One of "those" weeks

In response to Treen's comment on Mom's post. Umm... I didn't do a last call because someone said to have it to me by Tuesday night so I could get it off. And it's been one of "those" weeks for me too. I sent one a letter off on Wednesday with the ones that I had and then said to Clarissa that I would send more as I received them. I have Nate and Amanda's ready to go in this letter... so if Trina, Eric, and Jared (and company) would send me there answers I'll get them out to Cris, or you can always put them in your personal letters.... I think the point for me is to give me something to write about... saying, I went to work and did a whole ton of homework... doesn't fill up much of a letter.

Anyway, it's really late and I'm really tired but... after months of working on it, I have FINALLY completed Brooke's blanket. I'm going to try and get it into the mail tomorrow. That is, if I wake up before the post office closes.

Love,
Tawnia

A new question

I know, it's supposed to be Emily's turn to come up with a question for everyone, but I'm taking cuts. Think of it is parental privilege. I know that not everyone participated in the Book of Mormon stories emails but I'm begging you to help me on this one. I want to put a booklet together for Clarissa. "What Easter Means to Me" with a page from each of us. In order for her to get it in time for Easter it should be mailed about the 10th of March so I need you to get on this right away. I'll put it in a special Easter package. Please think and pray about this question. Clarissa needs all the love and support we can send her, right now.

Love ya,
MOM

Summer's funny

The other day, I was in the girls' room changing Rosemary's diaper and I could hear Summer in the kitchen saying in a sing-song type voice, "Ashes, ashes, down!" over and over. Of course it's ring-around-the-rosy, but I've never done it with her so she learned it in Nursery at church or from friends. She was obviously by herself since no one else was here, so I looked out the door to see what she was doing. She had a doll in each hand and was spinning around, "Ashes, ashes." Then she'd throw both dolls onto the floor, "Down!" (Not drop them, throw them.) Then she'd pick them up and do it again.

It was one of those moments where you want SO BADLY to laugh, but you can't because if the kid notices you even watching (let alone laughing), they'll stop doing whatever it is they're doing.

Hey

I was just looking over the blog and saw that Eric added new pictures. I don't know how long ago this was though. It looks like Stevie is very helpful, and I can't believe that Allison is already 6 months.

Greetings

Thank you all for your love and prayers. I'm feeling better each day. I'm still not sure if I'll be up to going to work on Monday but I have a few more days to decide.

I enjoyed the project of writing about my favorite Book of Mormon story so much that I put it up on my question page. So who is coming up with the next question for all of us to ponder? Are we going to keep this as an email project or go to the chain letter as originally suggested? I like the email method better because if someone doesn't follow through the whole project isn't stalled out. I would like to hear other people's answers, though.

I also put Clarissa's letter up on Monday, I hope you've all seen it.

I love you all,
MOM

Congratulations Jared and Michelle!!!

Now that you have posted it on the web I will congratulate you on the web. Good luck with the new addition. He/she is joining a great family with great parents and siblings...and uncle.

Hellos Everyone

I am home, at last. I'm going to eat a bite of lunch and take a nap. Then maybe I'll write my favorite Book of Mormon Story. I think we should post them on the blog and havr them printed from here. What do you think?

Clarissa

I just talked to Clarissa's mission president to pass on the message about Mom being in the hospital (no, I did not find the number online - I called the DC mission president, who called the Orlando president, who called me). Mom and Dad had said that they didn't want her to worry, but I would rather she know that something is going on and I think she would rather know as well. The president was very kind about it and said he would call her right away this morning. She doesn't need a surprise like this in her email.

He also told me to please send upbeat letters because Clarissa is struggling right now with being homesick and wondering why she's out there in the first place. Frankly, I'm not surprised. I went through it too when I'd been out about 2 months. I assured him that we have a large family and I know that Clarissa is getting quite a bit of mail, but I'd let everyone know and ask for extra effort with letters. So, everyone! Please make sure to write upbeat letters (and send pictures of the kids) especially in the next few weeks to get Clarissa going. Tawnia's group letter idea is great - maybe everyone could write their note right away and get it to Tawnia over the weekend so she could send it Monday or Tuesday.

Hi

Regarding Mom:

I have a friend who is an anesthesiologist who said that doctors should never say how long a patient is going to be in the hospital especially for procedures that involve the heart. They just kept her there to keep an eye on her as far as I know.

