The Future of Fashion

Yesterday I sent Kale to go get dressed. Usually he is very good at picking out clothes that match and look good (Mark is his father - he has no choice but to look good :) ) Well lately his choices have been a bit unusual. He came out once with a sweater on. If you've read my blog it's not exactly cool in our house so the sweater made no sense. And yesterday he came out in this:


He is still handsome but I'm not sure about plaid fleece pants and a striped knit vest. Luckily we were able to convince him to put shorts on before we went to town later on. Maybe this is the future of fashion?
We were looking for some curriculum at the church and the kids found these masks. Kale kept his on for most of the day and went around "scaring" people with his terrible roar. Kate just peeled off all the decorations....

memories of birthday's past...

First of all, I'm not writing this blog in order to get more people to say Happy Birthday to me. I don't really care if you didn't remember. That's actually the reason I'm writing today - because I don't remember. I woke up this morning thinking that I can't believe I've experienced 32 other days just like this one. Well almost like this one.

They've been celebrated in many different ways yet I don't remember each and every one. So I wanted to write down the ones I do remember so that I won't forget again!

I've seen pictures of my 1st birthday party. All my aunts and uncles and grandparents wearing party hats. I was the only child in attendance.

I remember that for my 6th birthday I got my ears pierced.

There was a birthday, I think 14, when we were camping and Kelly and I got a party together. I've seen pictures of us in fabulous 80's outfits and hair-do's.

My 16th birthday was memorable because my parents tried to throw me a surprise party but it turned out that most of my friends were out of town. They still got one of my good friends to come to Gunther Toody's in Denver (a 50's diner) where they embarrassed me with singing.

My 20th birthday was a great surprise. I was living down here for the summer taking summer classes and working. The day of my birthday my little brother and sister came into my work office and surprised me with a box of Golden Grahams (my then favorite cereal). My parents had driven down from Denver to celebrate my birthday with me. It was great.

For my 21st I went to Moosehill Cantina ( a mexican resteraunt in Denver) and had a margarita. Not too exciting but still fun.

My 22nd birthday was memorable because it was the first one I spent with Mark. We had just started to get to know each other and we went with some friends to the Bar D Chuckwagon here in Durango. 10 years ago today. Wow.

I think for my 23rd friends took me to Fiesta Mexicana here in Durango and I had whipped cream from slimy flan rubbed on my nose and my picture taken with a giant sombrero on my head.

The next years are a little bit of a blur. Mark was usually at summer camp over my birthday. One year he came down from camp to my parents house ( I think right after Kale was born maybe) and surprised me with flowers and a lunch date. That was very nice.

My 30th birthday was on a Sunday. My sweet friend Linn brought me coffee from Starbucks and a muffin and put them on the chair we always sat at with a balloon. Then she and Dwight took me to Tequila's for lunch. We had softball that night and just hung out afterwards.


This year is memorable because I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant. I have been pregnant for 2 other birthdays although they were brand new pregnancies so I wasn't huge :) Mark brought me a coffee from Durango Joe's and we have plans to go to dinner tonight. That's all I really want on my birthday - to spend time with my best friend. He's a great gift to me.

I have lots of memories that are blurred together. I know Mark can pinpoint random stuff from childhood and he remembers a lot more of his birthdays. At least I've never been put in a police squad car for tee-peeing my youth pastor's house (Mark's memorable 18th birthday). Nope, mine are a little more low-key and I like it that way.

Oh and a PS, my little sister Katie has been in France for the past 5 years over my birthday and she always calls. So I get a special message all the way from France! Very memorable!

Twins?

Yesterday was Kate's little friend Madison's 2nd birthday. She celebrated at the park while her parents, and Mark, played co-ed softball. I had to take this picture - they looked like twins! I promise her mom and I did not plan it.

My mind is troubled

Ya know, over the past 8 months, since I've started this blog, I've used it for many different things. To share silly videos, pictures and stories about my kids and husband, to share things I've found humorous, to share my heart, discuss politics and pay tribute to amazing people in my life. It's never been about just one thing. That's why I'm going to use it again to share something that has been bothering me for awhile and I've not really had any other outlet. It bothers me because it's something that I don't think many people know about and it may be important to them. It is political and it is moral and if it isn't something you agree with me on please just hear me out. I'm not out to change anyone's mind but maybe I can help you see something a little differently. Please don't just skip over it. Give me a few minutes of your time and that's it.

