The Children's Museum

Today we went to the Children's Museum with one of my favorite people, my friend Kristen. We had so much fun and stayed a long time. The kids were still not ready to leave! I was so done by the end but I finally had to bribe them with ice cream to get them out of there (even then it was tough). We had ice cream at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We all picked "playdough." It is seriously yummy.

Kristen was also nice enough to teach me how to use Picasa. It is wonderful. Thanks for the wonderful day Kris!

The End of T-Ball

The trophy is the best part for the boys. I think they will be sad t-ball is over, but it was getting so HOT I am glad we are at the end.

Liberty Park

Yesterday we went to Liberty Park with our little neighborhood playgroup. It was so much fun. They boys loved playing in all of the water and this is a place we havent' played before so that always makes it better.


Thanks to Kate for sharing her goggles.

We had a fun picnic lunch.

Heading to the wading pools.


The kids thought this was great.

These two little sharks are clearly up to no good.






It was another great Summer day.

Chik-fil-a Freebie

If it is even possible my love for Chik-fil-a has grown today. Tonight when we went there we found huge tables full of crafts for the boys to make and after I ordered the food they threw in a free kids meal. I don't know if they all do this, but apparently Wednesdays are "Family Night" or something. I think it only goes until 7 pm, but the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was sponsored by Lowes so the boys got a Lowes apron and even got to bring it home.



The kids were feeling so handy.


Hunter needed a little boost to reach the nails.


Lincoln demonstrating his newly made golf putting green.

Seriously how cute is that?

4th of July Family Picture

My cute sister-in-law Amy took this picture of our family while we were at our family reunion.

Inkheart-Book Review

Okay so can I tell you how much I loved this book? I have been hesitant to read it because I read Dragon Rider also by Cornelia Funke and I didn't love it. But I honestly LOVED this book. It was so imaginative! I was constantly surprised by it in good ways. It is great young adult fiction and kept my interested. I am not giving anything away (if you want to know what it is about check out the back of the book!) so go and read it!

This is the Place Memorial Park

Yesterday we had the funnest day! Free day at This is the Place park. It was on our list of things we wanted to do for the Summer and it is all that much better that it was free! My cute sister Debby and her kids came with us too so it was that much more fun.

This is Brigham Young's house. Huge for the time.

Barrel racing isn't as easy as you think. Nobody could figure out which barrels they had already been around!

We loved all of the rodeo activities!





A golfing game complete with lessons. Okay not really, she was just dying at how bad Hunter was so she decided to help.

A fishing pond is always AWESOME!

The pony rides were definitely a highlight!

Hunter about squeezed Lincoln to death. He was holding on for dear life.


I don't know when ice cream has ever tasted so good.



Good thing the train was the last thing of the day. I seriously needed to sit down.

Afterward the Millers invited us to a BBQ. The kids love playing with their cousins.

This wonderful swing provided most of the entertainment for the evening. I was so worried they were going to push it over, but it was pretty sturdy.


Lincoln had so much watermelon. It was all over him! The kids was a sticky mess by the end of the night. Isn't that what Summer is all about?

These boys were absolutely CRAZY together. I love that they love their cousin so much. It is so good for them to get their energy out!


Messy, messy, messy.

We went home happily EXHAUSTED!

Cinnamon Rolls and Caterpillars

Today the boys woke up wanting to know what were were going to do today. To be honest today I really just wanted to stay home. So I promised them a craft and cinnamon rolls and they decided we could do that. The craft is the easiest thing in the world, but the kids sure loved it.

Our yummy warm cinnamon rolls before we frosted them. You can get the recipe here.




Hunter did most of it by himself. He liked the independence of this craft.


Here are all of our finished products.

T-ball Pictures

Hooray that we figured out the scanner!



Team picture. Two of the kids are closing their eyes (including Lincoln). You'd think they would take more than one picture!

Gateway Fountains

Today we went with our neighborhood to the fountains at the Gateway. It was so much fun and the kids loved playing with their friends.



This is Linc, all cuddled in a towel.

We brought lunches and had a little picnic.

Looks comfortable huh? Palmer loves the sun.

Hunter had a rough day of it. The water kept knocking him down and I would have to weave into the fountain to get him out while he cried. As soon as we were out, he wanted to go back in and the whole process would start over again.

Trying to get warm. The water must have been cold because the boys' teeth were chattering.

One of the cute ladies who came with us had a little boy turning one. She brought these mini cupcakes which the boys were all over.

What a fun day. Thanks Catherine for planning this!

Who Says I'm Not Crafty?

Okay usually the phrase above is said by me. But I love how this project turned out. I have wanted to put a chalkboard in our toy closet for a long time and I finally did it. I used these little blocks of wood above because it makes it a whole lot easier to put the corners together. This project was awesome and pretty easy.

