Park Family Reunion

Last weekend was our Park family reunion. Grandma paid for the gas, so we went. The main activity was rocket launching.

Melanie and Andrew working on their rockets.

Leslie and her rocket.

Matt and his rocket.

Me and my rocket.
Matt sitting with Grandma. Matt is also holding the hyperactive puppy, Robeir.
Mom and Barbara getting the treats all ready.
Dad.
Me launching my rocket.
Random children that I don't know getting candy that was shot from the rocket launcher. It's better than a pinata!
Andrew's final attempt to make a rocket that works. I think that he thought WAY too hard about making a rocket. Three year olds were launching far superior rockets than he was.
Andrew's "two stage". Whatever. It exploded on the launcher. Sometimes I worry about this aerospace engineer.

Matt sticking his head in the ice.

Happy bingo players, except Andrew has a funny and weird face.

Andrew won the first bingo of the game which is awesome cuz we got the prize we really wanted to get! Season 2 of The Office! It is missing disk 3, but we know enough people to get it in a perfectly legal way, of course.

Daniel won a clock that gives bird calls on the hour. It used to be Grandma and Grandpa Pitt's, but it must have driven them crazy. The prizes for bingo were better than white elephants but worse than going to the store.

My parents were intently playing bingo. Practicing for when they are really old and that is all they do all evening with other really old people. ;)

Dad's bingo prize - a baby play mat. He gave it to Andrew and I, since we need it so desperately.
Melanie's gross prize. "FOR MINE AND ROSS'S APARTMENT!" Gag me.

Pretty mountains up Provo Canyon. That is where the Reunion was.

We had a really fun time making rockets and meeting people that we don't really know. I'm glad that we could spend more time with our families because we actually do like them.

I Shouldn't Be Blogging...

I really shouldn't be blogging, but I want to, and I don't want to do my homework. I have to write a paper about this book:It is about labor in California, detailing the Mission period, the Rancho period, and the Americano period (cession-era).

And I have to revise/make awesome a paper about this book:
It is about white photographers and how they photographed Chinatown in the late 19th and early 20th century. It also talks a little bit about how the Chinatownspeople portrayed themselves through art.This painting is by a Chinatown artist named Yun Gee. I like his art, so I thought I'd share it with you. The book had a few color pictures and Gee's were featured there.

The book also talked about the Forbidden City, a nightclub in San Francisco.

What the book talks about is how the expectation that whites held for the Chinese gave Chinese performers opportunities to play up their race, or pretend to be white entertainers (Frank Sinatra, Fred Estaire, etc). So you have this exotic Oriental nightclub that makes for an exciting chapter in a book.

The worst part about the paper is that it is a book review. For some reason, that sounds harder than a plain old paper. Now that I have blogged about it, my critical juices are almost flowing, so now I shall work on my papers.

Why do I want to graduate school? That means a ton of reading and a whole lot of writing. I am just a nerd and I actually really do like doing this sort of stuff.

Apparently, I'm having a baby...

And it is all thanks to my wonderful brother-in-law, Wesley. Well, I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure. (Oh! That sounds so NAUGHTY!!) I got a few emails today. One of them said:

Hello bredsarah, I'd like to personally welcome you to BabyCenter! We're delighted you've decided to become a part of our active and ever-growing community of millions of moms and moms-to-be. (And dads, too!) You can start your BabyCenter journey immediately by downloading your Weekly Planner. To create or update your password and personalize the site for you, click here. As a BabyCenter member, you now have full access to everything our site has to offer, including thousands of informative articles. Plus you can connect with other parents in our Community, and get great deals from our family-friendly partners. Here are a few suggestions for great things to check out at BabyCenter: on our site Track your pregnancy with our interactive calendar. Search for the perfect baby name with our Baby Name Finder. Enjoy free weekly e-mail newsletters that detail your baby's development. in our community Connect with other parents to swap parenting advice. Create your own journal to share your parenting stories. Post and share your favorite photos. Thanks so much for joining BabyCenter. We're so glad you're here! Sincerely, Tina Sharkey Chairman, BabyCenter, LLC

And another one said:

Welcome!

Thank you for registering with Diapers.com. You're all set to enjoy fast, free shipping on all your baby essentials. We've got the best deal on everything, from maternity and car seats to baby food and, of course, diapers!

And the next one gave me a link: http://www.thebabycorner.com/?iid=2472

And the email that I opened up first was this one:

Your pregnancy: 16 weeks

See the big picture

How your baby's growing:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

See what your baby looks like this week. (Or see what fraternal twins look like in the womb this week.)

