Happy Halloween!





I love the fall... the leaves falling, the pumpkins, the warm soups on a cold day.
Staying inside to watch a movie-cuddling on the couch (in your P.J.s).
Increasingly with my age my like of Halloween has grown distant.
I love the costumes and I love the fun that the kids have.
I don't like the ghouls and ghosts and all the dark things that seem to come with Halloween.
I love the cute clowns, the princess and all the sweet innocent and funny things that come.

BUT above all that I love to carve pumpkins.
With a family of 5 we have to carve 5. It is a lot of work. To me it is worth it.
We had Madi and Nori help clean them our.
YUCK! Is all Madi could say. Nori thought it was fun.

We carved them a little early because Brian had to go to Canada for work.
Brian left the week of Halloween and didn't come home until after all of the Halloween Festivities.
It is a lot of work to take a Running 5 year old out and a 2 year old who stops at every rock tree, and needs to look at the candy that she gets, but they had a blast.
We were glad to get Brian that night and my burden became a little lighter.
He has been going quite a bit.
We are adjusting to the traveling, it gets a little easier but we still
really miss Brian when he is gone.

But he loves his job so we cannot complain.

Contentment? Me?

These are the pictures of contentment and peace.


Have you ever felt content?
It seems sudden to me...I do.

I can't say I don't worry about my housework, or money, or my family.
And yes I still think about those last 10 okay 20 pounds of baby fat...
that are slowly sliding off. I hope.

I am okay if my laundry goes unfolded.
I am happy if I can save money on groceries (thanks Shauntell!)
I am taking each moment of my children's lives as they come.
They Just grow to fast.
As for that pesky baby fat...I will get rid of it...but I still need to have a piece of chocolate.
I am okay with that.

For what seems like a long time.
I am not wishing to be some where else.
Be someone else.
Have someone else's money or success.

I woke up happy to just be.
SO what if my favorite jeans will have to wait.
SO what if I don't get to shower until noon.
I have all I need right now.

I only feel motivated to improve this renewed sense of life to ENJOY IT.
I want to make it better, strengthen it make it last.
I want to read with Madi longer, Play with Eleanor more.
And hold my little Owen forever.
Hugging and loving my husband always...

The moments are fleeting, and I have been trying too hard over time to push them on, saying, I can't wait until... instead of catching them, loving them and laughing at them.

Maybe this is the until for me...now! If so I am so glad!
I only have this life to get ready for the next why have I been so caught up getting to the until...

I suppose it would be easy to say I am content so, I am done.
NO this is not that kind of contentment.
I find this to be the "I have it good, I want this to be real."
I want to read, pray, and study...I don't want to coast anymore waiting for life to happen.
It is happening.
I am in it....I must love it.

Heavenly father has blessed me with this feeling of loving my life.
Loving who I am, who my children are and who my husband is.
I have changed in a way I cannot describe.
I want more joy.
I want to keep it.
I am content, but reaching for more of the stuff that brings real happiness.

Lots of catch up

We had to cut Eleanor's Hair. I think we cut off about three inches.
This had to happen because an older sister thought it needed it.
She was so sneaky about the whole thing, she hid it well.
Nori's hair is so fine that I comb and do it while it is wet, that I didn't discover it for a long time.
When I finally saw it I couldn't really get after her.


Our Family visited the Hill Air Force Museum.
We wanted to show the girls where the big fighter jets come from in Ogden.
So we went. They liked the planes but really enjoyed going to the kids center.
There the got to dress up and pretend to fly in a plane.
They loved it.

Then another weekend we decided at the last minute to go to Antelope Island.
Which really stinks...I mean it smells bad.
It was around dinner time and we were able to have a picnic at the ranch.
During dinner we saw some deer and bison.
The deer got so close that Madi thought she would chase the baby.
It seemed that the fawn made a sport of it and seemed to run more slowly.
After that we headed out to the lake.
I took some photos of the sunset because it was so beautiful.
Little Owen is getting so big so fast.It is so fun to have a little boy in the house.

