Weeki Wachee Spring

No I am not kidding!  The name of the spring really is Weeki Wachee.  I am really going to miss all of the Florida Indian names.  (Okahumpka, Alachua, Itchetucknee, Homosassa, and Weeki Wachee etc.)  Justin assures me that there are enough weird names in Canada to appease me.  I'll report in another post and let you know if it compares at all.  

For a while we have wanted to see what this park is all about.  All we knew beforehand is that it is a natural spring and they have mermaids that put on shows.  It was really fun, and we enjoyed ourselves a lot.  The mermaid shows were very cool to watch, mostly because it is so unique.  I have never seen anything like it.  The stories may have been a bit hoky at times, but it did not take away from the entertainment of the mermaids.  One of the mermaids held her breath for 2 min. 36 sec.  while she dived down 250 feet.  Crazy!  

A very cool aspect of this park is that they have water slides that end up in the spring.  I had never heard of that before.  It is a good idea! :-)   

Evan did very well, and is really starting to enjoy being in the water.  I think we are accomplishing our goal of creating a "water baby".  They even had a baby pool that Evan enjoyed a lot.  

I have to brag about Justin for a minute.  At one point there were some punk teenage boys that were swearing up a storm.  They were starting to get into each other's faces and things were starting to heat up.  Without even batting an eye my brave husband walks right over to them, gets in between the boys and breaks them up.  I couldn't help but feel an immense amount of pride in Justin.  There are many people who would like to say something, but would hesitate or talk themselves out actually doing it (I am probably one of those people).  I am proud to know that my husband is not one of them.  I love you Justin, my big strong man!

 :-) 

All in all, it was a GREAT family day!  I love being with my two boys!

watching the mermaids

The Little Mermaid and her Prince

Disappointed, but doing ok

I have to say that we were fairly upset by the American Idol results.  Our family gets very into this show every year.  This year we absolutely fell in love with David Archuleta.  I was glad that it was the two David's in the finale, but we severely hoped that Archuleta would win.  We knew it would be close, which is why between Justin, Irene, and I we got in 53 votes.  Unfortunately it wasn't enough to save our boy tonight.  I am just glad that towards the end of the season Cook started to show his emotions and shed his cocky shell.  He really seemed touched by winning the competition.  I have always thought he was a great performer, but my heart still goes out to David Archuleta.  I sure do hope that he has success as a result of being on this show.  I love good entertainment.   

There is another Doctor in the world!

Dr. Justin PalmerI warn you now that this is a long post and contains ALOT of pictures.This has been one eventful weekend for the Palmer family! Justin graduated from dental school this Friday.They are being pronounced as doctors

Right after receiving his diploma

Evan and I are so proud!

The Family

Justin and his Papito

Justin, Chris, Brent, and Quin.
Congratulations Boys!!!!

Thursday evening Justin received the email that he, and every other student in his class, was waiting for, confirming that there would indeed be a diploma in his envelope the next day as he walked across the stage to graduate. Shortly after receiving that large piece of information his entire family (minus Lanny and Mark, you were missed) arrived. We ate the best wings in existence and went to bed.

We all woke up Friday morning and went to the Cracker Barrel for a graduation breakfast and then headed out to take pictures before commencement. Justin's graduation was actually entertaining. All of us were able to give our full attention to the ceremony, except when Evan decided to start screaming at the top of his lungs because Chris wouldn't let him play with the cell phone. When he started wailing and it was so disruptive that the speaker stopped mid-sentence and looked up in our direction. Talk about embarrassing! A big thanks goes to Jared (Justin's brother) who came up the stairs to walk around with Evan so that I could pay attention to the ceremony and take pictures. Because Justin's father is a dentist, he had the opportunity of hooding him. It was a special moment to watch the man who has influenced my husband so much help him move forward in his career and life.

Having the opportunity to watch my husband become a doctor was so touching. I love him so much and I am so proud of him! He has worked hard these last 4 years and it all came together on Friday. Congratulations my love!!!!!!

