All About Parker

1. What is his name? Parker William Lyons

2. Who eats more? Parker eats enough for two people, and then some.

3. Who said I love you first? I did.....but I know he was thinking about it when I did, because he said it right back with tear-filled eyes.

4. Who is taller? Parker's 6'2.....I am not.

5. Who is smarter? Well it depends. I think Parker is more street-smart and he has mor logic.....however I am WAY more book-smart.

6. Who is more sensitive? I honestly think he is, but it's probably me. I think he's more sensitive than he's willing to admit though.

7. Who does the laundry? Me, unless I ask Parker to.

8. Who pays the bills? We both do actually. I write the checks, and he does the online stuff. We figured out early in our marriage that we both have to manage the money or we get into trouble.

9. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Right now it's me, but it depends on which room we are in. When we lived in Pocatello, I slept on the left. We both really don't care.

10. Who cooks more? Me

11. What meals do you cook together? Anything that needs barbequed. Or....cold cereal. We both do that all the time.

12. Who is more stubborn? PARKER. I am the least stubborn person in the world I think. He takes the cake by far. One of these days he'll figure out that I am so un-stubborn he really doesn't need to be stubborn either.

13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? Me....all the way. I'll admit I'm wrong even if I'm not...just to end the argument. I am also first to say sorry, and first to apologize. Someday he'll also learn that you don't need to hold grudges with me, cuz I'm all about getting over it.

14. Who has more siblings? Same. Both families have two boys and three girls. Just in different order.

15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Um.....I think we share. However, I do give him ultimate decision power cuz he's the dad and therefore the patriarch, and therefore the ultimate boss. What is it they say on "My big fat greek wedding"......The man may be the head of the family but the woman is the neck. :)

16. What do you like to do together? Biking, watching movies, playing with Caleb, swimming, boating, working......I don't particularly like hunting with Parker, but anything else I'm good.

17. Who eats more sweets? Parker totally. I'm surprised he doesn't have a mouth full of cavities.

18. Guilty pleasures? Parker....any sport......mostly golf. Me.....white chocolate mmmm!

19. How did you meet? Institute dance in Pocatello......one month into my freshman year of college.

20. Who proposed? Parker.....under the tree where he TRIED to have our first kiss, and I'd shut him down. It was kinda "our tree". It's this place between our houses we always used to walk when we were dating.

21. His best physical feature? His chest......a perfect head-rest.

22. His greatest quality? He's so committed to his family and his marriage. Half the time we fight it's about that I'm not doing enough with him......he just wants to be with me and Caleb. He really is easy to please.

23. Tag? YOU'RE IT.

My Husband: The Builder

Well, to earn our keep here at the Harris Boarding house, Parker has been fixing the roof. It's a serious job that shoulda been done when my folks bought the place and kept getting put on the back burner. When the addition was put on the house, the guys that connected it did a brainless job. Needless to say it needs corrected. So Parker's been up on the roof every day for the past two weeks. He's such a good worker. I feel so bad because it's sweltering hot outside, and it's even hotter on the roof. There's no shade up there. Anyway here's some pictures of my hubby's hard work. I guess I should include that my dad has been working on it too. He gets up there every day when he gets home from work and of course every weekend. But Parker's up there in the heat. I really am proud of him.

This is Caleb. I came up to bring Parker some water, and so I had to leave Caleb on the ground for a couple minutes. Of course he tried to follow me up the ladder. He nearly got half way up!! That crazy kid would've followed me to the top if I hadn't stopped him.

And of course, so cute.....today Chase called my dad at work and asked him if he could come over after work today. So, even though my dad had work to do on the roof, the kid melted his heart and he decided that Chase could come over after work. Since dad had work to do, he just brought the boy up there with him. Cuz lets face it.....playing with toys is not NEAR as fun as working with Grandpa. A day with Grandpa is always an adventure! You may spend time on the tractor, or the lawn-mower. Or playing in the dirt out in the garden. Or picking raspberries and strawberries. Or CLIMBING ON THE ROOF!! What're the odds?!! No wonder Grandpa is the favorite, he just takes you along for the fun! He is such a great grandfather. You know what though? (He may not agree.....but he was an even better dad). Love you Parker! Love you Dad!

Camping- Sagehen

Here's Parker and Caleb in our little raft we got this week. They floated out there and went fishing. Parker has always wanted to take Caleb fishing. They actually caught one too! Caleb got to reel it in and everything, however it flipped off just as they got it to the shore. I'm sure Parker and Caleb will have MANY more moments like these though. I'm glad they had so much fun. Caleb was content to sit out there for nearly a half an hour. Isn't he a cutie?!

