Lips

Julia Roberts lips run in the family.

Flying Taylor Bob

Well Look Who Has the Christmas Spirit

A few dead things we all need to see

Just a little moose, no big deal really. (Pardon the pun)
A little bit of the usual......a 15x12 tangled up with a perfect mainframe 4x4 with rear kickers. No big deal.

Per your request...

And here's one of my recent favorite pics...

Just for the record, I am proud of the men in our family being great providers and exquisite examples of all that is man... but we can only handle so many pictures of dead things.

Mighty Hunter

This goes against my better judgement to encourage another hunting story and accompanying photos of dead animals on our family blog, HOWEVER, Danny went hunting this weekend, and just a few minutes into his hunt, he got a big buck. And right after he shot the deer we called him on his cell phone to let him know he needed to come back to the house because Taylor was sick and we needed to take him to the doctor ASAP. So he sent his dad down to the hunting spot to take care of the deer while we rushed Tay Tay to the doctor (that seems to be the way to hunt - have someone clean up after you!). I don't know a lot about hunting and dead animals, but it seems to me that maybe the horns on Danny's dear have more little pointies that the one on Jims? Does that mean anything?

Now that we've posted pictures from hunts, can someone please for the love of all post some cute kiddie pictures? A nice picture of Grace A, perhaps? Hint, hint...

just to encourage all you avid hunters in the family, (yes christy, i mean you) if you just keep on trying then you too can have a bloody deer on your front porch! All you need is a good ol fashioned "never give up" attitude and some sticktoitofness.
Not to be beaten by the bucks I saw on my last adventure, i returned to the very same mountain with another friend to attempt once again to provide much meat for the family. My friend has not yet killed a sitka blacktail buck in Alaska so I tried my best to let him lead the way and I tried to put him in the best spots.
Anyway, as all good stories start....we sat down in a muskeg and began to blow the deer call. A light snow was blowing in our faces which meant that the bucks in front of us wouldn't smell us. We were doing everything right but nothing was happening. I was perhaps getting a wee-bit discouraged after about 15 minutes of nothing but snow when off to our left and behind us we heard something crunching in the bushes. Try as we might we couldn't see anything, so I sent Brian down that way hoping that he would be able to see a buck trying to sneak into our location.
Now, although Brian claims I did it on purpose, what happened next was pure chance and nothing more. As brian walked away to try to locate the source of the noise behind us, suddenly directly in front of where Brian had been sitting not 60 seconds before, stepped out a nice buck. I looked for Brian but he as already too far gone to even see it so I did what had to be done and shot it.

Now the funny part of this story is that Brian later confessed that as he walked away from me he had the funny thought in his head, "what if Jim shot me in the back and left me up here?" As this thought was going through his mind and he was rationalizing it away because of how nice I am......BOOM! I shot and he very nearly jumped out of his britches.
Well, it was just fate and I had no idea that by sending Brian away I would get his buck....but thats how funny stories go.
p.s. Grace was soooooooo excited that "daddy shot a huge buck and its on our porch!!!!!" She was ecstatic.

The Johnson's Do Texas

Stumped and Duped by the blacktail bucks

Today as a addendum to a very successful deer hunting season I thought it wise to take a friend from church (a coast guardsmen from florida who has never shot a living creature) on an alaskan deer hunt.
The day started well with a early morning break in the rain and a pleasant, yet difficult climb up a very steep hill. After several hours of hiking my friend finally came out with the proverbial question, "so have you killed anything this year?" The insinuation of course was that my guiding skills were lacking and that there was some uncertainty about my ability to navigate and guide a non-resident to a Sitka Blacktail Buck (which of course if he had read our family blog, he would know that i successfully assisted cousin George already this year).
Anyway, after calmly telling him that I had indeed been successful this year already, the overall attitude of our hunting party changed from pessimistic to mildly annoyed that I had apparently lost my skill as a woodsmen in recent weeks since my last hunting adventure. I offered up the encouraging words that I myself have heard on countless such hunting adventures when my feet just didn't want to pick up anymore, all my extremities were wet and cold and slightly frostbitten and my candybar supply had run low: "all we can do is keep looking." It never sounded good hearing that as a boy and as it escaped my mouth today I felt my friends pain, but what else can you do?

