It's hard to choose a new layout, when there are so many! But when I saw this one, I knew I just had to have it. Lynne always called me Ronna Maureenie Jelly Beanie. So there you go, and it's a week til Easter too.
Thanks to Caley and Emily for talking me through the new blogger dashboard.
Did you know that Emily has already (as of yesterday) set out the Easter Baskets with names on them for everyone she believes will be here on Easter, including her brother in law to be Doug (Happy birthday today!)Marisa, Steven, and Caley and Thomas. She figures since they will be down for Marisa's bridal shower, they will have to stop by.
So jellybeans for everyone! We have baskets for Adam, Veronica & Kyle, we'll hang onto those until they get here later in April. Because April is a great month:
Two graduations - Provo and Rexburg, two birthdays - Steven's 18th and Caley's 23rd, one wedding, one bridal shower...holy guacamole...it's going to be a fun month!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Keeping Sheep
Keeping Sheep
Lynne Perry Christofferson
I have a little flock of sheep, and they are mine to tend and keep,
And I must guard them every day for little sheep when left alone will lose their way.
So many voices say to me “A sheepfold is no place to be. Your time in there is dull and slow, and lambs leave very little room for you to grow.”
Oh if I ever start to stray, deceived by thoughts of greener pastures, Remind me Lord that keeping sheep will lead to happier ever afters.
Oh surely there will come a day when all the lambs have left my side and I am free to roam about and go exploring other meadows green and wide. Yet something whispers in my heart that when my sheep have left this pen I’ll long to stroke their little heads, to draw them close to me and have them young again.
So while they are still in my care, I pray that I will clearly see these little lambs within my fold are tender gifts a loving Father has given me.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sounds of Sunday
I played this song a couple of weeks ago to accompany Debbie Peterson in Sacrament meeting. I hadn't heard it for a long time, it's really a sweet song. Today in church I found out that our neighbor Sharon Thulin passed away last night. Kerry often mowed their field behind our backyard. She was a nice lady, who always called me "Kid" and was very complimentary about anything we did, even riding our bikes as a family past her house. She will be missed.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
30 years ago tonight...
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Kerry wrote me a song, and played it for me on his guitar, and then he proposed to me. This took place at my apartment, which was then Reams, now "The Colony" in Provo. And so it seemed logical that we should call our parents and let them know the good news...even though it was somewhere in the 11 pm to midnight range. We called the Parks first, since they were in a later time zone, then we called the Rankins. And they had never met Kerry before. Goodness, what were we thinking?
All's well that ends well, and 30 years later, I can still remember the song which started "Dear Ronna, here's a valentine I wrote it just for you..."
Things are different now...Marisa and Doug just got engaged but we've already met and spent time with Doug here and in St. George, already have seen lots of photos as we've been facebook friends for months. With cell phones and the internet, people's parents need never be a stranger to their daughter's new fiancee ever again!
I'm excited for another wedding, another chance to go to the Temple with a child of mine, and another glimpse of heaven. Congratulations to Marisa and Doug, thanks for not calling us at midnight (although we would usually be awake as tonight with 3 of Emily's friends here for a midnight french fry-fest Monday Holiday sleepover.)
All's well that ends well, and 30 years later, I can still remember the song which started "Dear Ronna, here's a valentine I wrote it just for you..."
Things are different now...Marisa and Doug just got engaged but we've already met and spent time with Doug here and in St. George, already have seen lots of photos as we've been facebook friends for months. With cell phones and the internet, people's parents need never be a stranger to their daughter's new fiancee ever again!
I'm excited for another wedding, another chance to go to the Temple with a child of mine, and another glimpse of heaven. Congratulations to Marisa and Doug, thanks for not calling us at midnight (although we would usually be awake as tonight with 3 of Emily's friends here for a midnight french fry-fest Monday Holiday sleepover.)
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Top 10 of 2009
All of the news organizations are doing their top 10 stories of the year, here are mine.
1. Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Thomas being diagnosed with cancer to start the year is the top story this year, and not only because it was so shocking and hard, but because it taught us more than we would have ever known about the power of prayer, faith, medicine, and our resilience as a family unit.
2. Coeur d'Alene Roadtrip. After being tied to Rexburg the whole, long winter and spring for chemo, and into early summer for radiation, Thomas and Caley had the goal to get out of town at long last. Coeur d'Alene was their dream destination, and we decided to join them and make it into a big family trip. Though we were missing Adam and Kyle, the rest of us jumped in the lake, floated down the river, golfed, and celebrated with our gracious North Idaho kinfolk. A spectacular Tubb's Hill cliff diving video featuring Steven can be seen on Veronica's blog.
3. Idaho's Youth Governor. Steven was elected at the Hi-Y convention to represent Idaho as Governor for the 2009-2010 school year, and took a trip in June to Catholic University in Washington D.C. to convene with all of the other national Youth Governors. He also met with Idaho Senators Risch and Crapo. He will preside over the state Hi-Y convention in April.
4. The Hicks's of Kentucky. Somebody had to be the first to do it, the first Park kid to move all far-off away from home. Veronica and Kyle moved to Louisville at the end of August, and Kerry drove back with them and Kyle's dad and a Penske moving van. We miss them, but not right now, because they are here for a long Christmas visit!
5. KSL Internship. Channel 5 in Salt Lake City is the big time, big market, big news station where Marisa completed her Broadcasting internship fall semester of 2009. Bruce and Deenie like her, and so do we. She got good experience in news reporting and producing, and also freeway rush hour driving from Provo to SLC every Tuesday and Thursday.
6. State PTA Convention. In April, Kerry and Emily drove with me to Coeur d'Alene where I presented a workshop and handed out state awards for the PTA Reflections program. It was fun to see family there, and also the woodwork from the Sherman Ave. home we grew up in. I'm in my 2nd year as Idaho PTA Cultural Arts chairperson.
7. St. George Marathon #7. It was a great weekend for a family trip to St. George in October, where I ran my 7th marathon in 7 hours and a minute. Not such a good time as far as running goes, but I wasn't last, I got a medal, and we had a great rental home for the weekend with all but the Kentucky kids there. Infinity pools are fun. Adam finding me between mile 24 and 25 with a bottle of Dasani is a vision I still see in my sleep.
8. Girl's Camp. I was a cook for the Stake, Emily was there, and we had a fun week at Camp Cumorah. Like PTA, this is a 2 year job, so I get to do it again in 2010. I learned that cooking for a lot of people can be fun, but it takes all day, even with my friend Tami in the kitchen too.
9. The Economy. Since all of the major news outlets will have this in their top 10 list, I thought I should too. Kerry's company was not immune to the economic downturn, but thankfully he survived each of the many rounds of layoffs over the course of the year. Many of his co-workers were not so fortunate.
10. Mr. & Mrs. Torres. There weren't any Park weddings this year, but there was a Motola cousin wedding, and we got to travel to the gorgeous Manti Temple with many of our family members from near and far to see Erik sealed to Corinna. This was of course another opportunity for the "girl cousins arranged by hair color" photograph series.
Runners up: Emily became a teenager, BHS boys won state in Football at Moscow with Steven in attendance, another midnight showing of Harry Potter with the Porter-Parks, concerts galore attended by various Parks - Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, David Archuleta - and Huey Lewis at the EISF, knee surgery for both of Kerry's parents and rotator cuff surgery for his Mom (too many curve-balls?), Adam made 2 trips to NYC to see friends, ball games, and famous landmarks, Steven was Jr. Prom royalty, Emily played her first flute solo in Sacrament meeting, Kerry spent a few Saturdays as the chase car for some hang-gliders, and Emily caught some really big fish.
1. Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Thomas being diagnosed with cancer to start the year is the top story this year, and not only because it was so shocking and hard, but because it taught us more than we would have ever known about the power of prayer, faith, medicine, and our resilience as a family unit.
