Happy birthday, Brooke!!

Love, Summer

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE

check

Speaking of goal lists, as much as I love to make them, it's even more fun when I can actually check things off. Today is a day that I can check something off. I just finished reading the entire standard works within a year. I'm very excited to be done. Now, reading the Book of Mormon will seem easy, which is good, because then I'll do it more often.

I have a list started back in Utah, so my official list of lifetime goals will be posted sometime in January. I'm not sure if it will look as cool as Jared's, but I'll have a fun time making it anyway. And as soon as my computer is up and running, I'll work on finally finishing the Russia page I've been working on for the past year.

A little note about blocks

Hi all,
I hope you all liked your Christmas blocks, and I just wanted to tell you something hopefully helpful. When my parents opened them, there were some white streaks on them from the wrapping paper, and I heard that this happened on at least some of the ones you guys got. Soooo, all you need to do is take a cloth or paper towel and get it a little damp and rub the paper off. The decoupage stuff should be fairly waterproof...at least water resistant, so scrubbing it off works quite well. It made me sad when I saw all the white stripes on them, and after I wiped them off, they looked MUCH better!!! So you all should try that!

Love you!
Manda

A post

I'm posting... because I want to see it updated on the new nifty front page thing. I don't have anything exciting to say. I have been thinking a lot about what goals I want for January. I beat Nate and Manda and Mom at Settlers. Then Mom won. I played Blink with Clarissa and then I played Blink with Emily... we were pretty evenly matched both times.

Tonight after eating snake legs we're hopefully going to play Cranium.

I really like snake legs.

Love,
T

something missing from my stocking ...

It just occurred to me that there was something missing from my Christmas package from Mom and Dad ... I got my calendar from Mom, and my movie from Dad, and Summer got her photo book. But we did NOT get a CD of ALL of the family portrait pictures from the reunion. Can I PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE get a CD of all the family portrait pictures? Finally? And all the other pictures that Dad took at the reunions? I have all the pictures that you took when you were here, because you downloaded them onto my computer. But I have no others, except the few you've emailed - about 5. There were a lot more than 5 taken that week.

You don't even have to mail it. You can burn the CD and put it in Emily's luggage, and she can give it to me when she comes up for spring break. But at least then I'd have them!! Thank you.

Love, Trina

top 100 lists

Happy birthday, Emily - I'm glad you were able to go through the temple today and that it was a good experience for you!

Jared, you've inspired me to take another crack at my Top 100 list ... you're right, it is pretty hard to get to 100. I have random things written down on various pieces of paper scattered about, and I recently put them into one computer file. I was stuck at about 25. I went through some of my journals tonight, where I have more random things written down, and also looked at your list and Mom's, and got mine up to 57. I'm sure I'll come up with more ... I was just listing things at random, but sorted them into categories. Here are a couple per topic to give you an idea of what I'm interested in, and maybe get some more ideas for yourself.

Spiritual uplift: Study the Gospel Doctrine lessons at home every week for 4 years (since I haven't gone to that Sunday School class since 2003), attend endowment sessions in 30 temples with Adam (we're up to 5 together), and be in the Hill Cumorah pageant.

Family: Make a swaddling blanket for each of my children, help plan family reunions, and take my daughters to a spa for a day-long treatment the week before they get married.

Home: BUY A HOUSE (that would be important, ya know?), have an herb garden in our kitchen, do the 12 Months of Christmas (one Christmas project per month for a year).

Education: Finish this medical transcription course (FINALLY), get voice coaching, take a class in infant massage, lots of reading - biographies and classic literature.

Evil politics (yes, that's how I wrote it): get a Master's degree in public policy, write a blog for a year.

Travel: Go on a cooking tour of Italy, visit all the Church history sites, go to a bunch of Civil War battlefields.

Cool stuff to do: Go to a World Cup soccer game, see a Broadway play in New York City, watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean.

I'll post the whole thing when it's finished. I'd like to get it done by the weekend. I have plenty more traveling and fun stuff that I'm sure I can come up with. I'd like to see everyone else's ideas, so put them up on your page!! P.S. Jared, I like how you did all the pictures on the page for your goals - that was fun to go through!

Happy Birthday Emily!!

Emily - We're very excited to see you at the temple in an hour and a half or so and we hope you have a wonderful wonderful 26th birthday. We hope this year is a great one for you - filled with all sorts of exciting surprises :c)

We love you!
Manda and Nathan

P.S. We're excited to see all you other cool Palmers at the temple in a little while too!!

New Years Goals

Here's a random thought from Jared about goals. It's not necessarily about New Years Resolutions, but since people generally think about goals this time of year, why not think about this now.

I know that Mom has a page on her website listing out 100 things she'd like to accomplish in her lifetime. I'm vaguely aware that several other people have similar lists - Trina and Emily and Mindy come to mind, but I don't know about anyone else. Well, now I do too. It took me a while to complete my list, but I now have 50 things I'd like to do listed on my page. 100 was just too much - it took me forever just to come up with 50.

So what I want to know is - what are your "big" goals? What do you want to accomplish before you bite the big one? Maybe we can all help each other come up with more ideas by sharing our lists!

Happy happy birthday
Now come and get your licks
We'll spank you 'til you're black and blue
'Cause you are twenty-six!

Merry Christmas

Look... I'm actually posting!

I know that Christmas was a few days ago, but I'm still on my "Christmas" Break. I hope that everyone had a fabulous Christmas and got many good things.

I had a bit of an adventure on the way home from Utah. I was at the airport when I realized that I did not have my drivers license on me. So I had to be searched a bit extra to get through security. It didn't really add to the time much, but it was interesting. You have to stand in this box and they shoot air at you with airpuffers. Mindy said that it made my hair poof out. Then I had to sit down and watch this guy wipe down my phone, CD player and the inside of my backpack. He looked through everything inside and after about five minutes he sent me on my way. And the most exciting thing is... I'll have to do it all again on the way back to Utah because I am pretty sure my license is in my dance bag in my bedroom in good ol' Springville.

I am just really glad that I am able to post.

-T

Christmas Eve

Hi Family!

It's the night before Christmas. Laurel is wrapping a few presents we bought last night for Gary's family.

Last weekend we had a ward Christmas party and I played Frosty the Snowman. It was a scary costume, but I think I made it work.

Friday night we went to dinner with Speedy's family. Jody, James and Jacob were there with their families. Back at the house, Stevie had a great time with the kids. Jamie and Jake both have boys Stevie's age. Laurel wasn't going to go but changed her mind at the last minute. I'm glad she came along.

Laurel has been very morning sick these days. It's been tough on all of us, but mostly her.

Stevie decided to get up and walk today. We knew he was close, but he doesn't respond well to our goading him. I was dozing off on the couch and saw him take a few steps, fall, and then get up and take a few more steps. I jumped off the couch and woke up Laurel who was napping in the bed. Later, while Laurel was making us hide in his room while she wrapped presents, Stevie walked most of the way across his room. Even later, while we were reading the Christmas story and singing Christmas songs, Stevie walked from his toybox to the futon a few times. It's exciting times. I'm trying to capture it on video, so stay tuned.

I hope you like the presents we sent. Laurel spent a lot of her precious energy putting them together. We love you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas. I'm sure we'll all be talking to each other during the day tomorrow.

Love,
Eric

packages

I just wanted to let you know that I sent the Christmas box today to Mom and Dad's house. It was sent priority so it should get there by Saturday.

Eric and Jared, I am also sending you a Christmas package for your family, but I'm not quite done with it. So you'll get your's as New Year's gifts, I guess. Sorry about that. This took a lot longer to get put together than I expected, especially since I made 12. (Well, still making.) 6 for our family, and 6 for the Caudle side. I'm not done with all of their's either.

That's been pretty much all I've been up to the past few days ... that, and baking cookies to send to Joe. (Adam's brother in Iraq.) Adam found a recipe for chocolate pretzels - they're basically cookies, but twisted around like soft bread pretzels, and they're SOOOOOO good. Except for the few I set aside for Joe, we ate them ALL within an hour of coming out of the oven. With egg nog. Wow. That was amazing.

Getting ready

I've been doing quite a lot of that over the past three days. On Monday, Mom and I went to Wal-Mart. Then on Tuesday, she had a doctor's appointment in Portland, so I went with her. Mom and Dad got me a birthday present -- a long white dress. And we went to Deseret Books and some other stores. And today, Mom and I went to the grocery store after we dropped Clarissa off at work.

Do you remember what Eric was like before his mission? I've been like that over the past couple of days. Dad got some new DVDs, including a set on Church history, and I watched some of them, as well as older videos. And there are still some that I haven't watched -- yet -- like "Mountain of the Lord." But I'm sure I'll get around to that in the next week.

My birthday is going to be the best ever.

A random video clip

A friend of mine sent me this video. It's really cool!



This machine was built as a collaborative effort between the Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of Engineering at the University of Iowa. 97% of the machine's components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation Equipment of Bancroft, Iowa, yes farm equipment!
It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment, calibration, and tuning before filming this video.
It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

Hello

I added some stuff to my page just now. It is in my section which you get to by clicking on the image map at the bottom.
Mom, I hope that you are ok. Amanda and I won't be coming over today because Amanda is on call and has to check her RAs out. Stay off your feet and get better.
Emily, I am glad that you made it to Oregon in safety. Sorry to hear that your face was plastered to the window. Was it easy to get it off.
Jared, I am going to get Skip's info to you soon. Sorry it has taken so long to get it.
Clarissa, you should hurry up and get your stuff done too so that way everything can be done for the actors page.
Everyone else, I hope that you are doing well and know that we think of you often and miss you all very much.

