Erik just said "she tricked me." And got quite the laugh from the congregation. Then, in the middle of his testimony, Jadyn got up & ran back down to me! Which started another round of giggles from the crowd. I guess she got nervous sitting their by herself & decided to bolt while dad couldn't do anything about it. It was hilarious! Erik looked a little stunned for a second, but ended strong. Jadyn just came & snuggled next to me saying she got scared. I told her it was ok & then dad came & did the same. Then, the urge kicked in again & she decided to head up for another shot. She was told dad wasn't saying his again & that she needed to go first. Which she did & did a very sweet, beautiful testimony with minimal help from dad. This was her first time doing it & it was her own prompting to do so.

We love having such sweet little girls. Even if they love to tease at times....

GO CARDS!!

In honor of the Cardinals participating in the Super Bowl this weekend I'd like to post this little picture...
This is Erik with Deuce Lutui. He's a Guard for the Cardinal's & he was in the Easter Pageant in 2007. He was so nice to take this picture. I asked if he would mind taking a picture with Erik & he said,"No - can I take MY picture with this guy? Check out this costume." I'd love to see the Cardinals win if it was just for his sake because he seems like such a nice guy! GO CARDS!!!

Bell Cruise Part 2

It's a known fact that I'm not always the brightest person on the planet! Upon looking at a friends post I realized I could add more pictures to a post if I make them smaller. Which means you're in for another round of pics from our trip. I'm going to do mostly group photos this time..... (Allyson - I hope you don't mind but I stole the large group photo from your blog. :) )

ACAPULCO...



FORMAL NIGHT & DANCING...



MANZANILLO...



DINNER, CANCER WALK, AIRPORT GOING HOME...



I also forgot to give a HUGE thank you to Mimi & Papa as well as Jackson & Allison for watching our rugrats while we were gone. We never could have done it without you! MMWAH!! Allison even took vacation days from work to watch our kids. WOW!! She's the best! Our girls had a lot of fun. Only a few melt downs from what I'm told. I think Kylie was a little sad it was already over. I feel her on that one. The week went by fast. I'm glad to be home, but sad as well. Not having to cook, clean & just play for a week! That's the life!

Bell Photo Cruise 2009

Every 2 years we get spoiled by Erik's work & get the priviledge of going on a cruise with the Bell Photo family. The first time we got to go was in 2007. This was our second time & we had a blast! It was fun to see all the wives again of the salesman & catch up on the past 2 years. Here's a few pictures & stories of our travels. Keep in mind - it was tough to narrow this down to the 5 pictures Blogger allows you. Especially when I ended up taking 388 pictures. YIKES!! (I know, I know - I could do a slide show & have a bunch more, but I HATE those things. If you want to see more look up my facebook account.)

We took off from San Diego & spent the first 2 days at sea. The second night was the first formal night...

After dinner that night we attended the show. (They have a different show every night after dinner that they claim are as good as anything you would see in Vegas. Right!) We laughed really hard & I'm not so sure it was suppose to be a comedy. It showcased the singers & dancers. The dancers made me giggle the whole time. Seriously, sickled feet & horrible technique at that level? It was sad.

Our first stop was Acapulco. We had quite the group - 52 in all - so, we waited to get off the boat to book anything. We found some vans to drive our crew around for the day. We went to this awesome resort to look around & walk out to their private beach - BEAUTIFUL!! Hit up some local little shops & then went to watch the cliff divers. They were scary to watch, but it was almost scarier to watch them climb the mountain to jump off of. They took the theatrics a little far before jumping doing their Hail Mary's & stuff. But, still cool.

The next day we stopped at Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. We took a water taxi to a beach across the docking area & just spent the day their. Erik did some snorkeling & I was happy to rent a raft & float in the ocean. The following picture is a view of our boat from the beach we played at.

Our last stop was Manzanillo. We were docked in an industrial area & not the prettiest. We waited around for awhile waiting to find out what the plan was. While waiting we watched the Inauguration in the lounge. Pretty cool to say I watched that piece of history on a boat in Mexico. Finally we found some vans to take us around. We went shopping first in the downtown area. We then were taken to an iguana preserve where Erik & I held a huge iguana. WEIRD!! Then, it was off to the beach! Erik did some body surfing here & he didn't come out of the water for a long time. He could live in the ocean if it was possible.

After the stops we spent another 2 days at sea before returning home to san Diego. Erik got sick the last couple of days which was not fun. But, I'm happy to say I didn't gain any weight. The captain at one point said the average weight gain on a cruise that long was 7 pounds. I actually ate better & worked out more. It's been harder for me being home to work out & eat good. The very last day at sea they had a cancer walk for Breast Cancer. It was fun to be involved with that!

Some more fun little tidbits are:

** Going dancing - you haven't seen anything until you've seen Eric Bateman get the asian crowd involved in dancing & even body slamming one of the little old guys. Hilarious!!

**Playing lots of cards & dice with the crew on those long days at sea.

**Meeting one of the cutest girls ever - Kylee.

**Watching Chad Waldron ham up the Black Jack tournament.

**Playing musical chairs at dinner every night & never knowing who you will end up sitting next to.

**Erik bought a wedding ring (his has been lost for years) in Ixtapa & then lost it in the ocean in Manzanillo - NICE!

**Seeing lots of dolphins & even whales. Erik & I even saw a sea turtle. We just happened to look out the right window at the right time.

**Seeing good old Nate with an earing in & suspenders. Quite the sight! :)

**Getting rained on when arriving back to San Diego & standing in it waiting for our ride to the airport. Does wonders for the hair!!

I'm sure I'm missing quite a bit. I didn't take notes this time on what we did everyday like I did last time. All in all, it was fun. We actually enjoyed the last one a little better - the stops were nicer & we did more "stuff". But, we can't complain. Cruising's the way to go. We're up for that anytime!