Well, I had a job interview today to be a Teacher's Assistant in an Elementary School. So now I have to decide if I want the job or not. I have until tomorrow afternoon to let the principal know. It would be a good way to get my foot in the door for a teaching position because he basically told me that he would hire me if someone doesn't want to come back for next year. I just have to get my certification again, which will take a little effort and some money, but should be do-able.
Other then that I've just been having fun with my new roommates. We get along very well. We have already had a lot of fun just being crazy together. It's great. My new ward is okay so far. I haven't been to any activities because there haven't really been any, but there's FHE tonight. And I need to get signed up for an institute class ASAP... so that I can legally live where I'm living (it's BYU approved and you're not supposed to live there unless you're a student of some sort, which includes institute.)
So there's my life in a nutshell. I am going to go home now and do my laundry. I'm at the library right now, because I have access to the internet here.
Love,
Tawnia
Monday, August 30, 2004
Friday, August 27, 2004
Eric Growing Up
Since this is Eric's birthday I thought I should post some pictures of him.
Brand new
Eric's first birthday
Waiting for the bus on his way to kindergarten
Scriptures for his 8th birthday
Eric's 12th birthday
High School Graduation June 1992
Eric Leaving for the MTC October 1993
The latest picture I have of Eric and Laurel November 2003
Brand new
Eric's first birthday
Waiting for the bus on his way to kindergarten
Scriptures for his 8th birthday
Eric's 12th birthday
High School Graduation June 1992
Eric Leaving for the MTC October 1993
The latest picture I have of Eric and Laurel November 2003
Our first LONG Trip:
In 1973 we left our new home in our new car with our new baby and our new tent and traveled for a month. Our first stop was in Utah where we visited my cousin Ilene and her family for a few days. The farthest east I’d been, up to that time, was Cardston Canada and I’d only been to 8 states. This trip added 9 more to my list. When we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park, in Colorado, the scenery we could see was beautiful but as we climbed higher the sky got grayer. First it started raining, then snowing. Fortunately it didn't stick too much so we were able to keep traveling. I promised myself that I’d return other than in June so I could really see the mountains. We finally did that in 2001 on another of our long trips. When we camped in Limon Colorado we enjoyed watching the thunderstorm over the mountains in the distance. Soon the storm was upon us and we got into our tent. Then our tent blew over so I took Trina and ran to the restroom. The storm didn’t last long but our sleeping bags were soaked and our tent was down so we spent the night in the laundry room at the campground. We used that tent for a lot of years afterward and laughed at its crooked poles. As we drove across Colorado and into Kansas I looked back and it seemed that I would never see the mountains again. They were so far away. The prairie was a lot more rolling hills than I had expected and it was beautiful in its own right but I missed the mountains. We went to Missouri and enjoyed seeing the church sites there. At the campground there I saw my first fireflies. We stopped in Hannibal and saw the Mark Twain sites there. Then we went to Nauvoo and saw the sites that were rebuilt at that time. There weren’t near as many as there are today. The streets had all been covered with gravel because they had just filmed the movie Huck Finn (or was it Tom Sawyer).
We drove north to Wisconsin but I didn’t know where to look for my ancestral roots. We stayed with Frank’s Aunt Julia in LaCrosse and visited lots of his other relatives. His Great Aunt Eleanor had a picnic for us in her backyard. We learned a lot about Frank’s family history on that trip. We took a side trip to Madison to visit Frank’s Aunt Eldiva and Uncle Wally. We took a boat ride at the Wisconsin Dells on our way eastward. We left Wisconsin after 10 days and headed home across Minnesota. We saw the Badlands and the Black Hills in South Dakota and went through Yellowstone and the Tetons. Then back down through Utah, stopping to visit some friends in Kaysville. We arrived home tired and happy after our month of touring. Quite an undertaking for a young couple with an 8-month-old baby and no air conditioning. Frank used to tease me about all the baby spoons I’d lost along the way.
All ready to go.
Dinosaur National Monument Utah
Trina on top of the world.