Nathan

sacrament meeting program

http://www.defordmusic.com/silentnightcantata.htm

This link is to the Christmas cantata our ward did this morning. It lasts only about 20 minutes (so there was also a Primary number and a speaker besides the choir), but it's absolutely beautiful. It's an entire cantata based on the song Silent Night, and all the narration is the Nativity straight out of the scriptures. We had a flute with the first song, and a violin at the end. I did the 3rd verse solo and the "Jesus, Lord at thy Birth" solo. (They're right together.) If any of you can do any suggestions for your ward choir next Christmas, I highly recommend this entire thing.

I haven't listened to any of the other music on this website, but I'm definitely planning to. All of it has MP3 files, and all of the sheet music is available for download. And for FREE!! Also at the link above, although that link is specific for the Silent Night cantata. Just thought I'd share some great music!!

P.S. I loved Amanda's actor bio on the Pure Chaos page - I learned a lot about her!!

I am here

Hello, family.

Well, I made it to Oregon without any difficulties. I got to the airport early, and I passed the time by talking with some people from SVU who were also flying out. Then we got on a little plane and flew to Atlanta. That airport is unbelievably huge. I don't think I appreciated the size of it last time, but that was in the middle of the night. This was in the middle of the day. I grabbed a bite at a food court and then headed to my gate. This plane was really big -- the biggest I've been on. There were probably close to 300 people on that plane. It was a long flight to Portland. Usually, I couldn't see much out the window but a layer of gray clouds, but it finally cleared up over Wyoming. I saw the Tetons and Jackson Hole from the plane, and when we were coming in for a landing, I had my face plastered to the window. I had a great view of Mount Hood -- ah, it's so nice to see a real mountain again. And the lights were beautiful. Have you ever seen Christmas lights from the air?

Well, I'm here now. I'll be going to church with Mom and Dad and Clarissa, and then tomorrow I'll go Christmas shopping.

Happenings at Home

Life is full of ups and downs around here, especially for me, it seems. On Thursday I was up one minute, took a step back and I was down - flat on my back - in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. My back hurt a lot so I got it checked out at the hospital and nothing is broken. I stayed home from work yesterday and I'm on some pain pills. I'll be fine but it may take a few days before I'm up and running again.

Today Emily is coming home. Dad was asked to help with the youth baptisms this afternoon, so when he finishes there, he'll pick Emily up from the airport. I'm excited that she'll be here soon.

I like the new pictures on your page, Jared, and the updates on "Pure Chaos" just a couple more things on the Actors & Characters and those sections will be complete, I see.

I guess that's all for the moment. I love you all.

MOM

My turn

In about 25 minutes my last final begins. This is the one that I have been dreading because it is comprehensive and all the others were not. Yesterday the the worst Friday too, because I knew I had to get up for this final. I wasn't even able to really enjoy trading spouses last night. What is the big deal? Well I should go and get some last second studying in.

See you later.
Nathan

forever ago

I know that it has been forever since I last posted, but I really do have a good excuse. My computer is still in the process of being fixed. After getting a new motherboard and fixing everything, Dustin (the guy fixing my computer) found out that the new motherboard doesn't work, so he has to get a new one. I'll be lucky to have a computer before Christmas. So, instead of doing all my homework at home, I did it at the school, in the hours between me being done with work, and the end of school when I tutor four times a week. It was convienent and kept me busy while I waited to do the tutoring. I was/am able to earn extra money with that, so I can be sure to have money for rent in January (since I won't be working over Christmas to get a decent paycheck). Anyway, so I did my homework at school, where I studied hard and got straight A's! Now I only have one term left, starting in January, and then I'll be done with my Associate's Degree. Anyway, so the reason I haven't been able to post, is because I haven't made it over to the library in a long time, and the school blocks all blogs. I made it to the library today, because I didn't have tutoring, and because I had to get some addresses so I can mail some of my textbooks off (hooray for Amazon.com!). I'm happy to read everyone's news and everything. I felt very out of the loop for a while. I'm really looking forward to Christmas, and spending time with the family I get to spend time with. Only one more week left of school.

Final final

Well, in about thirty minutes, my final final will begin. It's the Civil War test. I spent most of yesterday reading. I also signed a contract to move into a different house next semester. It's closer to campus. And there are no pets. Rebecca will still be my roommate. After the final, I am going to go pack and get everything ready to go early tomorrow morning. In twenty-four hours, I'll be sitting around at the airport. I will be getting there really early.

For those of you in Oregon, see you soon! Merry Christmas! Wish me luck on my final final.

The liberated moose

Well here he is sitting on our sink. He isn't too big.





Nathan

Do you know what day it is?

That's right. It's Tuesday Towel Day!!! To bring in the new day, Amanda freed a moose and has a new goal of freeing a reindeer. Of course I am ever so helpful. I really wanted the moose to be free so Amanda started to help and with the two of us working at it we got him out and he now sits on our sink. So next time you look at the calendar and see that it is Tuesday Towel Day think what you can do to help free a moose.

Nathan

I haven't posted here in a while. We are doing fine. Jared is working a lot, 14 or 15 hour days. Kids are great. They are really excited about Christmas. Things are pretty much the same with me.

The week before Thanksgiving, Snowflake (one of our pet rats) got a huge abscess on her abdomen. It was quite gross. The vet lanced the abscess and got it cleaned out good. She was put under anesthesia and everything. We did 10 days of antibiotics after the procedure to make sure the infection didn't return. She is doing very well now. She did get terribly skinny afterwards, so we feed her Ensure. That fattened her back up. Our other rat (Flower) never had any problems.

Last week we bought a new computer. It currently has windows XP media center, but it came with a free upgrade to Windows Vista when it comes out next your. I like my new computer. It felt good getting rid of that old computer.

YouTube

I think everyone got an email about my YouTube channel, but if you didn't you can go to www.youtube.com/ericpalmer to see videos I've put together. If you join YouTube and subscribe to my channel you'll be notified when new movies are posted (or at least that's the theory).

At any rate, that's my latest thing. I'm still working on the Beers Reunion DVD and the Pure Chaos re-edit. And Laurel says I need to stop spending so much time on the computer and spend more time with her.

Yellow pages?

I was going through some of the different sites and I noticed that there was a new picture thing on Jared's. I never knew that Michelle liked to read the yellow pages. So, Michelle, do they have to be local yellow pages, or could you read them from somewhere else, like if you got one from Oregon would you feel ok with reading it in Texas? Not that we are sending you any, I was just curious.

I hope that everyone is having fun getting ready for the holidays. I have a week of finals and then I am done.

Nathan

So, Dad, I hear you're sixty now.

 

How's that workin' out for ya?

I Got a Job

I went in for an interview today at Osprey Court, an Assisted Living Care Home. I got the job. I call on Tuesday to find out when orientation is. I'm now a Resident Assistant. I assist the residents, with everything.

That is all.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!!

Holy cow! You're how old?!?! Well you made it to the big 60. I hope that you have a wonderful birthday and that everything goes well. You should quit your job today and retire early.

Love,
Nathan, Amanda (I didn't type this), and grandson #3.

the big 6-0

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y, D A D !!!

Or Grandpa, as the case may be.

We love you - Trina, Adam and Summer

8 hours!!!

Summer slept for 8 hours straight last night!! Woo hoo!! We finally got her down at 10-something last night - close to 11, and she slept clear until 7 this morning. Yay!! Then she took a 2-hour nap this morning after eating her oatmeal and applesauce (mixed, with a little bit of formula as the milk), and now she just finished her lunch of turkey/rice/sweet potatoes - baby food, mixed with babyfood peas - and pears on the side. She's eating like a champ, and she's figuring out the sippy cup. She's currently wandering around in her exersaucer and playing her little piano and talking away. She's on the verge of cutting teeth. I still don't feel anything in her gums trying to break through, but she's chomping on things pretty hard these days and getting randomly fussy.

And there's your Summer report ... Adam has his first final on Thursday, so he's been at the library all day every day lately. He was there all day Saturday, and was even going to go on Sunday after church but his study group got cancelled. He feels pretty good about how he's doing so far, and he got a blessing that said he will do well. But that doesn't mean he can slack off. His last final is on the 15th, and then we have 3 weeks of freedom!! And boy, do we have plans!! It's going to be a great Christmas!!

I'm fine. Doing my own studying, working 2 days a week for our bishop's wife so stuff never gets done around here, behind on making Christmas presents ... you know the routine. Same ol' same ol'. But if I was still working, it would be even worse because I'd be in San Antonio this whole week. But I'm NOT!! I'm HERE!! Hooray!!

M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S !!!

Happy Tuesday Towel Day!!!

