My growing family

My Family brings me such joy! I have loved every stage they have gone through from birth to getting married to being a grandmother. Life is good, not perfect but good!








Craig and Sarah are expecting May 5th and we are so excited for them. They will know what they are having next week.



Kami and Steven are also expecting and they are due May 19th. They will know what they are having the end of the month.







Leslie will be home from China next week and she has had such a great experience. She has grown up and we are excited to have her home.


















Madison is not enjoying being the only child at home! But she tolerates her aging parents. She was in a play last month and had so much fun.









Jake is 16 months and he is so much fun and we enjoy having him around. He is starting to talk and loves being at our house and playing in our backyard. He also likes to ride Darryl's scooter. Darryl had bunion surgery last month and the Dr.'s said he can't put weight on his foot for 8 - 10 weeks. It was a severe case. He has done well, but is tired of not being able to get a round.


We just keep getting older and I'm not sure any wiser, but we are enjoying life and trying to find the good in everything. Darryl and I just celebrated our 26 year anniversary. What a great guy I married, getting married to him was the best decision I ever made!

Jake...

Isn't he just so dang cute! Jake is so much fun. He will be 1 year this month.


He broke his leg last month. He and his dad had an accident going down the stairs. He was such a trooper. He wore this boot for 3 weeks. He had just started to walk and then 3 days later broke his leg. He is starting to try again. I must say the boot was really cute!

Back again...

Well, it has been a long time since I have blogged! I'm going to try and do better.We have been enjoying our family here around us. Our family is our joy!

Jake is so much fun! He is crawling everywhere and walking around furniture. He just turned 10 months and is so much fun. Darryl and I love being grandparents.


Craig and Sarah have now been married for almost nine months.
We love Sarah and we are so grateful to have her in our family.
Craig started his own business, "Grass Kings", doing lawn maintenance. He is busy with this but needed a more stable job so they could have insurance and is
also working 40 hours at another job. Craig is also taking online classes.
Sarah is still working as a dental assistant, and gets to help with
our teeth when we go to the dentist.

















Leslie graduated from High School and is excited to go to China in August and will be there until December, teaching English. She has plans of going to Cosmetology school when she returns. She is teaching piano and working for Chick-fil-A. She has worked with them for 3 years now. She has been dating a wonderful guy, Peter Jennings.




















Madison started taking voice lessons this last year and has loved it. She doing well and she sang for us
in May. She is going into 8th grade. She is in synchronize
swim again this year and doing great. She loves her
nephew and can't get enough of him.


















Kami and Steven are living in Mesa again. We love having them back down here. Steven is busy with school and working as a manager for Chick-fil-A. He is teaching a couple seminary classes this coming year and hopes to get hired on as a seminary teacher when he
graduates in May. Kami is taking online classes at ASU
and babysits a little boy, Jake's age. She is involved in YW's.















We are so blessed! What have you been up too lately?

The Month of October

October is my favorite month of the year! I look forward too this time of year all year long. I must say this year October went by way too fast!

Here are some highlights:
Jake was blessed in Pima. It was a great day and we enjoyed being with the family. He is the cutes little guy ever! I know I'm just the Grandma.

I had a wonderful youth conference by Clint Wells. We reenacted parts of the Book of Mormon. I truly loved all of it. I came away on a spiritual high! The only thing was, that we slept in tents and it got down to 28 degrees! Yes, I was a little cold and a little to old to sleep in a tent.

Craig and Sarah got married October 23rd. What a great day! We love Sarah so much and we are so excited that Craig found her. It was a great day and we enjoyed having our family and friends with us.



We had the reception at Jane and John's home. It was so beautiful. Darryl did such a great job with the food and it was a great night. The next night we were off to Snowflake to the open house. Julie and her friends did such a great job on decorating the Main Street Chapel.

Homecoming Dance was on Halloween! So Leslie was off to the dance with Juan.

Then of course Halloween is one of Darryl's favorite holidays. He used the castle that Juan made for Leslie to ask her to Homecoming and turned it into a spooky castle.

He had so much fun. He also dressed up so nicely.

Jake had his first Halloween! What a cute Giraffe.


The month went by fast but we have so many great memories! Family and friends are so important to us. We are grateful to all of you.

What a week...

Jake is here! He is so dang cute, even if I'm his grandma. It took him some time but after 19 hours of labor he has arrived. Kami and Jake are doing great! Steven can't stop smiling. What a great day in the life of the Palmers. He was born August 17 @ 12:17 pm.

And if that was not enough, the next day Craig and Sarah got engaged! Yeah! We love Sarah and are so excited for the two of the them. They are getting married on October 23.

Looks like we have a lot to do in a short time... love on Jake, wedding planning, love on Jake, wedding planning, love on Jake...OK, you get my drift!

