Saturday, July 28, 2007

Party planning


Well, only two weeks left until Bryan's birthday. He decided that he wants a Star Wars party this year. We're going to build podracers and have some Jedi training activities. It should be lots of fun -- well, I'm having fun with it, anyway. ;)

Bryan doesn't know that I've also invited Darth Vader - but I haven't heard back yet whether he'll be able to make it. I won't tell Bryan unless I know for sure he's coming, so that he doesn't get his hopes up. Although I may just not tell him anyway, and let it be a surprise when a Sith Lord knocks on the door.

If any of you want to come, you're certainly more than welcome. Our house on Saturday August 11, from 2-4 pm.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

A Very Full Day

I didn't get a chance to talk to Tawnia this evening but when I tried to call her back, the lady who took her to the hospital answered her phone and said that the tests all came back fine. She also said that Tawnia seemed to be feeling a bit better. I hope everything is fine and it was just a flu bug or something. Anyway, Tawnia, you're in our prayers.
I hope Mindy enjoyed her birthday today. I know she got herself the new Harry Potter book. I'll have to read it when I get home. Maybe Dad can bring it when he comes and I can read it on the trip home.

Allison came home today. She is a beautiful little angel. She's a featherweight and she's not very fussy. She'll cry when she's hungry but not much else. Stevie really loves his baby sister and he's very glad that everyone is home.

I'm sorry I didn't communicate very well that I was going to Oakland for the weekend. It was great seeing the pageant and spending time with Clarissa. Gary (Knowlton) even came to see it with us. I went up with Cheryl and her boyfriend Karl. We got back Monday night just in time to see Allison before visiting hours were over.

I've been enjoying the updates that some of you are putting up. I especially love the pictures of my grandchildren, but then, I'm a bit partial.

Take care everyone and remember that I love you all.

Love,
MOM

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday, Mindy! Hooray! Another year older. I'll have to eat some ice cream for you. I hope you have a good one.

I'm enjoying today, since oddly enough this week, Tuesday and Wednesday are my weekend. Work is keeping me busy. I was on my feet for six or seven hours each day over the weekend, but I don't have quite as long days coming up.

To Mindy

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy happy to Mindy!

Happy birthday, Mindy! We're very excited that you're going to visit us when the baby is born! It will be fun to have you here, and you can see some of DC again. We'll see how your perspective on things around here changes from when you were a kid to now that you're an adult.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Congratulations!

First off, allow me to wish Allison a happy birth. She looks adorable, but I had to dig around to get to the pictures. I found them, but only by going through Stevie's pictures.

My feet hurt. My job has me on my feet a lot, and so my feet are really, really hurt.

Elder's Quorum record

Hey - just wanted real quick to let you know we are back online. We still won't be around much in the next week or 2 due to unpacking everything, and I have to go back to the other apartment and get that finished up (cleaning, a couple of pieces of furniture disposed of via craigslist hopefully, etc), but our internet is going again.

I think our Elder's Quorum set a record in getting us moved. About 10 guys showed up to help. I went out to get breakfast for our moving crew at about 8:30 am and no one was at our place yet. They trickled in at 8:45-9 ish. By the time I got back with the food, the entire apartment was almost empty and the moving truck was over half full. The truck was locked and ready to roll at 10:20. Our new apartment had everything moved in and pretty much set up, and everyone was gone by noon. WOOSH!! Very fast. It did help that we were entirely packed. Adam and I had spent some time on Friday moving a number of boxes, unpacking them, and taking them back to the old apartment to refill them Friday night. We've of course been unpacking ever since and it's starting to look like a home rather than just a pile of boxes. There's A LOT more to do, but it's a good start.

Congrats to Eric and Laurel and Stevie, with Allison joining your family!! Laurel, you look a lot more comfortable than you did in the pictures from Stevie's birth. Summer liked looking at the new pictures. (And she liked looking at the pictures of Joshua as well - she "played" peek-a-boo with him because in one of the new pictures, it looks like he's partially hiding.)

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Allison is here!

Our beautiful new baby girl is here! We're all very happy and tired and sore (well, we're not all sore...).

Anyway, I've posted some pictures.

I am half asleep, but I kept going and they're up. Videos will come, but not tonight.

Also notice Stevie's 23 month picture.

I enjoyed talking with each of you today. I love you all!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Get your votes in now!