In response to Trina:

I’m not sure if everyone has the time to come up with a question for Clarissa, and putting it in an order to get people to do it makes it unappealing to me. I’d be happy to contribute answers, but putting me under pressure to come up with a question is too much. I know you can’t tell someone’s tone over the internet, so just know that I am not completely serious.

Tawnia,
Did you change your post? I don’t remember there being a question for Clarissa there?

Clarissa Letter

Two questions first: 1. Does the person who submits the question then send out the answer to Clarissa? 2. Why aren't Mom and Dad in the rotation? 3. I just want to add that the grandkids (especially Brooke and Bryan) can answer the questions also.

Okay, I have so many good ideas to choose from, and people can go ahead and look back at my original post and use one of my ideas if they need to.

The question for this week is: "What is your favorite Book of Mormon story and WHY?"

Mom and Tawnia

Okay, so what's the deal with Mom? She was supposed to go home from the hospital on Wednesday, and it's Friday and she's still there. What are they waiting for?

Tawnia, I also think it's a good idea, and I think Nathan's plan of making it happen would be a lot easier and quicker. Someone posts a "Clarissa letter" question on the blog, and everyone emails their answer to that person (or posts it in the comments if it's short). Let's say, on a Sunday. Then on Friday or Saturday, you print them off and mail a hard copy to Clarissa so she can take her time reading it. And if there are long emailed answers, maybe email them to everyone else?

So what's our first question? We can get started a couple of days early, and Tawnia can take the first turn since this was her great idea. Then we can go in age order - if we mix in the in-laws, I think this in the right order: Trina, Laurel, Eric, Jared, Tawnia, Michelle, Emily, Nathan, Adam, Amanda, Mindy. Yes? So Michelle would have March 2, Emily March 9, etc ...

Mom Update

I talked to Mom today and she is staying in the hospital again tonight. They removed the tube today. I talked to her before they removed it and she said that she was feeling better. Again, keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Tawnia's idea

I think it is a good idea, but I think that instead of passing it from one person to the next and trying to do that within a week someone should offer a suggestion for the week, then everyone who can or wants should email that person their response, and then after a week the original person should send it. This way everyone has the same amount of time to respond and if someone doesn't get it done or can't get it done, everyone else gets their stuff sent without waiting several weeks.

Letters to Clarissa

Okay, so I had an idea this morning that I think would be a fun way for writing letters to Clarissa. What if one person started an idea for a letter such as Favorite story from the Book of Mormon. They wrote theirs and then sent it to the next person younger than them (ie I would send mine to Emily), that person would then add their favorite and send it to the next younger person. This would keep going until it got back to me and I would print it and send it to Clarissa. So Clarissa wouldn't be in the chain, it would go from Mindy to Dad and then Mom. Other ideas could be "A Time You Stood Up for What is right" or "favorite scripture about missionary work" or "A spiritual experience you have had with prayer." I think that everyone in a family who could answer the question should (so that includes in-laws and even nieces and nephews who are capable.) Oh, another idea "favorite primary song." I just think that this would make for a fun thing for Clarissa to read and then hopefully she would respond by sending it to everyone. ... oh and along with printing it and sending it to Clarissa... that person should be responsible for either sending that e-mail to everyone else in the family OR just posting it on here. Tell me if you like the idea ASAP because I want to get one started. Oh, and I think these should only take a week to get around the family so that Clarissa can get one from someone each week... if possible.

-Tawnia

Mom Update

It turns out Mom is in the hospital for one more night. They still have not heard anything about the fluid test results but Mom didn't seem too worried. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers. If you want her room number you can call Dad's cell phone, but they're not supposed to use them there. So I have her number here if you want to call me.

Update on Mom Palmer

We've been asked to report that the procedure is completed, it went well, she is recovering in the ICU, and they are waiting to hear about test results on the fluid.

Hopefully there will be more updates soon!

Love you all,
Manda and Nathan

our genius child

Summer isn't even 2 years old yet, and in just the last couple of weeks, she can correctly identify most of the letters of the alphabet, she can almost count to ten, she can tell you different shapes (triangle is "kwy-go"), and she can identify over 20 different animals and the sounds they make. She's starting to put phrases together, starting with so-and-so's thing like "Daddy's coat" or "Summer's shoes." Some of the kids in her playgroup were barely talking at 21 months. We're starting to work on colors - so far, everything is green first.

To update her favorite things from last month ...

1 - Summer's favorite movie is still Mary Poppins, but she requests Cinderella ("Rella") a lot more frequently now. She also brought me Peter Pan today - that was a new one.