Anyway, slightly later in our adventure as the discouragement of wading through devil's clubs and sliding down muddy hills was setting in, we jumped up two bucks (a fork and a spike) for which neither of us was ready and both of which deftly escaped.
Now this is a tough mixing of emotions. On the one hand just seeing a deer after countless hours of laboring through very dense wet wilderness is encouraging, but to spend countless hours laboring through dense-wet wilderness and to finally see a buck (none the less two) and to have it simply run away without so much as a warning shot through the ear (thank you cousin George) is just down right discouraging.

After this initial upset my friend and I trudged for another hour or two through more dense-wet wilderness until we finally could see the logging road from whence we came at about 300 yards out. At this point in our journey we had accepted our defeat and were just bush-whacking our way through toward the road when much to my suprise and chagrin I spotted a forked horn Sitka Blacktail Buck just staring at me from about 50 feet away. RIGHT NEXT TO THE STINKING ROAD!
This was obviously the Lord blessing us and i could hardly believe it so as quickly as i could i loaded a shell in the chamber of my rifle and removed my scope covers, put the cross-hairs of my scope on his neck and pulled the trigger.......CLICK! Not Bang, not boom, but click! I still had my safety on and upon seeing all the commotion the 3rd buck of our day quickly ran away from us not knowing that had I been more in-tune with the safety mechanism of my rifle he would have "been a goner!"

Now at this point in our trip i could only shake my head and laugh uncomfortably because we had been fortunate enough to see more bucks in one morning than are often seen in a multi-day trip, but had failed to harvest any. After a brief bathroom break and a quick lament about how we should have been ready, we continued on the last 300 yards down to the road, quite encouraged and discouraged simultaneously.
With the road about 30 yards in front of us I noticed much to my glee and chagrin that yet another forked horn Sitka Blacktail Buck was standing in the middle of the logging road looking at us talking, and then a brief moment in time later running as fast as possible the other direction.
Inspired by our lack of success harvesting a deer so far in the hunt, I took after my Cousin George's example and tried the "sprint after the running deer to get another shot technique". Unfortunatly for me, the only shot that presented itself was at about 125 yards with the deer in a dead-run away from me. I did the only thing I could and quickly squeezed off a shot at the deer (hoping for a successful gluteus-maximus shot which proved successful for Cousin George on our last hunt). Unfortunatly for me, however, the 4th and final buck of our day continued running unhampered by my attempt to harvest him.

The blatant contradictory emotions we were both experiencing on the 30 minute walk back to the vehicle was nothing less than comical. How can you not be happy with going hunting for 8 hours and seeing 4 bucks, all the while within eye-sight of downtown Ketchikan? Yet also, how can you be satisfied with seeing 4 bucks in one short hunt and not having the skill or luck to harvest even one?

These are the tangled struggles a young hunter faces in todays complex world.

The Ear

Meant to respond to Katy's comment about the location of the ear. I took the pierced ear home as a momento. It is now hanging (unbeknownst to Julie, seriously) on the edge of the tree fort facing the window of our guest bathroom. It's been there for a week, and nobody has noticed it yet. I think it will be a good conversation piece and excuse for me to tell my hunting story to any guest who asks about it.

Hunting Report--The Rest of the Story

Do Granny and Grandad still listen to Paul Harvey? We spent many lunch hours on the Julie Ann listening to his silly news report under the old "equal time" doctrine that applied to the boat's sound system. I was always a bit shy about playing any of my teenage music in front of Granny and Grandad. But not Marshall. Crew favorites in the mid to late 80's included Motley Crue, A Flock of Seagulls, The Thompson Twins, and Toto. Also Prince, until after Granny grew weary of a song that included too much screaming and declared that the Prince tape would never again be played on the boat. On Grandad's side, we got a large dose of Mitch Miller and Johnny Horton, which may have been the only two cassette tapes Grandad owned. Granny usually stuck with the accapella gospel favorites when it was her turn.

Grandad, being a natural storyteller, seemed particularly fond of the Paul Harvey news report. We prompted Grandad into telling a few stories on this year's hunting trip. Some fell into the category of old favorites. These included the story about a tranquilized Woody chewing up the car on the ferry and the story about the ill-fated Coast Guard boarding where the Coast Guardsman jumped into the slush tank and came out with water pouring from the barrell of his gun. Others were stories I had never heard before, such as when Grandad shot two deer at the same time and one fell almost right on top of the other. And who knew that Granny had shot a deer? Are there any 2nd or 3rd generation Pitcher women who have followed in Granny's footsteps in slaying a deer?

