August was Jam-Packed!

We started August off with a Harker family reunion. Day one was at Lagoon and both the kids had a blast with all their cousins. I enjoyed being there with my dad and lots of other family, even though my preggo-ness kept me from going on any rides. I'm pretty sure I will never feel too old for amusement parks, they are just plain exciting. The next night we camped in Heber. Finn had so much fun "exploring" all the cabins and playing with cousins. Here is a picture of Aaron and the kids on a hike they went on:
Finn's oh-so-fun birthday was next (accompanied with the not-so-fun flooding of our basement) but his party was after that, which helped wipe away the bad memories of soggy carpet and sopping towels. A full post about his birthday is below.

Next came a long-awaited member to our family:

Not the picture you were expecting? Well before the baby came we knew we needed a bigger car and so we took the plunge into van-dom. Aaron and I both love to drive it because we feel like we're steering a spaceship. Seriously. It's awesome.

And then on August 30th, we welcomed the REAL newest member of our family, Rex Bennett Parks! His birth story post is coming soon, but just know that we are all in love with him. He was definitely the best part of our busy August month!

Finn's a Grown-up Now

That was then...
This is now!

Finn turned 4 years old on August 8th! My sister has told me once that she felt her oldest son was "all grown up" when he was 4...which she realizes is silly now that he is 8 and so much older...and has so much growing left to do. I must admit that I have caught myself thinking of Finn that way because he knows so much and is so much bigger than Kate (and Rex! post about him coming soon). Four seems SO OLD when I think of my first tiny little baby with his bald head and chubby cheeks. But I am dedicated to reminding myself how little Finn still is, and how much nurturing he needs, and how much learning and growing he still has to do.

Finn's actual birthday started great with his special breakfast choice of milk and toast with nutella. We got free tickets to a movie at the theater down the street so went to that with a few of his cousins in the morning. Great fun! Then, to make a long story short, the day took a turn for the worse when I decided to get some canning done that turned into a forever ordeal and basically ignored Finn for the rest of the day which resulted in the kids flooding our basement...oy.

But later that week we had a fun family party that made up for the birthday chaos!

Helping me make his birthday cake

I am not a 'birthday cake mom' so was pretty stoked when Finn asked me to decorate his cake with the new Lego guys he got from grandparents for his birthday. Nice.

This was taken later that week when his cousins came to play. The Woody and Buzz dress-ups are birthday gifts. I know the picture is crazy out of focus, but it still makes me really, really happy.

Some things about Finn at this age:
He loves dress-ups, Lego, all pretend play and Star Wars. Wild Kratts is by far his favorite kids show and he is always spouting off animal facts. Learning how to read took a back seat during the summer, but he is still very interested in it and can sound out most reasonably-sized words. He is becoming less innocent (wah!) now that Kate is old enough to be a competitor and he has learned what makes her tic, but generally they get along really well. He has been nothing but sweet with his new baby brother. He is easy-going and pleasant to be around 90% of the time, with a short fuse (that probably comes from Mom) that results in the occasional screaming fit. We are working on that ;) He LOVES sunbeams and is always willing to participate in Primary. He loves to sing and be sung to, read and be read to. He loves to snuggle me in the morning. He is always surprising us with the clever/goofy things he says. He is our little grown-up! And we love watching him grow up more with each passing year. Happy Birthday Finn!

Canada Day and the 4th

We were thrilled to show our Canadian pride this year by participating in a local Canada Day parade! Finn's cousins decorated their power wheels and Finn had a blast riding in the back and throwing candy to the spectators. Here is the only picture I got (yes, Finn is completely hidden from view by the giant polka dot balloon). The power wheels ran out of battery half way through the route, so the kids had to be rescued, but a great time was had by all...including Kate. I love her smile at the end of this video:

The weekend of the 4th we took the kids to the park to see a patriotic musical and visit the colonial village. Here they are at "school" as it would have been in the olden days:
That night I took my sister Megan to Stadium of Fire for her birthday. (Brad Paisley was the main act and she really loves him.) I have never been and it did not dissapoint! Plus, we got hooked up with an extra ticket at the last minute so Tom could join us too!This is David Archuletta who was actually pretty great. I'm not zoomed in at all...we were so close to the stage!
Megan got so excited when Brad came out. He was great live!

And the fireworks after?! Total sensory overload, it was amazing. This video makes me so happy:


I didn't get any pictures of the 'actual' 4th of July but it was pretty great. As per tradition we went to Megan's for a BBQ and the men put on their extreme family fireworks show...which was extra crazy this year. It started to rain at the end of the night which put a damper on things, but it was still a fantastic day. Summer holidays are the best!

Kate is Two!