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

How your life's changing:

The top of your uterus is about halfway between your pubic bone and your navel, and the round ligaments that support it are thickening and stretching as it grows. You're probably feeling a whole lot better as you settle into pregnancy, too. Less nausea, fewer mood swings, and "glowing" skin contribute to an overall sense of well-being.

Soon you'll experience one of the most wonderful moments of pregnancy — feeling your baby move. While some women notice "quickening" as early as 16 weeks, many don't feel their baby move until about 18 weeks or more. (And if this is your first baby, don't be too impatient — you may not be aware of your baby's movements until 20 weeks or so.) The earliest movements may feel like little flutters, gas bubbles, or even like popcorn popping. Over the following weeks they'll grow stronger and you'll be able to feel them much more frequently.
Ha ha Wesley. You are a very funny man. I'm glad that your professors are keeping you so busy that you have the time to sign me up for all sorts of baby websites. Actually, I laughed pretty hard about this joke.

Now why is Wesley playing this joke on me? I started it. He asked me to order his textbooks for him. So I did. And I had them shipped to Wesleigh Norma, as if he were a lovely young lady. :D And I also sent a steamy romance novel, The Guardian's Secret Mistress, to him/her.

All right, so maybe it isn't Wesley, and it is really my mom-in-law in league with my mom cuz they want grandkids.

GET ON IT WES!

The Master Arteest of Reading

I WON! I WON! Ever since I saw the poster about this reading contest, I wanted to win the bag. I made Andrew dutifully fill out reading slips and made him swear that if he won, he would give the bag to me. I don't know why I wanted the bag so much. But it came in the mail and I had a freak out fest of uber excitement that involved much shouting and dancing. It was awesome. Here follows the letter:

Dear Sarah P:
Congratulations!! You have won a prize in the Logan Library's summer reading program for adults. The prize this year is an attractive book bag with the Mona Lisa on the front. Please bring this letter with you to the library to pick up your prize. Thanks for participating!

Sincerely yous,
The Librarians
Here is a close up of the bag. See the Mona Lisa reading a book. She is so well read.


Me looking attractive with my attractive book bag with the Mona Lisa on the front. Andrew was taking the picture and he kept rolling his eyes. I think he thinks I'm a dork.


Reading is full of surprises! One of the surprises is winning things you didn't think that you would win, such as attractive book bags with the Mona Lisa on the front. Other surprises include the interesting stories you read. Sometimes there are bugs crawling on your books, which are also surprises. See how surprised I look? That isn't from a bug in a book.

And what's with the misspelling of my last name? I thought my 'F' was really distinguishable from a 'P', but I guess not.

This Day in The Present

Today is Saturday and also the last one before school starts. And many exciting and random things have happened today. Therefore, I shall blog about it.

We had two new couples move into apartments in our stairwell. That is cool and means new friends. Especially cuz neither couple has kids, therefore we can easily identify with them. It is weird when you are chatting along, and the lady says, "Oh, well, I have to go. Junior did a huge one!" Nasty. So. New friends here in our stairwell. We made snickerdoodles and took them to our new neighbors. The guy who lives right over us opened his door and Andrew and I both thought we knew him from somewhere. We asked and asked, but we couldn't figure it out. Later and when we were away from him, we realized that he was our class president from our Preparing for Eternal Marriage class from last semester! It was exciting. Well, he got married so the class worked. Our other neighbors, Dave and Emily, are cool. Emily is way crazy and hyper. I like her.

A few weeks ago, I made some cookies. Melanie wouldn't come play games with us unless we had cookies. She came and siad, "What kind of cookies are those?!?!" I said, "Applesauce." She said, "Gross," and informed us that Applesauce Cookies hardly count as real cookies. Anyway... We went to Lake Powell and then bummed around in Kaysville and Salt Lake for a while. Then we returned to Logan and the cookies were rock-like. Very tooth breaking. Even when you had soaked them in milk. So, this afternoon we decided to go feed the ducks at First Dam and boy were they happy to have such yummy cookies! The fish liked the sinking crumbs, too. The cookies were a little hard to break, but we did it. We saw some really big fish, and Andrew wished we could go fishing. HOWEVER, that would be called chumming which is ILLEGAL except at Lake Powell.

Speaking of fish, (this story happened a few days ago)... We were fishing and used shiny lures. They were pretty. I liked reeling in my line because then I could see the shiny thing in the sunshine. It was so lovely. If I were a fish, I would bite one of those. And one did! Andrew caught a fish, and it was the first fish I had ever seen him catch. How exciting.