Wind Cave National Park South Dakota
Mt. Rushmore
Setting up the tent in Yellowstone
We drove north to Wisconsin but I didn’t know where to look for my ancestral roots. We stayed with Frank’s Aunt Julia in LaCrosse and visited lots of his other relatives. His Great Aunt Eleanor had a picnic for us in her backyard. We learned a lot about Frank’s family history on that trip. We took a side trip to Madison to visit Frank’s Aunt Eldiva and Uncle Wally. We took a boat ride at the Wisconsin Dells on our way eastward. We left Wisconsin after 10 days and headed home across Minnesota. We saw the Badlands and the Black Hills in South Dakota and went through Yellowstone and the Tetons. Then back down through Utah, stopping to visit some friends in Kaysville. We arrived home tired and happy after our month of touring. Quite an undertaking for a young couple with an 8-month-old baby and no air conditioning. Frank used to tease me about all the baby spoons I’d lost along the way.
All ready to go.
Dinosaur National Monument Utah
Trina on top of the world.
Wind Cave National Park South Dakota
Mt. Rushmore
Setting up the tent in Yellowstone
Happy Birthday
Hi, Eric. Happy birthday!
Unlike the previous wellwishers, I am only twenty-three. However, I can still dump a lot of clothes into a washing machine, heat up meals in the microwave, and name all fifty states and their capitals in alphabetical order (in under two minutes). And I should earn my college degree within a couple of terms.
Eric, you're a great brother. Have a wonderful day and eat lots of cake.
Love,
Emily
Unlike the previous wellwishers, I am only twenty-three. However, I can still dump a lot of clothes into a washing machine, heat up meals in the microwave, and name all fifty states and their capitals in alphabetical order (in under two minutes). And I should earn my college degree within a couple of terms.
Eric, you're a great brother. Have a wonderful day and eat lots of cake.
Love,
Emily
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON
When you hold that tiny newborn in your arms this day seems an eternity away. And yet here I am having my second child turn 30. Do you realize that when I turned 30 we were getting ready to move to Oregon with our four little children? My accomplishments of the first 30 years were definitely different than my children's. I still haven't been on a mission or graduated from college and I'll probably never learn to drive a stick shift but I could do my own laundry before I was 30 and cook and clean and change diapers. Life hands out different challenges to each of us.
Eric, I think you've done very well. You almost have a masters degree. You have a good job and you really live quite comfortably. But more importantly, you have a wonderful wife. You've stayed true to the gospel and are growing spiritually. You help keep our family close. You're a son any mother would be proud to claim and I'm so glad you're mine.
I love you,
MOM
Eric, I think you've done very well. You almost have a masters degree. You have a good job and you really live quite comfortably. But more importantly, you have a wonderful wife. You've stayed true to the gospel and are growing spiritually. You help keep our family close. You're a son any mother would be proud to claim and I'm so glad you're mine.
I love you,
MOM
The BIG THREE-OH!
Happy birthday, Eric! And I bet I'm the first one to wish you a happy birthday, even though you don't know it because you're probably still asleep. It's 6:30 on the West Coast right now ...
I also paused for a moment of reflection when I turned 30 about all the things I'd done leading up to that point. I had also graduated from college, served a mission, could do my own laundry, and drove a stick shift. I looked at the decade mark as a level. Your 20s are for doing things like getting your advanced education, establishing your independence and self-reliance, and generally figuring out adult life. Your 30s are for applying all that learning and putting it to use, and really making your mark in the world. (Whatever mark you choose to make - some people want to make a small mark, and others want the biggest paintbrush possible to make some kind of sweeping statement.) A lot of people could say that yeah, yeah - Trina's only excited about her 30s because she finally got married. Not so - I most definitely enjoy being married. But I had come to these conclusions right around my 30th birthday, which was a whole year before I even met Adam.
So go forth! Happy birthday!
I also paused for a moment of reflection when I turned 30 about all the things I'd done leading up to that point. I had also graduated from college, served a mission, could do my own laundry, and drove a stick shift. I looked at the decade mark as a level. Your 20s are for doing things like getting your advanced education, establishing your independence and self-reliance, and generally figuring out adult life. Your 30s are for applying all that learning and putting it to use, and really making your mark in the world. (Whatever mark you choose to make - some people want to make a small mark, and others want the biggest paintbrush possible to make some kind of sweeping statement.) A lot of people could say that yeah, yeah - Trina's only excited about her 30s because she finally got married. Not so - I most definitely enjoy being married. But I had come to these conclusions right around my 30th birthday, which was a whole year before I even met Adam.