Before finishing the hunting narrative, a word about sleeping arrangements: The Julie Ann has an estimated 150-175 square feet of indoor living space, which makes for tight quarters with six grown men. Regardless of Jay's good attitude, the hold should not be considered indoor living space. On this year's trip, Jay and I agreed to sleep in the hold. It was chilly and there are a lot of night-time noises, including various pumps, drips, and splashing sounds, that made it hard to sleep my first night in the hold. We gave Larry a senior hunter exemption and allowed him to sleep in a bunk the entire trip. This left Jim and David to play a nightly card game for the right to sleep in the remaining bunk, with the loser left to sleep on the floor in the main walkway next to Grandad's couch bed. After the first night, Jim reported there had been five night-time bathroom breaks causing people to pass through his area. Jim had an unfortuanate cold streak in his cribbage game, resulting in Jim spending all but one night on the floor.

On Tuesday of the hunting trip Larry shot two deer while in the woods by himself. He got both his deer back to the trail near the cabin at the lake and was reportedly very happy to run into David and Jay on the trail.

Tuesday night turned out to be the unexpected high point for adventure on the trip when the perfect storm (well, at least some 40-50 mph winds) hit Karta Bay. At some point in the night, the flapping of the tarp became so loud that Jay and I both ventured up out of the hold. We found Jim, Larry and Grandad already up and studying the navigation equipment. They concluded that we were dragging anchor. Jim and I did a flashlight inspection of the shore, and it appeared we were very close to the beach. Grandad ordered that the anchor be pulled, and Jay and Larry ventured out to the bow at around 3:00 a.m. for an anchor pulling that included plenty of rain and fresh air. They harvested a commercial crab pot that was well-secured to our anchor. I joined them on the bow as we attempted to figure out how to get the crab pot off the anchor. After what seemed like a long time, we were able to get the pot free from the anchor. Larry pulled it aboard with a Herculean effort. By the time things calmed down, it was close to 5:00 a.m. I went ahead and made coffee, but everyone was able to go back to sleep for a while before the day's hunt. David, who made only a two minute appearance from his bunk during the anchor dragging, declared himself to be very well-rested.

Jim shot a buck on Wednesday, while the other two hunting teams (Larry/David and Jay/George) saw only does. Larry and Jim each shot another buck on Thursday, bringing the trip total to six deer. We returned to town late in the day Friday and finished the trip with another good dinner at Granny and Grandad's.

Thanks again for the invitation. The week-long hunting trip probably isn't going to become an annual thing for me, but I enjoyed it enough that I would like to bring Jack up to try it sometime. Maybe in a couple years when he's 12.

George

I Miss Miles

I miss that little guy everytime I read Taylor the Dinosaur book by Sandra Boynton. When I was in K-town this summer, Miles "read" the dino book to me, and had it all memorized (mostly). It was one of my favorite memories with Miles, and everytime I get to the part where it says, "Dinosaurs BIG, Dinosaurs tiny", I think of Miles yelling that line. I'm so excited to see him next week!

2007 Hunting Trip--Official Report Part I

I last attended the annual Pitcher family deer hunt in 1981 when I was 12 years old. My dad convinced me to go that year, even though it meant missing the last opportunity of my life to trick-or-treat under the "no trick-or-treating after you reach middle school" rule at our house. We took a very long boat ride to Admiralty Island. The family had a successful hunt that year, killing a total of 11 or 12 deer. I spent the trip taking long walks with my dad through the woods. I have three lasting memories from the 1981 trip:

1) making a lengthy trek while carrying a deer head in one hand and a heart/liver combo stuck on a stick in the other hand;

2) steaming deer blood spilling onto a frosty muskeg when a deer's thoat was slit; and

3) Larry cooking orange duck, with a goose, after a successful and exciting goose hunt where several of us hid behind a large log on a beach while one person (Grandad?) snuck through the forest to the head of a bay and scared a bunch of geese out toward the hiding hunters. As best I can recall, the orange goose recipe involved putting the goose in a pan with frozen orange juice concentrate and baking it. It wasn't bad if you could get to some of the goose meat that hadn't been influenced by the orange tasting outer layer.