Kate had so much fun on her birthday this year. She still talks about her party saying, "cake, ice keem, outside, sing happy bid-day, pesents!"
We invited all our nearby family for pizza, cake and icecream, and Kate had a great time playing with her cousins and aunts and uncles. The weather was perfect!
Very much a girly girl, Kate loves putting on pretty dress-ups. She was very excited about this Princess Rapunzel dress with matching shoes
I love the following video because it was so cute how happy she got when we started singing "happy birthday". And we were all very impressed that she legitimately blew out her own candles!
. Here she is post-cake:

A few things about Kate at this age: Her vocabulary has exploded and she loves to have 'conversations' with us. She is very calculated when she speaks and will take her time to form sentences and express herself. She loves to say prayers, especially when Finn helps her. She is very good at saying please and thank you. She is excited about her baby brother on the way and frequently points to my belly and says, "baby, pop out, two monts, mom?" and I say "yes, soon you'll have a baby brother" and she replies, "oh, cool mom." She worships Finn and copies EVERYTHING he does. She especially loves the 'snuggle time' she gets with him at night before I make her get in her own bed and go to sleep. She is potty training (totally her own idea) and actually tells me when she needs to go...still working on staying dry all day though. Her tantrums are no longer cute, but she is very good at accepting consequences and often says sorry without being prompted. She is such a fun little girl and we are constantly amazed at her cuteness and sweet personality. Happy Birthday Kate!

Lagoon Trip

Since Aaron got the offer for his new job so quickly, we ended up having some extra cash from our severence and knew we had to celebrate. So we took the kids to Layton for the weekend, stayed in a hotel and went to Lagoon!
This was the first ride we went on. They were both so good while they waited in line.

We had such a great time. Since there were no other adults with us, Aaron and I didn't get to go on any big roller coasters but we didn't care; it was so much fun watching the kids experience all the rides and soak up the wonder of it all. I have so many fond memories of Lagoon as a kid and re-living it with my own kids was just a total blast.
On the train -- it was actually pretty cool! I forgot how many animals they have to see.

It was so cute watching them sit side-by-side on the rides together. Click on this one to see just how much Kate is enjoying it.

Kate got her nap in while the rest of us enjoyed a nice break on the ferris wheel. After that we got some dinner, watched one of the musical shows and hit a couple more rides before packing it in.

We got back to our hotel just in time for free cookies and milk in the lobby -- such a great end to the day! The kids were so excited about the hotel but calmed down quickly after a bath because they were so exhausted. At this point, Kate was still in a crib so we brought our playpen for her but she really wanted to lay by Finn so we let her. We thought it was so cute that she just snuggled next to him and went to sleep when she'd never even slept in a regular bed before.

The next day, we enjoyed the yummy breakfast at our hotel, went swimming in the pool and visited the Hill AFB Aerospace Museum before heading back to Orem. It was so wonderful to do something fun with our little family that we normally wouldn't have the means to do.

Blessed

On May 1st, I dropped Aaron off at work so I could run some errands. Typical day. About an hour later, he called to tell me he had been laid off.

Just like that.

Novell has been recently acquired and as a result, hundreds of jobs were cut company-wide, with no regard to performance or seniority. Aaron's entire team was slashed. My brother Tom worked in Aaron's department and was also let go with the majority of his team.

Aaron actually took the news pretty well. We were offered a severence to lessen the blow, but suddenly we didn't have medical insurance and I am pretty much a ticking time-bomb of medical expenses right now. If we wanted to keep the coverage we had through Novell it would cost us $1500/month!!! Yeah, OK. I'll go discover the cure for baldness and then I'll sign right up for that.

So I started filling out all kinds of Medicaid applications and seriously considered going home to Canada for the summer to have the baby. We felt like something good was going to come...but after a while that feeling starts to fade.

Then Aaron got an interview for a job that we were sure was the answer to our prayers. His second interview went really well and one of his former collegues just got hired so he was a shoe-in. We started making all kinds of plans and were just waiting for the offer to come.

Then the rug was pulled out from under us when he got a rejection email. Wow, we were really depressed. I have never been wrong about something I was so sure of. It felt like that was our one shot to come out of this thing ahead, and it was gone.

Only two days later though, he got an interview at Henry Schein, a medical supply company whose Utah office deals with software. He got a second interview the following week and we sat on pins and needles for 6 long days while we waited to hear the news. Words cannot express the relief I felt when he got the call offering him the position. This new job is closer, has better hours and significantly better pay than the one we were originally hoping for.

I am still in awe of the hand of the Lord in our lives during this time. We thought we knew what we wanted, we were sure of it. And when we didn't get it, we felt so let down. But now we KNOW it is by the Lord that we are led. I would have never asked for this experience, but I am so completely thankful for it and will rely on it when trials come in the future.

Aaron has been at his new job for about a month now and is really liking it! It is very busy now while he learns the ropes, but he already feels so much more fulfilled than his previous job and sees the potential to advance in the company...which is something he never really saw at Novell. Thank you SO MUCH for the prayers and support from so many of you. We were stressed, but we felt loved. And now we just feel really really blessed.

Turns Out Gardening Rules

I wish that I had taken before and after pictures of our backyard...I am learning that I am really terrible at that. Just know that Aaron completely over-hauled the back portion of our yard single-handedly and turned it into a really great garden! Finn had a great time helping him plant everything and I just couldn't pick my favorite picture of the two of them. Aaron has worked so hard on this and is very excited to reap what he has sewn!

The garden tonight!

Our grape vines get more and more lush every day! By the end of summer they will be twice this leafy.

We got hooked up with a cheap trampoline and a playhouse for free so suddenly our backyard is sweet! We are excited to spend many a summer day out here.