Internal bleeding?

Okay, I FEEL like I am internally bleeding, but really, I have been trying to learn the "abs" track for water aerobics and my stomach is en fuego!!!...guess who needs to tighten up the ol' gut?


(this is the current state of my abs...guess I just need to work harder!!! hehehehe....)

Do you know?


Do you know anyone who, when your feeling a bit down, they let you feel down, but don't encourage it?

Do you know anyone who, when you need to cry, they let you cry, but somehow make you want to stop?

Do you know anyone who, when youre really ticked off, they let you be ticked, but being with them makes you less angry?

I DO!!! And his name is DAVE! I think I may have mentioned a few times lately how much I love him, and for the record, I am no longer feeling down, crying, or ticked off! Thanks Dave!

FUN-TASTIC!

I can see that my previous post about going camping was a real thrilling treat to read, so this one will probably be equally as entertaining, but alas, this is my life...
Anyway, our campout with the YW this weekend was FAB-U-LOUS! The girls were so great, enjoyed the backyard, and had so much fun. The foil dinners were DELICIOUS ( I had never had one before) and we got most of our certification done. The last of the girls didn't quiet down and go to sleep for the night until 2:30, so I also was awake until that point, but who can be mad? Girls will be girls! Then, since we were sleeping out with no tents, the sun started coming out around 5, and everyone was awake and chatting in their bags by 6am! All in all a great night, and then I even got a 2 & 1/2 hour nap along with Jaxon on Sat. afternoon! Now back to real life!


This first one is all the darling YW


This is me with the YW


And this is some of the girls modeling the PJ pants we made for camp (NOTE: our assigned color this year is orange, so hey, why not go SUPER ORANGE???!!!) (the point here is that THEY made them! Pretty cool huh?)

"Ruffin' It"




Wish me luck. I am about to embark in an overnighter with 15 exuberant, chatty, giggly, stay-up-all-night kinda girls! We are taking our YW on a one nighter to get all of our camp certification out of the way! I would have prefered to do it at a mutual night, but my camp director is awesome, and thought the girls would love it, and thus far, she is right. Once they heard about it, they haven't stopped talking about it since. Just one little thing, they don't yet know where they are going...and we are really just sleeping out under the stars in my camp director's backyard! I think we will be able to explain it with the fact that our camp theme this year is "Once upon A Princess" so we are "princess camping" (Last years theme was more up my alley... BOOT CAMP! ) We will cook our tinfoil dinners over a fire, and sleep in sleeping bags under the stars, so I think they won't be too disapointed. Anyway, from there I go straight to an aerobics practice, and from their I think my plan of attack is to drop dead from lack of sleep and exhaustion. Dave will again be super dad, taking care of Jaxon, and I'm sure doing something splendid around the house, like adding a new wing or repainting all the walls...not that I'm complaining!

Helmet head!

Lately Jaxon has been totally obsessed with Motorcycles! He has been asking for a moldybike helmet and a football helmet, so this is what we settled for! He LOVES to wear it, and says "Now I ride Moldy bike wiff dis!" (You better believe that is not going to happen any time soon!!!) Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, we can superglue this thing to his head, because there are A LOT of things that Jaxon is advanced in, but balance, coordination, and staying on his feet ARE NOT ANY OF THEM!!!

Also, Jaxon knows almost ALL the words to the BYU fight song, (And it is a LONG FIGHT SONG) Which is almost killing Dave. Jaxon loves to pump his arm in the air and say "GO COOTIES!" (Which is progress from the "GO Computers!" That we first got with the fight song) Good old Dave, he claps along every night, even though he hates every minute,...now there is a good dad and husband!




Brennen Brandt

I get to do a little bragging about how precious this little angel is, because he is my nephew! This is my sister's beautiful baby boy, now 7 whopping days old! For more pictures, go here!








My Sister the Genius! (And new mother!)

Alright, my sister is a certifiable Genius...albeit with a weakness in the area of spelling! She just taught me how to get my blog links to show the last time they were updated! This way I don't click on the link everyday to see what is new in the lives of my dear friends, only to be sorely disappointed not to be able to find out what is new, because they haven't updated their blog! (Some of you will look at this and see "3 weeks" under your name...this should be great incentive to UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!! )
)Please see Amber's blog for instructions... I'm still not sure how I did it...she walked me through the whole thing!)

I also thought I would upload a few pictures and Welcome Brennen Brandt Palmer--born last Wednesday!! He is darling, and looks a lot like her first two...those Palmer genes are sure strong! Congrats Amber, you're the best!






Who knew...

That Pomegranates...


grew from a flower...

on a bush...

in Arizona!?!?!

I just saw it at Agrotopia's Farm Stand!

Not that interesting...

