Bravery is...

jumping off the high dive...
without even flinching.

First Day of School

Ashton and Tera are now on their second week of school at Columbia Elementary. So far I am impressed with the teachers and the school. The kids looked adorable on their first day. It was a little sad and scary dropping them off and it is weird just having one at home with me for a big chunk of the day. Mazzi and I have some quality time together while these cute kids are filling their brains full of knowledge!

Ashton started 1st grade with Mrs. Bandell. When he came home from school he said, "Guess what I liked the most at school. Reading, Writing or Recess?" I took a wild guess, "Recess?" "No," Ashon replied, "I like them ALL!" This made me very happy. He is doing really well at reading and I think he is getting the hang of his sight words.

Little Miss Tera began FULL DAY Kindergarten with Mrs. Wilson. I don't believe in full day kindergarten, but that is what they have here. She was happy to have a girl teacher and said she did not want a boy teacher. When I went to pick them up after their first day of school she was a little disappointed because she wanted to ride the bus. I told her she could ride it the next day, to which she said "Is it hard to ride the bus?" "No" I said, "You just sit there." I don't drive it?" This was bit of a let down for Tera who apparently envisioned driving the bus full of students home!

When I went to check on the kids at lunch (I missed them) Ashton was wandering around eating his lunch looking for the rest of his class who was already at recces. We found them and then he was perfectly happy to watch them play until he finished eating. Then I went to check on Tera. She was running around with a little girl playing tag. She looked so happy that I didn't worry about her again. She is making friends quickly and is anxious to start get homework (and I am sure Ashton would happily give his to her). I love these kids and miss them during the day.

Matt's life in... HE Double Hockey Stick.

Here's a brief description of Matt's first four weeks in the CHP Academy. Only 24 more weeks to go!

*Each day they get yelled at. Called Losers, slobs, trash etc.
* They have to eat their meals within three minutes. When one cadet didn't
finish in time they had to hold full plank position on their knuckles on rocky
pavement for five minutes (Matt has scabs on his knuckles to prove it)
*Matt accidentally called his roommate a Sergent (instead of a cadet) when talking to a staff officer so had to do push ups until he couldn't do anymore. When the officer thought he saw a smile on Matt's face he called him "smiley" and made him face the other cadets and smile the whole time.
* Matt misspelled Santa Cruz on a form so had to re-fill out the paperwork and
get yelled at some more
* Did more push ups for bringing a key into Physical training when he wasn't
supposed to. After which he did more push ups in his testing. That day alone he thinks he did over 200 push ups.
* Ended the first week with sore shoulders which he had to ice all weekend long.
*Lost five pounds the first week.
*Failed a test on codes (Which I don't understand because I quizzed him and he
knew them all)
* Failed a test on the rules of the academy (missed one question too many to
pass)so he had to write an outline using a stencil. This took about 15 hours of
his weekend (which also happened to be his b.day) to complete
*Got put on the fat table (the table where anyone over a certain body fat percentage eats) Most of the class is on the fat table, I think over 90%
* Now he eats a lot of baked fish and fruit.
* Hurt his back doing exercises- so purchased a membership to massage envy
where he will enjoy a monthly massage when his body has had it.
*Kept having to re-write his last name on t shirts because the staff didn't like how he wrote on them. When they didn't like them they would just mark all over them with sharpies and make them redo them. Matt and his roommates would spend a few hours each night re-doing shirts
* Lost seven more pounds.
* Went to the wrong spot in line so got yelled at.
* Didn't' do mountain climbers high enough so got yelled at (sensing a theme?)
* Did a exercise where they would them dive on the wet grass and roll around on it while they yelled "what makes the grass grow?" and they would answer "sweat makes the grass grow."
* The last two days they have gotten up around 4:30 am and then they have not been excused until 9:00 pm. that is a 16 1/2 hour day (If I did my math right.)


Those are just a few of the highlights. If it sounds like Matt is doing nothing right, it's because that's how they are supposed to make them feel. He's handling it very well though and we look forward to the weekends where we get to see him. He is looking good! He is looking forward to tomorrow where they will begin driving and driving testing. I knew these six months would be hard, but I didn't think I would ever question Matt's passing the academy. But the first couple weeks it was so hard on him mentally and physically that it made me wonder. I now feel confident that he will make it through. But not without a lot of challenges, good stories and memories. I am so grateful to Matt for doing this and going through this for our family. He's a good guy.

Washington/Idaho trip

We attended the Parrish Family reunion (my Mom's side) the first week in August. We had a lot of driving up to Stoneridge Idaho but it was worth it to be surrounded be our fun, sweet family and to catch up with several of my cousins that I don't get to see enough. We enjoyed playing sports, eating and doing skits. For keepsake purposes here is the skit our family did- sung to the tune of Little Mermaids "Part of your World."




" Look at this place, isn't it neat...Hey everyone are you ready to compete?

Wouldn't you think were the family...who as everything?