I am so excieted that today is Tuesday Towel Day. This is one of my favorite days of the week. Of course I like Saturdays, but I have a chemistry final on a Saturday so I don't know if I will like that one or not. I will like at least half of it I hope because I final goes from 8-11am so I should like from after that until the end. Especially since that is my last final. But enough about Saturdays because today is Tuesday Towel Day. Three cheers for Tuesday Towel Day!! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, Hip, Hooray!! HIP, HIP, HOORAY!!!

See ya' later.

Nathan

Over the weekend

On Friday, right after I got out of class, my roommate and I went out for ice cream. It was to celebrate the end of November and National Novel Writing Month. I'd finished my book (by writing 10,000 words on Thursday) and she was halfway done. So we got a really big sundae. It was good. Then we went to the flute concert.

On Saturday night, I went to Black Friars. It's a theater in Stauton that looks like an original Shakespeare theater. So we were sitting alongside the stage (some people sit on the stage) and the lights are kept on throughout the performance, and people are allowed to eat and drink in the theater (if they purchase food in the lobby). My roommate is in the Shakespeare class, so she invited me along. We saw "The Tempest."

Then on Sunday, there was church, and I talked to the bishop. (I need to set up an appointment with the stake president.) And in the evening, we went to the Christmas devotional. Did you all see that? After the devotional, a group of us got together, and we went caroling. We walked around town and we sang at different houses. It was fun, but it was cold. It's one of those cold and clear days now.

I have less than a week of classes to go. There are no classes on Friday; that's a reading day. And then there are finals. And then I fly back to Oregon.

My New Calling

Today I was released from my calling in Young Women. I'm going to miss my girls. Even though I won't be able to receive my medallion I'm still going to keep working on the goals anyway. It's one of the things on my 100 list to earn my medallion. It doesn't say I have to receive it.

My new calling is in Primary. I'll be teaching the 6 year olds. Right now I'll only have about three active kids and a couple of others who are there occasionally. I haven't taught on a regular basis for a very long time so it will be different for me. I'm sure we'll have a fun time.

I hope you are all healthy and happy. I know you're busy with all of your Christmas plans, school finals and everything else that's going on in your lives. Take a minute to post on the blog occasionally. I haven't seen much on here lately.

Sure love ya,
MOM

Happy Birthday!

I would also like to say "happy birthday" to Laurel, even though I already did. In person. I'm meeting her at the dentist in a little while. Yes, that's how we're spending part of her birthday. We're going out to dinner tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to that (I hope she is).

Laurel is a great person with a strange and abiding interest in creating fake lemon trees. She also has an almost superhuman ability to paint things that look like things, including people, flowers, and a variety of fruits (for example, lemons).

She is also a very good mom. She takes very good care of her little boy named Stevie. She loves him very much. He is a very good-looking baby, especially in the way that he looks like his mother.

Be sure to pause today to consider what a wonderful, beautiful, smart, loving, and talented person Laurel is.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAUREL!!!

Laurel-

May all your birthday wishes come true this year. I have socks on my hands.

Nathan

School

Thanks for the feminist responses. They were perfect for my assignment. Other good news is that I only have three assignments left this week, and then two tests next week, and I'm done. I've already registered for classes (starting Jan 8th). I'm going to be taking math and geography (of US and Canada), to finish all my requirements, and then music appreciation and art history to fill in the last two electives I need. Then I'll graduate from Chemeketa with my Associate's Degree. After that, I'm thinking of either BYU or BYU-I, with an undecided major as of now, but possibly animation or illustration.

Feminism

Mindy

I would say that feminism today suffers from a split personality. You have the old guard and their close descendants who run NARAL, Emily's List and like organizations. They're the militant ones who get in your face if you dare suggest that women aren't exactly equally in every way to men. These are the ones with a chip on their shoulder the size of the Rock of Gibralter (2.5 sq. miles, 1,397.6 ft. tall). Then, you have the more moderate section that still takes umbrage at the idea that women aren't equal to men in every way, but have decided to engage the rest of the world rather than just shouting at it from their ivory towers. A convert in our ward runs the Women's Outreach Program at my university and fits very nicely into this category. The third and final category is exemplified by my old boss, Carolyn. She's one of the best trial attorneys in Pennsylvania and has shown that she can beat virtually any guy in her field. She also recognizes that women are very different than men in many ways. Unequal does not mean subservient to her and she proves it.

As for feminism affecting me today, that's a big topic. We can go back to the 19th Amendment and women's voting rights and World War II and women in the workplace and lots of other changes. Can you be more specific?

Adam

Happy Tuesday Towel Day!!

Today is our first Tuesday Towel Day. We are now going to change our towels being used every Tuesday, because Tuesday is Towel Day. I hope that everyone will celebrate with us. I also hope that everyone is traveling safely. We have had some snow here and there have been several accidents on the news and I don't want to see anyone from my family in that situation. So, take your time.

Mindy, I do not have a response to your questions because when I think of feminism I think of girls with short hair, hairy legs and pits, and not wearing bras. I don't really think that is accurate, but unfortunately I think those thoughts when I hear the word feminism. I think that feminism is taking a direction of helping other oppressed groups such as minorities. Amanda has given me some insight on more about feminist goals, but I don't remember what they are. I really don't want to make you ladies mad, but growing up when I did in McMinnville that was the type of feminism that I saw.

Nathan

Feminism

As part of my final week of Women's Studies, I am supposed to ask three men a couple of questions. I am using a few other sources, but thought I could get some interesting responses from here as well. The sooner the reply the better.

How would you define feminism today? How has your life been impacted by feminism in the United States?

Thanks!

My Thanksgiving Break

Last week, Rebecca and I had a difficult time after one ride fell through, but fortunately we ended up finding a ride heading in the right direction. So we made up to D. C., finally. We spent all day Wednesday in the kitchen, and on Thursday, we had another visitor join us for dinner. I spent Friday working on a history paper that's due on Tuesday. Saturday, Rebecca and I took the Metro downtown, and we visited two Smithsonian museums -- Natural History (I love the geology exhibit) and the Air and Space Museum. American History is closed, but they have some displays up at Air and Space (such as the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz, J.E.B. Stuart's Civil War gun, and the Nauvoo sunstone). Sunday we went to church. And this morning, we headed back and made it to B. V. without any difficulties.

Concerning Christmas traditions -- I like caroling, and I like having Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, and then opening up presents early on Christmas morning. I'll probably keep those traditions. I probably won't keep having everyone sleep around the tree on Christmas Eve, and I'll only number the presents if it's absolutely necessary.

the baby is online

If you go to our webpage and see the little image map with the yellow house and the two people waving you will notice that there is now a third little person. He is standing right between the bigger people. This will take you to a new page with ultrasound pictures. Now you will see why Amanda's stomach is doing somersaults. I was thinking of making it so you click on Amanda’s belly to get to this page, but that would be more difficult to find than clicking on this nearly impossible to see person. I hope that you enjoy the pictures. The last one on there is our favorite.

Nathan and Amanda

Christmas is Coming

Good morning everyone. We had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving at Deb's. We taught them how to play "In the Manner of the Adverb" and laughed very hard, as usual. I made some pumpkin pie with Splenda, instead of sugar and you couldn't tell the difference. I also made a banana cream with sugar free pudding and some sugar free jello, so we got our sweets without the sugar.

Yesterday Dad and Clarissa and I braved the crowds at Wal-Mart and got a few things for Christmas. Clarissa got a job for Christmas but I'll let her tell you about that. Nathan and Amanda stayed here after Thanksgiving and worked on their Christmas project. Amanda commented how funny it is that no one seems to be asking for Christmas lists this year from all the family. It looks like everyone has some project that they're working on, or they haven't gotten around to asking yet. My projects are basically finished, so I reached my goal of getting them done before Thanksgiving. We set up our tree and got it decorated but we have the rest of the decorating to do and lots more shopping.

I would like to ask a Christmas question this year. What traditions, from your childhood, do you plan on keeping for your own families and what ones do you want to change? I remember one time when my Dad came to visit at Christmastime and he commented, "We always opened gifts on Christmas Eve." I told him, "Yes Dad, but WE open them on Christmas morning." I'm curious what your family traditions are or what you think they'll be.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Love,
MOM

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Hey, I like your pictures Jared. We've recently discovered and enjoyed the updates. They're funny and cute. And awesome.

This morning I played in our ward turkey bowl while Laurel headed over to Gary and Karen's to help with the food. It was a small gathering this year. Theresa, Ray and the kids were there, but that was it. Jackie's really sick from the chemotherapy, but Jeff and Jackie are both optomistic.

The dinner was delicious. Stevie was the star of the neighborhood when Sadie and Maddie pushed him down the street in a stroller.

We took a nap at home and now Laurel's watching "Deal or No Deal" and reading to Stevie during the commercials. He's the sweetest guy. I'm going to try to get her to play a game with me, like Scrabble or something like that. We'll see how I do.

I'm Thankful Too

I hope you are all enjoying this Thanksgiving Day. We're heading off to Deb's in a little while. I made some pies yesterday and some Jello salad. Yes, I'm being good - using Splenda and sugar free Jello and Lite Cool Whip.

I have a lot to be thankful for this year, too: for Summer; for a wonderful trip to DC and two fantastic reunions; for legs that work and don't hurt all the time; for 37 years, so far, with a wonderful husband (thanks for the anniversary greetings); for the Gospel of Jesus Christ; for everything and for all of you. I could go on and on but I need to eat a bite of lunch and head over to Deb's to play games and such as we get ready for our feast.

