Reminiscing

Today kind of had an unset theme.

Memories.

This afternoon I was picking raspberries with my family like I've done every year probably since my grandparents moved to Cardston.

Then I remembered the tree that me, Mackenzie, and Charlie use to climb when we were in Junior High.

So I threw my shoes off and made my way up.

Well I kind of forgot how extremely disgustingly skinny I was back then and realized when we got to our old hang out spot in the tree that I ain't exactly that little anymore.

The three of us could hardly fit up there, it felt so awkward.

It was so awesome to see our old carvings, flashlight and eating utensils (huh?) sitting in the tree.

Then we helped my mom in my grandpa's basements move some stuff from when we lived there.

Then we got reminiscing.

I then found a cedar chest full of my mom's old dresses.

Well...we just HAD to try them on. 

Yup, I felt purdy. 

That's me Ma's wedding dress. 

Afterwards when we got home we found a case of CD's filled with pictures.

Well...

Let the pictures do the talking.

I'm about to embarrass a few of you.

I miss this woman. 

Possessed. 

Stephaaannnie!

Whole lot of ugly going on right heeeer

Sometimes we put the little brother in a box to shut him up. 

Super Nae Nae!

6 years later...

I did find an extremely embarrassing video my sister took of me dancing and falling on my face twice and shaking my "booty" (I lacked one back then) but I think it's best I not post that...

Snort Snort

I love being with family.

My family is huge. 

Each member is different but strange in their own way.

We like strange.

You have to be strange to be in our family. 

Don't worry if you marry into our family we'll train ya ;)

My mom's favorite quote of all time is 

"I tried being normal, then I got bored...so I decided to be myself instead"

My mom is quite silly, as for the rest of her siblings AKA my aunts & uncles.

Last night we decided to have a family game night. 

No matter the game we usually end up embarrassing ourselves and looking silly even if it is a simple card game.

Well this game was MEANT for embarrassing yourself. 

I took advantage of the situation and told Morgan he MUST come over.

I didn't give him to many details because I didn't want him knowing what he was getting himself into. 

Completely off topic but I hadn't seen that boy for approximately 3 weeks so the fact that we finally actually both had time to see each other was a bonus to this evening of greatness. 

ANYWAYS! 

The family got around the table.

We whipped the game out.

Explained the rules and the snorting, quacking, hissing began.

What game did we play you ask?

This game goes by the name "Snorta"

Hilarious! 

I think if a stranger walked into the room while we were playing they would have called some mental place or something.

Picture this.

A bunch of people sitting around the table staring each other down snorting and growling at each other just to get rid of a few cards. 

Yes indeed it was entertaining and fun :-) I quite enjoyed myself though I was horrible at remembering my animal noises 

What kind of animal says "Sa" "Blobs" "Saack" 

"YEEEHAWWW"-That one was my mother

The plan was to have Morgan embarrass himself but somehow he enjoyed himself AND won every round. Crap.

Epic fail.

OH WELL! 

Glad to see someone enjoys our wild family, probably because he's just as much a wild child.

No explanation

This post needs no explanation at all.

Yes that is my mother to the right of me. 

Where the heart is.

"Home is where the heart is" and my heart is in two places. I love Cardston, I really do it was such a blessing to move here but I also love Idaho Falls, it's true what people say, in the end family is all that matters. I am very aware that I am far from "the end" but I like that I have figured this out before it was too late.

I just spent the weekend back at my second home in Idaho Falls for Cortney & Derek's wedding. They are are real example of "love at first sight" because seriously that's how their whole relationship started. I love those two so much and I am so happy they found each other and are not together forever. This weekend I was filled with so many mixed emotions, I was happy that Cortney finally found someone that knew how to treat her right but I knew that a lot was about to change, she's married. It happens. I was also extremely content with being with the rest of my cousins in Idaho and meeting new people and making a fun friend! (Megan Burton) She is an absolute delight to be around because she understands my weirdness and I understand hers. I spent 2 days with her and I feel like I've known her way longer. My other emotion was bitter/depressed. I realized that I probably will not be back in Idaho until I actually live there. Just because this summer and next year is going to be so crazy. So that fact made me VERY sad. So I pray Katie will get married next year so I can come back sooner!

One more emotion that has been in me for the last couple of day, loneliness. Now I know I am probably one of the most least lonely people out there, I have quiet a bit of friends I know I can turn to if I really need to and I can hang out with and my family is so amazing at including everyone. It's not that kind of lonely, it's the one where you feel like everybody has that special somebody. I know in my past posts I have said I am very anti-high school steady dating, which I still am. But there are those odd moments where I look at cute couples and wonder if I'll ever get that. Seriously my biggest fears, not getting asked to grad and not getting married (pathetic I know).

Well there you have it, my weekend :)

We-Da-Ho

I cannot explain how excited I am for Thursday, May 12th! Let me explain.

