Catch up

Wow, where has time gone? There has been so much going on the past little while. I am not good at downloading my pictures from the camera so this time I won't have pictures but will get some soon.

I will start with September (was that really 3 months ago)! We didn't forget and we celebrated well, Ryan's 29 birthday on the 7th. What a young one!! So I was a garage sale goer this summer and I found a really great (never used) table saw for Ryan. I know, I know, a dentist and table saw aren't the best of friends, but he loves wood work and he promises to be very careful, so there you go! Brooke and Syd helped me make a great card and were so excited to give it to him. We also made it over to family to visit and had a birthday party with all our families for the firt time in 5 years. It was a blast, Costco cake and all.

The end of September Ryan also got to do something he truely loves, salmon fishing in Washington State. He made the trip to his cousin's house along with his Dad and brother Mike. I can't say it was the greatest ever, rain, rain, rain, made the fishing not too great and they came home with bruised egos. Les did catch one, a sucker!! Oh well maybe next year.

On to October... On the 6th Ryan and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. It was General Conference weekend and we made our way to southeast Idaho for a baptism. I had in my mind something planned for the next weekend when we would be home and be able to do something. Well my great man had some plans of his own and surprised me with an overnight trip while my parents watched the girls. I had no idea. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have Ryan as my husband and best friend. I can't wait for the next 7 years!

On October 11th my little Sydney, my baby, turned 3 years old. What a big girl. She is always so happy and is the best player. While Brooke likes to be by my side, Syd is up playing with her dolls. She is so loyal and loves us to death and of course we love her the same in return. She had been wanting a barbie doll with a horse that really bends his legs and whinnies while he jumps. It was so fun to see her happy little face when she opened up that present. It was priceless. We had a pizza party and bubble gum icecream and of course we can't forget the purple cake. She didn't care what it was as long as it was purple. We often hear her saying, "I like that because purple is my favorite".
I love my girls so much, I don't know what I did before they came!


Throughout October, Ryan went hunting for deer and elk. Luckily (for myself) he didn't get a deer, disappointing for him though. I am not a big venison fan ever since he made me deer steak when I was in my first trimester with Brooke, not a fond memory! But he did get an elk, a great story I will let him tell, wolf, coyote, bear or at least one of those and all.


On October 30th I turned the big 3 0. It was a great day. Ryan made me a cake and I enjoyed my golden birthday(turning 30 on the 30th). I'm not too sad to leave my 20's they were fun but I can tell my 30's are going to be much more. First I have a better sense of who I am and what I want out of life and second I'm not going to worry about getting older, life is just going to get better!


Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays I think mostly because of the great memories I have of being little, the leaves falling and being excited for my birthday and then going trick or treating and getting lots of candy. Well it was no different this year, although I didn't dress up, I got to live through Brooke and Sydney for this part. Brooke was a doctor and Syd was Sleeping Beauty. They had so much fun and lookes so cute. For work Ryan was Mr. Incredilbe. He wanted to be Spider Man because the people at work call him spidy. They think he looks like Toby McGuire. No luck finding a spider man costume though and he had a Mr. Incredible t-shirt from my brother who worked for direct TV so that is how Ryan Parr (aka Mr Incredible came to the Kidman house).


Enough for now, I will do November and December soon.

A Day Full Of Emotions

My day has been full of mixed emotions. Today would have been the due date of our sweet little Rachel. While the day was hard and I was weepy and emotional at different times throughout it I also had such a great peace and comfort knowing that this was the plan our Heavenly Father, Rachel and Ryan & I along with Brooke and Sydney agreed to. Would it be easy? No, the path has been hard but we have never been left alone. The Savior and our Heavenly Father knew we would need Them along with family and friends to help us get throught this. I truly have been blessed with a comfort that comes out of nowhere sometimes it feel like. What a perfect plan we had set before us, nothing was left out.

I think of her often and wonder what her life would have been like here with us. I have read some good books that have strenthened my testimony and shed a little light on why this had to happen and what will happen in the life to come. Ryan and I have stayed close and I am so grateful to him for his love and understanding, I'm not too easy to live with somedays :)

This is Rachel Lynn

She was perfect, just needed a little more time to grow.

These are all some different memories that we were given to always keep her close in our hearts. The top left is a Willow Tree statue called "The Angel of Remembrance" given by my brother Drew and his wife and one of my best friends Kellie, thank you again. The flowers are some from the many we received, and the other Willow Tree box is Mother and child from my Aunt Carrie. The hospital had a company come and they were able to get an impression of Rachel's hand and foot. This was a surprise to me, a great one. And the beautiful frame for the picture was from Ryan's Mom and Dad.

IT'S OFFICIAL.....

It's official I have a kindergartener.....she started on Monday.