2 - Her favorite toy lately has been a doll she received from a friend on her birthday. She carries it around everywhere and reads books with it sometimes. Its name is just Baby so far.

3 - Favorite food: now it's peaches. This changes every couple of weeks, so it's kind of hard to keep track of. It seems that she loves something so she maxes herself out on it, and then switches to something else that she's not bored with. One thing that she can't overload on because they're too expensive is berries. She loves all kinds of berries and whenever we have them, she refuses to eat anything else.

4 - Favorite activity: still looking at pictures on the computer. She can say Joshy's name a lot better now, and all of her other Palmer cousins. All baby girls except Rosemary are Allie to her.

5 - Her current favorite book is Green Eggs and Ham, called "Sam."

The last 5 - song, Sesame Street character, place to go, article of clothing, and buddy - are still the same.

Aunts and Uncles

Wow, this could take awhile. Defining "know" as in, I have seen them more than once in my life.
Okay, so I'm supposed to write something that is special about each of them.... but this is more of a what I remember that is special to me about each of them.

Ray- When I was little and we'd eat dinner at Uncle Ray's he would call me his green bean girl and put tons of green beans on my plate. I did not like green beans at the time, but I'll tolerate them now.
Marli- Aunt Marli has been one of the aunts/uncles that has talked to me the most. When I was on my way home after Thanksgiving last year I went and spent the night at her house and then she took me to the bus. At her house she was really good about making sure I was comfortable. She even put a "kiss" on my pillow.
Carol- I enjoy going in and watching game shows with Aunt Carol. She is fun to just sit and chill with.
Max- Uncle Max is an amazing pillar of the gospel. I always loved going to their home and just feeling welcome and relaxed.
Jean- Aunt Jean is one of the sweetest ladies I know. She is always so kind and generous. When I sang at Uncle Bruce's funeral she told me that she wants me to sing at her funeral... I told her it better not be for a very long time.
Chet- Uncle Chet tells the best stories! He is hilarious.
Yoshi- I remember being taller than Aunt Yoshi by the time I was about 10 years old. She is always happy and has a smile on her face (at least when I've been around!)
Speedy- I am amazed at Uncle Speedy's musical talents.
Debbie- Aunt Debbie is very patient. It was fun to go to Speedy and Debbie's at Christmas this year and see them with all of their grandkids. They are really quite the family!
Joy- I remember going to Aunt Joy's on our trip to Orlando. She was very generous to let us come stay.
Gary- Uncle Monkey is a quiet man with a big heart.
Cheryl- I have always love Aunt Cheryl. One of my favorite times with her was just a few years ago. We went to Disneyland together for a day... just the two of us. We talked and talked and talked in line and made it to tons of the rides I wanted to go on. It was a lot of fun and a memory I'll always cherish.
Bruce- I miss Uncle Bruce. I remember the last time I talked to him was on my birthday. He said, "Happy birthday, darling." I said thanks and I love you and then he said, "I love you, too!" He was always so much fun to just hang out with. He would give you candy and that was always endearing to a child's heart but he also was so grateful for anything you did for him. I really miss him.
Sylvia- I don't know if I've talked much to Aunt Sylvia. I do know that she makes it a point to come to every family reunion, even though she doesn't have much money. That is impressive to me. She wants to be their to see her family and to have her children know their family. That's cool.

Jeff- I don't know a whole lot about Jeff, except that I remember the time the van broke down in the grapevine and he came and stuffed as many of us as he could into his car and drove us to the repair shop.
Jackie- I remember that Jackie loves elephants and has a really cool collection of them. She also has great stories to tell of all her adventures all over the place.
Gary- I love going to Uncle Gary's and having a BBQ. That was what we did at Christmas time this year. How wonderful that was. Uncle Gary is always fun to hang out with.
Karen- I still remember when Uncle Gary and Aunt Karen got married. For a long time I thought Aunt Karen didn't like us, but I think we've grown on her. I think she does an amazing job as a Grandma to ALL of her grandkids.

So there you have it. I guess I've never really thought about how kindhearted the majority of my aunts and uncles are. Maybe I think they are because they are my family, but on the whole I think I'm related to a lot of really good people.

-Tawnia

Changes

Since I've been spending so much time at home I figured I should make some changes to my page. I want to update the various sections at least once a month but I was having a hard time coming up with something newsworthy for the "What's New" page. That's why I did away with that section. Most of the new things would fit on the timeline or be better on someone else's page. My latest news is not what I really want to have on there. Take a look at what I replaced it with and let me know what you think.

