The World's Longest Blog Post

Okay, this is going to be a long one. If you choose to quit reading at any time, No hard feelings. Time just seems to get away from me. It seems like if I don't blog every week, pretty soon I have a novel to write. It's quite overwhelming to me actually. But here we go.
Easter
This year, Easter Sunday was quite different for us. We were home. The Easter Bunny came to our house and hid eggs all over the place. We went to church and had a Easter dinner at our house. I know, sounds pretty normal, but believe me, it was so weird for us. Cory and I have been married for 10 years and this is the first year we stayed home. The kids loved it. They even got Sunday clothes for Easter. After dinner we had an Easter egg hunt in the back yard with Josi and Rhylee. The prize eggs were awesome. They won stuff like a miniature golf trip with uncle Chad and a half an hour of driving Cory's jeep in Moab and a sleepover with Grandma. It was fun and we may even consider staying home next year.

Moab

This may have been one of our best Moab trips yet. I know, I say that every time we go. But really, this was. We had so much fun. My parents and Chad and Kim and their girls came. Again, the Mower's were there. We love them so much. Bree and Justun and the girls came. I'm pretty sure Justun still "needs" to buy a jeep. Our friends Greg and Christie and their cute kids were there and also Shawn and Anita and and their kids. So, I think the key word here is KIDS. The adults were totally outnumbered this time and it was so fun. On Thursday, It was only our family and my mom and dad. We decided to go for a ride. About 1 mile in, we were headed up a little obstacle and we were heard a loud "SNAAAAP". Cory said, "what was that?" and I was like "a leaf spring". He said, "how do you know that?" and I said "because, I can see it here, laying on the ground." Needless to say. We spent the rest of the entire day on the trail. It was really fun though. My dad and Cory went back into town to buy a new leaf spring. ($250.00 later) While my mom and the kids and I went for a little hike. They came back we had lunch and the work started. We realized that we were missing an important bushing. So, my mom and dad and the kids headed back into town for that. ($6 more) Cory and I hung out on a rock and listened to music. Finally at 5:00. The Jeep was as good as new and we went back to meet Bree and Justun for dinner.

The next two days were great. Nothing else broke. We tried a new trail that we have never done and we were able to spend time with some of the coolest people in the world. Cory has a new master plan. Its to start picking up parts and working on Jeeps for Brock and Parker for when they turn 16. I know, CRAZY. We love Moab and look forward to the next 50 years of rock crawling with our friends and family.

On our way to Flat Iron MesaGreg and ChristieScott and his new toy.

I am sure this is a very important conversation.Here come the troops.Papa and Grandma let Brock drive, are they Crazy?

Matt thought he was funny and stuck his head in all of my pictures.

Cory Wheelin'

We were going to winch Matt on something, but as soon as he said go, the guard fell off his bumper. Hilarious!

Cory had 4 little girls ride in the jeep with him for about two hours. They "pretended" that they were running from the bad guys.

Papa teaching Brock to loosen the Lug nuts

All the kidsYep, Jeri can fix a leaf spring.

Baseball
Holy Cow, I cannot believe baseball has come and gone. Maybe that is why I have not blogged in such a long time. This year Brock and Parker were on different teams. This means we had 4 practices and 4 games every week. Do you realize how much baseball that is? Cory was the coach on Parker's team and the assistant on Brock's. He's such a good dad, I love to see him out there coaching our boys. It was a really fun season. Brock played Pee Wee this year. Its quite serious. He had lots of fun and improved like crazy. He met some really fun friends and he had awesome coaches. We are excited for next year when Brock and Parker can be on the same Pee Wee team. Parker was so good this year. He played machine pitch. He hit almost every single time he got up to bat. We love baseball season, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm excited for normal evenings again. Well, at least until football starts ..........!

Tending AJ

We had a chance to spend some time with our new baby cousin AJ. Alyssa was in town for a couple of weeks. We got to tend AJ twice. Brock and Parker loved him so much. Brock even read a book to him. "Animals facts" I'm sure he loved it. Randy and Alyssa wanted to bless AJ while they were here in Utah. So, we did that in our back yard. It was fun to have everybody here. They have now moved to Alaska. Its so much farther away than California. We are gonna miss them so much. I promised Alyssa that I would blog every week, so she wouldn't miss what is going on with us and miss out on the kids' stuff. I hope she remembers to do the same.

