Summer Catch Up

Hey there! I want to write about a few things that happened these past couple months. I was gone to Utah the entire month of July, and the whole month of June I was sick as a dog (or should I say a pregnant woman). Yes, for those of you who don't know I am with child! Yeah! Todd and I were very excited. After the first month though I got very sick. This was a new development because I didn't get sick with Gabby. I was throwing up daily, and couldn't keep much down. My poor family. I really wasn't a very good wife or mother during this time. Thank goodness Todd did what he could after his 14 hr days at work. He was a trooper. I did take some meds, but without much success. The day we left for Utah, I went to the doctor. He gave me some additional medicine, and I did much better. The meds made me a bit dizzy, but it was better than throwing up. By about 12 1/2 weeks, I felt much better, and I no longer need the drugs! Yeah!

Anyway, I wanted to post some pics from Utah. We had a great time visiting with my mom. Macie got to spend 2 weeks with her Grandma and Grandpa, and she loved it!



My family loves the 4th of July. It's right up there with Christmas for me. I haven't got to spend it with my "extended" family in 4 years, so this was such a treat! The tradition is we go to the Kaysville parade, then swim at my cousins' home, then head up to Grandpa's for a BBQ and fireworks on the lawn! It was a great day!


4TH OF JULY



Grandpa Palmer is last guy on this truck. They always have him ride with the war veterans.








After the regular parade, there is a WATER parade! All the kids line up at the curb, and the parents run. There is some serious water being shot from those hoses! Below, Tyler is running for cover, and Macie is saying "bring it on!"




Macie...or drowned rat?




Todd and Macie playing lawn games.




Carson ready for his cupcake!








MACIE AND THE HORSE

My mom arranged for Macie to take a riding lesson from this fabulous place called Courage Reins. They provide riding lessons for disabled people. They usually do not allow "1 time" rides, but they agreed to let Macie do it. I was a little apprehensive because sometimes Macie is very stubborn and if she doesn't want to do something, you can't make her do it. I was really hoping she wouldn't be too nervous, and get on the horse.

They started by having her brush the horse.




Then they had her clean out his shoes. I didn't think she would do that, but she did.
They then had her lead the horse into the arena, and stand up on the platform. Here it was... the moment of truth, was she going to get on...........well before I even could worry about it she was on the horse!!



They had her throw balls in the hoops, match up colored stars on the walls, and learn to lean over and grab things from the barrels. It was much more than just riding the horse! She rode that horse for over 45 minutes! She did so great! And to say she had a good time would be an under statement!



Her teachers had a great time with her, and hope we can come back again! Way to go Macie!


Sorry this is turning out much longer than I anticipated........


GABBY'S FIRST HAIRCUT

Gabby's first haircut! We took her to a place called Cookie Cutters in Bountiful. It is a darling place for little kids. I don't really think she cared about the pink car. She basically wanted out!



Trying to be brave....


Doesn't like the blow dryer


"I hate this car, but I can see now!"



PALMER REUNION

Gabby's first Palmer reunion! She loved hanging with Grandpa De, Judy, Bob, and Sue!






GRANDPA DE'S 89TH BIRTHDAY!

We had a nice adult get together to celebrate Grandpa!



Grandpa Dan came to visit us for a couple of hours from St. George. It was great to talk with him and David. Gabby loves her Grandpa!



RANDOM CUTENESS!

Gabby spent a lot of time in Grandma's toy drawer!


Gabby and Jenner loved Judy's little chairs. Those two are so cute. I wish they got to spend
more time together!




Thanks mom for putting up with us for a month! We tried not to be as messy this time. Thanks for the beds, the meals, and fun, but mostly the love. No place is better than your mom's house.

Baby Love

This one had her pucker out for her baby the other night!



It was the funniest thing. She just walked right over to her baby, picked her up and began smooching on her! I was so glad the camera was right there.



Sometimes ya gotta show your baby some love...

Movin' On

Here she is! Our 9th grade graduate! Macie graduated from her middle school today. She technically should have moved on last year, but her teacher felt that another year with her and her staff would be good for Macie. She has done so well at Bristow. She has learned great things, become more independent, more talkative with more words, and has made good friends.