Brooke has been so excited to start kindergarten and that has been the subject of conversation for the last little while. We have been talking it up so that she would be exctied and not be scared to get on the bus and be gone all afternoon. Well I really think all that talk was for me instead. Brooke has done really great and I am the one that was afraid if she would be fine on the bus and get to her classroom okay. My confession: I followed the bus to school and without her seeing me I made sure she made it to her classroom. Of course she made it just fine and was all smiles. I forget how much she can do and that she is growing up! As the bus pulled away from our house the tears came (what a baby, I know!). I am glad she is growing and learning and that she can be independant, as long as she comes home and gives me a hug. I LOVE BEING A MOM. Even through the hard times I would never give it up!

So thank you Brooke and Sydney for being my daughters and loving me.

Ryan's shadows

Daddy's girls through and through! Brooke and Sydney absolutely adore their Dad and I think he loves that they want to do what he is doing. Hey we might even have a future dentist on our hands.

Ryan works late on Tuesday nights and when he gets home we have dinner ready for him to eat. The only thing is that Syd thinks she needs to share Daddy's food with him. Both Brooke and Syd have him wrapped around their little finger and he does what his princesses want. What a softy!!!

I am glad these 3 have a special bond. From experience I know there is a wonderful friendship that can be had between a daughter and father. My own Dad is so amazing and great. There is nothing better than being Daddy's little princess!!! (even after you're married) haha

Bings and Goldens

June in Emmett, ID means cherries! We traveled the 20 miles north so we could have cherries to our hearts content. There are quite a few u-pick orchards and we found one that we liked and had cherries where we didn't have to walk back through the trees too far getting more cherries smashed on the bottoms of our shoes. We got lots of bings and quite a few goldens as well. My personal favorite were the goldens this year as they don't make the mess that bings do and they were also sweeter. We had fun picking one weekend with just us, and then the next weekend Ryan's Mom Patty and his brother Mike came and we loaded up some more. Ryan had to work and so he isn't in these pics. We have made cherry pie and a few other recipes with cherries and just enjoyed eating the rest.

I'm pretty sure she ate more than she put in the bucket!
Also on this trip we were going to visit the old ghost town of Pearl, ID. We got on the old gravel road and read a mileage sign that said Pearl was only 9 miles. It was fun driving and feeling like I was up on my Grandpa's ranch in SE Idaho. Well we drove some, and then some more and when we reached our 9 miles and a little more there was no ghost town in sight. It was nap time and hot and we were all tired so decided to turn around and head for home.

Where's Pearl?

As we were driving this deer was in the middle of the road. It ran off quickly but not before Mike was able to get it on camera

Kids say and do the craziest things!

It is so fun being a Mom to my 2 little girls Brooke and Sydney. I thought I would pass on some fun things that have been said and done in our house the last few weeks.

Recently we were flipping channels and stopped on a PBS show showing the Weiser, ID fiddle festival. They were amazing, especially the little boys that won the national competition (who are from the Treasure Valley!) For those of you who don't know, that includes Boise, Meridian etc. None of us play the fiddle or violin but were intrigued by their talent.

At the end we asked Brooke if she wanted to learn how to play the violin or fiddle and her response was this!

"No I think I want to play the flute, I already know how to play the violin." She has never even held a violin! "It is really easy, you just hold it under your chin, move your hand around and push the stick back and forth." At this point we are holding back our laughter as she then explains that is why she wants to learn to play the flute.

This next one is also Brooke: She is talking to Ryan, telling him what she told the neighbor girl.

Brooke:"I told Briana that you are popular." Ryan:"you did?" Brooke: "yah I told her you were popular because you wouldn't let me go to her house and play." Ryan: Do you know what popular is?" Brooke: " Yah it means you're mean!" Then they argued back and forth about the definition of popular!! Apparently at our house we don't want to be popular.

Here is one from Sydney: Brooke was in the bathroom and hollered to Syd to come and hold her hand. (I know this sounds weird already, but you gotta do what you gotta do). Sydney says "just a minute" and pulls the play telephone that she is playing with to the bathroom door, leaves it there, but before going in tells the phone, "You better stay out here phone, it is going to be stinky!!!"

Kids are so cute!!

I thought I would throw in a picture of the girls and Grandpa Kidman, aka Grandpa Les. This was in April and the day turned into a cold windy one and so this is how we roasted some dogs.

Sunny days in Meridian

These are the famous farmers of Meridian! We have had so much fun with our garden. This was taken a few weeks ago and you should see it now. We have been harvesting lettuce, peas, and small carrots. The radishes were done a few weeks ago. Ryan was so excited about his garden this year that when we had a warm stretch in March he planted the peas, lettuce, radishes, and onions. Since then we have added green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, cucumbers, zucchini, red and green bell peppers, jalapenos, spaghetti squash, and a watermelon. We hope to have a bounteous harvest! I guess we also have a bunch of strawberries and some raspberry bushes.

