Celebrating 40?

Celebrating my 40th birthday at Captain Jack's Seafood Restaurant.  The Alaskan King Crab Legs are to die for. 

Scott & I enjoying ourselves at dinner

5 years without you Dad

I can't believe it's been 5 years today dad you left for your eternal home. We miss you and love you. I found a great poem that reminded me of him.

A special dad is hard to find,
You dad I'm keeping in my mind,
I wished you could have stayed forever,
But I will never forget you oh not ever.

If dreams weren't dreams and dreams came true,
I wouldn't be here I'd be with you.
Distance is one thing t

hat keeps us apart,
But dad you will always remain in my heart.

A special smile, a special face, a special someone I can't replace,
I love you and I always will,
You filled a space that no one will ever replace.

Emily Cartwright

We drove out as a family to his grave in Ontario with my mom and Shanna.

Happy New Year!

We started off New Year's Eve by dropping off Brock with my mom so we could go enjoy a peaceful dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Tokyo Kitchen.  We then headed back to Chino to join the cousins in eating and game playing.  We celebrated midnight New York time since the kids are small and we have early church in the morning.  We hope 2012 brings many blessings to our families.

Mom & I

My silly husband of 5 years!

Brock blowing the horn

 

Brock trying to take control

Surgery is scheduled-FINALLY!

I went to the doctor with my mom today and her surgeon finally scheduled her hip surgery on 08/24/2011.  Hip Hip Hooray!

My mom's progress

My mom has been recovering well from her gastric bypass surgery.  She is now almost 4 months post-op and has lost about 75 lbs.  We are crossing our fingers that she can now get her hip replacment surgery soon.  She has been using the assistance of a walker to move around.  We go to see her orthopedic doctor on Monday.

3 1/2 months post-op surgery 65 lb weight loss

Before surgery

Softball

Scott and I have been playing for a co-ed softball team for a little over 5 years now.  We started out playing with a team that was organized from the Irvine Singles Ward on a Irvine City league.  Over the years we have captured about 8 championship titles.  With each title the team gets a plaque and t-shirts.  This past year we transferred over to Fountain Valley city league.  They have 300 ft fields (which the men like) and they have the electronic scoreboards with the time counting down from 70 minutes to 0 (which I think is cool ).  Grandma Epi usually watches Brock for us to go out and socialize on our Tuesday nights out. If not we take him with us and he sits in his stroller in the dug out cheering us on. We pretty much play year-round between the two cities we may get 2 or 3 weeks off between seasons.  Looks like we have clinched this season with a 10-0 record.  Back to back titles, yes that's how we roll in our house.

Cartoons, Cartoons, and more Cartoons!

It seems that lately my house is one giant "cartoon-fest".  Brock loves to sing and dance along with the TV.

 Toy Story is one of his favorite movies.  He enjoys 1,2, and 3.  His favorite toys are Woody and Buzz Lightyear.  I am impressed that he can recall all of their names.

Yo Gabba Gabba is another one of his favorites.  He especially loves the episode featuring Jack Black.

He loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and wants to sing the "hotdog" song.

My husband was the "biggest loser"

Scott & I joined a weight loss challenge contest put on by local Herbalife coaches.  The contest was over 11 weeks.  The fee was $35 a person and the 1st place winner gets 50% of the money, 2nd place gets 30%, and 3rd place gets the remaining 20%.  We started the challenge the first week of January.  Scott lost 7.5% of his body weight and he came is 1st place.  He lost 22 lbs and won $170.00.  I really had Scott join really to support me and my efforts and he ends up winning.  I did not win anything but I am happy with the 5% weight loss.  We were so happy with the progress and competetion that we are starting another weight loss challenge in April. 2011 is the year for getting healthy.

...I like long walks on the beach

I know the title sounds so cliche, but I really do LOVE long walks on the beach.  One of the best things about living in a mile from the beach is that I love to take the baby on walks.  We have a beach parking pass so most days I go and park and walk. The weather is just gorgeous ranging temperatures from the high 60's low 70's and I love it.  Brock will usually fall alseep by mile 2, I try to aim for 4.  Some days I have been feeling more adventurous and I have Scott drive up PCH and drop us off about 4 miles away from home.  I have even met up with friends to walk to the Pier and eat lunch at Duke's or Sandy's.  I love the amazing view the ocean delivers and clears my mind in the process.  I got a bike for Mother's Day that I am anxious to cruise on but I have been waiting for a seat or trailer for Brock to ride too.

