Ugh.....Not enough time!

Thanks Aunt Susie for reminding me that I do indeed have a blog......it's been almost a month since my last post!

Things have been going very well and I can't believe how fast the summer has flown by. We've enjoyed a lot of our friends getting married the past month and look forward to another wedding this weekend. I keep asking Doug if he's getting cold feet ;)

Mom is doing well and has her surgery scheduled for next Wednesday, August 12th. Then it will be meetings with the Oncologist and chemo treatments are scheduled.

Doug has shoulder surgery on July 15th and things have been going well for him. He is now doing therapy on his shoulder and hopes to have his sling off by August 28th. The hardest part of all this is to remind him not to use his arm!

Football tryouts for the Iowa Thunder have started, can't believe we are already starting for the 2010 season. We are looking forward to college football starting in September and seeing friends. We have lots of weekend travels planned between Ames and Iowa City for the games.

Doug and I purchased a Nissan Pathfinder this past Saturday and we named her Big Red - yep, Doug got me a red vehicle...I think he's starting to come over to the good side (Go Cyclones!). We've enjoyed the extra space but Sophie isn't too sure about riding in the gigantic back end by herself just yet. I do find myself feeling like I'm driving a "momma" car, well, it will become that one of these days.

We are officially 100 days away from our wedding and cannot wait to head down to Vegas. Next month we have engagement pictures, wedding shower, invitations and cake decisions to complete. These next three months will fly!

Hope you are all doing well and maybe it won't be another month till I get this updated next time!

ps. Doug took me to Josephs over the weekend to see my wedding set that came in, absolutely stunning. He's too good to me!

Paul - Parker Life Update

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last updated our blog - sorry!
A lot has happened since June for our household....let's see....where do I start?

Our football season came to an end on June 27th vs. the St. Louis Slam. It was a close game till late in the third quarter and I'm so proud of everyone. We finished the season 5-3 and accomplished our goal of a winning season. First ever for a women's football team in the state of Iowa - Congratulations Iowa Thunder!
A week before we found out my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She made it out to the game and I was so happy to have here there. This experience has been an eye opener and is a good reminder of how precious life really is. Her cancer was caught very, very early and is slow progressing. All of these are good signs and her doctors have all given her excellent survival rates. Now it's time to decide on the type of surgery and treatment actions to follow, chemo, radiation, etc...
Grandpa Paul (my dad's dad) was diagnosed several months ago with a lung condition....thought it was cancer, turned out it's not (thank goodness), but they don't know yet what it is. Other than a few aches he's healthy and we are waiting further test results next week.
Grandpa Hazen (my mom's dad) was hospitalized last week. He went into cardiac arrest twice on Monday and his pace-maker saved his life. We think this was due to lack of heart medicine this week because he had a bacteria infection and had to cut back. He is in good spirits and feeling better.
If all of this wasn't enough, Doug had left shoulder surgery yesterday. It was a long day for a guy his size to go without food! His surgery lasted about 1.5 hours and everything went fantastic. He had a torn Lathrium (sp) from 1-5'clock on the back part of his shoulder. Needed three anchors to repair and also had to remove a piece of tissue floating aroudn. Other than this he is doing pretty well. He has been kind of loopy from the pain meds and I know not being active is going to be difficult for him. He will be in a sling fro 2-4 weeks and then he will be with the therapist for a few months.
Wedding planning is in full swing, actually, it's pretty much done. We have all the plans set for Vegas and back home. Now we just have to pay the vendors :) Bought our wedding bands the other day - ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL - can't wait to put up some wonderful pics that Annie Weaver will take. Invitations are in the mail and the Honeymoon to Mexico is booked for December.
Well, time for me to get some much needed rest and I'll write again soon!

"Once in a while, in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale." ~ Anonymous

Monday, Monday

Ugh, it's Monday, again! I've had that song by the Momma's and the Pappa's stuck in my head all day today:

"Every other day, every other day, Every other day of the week is fine, yeah But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes You can find me cryin' all of the time Monday, Monday..........."

Doug and I spent this past weekend in Minnesota for football. Unfortunately the game didn't go so hot and we ended up losing to the Minnesota Machine 20-0. The season is over half way now and with three games left we have been hit hard with injuries. We were able to spend time with a very good friend who lives in the city and enjoy some of the sites in Uptown.
I am also very proud to say that I have now officially been to the Mall of America! Doug took me there before we left town and I think I did a very good job. I only went into three stores and barely spent any money - so uncharachteristic of me! Guess that's what happens when you move the wedding up by 7 months.

We are getting ready to head to Kansas City this weekend for our last away game of the season. Doug's parents are going to this game and we are super excited to see them and finally meet Pepper!

Hope you're all doing well and I'll be better at updating this once things slow down.

Date and Place are Set - I can't believe it!

We have decided to get married at the Flamingo resort in Vegas! We are busy planning and making arrangements now that the wedding is only 159 days away. Still seems like such a long time but it's tons better than a whole year from now! ;)

Doug was so much help this weekend. He picked out the suits for all the guys, decided on the invitations and even helped with the guest list, well, sort of. He was really great at provided first names for people but didn't remember to find out correct spelling, last names or addresses - but gosh he was cute about it.