I discovered something the other day about Barack Obama that really shocked me. Even more so then before. I have been watching and listening, to him and about him, since he joined the race for president to see who he really is. He seems very likeable, very hopeful and very vote-able for president. He speaks a message of change that is attractive to many, many people and it's understandable. He's charismatic and pleasant. I'm not surprised by his popularity. But I believe there are things about him that are deep and hidden and very disturbing and are, for obvious reasons, not broadcasted.

I had decided a while ago that he is not the candidate that I would vote for president - I disagree with him on too many things. Usually I would just leave it at that but because of this new information I can't just leave it alone. I feel like you should know so you can hopefully make an informed decision. I want to know who I am voting for before I vote. I want to make an educated and informed decision. I do my best to make the right choice through research and prayer. I don't mind discussing issues with people and finding out different sides to different things. I think, as much as politics isn't all that fun, it is important and it does affect each and every one of us. And it is too important to not care about.

So that being said, the information that I came across is this. Awhile ago the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (a bill that prevents doctors from killing babies who somehow survived being aborted) was passed 98-0 in the US Senate. Basically, before this bill, if a baby somehow survived an attempted abortion the doctor performing it was allowed to finish the job by either starvation or dehydration. The passing of this bill prevents that. Apparently two years before this, Barack Obama was chairman of a committee in Illinois that dealt with a bill similar to this very one. He gave a speech and argued against it - basically arguing for the right to kill this new baby. Unbelievable.

As a pregnant woman, I have never understood the reasons for ending an unborn child's life. Even when I was pro-choice I knew that I could never on my own have an abortion. When I was a freshman in college I had many reasons to be pro-choice, one of them being the right for a woman to choose what she will do with her own body. I still think you should be able to choose what to do with your own body. However, I was challenged by the idea that being pro-life does not take away your choice, you had a choice several weeks or months earlier when you had sex. Pro-life protects that innocent baby and gives them a choice and a chance in this life.

I do not understand how Barack Obama can make the right decisions for myself and for my children when he does not value the life that I carry inside me right now. And he won't value that life or even consider it a real life until after September 12th. Ever since that first moment that Jack was conceived, even before that, God had plan and purpose for Jack - for each one of us. When I found out I was pregnant I was overjoyed to bring another baby into this world. Never once did I think that this was not a little person, my child, a gift from God. I am sad that Obama does not share that belief.

I understand that it may seem silly to vote or not vote for someone based on their stance on abortion, however, at the very core of who I am, life matters. It isn't all about education, foreign policy or even gas prices. It's about being led by someone who values all life and will make decisions knowing that each one of us is a unique creation and incredibly valuable to God.

He's back! and more....

Last night after Bible study I got a text message from Mark asking where I was. I was a little confused since I wasn't expecting him home till this morning. I told him I was leaving the park (where we met last night), why? He said he was coming home! I was so thrilled to hear from him and to know that we get to see him a whole 12 hours earlier then expected. Overall he was gone only a short amount of time but we sure missed him. We kept ourselves busy while he was gone. Wednesday we visited the Blegers and had lunch. Very nice to be with another mom and for the kids to play with other kids. Thursday was spent doing "kid things" according to Kale. And he was right. We went to the dentist and the kids got their teeth cleaned. Six months ago Kate wouldn't even let the nice lady look in her mouth, yesterday she was all about being like her big brother and allowed her to polish, floss and paint on fluoride. I was amazed. So I rewarded their good behavior and took them to the library. Then off to Sonic for slushees (YUM - our little addiction), then to the park for a picnic. After an hour of hard playing we went to the church and attempted naps. They were nailing shingles on our roof yesterday so it sounded like the house was going to fall in on us. Not good for naps. Thankfully we can go to the church and have a rest time in air conditioning and relative quiet. Very nice. After naps we splurged and went to McDonalds for dinner before meeting for Bible study at another park. Needless to say both kids were exhausted when they crawled into bed last night. But they were so happy to see daddy that they got their 3rd or 4th wind and had to tell dad all that we'd done. He loved it.

Mark had a good time in the mountains despite all the rain. Ranger was a challenge and that was the downside. He would've probably had more fun without him. Ranger's not quite ready to just hang out and not bother people. Apparently he barked at everything. But he loved playing in the nearby river. Mark said he's definitely a water dog. We just need to get him out and give him more practice. Mark said that he had a good time though overall and was able to hear some important things from God. He got some reassurance, some clarification, direction and just plain old refreshment. I'm thankful he was able to enjoy himself. He was pretty exhausted last night though. I think he missed our comfy bed. I'm thankful he's home and he's safe.

