What more can I say?

Here's to my crazy boy who refuses to let me feed him and thinks the dishwasher is his playground....gotta love him!

Then and Now

Parker has five cousins that will be in the same grade as him...The picture above was taken on our first road trip with Parker when he was a month old with his four cousins on Joe's side. They are all 6-8 months older than him. He used to seem so small next to them!
This is him on his blessing day with his cousin Sadie (Matt and Erin's cute little girl...she was 6 months old and Parker was 3 weeks old).
Here they all are again...last Sunday. Brian and Carrie were in town from Washington, so we got a picture of all the TODDLERS (except Jeremiah). I think Parker is bigger than Rachel and Jacob now! Crazy how things change.

Crazy Life, Random Post

So I guess it's been a while since I've updated my blog! Where does time go??? I told Kimberly the other day that I feel like I've been really busy lately, but looking back I'm not sure what the heck I've been doing! Joe's been working pretty long hours, so maybe that's why I feel like my life's been crazy...no break from Parker to update my blog! On May 19th our ward had Super Saturday...these are pictures of the things I made. I really like the stacker thing...it matches Parker's room perfectly!
I'm kind of sad about how this one turned out, though. I thought I had "GADD" centered, but when I started putting the "families are forever" over it, I realized that it was way "to the left, to the left"...ha ha. Oh well. I just got called to be the 2nd Counselor in RS, so that means I'm in charge of the Fall Super Saturday...yikes! Our ward is a little different in how they handle Enrichment meetings. There is no enrichment leader...just me! I guess for each of the big activities, I will call a committee. I'm going to need lots of ideas and advice from all of you experienced party planners! Yes...that means pretty much everyone who is reading my blog...I'm going to need help! I'm excited, though...I really like the President and other counselor. I guess I'll be forced to make more friends!
If you look back at the first picture (with the "lead me, guide me, etc." stacker) you'll notice it's on the tile in our living room. There's a ledge right there from the tile to the carpet that Parker loves to play on. It makes me super nervous and now I know that I get nervous for a reason! Last week he was crawling as fast as his arms and legs would take him (no, he's not walking yet) and he sort of tripped over himself and did a head dive right into the tile! I was talking to Michael on the phone and screamed and told him I had to go...poor Michael...Anyway, he was bleeding profusely (at least in my mind), so I started panicking and called the doctor's office. I was just sure he needed stitches, had a concussion, etc. The receptionist told me that the nurse would call me right back. By the time she called me back, I'd cleaned Parker up and realized that it wasn't as bad as I thought. It was pretty bad, though, but he didn't need stitches! I tried to capture a picture, but it doesn't do the cut justice! I guess everyone needs a little scar above their eye, right?
Above is a picture of Parker on the day of the incident...he has a bandaid on, but doesn't even remember the accident! I'm glad babies are so forgiving!

Parker's Birthday!!!!!

Hopefully you all had a chance to read Parker's top 100 list. If not, scroll down to the next blog! Here are some pictures from his Birthday party! It turned out really fun. Parker had a BLAST! I just realized that I was wearing the same shirt as the last pictures I have on here of myself. Oh well...I must need some new clothes!Parker LOVED the balloons! Here's a picture of Parker and Ethan (Matt and Erin's middle child). Matt and Erin came straight from the "Race for the Cure". Joe's mom was also there, and I guess they saw Aubrey! I wish I had been there...maybe next year on a less hectic day! The party attendees included: Joe's parents; Grandma and Grandpa Gadd; Matt and Erin with their kids Spencer, Ethan and Sadie; Marci, Marcus and Jacob; Grandma Hand; my friend from American Insurance Sabrina and her little boy Brenden; and Dian Hovey and Renee Milne (Brian Hovey's mom and sister). I realized later that we should have invited more friends since lots of family couldn't come (including ALL OF MY FAMILY...wink wink), but it turned out to be a fun little party!
I had fun opening ALL of Parker's presents. He was more interested in reaching for the balloons. He LOVES all of his new toys, though!
Here's Parker's choo-choo train cake. It turned out really cute! I had made another cake to cut and eat, but probably shouldn't have worried about it because Parker was the only one who ate any of the train!
Before the party started, we were wishing we had planned it for later. Parker woke up around 6:15 am, but then went back to sleep until 7:30. I was wishing I could just go back to sleep, but then thought of everything we had to do and couldn't, so I got up to finish making the cakes. Joe had to go help some friends move top soil at 8, then I had to go help set up for the mother/daughter activity at 10 (I didn't really help or stay for the activity...they understood since it was Parker's Bday). Joe really wanted to help get ready, so he of course thought it was essential to mow the lawn before the party. I really did appreciate his desire to help, but thought that getting the INSIDE of the house ready was a bit more important than the OUTSIDE. It all worked out, though, so I can't complain. I finally got in the shower at noon, hurried and gave Parker a bath, then tried to feed him lunch. We were miraculously ready with the house clean by 12:55. I should have just waited to give him a bath until AFTER he ate the cake, but oh well!
This was the best picture I had of Parker's birthday onesie...compliments of Devon and http://www.createaonesie.com/! It has a big 1 on the back, too. Super cute! Thanks Devo!
Parker was unsure of the cake at first, but once he dug in...he really dug in. Here's a messy family photo! I was glad Grandma Hand was there. She was so cute with her new camera! She gave Parker some cute Thomas the Train jammies, a fun Baby Einstein sound book, AND best of all...some Sesame Street forks and spoons!Here's a picture of Joe and Parker at Joe's parent's house for Mother's Day today. Parker was wearing one of the new shirts that Nannu and Grandpa sent him. It matches Blake's and Luke's Easter shirt! So cute!

