5 station who?

On Friday Steve took 5 station. He's been hearing about this practical since first year of school, and it is OVER!!! It used to be called 13 station, but they changed it although there's still 13 different stations, or skills the guys have to perform and pass. It's incredibly stressful and the guys all get kinda nuts before and do all sorts of crazy things like request pizza and cookies for dinner. And study like a mad man one day so he can watch the BYU/UofU game the next night. I saw this same frustrated hand and the same slew of (appropriate) obscenities 84 times that night. I looked over at Parker one time while Steve was letting Bronco know how he felt about him and Parker was staring at Steve, wide-eyed, wth this terrified, concerned look on his face. The Boise State game wasn't any better...luckily he was at the school for the last half of the game and Parker and I didn't have to watch the madness.

5 station came and went, Steve finds out if he passed this week. He's pretty sure he did awesome, and I'm sure of it too. He's such a hard worker and balances school, me, Parker, and everyone else that needs him incredibly well. And yes, he still finds time to play with his trucks. Currently he's watching some YouTube video on remote control airplanes. The kid never stops. 

He's also started running again after he hurt his knee and loves it. I don't mind because he goes with his shirt off (oh, it's fall weather where you are? It's 108 here), and comes back looking niiiiiice. Whenever he talks to his brother, Dave, and finds out his pace or mileage, he makes a point of going out the next day and trying to beat it. I don't think they'll ever stop competing, whether it be running or insults, it will never end.

We go to the park, and love Which Wich Oreo shakes. Bliss. 

He can't suck on a straw. How do you teach this? He'll kinda suck on it if we fill it with the liquid and put the bottom of it in his mouth, but won't from the top. I die when he sits on his knees like he is in that picture on the left, it's so cute. We're making progress in the mobility department! STILL no walking (although my niece who's 5 months younger than him is!!!), but he's finally cruising furniture (after not being able to move to the right for a while???), and has better leg control when we walk with him, holding his hands. He still doesn't really have any core/upper body control. I think he really just has no desire. At all. He army crawls (I think it looks more like a worm...he slaps his arms one after the other ahead of him while his body sways side to side and pushes off with his toes) super fast all over the place, and just recently started mixing that with real 4-limb crawling. We have one more month to get him walking before the doctor wants to see him...I'm honestly not concerned, he'll walk when he wants to walk!

Meet my primary kids. Love them. The two on the left attacked my face (yes, face) with crayons. I literally had a difficult time holding them off because they were so hyped up...I begged the little one on the right for help, but he just stood there and smiled.

Life is so simple when you're 5. Your biggest decisions are in the realm of what movie should I watch this afternoon, Cars 3 or Soul Surfer? I want to be funny right now, should I make flatulent noises with my mouth on my arm or should I attack my teacher's face with crayons? How about both?

 Jason got his lungs!!!

Almost 2 weeks ago, Geri texted me and told me they got a call to go to the hospital, as there were some lungs that  might be a possibility. Woop woop! But they wouldn't know until later, and there was a possibility they wouldn't work, so keep it on the DL. Later, she let us know they were no bueno and they were headed home. It was a good practice run....

A couple days later, I got another text that they had gotten another call, and were again, headed to the hospital. We went throughout church knowing it was a possibility, but didn't say anything to anyone because it was still up in the air. Steve let our Bishop know, but told him to also keep it on the DL. We texted back and forth a couple times, trying to keep her mind off of things, just waiting to hear if it was a go or not. 10 pm that night, she texted and said they were a GO! This was it! This was the moment they and thousands of friends, family, and strangers had been building up to and waiting for and stressing over and praying for. This was insane. We facetimed with them, and Jas seemed so calm and peaceful. They were ready. It might have helped that they hadn't slept much the last 24 hours, but still, I could just tell. I was up pretty late (my mind tends to not shut-up when I want it to) and couldn't sleep. I was crying like a baby thinking about everything, then thought it'd be a brilliant idea to re-watch the TeamJason video...big mistake. So many memories flooding back of when they were living here, I miss my buddies! Many prayers were said, and I finally passed out. I kept waking up throughout the night, checking my phone for updates. The next morning, she finally texted that they were done with the 9-hour surgery and the lungs looked beautiful! So many happy tears! We talked that night, and he's such a rockstar. Since then we've gotten several updates, and we're not surprised one little bit that he's probably going home this week....they said to expect up to 6 weeks in the hospital. I wish so badly I could be there, but it just wouldn't have worked with little P in tow. 

