RNandKT

Kamryn A.K.A. Spider-Toddler!

2011-01-31T22:03:00.004-07:00

It's hard enough to convince my 10 year old Mason to climb to the top of a 32 ft rock wall and frankly I was impressed that he got within a few feet of the top before becoming too tired (and a bit worried about the height). Ashton and Rylyn also climbed to respectable heights as well. Ashton got about half way up and Rylyn was a good 15 feet of the ground. However, the surprise of the night ... Kamryn with almost no encouragement climbed all the way to the top.

Now granted the cable was supporting her weight, (in fact we had a rope clipped to her back to ensure we could pull her back down) but she didn't move up at all unless she actually climbed, and she giggled her way all the way to the top and when she was done, wanted to do it again. Should I be concerned that my 3 year old has no natural fear of heights at all???

Playset Resurection

2010-04-22T19:53:00.004-06:00

Proof posative that one man's trash is another man's treasure. We bought this playset for $240, now don't go getting impressed by that, it was a total pile of garbage then (see previous statement). Basically it was a bunch of pieces of wood that vaguely resembled pieces of a worn out beaten swing set. (We should have taken a before picture). We have sanded, and sanded, and sanded (and then sanded some more) and then stained and stained, and run back and forth to the hardware store about a dozen times for different bolts screws and replacment pieces of wood. But we finally got it all put together. And counting all the other stuff we have replaced we are probably into it around $325ish; pretty sweet playset for that much eh? Next project "Bury the Tramp" .... but that is going to take a bit, maybe I will work on the closet shelves or the pool table for a while .... or nap. (Yes, thats my sweet wife hangin with the kids ... literally).

St. Patricks Day

2010-03-25T20:12:00.003-06:00

Okay so I know it has been a long while since we posted, but we are making efforts to reduce some craziness in our lives and focus on some more important things. So I promise to be more diligent about adding to the post here.

Anyway, so a little background to this video. The kids were asked to make leprechaun traps for school as a school project. They came up with their own ideas and we (meaning the super awesome mommy not actually me the daddy) helped to build them. We painted some rocks gold and set them up to catch some leprechauns.

Needless to say when daddy came home from work in the morning, he found a note from the leprechaun saying how angry he was that he had to use some magic gold coins to escape the traps and the gold in them was fake =). For some reason this particular leprechaun decided to play a trick in return (it's only a coincidence that daddy found the note first of course). So the video following is the results of that trick. Enjoy.

Adventures is Bicycling w/ Ashton

2009-03-21T17:41:00.004-06:00

Up until now, our little Ashton Bear, has had very little to no interest in riding a bike. We took the training wheels off the little bike in the fall last year, but other then a few 10-20 foot rides (followed by setting the bike down and making Daddy go get it), he really just wouldn't ride a bike. It's not that he couldn't learn he just didn't really want too, (and our Little Bear is like his namesake and grandfather, in being as stubborn as he wants), so we never pushed it.

Suddenly with kids driving electric jeeps and riding bikes etc all around our cul-de-sac, I asked if he wanted to ride and he just kept on riding. He crashed often as graceful as any child of mine could be, but just kept getting back up and going again. I thought video would be apropriate since we recorded Mason's first real bike ride. Oh and yes thats Rylyn who made multiple attempts at running over me.

Mason's Baptism

2009-03-14T15:21:00.007-06:00

I realized we haven't posted about Mason's Baptism yet. He was Baptised on January 3, 2009 a couple weeks after his birthday by me his Dad =). At the same time our next door neighbor, and one of his best friends Alexis was also baptised (don't they look like a cute little couple).

Meet Jasmine! October 27, 2008

2009-01-06T19:51:00.004-07:00

Mason and Daddy have Fiona, Rylyn claims Izabelle, and now Ashton has his Jasmine. On my way back from a trip to Arizona visiting my brother and sister we (my little sister, her kids, my girls, and I) stopped in Beaver at a gas station and there they were. The cutest little puppies for sale! They had no long tails to smack the kids in the head with, so I knew Ryan would have no objections...He hates long tailed dogs but cut those things off and he loves them. The no tail thing got my attention, but when I saw that she would match Fiona I was sold! I am super busy already, but I can handle more right? I know I am crazy, but there it is!

Ashton's Field Trip September 27, 2008

2009-01-06T19:11:00.008-07:00

So much fun! Ashton loves school and asks everyday if he gets to go. We went to the pumpkin patch for a field trip with Miss Dawn and his Preschool friends. Ashton had his daddy and brother chasing him all around the playground, up and over the giant haystack ramp, through the enormous wooden pumpkin, and even down the pipes that went underground. Ashton is so active and coordinated; let him run and you'll see why we call him Ashton Bear!
We ran so crazy at the play ground I had dirty looks from the other moms there. Maybe I should have settled my brood down, but then if the other moms don't know how to rough up their kids, I feel bad for them. We Hellewellians play rough and rowdy, but we do it together!