This picture of Parker was pretty funny. He was really worn out today from the parties yesterday and church today, but he was SO HAPPY to finally have a forward facing car seat. He looks a little delirious!
I guess Parker still likes being swaddled, but he did this himself! Joe went in to look at him a few minutes after we put him down and he was all wrapped up in his blanket! I felt bad since it's like 80 degrees in our house...you can see the beads of sweat on his forehead. Oh well! Anyway, it was a fun weekend...Parker's Birthday and Mother's Day! I can't believe it was a year ago today that we came home from the hospital with newborn cute little Parker. I talked to a girl in our ward today who is due any minute with her first baby. I can't believe how fast it went from THAT to THIS! We feel so blessed to have the privelege of being parents to this amazing, fun, unique, adorable, sweet little boy! THE END!

100 Things About Parker!

Tomorrow is our baby's FIRST BIRTHDAY! Since it really should have been today (May 11th), and since tomorrow will probably be a CRAZY DAY, I thought I would post what he wrote about himself for you all to enjoy on his special day! We love our boy!




1. My name is Parker Brian
2. I was born on May 12, 2006 around 4:43 am in Fullerton, CA at St. Jude Hospital.
3. My mommy was induced the day before on May 11, 2006 at 8:30 am!
4. She was VERY impatient for me to get here and drank castor oil on May 5th…she went to the hospital that night with contractions, but they gave her a shot and sent her home several hours later. I was in NO HURRY to leave the womb!
5. I was delivered by Dr. Robyn Lawton, but my mom thinks her nurse Pam helped her more!
6. I weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20" long.
7. For the first several months of my life, I was in the 97th percentile for height, weight and head circumference!
8. Around 6 months I started slimming down.
9. My weight is now in the 50th percentile, but my height and head are still in the 97th!
10. Parker was the first boy name that my mommy suggested that my daddy actually liked…the name just stuck!
11. I am SUCH a Parker! My parents can’t imagine me as anything else.
12. I was named "Brian" after Brian Hovey—my dad’s best friend that was killed in a tragic accident on January 13, 2005. He was a really handsome guy...so am I!
13. I have a really cool namesake uncle named Brian also!
14. My daddy loves to take me running…he took me for the first time when I was 2 weeks old at Craig Park in Brea, CA.
15. The stroller broke in February when my mommy took me for a jog.
16. I haven’t gone since—I really miss it!
17. I slept through the night for the first time when we went camping at Spruces in July 2006…I was 2 months old and slept for 12 hours!
18. My mommy can count on both hands how many nights I’ve slept through since!
19. She’s determined that my future siblings will be better sleepers!
20. I have 5 cousins that will be in my same grade in school—Jeremiah, Rachel, Jacob, Sadie and Blake.
21. The first four are 6-8 months older than I am.
22. Blake is only 5 weeks younger than I am!
23. I have been on SEVERAL road trips!
24. We drove to Utah from California in June when my Great Grandpa B passed away.
25. We drove to Utah again in July for a Gadd family reunion.
26. My daddy drove home by himself and my mommy and I flew home a few days later on her B-day (August 1st).
27. I slept during the whole plane ride! I'm sad that I missed it!
28. We drove to Utah AGAIN in September.
29. This time we were MOVING there!
30. I’ve lived in three places—Brea, CA, South Jordan, UT (with my Grandma and Grandpa Gadd), and my current home.
31. I made the drive from Utah to California with my mommy and Uncle Michael in February 2007 to visit my Aunt Kimberly, Uncle Devon and cousins Taylor, Luke and Blake.
32. That’s FOUR TIMES in one year!
33. I visited my Grandpa and Nannu in Tennessee for my first Christmas.
34. I slept in the big closet in my mommy and daddy’s room so that it would be nice and dark!
35. I loved visiting Grandpa and Nannu—I’m dying to go back!
36. While I was at their house, I got my first two bottom teeth!
37. The trip wore me out, however, and I came home with my first ear infection.
38. My cousin Blake got sick, too!
39. In California, I lived really close to Grandpa and Nannu—my mommy and I went to their house almost every day.
40. My Nannu was the first to get me to smile! I was about 6 weeks old.
41. Before moving to Utah, my Grandpa, Nannu and Uncle Michael moved in with us in our little 2-bedroom apartment in La Casa Brea.
42. We all left at the same time—my Grandparents for Tennessee and us and Michael for Utah. We left my Aunt Kimberly in San Diego without any family!
43. Michael was a missionary in Honduras when I was born.
44. His special missionary prayers are part of the reason I’m here! My mommy and daddy (and their families) prayed really hard for 9 months that they would have a baby.