I LOVE YOU!
Mom

P.S. I answered the question about autumn. It's on my page.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hello all!! Happy Thanksgiving!! We definitely have a lot to be grateful for this year ...

- Summer and that everything went well with her birth (yes, it took a heck of a long time, but there were no complications at all).
- of all the things we've needed to acquire and cram our apartment with for Summer, we've gotten most of it for FREE, or used for a very low cost, or someone gave us the money for it. The only things we paid full price for (and we got them inexpensive) were the rocking chair and the crib mattress.
- that we were able to travel out to the Northwest for the family reunions and have our entire family be together for the first time in 6 years.
- all the big and little things that have added up financially since we both quit our jobs (Adam's $5000 bonus when he quit the Senate, all the little jobs that have come up for me in the past couple of months, etc.).
- the opportunities that have opened up for Adam at school since starting in August, particularly with the Federalist Society (for example, an invitation to attend a debate by Alito and Breyer from the Supreme Court in a couple of weeks).

We hope everyone has a great day, and we'll talk to you sometime this weekend!!

(And hooray!! It's the first day of Christmas!! That's also one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving.)

I'm in D. C.

Yes, I finally made it. Finally! We (meaning my roommate Rebecca and I) had a ride, but then one of her classes was canceled, so she ditched us. We couldn't leave as early as she wanted, because we had classes. But we did get a ride, and then we headed up the freeway at 4. We were slowed down because of a big accident along the way, but we got to the D. C. temple around 9:30.

Summer is adorable, and we are going to be in the kitchen all day. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! And a belated happy anniversary, Mom and Dad. May you all enjoy lots of pumpkin pie, turkey, potatoes, and other great food.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! (or Grandma and Grandpa)

Love, Trina and Adam and Baby Summer

Happy Anniversary!

37 is one of those special prime numbers. Congratulations Mom and Dad. We love you very much and hope you have a nice day today.

Everything is fine here. I hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend.

Love,
Eric
Laurel
Stevie

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, MA AND PA!!!

It's that time of year again. Time to wish mom and dad a day full of joy and togetherness. I hope that you guys get to go out or do something worth your while today. Thirty-seven years of marriage bliss. Congratulations and keep the running total running. However you have had 34 years of having kids in your house. When is that going to end? Clarissa is getting ready to leave just in time for Eric to move back in with you. Well good job on being married for a long time. The ride's not over yet. See you this weekend for Thanksgiving.

Love,
Nathan

back from Utah

Well, Summer and I had a very nice visit with Tawnia and Mindy in Utah. We did a session in the Jordan River Temple (my friend Alisha babysat Summer) and got our hair cut (but not Summer - her's isn't long enough yet) and played games and watched movies and Summer and I visited them at the school a couple of times. We met all of Tawnia's class and they sang the Utah State Song for us, which, to be perfectly blunt, was more than a little scary. The "hooray for Utah, the Promised Land" promotion was rather extreme. It explains a lot into the Utah Mormon stereotype of the "Utah is the best and every other place in the world is the Mission Field" mentality, since this is what they're taught this they're children. Anyway, it was a great visit with Tawnia and Mindy. I wish we could visit more often and/or more easily.

And now we're back and getting ready for the holidays. I need to get cracking on all the family Christmas gifts. I'm making the same thing for every family and I'm still in the beginning stages of the project. I need to get at least the first one done by next week to send to Adam's brother Joe in Iraq. His wife told us that the box has to be out by Dec. 1 for him to get it in time. I'm very excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas this year because I do NOT have to deal with a work conference in the middle of the holidays. Yay!! I can BAKE this year!! I'm in charge of all things Christmas for the moment, because Adam got his schedule for his finals. His last one is on Fri. Dec. 15 in the afternoon, and we'll have our Christmas party that night. I want to do a cookie exchange with some friends, and maybe go Christmas caroling. I haven't ever gone caroling out here in DC.

I'm still working on my medical transcription studying, and I just started working part time for our bishop's wife. It's grocery shopping and cooking dinner a couple of days a week. Yes indeed, at long last, I am finally learning how to cook. And I'm not doing too bad at it either - just ask Adam. I also clean house for another lady in the ward every other week. So it's a little bit more money flowing through the system, which is good since Financial Aid is STILL yanking us around on student loans. I won't get into all that because I could go for DAYS, but I am seriously ready to grab someone by the throat over there. It's the week before FINALS of the first semester and they STILL don't have it figured out. We already know we're screwed for January because classes don't start until the 8th ... and that's IF we get the 2nd semester check on time ... because that could get dragged into February or March.

And now that I've worked myself into a ticked off mood ... I'm going to go study because SOMEBODY has to make some money around here because the &%^$#$& school sure isn't going to help.

Pure Chaos .com

No, I didn't buy another url for the movie page.  It's still in the same place.  But it's not quite finished yet!  I still need a few things from some people.

From the Caudle family, I need acting histories for each member of your family.  I also need a "backstory" for Invisible Girl - but the same deal as last time still applies, that is, if you want I can make something up for your approval.

From the Palmer family - the one in California - I need acting histories from Eric and Stevie, as well as backstories for Egbert and Super Runner (same deal I offered Trina above), Eric's thoughts as Producer of the movie, a "final script" (as in, what was actually said on film as opposed to what was written), and a copy of the movie itself.  I also need my crew list to be corrected and updated (the one on the "Under the Set" page).

From the Palmer family - the one in Salem OR - I need Amanda's acting history, and character stories on Skip and Havoc.

From the Palmer family - the one that is just Clarissa - I need your acting history, Kurai-dono's story, and a picture of the elusive Shadow Twins.

I've posted everything else I have!  Oh, and if you know of anyone else who has seen the movie (like Amanda's mom, or anyone from the WA reunion...) encourage them to tell us what they thought!  Uncle Gary is getting lonely on that page...

And the boys have it!!!

I see that most of you guessed the lastest addition to Insanity Inc would be a girl. However, most of you are wrong. The latest addition will in fact be a boy. The technician put his weight at 14 oz and estimated his length to be at 13 inches. I got to see his heart beating, his legs twitching, the umbilical cord pumping, and his brain. We got two funny pictures of him and a cute one. It is amazing what technology can do these days.

I have to go make my boy proud by doing my homework. thank you for all your prayers and cares. Keep it up 'cause we're only half way there.

Nathan

Well wishing

Hope you ultrasound is the picture of health. Maybe it will reveal a lot about the baby, like this picture.

Place your bets...

Alright, I hope that all your bets are in because this is your last chance to guess whether our creation is a boy or a girl. We won't be calling anyone until everyone guesses and posts it on the blog. Or we'll just call everyone anyways. Besides, our kid is probably a little embarrassed and will be covering him/herself up tomorrow when we go in for the ultrasound.

Nathan and Amanda

Trivial Pursuit from Tartarus

And what is Tartarus, you might ask? Besides one of the answers to the questions in the Quiz Bowl Tournament (which no one got), it is the lowest circle of the Greek underworld. I hope this will describe to you what it is like to participate in a Quiz Bowl tournament.

The questions are almost all impossibly difficult -- questions about physics, chemistry, paintings, literature, terrorist groups, Croatian history (no, we didn't get that one), ancient history, astronomy (I did get the one on Pluto's moon), current politics, and African geography, to name a few of the topics.

And we played ten separate rounds against ten teams from schools such as VMI, William and Mary, and Roanoke. Twenty questions per round, plus bonus questions for those teams who get the toss-up questions. So we had to try to answer hundreds of questions. This takes approximately all day -- I got here a little after 8:30 in the morning to set up and we finally finished around 5:00.

So, how did my team do? First of all, understand that SVU had two teams -- one made up of the veterans, the others of rookies -- it was our first tournament. I hope that I remember everything correctly, but if not -- it was a long day.

Our first game: we lost terribly. I don't even remember if I answered any questions. Our second game: lost again. Third game: closer than the other ones, but still a loss. That was where I got the question on Pluto's moon. And the Great Wall of China. And I got the bonus question on Uncle Tom's Cabin. Fourth game: we played the other SVU team, and I managed to answer the only toss-up our team got the entire game. (Berlin Wall.) But we lost terribly. Fifth game: I was so weary with listening to questions that I missed the question on Mt. St. Helens! I almost up and quit right then, I was so frustrated. This was not fun at all. Fortunately, it was time for lunch, and someone brought pizza. So we ate and we got ready to go at it again. I stuck around (but let me tell you it was a very close thing).

The next round was a loss. Seventh round: I believe that was William and Mary, one of the best teams here. (I think they came in second over all.) But we did score fairly well. Eighth round: I had to keep reminding the reader to hit the clear button. It was close, down to the final question, but we lost. Ninth round: no one was scoring very much, but I did get 30 points for knowing landmarks in the U.S. And we won! We actually one a round! Sure it was only by about 15 points, down to the last question, but we won! Tenth round: We drove the poor VMI players crazy by getting the bonus questions on military groups and helicopter crashes. But I did get a power (that means I hit the buzzer quickly and got five extra points) on the question about Yosemite (I know where Hetch-Hetchy is). And I got the question on Brigham Young.