On a side note I love how these pictures show the different sides of our Daddy. Just look at how he swings sweetly with his girls verses making his boys dizzy on the tire swing. Good thing Mommy recognizes the "I'm going to throw up if this doesn't stop" look.

Bistro Project

2008-11-18T16:50:00.003-07:00

Ok, so I finally took a picture of the Bistro patio. Sorry the fountain is off in the picture (it's cold now) and the leaves have already fallen off our discount Greenleaf Japanese Maple (it'll look pretty again in the spring).

Funny storry about the tree, we had a very old Japanese maple at our house in OR and it was probably Katies favorite thing there. So when we did out gardens she of couse planted a new one here, and while working on the patio Grandpa and Grandma Frisby asked what we were going to put into the little garden in the patio. Kate said she wanted something to kinda go with the flow of what we already have and Grandma (who also looked our old Japanese maple in OR and that we had put one in here) suggested that we put in a green leaf maple as they got a little taller and would be a beautiful compliment to the red leaf one in our garden. Low and behold guess what was on sale at the end of the season .... Grandparents are awsome.

Masons Reflection Project

2008-11-05T10:14:00.004-07:00

OK, first of all I promise to get the finished picture of the patio as soon as it stops snowing for everyone who has asked us to post it. You would think I could get around to that considering all the effort I put into building it, but eh...

So on to Masons Reflections project. Every year students are asked to do a reflections project, and it is supposed to be a "reflection" of their personality/talents/interests/etc. So it is sort of a creative arts project. Anyone with kids in elementary will likely know what it is already. There are several categories such as Photography, Video, Choreography, Visual Arts, 3D arts, etc etc. A couple of the categories are local Utah only, but most are Nationally recognized. There are also age groups, and specific rules for each category. But the most important rule in each category is that the student must do all the work! Any adult supervision, must be only teaching the student how to do it, but whatever the project, they must do it on their own.

Anyway, Mason came home with the flyer for this and after asking him what he wanted to do it on, he said "Spiders." So we looked briefly through the rules, and asked him what categories, and we came to the conclusion that photography, and 3D arts were the only ones we might be able to do something with spiders. So we handed him the camera, gave a brief instruction on how to zoom and take pictures, and we were off to search for spiders around the house. We found a large black widow, and an even bigger catface spider (we had to look it up, and although it looked seriously freaky, turns out they aren't really poisonous), both females. He took pictures of them and their "homes" before we caught them.

So we came inside and put more effort into reading the rules, and he decided that a collage of photos was what he wanted to do. But the 3D category was tricky, because it had very specific things that could be entered. We decided the only way he could enter the real spiders themselves was to make them into jewelry. So we did some asking and found a resin you could buy at the craft store to cast them. Off we were, Mason and Kate went through the store found the resin and catalyst, and then looked for beads and such to make necklaces.

This posed another issue, as we were concerned that they might not believe he had done the work. So I said why don't we film it so if there is a question, we can just show them! Yes, I know I am brilliant. Moving on, when we told mason this he wanted to make a "How To" video out of it. So we came to the conclusion to enter that into the video category since we were doing it anyway. Again he had to do all the work, make the signs, turn on and off the camera, and most importantly edit it. When we finished (which took several days since it has to dry and such) we had over 45 mins of video (some of it repeats, extra stuff like Mason walking up and down to turn the camera on and off etc). Well guess what we read the rules afterwards and the max video length aloud was 5 mins! Again students have to do the editing.

So Mason and I sat down at 8 PM (the night before the project was due since it had taken several days to film it in waiting for things to dry etc), and began the editing process using windows movie maker. You can not really imagine how long it takes to trim out excess video and then speed up different parts of the video over and over again when you must sit back and instruct a 7 year old how to do it. Needless to say he may not remember how to bring the files in or save them to CD since we only did those once, but he can split a video, delete segments, and drag the double speed effect very well since we did those like 20 times. And at 1 AM when he could barely keep his eyes open, we finished (yes he had to go to school early the next morning, and yes I am a bad dad, but he loves me anyway).

Well to make a long story longer his project was a big hit, we showed a copy of the video to his class for show and tell, and afterwards the whole class mobbed his desk asking for him to make them one, and questions on who he did it etc. Of couse he made a couple, the black widow, the catface spider, a cricket, a wasp, and a smaller garden spider (maybe a baby black widow), and gave them to friends, and his teacher. It was also a big hit to the school, in fact so much so even though the rules ask for photos of your 3D arts instead of bringing the actual project in (probably for lack of space) they still called him down out of class and asked if they could take it (he was wearing it at the time and was so cute, he actually called home because he was nervous about giving it to them, cute little guy).

Since then several people have requested to see the video, so her it is.