I'm always so disappointed when I pull up someones blog for days in a row, and they haven't blogged anything new, so here is my attempt at non-lameness, even though the blog itself will not be terribly exciting. Lets see...Dave is out of town this weekend, and this is actually the first time in our 5 years of living in the house that I have ever stayed here alone. Dave has to go out of town a few times a year, but I normally pack up and head to mom and dads. Unfortunately, they are in Utah, so Jax and I are braving it! Also, when I go to get Jaxon up in the mornings or from his naps, we chat for a while, and he lays around in his crib. When I ask him if he's ready he has started saying, "No yet Mommy, no yet." So I tell him, "Call Mommy when you are ready." and leave the room. He usually calls me about a minute later when he can disattach himself from his Paci and bumble bear, but what's a mom to do for one or two minutes? THIS IS WHAT- I brought my tweezers into the Jaxon's bathroom, and get a solid minute of working on my eyebrows, twice a day! One might think that is excessive eyebrow work, but not when the eyebrows belong to sasquatch AKA- me! So, anyone who see me, feel free to comment on my excellently groomed eyebrows!


You too can go from this


to this,

In just two minutes a day~

(before I get any comments from the peanut gallery ie. Ryan and Tyler, and possibly Brandis and Kelly (love you guys!) No, I do not have quite the stash isssues of this man!!!)

Mr. Mom, Husband Extraordinaire!


In all the hustle and bustle of this crazy weekend, and then getting back to real life, I failed to mention how fantastically, amazingly, wonderfully wonderful my dear Dave is! He knew how stressed I was about this past weekend, and did everything he could to support me! When I got home at 7 on Saturday night he had done all the laundry (including folding and putting away) vacuumed, done all the dishes, unloaded the dishwasher, and even replaced lightbulbs. This was on top of his regular daddy/husband weekend duties of taking out all the trash, mowing our lawn, and then heading to my parents house and doing their lawn! That is on top of having Jaxon by himself ALL DAY!! Is he the best or what? NO WAIT! THERE'S MORE!!! He had chicken laid out and ready to grill for dinner the minute I walked in the door!!! NO WAIT! THERE'S MORE! (and this part he would probably rather that I not share...) he even did my routine for me while I called it to him to make sure I was cueing correctly and at the right time! He felt like a major doof, but he never complained once! (The extreme red color of his face gave him away though!) Then on Sunday he took Jaxon to church all by himself, and kept the house immaculate for me to come home too again! NO WAIT, THERE'S MORE!! He even remembered to bring me home delicious Sunday dinner from my parents house!

I am sad to say that Dave is a much better home-maker than I am. It made me so happy all those things he did for me, and also sad that I don't do them nearly as well! I decided that we should probably just switch roles...but then I came back to reality and remembered that it would be a little difficult to support a family on a Water Dynamics Instructor salary!

Dave, you are too wonderful for words, and my description of your love and support this weekend does not begin to do it justice! I LOVE YOU!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!
(These two new songs are dedicated to you, because you are my everyday miracle and you make my life beautiful!!)

WEIRD!!!


Last night I saw Transformers for the first time, and the only thing I can really say about it is- WEIRD!!! I didn't not like it, but I didn't really like it either! Anyone else have a similar experience with this movie?

TAX DAY!!!!!

April 15th makes most people feel like this-




But it makes me feel like this-




(Minus the gender, race, and age change!)

Today is the end of tax season! I am excited to have my fantastic hubby home more often...and to go to our end of tax season party today! HURRAY!!! HOOORRAAHHHH!!!!!

I DID IT!



I just completed two days consisting of 18 hours (and 3 at home practice hours) of water aerobics instructor training, and I'm happy to say I GOT A PASS!!! HURRAY!!! I didn't say anything about it Via blog, because the program at my gym is pretty difficult, I was VERY nervous, and I didn't want to have to admit if I didn't pass. Our gym only teaches pre-choreographed classes, so next on the list is too memorize the other 8 songs from the next class release....not an easy feat...but I can now teach track 4 of the new release in its entirety! (I had to learn it last night, and be able to teach it today!)
There are still several steps I have to take before I could get my own class, but I have taken the first step, which was definately the scariest. I have always had a secret desire to be an aerobics instructor, so when this training came up, I decided now was the time!!! I am incredibly sore, tired, sore, hungry, sore, and water-logged, but I feel like I really accomplished something huge. I know lots of people think that water aerobics is just for wimps and old ladies (see picture below that Dave insisted I upload) but this is a challenging class, and teaching on land (we don't get in the water) is about 1000 times more difficult that actually doing the class in water. When I've learned all 9 songs and am ready to pass it off, I have to get myself video'd at the gym teaching the whole thing. I get to invite non-gym members to be my mock class, so anyone interested in coming, hopefully in about a month, just let me know!!!


Henna and Happy Birthday!

First, I am pleasantly surprised at the response my henna post received...maybe photography is the wrong business to go into...anyone interested in hiring an aspiring henna tattoo artist???
Also, Happy Birthday to Ryan, my wonderful brother just older than me! He is a great guy, and very thoughtful. He also has a fantastic wife (who was one of my best friends in highschool) and two beautiful and energetic daughters! My present to you is....THEM!
HERE are some photos of your girls, more to come I promise!
(thank you CAMI and JILL for teaching me how to use the link function, you girls are geniuses!)

