Alumni Weekend

We saw many old friends from school last weekend during SVU's Homecoming. We also participated in many of the alumni activities on of them was The Alumni Basketball game. Kevin did really well and some fun playing with his old teammates Ben Lingen, Ryan (Hindu) Henderson, Spencer Kimball, Ryan (Killer) Killinger, Brandon Wilson, and many others. Kevin still has some sore muscles and bruises from the game, but all in all still glad he played. FYI in the middle picture you will notice some people behind the bench. They are from left to right Walt Ralls (SVU VP), Rodney Smith (SVU Pres.), Glade Knight (SVU mascott named after him), his wife, and Chieko Okasaki (I know I miss spelled her name) Chieko is sitting up on a bleacher and everyone else is standing. They offered her a chair to sit on but she said no thanks and then jumped up onto the bleachers. Cool huh.

"What was that?!"

I promise I keep my house clean! Anyone who has known me for any amount of time knows that I am somewhat of a neat freak so why (more importantly how) do we get rodents in our house. I for one would like to blame the male college students that rent out our basement, but oddly enough they keep it pretty clean down stairs. Anyway, Kevin and I were watching T.V. the other night when something grey darts into our media room and hides behind the T.V. Imagine if you will a grown 31 year old, 6'4", 200 plus pound male jumping as high as possible from his reclined position on the floor to the lounger behind him crouched on his feet and asking over and over, "What was that?!" His 27 year old, 5'8", not relevant pound wife on the opposite side of the room jumping on the couch clutching her chest (asthma) telling herself over and over, "It can't be!" Well folks it was a little cute (if it weren't for the nasty germs and diseases) grey mouse. Two hours later, and with some help from Bayden, we were able to get the mouse out of the house (alive). It was quite the process involving removing all the furniture in the room and propping up cushions to help trap the little guy. I'm sure if we would have had our video camera on we would have won America's funniest home videos. This is an after picture. Kevin is holding the blanket and bowl used to capture mousey. Since then we have narrowed down where they are living (outside on the back porch) and have caught a few more. We think this one got in our house while I was doing the laundry. Needless to say I close the door to the porch when I'm doing the laundry.

Welcome Noah!

Noah Dennis Parks is the newest of the Parks clan. He was born on Sunday, the 14th. He was 7lbs 5oz, 20 inches long. Son of Keith and Amanda Parks in Alaska.

Typical Anna

These pictures capture Anna's personality in a nut shell- crazy eccentric princess.

Pumpkin Patch

The kids and I went to a pumpkin patch this Saturday for a friends birthday party. We went on a hay ride to the patch and then had cake and ice cream. I promise Anna had a good time even though the camera never caught her smiling. We have had a very dry Summer this year (only raining 5-10 times in five months) so the pumpkins suffered along with many other crops in the area. Jared and Anna managed to find some decent size pumpkins considering the lack of water.

The Ultimate Mom Song

Copy and paste this link to listen to a very funny Mom song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

Saturday Walk

We went for a little walk in between sessions of Conference today. It has been abnormally warm for October (87 degrees) so we took advantage of the warm weather and walked down to the park. We also walked around the corner to the "scary house" There is a house that goes crazy in decorations for the holidays. When Jared was little we walked past the house on our way the park and he made us walk on the other side of the road to avoid the "scary house" and only those who have visited or lived in Buena Vista truly understand what he meant by "scary house" The yard is full of blown up characters from Homer Simpson dressed as a mummy to a skeleton driving a skeleton drawn carriage carrying a corpse that rises from his coffin every 30 sec. When it gets closer to Halloween there is scary music playing from 8:00am-10:00pm. On Halloween night if you can get up the courage the owners will let you walk through the inside of the house, but most of the kids can barely make it up to the door for their candy. We think they are a little eccentric but oh well to each their own! The kids discovered there were bats and spiders (fake) hanging from the castle in the yard and thought that was really funny.

Soccer Game

It has been different this fall to watch a SVU Women's Soccer game from the fan's side of the field, but I am adjusting. This was the third home game of the season and The kids and I went to watch. As you can see Jared and Anna weren't really interested in the game. I don't know what it is about bleachers that is so appealing but for whatever reason that was the place to be. They had fun jumping from the steps, making beds out of grass, and poking the feet of the fans from under the bleachers. It was a fun afternoon except that the girls lost the game. (It is a rebuilding year)