Celine Dion Concert

This is funny story to share:

In November 2007, my mom called wanting me to go on-line and get tickets to Celine Dion. She saw her on Oprah promoting her new tour since leaving Las Vegas. I even joined her fan club to buy tickets on pre-sale. I called my mom and told her I got 2 tickets 11th row from the stage. Her excitement, still makes me laugh when I think of her screaming over the phone. The concert was for November 29th only a few weeks away. A few days before the event, she realizes the tickets are for November 2008, not 2007. We had to wait a whole year to see her preform. The wait was worth it. Celine has an amazing voice. She sang over 20 songs and she is so tiny. She must weigh 95 lbs. Since my mom needs a hip replacement we used a wheel chair. With her special needs they took us to the ground level by elevator and through the back stage area. I felt very VIP for a few minutes. A big thanks to Scott who was generous to watch the baby so we could enjoy our night out.

Mom & I

It was fun to enjoy the concert so close.

My moms favorite song from the movie Titantic, My Heart will go on.

Parks Family Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at Grandma Epi & Grandpa Richards' house. Epi ordered her turkey dinner from Knott's Berry Farm. This was the first year she did not cook. It was very delicious. It's a very exciting time in our family with Tara & Mike only being 6 weeks away from delivery of their first baby, a boy.

My niece Allison (6) is such an artist. She colored everybody a place mat to eat on. It was so cute I had to share it with you.

We had dinner with my side of the family the next day. We all drove up to see my brother Jay and went to dinner at Home Town Buffet. Not my favorite place to dine, but with all the kids it's hard to find a place with my rambunctious nephews. It was nice to gather as a complete family (1 year). My mom mailed the baby a cute little bib to wear for the occasion.




CUTE COUSINS

The baby loves to be surrounded by pretty girls...such a flirt already!


Jenny (2) Brock (4 months) & Allison (6)




Jenny was being very nice to Brock and she even let him share her blanket...at least for a few minutes.

We have great news to share...

Tonight, we went to dinner at P.F. Chang's in Fashion Island. Thank you, Bill, for the gift card for my birthday. We then looked for Santa, but he headed home early. He probably had to help Mrs. Claus prepare food for Thanksgiving. Thanks to some young girls who offered to take our picture, we took a quick family shot by the gigantic Christmas tree. The tree was so beautiful. We didn't stay much longer, as it was starting to rain.

We're having a BABY...NOT!!!

We are happy to announce that my sister-in-law Julie (Rich's wife) is going to have a baby, to be due around June 30, 2009. My nephew, Blake, told me via the phone that "mommy has 5 babies in her tummy!" My brother quickly chimed in that there is "only one" baby coming. Maybe Blake has been watching too much Jon & Kate Plus 8. Blake told me he is hoping for a girl & he is going to teach the baby to play football. My mom loves being a grandma, as this will make it her 10th grandchild.

Scott called me into the bedroom to listen to Brock gurgling/speaking. Scott is certain the baby can also do simple math at 4 months old :) I caught a quick glimpse with my camera to share with you.

Back to the basics...my baby

No more political rantings for me. I'll leave that for Scott to debate. As for me, I'm getting back to the basics of life...my baby. He is getting so big & adorable. I am so blessed to be his mommy and he brings immeasurable JOY to our family. We went to visit my mom this week-end and all is ok considering the CA fires came a little too close to home. Below are some current pics I took over the past few days.

Brock in his "Hugh Hefner" bathrobe.

Being a good boy in his car seat

Brock's 1st Halloween

On Friday, Scott and I traveled to Corona Del Mar to visit Brock's 91 year-old great-grandma Mimi and, later that evening, to Fountain Valley to visit Grandma Epi and Grandpa Richard, and then on to Chino to visit Grandma Joyce, in order to show off the little guy in his first Halloween costume -- Brock as a Little Red Lobster. Upon seeing her great-grandchild all dolled up in her favorite seafood delicacy, Mimi began to instantly crave going to the Red Lobster. Needless to say, he hated it, as it was too small for his long legs to fully stretch out in (although the tag on the costume read 9 months). He was patient enough to keep it on for about ten minutes on each stop, then he would cry profusely if we went overtime. Brock was so happy to see his beautiful cousins Allison and Jenny, especially in their pretty and elaborate Disney Princess dresses. When we arrived at my mom's house, I took Blake (my nephew) around the block to go trick-or-treating. He is 4 1/2 years old and, innocently instead of knocking, he kept opening people's doors to shout "trick-or-treat." I kept telling him that he mustn't open up "strangers" doors. Bewildered, he kept asking me what a stranger was? I thought my brother had trained him better -- him being a Deputy Sheriff and all. It was all too funny.