Thanksgiving Weekend

So I get back from AZ, Tuesday morning, the last day of school before break, and I have enough time to see Ammon in his Kindergarden class and their feast.  It was so fun.  I watched all of my kids in Kindergarden, but Ammon kind of has me all to himself and my attention since he is the caboose.  Wish I had this kind of time with all of my kids.  I love being able to help out in his class everyday.  (I got a job as a teacher's aide in the 2nd grade for 2 hours in the morning, so the last hour I get to spend with Ammon in his class.)

For the long weekend, we borrowed Trent's parents' 4 wheelers.  It was a blast.  The weather was just perfect enough to achieve plenty of riding.  There are several trails in our "backyard"!  Love having them so close.  It was also perfect to teach Rian and Jarom to learn the control of these machines.  I love giving them these opportunites to learn and try new things.  I especially love when they like it and run with it.

Jarom and mom                                                                            Rian and dad

After a few pieces of advice, we let Rian and Jarom ride on their own.  I smiled a lot watching these two.

The houses in the background is our neighborhood, so yes, this is our backyard.  But these hills and runs were the perfect level for Rian and Jarom, and for us to take the younger ones.  Doesn't look super steep, but when you are looking down some of them it's kind of scary at first.

Ammon had a blast riding with Rian and others, I couldn't get him off at times.  Raegan and Tarin also learned to drive, but not alone yet.  They also wanted to keep going.  

Love the view atop the big hill looking out over Utah Lake with point of the mountain on the left.

Trent and I decided to take the 4 wheelers together and explore the mountain behind us.  We found the service road up to the towers.  Still snow up there from the last storm.  It was pretty cool.

Thanksgiving dinner was at Trent's parents' house.  It was a blessing they still decided to have a feast even though only our family and Missy's family were in attendance.  It was definitely a quiet evening, but we are so blessed to have family close by to spend the holidays with.  So much to be thankful for.

Although we feel a little out of place in this new area, we know we are truly blessed with so much.   I could spend hours making a list.  Everything from hot cocoa to birds in the sky or a warm house to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  So much gratitude I need to express more often.

Welcome Home Mom And Dad

My parents served an 18 month mission to West Africa, Ghana, Kumasi.  It was time for them to make the return back home to the USA.  I was able to fly back to Arizona to see them come off the plane and be with my family.

We were all anxious to see them.

Finally they made it out of customs.  With the Palmers, there is nothing little about a crowd...

Made it back to their house and for the next few days, we got to see all the cool things they brought back and hear about all the extraordinary experiences they had.  

My dad had an outfit made for him.  He didn't put the shorts on, but it was really neat to see the handmade outfit.
My mom also had a dress made for her.  This was the only picture I have of her wearing it...they called her "Mama Ghana".

They had brought back a few artifacts that were very impressive.  All hand carved and made from beautiful wood.  I didn't capture all the items, but let's just say my dad gave all his clothes away in Ghana so he could pack as many items as he could.

My parents also had these bracelets and book marks made for all the grand kids and siblings - all hand woven.

Although it was fun to be around my parents, remember I come from a HUGE family and I had siblings to visit.  I was able to go over to my brother Ben's house and hang out with his awesome family.  First of all, Karen did my hair...yes I like the red.  She did a slight hombre in the back...the red won't be such a shocker when my roots grow in...you know I don't take care of myself and get my hair done often enough, so those are things I think about when I do get it done...

 Then I got to go to their piano recital.  They are so fun to watch.  Tatum gets to start up soon, so she didn't make the picture...afterward it was ice cream time.  I seriously love these girls.  Can't wait for Rian, Tarin and Raegan to hang out with them.  And yes, my brother being the funny guy that he is.

I also had time to watch the movie "Hunger Games (2)" with my sister Shanda, Dan and Tony.  Love those guys, wish I lived closer to hang with them more...Shanda and I did get to do a bit of hiking up Usery Park in East Mesa.  Ahh, I love my Arizona home.  So much character and I love the desert smells.  This is Scar Mtn.  Wish my phone pic did justice to the beauty.  And since it rained most of the time I was out in AZ, these hills will be blooming something fierce...wish I could see it.