So go forth! Happy birthday!
Thursday, August 26, 2004
I love my sisters
I had no idea about the sisters blog until Mindy mentioned it. Of course, I'm not a sister. Really, the only thing that made me sad was that Clarissa has participated in that blog and not in this one. But that is changing too, so no problem. Besides, as the only teenager left in the family, she should be allowed to be the rebel... of sorts.
By the way sisters, I only glanced over it. I didn't really read it much. If you want to make it a little more open and accessible I can add it as a link on the side there, or you can keep it to yourselves which is fine too.
But the point of this is, I love my sisters.
I'm staring down my thirtieth birthday. One more day... a half day now, until I'm no longer a guy in my twenties. Boy, it really makes me introspective. Suddenly I'm evaluating all the stuff I haven't done and haven't become. Of course, I do my own laundry pretty well now. And I drive a stick shift. And I graduated from college. I guess I'm not such a failure after all. Anyway, we're going to a baseball game tomorrow night. That'll be fun. The Angels are on an 8 game winning streak, and won last night with a score of 21-6! Crazy. But the point is, Laurel is going to bake me a cake, and that's what matters.
Love,
Eric
By the way sisters, I only glanced over it. I didn't really read it much. If you want to make it a little more open and accessible I can add it as a link on the side there, or you can keep it to yourselves which is fine too.
But the point of this is, I love my sisters.
I'm staring down my thirtieth birthday. One more day... a half day now, until I'm no longer a guy in my twenties. Boy, it really makes me introspective. Suddenly I'm evaluating all the stuff I haven't done and haven't become. Of course, I do my own laundry pretty well now. And I drive a stick shift. And I graduated from college. I guess I'm not such a failure after all. Anyway, we're going to a baseball game tomorrow night. That'll be fun. The Angels are on an 8 game winning streak, and won last night with a score of 21-6! Crazy. But the point is, Laurel is going to bake me a cake, and that's what matters.
Love,
Eric
Provo
Hello Familia,
Well, I've made it into my new apartment. I got a nice workout lugging all of my boxes and bags up to the third floor of my apartment complex. (Yep, I've made it to the top!) My time down here has been spent scoping out Provo as well as visiting with old friends. I spent Tuesday in Logan with Aunt Marli and then we hooked up with Sam and Deb and the kids (minus Jaron, Daniel, and Melanie who stayed in Ogden) for the Martin Harris Pageant.
Now I'm looking for work. I have a few places where things might happen. It really all comes down to who you know. I have a friend that works at a charter school and they might have a teacher's aide position available. I e-mailed the principal and I'm waiting for details on the job.
Other than that I am just working on getting unpacked and settled. My roommates are awesome and we already have a lot of fun together (and I've only known Jennifer and Stephanie for less then 24 hours.) The other two, Amy and Annie, are from home so I know them well.
I don't care what the family website is called, but at the moment I'm not sure that I can pay any money out or at least not much because I don't have a JOB which means I have NO income. So I guess we can work this out later, but I wanted to put my two cents (or no cents) in. =)
I am glad that we have the blog and I hope we continue to have something like unto it, because I will miss it if it is gone.
Love,
Tawnia
Well, I've made it into my new apartment. I got a nice workout lugging all of my boxes and bags up to the third floor of my apartment complex. (Yep, I've made it to the top!) My time down here has been spent scoping out Provo as well as visiting with old friends. I spent Tuesday in Logan with Aunt Marli and then we hooked up with Sam and Deb and the kids (minus Jaron, Daniel, and Melanie who stayed in Ogden) for the Martin Harris Pageant.
Now I'm looking for work. I have a few places where things might happen. It really all comes down to who you know. I have a friend that works at a charter school and they might have a teacher's aide position available. I e-mailed the principal and I'm waiting for details on the job.
Other than that I am just working on getting unpacked and settled. My roommates are awesome and we already have a lot of fun together (and I've only known Jennifer and Stephanie for less then 24 hours.) The other two, Amy and Annie, are from home so I know them well.