Parker's Kindergarten Program

My baby is almost finished with Kindergarten. We are off track for one more week. They go back for nine days. Then on to first grade for Parker. I have no idea what I am going to do without my little "T" home with me during the day. I'm gonna miss him so much. Kindergarten has been a great experience for Parker. He had a really good teacher, her name is Mrs. Winegar. He is reading like a champ and is totally ready to "eat lunch at school". His program was darling. What a cool little kid you are Parker T.

Parker the Performer

Parker, Gage and Kip

Mother's Day
I love mothers day. Not only because I have the best mom and best Mother-in-law on the planet, but because I truly love being a mom. I know its not always perfect and I am certainly have so much to learn but I cannot imagine doing anything different in my life right now. I am so thankful to be a mom and have the two funniest, coolest, hardest, weirdest kids in the world.

Amber and Kirk's Wedding

Well, they did it. My cousin Amber got married on May 16th. She was a beautiful bride and it was a perfect day. Parker was the ring bearer. He did a great job. Rhylee was the flower girl. Brock and Josi had important jobs. At the wedding, they were in charge of handing out programs and at the reception they got to carry the presents. All I can say is, Amber and Joan know how to throw one heck of a party. Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day.

Amber, Parker, Rhylee and Kirk

Parker and Kirk

Parker, Josi, Rhylee and Brock at the rehearsal dinnerRhylee the Flower girl

Memorial Day Weekend at the Lake

We went to Yuba for Memorial day weekend. We went with some other families in our neighborhood. It was so fun to get to know them. Its funny, the things you learn about people around a campfire. I didn't take many pictures because it rained pretty much the whole time. I didn't want to ruin my new camera. Saturday was my birthday and Annette and Mel were so nice to bring me a cake. At about 7:00 pm, Cory was all cleaned up and in his sweats when the water calmed and I was going nuts to ski again. he said "fine, if you really want to go, I'll take ya" so he put the boat back on the water and took me out one more time. What a great guy! Happy birthday to me. We had good water for a couple of hours on Sunday. It was FREEZING, but not choppy. We went out in the boat with the Snow's. They are such a cute little family and it was fun to get to know them better. Ryan helped Parker "try" to wake board. He did so good. I have not doubt that when we have some warmer water this year, both Brock and Parker will be wake boarders. By Sunday night, I couldn't take the rain anymore. Everything was so muddy. We packed up and headed home. Its a good thing, because it took us pretty much all day Monday to clean it up. At least we can say that boating season has officially begun.

Sam, Brock and Parker

Parker learning to wake board

Jeri & Izzie

Welcome Baby-Cousin AJ

We have a new baby cousin. AJ was born to Alyssa and Randy on April 2, 2009 at 11:55 am in California. He weighed in at 8#15oz. Wow, Big baby! We cannot wait to meet him. I think I will go completely nuts before he gets here in May. We are really excited for Alyssa and Randy. Being parents is the coolest thing on earth. They are going to be great! Welcome to our crazy world AJ.

March Madness

Oh, what a fun month March was. I am really going to do better at blogging though. I am a little behind. Okay, alot behind.

In the beginning of March, Chad and Kim moved into a new house. It is awesome! They now live .4 miles away. We can walk to thier house. We spent a day helping them move in. It was quite fun actually. But, I still can't figure out why any family of 4 needs 6 couches. I love having them so close to us. It was especially helpful when, a couple days after they moved in, Brock decided to see if he could do 30 back flips in a row on the tramp. He over rotated the 29th just a little and landed on the bar. So, I immediately called Kim and said "can you come and get Parker, Brock and I need to go to the hospital." Kim was here within 2 minutes. Very convenient. Brock got 6 staples in the back of his head and handled it like a champ. He had them for 10 days and is as good as new.

Parker is so big. He lost his first tooth. Wow, what a different experience from his big brother. Parker was letting me wiggle it and it was so loose that I just pulled it out. Just like that, no tears, no blood, just pure joy for Parker. He told us that he was so excited that he felt like he was dreaming. What a wierdo! Then the next day came the drama, Brock had a tooth hanging by a thread that needed to come out. We had to go to grandma's house (tears the whole way there) use the "numbing stuff", and let grandma baby him to death and take 20 minutes to pull it out. Needless to say the tooth fairy is going broke around our house.

The last week of March was great. CJ and Jennilyn went to the Temple. Cory and I had the honor of going with them to buy their new "jammies". What a bonding experience. They were the first people to receive their endowments in the Draper Temple. Then, just four days later, they were sealed. Cory was CJ's escort. They were asked 3 times in the temple if they were twins. How awesome for Cory. That makes him like 7 years younger. It was fun to be there with them. We are so proud of the things they have accomplished already in their marriage and we are so thankful to have them as our little brother and sister.