New church callings

I was asked to be the secretary to my Relief Society sisters in my Ward.  We have not only have one Relief Society, yes we have two.   I also have a assistant secretary.  I think that is so funny but we do have a large Ward. Later on that week I was also called to serve on the Stake Women's Conference committee from my Ward.  Our theme this year is "Experiment Upon the Word".  At our 1st meeting where they were assigning us different tasks I silently prayed please do not put me in charge of the food.  I do not want to be the one responsible for food for 300 plus women.  I lucked out and got assigned to decorate classrooms for the teachers, name tags, water bottles, and pens.  Michelle (my partner and I lucked out).  Most of the work for me was the day before cleaning, decorating, helping prepare food.  I spent a good 8 hours at the church.  I don't recall the last time I worked non-stop.  The conference turned out to be a huge success and I was so glad that it came and turned out so well.

Our Stake Councilmen who served us

Chicken salad filled croissants, strawberry vinaigrette salad, & chips

Our table decorations-going for a garden spring theme

One of our classrooms decorated

My famous contribution, I made the labels to put put on 300 water bottles with our theme.

My mom's long awaited Surgery

My mom got approved after a lengthy process from Kaiser to have gastric bypass surgery.  We are hopeful that once she sheds 60 lbs she will then be a healthy weight to have her total hip replacement.  It has been a struggle for her to walk in the past few years needing assistance of a walker and in severe pain having no cartilage left on her hip.  About 10 days before surgery my mom fell in her house attempting to pick up Brock's toys and she dislocated two of her ribs. Thankfully the surgeon approved her to move forward with surgery.  A week before surgery her surgeon got sick and need some sort of surgery himself so the office called to reschedule her surgery, but once again thankfully it was still going to be the same day just later in the day.  Her surgery was at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego.  I was my mom's VSP (very special person).  I slept in her room 3 nights to help her recover while she was in the hospital.  I am so lucky to have in-laws live so close to help take care of Brock while I was attending to my mother and of course Scott helped tremendously.  I am happy to report that at her 6 week appointment she is down 45 lbs.  She asked me not to post any pictures to Facebook but she did not say I couldn't post pictures to my blog.  She has done very well adjusting to her new diet.  I am excited to see my mom become healthy for our family.

This is her Before picture

She used this PVC pipe platform walker in the hospital and it worked out so well she bought one for her house.

This the roll-away bed they let me use to stay in her room

Making Brock famous, our little STAR



I was recently was approached by a talent agent who represents children and she wanted me to bring in Brock to meet her boss.  After talking it over with Scott we thought it would be fun to see what would happen.  They took lots of head shots and have been sending us out for auditions,  Huggies was our latest attempt.  Brock is quite shy upon first greeting him and usually takes a while to warm up.  Brock is just 2 1/2 years old but he looks like he is 4.  I am thinking that he is at a disadvantage because they love if your child is outgoing and works well with strangers.  He literally clings to me when strangers talk to him and buries his face in my shoulder.  We are still having fun with it and getting him exposure so who knows!

This is the final head shot we chose to use

Happy New Year-2011

We started our New Years Eve day by meeting our friends the Quesada family out in Mission Viejo at Farrel's for ice cream.  Scott loves the nostalgia of Farrel's and not to mention the "icecream" too.  He ordered the Pigs Trough.  We were excited this year because we had purchased tickets to the O.C Fair Block Party.  The party offered live tribute bands entertainment by the decade – from the '60s to the '90s – plus DJs and karaoke. They also featured gourmet food trucks to satisfy every appetite. For the thrill-seekers there was a demolition derby.  We quickly dropped off the boy to the babysitter (grandparents for the WHOLE night).  We then went to our favorite local pizza joint The Haus of Pizza.  At the Block Party we mostly hung out at the 80's stage which was hosted by Richard Blade.  They featured Dead Man's Party (Oingo Boingo), Blasphemous Rumours (Depeche Mode),  Sweet & Tender Hooligans (Morrissey/ The Smiths).  I was glad the different stages were inside because it was COLD.  At midnight they had a quick firework show.  We had a fun night ringing in the New Year.