I also updated the 2007 timeline.

I have a new question for us. What is special about each of your aunts and uncles? Tell at least one thing about all the ones you know. I modified this one a little because I have many aunts and uncles that I never met. It will probably take me a while to put this together; I have LOTS of aunts and uncles.

First time in a long time

I just realized that it's been a while since I've posted. It wasn't intentional. I mean, I wasn't giving you the old silent treatment. So here we go. I'm taking a few minutes to post.

I know, I know. More baby pictures. You have no idea what you're missing. Allie is so beautiful. Big breakthrough recently - Allie and Stevie can be left alone together and not only will Allie not be harmed, but sometimes they entertain each other. It's the cutest thing. The other day we heard them both laughing their heads off in the living room, while we were back in our bedroom. Also, they talk to each other from their cribs. I hope they always like each other.

Stevie is getting better and better at repeating things. His vocabulary is going up. Laurel got out some Incredibles toys I bought back when the movie came out (and left in the box, but so much for that now) and they're Stevie's favorites. He likes to name them, though he's better at some than others (e.g. Dash, Violet, and Baby Jack-Jack).

Laurel has been working on redecorating the house. Of course, that's something she's doing most of the time. She ordered a bed frame and put it together to surprise me when it came this week. It's very nice. She called it the cherry on top, meaning that the house is "done", but then she was putting up pictures and staining a breadbox yesterday, so who knows? Maybe today it'll be done and we can have a party.

We had a great weekend two weeks ago when we went to see Tawnia and Nathan Dille (first time this millenium) and went to a marriage retreat put on by BYU. It was exhausting but a lot of fun. We had the worst snow between Tawnia's and Nathan's Sunday morning. The rest of the trip was very good for the most part. We watched the funeral up at Aspen Grove, surrounded by snow-covered mountains. It's really a beautiful spot. We should have a reunion there someday. Maybe just the Palmers.

Three-day weekend starting today. That will be nice. Laurel and I are going to the temple tonight. We don't really have plans for Monday, but if the weather's nice, maybe we can play outside. It's looking good right now.

Fluff About Summer and Rosemary

Last month was Summer's Top Ten and Rosemary's Top Two. For this month's installment of Fluff About Summer and Rosemary, here is the list of books we currently read every day. Summer of course chooses them, but Rosemary hears them too because we usually read them while I'm feeding Rosemary. Sometimes we don't make it through the entire list, but most days we do.

- Green Eggs and Ham, called "Sam."
- Punchinello: One of a Kind, called "Puncho" (by Max Lucado)
- The Three Little Pigs
- I'm a Big Sister, Summer's Christmas present from Aunt London and Uncle Joe.
- I Know an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly
- Another Monster at the End of This Book with Grover and Elmo. She particularly likes the part where they run into each other and scream because that means she can scream too.
- The Runaway Bunny
- What's Wrong Little Pookie, the Christmas book exchange gift from Allison (I forget if it was for Summer or Rosemary, not that it matters)
- One Hungry Monster
- The Paperbag Princess, by Tawnia's favorite author Robert Munsch

We also alternate between 3 different Strawberry Shortcake books (at the beach, plays soccer, and goes to school), and various books with farm animals so we can make all the sounds.

Other books that have been on the Every Day list in the past but are less frequent visitors to the repertoire now are:
- Go Dog Go
- Moo, Baa, La la la (love Sandra Boynton!!)
- Just Me and My Dad (a Little Critter book that was dropped off the list because she destroyed it)
- This Little Chick
- Elmo Loves You
- Elmo's Nursery Rhymes

And speaking of books, I just finished reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and posted a little review of it on the sisters' blog. I highly recommend it to everyone - it was fantastic!

New Letter from Clarissa!

In other news, I'm taking a week off work with an upper respiratory infection. It sucks. I'll be all right, though.

timeline

Hello everyone. I was looking over the timeline and added some pictures in 2007 and 2008. They are pictures from Joshua's calendar, so you've probably seen them before. They are on birthdays and anniversaries. Enjoy.

New videos

There are three new videos at www.youtube.com/skipdipdawg . The two latest have already shown up on Amanda's blog and were actually created by Amanda. Joshua and the Milkshake is brand new to the internet world. The advantage to watching the videos on youtube is that we can see how many people have viewed the video and you can watch it in full screen.

Keep an eye out for more videos.