45. I have the GREATEST extended family! I am so blessed!
46. I loved living with Grandma and Grandpa Gadd so they could get to know me and my fun personality.
47. I still get really excited every time we go to their house—Grandma is my favorite babysitter! 48. Their neighbors have a dog—I get really excited every time it barks at me!
49. I got sick several times last winter—two ear infections AND pneumonia!
50. I got my two front teeth a few weeks ago—finally—they’ve been killing me!
51. I never really liked the binkie or bottle as an infant.
52. My mommy finally (for her) weaned me about 2 weeks ago…I kind of miss nursing, but I’m starting to really LOVE the bottle! I get excited when I see my mommy or daddy making it!
53. Thanks to my daddy, I LOVE ELMO! He does the best Elmo voice EVER!
54. His Elmo impression helped him get on the Price is Right—trust me, I was there (in my mommy’s tummy…my picture was on her shirt).
55. My mommy and daddy love watching me sleep—they tip toe into my bedroom every night to look at me before going to bed.
56. My bedroom has a barnyard animal theme—Nannu bought my bedding for me—I love it!
57. I love animals! I point to them in all my books and whenever we see them in real life!
58. Now I fall asleep really well on my own. This hasn’t always been the case!
59. When I learned to crawl (in March—at 9 ½ months) I also learned to stand up in my crib. This caused problems with my sleep. For a few weeks my mommy knelt by my crib with her hand on my chest so that I wouldn’t stand up until I fell asleep!
60. I knew she was there all along—silly mommy!
61. I have super blonde hair and big blue eyes.
62. I get comments on both everywhere we go!
63. My Aunt Marci gave me my first haircut a few weeks ago…it was getting beyond long!
64. It’s still pretty long on top so I can have my signature do—a faux hawk!
65. I love books!
66. My parents started reading to me almost the day I was born (and while I was still in my mommy’s tummy).
67. My favorite toys are my mommy’s cell phone and keys.
68. I ruined her last phone with my saliva. She gets mad at me for sucking on it, but it just tastes so darn good!
69. I am attached to a plastic spoon—I take it with me everywhere I go. I even sleep with it!
70. I am—and always have been—VERY vocally expressive.
71. I’ll let you know how I’m feeling at any given time.
72. I love to be held and cuddled…I would be happy if my mommy carried me around ALL DAY LONG!
73. My doctor’s name is Dr. Brian Good, but I’ve also seen Dr. Michael Johnson several times…he has the same name as my uncle!
74. Besides California, Utah and Tennessee, I’ve also been to Cokeville, Wyoming after my Uncle Jake and Aunt Jaclyn got married.
75. I’m going to be an early talker (unlike my daddy).
76. My first word was "no," but I babbled "ma ma" and "da da" before that.
77. Now I have several words.
78. I can say: ball ("bah"), bye (also "bah"), no, dog ("dah"), woof woof ("ub ub"), ma ma, da da, ah-oh, and Jacob ("a-kuh").
79. My favorite thing to do, however, is stick my tongue in and out while saying, "leather, leather, leather…"
80. I also like to say, "doy-dee, doy-dee, doy-dee"
81. I learned to crawl up the stairs last week.
82. I also learned to stand up in my high chair—watch out!
83. I used to love sitting in the bathroom sink, but I’m not allowed to anymore because I always try to crawl out.
84. I love unloading the Tupperware cupboard—I make sure everything’s on the floor where it belongs—daily!
85. I get really mad at my mommy for not letting me climb on the dishwasher door when it’s open.
86. I think it’s funny to spit food out. I am also very amused by throwing things on the floor and watching my parents pick them up over and over. (I say "ah-oh" so they’ll think it’s an accident...I think I have them fooled).
87. I love taking baths! I try to dive into the tub from my mommy's arms, but she doesn't let go! 88. I am starting to like the park.
89. The swing scared me at first, but now I love it!
90. I’m super ticklish. Come to think of it, I said tickle once! ("ta-kah, ta-kah")
91. Last week I pulled a mini dresser over onto myself. I cried and so did my mommy…she’s such a baby!
92. I have 7 Great Grandparents alive, one that passed away right after I was born and two that I met in Heaven before I was born (my Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnson).
93. My parents speak Spanish to me at meal times.
94. They also try not to feed me anything with hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup—sometimes I sneak a taste of the unnatural "good" stuff, though!
95. A lady who works at Sam’s Club told me the other day that I was the cutest baby she’d seen all week!
96. My parents can’t remember life without me.
97. They miss sleeping in (and through the night)
98. But they think I’m worth ANY sacrifice!
99. I am a VERY loving baby who brings joy to everyone I meet—stranger or not! I’m here to make the world a happier place.
100. So far I’ve been very successful!