Okay kids, I don't want to panic anyone, but you might want to get your baby weight votes in now. I'll give you a hint on the birthdate. It's July 21st. Okay, that's not really a hint, but that's a pretty strong guess. I think Jared's going to win on that one.

I'll be talking to you soon!

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Website stuff

After much painstaking study (okay, not that much) I have scoured through this entire website and concluded that we have finally achieved "no dead link" status. Some pages were built with links in place, but nothing for them to link to. All those gaps have now been filled. Granted, some of those pages will still need to be updated, but at least there's something there.

Don't believe me? The big offenders were the Pure Chaos section and the Games page. Go check them out.

Oh, and I've also been updating my page from time to time.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Happy Anniversary Jared and Michelle!!!

I hope you're doing something special for your special day.

The latest update on Laurel is that she came home from the hospital on Monday and is on bed rest. That means she can only get up to shower and use the bathroom. Eric got her a tray so she can have her meals in bed. Stevie goes back to her room to visit her occasionally. Today she went to the doctor for a stress test for the baby and the nurse thought it looked fine. The doctor will call if he thinks there's a problem. He'll see her again on Friday. I'm keeping pretty busy doing what I came here for, taking care of Laurel and Stevie and sometimes even Eric.

I was talking to Dad the other day and he thinks it's time for everyone to post their guesses as to when Allison will be born and how big she'll be. Her due date is Aug 12th. Here is what we have so far.

Grandpa says July 25th weighing 5 1/2 pounds. (He says they should name her Allison Kendall Mindy Palmer.)

Grandma says Aug 4th weighing 6 pounds.

Laurel says July 29th weighing 5 pounds 12 ounces.

Eric says Aug 11th weighing 6 pounds 4 ounces.

So what does everyone else think?

Love ya,
MOM

Monday, July 16, 2007

speaking of cars ...

With moving from the District to Maryland, and with Adam turning 25 last month, our car insurance just went down by 200 bucks. YEE HAW!! We've been paying over $100 a month for both of us (and our brand new car so we have to have full coverage), and it just dropped to $75 per month. YIPPEE!!! Just wanted to share that.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

I have a car!


That's right folks .. Mindy is officially a little bit more grown-up. Yesterday I bought my very first car. It's a 2002 Mazda Protege' with all the important stuff, like four doors, air-conditioning, a CD player, and a moon roof.
Dad and I hunted all over on Friday, with a lady trying her hardest to get me to buy a car at the first place we looked. This car was actually the LAST one we looked at, at the Capitol place in Salem. After going home and thinking about it, this one was what fit my original description of what I wanted in a car. So we went back last night, test drove it, and then filled out all the paperwork. And now I have a car!

catching up

It's been really busy around here lately, getting ready to move this coming Saturday. We have a lot packed already - I've been working on it for a couple of weeks already. In fact, that's about all I've been doing lately. I'll email out our new contact info this week. We have our new address and phone number confirmed, and we're keeping our cell numbers.

The new apartment is a 2-bedroom (we're still in a 1-bedroom place right now, with Summer's crib at the foot of our bed), but it's actually smaller than what we have now. We're more than doubling our counter and cupboard space in the kitchen, but everything else is substantially smaller. Go figure. But the plus side is that we will have a dishwasher (hooray!!) and a washer and dryer inside the apartment (double hooray and the Dance of Joy!!), and no upstairs neighbors stomping around at midnight (also a cause for much happiness). Parking the car also should no longer be an issue, and the parking space is right at the front door of the building. Right now, we have to just randomly park on the street wherever you can find a spot, and the closest to the building we can get is still 10 or 15 yards from the door. The area is right on the edge of a business area - the Metro is about 4 blocks away (very long blocks, but still). There's a major grocery store right behind our building, and the bank is right across the street from that. There's a small park around the corner with baby swings (Summer's favorite thing), and the library is about 3 blocks away. I've already looked up the summer reading group schedule for toddlers. There are also a ton of restaurants in the vicinity, so we'll need to be careful there. If we actually had money, it would be fun to try a lot of them out. That's all I can think of right now - we've only driven around the area. I'm sure we'll find more when we take walks in the neighborhood. I'm actually getting excited to move finally - we've only been working on paperwork for this apartment since March.