Once I was able to work through my selfishness I started worrying that something would happen to him up there in the mountains and no one would know until Friday when he didn't come home. No matter how hard I tried, the horrible thoughts kept coming. I had some serious battles raging in my brain. My logical mind was being very reasonable about everything. My emotions, however, were another story. It's a frustrating battle at times and overwhelming when your hormones are surging and you feel like you're fighting a losing battle. You may not believe that things like that could happen but let me assure you it boggles my mind but it's true. I'm not one to blame my issues on something else. I definitely believe we are in charge of ourselves and we make our own choices. I still believe that. But I have been shown and have experienced a feeling of helplessness as very strong emotions threaten to take over. As my friend Linn and I joked the other day - we're gonna get Eve when we get to heaven!

Speaking of my friend Linn, she was so sweet yesterday. She surprised me by showing up at my house yesterday morning with a coffee and a cinnamon roll. Now she had accidentally dropped the roll in our pebble driveway (we laughed - the pebbles looked like chocolate chips) but the action of her driving all the way out to my little house to cheer me up and surprise me was worth far more then the cinnamon roll. Besides, the kids and I cut off the top part and ate the bottom. It was a little gritty at times but overall it was one of the best I'd ever tasted. It was wonderful!

We are still trying to determine the cause of all of Kale's bug bites. It dawned on me Wednesday night that he might have bed bugs. Yuck! So he hasn't slept in his bed for the last couple nights and his bites do look better. I'm happy and sad at the same time. How do you deal with bed bugs? But I'm glad to think that we might have found the source. It just wasn't making sense how many bites he had and where they were and the fact that they weren't going away very easily. So hopefully we're going in the right direction.

That's the latest news from Durango. Mark is now reading one of Kale's new library books and enjoying his family. Yeah. So glad he's home...

Contemplation

It's hard to blog when you're moody. It seems like I've been on the verge of tears all day - you never know what will set me off :) A sappy commercial, saying something I didn't want to hear...you name it it may lead to tears. I guess it's one of those side effects of pregnancy. One I'm having a harder time keeping under control.

Mark is leaving tomorrow to go camping for two days. He wants to get away and decompress, evaluate things, hear from God. All things that are great and that he deserves. So why am I having such a hard time not being selfish? I don't know. It makes sense that this is what he needs to do, it's just that the timing isn't so great and there's not much I can do about it but be on the verge of tears like I said before. I'll deal, we'll be fine, he'll have a great time and hopefully come back refreshed and life will go on. I know the outcome will be worth far more then my issues.

At the same time they started redoing our roof. There were other start dates but none worked until this morning. It'll be interesting to see what life is like with people on the roof. Can't wait to see the final product.

So in the middle of this chaos and moodiness what do I do to numb my mind? Well a friend of ours put up this link to a fun website that I've visited a few times....you'll have to check it out and have the same fun. It's www.thisissand.com. (Cool website for the kids (and adults). When you get to the website, it will appear blank...but click on the square box in the top left corner and it will provide you instructions on what to do.) Oh the fun....

Vacation Idea!

If you are in desperate need of a fabulous vacation, look no further then Durango, Co! If you need a good sweat-lodge or sauna or just want to bake in the sun, come to the Palmer house and enjoy all this and more! It's cheap to! If you can deal with us then we can deal with you. Just call ahead for reservations. And call now - space is limited and we are booking up fast! It's hot, hot, hot!!!

Shimmy like my Sister

We had a little fun with the kids today and then Mark had a little fun with his Mac and video editing stuff. It's a pretty cute movie! It's about a minute and a half.

Gorgeous flowers

While we were gone for my sister's wedding we hooked up a sprinkler system to keep our trees and flowers alive in the hot Durango mesa sun. When we got back we noticed that they look way better then when we were here! The sprinkler system is much more on top of it then Mark and I. It was so fun to come home to beautiful flowers.

What's in your heart?

Kale is a very thoughtful kid. He likes to ask questions and he really remembers lots of things people have said to him at one time or another. For example...

Today at lunch, the kids and I were eating and talking and hanging out. Kale all of a sudden asked me what your heart does. I told him that it pumped blood to all the parts of your body.

So then he says to me - very matter of fact - 'So that's what God does? He just lives in your heart and pumps the inside so the blood goes?'

'Pretty much' I said.

How do you explain more than that? He's been told that Jesus lives in our hearts and is with us all the time. He's also been told that the heart pumps blood. So he put the two together. Genius!

The bug bite tally....

...is up to 53!!! Kale is literally covered in little red welts. We've had comments that it looks like he has chicken pox and I might actually consider it except that there's no fever so no sickness and he's been vaccinated. I'm honestly amazed at how eaten up he's been in the last 3 days. I made Mark check Kale's bed last night to make sure there wasn't a spider somewhere that was just feasting on our son. EWWWWWWW!