On the 29th, we had a bridal shower for my cute little cousin Amber in Price. Okay, she's 25, but I can't help but think of her as the little 6 year old who use to follow me around. I love her. She is an amazing girl. We are so excited for her. She is going to be a beautiful bride and we can't wait to welcome Kirk into the "cousin club".

Along with all of this, Baseball started. We have been having five practices a week, 3 for Brock and 2 for Parker. Cory is the Coach of Parker's team and the Assistant for Brock's. He is such a good dad. He's not playing softball this year. Even after the release from his doctor after his surgery. He said that he thinks this is the time for the kids. "it's their turn". I am so thankful to Cory for this. I am thankful for is selflessness. I hope our kids always realize how lucky they are to have him. I try to remind them everyday how amazing their dad is. Games start this week, and we have a big Moab trip planned for next week. I love this time of year.

Holy Cow! Six, Really??

Yikes! Parker turned six. Where has the time gone. Parker is a little boy after my own heart. He started asking "how many more days?" at 48. Yep, like mother like son. I LOVE it. He is so great. He loves his birthday, everything about it. He had really fun day. He woke up about 6:00 am because he was "too excited to sleep". He had french toast for breakfast. Then, at school he got kinderbear. This is a huge deal, because Parker loves kinderbear. His cute teacher knows how much he loves him and I think she may have had something to do with "randomly" drawing his name. It made his day all that much better though. Grandma Jen picked him up after school and took him to Build-a-bear. He got a dog named Coal. Grandma took him to lunch and brought him home. Parker got to go to Karate on his birthday. His teacher had all the kids sing to him and then played a game where the teacher got to hit him 6 times with the blocking thing and Parker stood there the whole time without flinching, so, he got 100 tickets. Lucky boy. As soon as we got home from karate, the party began. Parker had 16 friends and cousins come to his party. They played outside for a while, then we played games and opened presents and had cake. (as per Parker's request, half chocolate, half vanilla cake). Parker is lucky to have such fun friends. Then we went to Wingers for dinner. Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunts and Uncles and Cousins were all there. We are so glad to have everybody so close to spend special days with. We came back to our house and Parker opened more presents and once again was spoiled rotten.

I have said this before and I will say it again. I know we make a huge deal out of birthdays, but its not going to stop. If Parker thinks that March 3rd was put on the calendar just for him, GREAT! We love him so much and I can't wait to spend his next 60 birthdays with him. Happy Birthday "T"!

Catching Up????

Well, I do truely wish that I could say that I have some serious catching up to do. But, that would be a lie. We have had a few very quiet months around the Proulx house. No birthdays, no missing teeth, no hospital trips or any trips for that matter.

Christmas was wonderful, as usual. Our kids were spoiled and we were able to have a great time with our families.

We waited and waited to be invited somewhere for New Years and when the 30th came around and we still didn't have any plans, we decided that we had better throw something together. So we had little New Years party at our house. It was quite fun actually. There was a ton of food. Some good friends, fireworks and some boxing. I know, WEIRD! New years is just not quite the same with kids.
In February, Parker tested for is yellow belt in karate and he did awesome. He was so excited and proud of himself. We are proud of him too. Well.... I think that pretty much sums it up. But, Watch out!! Spring is almost here and we will be coming out of hibernation. We will be having birthdays and baseball games and Jeep trips and Boating trips and boating trips and boating trips (get my drift) and all sorts of stuff to blog about. So, Untill then......

Grandpa Ike

On Monday Feb. 2, 2009. Cory's Grandpa, Orr "Ike" Larsen passed away. He was 87 and lived a good life. He was a great example to his kids and grand kids and everybody who knew him. Cory has always had great respect for him. I know Cory has a special place in heart for his grandpa and he will always remember him. They shared a great love for BYU football. It's the first thing they would talk about whenever they saw each other, even in the off season. Grandpa Ike was a great man and we will surely miss him. We are so thankful for gospel and the knowledge that we have. We know we will be with him again some day and grandpa knew that too. Cory was able to spend a couple of hours with him the day that he passed and Grandpa left Cory with his blessing, he told him that he is very proud of him. I know this meant the world to him.

Every single one of Cory's cousins and siblings and their spouses and children were able to be at Grandpa's Funeral. What an amazing sight. Annette spoke and asked us to look around and always remember what grandpa left to us. An amazing family. After the funeral, at the burial, all the little boys wore BYU caps as a tribute to Grandpa, I am sure he would be so proud.