Ger, Jas couldn't have done it without you.
(The anesthesiologist walked into the room as I took this shot, so Jas isn't even in it)

 In the last 3 weeks, Steve and I have noticed a huge difference in Parker's wiggliness! Is that a word? He's become so hyper, I think because he's more mobile, he pulls himself up and down, up and down, controlled fall back onto his bum, up and down. Shopping has obviously gotten more difficult. If he's sitting on the seat up front facing me, he's usually holding on to the handle and bouncing up and down, back and forth, moving the folding seat in and out, or if I put him in the cart, he's pulling himself up to stand and throwing my goodies out onto the floor. He's obviously thinned out a bit.

These pants used to fit! He was crawling around and they kept sliding off until they were finally left behind. On a side note, those are my running shoes! I started running again, doing a 5k in November with my running buddy. My hips are fine so far, but I'm being super cautious...

 Steve likes to squish Parker's face for fun, meanie!

Did I mention it's been 108 degrees here lately?

In the pool, I hold him on top of the water horizontally, belly down, and he kicks and splashes with his arms and legs. His new favorite thing is to put his face and mouth under the water, bring it back up, back under, back up, and act surprised every time he does it! Little weirdo! 

 We watched little Elliot the other day, Parker loves little friends, and Elliot was so cute with him! He was on his way to becoming a big brother that very moment (Elliot, not Parker thankyouverymuch).

 Went to the park again...he was playing with his favorite ball, this bouncy kickball. He loves the swing for a couple of minutes, then he usually gets this look on his face like he's about to puke.

He waves at us now, and sometimes gives me high five! Yay buddy! He says 'nana' for banana, and he's weird about food temperature. He won't eat cold things, everything has to be either warm or room-temperature. Aaaaand I'm somewhat tempted to trim his hair (the sides and back, not just the front), I just don't know what to do?!

 After 5 station, I asked Steve if he wanted to head to the beach since he now had the rest of the day off...sure! So we packed up and headed out! Parker was just begging to be burried. We had to oblige.

Steve and I dug the hole, plopped him in, and quickly threw the sand back over him until he was buried. He looked around, confused, and whimpered a little, but then I think he liked it! Usually, as soon as we put on his little mini-sunglasses, he rips them right off. So we thought it was a perfect opportunity to put some on because he couldn't do anything about it! He just sat there (duh) with his head cocked back up toward the sky looking around side to side. We could NOT stop laughing!!! We seriously contemplated leaving him and going down to the water to body board and play because we never can when he's there....BUUUUT decided against it, or whatever.

To celebrate Steve's semi-freedom (don't get me wrong, he's still super busy and has tests weekly he's usually studying for), we got a babysitter and went to check out the gourmet food trucks that are all over Orange County and LA. There was even a show where they competed for the best food award on Food Network, and this one won last year! There are TONS and they park in random places nightly, sometimes have little gatherings in parking lots where there will be 10 or so, and people just roam around and eat! My idea of a good time! We stopped at a couple different places and got a Nasty Burger, carne asada and shrimp tacos, carnitas fries, and shaved ice. It was all amazing, and we definitely plan on following more of them. We're addicts, it's OK. I'll admit it. 

The next night we got an invite for some last-minute 8th row Angel's tickets by our friends, Heather and Taylor. The seats were so much fun! There were several foul balls that flew to either side of us. The players even came ultra-close to an all-out brawl on the field. But they decided to be civil, lame. In honor of our Provo days, we hit up Chili's chips, salsa, and drinks after the game and called it a night.

 Parker fell asleep on the way home from church after driving Steve crazy because he hadn't gotten his morning nap

and I made cake. It was a good Sunday.