After participating in a couple of additional uneventful deer hunts with my dad in Oregon, I decided that I wasn't going to be a hunter. I'm still ambivalent about whether the costs of shooting a deer (cleaning, packing, butchering, having to eat lots of venison) outweigh the benefits (excitement, trophy, enhanced feeling of manliness).

With that background, Jay baited me into attending the 2007 deer hunt by telling me that they planned to hunt near the Karta River, known to be an outstanding steelhead river. I could fly fish while the rest of the family hunted. I was excited about the chance to make another trip on the boat with Grandad, Larry, Jay and Jim. I knew David was going to be in Portland the weekend before the hunt, so I convinced him to come and we planned the trip on short notice.

The trip began on Sunday evening with a first-rate family dinner at Granny and Grandad's. We had homemade ravioli with two kinds of sauce. It was an enjoyable evening, even with the 85 degree temperature in the apartment. After dinner, I went grocery shopping with David, Larry, and Jay. It was at the grocery store that Larry informed us of the tradition that each person be responsible for cooking dinner on one night of the trip. David quickly claimed responsibility for night one of the trip, when we would eat an already Granny-made casserole. Jay claimed steaks, Larry announced plans for chicken, and I decided on a catch-of-the-day fish fry--with salmon patties for a back-up plan. Our evening meals on the boat were great, although there never was any catch to produce a fish fry. In fact, it turned out there wasn't sufficient canned salmon on the boat for salmon patties. My main course turned out to be leftover steak and chicken. I tried to make up for this shortcoming by cooking two breakfasts, making guacamole, and serving, possibly for the first time ever aboard the Julie Ann, a pre-dinner fruit and cheese plate.

We departed Monday morning and arrived somewhere that was not the Karta River a few hours later. Everyone else began putting on their hunting gear, so I did too. Jay, Larry, and Jim made a hunting plan, with Larry and Jim each agreeing to supervise one of the rookie hunters. I went with Jim into some very thick woods where we began climbing a hill immediately after getting out of the skiff. Visibility in the woods was poor, and I never felt like I could see further than 50 feet. I was starting to think the hunt was futile when a deer jumped up about 40 feet away from me. I could instantly see it was a buck. I raised the rifle Larry had loaned me and realized that, for some reason, things were fuzzy when I looked through the scope. I could see the deer with my bare eyes, but I had trouble finding it when I looked through the scope. The deer stood still for a good amount of time while I attempted to find it in the scope. Jim eventually began providing commentary from my rear, "It's a buck. Go ahead and shoot it. Just shoot it!" Feeling a bit pressured and knowing that I was taking way too long to shoot, I squeezed off a shot before I was perfectly comfortable with my aim. Later forensic inspection would show that I had shot a clean hole through the buck's ear. This caused him to run. My instinct was to run after it, which I did. Jim blew his deer call, and the deer stopped. I came to a point where I could see the deer again, fumbled to noisily reload my gun, and blasted it in the rear end. This time I saw the deer stagger and it ran off with a limp. Jim helped me find the blood trail and track it. Jim then proceeded to clean my deer and turn it into a backpack. He also carried it most of the way back to the skiff, after my initial stumbling effort at carrying it the first 200 yards. Thank you, Jim.

We arrived at the Karta River on Monday evening after the first afternoon of hunting. I was very satisfied with my prior day's hunt and was looking forward to some fishing. In fact, I was thinking since I had already shot a deer I wouldn't need to hunt anymore for the rest of the trip. I was somewhat concerned about river conditions due to the amount of rain. So I took both gun and fly rod in the skiff for the Tuesday morning ride to the beach. The Karta River was only marginally fishable on Tuesday due to high water. And the water rose as the week continued. Turns out it rained a total of 32 inches in Ketchikan for the month of October.

I have lots more to tell, but it will have to wait until later. Possibly this weekend.

George

He looks like an angel...