Here are the graduates with their cake at the luncheon the day before.






She's receiving her certificate from her teacher.









Gabby was exceptional, sitting on our laps for 2 1/2 hours!





As you can see she tried to make friends!



Macie did great walking across the stage to shake hands and take the photo.



The proud papa.

I have to admit that I think all the "graduating" these days from every single grade is a little silly. This was a very nice production though, and Macie had a great time! We celebrated at the new Japanese steak house in town. It's like Benihana. Todd and I love those places, and Macie laughed and laughed at the chef. It was a great night!

New Beginnings

Hello! Well since the untimely death of our camera in Colorado, led us to a life of no memories and no blogs... we purchased a new one. I did quite a bit of research online, and consulted some of my friends who have a lot of camera experience. I decided upon the Canon Rebel T1i. So far I am having a BLAST! I can't believe how much better it is than our other one. I'm still figuring it out, and am by NO MEANS an expert! I thought I'd share some of my favorite shots so far.

And my favorite......

Gabby loves the wind, and just as I went to shoot this, a gust came up! I love her hair!

3rd Annual Fishing Trip

I know I'm behind.
This is about our fishing weekend on the first of May.
Todd and I went on our annual fishing trip to Colorado. As most of you know this trip commemorates our first date. Our routine is to get up to Breckenridge on Thursday, and just hang out and relax. Friday Todd goes fishing, and I walk around town and shop. (I love Friday!) Saturday we hook up with one of Todd's friends, who is a guide, and fish the day away! This trip was no exception.


The weather Friday was pretty nice, in the 50's. I walked around town just enjoying my alone time. I don't know if being an only child has anything to do with liking to be alone, but sometimes I do. I loved walking up and down the streets, looking in the stores, and enjoying the scenery and the people. I love not having any place to be, or time limits.


Saturday morning we were up early to catch our fish! We met up with Clint, (our friend and guide) and he told us it would probably be a little cold and rainy where we were going. I knew Todd had many layers for me to put on, so I said let's go! It takes about an hour and a half to get to the river. We were going to float it this year instead of wading, so I was excited. I love being on the boat. The rocking is very peaceful to me. Anyway, we got our life-jackets on, heard the brief 'safety' lecture, and off we were!


We had fished this river before, but always by the shore. You don't get a very good feel for the rapids that way. Going down in a boat was a little eye opening. Below is a picture of the river.



Clint told me that the fishing at first would probably be a little rough. He told me to hang on to my rod and wait it out a while. That was fine with me because I really enjoy watching Todd fish and soaking in the scenery as we go by. Below is a picture of the fishing raft we were on.

Todd was standing up in the front, fishing, Clint was rowing in the middle, and I was just hangin' in the back. I had my camera out, trying to get a good shot of Todd catching a fish. It was a little hard because when he caught them, he released them so fast, usually right in front of him so I couldn't see very well. If you notice on the above pic, the back seat is as far back on that raft as you can get. Well we hit a decent rapid, the back popped up, and Tami.....went into the drink, head first.
I'm no Michael Phelps. I have to plug my nose to go under water, so this was quite a shock. I tried to remember the 'safety' talk Clint gave, and pointed my toes down stream.

Todd saw me go in the water. This was odd because he hadn't looked back at me the whole time. He was fishing forward, so why would he? Anyway, he had a hold of me within a few seconds.

To make a long story a little bit shorter... I made it in the boat, and Todd began stripping off my wet layers immediately. Clint went up the mountain a bit, to give me a little privacy. He was worried about hypothermia, and told Todd to hurry. He took all my layers off, and put most of his on me. We had a few dry jackets in the boat, so I wore those too. I dropped our camera and Clint's fishing rod in the river. (Therefore, all the pictures we had taken are gone, so I used some internet 'stand-ins' so it wouldn't be as boring!)

I hit my head and shoulder on a rock when I fell in. My shoulder hurt quite a bit, so after getting back in the boat I didn't get to fish. I made it through the rest of the trip fine. I was very, very cold by the time we were done, but I sucked it up to make sure Todd got to fish as long as possible. I felt bad that it happened because he had been looking forward to this trip for a while. And once I fell in, he was distracted.