The only other thing of note lately is that Jori Wilson was here with her sister for 10 days, for the 4th of July. (Jori and I were at Western together.) We all went downtown to watch the fireworks on the Mall. We had a nice view of the Washington Monument. Summer didn't really react to the noise or anything, but she wanted to be on my lap or Adam's the entire time.

Summer is doing well. She's actually talking on the phone to people now instead of just listening. Still no intelligible words, but she has said something that sounds like "yes" and "boo." She's up to 7 teeth now - just cut another one on the bottom this week. She knows to point the remote at the TV and push buttons, and sometimes it actually works and does something. I can't think of anything else at the moment. Oh - Mom, yes, I'm planning to continue putting her month pictures on the webpage. Adam downloaded a new photo program, and I haven't figured out how to connect it into the email yet.

We didn't end up going to Cape Cod and Boston. We had to cancel that trip in favor of going to St. Augustine, Florida for Labor Day weekend - one of Adam's good friends from high school, Jill, is getting married and Summer is going to be one of the flower girls. That's going to be a riot. We'll also stop in Georgia on the way down and back to visit one of Adam's sisters. She's in the Army and will be going to Iraq at the end of September. (And for the record, Adam's brother is still over there and won't be back until January.)

Don't be surprised if you don't hear from us for a couple of weeks. Our phone and internet are supposed to be switched over to the new place on Friday, but that doesn't mean we'll have time to use either one for a while.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Update on Laurel

Laurel's blood pressure has been up for the past week; so today, when she went for her appointment, the doctor decided he wanted to keep a closer watch on her. They are monitoring both her and the baby for a couple of days. If things stay as they are she'll probably come home on Sunday. Right now there are no complications - they are trying to prevent that. If she comes home she'll be on bed rest until the baby comes. She's been taking it easy for the last week but she insists on doing more than she should. I'm glad I'm here to help. Stevie isn't real thrilled that Mom's been gone all day and he'll probably get upset when she doesn't come home tonight but at least I know his routine and we'll follow that. He asks for her occasionally but I'm sure we'll be fine. She'll be 36 weeks on Sunday and at 37 weeks the baby is no longer considered a preemie. Her water broke with Stevie at 32 weeks and he was born a few days later. Keep her in your prayers and I'll keep you informed of any changes.

Love ya,
MOM

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Registering

So today I finally registered for my classes. I also found out that I'd be getting some financial aid (not much) but enough to pay for classes and books. That's all I was expecting anyway. That's why I have a part time teaching job to help fill in with other money.

I have been keeping busy lately. Monday I spent the entire day at Lagoon. It was quite fun actually. We went on Rattlesnake Rapids five times and were completely SOAKED. But it was fine since it was rather hot the entire day. A group of us went and got one of those "old-time photos" taken. We dressed up as out-laws. It was quite fun actually. I'll eventually post one of those pictures if I can get it e-mailed to me. On the way back we stopped at IHOP and had "breakfast" at midnight. It was pretty good.

Tuesday I spent most of the day at home and then I met some friends at a little Italian restaurant in Provo for dinner. I had to rush through dinner in order to make it to tap on time and then after tap I went and got in line for Harry Potter. I LOVED the movie. I was in the midnight showing with Annie (Parker) Cox and also my friend Tiffany. (And a bunch of those two girls' family and friends.)

Wednesday I slept in quite a bit and then spent the day visiting with an old roommate from Ricks. She just moved to Draper (just south of SLC) and so she came down to visit for the day. Then I read a book all evening.

Today I have been cleaning my apartment and tonight I have ballet. I am hoping that I'll be able to continue to take classes, because money is going to be tight this fall... but my teacher is wonderful about making sure I don't quit.

Anyway, that is pretty much what I've been up to. I am keeping you all in my prayers and hope you are doing well.
Love,
Tawnia

BREAKING NEWS!

Sorry, family, but I am shocked at the amount of mis-quoting that has been going on in our home. The infamous "Super Funny" quote of "What's my line .... SURE!" Is wrong! The "sure" part is correct, but it wasn't "what's my line?" Mindy actually says, "Then what do I say?" The funny part is, I actually remember knowing what the line was, I was just nervous and didn't want to say it wrong, because it was probably my first "line" in a movie we had made.