I'll just make the disclaimer right now:......I hate my camera. Yes, it's the dinosaur. We bought it just before we got married so we'd be able to take pictures and videos on our honeymoon. It served its purpose, and it's had a good life and after only four years it's time to send it to the retirement home, or an antique shop....whichever you prefer. All the pictures are tinted blue, and there's blurry smudges down the center of EVERY picture. Now the smudge MIGHT just be due to a dirty lens or something......however the blue tint is unforgiveable. I think it's getting worse too.....these pictures don't do ANY justice to the beauty of the lake that we went to this weekend. So I am just announcing for all to hear, that my camera is RETIRED. I will not use it any more! I'll borrow someone else's until we can afford to buy a new one. So, here's the pitiful attempt of some pictures from out camping trip to sagehen reservoir this weekend. Our family went as well as both of my sisters and their families. It was a short trip, but lots of fun.

Some pictures of Dejah and Tyler. The kids all got pretty wet, except Caleb cuz he was in the raft the entire time. They all had these little fishing poles with a plastic weight on the end too. What a genius idea! We'll have to get Caleb one as well.

Aren't the kids so cute?!! Thoe one of me by the lake is SOOOO pathetic. I don't think you can even see my face, but the trees were green, not blue, and the lake was beautiful. Parker is already planning his next trip back here. He absalutely loved it. I just had to keep reminding him that he just loves the mountains period, and he'd love where we were no matter what. Maybe I'll take him on a hike to boulder lake when we get the chance.

Isn't this so cute? Caleb's mouth is stained several colors from eating too many m&m's. He actually had quite a but of fun too.

We called Tyler the "grease monkey" because he was always sitting anywhere there was dirt, or grease, or both. Playing in it....eating it.....whatever. He did pretty well too. All five of the kids slept through the night!! That's amazing, considering all three tents were within one foot apart from eachother. the campsite was TIGHT QUARTERS....but it worked.

Caleb and his cousins....they were all so good on this trip. We hardly even had to keep track of them. They just played together. And below....cute little Mycah. Melissa and I both agree that this little girl just makes you want a baby girl yourself. Don't worry Mel.....we'll get our chance!

At the end of the trip, Tory and Parker decided to ride their bikes down the mountain...I think it was around nine miles or something. Melissa and I followed behind them in the cars, just to make sure they were safe....and cuz we'd hate for them to eat our dust. Parker LOVED that. I seriously have found the way to please my husband. He just has to go camping every few weeks or something. The entire time he was up there he just kept saying, "Man, I love camping!...." and he was always mentioning how pretty it was up there (which it was....I know it's hard to believe from the pictures but it's true). Special thanks to my sisters for dropping everything in such short notice to come camping with us. It was fun. Also about this song....it's from High School. Daniel and Camille if you read this, this song came to me AFTER I had created the post and I thought it was perfect. Daniel, I think you sang it better though....that happens when you hear your version before the real one though. I forgot how much I love this song! Miss you guys! To those of you who haven't heard it before.....listen to the lyrics.....they'll make you laugh.

Taking Charge of Tetanus

Okay so the funniest thing happened yesterday. Parker and I went with Anna and Alex to float this river in Kuna (which, by the way, was -I think- WAY better than the Boise river) and so we got this raft, and a couple of squirtguns and then we went down this river. There was a good amount of rapids, and this one part has this little waterfall, and if you don't hit it just right, the under-current will make you get stuck at the bottom of the waterfall. Anna told us we wouldn't get stuck because we were in a raft instead of a tube....however Alex was in front of us in a tube, and HE got stuck at the bottom of the waterfall. So when we came in behind him we hit him dead-on and we got stuck too. We couldn't even get out till their friend jumped out and pulled us out. It was kinda scary, but mostly I just laughed and screamed the entire time. It was so much fun. When it was over, Anna had to get her babysitter home cuz we were fifteen minutes later than we'd said we'd be...so Anna and I ran back to the house. And at one point, we have to go over a wire fence, and there was this wire sticking straight up and I TOTALLY didn't see it. I scratched my thigh above the knee, and then when I felt the scratch, I bent my knee in reaction and then the wire scratched above my ankle too. I didn't think much of it, but when we got back to the house, they were both bleeding a bit. So when I showed Alex, he asked me when the last time was I had a tetanus shot. I couldn't remember. Turns out it's been eleven years. So today I went to the health department and got myself a tetanus shot. OUCH! I'll take a shot in the mouth ANY DAY over one of those. (I know...only a dental hygienist would say something like that). So at the bottom of this post is some pictures of my scratches, and my pink band-aid. Okay, so to get to the point. When we got home, I was putting Caleb in his pajamas, and David walked by and said, "Caleb, are you taking a bath?" I said "No, we're just putting on his jammies." However, not the idea was now in his head. Once his clothes were on, he ran into the bathroom and I went into the kitchen. Ten minutes later, I realized I hadn't heard Caleb make a sound for a while, and so I went to find him. I went into the bathroom and found him, fully clothed, in the bathtub. Which (not to my knowledge) was full of water. I said "Caleb! what are you doing?" and he says, "BATH!!" I just started laughing. What a funny kid. He never fails to surprise us.