I love Idaho, I don't know what about it I love so much, It all starts with family. It's like a beautified version of Alberta as in...it's actually spring when it's suppose to be and summer is just the write length. (No complaints about the weather as of lately, I adore the sunshine!) Anyways, as many may know I was just in Idaho about 2 weeks ago. But this week is going to be even better! Why? Because my sister (okay she's really my cousin but feels way more like a sister) is getting married, yup Cortney Parker is becoming Cortney Calaway! I just love that name, and I completely agree with her choice of husband he's simply awesome and fits right in with the whole fam damily. I know I probably won't be seeing her much since this is her wedding weekend but all mormons know what wedding mean...TONS AND TONS OF FAMILY! I love my family, they are so wild, fun, and loud... and well you'd have to spend a day with us to really know how we are. Anyways a lot of family is the main reason why I'm so excited for this weekend and the fact that I'll be driving to Idaho with My aunt and Stephanie excites me! I love traveling with Steph.

IDAHO HERE WE COME! (be prepared for a loud weekend) 
:)

It can never be a bad thing.

Today I went to Lethbridge with my family, Char and Steph to drop off furniture at my cousins house. We were planning on going to the basketball games but we they thought there was no point because Carter wasn't playing. I still wanted to go really badly but I couldn't seem to find a ride back home. I was kind of bummed but went a long with the night. We we're just heading out of Lethbridge when Carter decided he wanted to come home with us. We were already sharing seats in the truck and I knew it would be way to squishy so I wasn't too happy. On our way home it actually ended up being a lot of fun, we had a lot of good laughs. We dropped Stephanie off in the middle of the highway (She was the weakest link, GOODBYE). Ten minutes away from town me and Carter convinced my mom to pull over so we could measure the yellow lines in the middle of the road because rumor has it they are 10ft (plus it's on my bucketlist) They don't look like it eh? Carter laid next to one and I attempted to take a picture as a blizzard just starts and it didn't turn out at all but sure enough they are no doubt 10ft long. Seriously! Get out of your car next time and look!
Overall it turned out being a fun night, spending time with family can never be a bad thing.

a spontaneous day

Today I woke up at a decent hour and headed into Lethbridge with my mom because needed to quickly do something and I wanted to keep her company. Before we made it out of town we stopped at the post office and there was a late birthday present there for me from my cousin Deanna. Mine and Mackenzie's most favorite treat, Muddie Buddies (Deanna makes them best). Then we decided we'd bring my brother's along to Lethbridge so we picked them up. We got to Lethbridge and while my mom was doing some "grown up stuff" me and my brother discovered the most amazing store I have never seen in my life in downtown Lethbridge. Some snowboard shop. I was in love. We spent awhile there looking around and all I wanted to do was go snowboarding, I couldn't keep it off my mind. We only went to Lethbridge to do this one little thing for my mom. Well next I met this little guy

Huntly Redford

The newest little one in the Redford family, that family just keeps getting bigger and bigger. No doubt he'll take after his dad and uncles and become a funny little guy. I can't wait to watch him grow up like his big sister London. After a long visit with Huntly and Megan we decided to go "home". We didn't go to far. I found myself shopping for bindings and new snowpants. I made the decision that I am going snowboarding tomorrow. Call me crazy but I love my snowboarding and I have to go at least once this year & the snow is SOOO good right now. So Stephanie if I end up injured you have full permission not to feel bad for me and tell me "I told you so". 

Who knew?

I had no idea that doing absolutely nothing but eating and talking could make someone so tired! I have been out of my mind tired and loopy lately. I have this weird cold where I don't have cough attacks but sneeze attacks. Weird eh? Who stays up half the night sneezing...really? Christmas was good. Personally I like Christmas Eve way better, the excitement and all the food and family, it's a good time. Christmas I feel so lazy, an hour of opening presents really wears you out ya know.
Today I went to High River for my cousin Peter's mission farewell. Did I mention his name is Peter Parker? Ya that's right...Spiderman is going on a mission. We had dinner at his house after and had a good time visiting and teasing family. The whole ride home we were all fast asleep, even the driver was fast asleep a few times :P Hopefully the rest of this week is full of fun with family too. I'm very excited for Megan to have her baby on Wednesday!

You don't have to be crazy to hang out with our family, we'll train you.

Yesterday morning my mother and aunt informed me that after work I'd be heading to Taber to a party at a mansion. You only live once so I decided sure why the heck not. Let me start off by telling you, us Parker's ya...we ain't normal and nor will we ever be. Enough said. Reed gave us a tour of the mansion and well...we couldn't help but be jealous of it. Overall we had a good time & a ton of laughs.

My dessert. Also testing out my new camera. Almost looks to good to eat eh? 

One of my many strange strange cousins. But we love him. Tyler.

Another weird cousin, we love her too. STEEPHAAANIIE!

I've seen birds perched on people's shoulders but this right here...that's a first.