Over all, our team tied for ninth out of the eleven teams that were playing. And of course, the other SVU team won.

Will I continue to play? We'll see. If this affects my grades (meaning if I get a B in performing arts or astronomy), I may have to quit. I also might ask them to mix the teams up a little more, put the rookies and the experienced players together. So I don't know.

And if I thought today was rough, what is the next week going to be like?

Hello, family

Well, this week is rather hectic. But today, class was rather easy. For one thing, I only had one class today -- German. And we spent the whole time singing. It was rather fun. In other news, I'll be playing in the Quiz Bowl tournament on Saturday. My first tournament.

And I'm about halfway done with my Am Civ paper. It's due on the fifteenth, which is the same day I have to turn in a report to my astronomy class and take an astronomy test. So I suggested to my roommate that we go out to eat next Wednesday. I think I'll need a break. And I still have a week after that to finish my performing arts paper, and thankfully my Civil War paper is now due after Thanksgiving break. But I still need to have it pretty well written before that. I am very much looking forward to Thanksgiving and seeing Trina and Adam and Summer.

If I survive that long, that is.

Hair Cuts

My hair is very short today. I wanted it to my shoulders and instead it is to my chin, but I'm dealing with it.

It is really nice to have Trina and Summer here. I have been leaving work and not worrying about it. Today is Summer's 6 month birthday! Hooray for Summer. I think we need to have some cake to celebrate. I was thinking of Carrot Cake, since carrots are Summer's favorite baby food so far.

Work is going well. I got my grades done and actually met with all but four of my students parents. One student I had an IEP with recently, so her mom isn't worried about it, one student is currently in Guatemala so I'll have to meet with them after Thanksgiving; one student is brand new; and then there's the one that I need to call her parents and set an appointment with. I did not have any bad experiences with my conferences. In fact I think they were really quite productive. I even got some tutoring jobs for Mindy out of them.

Today we're going to have our book reports and then make trace fossils. It should be fun.

-Tawnia

the original

Mom found me the very first sister picture, from 1986, so I added it to the sisters pictures page, even without my computer. I'm at the school, finishing up my homework for the week, and just about to head home, but I wanted to let everyone know that I added the picture, and hope you enjoy it.

support the troops

I meant to tell you this before - Adam's brother Joe was deployed to Iraq last week and is in Baghdad. He's gone for a year, so his wife (of 1 year) has moved back in with her parents. It would be really nice if you could remember him in your prayers occasionally. Thanks! Love you all!

An Autumn Day

Fall reminds me of school. We saw a school bus while driving home last night and it reminded me of the first time I rode a bus in kindergarten and how big it seemed. It was green inside. That was the Fall of 1979. That memory goes along with memories of moving to Oregon that summer. I think that's when we got those puppets, the alligator, the dog, the monkey... there was another one too. Anyway, a Fall day...

I don't know how much I really like Fall. Maybe it's because it reminds me of school. Fall mornings are exciting and a little frightening. There are things I love about school and learning, but also some things I don't like. Homework, for one thing. But I have fond memories of being at Ricks College in the Fall. The Fall of 1996. Tawnia was there too. The air on Fall mornings reminds me of substitute teaching in Long Beach. Getting up early and meeting a new classroom of students. It was a very adventurous job.

I think I idealize the Fall sometimes because it reminds me of sweater advertisments. It makes me want to wear tweed and go to Harvard and read poetry while the leaves fall outside the window. It makes me want to get an expensive haircut and contemplate profound things such as what to buy people for Christmas, and whether I should start getting in shape for football on Thanksgiving morning.

Now I live in a place where Fall is subtle. It cools down, but the Winter it leads to is very mild compared with other places I've been. It's nice though, to realize that though the nights are getting longer and colder, it's not going to freeze.

When I was in New York in October, I talked to Laurel on the phone while leaves fell outside my hotel window. The sun was setting and the falling leaves cast shadows on the curtains.

Last year I spent a Fall night in Oregon with Nathan and Amanda. We were woken up at 3 AM by a fire alarm, so Nathan and I walked around Salem in our PJ's and blankets for a few minutes. It was pretty cold out.

And that's the perfect Fall day. A combination of all that. The cool morning air, school, work, reading, talking, and being woken up by a fire alarm.

an autumn day

I will now limn an autumn day. It is usually started out with a hymn. There is a column of leaves falling from the trees. Autumn days cause solemn ways. The weather can condemn us to indoor activities sometimes. Oft times the weather will contemn us. But that is nothing compared to how we seem to bedamn the environment. I don't know if I used those words correct and I don't know how to use dislimn.

Nathamn

and then .... I died.

Okay, so I didn't, but my computer did! (If you didn't catch it, the title is a quote from Harry Potter.) So I was going to move some pictures from my camera to my computer on Friday (soon after making all those little changes), and somehow managed to surge my computer to death. It won't even turn on anymore. So I'm back to going to the library all the time. It's really frustrating, because we only just finally got the internet, so we're paying for something that we can't use! Ahhh! A guy from church is supposed to be coming over sometime soon, to see if he can revive the poor machine, and if not, I'm going to buy something new. I can still do my homework at the library (it just means coming here a lot more often), except for my photoshop class, because no other machines have the program. I could probably put the software onto Tawnia's computer at work, but hopefully I'll get my own computer back up and running, and I'll ask the teacher for an extension on any late assignments. Wish me luck!

As for a beautiful fall day, today is a good example of one. All the leaves are colorful - lots of reds and oranges - it's sunny out, so it isn't as cold as it has been - warm enough for just a jacket. The air is crisp, and when you walk you get to crunch all the leaves on the ground. Here in Utah we're surrounded by mountains, and they have a light dusting of snow over them, making them very pretty too (at least less ugly than the summertime).

A fall day

Today would be a good example of a beautiful fall day -- not to cold or windy, a clear sky, and the leaves are absolutely beautiful here. I've never seen such colors. A nice day for a walk -- but the only walking I'll be doing is to and from campus.

Life is extremely busy for me, and I will have a lot to do in the next few weeks. Over the weekend, I went to a party one of my friends was having, and we played Imagineiff using the names of people in our D&D group. Sunday was my one day of rest after a rather hectic week, and this week will be even crazier.

Why did my roommate and I decide this would be the perfect time to write novels?

-- Emily

???New Question???

I know everyone is busy with school and various projects but I thought I'd try to wake the Blog up a little anyway. So before Winter comes I wanted to ask the question "What is a favorite Autumn Day like for you?" Do you have memories of favorite fall activities or anything?

Has everyone visited Nathan's site lately? If not you should take a peak over there. I keep checking everyone's pages to see what's new on them. I enjoyed your changes Mindy, but I have one question. Are you still going to call your blog the BBC? Just curious. I also understand that the brothers have a blog, too. Can we get a link to that or is it a BIG secret?

Hope you are all healthy and happy.

Love ya,
MOM

ME TOO!! ME TOO!!

I tried calling you Trina and left messages on both of your phones, but just so I don't miss out on wishing you a Happy Birthday I'll do it here. It was a very hectic day at work and I got home a little late. I have a Stake meeting tonight so if you're out I might miss your return call. I think it's great that you're going to Utah, wish I could come, too, but I have to work for another year and can't just run off when I feel like it. Soon, I'll be able to, if I can afford it. Meanwhile I'm keeping busy. I'm making Christmas presents, too, and having lots of fun with it.

Love to you all,
MOM

more happy

Happy birthday Trina. I'm looking forward to you coming out to see me and Tawnina, and of course to see Summer, when she is older and even more fun to play with. We can finally get the webpage updated, so everyone can see how cute she is.

I'm busy with work and homework and dancing and drawing .. as stressed as I am sometimes, I'd much rather be busy than not (since I know how that feels too!).

Another birthday wish

Happy birthday, Trina! Have a wonderful day, and have a good time with Tawnia and Mindy when you go to Utah.

I've been extremely busy studying this week. One teacher assigned us a book to have read by next Monday (I spent about six hours on it Tuesday evening), and I have to find primary sources for my history paper. I think I've got a good focus for it -- Sherman and guerrillas. Sounds like fun, right? Not to mention astronomy observations and magazine article summaries and history tests. So I will be very, very busy between now and Thanksgiving.

-- Emily

Happy Birthday Trina!

You've had quite a year this time around the sun. Congrats on everything, especially beautiful Baby Summer.

Enjoy the leaves changing and all that fun.

Love,

Eric and Laurel and Stevie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TRINA!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

2 months until Christmas

Thanks, Nathan! Don't feel bad about spending my birthday studying - that's what Adam and I are both doing. I just got Summer down for her afternoon nap, so now I'm on the computer to study for a while. Adam has something up his sleeve for this evening - he took the car today so he could pick some things up on his way home from school.

After everyone else running around here and there, it's my turn to travel. Summer and I are going to Utah to visit Tawnia and Mindy - Tawnia was telling me on the phone the other night all of the things that are behind in her classroom these days, and I said I'd help her except I couldn't afford the trip out there. She found a roundtrip ticket for $200, so she bought it for me. Guess I'd better be ready to work hard after school to earn it, huh? (Since I can't go to her classroom during school because Summer would be too much of a distraction.) So I'll use that time to visit a couple of friends in the area.