10th Anniversary

2008-10-24T17:18:00.004-06:00

Ok so Sept marked our Tenth Anniversary! It's crazy to think that, and funny thing is I still really don't feel old. Anyway, our gift to ourselves was a Fountain and Bistro Patio (to answer your questions yes it was expensive for me to build, and no we didn't have the money, but yes we did it anyway =).

I took some progress pics while building it and will post the final product tomorrow. Again as in the previous post it has been done for a while, but I have been too busy to get things posted (I will try to be more diligent in the future, but lets face it it's Kate who is the organized one, and when her computer is broken well .. it falls to the less organized one).

We built the whole thing ourselves (with the exception we paid the guy working on the house across the street to match the rock on the front of it to the house).

Not bad considering we have never built a fountain or patio before, eh. Now Kate has a little relaxation spot to hear the quiet trickle of water right before winter =).

Kamryn's 1 years old!

2008-10-24T17:05:00.006-06:00

Kamryn had a nap right before the party so we had to wake her up right before the party. She was drowsy in a few of her pictures but in really good spirits as usual for her. As you can see Ashton thought this was his day! Once we explained he was thrilled to just tear open the presents and give them to the baby "This is for you baby!"

Kamryn shared her toys with her cousin Charli just fine but all they wanted to do was climb on top of all the boxes!

As you can clearly see, our children are spoiled and we are broke =). (EDITOR'S NOTE: OUR KAMRYN WAS MORE SPOILED FROM GRANDPARENTS HELLEWELL AND COLLARD!) Clearly any sweet dispositions they have come from their own sweet spirits and not from our inability to say no to them. Or as Kate would point out, my inability to say no, as my little girls wrap me around their little fingers with one sweet smile. My only hope is that by having two they will compete for attention by trying to be sweeter than the other one. (and it seems to be working so far). (EDITOR'S NOTE: SCREAMING WHEN NOT GETTING HER WAY IS RYLYN'S NEW ATTENTION GETTER...AND IT WORKS... IT GETS HER IN TIMEOUT! KAMRYN HAS RECENTLY STARTED THE SAME TACTIC BUT WITH HOW LITTLE SHE IS WE HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT HOW TO FIX THIS.)

Hoppa on Pappa!

2008-08-18T22:19:00.009-06:00

In an attempt to cheer me up and relieve some stress after 2 weeks of Ryan working every day but Sunday, Mommo and Pappa came down Saturday with a surprise dinner for us. Mommo and I cooked and waited for Daddy to come home for lunch. The kids asked Pappa to jump on the tramp with them and in an act no less than heroic he braved the onslaught. They loved it and he did come out alive. Though Mommo and I were nervous at times as Rylyn jumped on his back while he was down and Ashton jumped feet first into his chest! Pappa stayed in excellent spirits throughout. For good measure we had him do a flip for his Granddaughter Vicki in Virginia to prove Grandpa is simply a "Fart" not an "old Fart". Confused? See quote from Stacy's Blog below...

Vicki: "Dad can you do a flip in the air?"

Dad: "No I can not Vicki."

Mom: "I can do a flip in the air on the trampoline. Dad can not do one he is a old fart."

Vicki: "Hee he hee Dad is an old fart. Mom does that make you just a fart then?"

Full Rounds of giggles

After calling my Dad (Pappa) and telling him everything.

He said "Tell Vicki Grandpa can do a flip on the trampoline too."

She promptly replied " Well that makes Grandpa a fart too." ...many more rounds a giggles.

HERE YOU GO VICKI... Does it qualifiy him?

Mason's first day of 2nd Grade!

2008-08-18T21:40:00.010-06:00

Mason loves Fox Hollow; what a fun school! Last year for the first day of school they rolled out a red carpet and wore Formal Dresses and Tuxedos. This year they were all in red lined up, clapping and cheering each student on as they entered, with the school mascot greeting the kids, and others handing out pencils. He was so excited for school to be starting early this year. (Mommy on the other hand could have waited to be put back on a schedule. I love lazy summers.)

Ashton doesn't start Preschool until next week, so he cried several times today asking when he gets to go to school. We did a playgroup school last year and he loved that but it was only twice a week and a bit sporadic. This year we signed him up for 3 times a week at an official Preschool and he is thrilled! We are so grateful that our kids love school!

I have long believed that it's more important for a child to enjoy school than to be the head of their class. This is a philosophy I came to believe while watching 6 of my siblings drop out or get early GEDs and the 7th graduating early so she could move onto college. I was the only one to graduate at a normal time out of 8 kids?!?

Mason was so excited to sit by one of his favorite friends, Jackson, who looks concerned at Mason's mischievous look.

And the Award for Worst Mommy Ever Goes to...

