Eight is Great!

Abigail turned 8 on June 20, 2010. Here she is eating her breakfast in bed. Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year so we had to get her up early!

She got to open up a few presents before church and one present was a dress for her to wear to church.

Abigail got her very first scripture set with her name on it.

After church she could hardly wait to begin opening up more and more presents.

Here she is with all of her goodies surrounding her. Rachel said that it must be a lot easier to buy for them when the are young. Don't know what she was quite implying there. They just get more expensive when they get older!

Abigail got a frozen ice cream cake from Walmart this year. I ran out of time to make her my own. It was a yummy treat.

On Monday Abigail had a few friends over for a birthday party. We wanted to play in the water outside but the weather was a bit too cold to do that so we played lots of games.

True and Chezney were the only boys. Lucky!

We played the present game where you have to do silly things. The kids had fun with this as we whittled through the many layers of wrapping paper.

True and Chezney had to arm wrestle each other. It looks like True won but Chezney didn't give up without a fight.

Abby got lots of fun presents from her friends.

Abby and Alyssa are trying to pop the balloon.

So are True and Chezney. Nobody won so I gave them each a cry-baby piece of gum.

The kids had fun playing sharks and minnows.

What party would be complete without a few rounds of "Do you love your neighbor?"

What a blessing Abigail has been in our lives. It is so hard to think that she is already 8. It seems like yesterday when her little black and blue body was born (the cord was wrapped around her neck several times). She is such a sweetheart and so easy to please. She is a great friend to her sisters and a great help to me. I am excited for her to be baptized the end of this month. It is such an important step for us all to take to return to our Heavenly Father. We love you Abigail!

Leavitt Reunion in Manti, Utah

The week following the Palmer reunion we attended the Leavitt Reunion in Manti, Utah. We had such a great time and was very impressed with how organized it was. It was great to see Ann, Sophia and meet Madaline! There were lots of games to play and activities to participate in. Emma and Rachel are here wondering if they should attempt the stick pull or not.

Abby is trying to master the home-made bubble wand.

Hannah and Acoya doing the stick pull.

I love this picture of Alan and Glen. I guess holding your breath gives you more strength.

Issac loved the bubble wands.

That evening we had a wonderful flag presentation. There was a flag for every person that had served a mission and who is serving a mission. It was amazing to see how many flags there were. There were more people standing than sitting. This picture doesn't even capture all 69 of them!

Sophie was holding her daddy's flag since he couldn't attend.

They asked all who would like to serve a mission in the future and all the kids got up and grabbed a flag.

We sang "Armies of Helaman" while the kids and adults marched around. It gave me chills and about brought me to tears. It was very powerful and beautiful. Way to go Laurel & Melva - I think they are smiling from heaven at this sight!

Our hotel was clean but we quickly found out that not all hotels have a cartoon station or blow dryers.  Our was much better than Ann and Sophia's from what I understand. The big kids stayed in a tent the first night at a cousin's house and the little one's stayed with us. The kids had a blast jumping on the bed - something they can't do at home.

The next day was filled with all kinds of activities. The little kids went on a nature hunt while the older kids played games and built a water raft out of cardboard. Or should I say Leon and Alan built a cardboard raft with suggestions from Jonah, Melissa and Cannon. It looked like a canoe that Hiawatha would have used. They named their canoe Hagath #1. Here Leon and Alan are explaining the design before the big race.

 Unfortunately Hagath went down as soon as they stepped in the water.

Glen also tried his own version that didn't fair too well either. He had to hold it to keep it a float.

We also had fun taking a turn in a paddle boat.

 Acoya and Hannah were partners in a savenger hunt. They had trouble finding the caution sign.

Abigail and Allie played in the water with their cousins for a bit. 

Abby is holding a tadpole she had caught with her hands.

 Laura and Glen took a canoe ride and they tipped near the shore. The camera on Laura's lap went down with them and after 20 minutes of searching for it in the murky water Hannah came up with it. I wonder if it ever worked after that?

That evening we went to the Manti pageant. It was so beautiful. If we were to go again we would sit a little bit closer to see some faces. It took forever to get started and lasted quite a while but is was pretty cool. It took us forever to get back to the hotel a few miles down the road.  It was a long day.

Melissa had to had a picture with some Nephites!

What a great reunion! We are glad that they are not going to cancel them in the future! A big thank you to Aunt Linda and Uncle Keith's family for all their hard work! It is no easy task to entertain and feed that many people!

Palmer Family Reunion

This year the Palmer family reunion was held June 10th - 13th at Twin Lakes near my parents and it was a little chilly. It was fun but too cold to play in the water which was a bummer. They also have a camp host down there that had nothing better to do than drive by our campsite 45 times a day. He got after us a few times because we had motorcycles and 4-wheelers by our campsite (which we never rode there except to get to my parent's house) and sometimes our vehicles were a little to far over in another campsite (which was empty) to his liking. We decided that it is time to find a new spot to camp next year. Too many rules there.
We had fun playing in the sand, playing cards and doing lots of eating. Jaime and I went on a run (well I jogged and she ran) a few times while we were there. One time we were running on a road around the lake and I was focusing intently on all the ruts in the road - trying not to roll my ankle. All of a sudden Jaime starts hopping up in the air, clapping her hands and screaming. I didn't know what was going on so I started hopping and screaming too. Apparently I had just passed by within a few inches of a really big snake on the road but because I was so tunnel visioned at the time I never noticed it. We had a good laugh about that one and from there on out you can bet we were scanning the road!
My dad's brothers and sister were also camping about 15 miles away that weekend and we got together for a big feast Friday night and story time. I have always loved listening to my dad and his siblings talk about their childhood. I also got to see a few cousins I haven't seen in a while. My aunt Connie got married at their campsite the next day which we attended.
Memories - #1 Climbing the big hill across from our campsite a few times. The little kids had no problems go up and down, up and down but some of us older ones were at our max heart rate. #2 - Zach peeling out of the campsite on his motorcycle because his dad told him to hurry and drive it to grandpa's before the camp host came around the corner. The camp host saw Zach and was going to write us up a ticket. #3- The camp host's frequent visits. #4 - The snake. #5 - Visiting by the campfire. Family is what it is all about.

 Playing in the sand was a favorite pastime for the kids. Cache loved to stomp on others creations. Once he flopped faced down on the sand and pouted silently after his sister MaKayla got after him. I had to turn him over to make sure he was still breathing. Taylor was drawn to the water and you had to watch her like a hawk to keep her out of it.

Melissa had fun helping the kids build forts.

Uncle Mark, Brent, Aunt Connie, my dad, Uncle Orin and David.

My dad and his family with Uncle Clyde and his wife. (My grandpa Palmer's brother.)

Here we all are with several of my cousins missing.

Great times!