But let me tell you the story of our night. I told Danny I really needed some IHOP for dinner, so we had a fancy dinner out as a family. And there was a Home Depot next door to IHOP, so we went in to look around after dinner. By the time we got done and home, it was 8:30, which is Taylor's bedtime. We told him that it was his lucky night and that he wouldn't have to take a bath. So I gathered his pjs and a new diaper and a few wipes and went into the living room where he was playing to change his diaper and put his pjs on. Well, our little Tay Tay doesn't like to sit still for diaper changes, and when I had the dirty diaper off and he was all wiped clean, he broke loose and crawled over to the couch, wearing just his shirt and his smile. Before we could get to him, he was wetting himself all down his leg and on the floor. Nasty, right? Nope, that's not the half of it. So we wiped him up and I went to run him a bath since he had his no-bath-night priviledges revoked, given the circumstances. Danny finished getting Taylor undressed, brought a naked little boy back to our bathroom, and put him on the floor while I finished preparing his bath. And then I looked down, and wondered what our little angel was smearing all over the tile with his hands. Yep, our boy was sitting in another puddle of his urine, playing with it and splashing it all around. So Tay Tay had an extra good scrubbing in the bathtub, and we have the living room floor and the bathroom floor to sanitize.

Here is Tay Tay and I after his bath tonight. He doesn't seem too traumitized that he was playing in a puddle of his own urine...

100 Things continued...

28. My favorite color is yellow, or sometimes blue.
29. I don’t like purple
30. I think it’s wrong to have a pink or purple car
31. I’d like to have a Honda Pilot, I think
32. When I was a young teen I was staying with my cousin Nancy while my parents were out of town and we stole my parents’ car and drove it around.
33. I have no clue what we were thinking
34. I was not a rebellious or risk taking child
35. But, apparently, I wasn’t too bright
36. I love Mexican and Italian and Chinese food
37. I would like to visit Greece because I think I would really enjoy their food
38. I’ve been called Scrooge
39. It’s not that I don’t like Christmas, it’s that I feel like we have too much and we don’t always appreciate what we have, much less what we receive
40. I really, really liked it when Julie & Jay gave us gifts from Samaritan’s Purse
41. I love it when our family is all together
42. I get compliments on our family a lot and it makes me so proud of you guys
43. My 3 married children all married Christians
44. Their spouses add a lot to our family
45. I love the fact that they love my children and are great parents to my grandchildren
46. The last book I read was “Living Better Across the Border” about retiring in Mexico
47. I want to go to Mexico and see all the places they talked about
48. But I don’t want to retire in Mexico
49. Katy, Trina, EA, Miles, Grace & I are going to a play, “Beauty & the Beast” tomorrow
50. I’ve never seen or read “Beauty & the Beast”

Okay, here it goes--
1. I don't think there are 100 things about me that people would be interested in
2. I live in a cold, rainy climate and I dream of warm, sandy beaches
3. I have 4 children that make me very happy
4. I have 4 grandchildren that make me happy in a whole new way
5. My role models for being a grandparent are my parents
6. We're building a house
7. It's a huge task and sometimes I feel overwhelmed
8. But, it's rewarding at the same time. Who knew I could pull wire?
9. We've been living with Julie & Jay for a year now. How many parents/grandparents are so blessed?
10. I'm reading lots of home building/designing books right now, planning Larry's workload for the next few years
11. I work for the university. This year will be my 14th aniversary here
12. The older I get, the more I appreciate my family. Not just my husband and children, but my parents and siblings, as well. They are a really nice bunch of people.
13. I have lots of questions about why God does certain things. I'm becoming more curious all the time.
14. Like, why does he have this particular group of people attending church at STAC right now?
15. How will he use Joy's short life in our lives? Because, I know he will.
16. Am I going to recognize when he does?
17. I like chocolate, a lot
18. And, I'm truly thankful that they've discovered the health benefits of dark chocolate because I'm going to be VERY healthy.
19. I'm terrified by the very thought of rodents. Katy is my hero because she wages war with them.
20. I like dogs and abhor cats.
21. I'm staying with my mother this week and I'm rediscovering her wonderful sense of humor.
22. I'd like to take a bike tour of Ireland some day. Anybody going with me?
23. I'd like to go on an extended white water rafting trip even though I'm a chicken and will probably close my eyes a good deal of the time.
24. I don't dress up very often but I always admire well-dressed people and wonder why I can't be like them.
25. I like to read mysteries and romance novels but lately have questioned the value of spending my time on them.
26. I like Francine Rivers' novels and somehow having my heart ripped open and stomped on by a Christian author seems more worthwhile.
27. I get a vanilla iced coffee from McDonalds practically every day. I like it better than Starbucks.

Here it is mom... 100 things by Katy

1. my name is Kathryn but my family calls me Katy.

2. I didn't realize my name was Kathryn till I was in 3rd or 4th grade.

3. I don't look like anyone else in my family.

4. my mom says I was the only baby in the hospital when I was born so I couldn't have been swapped.

