The Journey of Parenthood…

Family Fun: April 2016

This is all of our family fun from April!

When we build our house we kept things pretty basic and had many plans to change things up with time. The time has come to do our outdoor kitchen! It’s honestly not something I’ve been too pumped about. I hear “outdoor kitchen” and I think “pollen.” But Zach worked hard and his vision really came to life and I’ve been BLOWN AWAY by the end result. Part of our deal was that I’d get to make the space look more cohesive with our style and it was fun picking and choosing things to bring it al together.

Zach is VERY handy and SO creative and this kitchen has been another shining example of what he can do! However, it was also SO hard because of his back issues. It’s the first real project he’s done since the wreck in 2014 and really had a hard time doing it. At current time, the kitchen still isn’t fully completed due to his back issues and having to have surgery. I love where it’s at though and know we will enjoy it for many years to come!

Picking out chairs, cushions and a rug!

Chairs are from Target (random, right?)

Rug is from Pier 1

Bar stools are from Hayneedle

New furniture means a ton of fun boxes…and an epic fort, of course!

In prepping for our big trip I got my ring cleaned. It’s one of those things I NEVER remember to do and when I do it LOVE IT! 

You know you are a tad bit overly organized when you pack your kids outfits in gallon size bags, labeled for which day they should wear each one haha

Leading up to our trip Zach actually had to go out of town for work. I wanted to LIVE IT UP with the kids and make a fun memory together so we went to CFA for Kid’s Night for dinner and THEN went to The Mix after for dessert. I know, cool mom status over here!

Just me and my babies living it up!

The cow is pretty hilarious!

Tuesdays at The Mix you get ½ off if you wear your shirt so Kye and I threw on some shirts! #dealz

A girl after my own heart!

I also wanted to make sure to have a GNO with some friends before we left town. Girl time is SO important to me. I am a person who enjoys being around others and my friends are family! We met up at an awesome hamburger place (where I got a PEANUT BUTTER BURGER omg AMAZING) and had fun laughing and taking pics together. So thankful for great friends and great times!

Having a van is great, having a million car seats is not haha

I am a food hoarder. I don’t know where I get it from but I totally hoard food. I keep stuff WAY too long and then will find it in my pantry. I recently scrolled through my IG account and laughed out loud at how many times I’ve posted expired food I’ve found in my pantry!

I remember BUYING this box of churros! Zach and I were NEWLYWEDS and did our first big shopping trip as a married couple and Zach said he’d never had a churro so I bought them to make them for him as a surprise. Well. 3 houses, 3 kids, and 9 years later and I think it’s safe to say he might as well go to Disney and get a churro 😉 

I have been really loving the whole “Capsule Closet” trend I keep seeing. I know I’ll never be able to part with enough stuff to actually have a “capsule closet” but it’s been great slowly purging stuff. I did a HUGE clean out of my drawers and got rid of a ton of clothes and was able to reorganize my jewelry. No more losing stuff! I want to keep it all nice and neat!

We celebrated Mr. John’s (our family minister at church) birthday from church this month. He was out of town on his birthday and it was SO cute that the entire congregation wore little paper bowties! We all sent him well wishes and he’s such a blessing to our lives!

I’ve been super proud of Robyn and her weight loss/get healthy journey! We talk literally 24/7 and she’s been a big influence on me lately! I got STUCK with my weight loss and was frustrated and annoyed and I saw her results from Jan – March so in March I bought a Fitbit and it’s been AWESOME! It’s really so motivating and has helped me a ton. It has truly changed my lifestyle completely. We have become ALL about some family walks around here and it’s great to get out of the house, get moving, and breathe that fresh air. April was SUPER pretty which made it extra fun (July…notsomuch)

While walking in MY neighborhood I noticed THIS. UM. BLUE DOOR. If I had the time to deal with it I’d be emailing the HOA and letting them know we wanna change our door back to BLUE!!! Right?!?!

Next year Britt will have school every day so she won’t be able to visit Kye at school for lunch. I wanted to make sure to take the girls at least once (other than when we went for his bday) to eat with him. They LOVED it and he LOVED having them. His class was so precious with them too! 

Every time I visit the school I think “whew, I’m glad I’m not a teacher” Y’all I can’t even imagine 28 kids all day everyday!!! 

It seems like when things go downhill, they go all at once. Zach’s back was struggling BIG TIME and it was like BAM! A ton of stuff started happening around the house. We had massive plumbing problems, a ton of internet issues, and just random junk like this would happen. Heavy, solid wood shelf randomly falling. Without Zach able to help it just stayed down for awhile until Jordan happened to come by and I asked him put it up for me!

Britt may be getting over the whole coordinate outfits with sister thing huh? 😉

The very last day of the month we were able to SWIM in our pool for the first time! And y’all it was too cold still for me. I got in but not very long. The kids were PUMPED though and we rigged up some floats so Zach could sit comfortably and still be “part of” (it KILLED him that he couldn’t toss the kids in the water!)

Parker family pool officially open for summer!

Most of our month of April was our amazing trip to Cali! You can read all the posts about the trip here! 

Emily Parker
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