Brooke and Sydney are just like their Dad and always want to be in the garden. They are great little helpers. We have sunflowers bordering the west side and they are lucky to even be alive after the girls walked all over them!
After Ryan planted some things in March, Brooke took the seeds from an apple she was eating and without telling me went and planted them outside. She then proceeded to have me come and see and this is where she planted them, on the patio! She even watered them. Maybe we forgot to fully explain the process of planting and growing!

Syd is always so happy and more often than not this is what I find her doing during the day, whether it is in the house or outside. One day she will be such a great big sister!

Our Hello was also Goodbye

We just wanted to share some of our recent news with you. It has been a while since we have updated but there is a very good reason for that. As some of you may know, we were expecting our third child in September. We were very excited to find out the gender of our little one and were getting ready to schedule the ultrasound appointment. Jamie went to the doctor at 20 weeks and was a little apprehensive as she was not feeling as much movement as she had in the past. A mother's intuition is usually right and unfortunately that held true. For some reason, most likely a cord accident, our little one had passed away. After the initial shock and awe we then had to answer that inevitable question of what now. After much prayer we decided it best to deliver our young child, having the opportunity to hold her precious body and start some of the grieving process. Rachel Lynn Kidman was delivered April 26 2007 at 11:51 pm, weighing 8 oz. and 8 1/4 inches long. It has been a very hard process but we are on the mend. There are times when we both start to weep for no reason but we are doing good. Thank goodness we understand the plan of salvation and that this is not the end of the road. There is a life after this earth, a place of beauty and restoration. Might we all live worthy of it and may God bless each of you.

LOOK WHO'S 5

I can't believe I have a 5 year old. We have been anticipating this birthday for quite awhile now. Brooke didn't think it would ever come! This, among a few other things, is from Grandma and Grandpa Kidman. They were able to come over a few days before the big day and so Brooke celebrated a little early with them. Birthday party fun. We had the party on Saturday the 19th. Her friend here is Brooklyn.

Syd was in the crowd and loving it. Here are the friends, Tara, Brynne, Marren, Nathan, Logann, and Braxton!
Pinata with lots of candy. I'm glad there is a dentist in the family!! Ryan was brave holding it on the broom handle, with only a few close calls.
The birthday cupcakes! I can do so many things now that I am 5!!! (her words)

We are still here

Well it has been a long time but I do have a good excuse. For the last 3 or so months I just haven't had any energy and not feeling too well. Three weeks ago we moved into our new house and it has been crazy and fun all at the same time. (As fun as not feeling too well can go)!

In the first week of September we are going to be welcoming a new little one into our family!!! We are very excited and the girls are more so than us. For some reason this time I have been more sick than I was with either girl, thus the lack of me doing anything extra. It has been no fun and the medicine I was on made me tired all day. I am 16 weeks now so hopefully soon I will be back to normal.
Brooke and Syd have been very cute about the new baby with questions like: Mom, can you still take a shower with the baby in your tummy? (Brooke) If it is a girl we can name her Ariel or Cinderella. (Sydney)
Ryan has been a trooper and taken on the role of Mom. I couldn't do it without him! What a great guy!!! Dentist by day and Dad/Mom by night.
I will get some pics from some of the activities we have been up to soon.

Odds and Ends

Most of the Park cousins!

Sydney took very seriously her job as a star in our Christmas nativity. Brooke didn't want to dress up at all so she got to be some gifts!! It was a fun night.

I know this is strange first looking at it! At one of our Christmas parties the girls had to dress Ryan up like a snowman using toilet paper. They had lots of fun and help from Ryan's cousin Stephanie.
My amaryillis! It was fun watching it grow and blossom. 6 total flowers from one bulb!
Ryan and I spent a few nights putting this 1000 piece puzzle together. It was so addicting and when ever we both had spare moments we were at the table trying to fit pieces together.

Our beautiful girls! It was picture day at preschool for Brooke and of course Syd wanted her picture too. They are really looking quite a bit alike! This was just 2 weeks ago.

It's no fun being sick

Well for the last week we have had some sick "kids" at our house. Ryan and Brooke have not been feeling well. After 2 trips to the doctor in one day and 4 hours of waiting, we found out Brooke was getting over the flu and also has strep throat. Ryan was diagnosed with the flu and was just miserable for 3 or 4 days. Luckily Sydney and I have been well. I can tell Brooke is on the mend because today she is back at her usual activity: making Syd scream!

I will get some more pics put on from Christmas and January when I figure out what is wrong with the camera and the new memory card.