Not much else to report right now - just staying busy with Summer, studying, and various Relief Society and Primary things. And I'm working on Christmas gifts - I'm making them this year. I made some good progress a couple of weeks ago, and now I need to work on them again. Only a few weeks until they need to be in the mail!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRINA!!!

Hello Trina. Happy birthday. I have lots and lots of homework and studying to do today for classes tomorrow. I am not excited about that. So I hope that you are able to enjoy your birthday. I hope you eat lots of cake and that you enjoy Summer's and Adam's company. Sorry I can't be there. Darn studying. You know that's the only reason. So, Happy Birthday from the northwest palmer and wife and almost half-way done baby!!!

Love,
Nathan, Amanda, and Joshua?? Sophia?? Maya?? Junior??

pages

I have updated my page just a little. I added a new picture in the artwork section - 4th row down, second one in from the left. I cleaned up that section in general, because I know people at work have been given that link, and I'd like to make it at least a little more presentable. I also removed the school pictures, and put the link up for my Russia section, although I won't have time to finish that section for a while (school, work, dance, etc). Maybe with the link there, I'll be more likely to actually finish it in the near-ish future. It's just minor changes, but maybe you'll look around again and notice something you hadn't seen before. Hope you enjoy it.

As for Trina's pages of Summer, she and I will be working on those next month. (Please email me all the pictures you want to put on there, Trina, so I can have them on my computer.) I don't know if Tawnia still wants help with her page, but grades are due this week, so she is a bit stressed out, so now isn't the time to ask her about it. This is just something I think about when I'm supposed to be doing my homework and I don't want to.

Oh, and I get to give a talk on Sunday.

Update

• Stevie likes to bite things with his four teeth
• Laurel is drawing pictures in the style of the 1920's for our friend Heather's business idea
• Splash Mountain got me wet from head to toe (or at least neck to ankle)
• Jared is Curly's new best friend
• I'm going hometeaching tonight
• The Cardinals are leading the Tigers 2-1 in the World Series
• Every ward thinks they invented the "Trunk or Treat" but almost all of them are wrong
• Laurel's FHE lesson on honesty was about how a lie is like a monster that just gets scarier and scarier
• The highest tolls are usually for bridges. I suppose tunnels aren't much better, but I'm not sure
• Moving to Oregon might take a while
• I went to choir for the first time in over a year
• It was very foggy Sunday morning
• Our choir director wrote a Christmas song that's actually very good
• I went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with Sarah
• Stevie likes peas

Las Vegas

This weekend I went to Las Vegas for my friends wedding. Lisa and Jason got sealed on Friday, so my friend (Kim) and I went down Thursday night and stayed with Jen and Ben. The sealing was at 1 o'clock and afterwards we hung around for the luncheon. We ate Persian food. It was interesting. I had humus and salmon for the first time. Some of the stuff tasted nasty, but most of it wasn't too bad. The salmon was actually pretty decent. After the luncheon we were driving back to Jen's (and getting lost) when Lisa called and asked us if we wanted tickets to The Beach Boy concert that night. They were given the tickets as a gift and didn't want to use them... but figured that they should be used by someone. We said, sure! So when we made it back to Jen's we changed and then headed down to the Luxor. (The Luxor is the big black pyramid shaped hotel on the strip.) After figuring out parking (we thought that it would cost at the Luxor and were stuck in traffic further down the strip when we found out it's free at the Luxor.) we went inside and found our seats... seventh row in the center. It was an amazingly good concert. Only two of the original beach boys were there, but the music was still good. I thought it was interesting how many of the songs I actually knew. After the concert we walked down the strip to M&M World. It is a four story store... with ONLY M&M stuff. Pretty cool.

Saturday we slept in and then hung out with Jen, Kara, and Benji. We went to the Ethel M. Chocolate factory and then bought Pizza for dinner. At 7 p.m. was the reception. It was really nice and there was tons of good food. Kim caught the bouquet. Lisa sang a song for Jason, and danced with her daddy to a very sweet song.

This morning we got up early and drove back to Utah. We planned on getting to Springville on time to attend my sacrament meeting, but we didn't make it... so I'm rebelling and not going to the last hour of church where Mindy is. She doesn't know that I'm back.

So there was my weekend. Now I'm planning on staying in town until at least Thanksgiving... or maybe Christmas. (It all depends on the road conditions during Thanksgiving.)

I hope that everyone else is doing well and that Jared is able to get compensated for his plane ticket. I've been telling tons of people the story so that Delta can be avoided.

Love,
Tawnia

holy crap!

You were too nice, Jared. You paid for a plane ticket to go to HOUSTON, not to New Orleans. And the airline ditched you in New Orleans. You should have demanded to be reimbursed for the whole thing as compensation. I'm amazed that the airline said you would have to actually buy another ticket even on Delta - I thought the rules were that if you had to stay overnight somewhere due to something that was the airline's fault, the airline not only had to pick up your continuing flight costs, but they ALSO had to pay for your hotel. And hello - again - you paid to go to Houston, not New Orleans. Guess Delta's "customer service" doesn't exist anymore. Thanks for the tip - we'll also avoid Delta in the future, and I'll pass this on to some friends we have that fly Delta regularly that they might want to be careful in the future.

If Delta wants to know what all they have to do to get your business again, tell them you want FOUR round trip tickets to anywhere in the country, to be used at any time. (And then take Brooke and Bryan to Disneyland or DisneyWorld.) (And I'm not kidding.) Besides being reimbursed, of course. Let us know how it goes - I hope you get your money back.

And for Emily - why on earth would there be an entire semester on the Holocaust? What on earth can you discuss for an entire semester? 4 HOURS in the Holocaust museum here in DC was plenty for me. I wouldn't go near 4 MONTHS of review of it. And hooray for ballet and good posture!! Maybe I won't have to nag you about standing up straight anymore!!

The Letter I Wrote to Delta Airlines

To whom it may concern,

My name is Jared Palmer, and I was a passenger on flight 4422 from Atlanta to Houston.  Due to weather problems in Houston on October 16, the flight was diverted to New Orleans for refueling.  The flight attendants informed us that there would be gate agents there to help us figure out our options.  The pilot also told us he had reached his flying limit for the day and would not be able to bring us on into Houston.

After we got off the plane in New Orleans, we waited twenty or thirty minutes came and told us that Delta was not responsible for "acts of God" and that nothing more would be done for us.  She suggested calling Delta's 800 number to book another flight the next morning, but said that Delta was not responsible for those flights - we would have to purchase new tickets.  Several people tried to call, but to my knowledge none got through.  We were told there were no flights leaving New Orleans that night.  One of the security guards there at the gate then told us that how we got to Houston was "not our problem" and insisted that everyone leave the terminal.

I was able to get a seat on a Southwest flight from Noew Orleans to Houston's Hobby Airport that same evening, as did two of three others I recognized from the flight.  Again, this was agter we'd been told nothing else would be leaving the airport that night.  The gate agent probably meant that no other Delta flights would be leaving, but that's not what she said.

I understand that Delta cannot be held responsible for the bad weather, but running a plane out of gas on a two-hour flight and pushing a pilot to his 16-hour maximum cannot be deemed "acts of God."  Furthermore, my wife had requested status updates via telephone and email, and was aware of the initial delays.  However, no notification was ever given that the flight was rerouted to New Orleans, and she was unable to get that information from Delta representatives at the Houston Airport.  They were extremely rude to her, and she was only able to find out where the flight had actually landed through a third-party website.

I had been traveling in order to attend my grandmother's funeral.  This ordeal was a horrible way to end an already unpleasant weekend.  Considering that Delta fell short in many areas - pilot scheduling, lack of refueling, misinformation at the gate, lack of rerouting notification, and the rudeness of the Houston representatives - reimbursement of the $121.30 I payed to get home is the barest minimum Delta can do.  It will take much more than that before I trust myself or my safety to Delta's care again.

Spring classes

I signed up for my classes today. I'm taking two upper history courses -- one on Britain in the Middle Ages and on one diplomatic history. The only other upper division class was on the holocaust, and it was at the same time as intermediate creative writing. Let me see: Cheese! Rat Poison! Cheese! Rat Poison! Duh! This is a no brainer. And I'm taking German II. And ballet. I have to take some kind of p.e. class. Tawnia said I'll be aching in muscles I didn't even know I had. So, that's what I'll be taking next semester. At least it's only fourteen credits, instead of sixteen.

We're Back!!

We made it home safe and sound about 6:30 tonight. We stopped at Costco or we would have been home sooner. We had an uneventful trip home which is good. We stopped to see Jeff and Jackie as we headed out and spent an hour visiting them. We stopped just above Sacramento last night and drove the rest of the way today. I'm glad we were able to go and we really appreciate all the support from our kids, those who were able to come and those who weren't. And a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Laurel for putting up with us all week.

Love ya,
MOM

Test Results and so forth

Hi, family. I've been very busy with school, and last week I was rather stressed due to all the midterms and tests. However, I have done rather well. In German, I had one of the highest scores on the chapter test. In history of the performing arts, I had the highest score (I missed one of the true/false questions). While I haven't got my Civil War test back yet, the teacher told me I did do very well.

But this weekend, I didn't do a lot of studying, though I have another debate in Am Civ. Yes, I'm doing the first two debates.