2008-08-18T20:49:00.007-06:00

Kamryn's mom! Her achievements in this award include letting Kamryn fall out of her parents bed in the middle of the night, and not recognizing for a whole day that her leg had a buckle fracture. Yes, yes I know you must be saying how did she accomplish this and the answers are she didn't know Kamryn was in bed with her, and Kamryn is not a fussy baby so...

Now I feel absolutely aweful! And don't most kids cry when they break bones?!? Kamryn was a little fussy for about 5 minutes after I picked her up, but then she went right to sleep. The next morning she cried once when I changed her diaper. Then the rest of the day she was just whiny and didn't want to be put down. It wasn't until the next day when she wouldn't put any weight on it that I knew something was wrong. I took her in and the doctor felt down her leg and hit the tender spot right above the ankle and she cried...for about 15 seconds. He said "Well just a bit tender, but we'll x-ray it anyway." Sure enough there was a "buckle break."

And the Sweetest Baby Ever Award goes to Kamryn for smiling through it all; falling, poking, X-raying, bracing, and casting all smiles and jabbering.

Rylyn is 3!

2008-08-18T20:37:00.006-06:00

We made it past the terrible twos! I love three year olds...no more diapers, talking starts to replace screaming, and tempertantrums have an end in sight. Rylyn started potty training 3 days before her Birthday and she was already done on her big day! Oh how easy girls are to potty train. Rylyn had a big spoiled day with her cousins, Mommo & Papa, our new favorite neighbors and the Collards all coming to celebrate! We love being home in Utah and making each B-day an excuse for a big family gathering.

Gotta be doing something Right!

2008-08-07T18:23:00.003-06:00

When your ten-month old baby folds her arms when you tell your kids to fold their arms for the prayer, you have to being doing something right! Or else she is saving up to balance out her sweetness with total monsterness when she turns two. Call me crazy but I think we will roll the dice and keep her.

Hellewellians Campout Reunion

2008-07-28T14:55:00.007-06:00

Ryan's dad comes from a family of ten. Most of those ten kids had several children with his dad having the least at three. You may think you can imagine how big this reunion would be, but until you see the pictures you wouldn't know for sure. This is just a handful that were up for the dinner at Payson Lakes campout. Lucky for us it was only 30 minutes out of town and 90 minutes from home. This was a nice feature when we had to run Rylyn down Saturday night for 5 stitches above her left eyebrow. And then had to pack up at 7 am the next morning before she started running around and got it dirty. Don't pitty us though because her daddy is extatic; He feels very proud when his children take after him it was his favorite part of the campout. My favorite part was making tie dye shirts!

What would you do for a ....

2008-07-23T12:04:00.004-06:00

Funny thing about kids and Sacrament is that 99.99% of the time while it is good to take a spiritual experience from the speakers, you actually are just trying your best to keep your kids looking somewhat "reverent." This actually translates to just quiet enough for those in the benches around you to ignore you, just clean enough that their church clothes remain as "church clothes", and just entertained enough to keep them within the general area of the bench or chairs your sitting on. So most of Sacrament consists of coloring, small quiet toys, and of course snacks.

We generally try to keep the snacks until last resort as they make the biggest mess and once your out of snacks your really in trouble. This particular Sunday, snacks came out early as daddy was herding the three older monsters, whilst mommy addressed baby issues, and while I was trying to get the boys to sit down, my cute little Coyfish was trying desperately to get some of my attention. Thank goodness for camera phones, cuz no one would believe me that she sat quiet for several minutes waiting for me to notice, so quiet and still I was actually listening to the talk, and suddenly wondered if she had snuck off while I wasn't looking, and when I looked down this is what I got.

Durango Project

2008-07-21T13:55:00.007-06:00

M Y D U R A N G O R O C K S . ! . ! . ! . ! . ! . ! . ! . !

Katie ussually does all the blogging, but I wanted to get some pictures of my Durango project and super messing MAN GARAGE in so .... The garage is the only place where I get to wear the pants all the time for all decisions. It was a deal we made when building the house, I got to pick my favorite floor plan and to make all decisions concerning the garage and she had final say everywhere else. And a year later guess which room never seems to get cleaned up .... Yep the garage. I wonder why that is?

Here Kitty, Kitty!

2008-06-18T11:01:00.008-06:00

We went Cat fishing on the Jordan river last week after sunset. Everyone caught one, and though they were tiny they were good fighters. I was afraid my pole was breaking as it bent in half. Kamryn was asleep long before Mason caught the first fish. Mason says "Hey Mom, Dad I think I've got something." We tell him it hasn't been long enough and that he will know when he gets one. He reels in his line and...sure enough a tiny catfish. Rylyn was not pleased with the ewww guggy and ewww poopy as she called the fish. Ashton was so thrilled with his when he caught one, but he was very upset when we threw it back. "My Fish!" He wanted to hold it and take it home, but they sting with their fins so, NO. And I don't know how he would react to eating it. I guess we will figure that out when we catch fish large enough to eat. Dave Collard used to fish down the Jordan when he was little with hot dogs, he got Channel Cat. (whatever that is?) We will try that next and hopefully I will be better able to tell you what Channel Cat are. MEOW They make the creepiest growling noise when they are mad about being caught.