We've got Ashton and Tera and Mazzi...We've got Kyra and Marilyn &Sandra.

You want the rest of the family? Well too bad,their not here, you've got us....

We want to be where the Parrish family is Playing cribbage and tennis and ping pong.

Eating and swimming and doing (What do you call them)Cheezy skits.

Here at Stoneridge in Idaho Where all the cool people want to go.

Look and you'll see... We're glad to be...Part of your world!

This is my gorgeous cousin, Michelle, who is due in just a few weeks. We were always inseparable as young kids any time we got together. I know that if we lived by each other now we would hang out any chance we got. We enjoyed lunch out and a shopping trip together.

Ashton made buddies with Rachelle's boy Carter. Ashton met his match with Carter. After wrestling together the first evening I think they both learned to respect each other and then played great together the rest of the time. Rachelle and I. I love this girl! When she lived with us over a summer we would always quote a part of a skit off SNL (I think that's what it is off of) "If you were a hot dog would you pour ketchup all over yourself and eat yourself?" We would! I don't know why but we felt the need to ask everyone that question. Hot dogs and Rachelle will always hold a special place in my heart.

My favorite part of the Reunion involved playing 3 on 3 against Rachelle's sisters. Sandra and Savannah were on my team. I am the only one who has ever played basketball on our team and I spent a good chunk of my last basketball years on the bench. I wish we had got video because we were laughing the whole time. Rachelle and her sisters actually knew what they were doing and we were just randomly throwing the ball up and relying on fouls to get the ball from them. But we had fun.

Mazzi and my cousin Savannah. Savannah is a beautiful girl and is so refreshing to be around. Both my girls love her because she is so good to them and plays with them. Mazzi took Savannah's hand this day and led her to the park to play with her.

Ashton and my cousin Luke swimming in G.G's pool. They didn't get out of the pool for four hours.

The ladies hanging out by the pool. We had a nice time watching the kids swim while we chatted.

Tera adores my Grandma (who she calls G.G for Great grandma) Grandma has gift of making everyone feel special and loved and I think Tera feels extra special around her. We went out to my Grandpas apple orchard and enjoyed taking the kids for rides on the quad.

The kids with their Nana and Great Grandpa Scrimsher.

My sister-in-law Sandra was able to come to the family reunion with us and it was so fun having her there. She is so easy to be around and is just happy, silly and cute. We had fun dressing up in my Grandmas old outfits. I am so glad my brother picked such a awesome girl to be his wife.. and that she was silly enough to say yes!

Don't grow up too fast...

Matt said the hardest thing about being in the academy is missing his baby girl. She is changing so much each week and learning new words and having more attitude that I can see why its hard for him to be away.

She is starting to communicate a lot and she never leaves us wondering what she wants. Some of her words are:
Ma ma* Da da*Ba ba (any kind of fluid) *Nack (snack)* Nana*Tat (Cat)* Puppy *Bubbles * Tree *Eye * Mine (of course!) * Shoe (she is obsessed with shoes)

She also is fascinated by noses and goes around pointing to every ones nose and reaches out to touch them. As soon as she gets out of the bath, before I even have a diaper on her, she is in her room putting necklaces and shoes on. She is definitely a girl! We love you Mazzi! Don't grow up too fast!

20 months old

Blackberry Pickin'

Since we've been in Redding, the kids have discovered a love for blackberries. At Matt's parents house they have an abundance of blackberry bushes in their backyard. The kids love to go out and pick them. Mazzi especially loves that she can find and bush and help herself to a treat. So far we have made a blackberry pie and a cobbler.... they are mighty tasty!

My Lake

Many of my childhood summer days were spent on Lake Shasta in our boat "Dry Sundae" (cleverly named by my Dad because we didn't go out on the lake on Sunday). So, I think of this as "My Lake." It has been fun taking the kids out on the boat and on the jet skis with my parents and with Matt when he's around) and making memories with them and reminiscing on the times I spent on the lake.... terrified to try knee boarding or skiing (but doing it anyways- cuz my Dad would make me) and jumping out of the boat with my siblings for a quick swim, begging my dad to honk the horn on the boat for us... and thinking my dad was so awesome as he busted his front and back flips on the knee board.

The kids were pretty brave trying out the knee board. Tera got a little scared, but Ashton had a smile on his face the whole time. Mazzi just enjoyed being along for the ride. She was perfect.

The kids thought the jet skis were very cool. My parents own stand up jet skis so Matt and my Dad took turns (illegally) taking them for little rides by the shore. Ashton and Tera were laughing the whole time.

What five acres looks like...

Both Matt and I's parents have quite a bit of acreage. When I was telling my friend in Southern California that my parents house was on five acres she said "You have to take pictures. I can't even imagine what five acres would look like." So... here's a little glimpse.

The kids have fun romping around in the fields. My Dad set up targets of animals for them to shoot at with their bb gun. I love watching them out in nature and each time I come to Redding I am in awe of the beauty. Summertime things get a little dry, but I still think it is beautiful.