And on Sunday, I started attending the Temple Preperation class.

Mindy's report

Tawnia and I found out on Saturday, and started to makes plans right away. We went to work on Monday, and talked to the principal, and got bereavement leave. (I'm not sure if I actually get paid for the days I missed, but at least Tawnia does.) We took of Tuesday and Wednesday (and today, Monday), and there wasn't school on Thursday and Friday anyway. As soon as our internet got hooked up, and I turned in a few homework assignments, we headed to Las Vegas, where we stayed with Jenny. The next morning we drove the last four hours, and spent the day with Aunt Cheryl. On Thursday we headed over to Eric and Laurel's, and met up with the rest of the family. Friday I went to Disneyland with Tawnia, Eric, Laurel, and Sarah. We had a lot of fun, and rode our favorite rides multiple times (like Space Mountain three times). It was nice to spend some time with Sarah too. Saturday morning was the funeral. It was short and simple, but it was very nice to be there. Afterwards we spent the rest of the day at Uncle Gary's house, eating and talking. He made a small fire in the driveway (in a little grill type thing) and we roasted marshmallows and he and Dad talked about all their fire stories from when they were younger. We went to sacrament meeting the next morning with Eric and Laurel, and then Tawnia and I headed back east to California. It would have been an even nine hours, but about 30 minutes away from Springville, we hit HORRIBLE traffic - all because we were narrowed down to one lane for TEN miles, and there was NOTHING going on on the other side of them. It took us an hour and a half to go those 14 miles. It was absolutely STUPID. We were very annoyed, especially since we were that close. But we finally made it home, and I immediately went to bed. This morning, since we have today off too, I'm going to focus on getting as much of my homework done as I can, especially since I'm a little behind with my Woman's Studies class, and because I really don't like to do homework on the weekends.

the Caudle weekly report

Hello all - we're glad that most everyone was able to get to California for Grandma's funeral. I wish I could have been there also. How did everything go?

Summer is doing better on sitting up on her own. She still can't do it, but her balance is getting better and she can stay upright for a few seconds before tipping over. She's doing well with playing in her exersaucer - she has figured out about getting the walker seat to go around the outside of the table, and is getting more involved with the toys. She's in the "everything goes straight in her mouth" phase, especially fabric. Go figure.

School for Adam is fine. The pressure is starting to kick in to do well on his assignments to get his grades at the top end of the rankings. He's at the library a lot.

Operation Domestic Goddess seems to revolve around the kitchen. I'm cooking more, and trying to branch out in the cookbooks. Frankly, I'm bored with eating the same stuff all the time, so we're getting more creative. We also went to an orchard up in Maryland yesterday, and picked a huge bag of apples. I told Adam - it's not that I want to can, it's that I don't want to waste the apples and we need applesauce soon anyway for Summer. So this week, I will be canning applesauce. My friend Sarah has a canner and jars and other stuff that I can use. Weirdness. What I remember of canning when we were younger was that it was always so HOT. This won't be too hot - it's only in the 60s this week. I'm sure you're all quite shocked that I'm even thinking about this, let alone planning to do it this week. But stranger things have happened. What those stranger things might be, I can't think of right now because this is pretty strange. But oh well.

Hello all

Well I am sorry that I am not able to go to Grandma's funeral. I hope that the service is nice. I am glad that so many of my siblings get to go however. It is cool to hear that all you guys are down there in So. Cal. hanging out with one another and I hope enjoying one another's company. I am glad that Eric made it back from New York safely and that he was not on that plane with the Yankees' pitcher. That was sad.

Nathan

A Shout Out to the Family Not Here

Hey Nathan and Amanda and Trina and Adam and Summer and Emily and Michelle and Brooke and Bryan!

We miss you.

Mom, Dad, Tawnia, Mindy, Jared, Eric, Laurel, Stevie, and Clarissa are all here.

building a "gospel art kit"

There's a package at the Church Distribution Center called the "gospel art picture kit" with 160 pictures (8x11 size) of scriptures stories, Church history events, portraits of the prophets, etc. The pictures in it have been around for decades - they're the old ones, mostly by Arnold Friberg, that have been around at least since we were in Primary. Since there are Church artists all over the place these days who produce beautiful paintings (Greg Olson and Liz Lemon Swindle come to mind), I've decided that we're going to build our own "gospel art picture kit." Get one of those plastic accordian-type folders at Target for 2 bucks, and start filling it up. I get a temple calendar every year, so I've got a start there - I plan to mount those on cardstock and write on the back if there's anything significant to us about that particular temple (Portland and DC of course, and other family marriages in other temples).

My request is that for my birthday or Christmas, that you send me prints (one or two or as many as catch your eye) of your favorite scripture artwork or other spiritual/gospel painting. I'd like the size to be at least a 5x7 so it's big enough to have a good view in Family Home Evening or something. If you're one of the artists of the family, something you draw or paint yourself would be really cool too. Thanks all!

Hello

Hello, family. This week has been extremely busy for me. On Wednesday, I got up early to get on a bus to the temple. I spent a couple of hours with Trina and Summer (who is extremely cute), which was good, and we watched the Joseph Smith movie.

Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to do much studying and finding sources for my Civil War paper, so I was rather stressed about that on Thursday. It was not a good day for me. Also, I have a midterm on Monday in my history of the performing arts class, but I didn't even get the review sheet until Friday, so I won't have a chance to ask the teacher any questions. I am not happy about that. The test covers every darn thing we were supposed to have read. Yes, I did all the reading, but I didn't memorize the stupid books.

But yesterday was better than Thursday. For one thing, my Civil War teacher loaned me some books that I can read, and he'll give me time to find a focus for my paper. And in the evening, I went to a play -- "The Fantasticks." I'd heard the music, but I'd never seen the play, so I wanted to go. It was supposed to be at an outdoors theater, but due to torrential rains for the past couple of days, they moved it indoors. I know one of the guys in it -- he's in my Am Civ class. So I talked my roommate into going, and we went. It was good.

testing, testing

Aside from one simple "orientation quiz" I took my first test today. Luckily I got my books yesterday, so I could quickly read the sections that I was being tested on, and then take my test. For only skimming the stuff for less than an hour before taking the test, I got an 82%. Hooray. I know my assignments are done well, so even if I keep getting low(er) test scores, I'll do fine in my class. Oh, and this was for my computer class. My classes are all fairly easy, it's just hard to do it all from three different computers. Thankfully, we're getting the internet at home next Tuesday. In the meantime, I visit the library a lot. I need to hurry and switch computers though, so I can have a computer with a disk drive, so I can email myself my assignments, so I can upload them from Tawnia's computer.

General Conference

I watched general conference at the stake center. It's about ten blocks from where I live, but I got rides most of the time, and I didn't head all the way back in between sessions. On Saturday, I headed up to campus to hang out with some friends and then I took myself out to eat at Subway. On Sunday, I just remained at the church the whole time.

So I got very little studying done over the weekend. But it was a great conference. My institute teacher (by the way, I'm taking teachings of the living prophets, so our lessons are from conference talks) -- anyway, my institute teacher said we should go with a question in mind. I did. And it was answered within the first half of the first session -- third talk, actually. And then it was confirmed in the other sessions. It wasn't just the talks -- there were also hymns.

By the way, what happened during the closing hymn was incredible. The Tabernacle Choir started singing "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet," and I wanted to sing, too. Then, after they sang the third verse, the conductor turned and everyone joined in singing the first verse again. Millions of people must have been singing at that moment. It was beautiful and powerful. I can't remember the last time we were able to sing the closing hymn.

For conference

Yesterday Amanda and I watched General Conference at home sitting on our couch. Actually we got a little too comfortable and fell asleep for part of the sessions yesterday. The same thing happened today. But we also had mom and dad and Clarissa over for today's sessions. They showed up around 9 and hurried in here to listen. Then in between sessions we had some good times shooting pool and playing ping pong. Then we enjoyed the second session and played more pool and ping pong after and then ate some good dinner and played some card games after that. Then mom and dad and Clarissa left and Amanda and I played some games.

Just so everyone knows, Dad beat me at pool twice. I also beat him twice, but only because he messed up, not because of my amazing pool talents. But I killed him at ping pong, even skunking him once.

Saturday sessions of General Conference

So what do you all think of General Conference so far? I'm enjoying it, and Summer isn't being fussy (just when she's tired or hungry) so I've been able to take notes like usual. We stayed home and watched it on the internet today, and are going to our Bishop's house tomorrow for both sessions with lunch in between. I'm looking over my notes from today and the concepts of service and scripture study have been my little jab in the butt reminders so far. Elder Hales' talk about scripture study is the one I think I will use for visiting teaching in November.

It's good to see people posting again. I know we're all busy, but wow. This was a dead zone for awhile.

Jared, I couldn't get my comment to post on your Christmas traveling string, so I'll stick it here ... Yes, I know it's FOUR TIMES as expensive for your whole family to travel instead of just you. I have a family now too. But you did start the conversation by saying "discussable possibility" for travel this Christmas - it sounded like it might be an option. For the record - you're welcome to visit us here in DC on your own if you want, but it just wouldn't seem right to me without all of your family. So while it will be a long time between visits, I'd rather you save up the money to have everyone come together. And when Adam graduates from school and gets that fat paycheck from a law firm, then we'll be able to travel again.