Lake Powell Memorial Day Weekend!

2008-06-10T11:24:00.008-06:00

We went to Lake Powell for the first time on Memorial Day Weekend. It was awesome! The first time in over 15 years we have had all 8 kids together on a family vacation. We are a big group so it's hard to coordinate, plus we never knew who will be feuding at any given time. It's nice that we have out grown that a little. It was a great trip and everyone had fun no hurt feelings or silly stuff going on. Except for Pam pinching me in our 3 girls picture and leaving a bruise for weeks, but I won't mention that. ; ) You'll notice in the 5 boys picture they are standing in the Park family stance when in a large group. "Protect your boys." They call it a game? We still don't know if the younger two boys can still have children.

"Hey where are my Sunglasses?" "Hey no gotcha in family pictures!"

Ryan got burnt crispy standing on the edge of the water pushing out all the cousins in the tube and pulling them in. It was worth it though...you should see his guns! Mason stayed on the tubes all day. Ashton was back and forth from that and digging in the dirt. Rylyn was a mud mucker the whole time, she loves digging into anything dirty. And Kamryn...She was held so much she came back spoiled. At one point she threw a fit because Pam, who had been holding her the most, held another baby.

The last night we made a bon fire on the beach. All the Park kids still there (Bill, Pam, Kate, Dave, Mat) stayed up until after 1 am talking. That was my favorite part.

Where Have I been?!?

2008-06-09T16:54:00.003-06:00

I look at my blog and ask myself, "Where have I been and what have I been doing?" Well Sunday was a good example of what keeps me too busy to blog... Driving home from church Ashton and Rylyn in the back seat start screaming simultaneously. Thinking they must have hit each other and that would explain the "My nose, my nose" coming in between blood curling screams, we finish the drive home. At home we find out that both of them stuck plastic beads up their noses! Ashton was able to blow his nose hard enough to get a yellow bead out. I had to take Rylyn to the Urgent care to get hers out though. An hour, four exhausted people to hold her, and 10 burst eardrums later it was out!Another thing that has kept me busy is all the science experiments Rylyn has been running. Interesting fact baby powder does not bleach carpet, baby lotion doesn't either, neither does baby shampoo by itself, but if you put baby shampoo and top of old cleaned up residue of baby powder and baby lotion it does! Also an interesting little know fact...dog covered in baby powder still just smells like wet dog when you wash it...turn your back to find this out and the other dog and you're two year old will be covered in baby shampoo ready for their baths. You are probably thinking right now why doesn't she just lock up the products, a reasonable thought if you don't know my 2 year old Houdini, child locks on bottle tops, cabinets, doors are, well... child's play. Plus who would bring the world such amazing discoveries?

Enough of the excuses. I will do better!

Spoiled-Spoiled-Spoiled!!!

2008-04-01T11:11:00.008-06:00

I don't know how Ryan will ever live with me on Birthdays to come. Nothing can be as great as turning 30! I had been dreading it though. I didn't want to be in my thirties and have Ryan in his twenties. Now I can see that wisdom comes with age, or maybe it has more to do with the gifts that come...
Friday Ryan took me to IKEA to pick out my Bed stand. I love it! I also fancied a duvet cover which he quickly bought too. I am so spoiled, all I had to say was I love that cover and he was off finding it to put in the cart! I think I could have asked for anything there he spoils me so much.
I had refused to plan a party since I didn't want to celebrate turning 30. Ryan insisted and invited my family down for Saturday Lunch. He made baby back ribs, a big hit. My mom and Ryan's dad had bought me my favorite perfume and a statue I saw at a little antique store in Lehi. I was ecstatic, since my friend, Cathryn, told me she had tried to get it for me but it was gone; I thought it was lost forever. No apparently it had been hiding in my basement where my Mom put it. Cathryn found a cute little picnic basket. I love baskets as she must know. My sister Cheri gave me bath & body works lotion so now I smell all pretty between that and the perfume...
At 3:00 Grandma & Grandpa Frisby (Ryan's grandparents) came down. He made Eggplant Parmesan (Grandpa's favorite). We played cards until I couldn't take it anymore. I am on a loosing streak in Hand & Foot and every partner who joins with me gets taken down!
Sunday the Collards came down; they brought dinner and my present! It is the most amazing bird stand for Harley. I have looked everywhere for one and never seen one that fit what we needed so well. It will give him two levels to play on and keep the kids safely away while he gets to be around his family.
There simply aren't words to express how loved I feel! I will have to do my best to show everyone that I love them too!

Sunday, March 23, 2008...Easter!