SUN-boy or SON-boy???


This is Jaxon's version of "You are my Sunshine"---
You are my Sun-BOY,
my only Sun-BOY,
you make me happy,
when skies are GAY!
You'll never know DUDE,
How much I love you,
Please don't take, my Sun-BOY away!

I love the way his little mind works!

Do as I say, not as I do...

While I do not condone tattoos, and sincerely and earnestly hope that none of my young women, their mothers, or their mothers friends see this blog, how awesome does my henna tattoo look?!?! At our last Friday night dinner group (full of some of the most ridiculously kind/with it/talented/funny women you will ever meet) we had a blast and culminated the evening with henna tattoos from Marlo! ( I guess it didn't exactly culminate the evening, because tattoos were somewhere around 11, and at 2am someone looked at their watch, and people nearly had nervous breakdowns on their way running to their cars to get home!) Some others got some really sweet "tats" on their hands and feet, but I had to keep mine somewhere discreet for YW purposes! Anyway, I just got these pictures, and I thought they were pretty cool, so here is me getting my "tramp stamp" (please mom, Emily, brothers, Nedra, or anyone else else who is extra good and holy...don't judge me...it's only temporary!!!!)





A new post!

I have been chastised for my lack of posts lately, but life has been busy with...life! All those great adventures that pop up at every turn! We are great and having lots of fun, especially with cousins in town for the week, but here is something that I found pretty funny when it happened. Sat. afternoon at the end of the 2nd session of conference, a couple men came to clean our couch and love seat. Let me prefice that with, that morning, knowing I had nothing important to do until much later, I rolled out of bed, put on the first set of shorts and T-shirt I could find ( gym clothes? yes. Dirty? Yes. Gross? Yes. Reality? Yes!) and I'm pretty sure I didn't even re-do my ponytail. All morning we did yard work and house chores, and laid around watching conference. So, back to couch cleaning man. I let him in, got him started, and went upstairs to shower and get ready to go see a dear friend in the hospital. 45 minutes later couch-man called up that he was finished and I went down to pay him. He looked up at me and said, "Whoa.... You look, pretty.?!" He then eyed me warily, as if there really was a large possibility that the lady who let him in and then went upstairs, was not the same one that came back down. The question remains- did I look THAT BAD before I went upstairs, or THAT GOOD when I came back down ? I guess we will never know...but I know what I will believe... :o)
Okay, one more good one. As I have mentioned, Jaxon apparently listens to everything I say, and then files it in his memory to repeat back and strange or funny times. Earlier today I was explaining to my visiting niece (Peyton), that her other cousin (Kalle) had to give her tiny baby kitten away, becuase her younger brother (Oakley 18 months) was not gentle and would have "squished" it. Jaxon never said a word during the whole conversation. Later today as Jaxon and I were driving home, he asked about the baby in Aunt Amber's belly. (Kalle and Oakley's mom) I told him very soon it was going to come out, and Aunt Amber would have a brand new tiny baby. Jaxon immediately perked up and said, "Tiny baby? No! No, Oakey squish! No Aunt Amber baby, Oakey squish!" I thought that was pretty hilarious, and again goes to show how much I have to be careful about what he hears!!! Oh children!

Proud Aunt!

That's me a proud Aunt! Here is what I have been BUSY BUSY with this week! ( I know that's bad grammar, a dangling participle maybe?)The first few pictures are my nephews Taylor and Jonathon, and their sisters Alyssa and MaKenna. They live in Scottsdale, but they snuck out here on Wed. (Sshhhhh!!! It's a surprise for their Daddy!) The next few are my Niece Kalle and her brother Oakley. They hadn't had pictures in a while, so this was a good week to do it!












Yup, that's my boy...and my arm!

Remember the aforementioned biting incident at the bank? This is the aftermath 3 days later!



Also, Jaxon has really been enjoying a few hand-me-down copies of Living Scriptures- he is completely obsessed with "Nephi and the Brass Plates" at the moment. While he gets the general idea...he gets his facts a little mixed up! Today when I asked him if he wanted to watch Nephi he said, "Mommy, the Lord hit me! NO NO Lord!" Slightly sacreligious, but also hilarious! Everytime we get to the part where Laman is hitting Nephi- Jaxon yells, "NO LABAN NO! COME ANGEL COME!" (he gets 'Laman' and 'Laban' confused, and he knows that when the angel comes, Laman will stop hitting Nephi.) It cracks me up every time we watch it, which is about 4 times a day...at least!

Litigation time!


This is what happened to me while trying on clothes at Target today--- a razor sharp tag on a shirt ripped through the tender skin of my upper eyelid-

~Maybe I should sue Target

~Maybe I should sue Mossimo

~Maybe I should sue Target and Mossimo...


Maybe I should be more careful...and get better concealer! Yeah, that's probably it.

So True...

I happened across this quote today and I just love it.

"The purpose of life is to find your gift. The meaning of life is to give it away." -David Viscott