A few after-thoughts:

• As a newborn, I brought new meaning to the term "projectile poop"…my daddy was changing my diaper one day and it sprayed out of my bum and went EIGHT FEET (he measured)!
• The same day, my mommy was changing me and it sprayed my bedroom door.
• My parents had eaten at Don Jose’s the night before…my daddy blames it on that!
• For months, my parents liked to "tag-team diaper change". My daddy would hold my legs while my mommy wiped. My daddy still prefers to do it this way, but my mommy won’t let him get out of the dirty work!
• Sorry to those who don’t like talking about this sort of thing…it’s a regular conversation item in our house!

One more after-thought:

• When I was a newborn, I LOVED to be swaddled! That was sometimes the only way my parents could calm me down. They would swaddle me, then whisper SHHHHHHHH really loud in my ears! My daddy was the master swaddler! It worked EVERY time!

Scrapbooking schmapbooking....

About a month ago I was taking a girl home from Achievement Days when I met her mom. This girl had never come to the activities before, and I'd never seen her mom before, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to talk to her for a little bit. She's a really nice lady. After talking for a few minutes, she asked me if I'm into scrapbooking. I told her that I enjoy it, but I definitely don't do it very often, so I wouldn't say that I'm very into it. She proceeded to tell me about a group she's in charge of that meats quarterly to exchange pages. Each person makes 15 kits of the same page, then one Saturday every three months, everyone gets together to exchange pages and put them together. She asked if I would be interested in joining. Of course I would only have a month to get mine ready instead of the normal three, but I'm sure I would procrastinate until then anyway! In my head while she was asking if I wanted to do this, I was thinking "not really...that's the last thing I want to start right now," but found myself saying "yeah, that sounds like fun." I'm a total "yesser"...I need to learn to say "no"!


Anyway, for about a week I agonized over what to do, but realized by that time that if I wasn't going to do it, I should have let her know sooner so she could find someone else. Of course I would choose to do a page that required HOURS and HOURS of cutting! This past week, that was all I did. The group was meeting on Saturday to exchange, so I was up super late getting the finishing touches on my pages. Another requirement is to have a picture with instructions of how to put the kit together. All day Friday I kept thinking that I should just put my pages together so that I could get the picture taken and printed in time, but I'm a very methodical worker and couldn't stop cutting for 20 minutes to put my page together. When I finally finished cutting, etc. Friday night (while Joe was sleeping--he fell asleep watching TV at like 8:00) around midnight I got my page finished and ordered pictures online at Walmart.com. It did feel good to have my page done, and I was really happy with how cute it turned out, but it was a lot of work! OK this is turning into a long, probably uninteresting blog, but I guess I've gone this far, so I'll finish the story. The photo center at Walmart didn't open until 9 am Saturday morning and the thing started at 10 am, so Joe went to Walmart for me when it opened to make sure I got the pictures RIGHT when they were printed. He got home at like 9:58, so I ran outside and was driving while stuffing the pictures in the kits. I got to the house where it was at around 10:10 and was all stressed out about being late, but I was the FIRST ONE THERE!