2008-04-01T10:57:00.007-06:00

I wish I could back date these so it didn't look like I was so neglectful. Easter was great! The Easter Bunny left baskets for all the kids. The older three got rain boots and garden gloves and Kamryn got new shoes. Then as we were leaving to go to Aunt Cheri's we found glittery eggs left out front. After we found all the eggs we drove to South Weber. There was an Easter Egg Hunt at Cheri's and then we went to church at her ward.

Monday, March 3, 2008...Ashton's Birthday!

2008-04-01T09:56:00.006-06:00

I just realized as I was about to do the post for my Birthday...I completely missed Ashton's Birthday! We had so much fun that day. Superdad put in a race track in the basement which consisted of spray painting the floor and putting in his street sign collection. Ashton had a blast and got a new scooter for the track. Here he is doing his silly trick, the cross-over-leg, then fall down, his surprised face for all the presents, and his video of his first run from his point of view.

Spagetti Anyone?

2008-03-20T22:42:00.005-06:00

Mason decided at 9:00 pm he was starving so we got dinner leftovers out. Who knew it would start a feeding frenzy!

Our Cute Arrows.

2008-03-10T01:16:00.013-06:00

We went for family pictures on Saturday, always an adventure! Mason was just as photogenic as ever, one shot is all it takes. Ashton noticed the lady trying to make him smile wrinkled her nose. He decided to mimic this each time she tried to get him to smile, but eventually 5 shots later we got a good picture. Kamryn is the easiest baby we've ever taken pictures of, two shots to adorable. Rylyn notice that Kamryn got a lot of attention for opening her mouth really big and sticking her tounge out. This seemed like a good idea to her. Each time we tried to get Rylyn to smile she would stick her tounge out like Kamryn. Eventually, 10 shots later, we got a picture just before the tounge came out. Check out the keepers. I just wish you could see Ashton's wrinkled nose and Rylyn's tounge sticking out.

"Your Quiver is Full."

2008-03-07T22:20:00.005-07:00

Ryan and I had a wonderful experience a week ago. We wanted to get to the temple but needed a babysitter. I was in Relief Society when I heard a couple of ladies talking about the ward sealings that needed to be done. One of the ladies' husbands was in charge of finding couples to go on Friday. She asked if the other sister wanted to go and she would watch her kids for her. She couldn't go, so here is where Katie jumps in..."Ryan is off Friday! We would love to take that offer." It worked out great for us and her husband was thrilled. We got there right on time...Hellewell standard time that is 20 minutes late. We ended up going in a room with only one of the ward members, Bro. Young, things workout for a reason sometimes. In between sealings the Sealer stopped and asked us a little about ourselves.
"How many years have you been married?" Asks the Sealer
"Nine." Says Ryan and we smile at each other like young embarrassed kids.
This is where Bro. Young's eyes get big and he mouths the word "WOW!"
"Hm mm." Says the Sealer with a grin. "And how many kids do you have?"
"Four." Says Ryan and we smile even bigger.
The Sealer stops, looks directly at us and says "Your Quiver is Full."
Now I am sure that he had no idea he was answering our prayers. We had had the question on our minds of more kids. We felt like our family was complete, but we wanted to know for sure. We had been praying for a few weeks and fasted for an answer the previous fast Sunday. Our answer came, Simple, Unexpected, and Precise. Ryan and I both knew right when it was said that it was significant. It was prophetic. It was amazingly comforting. As I think about it right now I can hear behind the simple words, "Your arrows are all here, make them straight, make them true." I love my arrows and can't imagine a world without them. Thank you Father in Heaven, and thank you to this sealer who didn't even know he was answering our prayers.
We now know.

Ashton and His Sisters.

2008-02-27T20:54:00.003-07:00

Ashton is so patient with his sisters. Here he is trying to get Kamryn to laugh, which the video does not do justice. She was giggling uncontrollably. Rylyn gets jealous and wants to play. Since he is saying ouch, why not give him something to say ouch for?

Katie's progress with Harley

2008-02-24T17:27:00.004-07:00

Ryan has his bird; I have mine. Perhaps a little symbolic of their people...Harley is prettier and smarter too. Just kidding goosey boy. Goose says "Puff up they hate that" while holding his breath and expanding his chest. Harley says "Ha Ha" in his best Simpsons impression.

Gooses Geeses I want a golden goose that lays golden eggs for Easter!

2008-02-24T17:02:00.003-07:00

Without My Jeep.

2008-02-24T00:09:00.020-07:00

Oh what would life be

without my Jeep & me?

Why a Jeep you say
because he likes it that way.

Fixing anything I ask

always upto the task.

My Jeep never seems to age

just a different roll cage.

Tires have seen some wear

showing how he must care.

Over any hill he will climb,

never willingly left behind.

Rough exterior to boot
and when topless so cute!
It's me my Jeep adores,
as I tease him while he snores.

