Happy Birthday, Parker!

Parker turns 24 today!! I've been working hard to be prepared and make it a great day for him. He's not one to tell people it's his birthday, in fact, he claims he'd prefer people forget it... I don't know why, I've tried to figure it out, but no luck. So, this year I decided to see what I could do to make it more of a fun day full of his favorite things instead of buying him presents (plus he bought his own presents already as mentioned in a previous post). So far all we've done is gone to school and to lunch at Costa Vida, but I did bake a cake last night (funfetti! our favorite) and we'll have enchiladas for dinner, then most exciting of all, we're making ice cream! Parker doesn't know this yet, but my mom sent us an ice cream freezer and I've got all the ingredients to make his favorite strawberry ice cream. Hope he likes it!

It's Time!

Well, it's time for a new picture of our house... here we have the kitchen!

You can see below the cut out window above the sink.

This my view as a work at the sink...

And Parker's view...
I have a hard time knowing how to decorate a kitchen. I have blue and white dishes, and a red kitchen aid and can opener (as seen in the pictures above) so I was kind of thinking about doing a country style red, white and blue, americana type kitchen, but with dark muted colors, nothing really bright. Does that make any sense? I can see it in my head and it makes sense, so someday I might give it a try.

Visitors

Parker and I had a couple visitors this past week. First of all, Parker's cousin, Warren, stayed a night at our place while he was passing through Utah. I've never met him before so it was great to talk to him and learn more about him.

This last weekend we were privilaged to have Grandma Hilton stay with us. She's great, and we had a great time with her here. We stayed busy with her going to see The Blind Side (which she really liked) watching the BYU basketball game, and enjoying delicious food prepared by Parker's cousin. It was a wonderful weekend, and we look forward to other visitors in the future!

He's Crazy!

As many of you know, March Madness has begun. Parker has been watching the games any chance he gets. This is what he was doing yesterday (note the the screen on his laptop).



All of Parker's picks won yesterday, yay!

Just As Promised

I try to be honest and keep my promises... so here it is, our new dining set! Please excuse the plasic on two of the cusions, 4 washers disappeared so we (Parker) couldn't finish the assembly until we made a stop at home depot the next day. Also, there's a leaf that goes in the middle that makes the table square, we just don't have it in, so you'll have to use your imagination.

He Knows What He Wants

Parker does this thing where if a holiday or event is coming up he uses it as an excuse to buy whatever he wants, then tells me "It's for my ___________ ( fill in the blank with birthday, christmas, anniversary, or valentines day etc. )". Well, that makes it hard for me in that I feel guilty not getting him ANYTHING for these special occasions, but at the same time he's already spent twice as much as I was planning on. I'm working on getting him to understand that the gifts for these occasions are supposed to be just that... GIFTS, not excuses to buy yourself stuff. :) We had a little set back in this lesson yesterday...

Here's the story. I was in class while Parker went to nearby Blockbuster's closing sale with a friend. Later that day as we were driving home Parker told me about going to it and seeing so many great deals on blu rays. I just asked what some of the movies were that he got and such and he claimed he couldn't remember... essentially I didn't think it was a big deal because he couldn't even remember one movie title, so I think that was the end of that conversation. Later that evening here's how it went:

Scene: Parker and Maren are preparing for dinner, watching a little tv or something like that when Maren notices the box sitting by the TV.

Maren: Hold on, are these the movies you got today?

Parker: Yeah, there were so many great deals, people were going crazy!

Maren: So how much did they cost?

Parker: Well, retail these movies would add up to at least $1000 dollars.

Maren: Uh, you didn't answer my question, how much did they cost?

Parker: (Smiling a sort of "I hope you're not mad" smile) Um, around $300.

Maren: Well, Happy Birthday.

I just had to laugh about it. I just thought it was funny that he tried to sort of get around my question by pointing out that he got everything on sale. Later that evening he told me that he and his friend had practiced how he was going to tell me. I just laughed again. I'll just have to figure out what tiny little thing to get him now. Any suggestions? Any good deals at the dollar store lately?

Here they are, Parker's 25 presents he gave himself...

Good News and Bad News

The Good News: The furniture store will replace our table, no problem, and they were very nice about it. They even said we could use the table until the new one they ordered comes in. :)

The Bad News: A diamond fell out of my ring again!! :( It's the very same diamond that was replaced just two or three weeks ago. I don't know what I'm doing that makes it weak right in that spot, and I don't know if it's even my fault... either way, I'm ringless again for at least a week while it gets fixed... again.

Bad Luck

Parker and I seem to have bad luck with the furniture we buy! First, we got 2 of the same piece of our sectional, and now we've got dining table issues! We bought a dining set a couple weeks ago for an awesome price and we were so excited to get them. They finally arrived last night, Parker attached the legs to the table top, we flipped it over, and there was a weird bumpy/warped/cracked spot. I've never really seen anything like it before, but I really didn't want to be seeing it on our new table! We had to email pictures to the store to see what they plan to do about it. It's just a hassle I would prefer to not have to deal with. But, I should be thankful. At least I have a beautiful new dining set! Pictures of it will come soon! I promise.

Happy Birthday!

This past weekend was my brother and mom's birthday. They are such wonderful people who I love! They've been on my mind because of their b-days, and I just love remeniscing about the good old days. I remembered when my brother and I had to break into the house through the window when we were locked out... and when he left on his mission early in the morning on October 5th and I went right home and started writing him a letter before I got ready for school, and when he (for some reason I can't remember) started calling me Baboon (I wonder if he even remembers that). Of course, we had plenty of fights, but I don't remember those as well... :) My mommy is definately one of my best friends. I loved to go grocery shopping with her and chat on the phone with her and just hang out with her. I hope I can as wonderful as she is someday. :) I sure love you Mom and Adam!

One day (more like week, or month) At A Time

Well, you're in luck because I'm taking a break from preparing for my class presentation tomorrow and posting this instead! I've decided it's time for a picture on this blog, it's been a while, and what better to see than my brand spankin' new-to-me house! I don't want to put up pictures of all the rooms, because most of them still need work, but I think I can commit to showing one picture a week, or month... depending on how soon I get organized and decorated. We're going to start with the guest bathroom... here it is for your viewing pleasure!