I painted all of the molding a cool "aquafresh" shade of blue.

We drew a large square on the wall and painted it with chalkboard paint.

And here is the finished product. I am sad that I don't have a better camera to capture how great I feel this turned out! But you get the picture.

By the way, the kids think it is pretty cool.

Family Pictures

I got my family picture CDs today! I love so many of them!!!!

Family Pictures

Here are some more!








We have a story with the Brocos hats...I'll have to tell it one day.

Utah Museum of Natural History

The first Monday of every month at the Utah Museum of Natural History is FREE! We went today and the kids loved it.

"Todally Frogs" exhibit.



Photo op...no idea what this had to do with the frogs other than the fact there is a frog in the picture, but whatever always looking for a good photo opportunity right?






At first I was so bummed about this museum, but then we went upstairs and found all of these goodies.

The boys had no trouble figuring out what kid of dinosaur this was.

These "bones" were actually a rubber puzzle the kids can put together.

We had to pry Lincoln away from the "sand" table.

We were all pretty impressed with the woolly mammoth.

Indian dwelling.

Not a great pic, but this is a puppet theater stocked with bug puppets that the kids can put a bug puppet show on with. How cool is that?

Utah state bird. I asked the kids if they knew what this was and one said an "eagle" and the other said a "pigeon" I think we need to work on that one.

They boys thought this rock was cool. I think that they will appreciate it all when they are older. They couldn't understand that this stuff wasn't man made. They kept asking if it was glass, even then they were impressed. How much more impressed would they be with Mother Nature?

Happy Birthday Dear Markey

The boys always insist that they aren't tired so I let them have "quiet time" instead of a nap. This happens quite a bit...

We were so excited to go and celebrate Uncle Mark's 19th birthday. He leaves on his mission soon and we will sure miss him!

The birthday boy chillin' while the Palmer's sing their amazingly wonderful birthday song (not kidding, you haven't heard "Happy Birthday" until you have heard it at one of our parties).

The kids dug this out of my parents costume box. It was the hot commodity of the evening. I think I saw every kid wear it at least once.

Traditional 19 year old presents for the mission.

My brother Dave gave Mark all of his ugly mission ties...I guess that is a good thing :)



What are we going to do without Uncle Mark? All of the grandkids adore him. He and my brother Nathan are so good to play with all of the kids. Hunter was in heaven when Mark agreed to play "wing awound the wosies" with him.

After he tired Uncle Mark out, Hunter moved on to Dad.



Best Dad ever (have I said that before? :)

Later that evening we found Palmer snuggled up with his Bible asleep. They had Sharing Time about the scriptures and Palmer totally got into it. Earlier that day when I went downstairs Palmer said "Mom I need some peace and quiet, I am trying to read my scriptures."

Independence Day

Since we had just finished up a fun and exhausting family reunion the morning of Independence Day I didn't have a ton of energy left for the evening. We were going to do a little BBQ, but then decided to take the lazy way out. We went to Papa Johns, got a pizza and headed to Sugar House Park to SIT and watch fireworks. It was a great time even though it took about 45 minutes to get out of the parking lot at the end.





There were so many people there! I think this is about half of what was there by the time the fireworks began.



It was a long wait for the fireworks, good thing we brought some things to keep the kids occupied.



The kids began to get a little sleepy since the fireworks didn't start until 10:00 pm.

Not so into the LOUDness of the fireworks. Since we were by the music speakers I was amazed he could still hear the fireworks.



The fireworks were amazing!

This was what the boys looked like by the end of the fireworks.

Palmer got to ride back to the van in style.

Palmer Family Reunion-Day 3

The last day of out wonderful reunion was spent fishing. The boys loved it and oh happy day, each caught a fish.

Fishing is not for the impatient.

I got to hang out with my cute niece Alli.

It is always fun to hang out with Dad.

Palmer's fish.

Lincoln was so happy to get a fish. He kept jumping up and down the whole time he was reeling it in saying "I caught my first fish!" It was pretty great.

Hunter caught one too! He thought it looked gross so he didn't want to stand near it.

Daddy was the winner of the day with this whopper.

And of course you can't leave Heber without stopping at the Dairy Keen for one of these bad boys.


It was a lovely and exhausting reunion.

Palmer Family Reunion-Day 2

The second day of our family reunion was PACKED with fun things to do. We always get a family picture while we are all together. I don't have the whole family one because I was in that one, but here is the one we take with Grandma and Grandpa and all of their grandkids. My cute parents bought each family matching flag shirts.

Adorable kids.

Josh always makes sure we play some sports. We played kick ball and baseball.

Nice kick huh? Go Palmer!

How cute is my niece Alli with her bat ready to play t-ball?