I don't care what the family website is called, but at the moment I'm not sure that I can pay any money out or at least not much because I don't have a JOB which means I have NO income. So I guess we can work this out later, but I wanted to put my two cents (or no cents) in. =)
I am glad that we have the blog and I hope we continue to have something like unto it, because I will miss it if it is gone.
Love,
Tawnia
I'll miss you all
Well, this is it. I'm getting ready to go get on the plane right now and I won't be back until Wednesday night next week. I finished my senior project paper (ten pages on Enron) yesterday and took my final in Project Management yesterday as well. And since Trina asked, I'm currently halfway through Unix Networking and I'm ready to start Career Development. Two months from now I'll finish them and I'll have two more classes to go. Networking with Windows (the last in a long long series of networking classes) and one Humanities class. Then I'll get my BS in Technical Management, with a focus in electronics and telecommunications. It is a real bachelor's degree in management.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
I never know what to put here ...
So Emily's got a boyfriend, huh? He really must like her .. I remember them talking before she went off to Florida.. and he had let her borrow Harry Potter 5 right after he was done reading it, so she didn't have to wait for anyone else to read it. And writing to her this whole time?? Wahoo! Come on Emily .. of course we're going to be excited. The only person you ever really liked growing up was Robin, and now that he's married, you have no choice but to get over him. Time to MOVE ON! And what is this thinking about forever thing?!? If you aren't ready to make that desicion, don't! Be friends for a while, or date for a while .. and if something more happens, great! Don't jump the gun here, missy. But, I wish you luck either way.
I suggest that Eric send Emily a new invite, so she doesn't have to keep using mom's. She figured out how to make it work on the sister's site that I made (bbcmeltdown.blogspot.com), so just send her a new one, and I'm sure she can actually have her own account (and make sure you send it to her correct email).
Not much is going on up north. The weather has been crappy for nearly the past week, and it doesn't sound like we'll get sun for a few days more. Growing up the rain was never a problem, but now thunderstorms and continuous overcast makes me depressed. But I'll get over it.
Hey Laurel - I'm doing some watercolors again, any suggestions or tips or advice to help me out? I took one watercolor class back in high school, but I don't remember much from it. But the first picture I did (after such a long time) turned out great!
I suggest that Eric send Emily a new invite, so she doesn't have to keep using mom's. She figured out how to make it work on the sister's site that I made (bbcmeltdown.blogspot.com), so just send her a new one, and I'm sure she can actually have her own account (and make sure you send it to her correct email).
Not much is going on up north. The weather has been crappy for nearly the past week, and it doesn't sound like we'll get sun for a few days more. Growing up the rain was never a problem, but now thunderstorms and continuous overcast makes me depressed. But I'll get over it.
Hey Laurel - I'm doing some watercolors again, any suggestions or tips or advice to help me out? I took one watercolor class back in high school, but I don't remember much from it. But the first picture I did (after such a long time) turned out great!
Monday, August 23, 2004
Hello
To Mom Palmer. The contest I went to was more of a science contest rather than a science fair. We were sent into a classroom and given a test over science. It was multiple choice. The questions could were over any type of science from biology to astronomy to geology, ect. They really liked to ask latin animal names and classification. Though I can't remember those now. There was not a national contest. State is as high as they held contests. I participated in several such contest while I was in middle school.
I guess that I don't have any news. I'm doing good. The kids are doing good.
Michelle
I guess that I don't have any news. I'm doing good. The kids are doing good.
Michelle
I know the answer!
Well Trina, Emily wrote that draft under Mom's login. If you click on the title of the draft you can read the text. (Emily, I suggest you take Trina's advice and not leave drafts in the blog. We can all read it anyway.)
Emily's WHAT?
Um, Mom, did you know that even if you haven't posted something, when you put a DRAFT in the works, everyone can still see the TITLE of it when we log in to post. And the stupid part is, when you start a draft, it gets posted in the order it was started, not actually the order it goes up. So posts can get missed that way if we don't know to go back and look for it. Recommendation - do NOT use the draft feature! And for crying out loud, spill the news - what the hey are you talking about? Is this just another book that's being referred to as her boyfriend, like my car was for quite some time? Or are we referring to an actual person and a commitment?