These pictures with the ice cream are from my dad's birthday party, which was celebrated on Sunday, but actually happened yesterday. Caleb had his first ice cream cone and of course he made a mess with it. Happy birthday Dad!

One last thing. I was thinking of this as I was sitting in the car today. I LOVE TO LISTEN TO MUSIC......LOUD. There are a lota songs on the radio right now that I really like (I have recently taken a break from my five years of listening to country. It's not that I don't like country music anymore, I'm just NEVER in the mood to listen to it anymore! Anyway, The opening song for this post is one of the songs that I was jammin' out to in my car today. I am totally one of those people who sit in the car and just sings and dances as big and loud as I can....and all the other people at the intersection just stare and laugh. I don't care. I've decided that there was a reason why I went to stake dances so much when I was in High School. Sure, to meet the boys, but honestly I just love to dance to the music....and I like it LOUD. I've decided I need to go out and dance more. The last dance I went to was new years eve 3 years ago. How sad is that?! Maybe I'll throw a party sometime....when I get my own pad or something. Ok. There's my story. Turn up the music! It's GREAT!

Independence Day, Settler's Park, and WREB!

Allright- so the Lord is TRULY a God of miracles, because today I got my WREB results and it really was a miracle because you have to get a 75% to pass and I got a 76.5% I am actually quite emberassed about this score, but at least I don't have to fork out another 800 dollars and take it again in Washington or something like that...and find another patient! WHOO would that be a nightmare. I'm actually kinda emberassed that my classmates will hear about this score too, but I share it because I am truly shocked that I deserved such a miracle, and I guess I wanna share. The important thing is I get to start EARNING money instead of giving it away. And oh what a relief it is! I PASSED THE WREB EXAM!! On a lighter note....I also got my score for the restorative exam...and I am VERY proud to announce that I got a 91.72!! Honestly I wasn't too worried about passing that one....I've always liked restorative....especially on plastic teeth! :) Anyway, now I'm just waiting on the state board to send me that darn jurisprudence exam. I mailed my application almost two weeks ago, but they still haven't sent it to me. DON'T THEY KNOW I WANT A JOB?!! Goodness. What a day! It is seriously nothing short of a miracle. I probably got the worst score in the class....but at least it was a passing one. Here's my success cards: the top one is the dental hygiene examination, and the one below it is the restorative. I already knew I passed the anasthesia (although that was more of a challenge than I bargained for too)! At least the hard part is OVER. Thank you ISU for preparing me.....even if I did put a shame to the department with my pathetic score. I'm not complaining...I just know I should have done better.

Okay so these are pictures from Settler's park today. I sware it's the coolest park I've ever seen. They have these xylophone things all over the place, and the ground is like this spongy mat that makes you bounce when you walk. And all the staircases are safe for little children like Caleb to climb. He really enjoyed it.

Ca
Caleb is kinda a turkey-bird when it comes to slides. I don't know what it is....when we lived in Pocatello, he would go down any slide he was put on....no questions asked. He loved it. But since we've moved to Boise, he's suddenly a chicken, and he has to hold onto the sides the entire way down. Even on the slides for the rainbow play-set at my mom's house (or my house...whichever is the right way to describe it....both probably). But he's getting better.

This is Caleb being a little cheese-ball. He's actually saying "CHEESE!!" For this picture. Like his fuzz-ball haircut? I did that last week....pretty much a hack-job...but it's either that or he looks like a little scrub....and then I have nothing but to be emberassed when we go to church each week. Now he looks like he's ready to join the army....and it's cute most of the time. Except when he just wakes up. I sware his hair is OUT OF CONTROL!

Caleb loves his daddy. The truck is in the back yard because Parker is in the process of fixing my mom and dad's roof. WHAT A JOB! The truck bed is full of shingles. They have also entrusted us to paint the entire house! I picked the colors, and as soon as the roof's done the house is finally gonna be all the same color! YAY! Yes they could make a decision....it just took nine years. The house is gonna look BEAUTIFUL when it's done.