We are looking forward to the wonderful new changes in our life!

Summer...

It seems that my summer has gone by so fast! I have two weeks until work starts again, and I

wonder, what have I done with my time? I love to work in the yard, but I must confess I am a seasonal gardener. I work outside from Oct - June. My yard seems to suffer July - Sept. It has been hot!!! I seem to have more grass where I don't want it and less flowers where I do want it. I have sewn a lot this summer. My Young Women made a quilt to take to camp, I have made baby blankets, and attempted to make a maternity dress for Kami.

Kami had two wonderful baby showers and I got to go and be with her for them.

We of course are waiting the arrival of Kami and Steven's baby boy! He is almost here, he is due August 18th. "He" is doing well. Everything looks great. Kami and Steven have not decided on a name yet. Steven still calls him "Gus".

Here are some other highlights of our families summer.

Leslie hiked part of the Grand Canyon for the High Adventure in our stake. She even made friends with a squirrel that climb up on her leg trying to get some food.

Girls camp! I love girls camp. We had so much fun. I have the best YW in my ward. I enjoyed being with them all. I have not been a cabin mom in YEARS! We had two cabins and I had great leaders help me before and at camp!

At camp, I was showing the girls how an "old lady" can still do archery! I must say I did a pretty dang good job! It has only been 20 plus years since I did this!

A highlight of course is having Craig home from Rio, Brazil mission. He has met a wonderful girl, we love Sarah. She is from Snowflake.

Madison turned 12 and was able to go to camp with me this year! She has said for years "by the time I get to go you will be to old to go". Yes, I'm old but never to old to go to camp with my

baby!

Darryl our cook at camp and does a wonderful job! The girls love the food. We gain at least 3 pounds while we are at camp. Every year the stake staff love to embarrass the men in the kitchen and have them do a dance for the "lip sync". They of course love it. This year they had them dress in Chaps and dance to Rhinestone Cowboy! Way to funny. I will have to get some pictures. The video wouldn't load.

I have been so blessed in so many ways! I love my family and the gospel and I'm grateful for the fun summer and look forward to many more memories.

He's Home!

Craig's home!
What a great day. He arrived at the airport at 9:50 am on Thursday, 18 from the Rio North Brazil Mission. We are so excited to have him home with us.

Here he is coming down the walkway. I of course was crying (now there is a surprise).

Here is our sign for we had for him. This is some of our family and his friends that were there.

Me hugging my boy! He grew a 1/2 - 1 inch and lost 30 pounds.


Our family together again.

These are his shoes... he did A LOT of walking! He never complained that he needed new shoes!

We had a get together that night with some of his friends and family. It was nice to see so many people. Father's Day he spoke and he did such a wonderful job. He has grown so much, and his testimony has grown and is amazing. I'm so grateful for his service he gave to the Lord. He truly loved his mission. He has said it is the hardest thing he has ever done and the happiest he has ever been.

I'm sure you will hear more later.

Palmer Baby...

I love to see the new Ultra sounds they do. Here is an ultra sound of my new grandson due August 18th. Isn't he cute!

Yes, he is a boy!

The email that made me cry...

Dear Parents:
It is our pleasure, at the request of the mission president, to send the flight itinerary for your returning missionary.



He leaves Rio at 10:10 pm on the 17th and arrives here on the morning of the 18th! Wow these two years have really gone by fast. I have missed him so much but it has been a joy to watch him grow in so many ways.

Craig left with Elder Brough (far right - he is from Gilbert, Az.) and they will return together setting next to each other on the same flight. I'm sure the conversation when going to Brazil, will be A LOT different from the one leaving Brazil!





He is going to miss Brazil and all of the wonderful people he met and worked with.

Aubrey

On March 7 it will be a year since Aubrey came into our lives and left us wanting to become a better person in this life. At times it has felt like it has been years since this experience. We think of her often and wonder what she would have been like if we were able to keep her. I long to hold her and I imagine what it would be like to have a little toddler grandchild running around.

I try to find positive in all things and so I have had to make my mind think of positive things in this experience and not dwell on my selfish wants. I'm grateful that she is a beacon to help me be a better person to do the things I need to, to be with her again. I'm grateful she will not have to go through the hardships of this life. I think it has brought our family even closer to each other and to not take life for granted. I'm grateful for Eternal Families!

We planted a orange tree last year in memory of Aubrey. It has been fun to go out and look at our "Aubrey Tree". So as we celebrate her 1 year birthday It has been a joy to see all the blooms that have come on her tree. Spring has become an even more enjoyable time for me. I'm reminded that life goes on. I look forward to watching this tree grow and grow, to show our future grandchildren our "Aubrey Tree", and sharing with them the knowledge that I have that Families are Forever.