Not Really Important News

Hey everyone!

Since it's been longer than a long while, I'll just post a little about what's been happening with the Parkers lately.

1) Shortly after the blog was temporarily blocked, our digital camera went missing. It was used by our church's youth group for the annual video scavenger hunt, and it was never seen again. A new camera SHOULD be in my stocking this year, provided by the Christ Church youth pastor, namely my husband. Sadly, this means I have ZERO pictures of the last month and a half of life. Luckily, Nathan made a CD of all of the pictures on the camera before loaning it out, so the year's worth of pictures taken prior to the day it went MIA are safely archived.

2) In diabetes land, JDRF just e-mailed to say that the highlight video from the walk in October is finished. You can watch it here. We're not in it (there were THOUSANDS of people there), but it'll give you a little flavor for the day.

3) Life has just kept on! Weddings, new babies, and funerals have been a part of our lives the last few weeks. We feel privileged to be witnesses and participants in other people's joy and sorrow. Congratulations, especially, to my dear friends Kelee and Pat, who welcomed Parker Kjack into the world last week. I can't wait to see you guys!

4) Two Saturdays ago, Nathan and I and a bunch of friends traveled to Griffin, Georgia to hang out with Will Brown and his parents. They smoked a bunch of meat and spoiled us way too much. Afterward, we went to the Brown Family Christmas Tree farm and helped some friends get trees. I'd give anything to have a video of Will sawing down a seven-foot Carolina Sapphire tree in seven seconds. It was so, so fun!

5) We weren't planning on having a tree because we'll be in California for so long, but our friend Mary Lou wouldn't hear of it. She surprised us with a live two-foot tree, fully lit and decorated. We have it on our bedroom dresser, and I love falling asleep and waking up to its cheery smell.

6) We'll be celebrating Christmas with the Parkers this Friday, and then we're heading out to California for Christmas! I can't wait to celebrate June's first Christmas with her and to see lots of friends and family.

Thanks for hanging in there with the update. Sorry for the lack of pictures!

YAAAAY!

I'm back kids!

I've got so much of YOUR blogs to catch up on, it'll probably be a day or two before I write a substantial post. I'll leave you with a couple of cute June Bug pictures, of course.

Foiled!

For some reason, all blogs at my school have been blocked for over two weeks, hence the lack of posting. I'm at my in-laws' house now, desperately typing out this message before we go home. Sigh... I'm working on getting at least my blog unblocked.

Curses!

Thanks for your patience.

Happy Halloween

Get a load of June's feathery cap!

Here's the happy family before they get dressed up.

June Bug, Scream Man, and Michael Jackson

My sister cracks me up.

Is that a scream of laughter or terror?

Ray LaMontagne at the Fox

Last night Nathan and I saw Ray LaMontagne at the Fox here in Atlanta. Upon entering the beautiful and historic theatre in Midtown, Nathan said, "I've never seen so many yuppies in all my life." It's true... we saw the full spread of the latest Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters catalogs - lots of organic cotton, ethnic scarves, and riding boots.

Ray LaMontagne is quite a character. I think he used to spend a lot of time in the forests of Maine, writing songs. He's got such a unique voice, and his music is just beautiful, but he didn't talk much. When he did, he mumbled and fumbled over his words. If I close my eyes when he sings, I hear a 300 pound black man singing the blues. When they're open, I see a lanky bearded hippie with a giant cowboy hat on to block the stage lights from his eyes. Interesting...

Anyway, we had a great romantic time up in the nosebleed section of the theatre.

Here's a sample.

Here's another one.

Kelee's Baby Shower

Worlds collide! My friends Kelee (a childhood friend from Washington State) and Annah (a friend from high school) are friends with each other, living in the same town, going to the same church, and having baby boys only days apart! It was so fun to see them together at Kelee's shower.

We served appetizers and had a tractor theme, as Baby Parker's room is decorated in th same theme.

Mmm... cookies and cupcakes!

More tractors, more cookies...

One of my mom's students made this diaper cake with a tractor theme!

Here is Kelee next to Parker's crib. Our friend Andrea made the canvases above.

My sister, Michelle, me, and another Michelle (both Michelles are from high school as well!)

Here's Andrea's sweet daughter, Emory, my sister, and Andrea.

Dewar's

Okay Amy... Here they are. Patience! Patience! This is Amy. I used to be her Bible study leader and substitute teacher when she was in high school. Now SHE'S a 6th grade teacher, like me. WE'RE COLLEAGUES! Here we are in front of Red Brick Pizza (I think that's what it's called.). But the really good stuff came later...

This is me and my pump at Amy's former place of employment - Dewar's. It's basically the best ice cream in the world. Thanks to la bomba, I could eat this entire sundae without losing any sleep. I definitely didn't lose any sleep... or any weight.

Pump, pump, pump it up! Pump that Mustang spirit up! Did I mention that Amy and I went to the same high school? Go Stockdale Mustangs!

Her face is so sweet, but that sundae in the foreground is even sweeter.

Two More Reasons Why I Loved Being Home

1) Dad's cooking. This was breakfast.

2) Fresh flowers, my favorite snack, and a Diabetes magazine awaited me in the guest room. I felt so loved. My parents are the best!

I'm Old

So at the football game, I was thrilled to find out that the West High Vikings were playing the Frontier High Titans. You see, most of my former 7th grade students from Freedom Middle School now attend Frontier, all of them now JUNIORS and SENIORS. Boy did that make me feel old...

I sneaked over to the opposing side and walked the bleachers, looking for kids that were familiar. It kind of felt like I was looking for missing children whose faces from five years ago were on a milk carton, and I had to find the older versions of them in a sea of people.