Bug Buffet

Tonight as I was getting Kale ready for bed I was noticing all of his bug bites. So we decided to count them. On his face, neck, back, arms and belly there were a total of 39 bites! And we noticed last night, and it was worse this morning, his left ear. It is red and swollen and sticking out. We think he may have a bug bite somewhere around there and he's having an allergic reaction but we can't find the actual bite. Benedryl helped a little but he's still pretty lopsided. My poor son is a bug buffet. I told him he must taste like candy.

My beautiful doll

Let it rain

We've recently gotten some much needed rain. Unfortunately, for our kids, the rain brought very loud and scary thunder and lightning. By the way, if there is lightning outside do you say that it's lightninging out? Just a thought...

So Saturday afternoon I had to leave home to go to a baby shower at the church. On my drive in I went through this huge thunderstorm. That doesn't happen often in Colorado. But when it does it's amazing! There were times when I literally felt like the thunder and lightning was right on top of me. Very neat but very scary. You could hardly see the road it was raining so hard and as I got closer to town the pools of water got bigger and one road even had a mud slide (eventually they had to close it for clean up but not till I'd already went through). I called Mark when I got to church and warned him that this was a huge storm coming. As we were talking I could hear the thunder in the background of his phone. We got off quickly!

I got home later that afternoon and asked Mark how the kids did. They really haven't ever been scared of thunder. We've always talked about how we can stay protected from it and that it's just a cool thing that God does. On a side note, Mark loves thunder and lightning and I have to make him close the door and stop watching it so we can stay safe! So anyway, Mark tells me that Kale came out of his room a few minutes after I left to go to the bathroom but seemed fine. Once it started really raining Mark went into Kale's room to shut his window. The poor guy was under his covers with a tear stained face. That will break your heart. So Mark brought him out and went to check on Kate. She also was hiding under her covers sup-supping (ya know, the noise you make after crying hard for a while). Again, breaks your heart. So Mark had two little snugglers glued to his side for the next hour while lightning and thunder crashed right outside our little house with paper thin walls.

He loved the snuggling but hated to see the tears and the fear. It's awful to see your children so terrified. I know they felt loved, protected and safe with dad and that helped. But that night when we went to put Kate to bed, despite the clear, quiet sky, she cried because she was scared of the "funder". It took some convincing and some prayers to calm her down and assure her that she'd be okay and that we would come protect her if the thunder started again. Poor thing. I wanted to cry with her! Kale was okay thankfully. He knew there wasn't any thunder outside. That's the difference 2 years makes.

One more note, Kate is now in her big girl bed. It turned out to be a far easier transition then we expected. We bought her a very fancy purple bedspread - very princessy - and she loves it. She was thrilled to be able to give her bed to baby Jack. Thank goodness we didn't have a battle over this milestone!

Ranger the intelligent dog...

Okay so this is a big posting day but I just had to add this one. Our wonderful friends who we are so indebted to for watching our craziest member of our family the whole time we were in Denver, texted me this picture. I had to share it with the rest of the world. It just fits!

Heritage Square

As a little stress reliever and just plain old fun, the family went up to Heritage Square to ride some rides. Kale and Kate were both thrilled with being able to ride the Alpine Slide. I was amazed that they had no fear!


Here is Aunt Kelly and Kate riding up together.
Dad was able to go down the fast lane after he took Kale up once for a ride. I think he had fun doing both.
After Mark took Kale down, Kale ran over to Grandpa Bob and asked him to go with him. My dad, who wasn't going to ride at first, said yes. Who can resist this adventurous 4 year old?
All around the park they have these boards up. We couldn't resist all the photo ops. They are very entertaining!
Here is Mark and my sister Kelly. Nice faces!

This has got to be one of my favorites. Notice the cute little dalmation and the hairy woman!
This one and the one of Mark and I are very much alike. Do we have mini me's or what?

Kale went on the go-karts with Grandpa on our last trip up to Denver and apparently he spent the whole ride bumping into the walls. This one was much more successful. He looked like a professional! Especially with those shades....
Kale is definitely at the age when all this is fun. He went on this Dragon roller coaster three times and laughed every time. Kate tried it once (after much convincing that she was excited about it) and held on to Aunt Meghan for dear life with a terrified look on her face. She didn't go again :)
Another ride that she seemed very interested in until she actually got on. Grandma's asking her what she wants to do. She ended up chickening out before it ever got going.
Kate really wanted to go on the paddle boats so I convinced grandma and Meghan to take the kids (pregnant women are not allowed on the paddle boats - I don't get it - are the waves of the still pond just too much for us?). This arrangement only lasted a moment however because the kids were a little too squished. So Kate switched and rode with the boys.
Here she is with the boys. Neither of them were thrilled to be riding but both were willing because Kate wanted to go. She was fine for about 30 seconds. Then it got hot and the life vest was uncomfortable. So it was a short ride.