Another tradition we have at the Palmer Family Reunion is a treasure hunt. My kids were so excited about it they woke up at about 6:00 am saying "the treasure hunt is today!"

They were so excited when they found the treasure!

My sister Deb had the genius idea to have a water gun fight. The kids LOVED it!

The kids all wanted to get Josh!

We also did arts and crafts.


And a Horseshoe tournament...

All growing up at the Palmer reunions we had a talent show. My family now carries on the tradition called "Palmer Idol." My niece Symera stole the show with the whole 9 yards. My brother Steve played some Dave Matthews for her to dance to, and oh did she dance! it was awesome.

Our family sang "The Spiderweb Song" for our talent. It is a song that I learned at Oakcrest Girls Camp and I sing it to my boys every night before they go to bed. It is a Nelson family classic.

A few weeks ago Palmer wanted to show us his new talent. It twirling a rope like a cowboy. He did it again for the family on this time he got fancy picking up one leg. That is serious talent!

During a song that my brothers played together on their guitars, Hunter cuddled up with Uncles Mark and Nathan.

My Dad gave the most wonderful presentation on patriotism. He has memorized the "Gettysburg Address," and shared it with us with a lot of wonderful insight.

It was the perfect ending to our program.

Palmer Family Reunion-Day 1

We have been excited about the Palmer Family Reunion in Heber for a long time. This is the second time we have done this. We rent out yurts and a pavilion and have the best time! this was our little yurt. It was just perfect.


My niece Savanna brought bug catching things. They boys had so much fun with her.

They loved all of the bugs that were there, but caught flowers mostly.

There was a wonderful swing set that the kids played on most of the day.



Sweet Aunt Debby helped Hunter with his marshmellow. Hunter didn't love all the smoke.







Palmer loved the s'mores so much I lost count of how many he ate.

The cutest Grandpa ever.



Sticky sisters.

Sleeping Beauties

Palmer and Lincoln sleep in a bunk bed. Last night Palmer let Lincoln sleep on the top, which Lincoln LOVES to do. In the middle of the night he must have forgotten that he did this because he climbed up the ladder and got into bed with Lincoln. So funny!

Nice Daddy let them sleep in their new swim shirts. A sure sign Mom wasn't around for bedtime:)

Funnest Girls Night!

I had such a wonderful night tonight. Have I told you about my friend Laura? I met her while I was preparing for Mrs. Utah. She was going to coach me, but we just ended up talking until about 3 in the morning (and she gave me a lot of coaching to). Since then she has been one of my favorite people. She invited me to go with her to La Caille (we both had $50 gift certificates), and then a play at Hale Theater. Can I tell you how much fun i had? Laura is honestly one of the funniest I know. My stomach always hurts after I laugh all night. She also has a good heart and is always looking for ways to help others. I love her so much.

After the wonderful dinner we went to "Hello Dolly" at the Hale Theater. It was wonderful! Here is our picture with Dolly and Horace. It was so fun to see Carol Ann (I met her in Mrs. Utah as well, love her) and her beautiful daughter there. They sat right by us.

This wonderful gal had just a small part in the play and I absolutely LOVED her. She made me laugh so hard. She totally had a move for us to do when the picture was taken.

She was so crazy awesome!

Weird face...but fun play! Thanks for the wonderful night Laura!

Last Day of Summer Camp

Sniff sniff (I am crying), today was the last day of Summer camp. they celebrated with a huge water party! The boys were so crazy excited about it all.

Hunter had to get a picture with the guys.

After we went and got patriotic cookies from Kneaders

Lincoln opted for the cinnamon roll.

Just Some Randoms

Just thought I'd post some cute pictures I have taken of the boys lately. Yesterday I found Hunter hiding in my closet with my mascara all over his face. He has a fetish with my make up...

I love this picture of Lincoln day dreaming.

He caught me taking pictures.

Palmer has been wearing Josh's protective glasses around for 2 days. He told me that Dad doesn't use them so he was going to. I think he thinks they are real glasses.

Doesn't he look cute?

Story Time Tuesday

Today we went to our story time at Pottery Barn Kids. They had a cute coloring table set up with 4th of July pictures for the kids to color. So fun!

They read some really fun books about America.

Look at all of those boys! Amazingly enough all of the kids were boys today at story time.

Loungin' out.

Lincoln had a blast playing with the doll house. Shhhh don't tell Josh.

I was so worried the boys were going to break this fragile little rocking horse. Who makes a rocking horse fragile? Although I love it, sometimes I do wonder about this company

New Family Pictures

We just had our family pictures done last Saturday and I am loving the ones I have seen so far. They were taken by Michelle Sallay who was just wonderful! I told her what I wanted and she did it perfectly. I am so happy with them. To more, click here