Hello?

Hi, everyone. Life here is, as usual, fairly busy. But here's a run down of some things I've done.

First of all, I've decided to write my Civil War paper on guerilla warfare. I had planned on doing something involving our ancestors, but this looks more interesting. So, Adam, do you have any books on the subject? I'll be in the D. C. area next Wednesday. There is a temple trip, so classes have been canceled so people can go. So I signed up. (I already told Trina about that.)

My other classes are keeping me fairly busy. In my performing arts class, we had to watch "The Marriage of Figaro." And I went to the forum this morning -- there are forums every Friday. This one was about tolerance. In German, we're learning to talk about the weather.

There is going to be a history honor society, and I will be joining it.

'Tis the Season...

I was just thinking about Christmas.  Wondering what kinds of presents I'll give people, stuff like that.  No, I'm not asking for Christmas lists here.  Actually, I'm wondering what kind of travel plans people are making.  We haven't made any yet, so if someone were to decide they wanted to come to Houston for Christmas or even Thanksgiving, well, you can.  If you let us know that's what you're planning.  Because if we're not expecting anyone, we'll likely head off to Dallas just like we normally do.  But since we haven't made our plans yet - we're notoriously slow with finalizing travel plans - you can still influence our decisions at this point.  If someone wants us, or more likely just me, to come to you, that may also be a discussable possibility.  So tell me... who's visiting whom this year?

Nothing but good times

Hi all. Sorry I haven't posted or put up pictures or anything for a while. I've been very busy with work for one thing. It's going well, it's just busy. Also, at night I'm trying to spend as much time with Laurel and Stevie as possible. With my spare moments, I'm trying to watch as much television as I can. Okay, that's not entirely true. But I have been working on the Beers Reunion DVD. I'm about to send a final call for contributions. I think it's coming together well, but it has to be one of the more challenging creative projects I've ever worked on. It rivals the Stevie-D for difficulty, not least because Stevie is around to try to turn off the computer and play on the keyboard for this one.

Laurel is doing well. She's at YW right now. Stevie is into everything. But he's still the cutest baby in the world. Tooth count = 3.25

Thanksgiving where?

Don't know where I'll be on Thanksgiving now. I was going to be in Williamsburg, but that trip was canceled. We can sign up for the D. C. trip, but the only thing I want to see in D. C. I don't think is on the itenerary. (Hmmm, what could that be?) This sucks. I wanted to go to Williamsburg. Maybe if I got a job there next summer . . .

hey

Looking good with your page, pop. You too, mop. That's funny . . . pop and mop. Are you going to add any clips from your movies, or are they there and I missed them? anyways, Amanda and I went to the doctor's office Friday and heard the babies heart beat. Amanda has gained 1.5 pounds since August 11. Or maybe August 30th. I am not sure if they weighed her then.

sincerely,
Nathan

More updates

Dad has been working on his page for several weeks and has most of it done so he decided to put it up. He has reviews and pictures of several of his movies under the FFF section. Some of the links may not work but most of them should. He's worked real hard on this so let him know what you think.

Love ya,
MOM

Changes

I've made a few updates to my page. I answered the latest question and I changed my "What's New" page again. Dad has been working hard revamping his page. He should have at least part of it up soon.

Since no one has been on here much lately, perhaps it's time for a new question: What are your food preferences and how did they come about?

Life here at home is busy, between work and church I'm kept hopping most of the time. I really have no excuse, though, for not posting on the blog. I love you guys and hope you are all healthy and happy. I'd write more but I need to get ready for the R.S. broadcast.

Love ya,
MOM

back to school

So I decided to go back to school, and get my Associate's degree. I only need two more terms through Chemeketa, and classes start on Monday. I just ordered my books. Ugh. It isn't as bad as Emily's $500, but it was straight out of my account, so it hurt pretty bad - a little over $200. All of my classes are online, and for the first week it's going to be very stressful, because I won't have all my books right away, and we're moving at the end of the week, and we won't have the internet at the apartment yet, so I'll be spending a lot of time at the library. October will go better, because I'll be used to studying, and I'll be able to use the internet at home. It will be so much nicer, since there are so many different things to do online for my classes, and be able to send things into my teachers, and trying to do homework at home. So if you don't hear from me for a few weeks, that's why.

The good news is, I was showing my teacher some of my artwork, and a different teacher walked in - she saw my portraits, and got some Christmas ideas in her head - so I might have an art project to do this year. It'll take up even more time, but for the amount of money I can make off it, it's totally worth it. Hooray!

AND it's Friday. That's always a good thing.

Funnies

My kids are hilarious.

One day after having talked about how mountains are formed (you know, plate tectonics, plates pushing together, etc.) I mentioned to the kids that fossils of sea creatures have been found near the top of Mt. Everest. I asked them if they knew how that could be possible. One student repled, "Flying Fish." Another thought that maybe a bird had carried them there.

Yesterday we were talking about common and proper nouns. I had the kids name proper nouns for me. When I got to one student he spread his arms out and said very loudly, "Hallelujah!" I told him that it wasn't even a noun. And he said, "Oh, wasn't there a place called Hallelujah?" He thought about it for awhile and then realized that he had meant Honolulu.

-Tawnia

hello?

Is this thing on?

rice cereal ... yummmmm

We had our first attempt at Summer eating food yesterday - it didn't go over too well. The first time it touched her tongue, she made this wretched face. We tried for 5 or 10 minutes to get her to eat - we're not sure if she swallowed anything, but if she did, it probably came right back up when she spit up after we took her out of her chair. (She was in the bouncer - we don't have a high chair yet.) It was rather amusing. Yes, we took pictures. She wasn't in a very good mood today, so we'll try again tomorrow.


I had a Primary meeting last night with a member of the Primary General Presidency - it was really good. The topic was about teaching from the scriptures - there were techniques of how to teach children from the scriptures, and of course a lot of encouragement about how we need to learn the scriptures ourselves if we're going to teach from them. Sister Lillerth (or something like that - she's the 1st counselor) referred to a recent New Era article by Elder Bednar about studying the scriptures. Of course this is a subject we've heard ad nauseum since we were in Primary - this time, the emphasis was on how hard we must work at studying the scriptures. I'd never heard it put quite like that before. The article is online at http://www.lds.org/gospellibrary/pdfmagazine/0,7779,593-8-1,00.html# in the April 2006 issue. I encourage you all to read it, and make time to read the scriptures regularly. We read together as a family every night (yes, we do it with Summer), but we're definitely lacking in our personal reading. That's our focus to improve on right now.

Good-bye, Kitten

There were several reasons why Rebecca and I had to send the kitten away. First off, the landlady's collie hated him. He went ballistic when we brought the kitten downstairs. So he was stuck in our room all day. Kinsley found someone else who could take him, so he's gone now. At least now it will be easier to study without him distracting me, pouncing on my shoes, batting at my pens, or chewing on my papers. And I won't wake up early in the morning with the kitten running back and forth over me. Will I miss Iggi? Not really. I'll still see him every week; he's the mascot of our Dungeons and Dragons group, so I'll see him just about every Saturday night. And besides, classes are keeping me so busy that I don't have time to think about much else. I spent today writing a paper for my Civil War class. I hauled my laptop up to campus to do it.

stay at home status

To get this out of the way right at first - after almost 2 weeks, no, I don't miss work. I don't even think about it.

Well, it's taking a lot longer to do my "I'm staying home now" projects than I had figured. But my epiphany this past Sunday was "Who cares about the projects. You're staying home to be a mommy and raise Summer. The projects will get done eventually." So there you go. I'm of course going to keep working on things and set deadlines, but if I don't meet the deadlines, I'm not going to get bent out of shape.

Summer rolled all the way over from her back to her front on Monday - for the last couple of weeks, she was able to make it most of the way over with her torso and hips, but her shoulder would get stuck. Now she's made it through - she still gets stuck sometimes and starts yelling, but most of the time she can make it all the way over. She also does some kind of weird rotation when she's lying on her back - she'll stay on her back, but pivot to a 45-90 degree angle from where she started. Once she's on her stomach, she's doing better at getting her head up but still doesn't last very long. The last couple of days, I've gotten down on the floor with her and put toys out in front of her to get her to reach for them. Friday is her 4-month checkup (and shots), and I'm going to talk to the doctor about starting her on solid food.

An extra thing to throw into the mix is it looks like my visiting teaching partner is going to pay me to clean her apartment regularly. We had a Relief Society thing on Saturday, and Beth said something about paying me to do her errands for her during the week. (We were talking about her lawn mower, because Adam usually takes care of it for her.) A couple of people looked genuinely interested ... which I think is a little funny, but totally makes sense. In this city, it's very common to work 12-hour days, plus the commute, and the only time you can do any errands is on Saturday - but you don't feel like it because you're tired but you have to. Anyway, after that conversation, my visiting teaching partner (who is new in the ward and I've just barely met her) asked if I'd really clean her apartment for her - she used a housekeeping service in New York, and wants someone here too. Oooookay ... so I'm headed over there Friday or Monday morning. What the heck. It's a little bit more money for just a couple of hours every week or 2, and I can take Summer with me.