Aunt Lissa's Visit

Yea! Lissa came to visit, what will we do...



After picking Lissa up from the airport we went to Liberty, Missouri. Before we went to Liberty Jail we needed some lunch, well what better to have lunch at a bakery-YUMMMM. We got some really good brownies and a yummy red velet cupcake, James really enjoyed them as well.

James digging into the red velvet cupcake.

I took Lissa to some of the LDS Church History Sites that are near by in Missouri. First we went to Liberty and saw the Liberty Jail that our Prophet Joseph Smith and several other men were held for several months in the cold Missouri winter. It is a really neat place to go and hear about their circumstances and all the wonderful things that happened even though they were in a horrible place. I have been a few times and each time I go I can still feel the Spririt very strong there.

I took Lissa to the Independence Visistors Center, it has a lot of interesting things that you can learn about the LDS members and when they first started the church in this area. I really enjoy coming here as well. We may not have a temple yet, but we have some wonderful places to go to learn more about the saints and to feel the spirit.

We went to a place called Kaleidascope that is at the Crown Center in Kansas City. It is a really neat place that Crayola and Hallmark have come together and it has a bunch of fun art projects that you can make and neat ways to use different art supplies. And it is totally FREE- we love that!

This a is a great picture of the older boys being great big brothers. They were walking around the fountains and there was water on both sides so they each had one of James' hands to keep him safe. I love that:)

We went to Fritz's restaurant for lunch, it is a pretty neat place that the train actually drops off your food at your table. You call in your order and then a few minutes later the train will drive over your table and drop it off on a shelf and the shelf with then lower onto your table- pretty neat!!

Cute Lissa at Shawn's soccer game that we all went to.

Lissa took the boys across the street to the park a couple of times, James had a lot of fun kicking the ball around, as he usually does.

Mikey was swinging really high, this is a cute picture Lissa got of him before he got too high and too fast.

Shawn was having fun shooting hoops, he does this a lot over at the school. .It is so nice to have a huge field and a park and basketball hoops right across the street. I can watch them from my front window if I need to. What a blessing. (Sorry the picture of Shawn got erased and I am having a hard time figuring this whole blog thing out, I would rather be scrapbooking)

Every night Lissa read stories to the boys, she really enjoys reading to children and I am so thankful for that. I really enjoy reading to them as well, but they don't like it as much when I read to them, it is more like chore when I want to read to them. The last night she was there we got a couple of pictures with all the boys.

Easter- A little late

The cutest picture in the world!!! I love this one!! You can't get better than that.

I love this cute smile, he has so many adorable looks that I can't get enough of him!!

Look at that adorable kid. I love that little smirk of his, he does it a lot. Isn't his little tie so cute.

Since we had no one to take pictures of us we did it in two different shots, one with me and one with Chris

Good lookin' boys!

They all have candy in their mouth!

James was so funny, he got a bunch of his candy and went around the corner on the first step and stashed it there and was eating it for a few minutes before we realized where he was, it was very funny when we caught him.

Shawn and Mikey counting the eggs they found. Who got more?

Mikey did, and he was sure to let everyone know it!
(Sorry, the picture of Shawn got deleted somehow, I am still getting the hang of this, and I have no idea how to put a picture somewhere else other than where they put it for me)

This was the one and only egg that James looked for, after he found this egg he ate the candy and was done, all he wantedwas the candy that was in his basket.

Someone was not wanting to get out of bed that morning and the other one was very excited. Who is who?

This is the boys enjoying the contents of their baskets and what the Easter Bunny brought them. There can never be enough candy in their eyes.

We made these fun easter eggs that were rice krispy treats dipped in cholcolate and then dipped in different sprinkles. The boys and Chris had a great time decorating and then eating!!

James had a fun time eating the chocolate and getting very dirty. This was the first timethat we have let him get this messy with chocolate.

Chocolate faces! YUMMY!

They really liked these treats, I recommend them to anyone for next year, I think this will be a fun tradition.

What kid doesn't like to dip- especially in melted chocolate. James could not get enough.

The boys

Here is our youngest James! He is 21 months and I am already feeling the terrible twos. He has been an angel for so long I guess I knew it would have to end sometime. Ususally he is pretty good, but he is starting to get pretty demanding and is starting to be a stinker when he doesn't get his way. And he has started screaming a lot-yikes!




Lissa and I took James to Dean Rose- A farm and petting zoo with lots of fun things to do. This picture is amazing because he did not hold that piece of food for more that a half of a second and Lissa got it just before he freaked out. He had a lot of fun saying-"oat" "oat" over and over.



He is such a cutie! I guess I will keep telling myself that. We are very blessed to have him in our family. He always keeps us smiling!

Here is Mikey and his new Yellow belt!! He got his Yellow belt on Friday, May 8th. He has been working on it for a little over 2 months and he was the very first to get his yellow belt at this Do-Jo. He is one of the fist kids to sign up at this location of Ko's Blackbelt Academy. It was very awesome to see all thie things that he has been learning. We are so proud of him. Way to go Mikey!!!!

One of the things that he has to do to get his Yellow Belt is break a board, and he did it very well, he got it right in the center and on the first try. His face looks great, and you have yell!!

Here is Shawn doing what he loves best- Soccer. He is such a great soccer player and i will be posting some video once we figure out how to edit the footage we took. But here are a few pictures of himplaying hard. Yes that is a girl that he is taking the ball from. She was pretty good. They don't have any girls on there team.

Getting another ball!! The team that he is playing with in these pictures is the Kansas City Fusion. He is just a guest player for this season and he will try out to be on the team full time

in June.

This is a great picture Lissa took- I love the shots where they are entirely into the kick! He is also on the Rush team where he has made 5 goals a game there first 3 games. He is doing great and he loves the game.

We are the Parks Family

Lissa finally got me to do a blog, only because she is sitting right here next to me making me.
Here is a picture she took of us at the Crown Center in Kansas City. This is the happy James picture, which did not last very long.

Here is the unhappy James picture. He is very much into his independence and being held for a picture does not go along with that.