We have the best group of friends anyone could ask for. Our entire wedding party has agreed to go down and help make this a memorable event. We have the location, photographer, travel and reception back home all taken care of. Now it's time to get those invitations done and take care of the little things.....is it November yet?????

Mark Your Calendars

I can't even begin to describe how busy this week has been. Mark your calendars, the Paul - Parker wedding date has changed. We've decided to move the wedding up seven months and will now be getting married on November 14, 2009. The catch you ask.....we don't know if it will take place down in Sin City or back up in good 'ol IowA! Stay tuned for details as we plan to make a decision in the next few days....'cause we have too! Thank you so much to all of our family and friends. We can't begin to tell you how much you've helped with our decision. Your love and support for us mean the world.

Thunder Move to 4-1

As many of you know, I am playing on a women's professional football team, the Iowa Thunder (www.iowathunderfootball.com). This weekend we had our second to last home game and came away with a win 66-0! We have now moved to 4-1 and I'm looking forward to our last bye weekend this Saturday and Sunday.
Doug is the special teams coach for the Thunder and we enjoy being able to share our passion for football together. Even though he gets nervous every time I step on the field. He didn't have too much to worry about this last game so he was finally able to relax a little.
After a busy Saturday we did absolutely nothing on Sunday and I loved every minute of it! We went to the movie Angels & Demons in the afternoon, highly recommend seeing it if you liked the book, and then watched hockey the rest of the night. Now it's back to the daily grind for the rest of the week. Football on Tuesday, volleball Wednesday/Thursday and more football on Friday!
Sophie got to go to the dog park for the first time this weekend. She was a little shy around all the puppies, she acted like the new kid in school. She stuck pretty close to mom and dad but got a few laps around the park in with some friendly dogs. Stuck her face in a few water bowls and sniffed many, many butts. Pretty good weekend to be a puppy and the weather was amazing! I think she had a great time and we'll be making another trip there next weekend. I'll try and remember to take some pictures as we ran into three other Great Danes there!

New addition for the Parker's in Nixa, MO

I almost forgot to mention the most exciting news from the weekend. There is a new addition to the Parker family, Doug’s parents got a new dog and her name is Pepper. She looks adorable and we can’t wait to meet her in a few more weeks!

Is it Friday yet?!???

Well, Memorial weekend sure went fast! We didn’t end up making it out to Omaha to visit the zoo on Saturday like we had planned. The weather didn’t look like it was going to hold up so we’ll have to make it out there some other time.

Our cancelled trip to Omaha turned out to be the best thing for Sophie Monster. We took her down to the Downtown Farmer’s Market Saturday morning. Everyone seemed to have a comment to make about her, guess that’s what happens when you’re the size of a small country. She had tons of fun stepping on people’s feet, backing her rear end up into the vendor stands and enjoying all the smells that come along with the market. After that trip we took her to the BBQ competition in Valley Junction. We met up with the future Mr. and Mrs. Matt Ross and enjoyed a few beverages while scoping out the food selections. After a long day of walking around Sophie was tired and couldn’t keep her eyes open on the way home. She spent the rest of the weekend exhausted, a welcomed change of pace!

Sunday we took my dad out to O’Charley’s for his birthday lunch, had a good time visiting with my parents. After lunch we stopped by Schaffer’s so Doug could get his measurements for the Ross’s wedding coming up in July! My mom also got to see my wedding dress but we weren’t able to find the bridesmaid dresses, have to wait to show her those till one of them comes in. After all of that excitement Doug and I finally had some time to spend a few hours in Des Moines so we went looking at rings ;) what girl doesn’t like to go look at pretty diamonds?! After a few hours and several different stores we decided on our wedding sets. Procrastination will not be an issue with us; patience on the other hand will be tested as we are now 380 days away from our wedding.

Sunday evening was full of fun when we headed over to Abe and Stormy’s house for a backyard BBQ complete with a concert by Dick Prall (fabulous musician – LOVE his work). Doug and I played a few rounds of bag toss and then tried our luck at lawn darts. Now I know why those things are dangerous!

We closed out the weekend celebrations on Memorial Day with a trip up to Ames for some lunch at Hickory Park and a walk through Reimen Gardens at Iowa State University. That evening we had dinner with family to celebrate Grandpa Paul’s 79th birthday!

Busy, Busy.....

We have a break from football and an extra long weekend, but there never seem to be enough hours in the day! Saturday we'll be heading to Nebraska and going to the zoo. Sunday is full of cleaning, my dad's birthday lunch, friends BBQ at night and hopefully we will finally go shopping for the wedding rings! Monday we plan to go to Ames and walk around the gardens and then my grandpa has his birthday dinner in the evening.

It will be a super busy weekend but we're looking forward to catching up with friends and family. Then on Tuesday we'll be back at it with football practice and getting ready for when the Iowa Thunder take on MO at our next home game, May 30th at Johnston High School.