The Camo rehearsal

So my blogs are a little out of order but you'll get the idea. I'm home now in my hot house, but it's home and we're glad to be here. We had a great time in Denver and miss being there but it's nice to be back taking over your own space instead of everyone else's. Make sense?

So here's a few pictures from the camo rehearsal. First we went shopping at a western store for new cowboy/girl boots for the kids. They were so excited to get new boots. Both of them have grown out of their old ones.

The rehearsal was up at Micah's parents house. I included a picture of the groomsman (all in camo) and the bridesmaids (Meghan had bought us all camo ballet shoes - they are adorable and I will be wearing them again!). There's also one of Kate. The look on her face makes it seem like she's really going after something!

After the rehearsal we all drove up to Black Hawk and had a wonderful dinner and then enjoyed a really amazing fireworks display. I think it's really cool to be able to say that you watched fireworks for your rehearsal dinner.

My baby sister is married!

The bridesmaids. My sister Katie is far right, then the Hershey Kiss and the flower girl and then my sister Kelly to the left of me.

This is my beautiful sister Meghan right before we went out to start the ceremony. She was a little stressed with the rain but didn't lose it!

This is my baby brother and my sister Katie. Aren't they cute?

Here I am chair dancing and exhausted.

Kate ran up to me while Mark was singing. She danced in my arms.

The most handsome ring bearer I've ever seen!

She's playing with my hair.

The happy couple. Aren't they beautiful?

The wedding singer!

The blur at the end of the aisle.

I've been offline for the last week and a half because I've had wedding on the brain. Not my own :) (oh no, never again! I did it once and that's enough) but my baby sister, Meghan's. She's seven years younger then me. The youngest of the Colorado Cooper girls.

She's been with her now husband forever. They met in preschool apparently, and started dating as freshmen in highschool. We have been waiting and waiting for this day and it finally arrived!

Mark and I and the kids came to Denver a week ago yesterday and it's been non-stop since. From centerpieces to M&M's (for Meghan and Micah), hay bale covers to flowers to setting up chairs and tables we've done it all. And happily :) And it was a success.

The camo rehearsal was great fun. Meghan got all her bridesmaids camo shoes. They are adorable! My kids were camo-ed out. I wish I had a picture. I can't download them on this computer. It'll have to wait till I get home on Wednesday. They are a sight to see. Meghan's husband, Micah, is a hunter so we celebrated with camo apparell. It was great.

Saturday was a crazy day but it went well. Of course it rained during the ceremony (don't all outdoor weddings go this way?) but it was a sprinkle and it didn't ruin anything. I was the kids wrangler. Kale was the ring bearer and Kate was the flower girl. Mark was at the front of the aisle with the bribes (a new transformer and lip chap and gum) and I was in bringing (or waddling) up the rear. The kids were a little nervous as we started out. Kale kept looking behind him making sure I was right there. Kate threw out I think 3 handfuls of the flowers (she's definitely a future softball player) and her little purse was empty. We had to round a slight curve in the hay bales before they saw dad and then it was a sprint to the finish. That's why the picture of Kate is a little blurry and Kale isn't in it at all. I don't think anyone expected them to be so fast! But they made it down and that's all that mattered to me.

Mark was the wedding singer and he did awesome of course. He sang "You Move Me" by Susan Ashton. There were many, many people there who didn't know he could sing - including many of my aunts and uncles. Ooooops! He was a hit though and I saw a few tears.

The reception was wonderful. They convinced the DJ to play till 1 am!!!!! Not your typical Durango wedding - at least not the ones we've been at so far. People danced and danced! The police finally came at 1 after a neighbor complained unfortunately but it wasn't a bad thing. Just a request to be done. I think people had a blast. I wish I could have danced. By the time the reception came I was so tired I did more dancing from the chair then the dance floor. Being 7 months pregnant (notice the Hershey Kiss pictures of the prego bridesmaid....) takes it's toll on you (note the previous blog entry). But I was thrilled to be a part of this awesome celebration.

Today the whole extended family went rafting in Buena Vista. I didn't go. I napped on the couch! Wonderful! We leave here on Wednesday to head back to reality. The kids will miss their family so very much. They've had enough sugar to hold them over till 2010!

So enjoy the pics and congratulations to Meghan and Micah. I pray that you are as happy as Mark and I!