2. Coeur d'Alene Roadtrip. After being tied to Rexburg the whole, long winter and spring for chemo, and into early summer for radiation, Thomas and Caley had the goal to get out of town at long last. Coeur d'Alene was their dream destination, and we decided to join them and make it into a big family trip. Though we were missing Adam and Kyle, the rest of us jumped in the lake, floated down the river, golfed, and celebrated with our gracious North Idaho kinfolk. A spectacular Tubb's Hill cliff diving video featuring Steven can be seen on Veronica's blog.
3. Idaho's Youth Governor. Steven was elected at the Hi-Y convention to represent Idaho as Governor for the 2009-2010 school year, and took a trip in June to Catholic University in Washington D.C. to convene with all of the other national Youth Governors. He also met with Idaho Senators Risch and Crapo. He will preside over the state Hi-Y convention in April.
4. The Hicks's of Kentucky. Somebody had to be the first to do it, the first Park kid to move all far-off away from home. Veronica and Kyle moved to Louisville at the end of August, and Kerry drove back with them and Kyle's dad and a Penske moving van. We miss them, but not right now, because they are here for a long Christmas visit!
5. KSL Internship. Channel 5 in Salt Lake City is the big time, big market, big news station where Marisa completed her Broadcasting internship fall semester of 2009. Bruce and Deenie like her, and so do we. She got good experience in news reporting and producing, and also freeway rush hour driving from Provo to SLC every Tuesday and Thursday.
6. State PTA Convention. In April, Kerry and Emily drove with me to Coeur d'Alene where I presented a workshop and handed out state awards for the PTA Reflections program. It was fun to see family there, and also the woodwork from the Sherman Ave. home we grew up in. I'm in my 2nd year as Idaho PTA Cultural Arts chairperson.
7. St. George Marathon #7. It was a great weekend for a family trip to St. George in October, where I ran my 7th marathon in 7 hours and a minute. Not such a good time as far as running goes, but I wasn't last, I got a medal, and we had a great rental home for the weekend with all but the Kentucky kids there. Infinity pools are fun. Adam finding me between mile 24 and 25 with a bottle of Dasani is a vision I still see in my sleep.
8. Girl's Camp. I was a cook for the Stake, Emily was there, and we had a fun week at Camp Cumorah. Like PTA, this is a 2 year job, so I get to do it again in 2010. I learned that cooking for a lot of people can be fun, but it takes all day, even with my friend Tami in the kitchen too.
9. The Economy. Since all of the major news outlets will have this in their top 10 list, I thought I should too. Kerry's company was not immune to the economic downturn, but thankfully he survived each of the many rounds of layoffs over the course of the year. Many of his co-workers were not so fortunate.
10. Mr. & Mrs. Torres. There weren't any Park weddings this year, but there was a Motola cousin wedding, and we got to travel to the gorgeous Manti Temple with many of our family members from near and far to see Erik sealed to Corinna. This was of course another opportunity for the "girl cousins arranged by hair color" photograph series.
Runners up: Emily became a teenager, BHS boys won state in Football at Moscow with Steven in attendance, another midnight showing of Harry Potter with the Porter-Parks, concerts galore attended by various Parks - Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, David Archuleta - and Huey Lewis at the EISF, knee surgery for both of Kerry's parents and rotator cuff surgery for his Mom (too many curve-balls?), Adam made 2 trips to NYC to see friends, ball games, and famous landmarks, Steven was Jr. Prom royalty, Emily played her first flute solo in Sacrament meeting, Kerry spent a few Saturdays as the chase car for some hang-gliders, and Emily caught some really big fish.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Linger Longer
We got a new hot water heater, 80 gallons. Steven and Kerry hauled it downstairs, and then the next night we had the missionaries for dinner and they made the mistake of asking if there was anything they could do to help our family...so they got to help haul the old heater up the stairs and out into the truck!
But now, we can linger longer in the shower with plenty of hot water for all. It's a good thing.
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