5. I hate going to the doctor.

6. I don't mind the dentist.

7. I do mind the dental hygenist.

8. When I was younger I tried to bribe one not to grind that nasty gritty business on but it turns out she was above bribery.

9. I took care of all three of my siblings during their wisedom tooth removal recovery.

10. I made Julie cry by reading to her from a cook book when she could only eat soup and jello.

11. I fed Jimmy a little over 3 dozen eggs worth of egg salad sandwhich during his recovery.

12. I was pretty nice to Christy because she cried all the time on the pain killers.

13. I can still picture her suctioning out the tooth holes.

14. I still have my wisdom teeth but they aren't all the way in.

15. I have never had surgery.

16. I have had stiches twice- once in each leg.

17. My favorite color is greenish blue.

18. My hair is about a quarter gray.

19. I like it.

20. I have 7 piercings. Yes mom, they are all on my head.

21. I have no tatoos.

22. I want one.

23. I have been to only three other countries. Canada, Mexico and Russia.

24. I really want to go to India, Africa and Scotland.

25. I hate snakes.

26. When I lived in Texas I was scared to death that there would be a snake under the car or in the back yard.

27. I loved the winter heat in Texas.

28. When I moved home I felt confused by the weather and never really warmed up.

29. My sister in law stole my name. I am Kathryn Jolene Parrott. She is Kathlyn Jo Parrott.

30. I still like her.

31. I have 3 nieces and 2 nephews with one more on the way.

32. They keep me and the "other" Katie apart by calling me KK and her JoJo.

33. That is a serious name upgrade for me because Elizabeth used to call me Aunt Sheesh, as in the noise one makes when you are seriously irratated.

34. I have provided nanny services for all of them except Grace.

35. I own Crocs. The black mary jane ones.

34. I was embarrassed of them for a while but I love them.

35. I am my mother's favorite.

36. When I was in high school I had this seriously crappy summer job in a curio/fudge store.

They made me put on a blueberry costume and wave at tourists. I had on a stem hat, a gynormous blue lycra berry shaped top that made it difficult to walk and black gloves that were perfect for jazz fingers.

37. I also worked on my grandparents trolling boat for a few weeks a couple of summers.

38. During the 5-6 day trips we were not allowed to shower so as to conserve on water. On the first day out my brother Jim rubbed jellyfish and salmon eggs in my hair. No exception to the rule was made.

39. Whitney Houston was my idol growing up.

40. I used to walk around singing "I Will Always Love You.".

41. I still believe Bobby brought her down.

42. My favorite teacher in high school took a sudden dislike to me half way through my senior year. Years later Jim confessed that when I had left her christmas present , a box of candies, on the counter he and Matt cut the box open took bites out of them and sealed it back up. I gave it to her the next day and never knew. Our relationship soon soured.

43. I am allergic to random metal things. Belts, rings, earrings and buttons on some jeans.

44. I love the "would you rather" game.

45. My niece, Elizabeth, is better at it than me.

46. I love to cook.

47. When I feel really stressed I like to turn on music and make up a recipe.

48. But if I am only cooking for me I will most likely eat macaroni and cheese. Sometimes with canned peas.

49. I will only eat Kraft macaroni and cheese.

50. I just became the leader of the missions board at our church.

51. I had to agree to be in Ketchikan for at least a year to get the position. That was really hard for me because having to be in one spot for to long makes me all antsy and itchy.

52. In one week I will head up my first meeting being in charge.

53. This makes me a 50-50 mixture of excited and wanting to blow chunks.

54. My dream is that everyone in our church, especially families, would go on a short term missions trip.

54. I think that americans, especially our kids, are spoiled.

55. I hate the mcdonalds toys in happy meals.

56. I don't let kids have them when we go to there becuase they have fifty million toys at home and don't even like the happy meal toy most the time but they always say they have to have a new one. It makes me upset because there are how many millions of kids don't have anything and our kids act entitled to more. Mcdonalds how you vex me!!!

57. I feel passionate about some things.

58. I am thankful to be an american.

59. I used to mock people who put on flags on their cars or houses but the older I get the more seriously I think about doing the same.

60. I am becoming an activist. The more I learn and see the more strongly I feel about things.

61. I believe in "to those much is given, much is required". I think this is true about both material things and spiritual things.

