Welcome to the Parks Family Site

Colton Arthur Parks was born at 4:40pm on 6/6/08 weighing 7 lbs 10.9 oz and 19 inches long.

Sorry for the site not being updated for a while but we have been busy with the birth and new baby as well as buying and moving into a new house in Estill Springs, TN.  Visit us soon because I plan to dramatically change and update the site, which will serve as a quick place to find the latest info on the family including pictures and video.

The last 2 years of my life have been crazy and overly chaotic.

Jonathan and I met,

• 6 months later I moved 3 hours away from the only place I’ve known as home,
• 5 months later we got married, 2 months later we moved to another state,
• 6 months later we had a wedding,
• 4 months later we found out we were pregnant,

• 6 months later we are now looking for our first home.

We have accomplished what many take nearly a decade to do in less than 2 years. The support of our family and friends and the happiness that we have together has made it possible for many great things to happen in our life. We have realized that anything is possible. We are each others source for strength and motivation and it has paid off.

Some might feel that we have moved too fast but we feel everyone else moves too slow. We don’t let opportunity pass us by and have taken risks that have given us big rewards.

As I sit and think about the last 2 years, I have only 1 regret and that is not having met Jonathan sooner. We are excited about the coming our baby and the impending journey of finding our first house. We have experienced many firsts together and there is no one that I would rather share these “firsts” in my life with.

I really appreciate everyone in my life that has helped me become the person that I am today. I couldn’t be happier with where my life has taken me and the things that with Jonathan, we have accomplished together, holding each others hand through it all.

Holli is 25 weeks and 5 days pregnant (she switches over on Wednesdays).

Colton is making very good progress and is still due June 18th. The Dr. has confirmed that everything is going along as planned. As much as Colton is kicking, Holli has a strong feeling he will be a week early and is shooting for June 12th. Place your bets on the due date now before its too late, as there are only about 14 weeks left.The nursery is coming along and the only thing its missing is a baby. Colton’s heartbeat has been strong and he is quite active. The 18 week ultrasound showed him doing constant somersaults, staying still barely long enough for us to get a clear view and confirm that he is in fact a boy.

Many people have wondered about the origin of Colton Arthur. Holli felt it important to name her first born son after her father. Robert and Lynn were both thrown out and the alternative was to name him after the place Holli’s father grew up and has so many fond memories of, Coalton, OH; The spelling is different but the point gets across. Colton will be the 4th generation on Jonathan’s side with the middle name “Arthur”.

Holli and Jonathan are very excited to welcome Colton and can’t wait for the family to meet him.

Before Jonathan and I got married we discussed our goals for the future and we both agreed that we wanted a family. Soon after our wedding ceremony in June, we decided to begin trying. Several months and no luck, we began hearing “it will happen when you’re not thinking about it.”

One day in early October on my way home from work, something told me to stop by the drugstore and purchase a pregnancy test. I had a “feeling”. I decided to purchase the 2 pack and took them home to see if my feeling had substance. At this point, I was not late and had no reason to think I was pregnant except for my gut telling me that I was. I got home and Jonathan was cooking dinner so I decided I might as well take the tests.

I took the first test and it looked like a faint ‘+’ but I wasn’t sure since it was so hard to see that I immediately took test #2. Test 2 provided the same faint ‘+’. I called to Jonathan to confirm what I saw and we both looked at each other with disbelief and amazement. I decided I needed to be extra sure so back to the drugstore we went and got a 3 pack. I went home and took all 3 back to back just to be sure and they all came back with a ‘+’. After 5 positive results we began the phone calls. Jonathan called his Mom while I called my parents. All were happy and shocked at the same time.

The following day we awoke early and went to the Dr. for a blood test just to be sure. After we told the Dr. how many positive results we had received she assured us that I was pregnant and did the blood test which confirmed what we already knew. She estimated me to be about 4 weeks and we began preparing for Colton’s arrival.

I had my first Dr. appt. on October 30 and the first ultrasound the following day on Halloween. Our first ultrasound didn’t show much but an egg and a very faint heartbeat but it was then that it all felt real and finally began sinking in.

Jonathan and I couldn’t be more excited and ready to share the love we have for each other with someone that we created.

How we met, to most, isn’t very spectacular or really that romantic, but to us it is the most awesome thing to ever happen, well, at least until Colton is here. I’m not going to go into great depth but I am going to give a general description of events.

How we met in a nutshell: over the internet, on a site where we both had a profile set up.
(Pause for the shock to settle)

Meeting

Holli contacted me first, a fact I would like to clearly point out, probably because in my profile I mentioned graduating soon with an engineering degree: this was sometime in November of 2005. We talked mostly through AIM for a long time, liked each other’s personalities and came to the conclusion the other wasn’t an ax murderer. Toward the end of January 2006 we decided to meet for the first time in Birmingham, AL.

No one was killed and we must have liked each other, spending several months commuting back and forth until May when Holli moved to Huntsville.

Marriage

Those were some great times, so great in fact, that on October 20, 2006 we decided we to get married and did so at the Madison County Courthouse in Huntsville, AL. A few signatures, 50 dollars, and a small ceremony with us and a judge under the county seal, we were pronounced husband and wife by the state of Alabama.

Later, after I landed a good job, we moved to Manchester, TN near where I grew up. Wanting our family and friends to share in our happiness at a place special to both of us, but needing time to plan the event while moving, we held had a wedding ceremony atop Monte Sano Mountain on June 16, 2007.

So there you have it, the basic story of how Holli and I met and came to be married. I hope that it wasn’t a shock or disappointment to anyone. I couldn’t be happier the way things turned out.