Jared - I said I didn't know if you and Nathan had website experience, and, well, I didn't. It's not like you post (or email in the past) your class schedule every semester, or even that I'd expect that ... but don't throw a fit for me not knowing something you've never told me. Sheesh.
This is Adam's last week of work at the library - classes start next week. Today, if I haven't been fighting my computer, I've been fighting to keep my eyes open because they hurt. I don't know why - they just do. It's not been a very good day, so I'm going home.
Love, Trina
Jared - I said I didn't know if you and Nathan had website experience, and, well, I didn't. It's not like you post (or email in the past) your class schedule every semester, or even that I'd expect that ... but don't throw a fit for me not knowing something you've never told me. Sheesh.
This is Adam's last week of work at the library - classes start next week. Today, if I haven't been fighting my computer, I've been fighting to keep my eyes open because they hurt. I don't know why - they just do. It's not been a very good day, so I'm going home.
Love, Trina
Sunday, August 22, 2004
The New Family Website
Okay all...
I'd like a little more input before I up and buy a name.
Is anyone opposed to insanityinc.net or .org as a family website name, and if so, are there any others in Jared's list, or any others at all that you would like to use?
Let me know... and I mean YOU, unless your name is Jared, Trina, or ...Mom.
Oh, and one of my favorite trips was driving up the California coast with Laurel a few years ago. We visited a lot of the old Spanish missions, and the drive between San Luis Obispo and Carmel (past Hearst castle and Big Sur and all) was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The green hills on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other... it was a windy road but it was worth the three hours of 30 MPH turns. It was the perfect day for it too I guess. It was the end of January and the sky was beautiful. Maybe I'll scan in a few pictures so you can see...
Okay that's all for now.
Love, Eric
I'd like a little more input before I up and buy a name.
Is anyone opposed to insanityinc.net or .org as a family website name, and if so, are there any others in Jared's list, or any others at all that you would like to use?
Let me know... and I mean YOU, unless your name is Jared, Trina, or ...Mom.
Oh, and one of my favorite trips was driving up the California coast with Laurel a few years ago. We visited a lot of the old Spanish missions, and the drive between San Luis Obispo and Carmel (past Hearst castle and Big Sur and all) was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The green hills on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other... it was a windy road but it was worth the three hours of 30 MPH turns. It was the perfect day for it too I guess. It was the end of January and the sky was beautiful. Maybe I'll scan in a few pictures so you can see...
Okay that's all for now.
Love, Eric
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Atlanta
This time it's certain. I think. I leave for Atlanta on Thursday, and I'll get home on Wednesday the first of September.
Emily's Boyfriend
Yes, you read that correctly: boyfriend. The reason why I didn't post this before is because I wanted to talk to Mom about it first.
Okay, last summer I started e-mailing a guy named Jonathon Coultas. We sat next to each other during church when I was here for a few weeks, and then I went to Florida, and he wrote to me during that time. Right now, he's at JobCorps in Astoria. He still writes and calls, and we saw "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" together. We'll probably go out again this weekend.
And he says he's in love with me.
And I have butterflies in my stomach, and I don't know if I'm ready to make this decision, and I like him, but I just don't know if he's someone I could stay with forever. I have never been in a relationship before.
I am also thinking that Southern Viginia University might be a good place to go to school next year.
Okay, last summer I started e-mailing a guy named Jonathon Coultas. We sat next to each other during church when I was here for a few weeks, and then I went to Florida, and he wrote to me during that time. Right now, he's at JobCorps in Astoria. He still writes and calls, and we saw "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" together. We'll probably go out again this weekend.
And he says he's in love with me.
And I have butterflies in my stomach, and I don't know if I'm ready to make this decision, and I like him, but I just don't know if he's someone I could stay with forever. I have never been in a relationship before.
I am also thinking that Southern Viginia University might be a good place to go to school next year.
More travels from Mom
Gee I really got something going here. This is great. You'll forgive me if I take a few more days on this topic won't you? MIchelle, I'd love to hear more about your science fair. Did you get to go to nationals, or was there such a thing? What was your project? I'm sure we'd all love to hear.
Now to my continuing saga - The travels of Evelyn Palmer.