62. I some day want to run orphanges and community aide programs.

63. I think that my love for children came from my mom. I think that God put the same passion in both of us.

64. My perfect mate would be a 6'7" christian vicking who speaks 3-5 languages, loves cooking mexican food and speaks with a scottish brogue.

65. I haven't found him yet.

66. My favorite tv shows ever are as follows; That 70s show, Arrested Development, The Office, CSI and Antiques Roadshow.

67. I can't have cable because it's a glue trap and I'm a fly. I have NO drive to get anything done if it's on.

68. I am a sponge for accents. When I lived in Texas with the McDonalds I would tease Danny by always talking to him with an exaggerated version of his accent. But within a few weeks I wasn't purposely doing it any more. Y'all, it got embarrassing.

69. I had a roommate in Skagway for three years that was from Michigan. She permantely ruined a few words for me... mom and box still come out with a twang.

70. I haven't warmed up since I left Texas. I actually miss the heat.

71. I still have trouble referring to myself as a woman but cringe everytime I say girl.

72. Your mom jokes are always funny to me. Always.

73. Some people love chocolate. I love cheese.

74. I am quasi-lingual. I kind of speak spanish, I know a sprinkling of russian and five extremely useless phrases in french.

75. On the up side I am freakishly fluent in pig latin. My cousin Darcy and I used it all one summer when we were working at a summer camp and we got so fast that not even people who understood pig latin were following. No brag just fact.

76. I don't like animals.

77. I discovered that by working at a vet clinic for 3 months.

78. The only pet I would ever consider would be a fish but even then it would probabely be

under duress.

79. I am the favorite child in our family.

80. I like to feed people. I find a sense of fulfillment in cooking for my family.

81. My favorites smells are vanilla, peppermint and coconut lime.

82. If I could have any car in the world it would be a Rav4.

83. My favorite joke is: Why do hippies wear petuli? So even the blind can hate them.

84. I don't like holidays. I like to get together with family but I don't really like the holiday part.

85. I get that from my mom.

86. I like all music expect techno. I despise techno.

87. I lost steam for this some where around #32.

88. I'm so close to 100 that I have to keep going.

89. I don't like clutter or knick knacks. If there is to much in a room it makes me feel claustraphobic.

90. I don't like heights.

91. When I was little I had this reoccuring dream where I was standing by the railing on the second floor of the mall looking down and the floor would start tilting and I would start slipping towards the edge. Suddenly the railing would be gone and I would fall.

92. I wish I had my own private indoor pool. I love to swim but I am grossed out by the public pool.

93. I hate football. I used to hate it because I didn't understand what was going on. I now get it but I just don't like it.

94. I loved the Lord of the Rings and saw all of them in the theater with my Dad and sister Julie.

95. I have a low tolerance for sugar coating. I want the truth and often feel like anything else is a waste of time.

96. This leads to frustration in church alot of time.

97. I wish our sister christy would stop being lazy and move to Ketchikan.

98. I want our family to all go on a mission trip together.

99. I look forward to this christmas when everyone will be here together and we will get to meet baby Rueben.

100. I like my neices and nephews better than anyone else in the world.

Okay this was not as easy as I first thought but I liked reading mom's and I would like to read everyone else's too! So DO IT!!!

Sigh....

Where have all the Parrott fam bloggers gone?

A Month of Firsts...

FIRST HAIRCUT!

Perhaps this is what gave her the idea...

FIRST BIG GIRL SLEEPOVER!!

Trina - You are heaven sent!






(Her things didn't fit in a Gracie-sized backpack.)

FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL!!!

Of course there were far too many exciting things going on for Grace and Miles to look at the camera! (Thanks, Elizabeth!)

And how do we feel about our little girl growin' up???

We'll see... in about a month those frowns might be turned upside down.

funny-off-color-political-joke-of-the-day

Dick Cheney and George W. Bush were having breakfast at the White House.

The attractive waitress asks Cheney what he would like, and he replies, "I'd like a bowl of oatmeal and some fruit."

"And what can I get for you, Mr. President?"

George W. replies with his trademark wink and slight grin, "How about a quickie this morning?"

"Why, Mr. President!" the waitress exclaims "How rude! You're starting to act like Mr. Clinton, and you've only been in your second term of office for a year! ''

As the waitress storms away, Cheney leans over to Bush and whispers..."It's pronounced 'quiche'."