On August 15th-17th there was a Ogden Balloon Festival.
I have lived only an hour away from this event for 9 years and never even knew about it.
It was spectacular.
The pictures really do the sight no justice.
I have never seen anything so exciting.

We woke up at 5:oo am to get to Eden, Utah were it was held.
Only a 25 minute drive from Ogden.
The balloons take off twice a day.
Early morning and early evening, but it is a better chance they will not have bad winds in the morning.
We watched them set up the balloons fill them up and were able to capture a lot of beautiful pictures.

I felt like a little kid brimming with excitement, so much so that I began to cry.
I think if I were still under the age of twelve I would of squealed from excitement instead.
But this reaction is unfit for an adult. So instead my excitement came in the form of tears.
I had the same reaction 5 years ago when I saw dolphins for the first time. (Silly, huh?)
I had never seen either of these things in real life and I had always for some reason been intrigued by them.
I really with we could have gone up in one, that would be the ultimate thing for me.
$175 is a bit too steep.
Many years ago I wanted to go hang gliding but now I'd rather ride in a hot air balloon.
As funny as it sounds some day I'd like to swim with the dolphins.

Our girls were squealing and jumping around, they thought it was so fun.
I think it was wonderful. And it was free, we love free.
They did serve a pretty good all you can eat breakfast for a reasonable deal.
Although it was early in the morning and we are really feeling it, it was worth all the sleep that we lost that day.

I recommend it to all.











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We have had a lot happen in the last few weeks so much in fact I am very behind on my blog.
We had Owen's baby blessing.
It is always such a wonderful thing to gather as family and friends to celebrate.
I love to see my family surrounded with so many who are living righteously.

A PRAYER FOR MY CHILDREN

These are the faces of the souls that I love.
I pray that they learn and grow in the

Light of my Savior.
I want them to be happy,
and know where to find peace.

Looks good huh? UH... no.



I figured if we were going to have Green Eggs and Ham,
we would also have pink strawberry milk.
Why do we do these things?

So Today I asked Eleanor what she wanted for breakfast.
She stated "green eggs and ham". So we had green eggs and ham.
I know it is not Dr. Suess' birthday until March.
But it is Nori's favorite book.
They didn't look to appetizing to me.
But I choked them down.
The funny thing is they ate faster and more then usual.

I think we are on to something.
I don't think Brian and I are up to it.
But hey, they loved it.

"You are my sunshine shirt! " Eleanor age 2

I Discovered the video feature on my Digital Camera...
Eleanor has a shirt that says "you are my sunshine." (not shown here).
It is her favorite song and now it is her favorite shirt. So it was just like her to combine the two. She sings "you are my sunshine shirt" here for us.
She knows she is funny and will often tell us. "I funny!" She is so smart and really is funny.
Two can be such a fun age. You have to enjoy it.

So when Owen was born there was some debate amongst us....
I observed that Owen has red hair...others didn't see it.

As the weeks have pressed on...
It has become more apparent that he indeed (at least for now)
has red hair.

I think it is sooo cool.
To be so unique.

So I took a few pictures to show his red hair to all of you.

Baby Owen

I have added some pictures that I finally had a chance to download.
I am sure you don't want to see more, but I couldn't resist.

Owen is off the lights and is doing well.
I had my first day at home on Monday with all three kids alone, It went well.
Then on Tuesday I had my first outing with all three alone,
If only Eleanor would listen when you tell her to stop, it would be easier.
I can't chase her anymore... but I have too.
Welcome to the twos.

I hope I can have the stamina to keep up...it is going to be tough.

BABY OWEN HAS COME

We have news, news, news.

We have just received our newest addition.
June 8th 2008, 7:53 P.M.

OWEN GABRIEL PALMER

He came 5 weeks early.
Not on his own but with a little help.