The first vacation Frank and I took (other than going to Phoenix to visit my parents or to San Diego to visit Chet) was in 1971. Max and Jean had been at our home on their vacation trip and then we went to Utah and saw them again. They had picked up Mom and Sylvia in Arizona and we met them in Salt Lake City. Getting to Salt Lake was an adventure. Our transmission was acting up and we drove most of the way through Utah in second gear, going very slow. It was a long hot trip. We got our car fixed in Salt Lake and had a much better time after that. We picked up Mom and Sylvia and took them back down through Utah to the Peterson reunion. We stopped to visit Mom’s Aunt Teeny who was in her 80’s. Mom showed us where she lived when she was a little girl. It was special to be there with her. We met lots of cousins at the reunion. Uncle Ronald was there but there weren’t many others I’d ever met before. The reunion was at Fish Lake, which is on top of a mountain. It was too cold to swim in but some of the cousins had boats we could ride on. We stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park on our way home but we were all too sunburned to go hiking. Then we drove down through Zion and headed on home to California. Mom and Sylvia came with us and when we got back to California, Speedy paid for Mom’s flight home to Arizona and Sylvia stayed with them for a while.
Here are a few pictures from that trip. If you would like Mom's memories of that adventure I can post them or they are on the CD that I made. Does everyone have a copy? If not I'll get you one real soon.
Now to my continuing saga - The travels of Evelyn Palmer.
The first vacation Frank and I took (other than going to Phoenix to visit my parents or to San Diego to visit Chet) was in 1971. Max and Jean had been at our home on their vacation trip and then we went to Utah and saw them again. They had picked up Mom and Sylvia in Arizona and we met them in Salt Lake City. Getting to Salt Lake was an adventure. Our transmission was acting up and we drove most of the way through Utah in second gear, going very slow. It was a long hot trip. We got our car fixed in Salt Lake and had a much better time after that. We picked up Mom and Sylvia and took them back down through Utah to the Peterson reunion. We stopped to visit Mom’s Aunt Teeny who was in her 80’s. Mom showed us where she lived when she was a little girl. It was special to be there with her. We met lots of cousins at the reunion. Uncle Ronald was there but there weren’t many others I’d ever met before. The reunion was at Fish Lake, which is on top of a mountain. It was too cold to swim in but some of the cousins had boats we could ride on. We stopped at Bryce Canyon National Park on our way home but we were all too sunburned to go hiking. Then we drove down through Zion and headed on home to California. Mom and Sylvia came with us and when we got back to California, Speedy paid for Mom’s flight home to Arizona and Sylvia stayed with them for a while.
Here are a few pictures from that trip. If you would like Mom's memories of that adventure I can post them or they are on the CD that I made. Does everyone have a copy? If not I'll get you one real soon.
Friday, August 20, 2004
And Mindy too!
My all time favorite place to have traveled had to be St. Petersburg, Russia. Ufa was wonderful too, but I lived there for four months, so I wasn't as much of a tourist. St. Petersburg was absoutely beauitful, even with half the city under construction. I was there for about a week, and saw quite a few of the tourist sites. I spent a lot of time at the Hermitage - several palaces combine to make one giant museum. Trina would have loved it there. Tons and tons of artwork and statues; famous pieces by Raphael, Rodin, van Gogh, Picasso, da Vinci, Monet, Rembrandt, Michelangelo .. and lots more. I even saw the full statue of the bust I had sculpted back at BYU-I. I spent at least six hours there, hurrying a lot of the time, and I still didn't see everything. St. Petersburg was also were I saw my very first snowflake - I'd seen snow before, but this was the REAL stuff. Cutting out snowflakes from paper with all the unique designs .. they were just like that. No wet clumps of ice .. real, true, shaped snowflakes. It was amazing. And then there was the Blinni shack. When I go back, I HAVE to go there again. Blinni are similar to pancakes or crepes, depending on how you make them. You could watch through the windows as they made large, thin blinni fresh on the griddle .. and then put whatever toppings you'd like on it, and then fold it up and hand it out to you. Terra, Diane and I were there our last morning, and so for breakfast we had chocolate/banana ones. Oooohh SO good. Later in the day, after it had started snowing (and snowing and snowing) we got some again, this time with cheese. And although it was cold (since it was November), it was totally worth every bit.
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