HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!!!

Today is Kristen's birthday!!! WHOOHOO!!! For her birthday weekend, she and I kicked it off with a little shopping in the mall and free facials and makeup at Origins on Friday. It was quite relaxing and our skin looked awesome along with us looking cute thanks to the makeup!! Adam joined us afterwards for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory....Yum Yum.

Saturday was an evening out on the town! We had Kris come open presents at our house and then we headed to dinner. Since she likes Starbucks so much now, I made her a coffee cup holder to fit her Starbucks cups (see picture below). Dinner was amazing at Watts Grocery and it's not a grocery store at all. It has fantastic southern homecooking made gourmet style. We all enjoyed the meal before we headed off to the Symphony. The concert was great as we heard Beethoven's Third!!! It was even better since we got discounted seats and free parking due to me being a Duke employee!

Having Kristen here in North Carolina literally makes a world of difference. For both of us, she is someone we LOVE spending time with. Whether it's having dinner together, playing games, or exploring more parts of the Triangle, it is a blessing to have such a close friend in our lives on a consistent basis. She knows us so well that we can tell her anything and everything and she is great to offer advice or just laugh along with us. We love her lots and wish her a very happy birthday and wonderful year ahead!!

[Adam's ode to Kristen now...] Kristen is a constant source of love and support, and she's one of the best listeners we know. (This is the time for all of our loves one to make a joke to themselves about how much we both talk.) I'm blessed to have someone know both Steph and me so well, and who will hang out with us pretty much every time we ask her to. And on top of that, she's a great softball player and an even better cook. I just wish she didn't encourage Steph's shopping so much... 8-)

Kristen opening presents

Pink and black coffee cup holder

Us at Dinner

Random Fact from Adam: Chuck Taylor, the person after whom the iconic Converse shoe is named, wore Converse All Stars shoes every game in high school and professionally, for the Celtics and Buffalo Germans. He complained to the company about his sore feet, and helped get better traction and ankle support for the shoes. He later became the All Star ambassador, selling the shoes to coaches and players across the country. He also held basketball clinics, the last of which was at N.C. State University in 1922. One more imprint Chuck Taylor left on the sport: he created the modern basketball, a stitchless leather ball that gave a more true bounce.

March Madness

Happy Easter Everyone!!! Hope you are enjoying time with family and friends remembering the joy we get to celebrate today! Adam and I attended our Easter service last night (Saturday) to help make more room on Sunday morning. It was a little funny getting ready for Easter service on Saturday evening, but we really enjoyed it. Our pastor has been teaching off a sermon series called "Scarred" leading up to Easter and we have each learned so much the past couple months.

In other news, the Parken home is running as usual. However, some of our close friends are in busy preparing for new baby arrivals. Therefore, I've been a little busy sewing up a few things for these little ones. Tracy and Reeve got there awesome cowboy curtains this week. I've just started Anthony's (Tony) Chicago Bears nursery set for our friends Daniel and Melinda. And what would sewing be without a trip to Joann's....which is where I had to go to get fabric for Savannah's nursery. Heather and John have decided to go pink and green for her and it's going to be pretty cute. The nursery sets are my main project these days, but I do find time to sew little things here and there for birthday presents and such....this is a very handy hobby!

In the world of work and the real world, both Adam and I are content at our jobs. Adam will stay at his job through the end of August. It is a huge blessing to have his stability while here and the convienience of him working from home. My new job is AWESOME! Duke Children's is amazing and I'm so glad to have the opportunity to work there. I've been able to treat so many different type of diagnoses and learn different therapy treatments too. I'm really enjoying making splints, learning more about feeding therapy, and I just started training on the acute floors. It's all very exciting! Even though I work at Duke, Adam does NOT approve of me cheering for them in the NCAA tournament....I guess I'm supposed to say "GO UNC!" ?!?!

In the world of fun and friends, here are a few pictures from our Fondue Fest with our small group from church. We had TONS of food and enjoyed getting to know each other a little more while stuffing our faces. The other pic is with friend Allison at a St. Patrick's Day even down in Raleigh.....

Marianna, Tracy, and Haley

Me & Allison

Alrighty, I guess that's about all the update I have for now....I'll keep you posted though!

Random Fact from Adam: The 2008 Krispy Kreme Challenge, in Raleigh, drew 3,035 runners. Their mission: run 2 miles, eat a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts, then run 2 more miles. In less than an hour. Without hurling. Some "nutritional" information about those dozen doughnuts:

• 2,400 Calories (1,200 from fat)
• 144 grams of fat (more than twice the recommended daily allowance)
• 36 grams of saturated fat
• 60 mg of Cholesterol
• 1140 mg of sodium
• 120 grams of sugar
• 14 grams of protein