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry★* 。 • ˚ ˚ •。★Christmas★ 。* 。*FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS!!

° 。 ° ˚* _Π_____*。*˚★ 。* 。*。 • ˚ ˚ •。★˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。

˚ ˛ •˛•*/______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。* 。*˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。

˚ ˛ •˛• ｜ 田田｜門｜ ˚˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。

The day we come together and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

 Once again my mom bought us all matching pajamas.  The small grandkids even had their names on their shirts.

Rauch Family 2010

The Scott Parks Family 2010

The 2010 Christmas Card

Merry★* 。 • ˚ ˚ •。★Christmas★ 。* 。*FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS!!

° 。 ° ˚* _Π_____*。*˚★ 。* 。*。 • ˚ ˚ •。★˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。

˚ ˛ •˛•*/______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。* 。*˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。

˚ ˛ •˛• ｜ 田田｜門｜ ˚˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。˚ ˛★ 。* 。*★ 。

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We knew putting up the Christmas tree would be a challenge this year,  but I was not prepared to tell him 47 times a day to not "touch" the tree.  The poor tree looks so hideous now as we have moved all of the ornaments to the top of the tree out of reach of those little fingers.  I forget he is tall for a 2 year old, so his reach length is pretty high.  He is quite possessive of the ornaments and everything is "mine".



Nonosina Dance Recital

We went to see Tiare, Scott's relative dance with her Polynesian dance group.  The name of her dance troop is called Nonosina.  They are based here locally in Anaheim, California.  They were amazing group of dancers ranging from 4 years old and up.  I was surprised at the various different cultures of dancers in addition to the Polynesian islands that were represented.  It was such a fun and beautiful show to go and watch.

Even though I did not know any of the tiny dancers, I just couldn't resist.  They were so cute!

Tiare center stage in the FINALE her SOLO performance of Taualuga

Most people will agree that the most gorgeous dance to come out of the Samoan culture would be the Taualuga, a graceful solo traditionally performed by a Taupou, or daughter of a high chief. The purpose of this dance is to flatter or celebrate this high chief on various occasions, or to serve as the showpiece finale at the end of a set of dances performed by an entertaining group.

Tiare "shaking" those hips. She is only 12 years old.



Santa Claus at Fashion Island

We took Brock to take his yearly picture with Santa Claus.  As I expected, he tried to make the great escape off his lap.  With the help of the Santa's elf, she made Brock laugh real quick and captured the shot.  Brock said he wanted a "chew chew" for Christmas, which translates into a train set.  Trains and building blocks are his new favorite toys to play with.  I love looking to see how my boy has grown over the past 2 1/2 years so I have all his Santa photos included to share.

Santa 2010 ( 2 1/2 years old)

Santa 2009 (18 months old)

Santa 2008 (4 months old)



Celebrate Good Times!

 Scott & I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on December 1st.  We took our first cruise for 7 days to the Mexican Riviera.  We stopped in ports of Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.  The weather was great and it was nice to get away and relax with my man.  I love you babe, and you are a terrific husband and father.

He loves to go to Grandmas house

Brock loves going to his Grandma Epi's house.  There are lots of mischievious things he likes to do while visiting his grandparents.

He loves playing/wrestling with his cousin.  I am not sure if he is resting or he just gave up.

He loves playing in their backyard.  He loves to hit balls and ride in the wagon.

Grandma spoils him with bottles.  I removed those from the house at 18 months.

He loves to play/pull at Kimo the cat.

He loves all the attention that grandma and grandpa give him.

Welcome to the family

Brock has a new cousin to boss around.  Tara and Mike welcomed baby boy Dane Wallace Parks weighing in at 7 lbs and 14 ounces and 20 inches long.  He joins big brother Trevor who turns two in January.  My boys stayed home as they had the flu.  They had to wait to welcome the baby to the Parks clan.

He's so little,  I love newborns!



Dane at the Parks Family Thanksgiving dinner