 I need more sister time.  Thanks Shanda...still think it's funny we wore the same shirt...in my defense, I packed mine days before you :o)  Guess we look more like twin-ners with it.

Glad I could visit my home, even if it was a for a few days.  It was nice to see my parents home and fill my "family" canteen.  Love you all, see you at Christmas.

Dresser Make Over

 Ok another upgrade to Rian's room, that didn't cost a dime, was redoing her dresser.  It is a sturdy piece of furniture, but really needed some TLC.  So we sanded it down to get rid of that luster-y, orange-y color.  Yes, I put Rian's hands to work too.  She needs to appreciate the effort that goes into this, and hopefully she will see the fun in it.  She has a good eye for design...

Redo on the hardware...leftover spray paint.

 Finally, she wanted to paint the dresser with the same color of the wall stripe.  There was a lot left over so it was perfect.  A little sanding to distress it...all it needs is a little furniture wax to seal the deal...that will be another day.

 I love how it turned out.  Again the lighting in the room is very yellow, so the colors look weird.  But another touch Rian added to her room were some strings of lights for a nice ambiance.

Citizenship In The Community

Jarom is still working on merit badges for Boy Scouts.  This ward isn't as stellar as our last ward, so it's a bit harder to remember to work on these, but we are trying.  There are a few merit badges that require layer after layer of work...one of which is Citizenship In The Community.  He needs about 8 hours of service in the community.  We decided to go to the American Fork DI (Deseret Industries) and volunteer some help.

 For 4 hours we sorted the wood aisle by color and threw out the "junk"and then walked around checking the clothes that were either fallen or hangers that were distorted/empty.  Jarom was a bit bored after awhile, but knows he did a good service.

Saturdays are such a busy day but we were able to sneak in a picture.

Project

For Activity Days, Tarin had made this embroidery project.  Sadly i'm not a leader, but kind of relieved I'm not, in this ward.  There are about 25 girls in the 10 yr old group and about the same in Raegan's 9 yr old group.  Until the ward splits this will be the norm.  Anyway, Tarin is proudly displaying this on her dresser.  Nice work sweetie!

Sunday Trial

With 2:30pm church time (yuck!) we have plenty of time for..."stuff".  So we thought we would try rock candy.  I thought the blue was pretty cool.  It didn't turn out as we planned, but it was fun trying.

Piano Recital

 The year is winding down, piano recitals.  I love hearing them play on the nice pianos.  Also, ensembles were on display.  I've heard Tarin and Jarom work on their duets, but only heard Rians single portion of their quartet.  So this was my first to hear it all together.  I wasn't able to get a picture of Jarom and Tarin playing, because I was needed to turn pages for them.  Also, I think I'm the only one that wants to stay and hear all the other students play, and out of respect; it's amazing to see how far they have all come.  I hope my kids will hear them and decide they want to develop their talent and work just as hard.  It is a lot of fun for me to see them play.  I'm proud of all their time and efforts.

Home Improvement

I've been itching to do some home improvement!  I took a class through the UVU continuing education called "Finishing Your Basement".  I love it and learned so much.  But baby steps is how this process is going to happen.  Our furnace room or utility room is unfinished but has a vent to the outside so the furnace has an abundance of air.  Well, with the weather getting colder, I took this opportunity to start somewhere.  I decided to insulate this room and sheet rock the outside of it.

 BEFORE

AFTER

nice and snug on the inside and nice and snug in the rest of the basement.

Looking on the outside of this room from the unfinished basement

 BEFORE

Insulation going in then sheet rock

AFTER

the two sides are sheet rocked and ready for mudding.  I'm going to wait to mud until the rest of the basement is ready to be mudded.  BTW, the kids like it too, they are starting to build forts in the room next to it, hence the hanging blankets...glad we are all benefitting from this.

This is  a lot of fun for me.  Gosh I wish we had a load of money to do more projects! :o)