Okay, I know it's late, but the next pictures are from our adventures of the 4th. We woke up early that morning and hit the lake for some water skiing and wake-boarding. I was an idiot and didn't float my ski enough so it took me about five tries before I got up (as opposed to my first try when I went last week). As a result I AM SORE!! But it'll just make me stronger for when I go the next time. I wish I would have brought the camera...but alas I forgot it AGAIN! Which is truly a shame cuz I think I was cutting up that lake pretty good too. And It usually takes me a couple of runs before I start cutting. It's like I forget how every year and I have to re-learn all over agian. But boy it's fun! My favorite sport by far, and it's the ONE sport that I'm better than Parker at. And I will ALWAYS hold that against him. It's my pride really....I can water ski, and he can't. Ha ha. Okay, after the lake we went to my aunt's house and went swimming in her pool. Caleb did so good! I'm sure it's cuz the water was the perfect temperature. He was only scared at the beginning, and he even let us put him in that float-tube so we didn't have to hold him the entire time. We had so much fun. And Caleb did too.

My handsome husband, showing off his beautiful farmer's tan for the camera. And his lovely facial expressions. I won't dis him too bad...I've got a farmer's tan too. Thanks to the lake that morning. I wore the t-shirt to protect me, and instead it made me look rediculous. I'll even it out...it'll just take the ENTIRE summer, and then nobody will care cuz summer will be over.

Caleb loves to say "Cheese!" In the background is my cousin, Nathan and his wife, Megan, and their daughter, Kaleigh. She never did get used to the water. She cried every second she was in it. But she'll get better. She sure is a cutie. She's only two weeks younger than Caleb. And she's like half his size....not really but pretty close. Caleb's a tank and she's a fairy. Both VERY cute.

And again, Parker enjoying his time in the pool. I have NEVER met anyone who likes to swim as much as Parker. He is always the first in the pool, and the last out. He's worse than the kids. But that's okay....he keeps me young.

Sorry the post is so long, but hey, I had a lot to say!! I hope everyone else in DH did well on their boards. I know Ben did, otherwise he would have told me his score. He was just trying not to emberass me cuz he did so much better. We had the same patient you know. Yeah, I know he did well....Mr. ISU student of the year. Congratulations!

Chalk Art

So I just got e-mailed the lovely chalk artwork from the reunion that Ashley and I did. So Here it is for all to see! Ok for some reason...it'll only download this one size...and it looks pretty dumb when it's all small and stuff. It says, "Caryl & Anna Harris Reunion 2008" And there's aflower on the left, and a fire on the bottom left, and a mountain sunset on the upper left corner. Then on the right is a sun. I promise it looked so cool. Oh well.

Harris Family Reunion POST #2

Allright! So it took me FOREVER to download these videos because Ashley's camera is a genius and my parent's computer, though nice and can hold its own, is not the genius that that camera is, and so the videos weren't compatable. Plus they take FOREVER to download because they're kinda long. But luckily my laptop is not even a year old, and so I just had to take the time to pull it outa the case and then wait for EVER for these silly videos to upload. So here they are, the Harris family reunion post #2 all-inclusive with videos. And the lovely picture is me and Caleb and my little nephew Tyler. They weren't too fond of getting wet, so they sat on my lap and ate popsicles.




Ok so I have to say a little tid-bit about this video because Caleb was walking around the driveway with all the other kids, and he saw these little red heels sitting there. He instantly sat down on the ground, and took off his sandals so he could put those things on and walk around in him. Parker's concinved the kid has issues, but I know better. Two year olds just wanna be big kids, and be independent. So putting on shoes is one of the first things that kids can do by themselves, and the fact that Caleb always happens to choose to put on Women's shoes is simply because they are so much more attractive! If you're given a bright color, vs a dull and boring color I guarantee a two-year-old will pick the bright one. So it goes with shoes. They're just more fun! And it has nothing to do with masculinism or feminism....it's just my little boy trying to do something by himself. And it was HILARIOUS. He wasn't the only child to try those shoes on that day either. So we know it's not just Caleb being weird.

During the volleyball game, it's hard to keep the kids from running into the middle of it and getting trampled. So my father, being the wonderful man that he is, hooked up that little trailer to the lawn-mower and took all the children for a ride. Caleb, as well as Kaleigh, and a few others rode nearly THE ENTIRE TIME! It was fun for the kids, and it kept them outa the way. Overall...the reunion was a success! Lots of fun! Happy 4th of july this weekend everyone. you can be looking forward to whatever we post about THAT this weekend.