I love my Jeep more than ever,

it helps that he is so clever.

Here without my Jeep?

only because he is asleep.

Each minute alone without

leaves me in no doubt,

I would rust away inside

if left alone without to ride.

Harley's Bad Day.

2008-02-19T21:11:00.008-07:00

Harley was in a bad mood this morning. He bit me several times and wouldn't let me put him down. Ryan had to come get him off me. Ryan helped me after lunch try again and he was blushing and throwing up for me, Harley not Ryan, and for you non-bird people that's a good thing. This would explain the aggresive behavior, since birds are a bit like school boys when they like a girl. Pull her hair a few times and get noticed more. Good or bad it's all the same in Elementary and bird.

Growing Up Park.

2008-02-16T20:31:00.003-07:00

I wanted everyone to get a glimpse of what it meant to grow up a Park. This is written by my younger brother John Park!

“Gaining a Brother”
Growing up it wasn’t a chaotic house hold with several siblings, cats, dogs, and horses that hinted mine was a non nuclear family. It was a basic concept taught by my parents that our family tree branches out farther than immediate siblings. This concept showed that people, who were once strangers, could become important family members; it rocked the boat of the traditional family myth.
One particular addition to my family tree, ending with one of the worst tragedies my family has ever known, brought new meaning to the concept. While my family was still in a massive upset, from my dad’s death, my brother, David, asked our mom if his 18 year old friend, Chuck, who was on bad terms with his own family, could stay with us for just a few days. Dave explained tensions in his friend’s family, reached a breaking point. One day, when he took Chuck home, they pulled up to his house to find all of his belongings in two trash bags sitting on his front porch and the front door locked. Chuck’s hypocritical family, who claimed to be so loving, sent him a clear message. Upon the discovery that he no longer had a home or a family for that matter, Chuck frantically said “I have no where to go what am I suppose to do?” Dave replied “You WILL come live with us.” Even though Dave assured that his friend was a good person, our mom was worried sick about whether or not she could help Chuck without our dad and if it wasn’t good timing for the family. Ultimately, Dave’s judgment was trusted and Chuck moved in with us.
This new character around the house quickly showed that he was unique. After all, who has the guts to approach and hit on a large group of girls all at once using an introduction of, “Hello my name’s Chuck Diggity!”? Well the very same guy who gets his self proclaimed nickname tattooed on his lower back in big bold letters D-I-G-G-I-T-Y. Chuck was one of those few people who could be an absolute trouble maker and have everyone love him for it.
In the midst of endless conflicts with his own family, Chuck learned, to become OUR brother. One learning experience happened on his 19th birthday. The day started off horribly. The only thing he received from his birth family was missionary clothing and accessories, to express their cruel disappointment that he did not go on a mission. Later on, a depressing day took a turn for the best; Chuck was walking out of the front door when our mom asked him to come into the kitchen. “Surprise!” the entire family jumped out of hiding to throw him a classic Park family birthday party. Pictures from that party do not lie; Chuck was emotional and teary eyed the entire time. Shortly after the party he finally let loose his emotions and cried over how much this simple party meant to him. Chuck told Dave “I don’t get how your family can care about me like that”.
To be part of our family, it takes more than just having us care about a person, that person, needs to care about the rest of us. It became apparent this was the case when, some of the people, Dave and Chuck hung out with started getting into the wrong things. At one point, while in a house full of druggies, Chuck got mad about cocaine being brought over. He demanded Dave leave with him. Chuck threatened the druggies, who were bigger and older than him, with choice words, that they were to never come around Dave again or he would make them regret it. Now, it was definitely clear, Chuck, would look after and protect family members, even if it meant being willing to fight a room full of druggies.
After years of being in our family, Chuck got married and then entered the Marine Corps, to give himself direction. Years of pain and trials in his life came to a climax after a devastating fight with his wife. Chuck committed suicide. The largest tragedy next to my dad’s death crushed our family. Our brother died September 5th 2006 in the desert of 29 Palms California. The words “I wish he didn’t do it” barely begin to express the feelings of remorse over this tragedy. There are in fact, no words to describe the aches and pains that my family and I feel in our hearts. The expressions of “I love him so much” and “I miss him” will have to do.
This bitter loss is an everlasting, sealing, testimony that Chuck was part of our family. My family and I could never hurt so much over someone’s death unless, that person, was indeed our brother. The bond and love that we have for Chuck will never break. He is a member of this family because of how much he will always mean to us and what we mean to him. We can’t wait to see him again.

Chuck is the one on the far left below.

Winter Storm Watch

2008-02-16T16:33:00.002-07:00

When they say winter storm watch in Utah pay attention! My mom drove down with my neices and nephew to visit on a winter storm watch day and couldn't get home until the next morning. The power was out half the night, and we had so much fun. They shut down I-15 and people had to stay in their cars or the Hampton Inn at Thanksgiving Point. Look at our house it was blowing so hard it covered all our windows so you couldn't see out. It was a blizzard!