So, I fell in the river...not such a great thing. However, my love for Todd, and I believe his for me, was strengthened. It's a strange thing thinking for even a moment that you might lose the one that you love. I was scared, cold, and hurt, yet I felt safe because he was taking care of me. I have never doubted that he loved me, but watching him in the boat and on the bank of that river just reinforced it.

We left the river, had some dinner and counted these as we went home.



We counted 285. It's kind of a tradition on these trips.

We also got stopped by this: Twice.


Once for a broken tail lights, and once for speeding. Not a banner night for Clint. No tickets however.

Then we ran into this:


We couldn't see anything coming down the mountain. It was a total white out, and very scary. Our 17 hour day was exhausting.

All and all our trip was nice. We loved having a few days to ourselves. Thanks to Sally and Dan who took great care of our girls!

Love Who You Love

I was talking last night to my college roommate Neita. It's been 16 years since we lived together and we still talk. I love her. Anyway we started discussing music, and rested on the fact that we love Rascal Flatts. A couple of weeks ago they released their latest CD. I like many different types of music, but probably my favorite is country. ( Stop mocking me Stacey.) Now it's not the twangy, old Johnny Cash, Willy Nelson country. It's the new Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts country! I love it.

I love it because the music tells stories. They make you think, smile, love and sometimes cry. I love the beat and music of a song, but the words are important to me as well. Now, Todd can listen to a song 134 times and not know what's it's about. He could care less about the words. It's kind of hard to have "our" song because he doesn't pay attention to them.

Anyway, I love the new CD, as I knew I would. The music just makes me feel good. I'm sure you all have that music that does that to you.
One of the songs on the CD is called; Love Who You Love. This song is great. I wanted to share the chorus with you;

Love who you love
With all that you have
And don't waste the time
That flies so fast
Love who you love
AND SAY THAT YOU DO
Hold on as tight as they'll let you
Love who you love.

I love the line, "And say that you do". If I've learned anything in the last 2 years, it's that I'm glad that my dad knew I loved him.

For all you California Girls, they have a song called "She'd be California, if California was a girl." Check it out.

Guilty Pleasure

I wanted to write about a show that I found a few months back. It's called "Whatever, Martha". It's on the Fine Living Network, and I just happened upon it one day. The show features Alexis Stewart (Martha Stewart's daughter), and her friend Jennifer Hutt, watching reruns of the Martha Stewart Living show. They watch different segments of the show while mocking several or all of the participants, including Martha. Sometimes they even try and do the "craft" that Martha is doing that day. They can never do it as well, fast or without injury. (shocker)Sometimes it's just OK, but sometimes it is stinkin' funny!

Martha has had some of the dumbest segments like:
How to wash dishes.
How to wrap up and transport your plants from your winter home to your summer home.
How to set up dominoes.
How to build garden equipment for your terrarium. (Seriously)

My friends and I have done this exact thing, maybe that's why I find it entertaining.
I wanted to let you know to check it out sometime. It's great no-brainer TV.

Thanks Easter Bunny, Bawk! Bawk!

I thought this was a wonderful day for me to return to the blogging world.
I really don't have any excuses for not blogging... I just wasn't in to it. I've been chastised by the "grandparents" to continue, if only for the pictures. I'm hoping I will get excited about it again.

Our little family had a nice, low key Easter. We went to church, and it was Gabby's first week in Nursery! YEAH! Well before you get too excited, or I guess I should say before I get too excited, I was called to be a Nursery leader this week as well. Hmmm... how do I feel about that you ask? Well to be honest a little disappointed. Only because I wanted Gabby to be with kids her own age, without me for a couple of hours. I thought it would be really good for her. But I think it will be good for both of us. The kids are so cute, and I'm sure they have something to teach me.

We came home and had THE HUNT! This was Gabby's first hunt, and still being unwilling to walk, was a little tricky for her. She doesn't like the prickly grass. Here are some photos from our day. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!