Lo and behold, I didn't have to walk very far before I heard someone yell, "Miss Sampley!" I turned and saw a blond girl pointing at me and smacking her friend on the shoulder to get her to look. Then, I beckoned them down from the bleachers and we caught up and took a picture. It was so exciting!

These two I had my very first year of teaching, and now they're in the drum line in the band and going to college next year. I'm on my tippy toes, but look how tall they are!

This one, whose brother is the blond one above, has the worst handwriting of any kid I've ever had. When he saw me he said, "Hey Miss Sampley! I get good grades now!" While I was thrilled for him, I'm not sure what that said about me...

Friday Night Lights with June Bug

Junie's daddy is a high school football coach, so we got her dressed up in her West High Vikings green and went to dinner before the game.

My daddy's ready for the game too!

Here we are at Rosa's pizza, one of my favorite restaurants in Bakersfield.

Here's my sweet friend Kelee, who is pregnant with her first child, a son, who she and her husband are going to name PARKER. :) There will be more pictures of her baby shower to come.

A Picture or Seven of June in Her Crib

I can't help it. She's so cute.

Stroll to Cure Diabetes

After reading my friend Jamie's post about Saturday's JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes, I thought I'd steal her post title. There were thousands of people there, so the walk was more of a stroll. I don't have the camera with me today, so I'll post pictures later, but you can go to her blog to read and see about the event from her perspective.

Thanks Jamie!

Happy Anniversary to Me

Today is my first D-day anniversary. Can you believe it's been one year since this happened? It's amazing how quickly time passes... Tomorrow some friends and family and I will be participating in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes in downtown Atlanta. I hear there will be several thousand people there. It will be a great way to celebrate my anniversary. :) If you'd like to donate to find a cure, you can go here. You can look forward to some pictures about the event next week!

June in Her Ski Hat

Playing With June

These two videos are so stinking cute! She is so funny. I really enjoyed my time with her and the rest of the family last weekend. I especially love the video below, where my sister gets her arm workout. :) I'm sorry it's sideways. I couldn't figure out how to turn it.

I have lots more pictures to post, but I don't want to give them all to you at once. You have to have something to look forward to, right? There is much more to come in the next few days. Get ready to be Junified!

Hiya Al Pal

On my way out to California this weekend I was able to see my friend Allison in Phoenix. We had a short but sweet overnight visit. This was a last minute snap just before she dropped me off at the airport.

Before dropping me off, we stopped at Dutch Brother's Coffee, in honor of my dear Dutch darling's heritage. Yo Hoekstra!

Yes, that's my driver's license behind the cup. Yes, the one where I look like a librarian going to a funeral in the rain. Yes, the one I accidentally signed Nicole PORKER.

My Sweet Husband

Last Monday was a particularly hard day at work. When I came home that afternoon, I found him putting some cookie dough I had made on a cookie sheet. I went bananas with love feelings. He said, "Your mom told me a long time ago that if you were having a hard day, you needed chocolate chip cookies." Then, he said, "Oh, darn! I forgot to take back the first DVD in the John Adams documentary series. Oh, wait! That's the second DVD!" What a doll face! We skipped dinner and just ate cookies and watched the DVD for the rest of the night. Sigh...

You can see him squirreling away some dough in his cheeks. :)

Boom Boom Pow!

For the Homecoming festivities at Whitefield, some teachers and I got together and danced to the song, "Boom Boom Pow." Our favorite part is dressing up and acting crazy. Mr. Unsicker looks like a cross between the Tin Man and Gene Simmons.

Mr. Petersen, who has no hair, is enjoying his blond Elvis look.

We're missing my girl Mrs. Pinkett-Smith in this picture, but here are the rest of the Spartans!

The Flood of 2009

I know that the floods in Atlanta made the national news a few weeks ago, but I'm just now posting pictures. Sorry! This first one was taken Monday night, when the rains first started getting heavy. Nathan had the idea to run around outside in the rain, simply because we were adults and didn't have parents telling us that we would catch our deaths. I think we lasted three minutes and two mailboxes up the street before it got cold and I imagined slimy things between my toes. We went inside and took a picture of our soaked selves, just for fun.

Tuesday it rained heavily - and I mean HEAVILY - all day long. By the end of the school day, all after school activities were canceled (the ball fields were flooded all the way to the top of the bleachers!) and parents were instructed to pick up their kids, as road conditions were worsening. When I got home from school, Nathan was eager to go down to the new bridge by our house to see the swollen river, but I was too scared! He took Aaron, our friend and neighbor, and came back in about 30 minutes. Nathan reported that he saw our headmaster at the bridge - "with HIS wife," he added - and that I wouldn't be having school the next day. Sure enough, about an hour later, I got a text from my secretary letting me know about school being canceled. On the radio we kept hearing that the rivers and creeks were overflowing into people's homes and business and even onto major highways!

The next day, the perimeter highway around our city was shut down completely, and most schools and businesses in the area were closed, including Nathan's and mine. So... I slept in and then got brave enough to go to the bridge the next day with Nathan. These are the pictures we took there.

This is a picture of the Chattahoochee River. It was about four times its usual width. It overflowed into our backyard "lake" and started a current.

Yes, that's a semi truck underwater, just about to float away.

The left side of the picture shows these train cars about three fourths of the way underwater. On the right is a business right next to our neighborhood.

This is the cemetery right across the street from our neighborhood. The river was covering about a third of the graves there.

We praise God for his goodness and mercy that we are safe and dry, and there was no damage to our property.