I had already decided that I wasn't going to stay...I was a bit scrapbooked out. Once the lady in charge arrived, I asked her if she would collect all my kits for me and that I needed to go. I went to the gym instead! After working out for about 30 minutes, I decided to go to a class. This could be a blog by itself, but I won't go into too much detail. I'll just say that it was the FUNNEST class I've ever gone to. It wasn't the greatest workout in the world, but I was laughing the whole time! The instructor was a gay guy, and there were about 5 girls in the class. The class was a combination of two classes...the first was "Dancer's Workout" and the second was "24 Tease". The second one was great...we were all just dancing around the room mimicking our instructor and letting go of any personal inhibitions. I really wished I had a friend there to laugh with me. It was pretty liberating to just dance without worrying what I looked like. The class ended with everyone crawling on the floor towards the mirror...it was hilarious! I was in a much better mood when I left!

My dilemma now is whether or not to stay in the group! I got the 14 pages from the lady in charge, and some were really cute, but others were just OK. I'm pretty sure no one else spent hours and hours cutting like I did...theirs were all premade stuff! My other dilemma is that I recently decided that I want to get into digital scrapbooking. I've seen some really cute digital scrapbooks that probably take far less time and are much less expensive. SO if I can get up the nerve to get out of it, I think I'm going to (you're supposed to commit for a year). Anyway, sorry for the boring update, but it's been stressing me out!

Me and My Gang.....

I feel really blessed to have a lot of really good friends! I was talking to my sister recently about friends we have from different phases of life...childhood, high school, college, mission, and now. I guess each friendship is different because you go through different things together and bond in different ways. I am happy to say that I still have really good friends from each phase of my life so far and I hope to keep it that way! Last night some of my really good college friends came over for a little mini-reunion. Allie and Jeff were in town (from Texas) with their little girl Emma. (I have three good friends with daughters named Emma--Mandy, Ansku and Allie--each Emma is adorable!) Anyway, Larry and Sunny brought their Nintendo Wii, so the boys hung out downstairs while we gabbed upstairs.
We don't have a lot of living room furniture, so we have to improvise when we have people over! Here's a picture of Allie and Emma...too cute!
From left to right: Elizabeth, me, Sunny, Emma, Allie, and Aubrey on the phone. My sophomore year at BYU I convinced my parents that I absolutely HAD to study abroad in the Dominican Republic or I would never learn Spanish. I honestly think that one of the reasons I went to the DR was so that I would meet Aubrey and Rachel (who now lives in Texas with her hubby and two kids). I came back from the DR and ended up living with Aubrey, Rachel and Eleisha (who now lives in Vegas with her husband and little boy Zac). Anyway, they already had a really tight knit group of friends, but they all welcomed me in and are now some of my best friends. Last summer we all got together for a weekend reunion. It was when Parker was about 2 1/2 months old. We were already in Utah for a Gadd family reunion...we went camping up at Spruces. Anyway, the camping trip was really fun, but really stressful and hard for me with a new baby. I was really hormonal and emotional anyway, but the minute Joe dropped me off for our little reunion I just started bawling! I felt retarded, but my friends were SO GREAT! They all understood, and lots already had kids of their own, so instead of thinking I was an idiot, they just took Parker for me and just let me talk and cry until I felt better and realized that nothing was really wrong in the first place! Anyway, to me this was a sign of true friendship. I think it had been a really long time since I'd talked to a few of these friends, but it felt normal from the beginning. I feel like I should end this mushy post by listing all of my good friends from different seasons of life, but I won't...I'm sure I'll have something to blog about each one of them at some point in time. The friends that came over last night were THRILLED to have their pictures on the internet. Anyway...that's all. Everytime I post something I feel like I'm writing an essay for school or something and have to have a really great ending, but it's just not happening this time, so...THE END!