To go along with that, I was watching some footage of my third birthday (since Dad is currently working on the mid 1980's movies), which was when I had the marshmellow elephants on my cake. Somewhere during the clip, Mom mentioned that I had to have one specific corner of the cake, because that's where I had been picking at it earlier in the day. And I remember that too! I have a mental picture of me looking up at the counter next to the refrigerator, where the cake was, and picking at the pink frosting where it sat on the yellow plastic cake-plate thing. Hooray for old family movies to bring back strange memories.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Joshua link

Hi all - I don't know how to put the link to the youtube video on the page right now, but I'll repost the link so it's higher up on the blog! then you can put it in favorites :c) Talk to you soon!

Love,
Manda

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j52R_s9AnG0

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Training

Today was my first day of training for my new job. I spent a couple of hours at the store, reading over the rules and regulations, filling out forms, that sort of thing. I'll get my schedule on Friday.

Hey

I talked to our old EQ president who trained dogs and he thinks that Jenna is some sort of shepherd, but was saying how she could be a mix of so much that it is hard to tell.

Joshua pictures are coming (there are just so many to choose from) and we were wondering when people would start asking about them. But you knew that already because Eric told you when I was on the phone with him. Also there is a link to the video on our page. The link is just invisible. It is just below that image map at the bottom of the our main page.

All is going well here. We're getting excited to go see Grandma and Grandpa Rozen in Washington this coming weekend, and we're planning on starting Joshua on formula soon (maybe today) so that mommy can go to a training next week.

We got our new couch and chair today. Tomorrow we are getting our new dining table, chairs, and bench. Our place is finally becoming a home. Still a somewhat messy home, but we're getting there.

We miss all of you and hope to hang out again soon, or maybe just talk.

Nathan

Frustration

I couldn't get the blog to let me make a comment to Jared's post. It won't let me sign in. So here's my comment. I asked my friend who is a vet to look at the page and make his guess. This is what his wife emailed back, "Reed said he would guess German Shepard/Shar-pei or Chow mix." Maybe Nate knows more than he thinks.

I'm enjoying my stay here in California. Laurel's blood pressure has been up a bit so she's taking it easier this week. Stevie is a very busy boy, who keeps me running. Whenever I turn on the computer he wants to sit on my lap and look at pictures of the babies. His favorite movie is JOSHUA. Could you put a link to that on your page? It would also be nice to have more pictures of him. Are you waiting for someone to ask? If you notice, Eric put up Stevie's 22 month picture. Are you going to continue into Summer's second year, Trina? I'm looking forward to your pictures, too, Jared. I added my birthday picture to the timeline. You can add pictures and such, too, you know.

Keep posting all of your adventures.

Love ya,
MOM

Friday, July 06, 2007

What is she?

Yesterday, Michelle and the kids went to the animal shelter and adopted Jenna. We'll bring her home tomorrow, after she gets her rabies shot and microchip. She's two years old, housebroken, knows a few simple commands, and is good with children and other pets. Trouble is, we don't know what breed she is! They listed her as a shar-pei mix, but only the ears look shar-pei to me. What other breeds might be in Jenna's bloodline? Help us decide! Vote now!

Changes

My fourth was fun. I was up super early (5-ish) and headed out to Provo at 6 a.m. I went to the balloon festival and watched the hot air balloons get sent off. Then I went to the staging grounds of the parade. I got to hold on to a giant yellow care bear. Anyone know which bear that would be? It was actually the most fun I've ever had being in (or even watching) a parade. I highly recommend doing that if you get the opportunity. After we had finished walking the group of us that had walked that balloon played Ultimate Frisbee for an hour and a half. I finally got home around 1 pm absolutely exhausted. I spent several hours relaxing in the cool air of my swamp cooler and then left my place around 8:30 to go and watch the fireworks. I watched those with my friend Amanda and her friend Erik. It was a pretty good show, though I wish it had been longer. We waited for an hour or more afterwards before we even walked back to our cars... and the traffic was STILL insanely crazy. (It only took me 21 minutes to get home though.) The worst part was getting around one corner.

Then yesterday I was asked to babysit. I was babysitting for a family that I know through my old job. The parents had to go to Manti because some relative was going through the temple. I got to play with the four kids. In the midst of that I got a phone call from the school where I'll be teaching this fall. They want me to do science for Kindergarten and first grade also. That puts me up to 13 or 14 hours each week. (10 hours of teaching and then 3 or 4 of prep.) I was actually hoping that would happen. I also got the letter letting me know I was accepted to USU. And then last night my friend, Emily, said she wanted to move in, in August. So all the stuff that I've been waiting to figure out is finally starting to fall into place. I still need to figure out financial aid for school and some other stuff... but things are starting to get worked out.