Another adventure from today features Butch: a very cute, pit-bull/lab mix who belongs to my friend Tasha (aka Tash-slice or Tashy). He is black, muscular, and has a pit bull face. I took Butch on a walk and his sniffer was sniffing something very fragrant and I couldn't pull him away to finish our walk. Then, later, we pulled up and I saw him sticking his little pit-bull head through the curtains so he could look outside. He is a silly dog. Speaking of Butch, I better go let him out for his last pee of the night soon.

Andrew and I are now watching Hawaii Five-O. It makes me want to sing: "Du du du du du duuuuuuuuuu, du du du du duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." and so on. Andrew and I both danced around when the theme song was going on. Some scumbag man just poisoned his wife, put her in a barrel, and pushed her off his yacht. I hope that McGarret can solve this mystery! Perhaps I will learn how to hula. Andrew gave me a grass skirt and coconut shells when we got engaged, right after he got back from Hawaii. Visit youtube and watch the theme song and sing along with it. I guarantee it will get stuck in your head. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AepyGm9Me6w

Now he is doing the dishes. He is amazing. That is all. School starts on Monday. Woot woot. That is all for real.

Crash Course in Potty Training

Today, Andrew and I are babysitting Lucy. She is in the middle of potty training. I like Lucy, and she is cute. But bathing her, and potty training her, and doing her hair, and getting her dressed (all done while she is screaming, squealing, crying, or her saying, "Don't do this to me...") makes me never want children. Potty training is especially ridiculous. That is why I am having a crash course in it. If she pees or poops in the potty, she gets an Oreo. I wish I had an Oreo for every time I went in the potty. I wish I had an Oreo for every time Lucy peed/pooped in her Pull-Up. Maybe it is a good thing that I don't or I would be way fat. Her princess Pull-Ups are magical. If the Pull-Up gets wet, these cute purple hearts on the front disappear. It makes checking for accidents very easy. Each time she does it, I plop her on the toilet (sometimes she is screaming and if she does happen to pee in the potty, I know I would get peed on. Or the ceiling would. That would be a mess. I always try to have a little pact with her that when she feels like she has to pee, she needs to tell me. It hasn't worked yet.

Andrew just sits there and laughs at my struggles. Then, after I get her a fresh Pull-Up and clothes on again, Andrew comes in and tickles her. She loves Andrew. And glares at me.

Then, she looks so darn cute and happy when I'm not asking her if she needs to sit on the potty, that it makes me like children and especially Lucy again. It is a problem. Or not. Cuz it is good to like cute little girls.

My Mom says I am being very patient. That is good cuz I'm not super patient. Another bright side to this potty training fest is that I have figured out which side of the Pull-Up is the front.

Why Blog?

Why do I blog? I just enjoy it. I like writing. Did you know that I have written in my journal every single night since January 1, 2001? I have a lot of journals.

However. I have very little of consequence to blog about. Then, only Melanie comments on my blog. I love my sister, but her comments usually consist of: "Sarah, you idiot. Your blog was funny." So I guess my blog is only good for humor.

Some people have deep and philosophical blogs. Some people have informative blogs. Some people have funny blogs that are also good for updates. Some people use their blogs as more of a forum to talk about ideas and such. Some people use their blogs more like Twitter and update it every single day to tell me silly things. Some people use their blogs like photo albums. It is interesting to see how people use their blogs differently.

I blog about once a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But that is the average.

What is the point of my blog? I think I do a little of the photo album/weekly humor column approach. I can't remember why I got a blog, and I have been blogging for about a year. I remember! I was bored at KSL and I decided to try a blog. Oh the pleasures of having an idle job.

Anyway... The point of my blog: Mostly, I just write about things that happen to me and things that I am thinking about. I like to talk about things I'm working on, things that Andrew and I did, and so on. I don't think it is a stellar and way unique blog, but it is mine and I am proud of it.

By the way, I am tired of studying for the GRE. I keep taking practice tests and I keep doing worse. I think that this could be a sign to stop taking practice tests and just focus on vocabulary and trying to think mathematically again. Well, we are going to Lake Powell, so I'll have some time to chill and prep myself. I am going to learn how to SLALOM! That won't help me get into graduate school. Maybe it will cuz I won't go insane!

Have fun reading my blog, and have a lovely August afternoon. Which reminds me, everytime I write "August" I think of Augustus Caesar. Here is my first and perhaps only plug for Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra is so steamy and way funny. If I could act, I would want to be Cleopatra. This relates to Augustus because he was called Octavian before defeating Antony and becoming the First Citizen. He is in that play as a foil to Antony - he is more logical and younger. Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy, but I found it humurous. I guess that just goes to show that the interpretation of Shakespeare is up to the reader.

PS: I don't like Shakespeare. He is hard.