Nathan

About an exam

This morning I found out about the senior examination for all graduating history majors. We have a list of six questions. We choose four, one of which will be on the exam (our choice) and one of the other three will be drawn. So I must research historiography, soft power, revolutions, and major turning points in history. (The other choices were on women and biography.) I'm debating between choosing the soft power essay (because I'll be reading Ghandi's autobiography and I've taken a class on diplomatic history) and the one on major turning points (which might include the French Revolution and the World Wars, and I studied these events in my nationalism and history of warfare classes). I'll have to look at my old essays and notes.

Updates

I don't how many of you have seen but I did update my page. I put some things on what's new and finally answered the question of what I'd learned.

Now for an update on my health situation. I saw the cardiologist yesterday. The EKG looked better this time so he thinks things are improving. Next week I'll have another ultrasound. He also wants me to stay home from work for the next two weeks. I need to rest. So I'm home being a bit lazy for a while. So if you're feeling lonely during the day or just want to talk, I'm here for you.

Take care and I'll keep you posted.

Love ya,
MOM

Letter from Clarissa

There's a new letter from Clarissa on her page (as of yesterday) and a new picture just below it. I've also updated the city information.

My weekend

Hi, family. This weekend, since I had Saturday off, I went with my roommates to Roanoke. That means spending about three hours in bookstores. I bought two books -- one is for a history class, and the other is "Writers of the Future." Since I plan to enter the contest, I should see what types of stories have won. Right?

We went to President Hinckley's funeral broadcast, though we were a bit late because we had to find the place. Are Mormons the only people who will laugh at funerals? I did like what the presiding bishop Burton (I think) said about the young people. And I was very moved by Elder Eyring's remarks about how he had consecrated his life to the Lord. I cried during the closing hymn.

And during testimony meeting on Sunday, I was the first one up. I spoke of the troubling week. (I think you'll understand why -- not just the death of the prophet but other things as well.) I explained how I was searching the scriptures for comfort, and I found the verse in the 76th section where Joseph Smith bears a powerful testimony. As the song says, "What comfort this sweet sentence gives."

Well, I'd better get going. I have German homework, and I need to finish reading a book by tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Jared!!!

Happy 32!!! The Salem Palmers are wishing you a wonderful birthday and we hope that your wildest dreams will come true. We hope everyone is healthy and doing well in Texas and can't wait for Brooke to sell Girl Scout Cookies again. Is she still in girl Scouts?

Nathan, Amanda, and Joshua

Hinckley challenge

www.hinckleychallenge.com

I got this forwarded to me in an email, and thought you all might find it interesting. By my count, 97 days ends May 10. We're in the middle of reading the Book of Mormon as a family anyway (we're at the end of Alma), so if Adam and I did this, it would be individually.

random stuff

My goals report for January and my target list for February are now on the Sisters blog, if anyone is interested.

Jared, don't let your bedtime story blog link get buried - it's only attached to your goals post! I just found it this morning, and that's a great blog. I read the whole thing. Very cute.

Tawnia, why a second bachelor's degree? Just curious ... And where are you enrolled anyway? Are you at BYU or Utah State again?

Amanda, I noticed on one of your blog posts that you were trying to get Joshua to eat pasta shells. Have you tried some of the different pasta shapes with him? I noticed with Summer that the shells slipped out of her fingers really easily, and she could hold onto the spirals a lot better. So she ate the spirals more than the shells.

Mindy, any word from BYU-I yet?

Rosemary is still growing super fast. She's now wearing an outfit at 4 months that Summer wore at 9 months. Crazy! She's finally awake and alert a lot more, and has a grip like nobody's business. She grips onto the rings on her toy bars (on the bouncer and the playmat), and gets a big fistful of my shirt when I'm feeding her.

Summer's vocabulary is growing as fast as Rosemary is. I can no longer rattle off a list of all the words she can say, and she's picking up at least 2 or 3 new words per day, maybe more. In just the last week or so, she started repeating things that people say - usually the last word of your sentence. She's never parroted anything before - this is a new thing.

She can say all the names of her Palmer aunts - Tawna, Emmy, Minny, and Cassa. She can mostly say who is who, but sometimes gets them mixed up. She can clearly say Summer (instead of "Ah-zuh" which is almost sad because that was so cute), and Mommy and Daddy. She won't even try Rosemary. It's just Baby. She's doing better with her cousins - Joshua is now a pretty clear "Joshy." Every baby girl we see besides Rosemary is Allie. And Grandma and Grandpa, for some odd reason, are "Park." Every picture she looks at of them, she says "Park." Don't ask me, I don't get it either.