Tomorrow I'm driving Sarah up to Rexburg so she can start school. It will be a very quick trip. Up on Saturday, taking her all over to make sure she's set for school on Monday, and then driving back down Sunday morning so I can make it to my ward. I promised that we'd have choir practice this week... so I have to be there for that. Plus Monday is our stake's lagoon day (you get discounted tickets for Lagoon) so I am going to go and do that.

Anyway, that's all my news. I hope everyone is happy and healthy. Congrats on the job Emily, I'm glad you were finally able to pee in that cup. (he he)
Tawnia

Thank you everyone.

It was great talking to all of you on my birthday. I had lots of fun with Cheryl and her boyfriend, Carl. We went to a 4th of July show put on by the Huntington Beach Stake. It was wonderful. They sang lots of patriotic songs and showed slides. It was quite a production. From there we went to the parade where Carl's ward had an awning and chairs set up so it was relaxing to watch. They also had a barbecue right afterwards. Then we went to Carl's trailer and swam and then to the fireworks at the beach. The show was a little disappointing because there was apparently no wind. We had a little breeze but it wasn't high enough to clear out the smoke and the fireworks kept getting lost in the smoke of the previous ones. Sometimes it would blow away a little but we missed a lot of it. Oh well. It was a fun day. Cheryl spent the night here both before and after. She got me a couple of t-shirts for my birthday. On the third Eric and Laurel took me to Olive Garden as my birthday gift. Yep. It was a great birthday and I'm so glad that I got to talk to each of you.

Love ya,
MOM

Why am I the only one posting on here?

Peeing in a cup. Doesn't sound that complicated. How hard can it be? Fifteen minutes and four glasses of water later -- yeah, it can get a little complicated.

Anyway, to make a long story short, that job I mentioned, at the Family Dollar -- I got it. I'll be filling out paperwork next week and starting my training on the 16th or thereabouts.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Fourth of July

Hello, family. What did you all do for the Fourth of July?

In the evening, I went to a barbecue with the people in my ward. We drove out to one girl's house, and there was lots of food. We played a couple of group games, and we set off firecrackers in the driveway. The guys kept trying to jump through the fountains. Silly guys! I caught a glimpse of the local firework show on the way back.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Hello

Once again, I must offer a belated birthday wish to Michelle. I wasn't feeling very well yesterday. Today I had a job interview at the Family Dollar across the street from my house, and I should know by the end of the week whether or not I've got the job.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Birthday Greetings

Happy Birthday Michelle!

And belated birthday greetings to you too Adam. Sorry I missed the day.

I hope everyone's having a great summer. I've been sick for the past week or so, but it's been a lot of fun hanging out with Mom and having her take care of Stevie. I think she's really enjoying her Grandmotherly duties.

plans

So after a conversation with Trina this afternoon, I ended up buying a plane ticket to Washington DC for the end of October. I'll be there to help out with Rosemary and Summer for 2 1/2 weeks. Hooray! The ticket (down and back) was only $230, which is fabulous for flying cross country, so I splurged and got it. It's rather spontaneous, but I'm excited about it, and I know Trina and Adam will appreciate the help when they have their new baby.

Beyond that, I'm working a lot. My job is enjoyable enough, so it isn't a big deal. I don't think I've ever actually had a 40 hour job, so that's new, but the time generally goes quickly. And it isn't hard work, I'm just on my feet all day.

Happy birthday, Michelle!

Just wanted to say that from the Caudles ... We hope you're enjoying your new house!

Also, thanks for the new pictures of all the kids and keep them coming! Holy cow, Stevie is looking like a miniature Eric! Summer likes to look at all of the pictures - we go through the website and identify everyone. With this habit, hopefully everyone will be at least kind of familiar to her at the next reunion (whenever that happens to be) or when there are visits.

We're officially moving in 3 weeks, on July 20 and 21. We'll actually get the keys Thursday evening, the 19th, and start moving stuff Friday morning. We'll have a moving truck and help from the ward on Saturday. We'll send out the new contact info that week. I've started packing and hope to make some good headway this week. I'm trying to take it a little slow so I can clean out and get stuff into the give-aways while we're at it. No point in hauling stuff around that we don't even use and has just been taking up space in a closet for the past 3 years.