IT'S HARLEY DAY!

2008-02-16T11:52:00.013-07:00

Today is Harley day in the Hellewell home. Around 11 years ago I raised two Macaws from naked baby hatchlings. My favorite was a Harlequin Macaw I named Harley. My Mom and Dad had bought the eggs and while waiting for them to hatch my dad passed away. He was going to be the one to raise the Macaws, because my mom is allegic to baby bird formula. Since my Dad wasn't there I was asked to raise the babies. I was 18 years old, and very excited and nervous to take this job on. The babies had to be fed every hour the first two weeks then every two hours and working down until they were weaned several months later.

I loved my birds more than I had expected, but I wasn't at a point in life where I could spend time with them. I started College full-time in the fall and was working part-time. They were not happy being alone all day. I decided in spring 1998 that they needed someone who had more time for them. It took months to find homes for them. Several people wanted Harley, but he was so attatched to me he didn't take to them. Then a guy came along that Harley liked, but I was nervous about Harley's choice. Ron had never owned a pet and lived in an appartment with his wife and daughter. Ron made payments over the next three months, visiting weekly. By the time Harley was ready to go I felt like they had been fully prepared and were ready. I drove Harley to his new home, set up his cage, and said good-bye. I kept their number and called to check a couple times until he was well adjusted.

Two years passed and in the summer of 2000 life had changed. I was married and staying home with our 6 month old Mason. I called to make sure my birds were still happy and see if there was any chance of having them back. When I called on Harley I had a heartbreak. They had sold him 6 months before. Ron didn't explain why, and had no response when I reminded him of our agreement to call me if anything was ever not working out. I suspect money problems and to him the bird was cash.

Then in January 2008 we saw a Harlequin Macaw on KSL.com. Since a Harlequin Macaw is a hybrid of a Blue and Gold and a Greenwing macaw they are somewhat rare. I had to check but it was with no real hope. We emailed and come to find out it's Harley! It had been 10 years since I had seen him. We visited him at his home, and found that he had a wonderful family after all. He was in full feather, a happy well adjusted bird. After three visits we decided we wanted him to be a part of our family. We had to save up to buy him, so Mason asked if he could buy Harley for me. He used all his piggy bank money adding up to $20 to go in on the bird with Ryan. Between Ryan and Mason they bought the bird for me!

In light of finding Harley and having him come back to me I have to say My Heavenly Father loves me. He knows me personally. He cares for my happiness. I also know that Ryan and Mason love me! Thank you so much guys! It is with great joy and much expression I say...

"It's Harley Day!"

We're Famous!

2008-02-14T21:05:00.004-07:00

Check this out. Our friend, Ian, looked us up on google maps and there is not only a picture of our house, but us! I am veeeerrrrry prego with Kamryn pushing a wheel barrow, Ashton is playing in the dirt, and Ryan is putting the sprinklers in the yard. Ha ha who knew such a trivial thing would be captured forever and posted online without our say so. Watch what you do in your yards when google maps drives by. The funny thing...I remember seeing them drive by and telling Ryan we were going to be famous.

New Table?

2008-02-13T09:23:00.003-07:00

Ryan and I have been wanting to get a new table since our out dated white 6" tile top one didn't match our kitchen with the black appliances. We have looked and looked but couldn't find one we liked the looks and price of. We came to the decision that painting it black and retiling it would be better than nothing, so here it is. I actually like it better than all the tables we looked at and it cost under $100?!?

Time to Mop!

2008-02-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

"What are you guys doing?"

Today Ashton and Rylyn decided to well... baptize the bathroom. I am downstairs working on Taxes when I here running water and laughing. I wait hoping they are being good, thinking since they are happy I should get some work done. After about 5 minutes and a lot more laughing I decide it's time to check. Oops should have checked sooner. I guess it's time to mop the floor, and the walls, and the ceiling, and the counter, heck let's just mop the kids too. Just check out the pictures if you think I exagerate.

A Family That Plays Together Stays Together!

2008-02-07T21:44:00.000-07:00

I thought our family moto would be an appropriate way to start our family Blog page. We try to live by this as much as possible. It is our goal when the kids grow up they are eachothers best friends and want to hang out with us as much as possible. Last night is an example of one of the good times. We spontaneously started playing hide-and-go-seek and it turned into an hour of fun. Ryan takes the most creative hiding place award with putting Mason(7) in the linen closet on the top shelf under a pillow, Ashton(3) in the cupboard under the bathroom sink, and Rylyn in the stuffed animals with only her had sticking out. Not all nights are this way of course tonight was not so much fun with the bed time business of "I can't sleep cuz Daddy's not home" "My stomach hurts" "I want a sippy cup." Grumpy mommies don't make good playmates.