I began to have symptoms of extreme Pregnancy Induced Hypertension.
Spotty Vision and a some numbness in my hands.
I went to the hospital to get my self checked out.

Then found myself getting checked in, first to "just watch me for the night".
Then the high risk specialist...said I'd better deliver.

So that night (morning) at 2 am they induced my labor.

17 hours later....He was born.

5lbs and 9 oz and 17.5 inches long.

Pretty tiny, but at 35 weeks that is pretty big.
He never spent time in the NICU, and was able to breath after a lot of coxing.
The few minutes after he was born was one of those moments of fear and just holding your breath. Praying that he would breath or cry or move.

When he finally did I was over joyed.
They warned us that he would need help breathing and may have had so many other complications but he did really well.
Many of the nurses and doctors were so pleased and surprised to see him doing so well.

The next concern was my blood pressure, This is not my first time with this problem.
But it certainly was the worst.
They had a real hard time getting it to regulate.
By the time I left the hospital we think we had it under control.

I am still at risk for the next couple of weeks of a seizer if they can't get it back to normal.
I am on medication that seems to be helping, so I have to monitor very closely any symptoms.

Now we are all home and Owen is on billi lights for a few days because a baby that small often gets jaundice but we have him home that is what matters.

What a great gift and miracle that a baby is. I am always so amazed by how tiny and innocent they are.
They really have a way of bringing peace to a home.
Even though my workload just increased 1o fold, so does the love.

We are so blessed and the Lord has really given us so much.
We are grateful in everything that we have.

I said I would let you know as things developed...
We have moved.
Yes, It was all so fast that I never really got the word out before it happened.
Brian got hired on as a program manager at Flying J corporate office, located in Ogden, Utah.

So we moved and Brian started working there all with in about a week.
It has been an exhausting move.
I don't recommend moving in the last trimester of your pregnancy....especially with kids.

The girls have really done well...considering all that has changed.

Nori went straight to a big girl bed...I thought that would really go poorly but to our surprise she thinks it is the greatest thing since birthday cake.

I never thought I would live in Ogden it was truly a guided choice for us.
We have been able to feel the loving hand of our Heavenly Father in this move.

I have to admit, we were beginning to worry about Brian getting a good job, as everything either didn't feel right or just never went past the interviews which he felt went well.
Then suddenly things just took off.

SO here we are.

The great part about it is that we have increased our living space by more then double.
NO really more then double. We went from 750 sq. feet to 1698 sq feet. I have no idea how we survived in that space now.It is nice to have a home for everything...instead of constantly moving piles around, just to sit down.

The down side is...(and it is not too bad) we have had to furnish the place, that seems to take some toll on the ol' pocket book. That is not enough to complain about though, I must say.

Eleanor calls this NORI'S NEWS HOUSE and gets so excited to come home.

Madi is making so many friends so quickly....It is crazy.

Now we just have to wait for the baby to come. After this move and the stress that came along with it. I am soooo done with this pregnancy. (I wish I were).

I hope this finds you well.
I will keep you all posted.

I posted a lot of pictures because many of you who may look at this blog have not seen my children.... Some even haven't seen my hubby.

How do you decide what to put up?

They grow so fast. We have to capture it as it comes.

Palmer Station

Hey Everyone!
Have we entered the computer age at last!

Now that I am writing on it... what do I say?

We are living in Logan Utah.

Brian is ending his career as a student, which means now we are the middle of a very intensive Job Search.
Resumes are sitting on a lot of desks.
Check yours.

He has interviewed with several jobs and we are playing the waiting game.
It is not an easy game for me.

Well, for those who do not know we are expecting our third baby.
A BOY!
Due July 10th.
We have two girls now, Madeline- 4, Eleanor- 2 in June.
Having a fresh batch of solid primary colors is a welcome sight to us.
It will be a nice change. A challenge, no doubt.

We will have to let you know when all the exciting things happen.
Job, moving and a new baby.
All in the works.