Following the graduation, my friend Erin and I, put together a party for the mormon graduates. They are all friends and we hang out in the same crowds, so we felt it appropriate to have a final "harah!!" It was a huge success, and everyone had a lot of fun! We had a southern feast of Sonny's pulled pork, beef brisket, and Publix chicken strips. The food was scrumptious if I say so myself. :-)
We finished off the weekend with our family and some friends in St. Augustine.

Aww ... how sweet! :-)

Some of the boys in the group

We had a lot of fun playing games in the pool. Check out Walmir fly!!!

The Family at Crescent Beach in St. Augustine

It was a wonderful weekend celebration of Justin's MAJOR accomplishments. I don't think that it has sunk in that he never has to go to school again, and even less that he is now known officially as
Dr. Justin Palmer.

Congratulations Sweetheart!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Mommie's Day

Well, I am very new with this blogging thing but I just wanted to write and tell you all about my awesome mommy. From the moment I saw her I knew that she loved me with all of her heart. She has put her normal life on hold so she can take care of me and I am so grateful for her love. She spends her whole day taking care of me and I love being with her. When she enters the room I can' help but smile at her because I love her so much. We play together all day. She reads to me. She feeds me (well, tries to feed me). I guess that you could say that she takes care of my every need. She does all this because of her endless love for me. I love being with her and I can tell that she loves to be with me too. I love you mommy with all my heart. I just wanted you to know this.

Evan

Goodbye

Tonight I taught my last oboe lesson in Florida.  I have to say that I have been blessed with wonderful students and I am really sad to say good bye to them after so long.  I am going to miss my life here.  

Happy Mother's Day

This is me with my conductor, Jim Plodke

I am sorry that I wasn't able to get this out ON Mother's Day. We had church, lunch with Evan's Tummy Mummy, and then I had a rehearsal and concert. It was such a treat for me to be able to play a concert that Evan was able to come to. I know that he won't remember it, but it meant alot to have him and Justin there supporting me. It was an emotional day for me. With it being my first mother's day and my last concert in Florida, I had a lot to cry about. The Ocala Symphony Orchestra (the former Central Florida Symphony Orchestra) has been so good to me. I am grateful to them for all the wonderful times and growing experiences I had with them.

LISA LEAVITT

My mom is a wonderful woman! She has taught me how to be a mother to my son. She is supportive, loving, and kind. People always say that I look like my mom and that I talk like my mom (inflection, and hand motions). I wish I had her skin and am glad that I didn't get her height :-) My mom loves my husband and my son, which means the world to me. Even though I live on the other side of the country I love being able to call her anytime and talk. I can talk to her about things that I need or just gab for hours. I love her and am proud to call her mom!

Lisa has been an amazing mother-in-law. Ever since I met Kira, Lisa has been loving and caring towards me. She is an awesome mother and I love watching how she will give up everything and anything for her children. She supports them in all that they do (and they do a lot) and I know that she is going to do the same for our little Evan.

LANNY KLAUDT

Lanny is a wonderful mother-in-law. She has always been very supportive of me. I felt immediately accepted by her as a daughter, which was and is such a blessing in my life. There are times I feel that we are kindred spirits. I love visiting her and I am excited to have her closer to me when we move to Canada.

My mum is such a special person. She helped me grow up to be the person I am today. She taught me to have fun in all that I do. Mom always takes us on different adventures like this past winter she took us ice fishing. We had quite the scare when we drove the Suburban onto the ice and the ice cracked and we thought that we were going to die. Recently we have had some little additions to our family and "Granny Lanny" is an awesome granny. She spoils her grandchildren to death and I can't wait to live close so she can do the same to little Evan. We love you Mom

LORI PALMER

I love Lori! She is my anchor of sanity in a world of Palmer crazy :-) It is nice to have someone else saying "no" to the crazy stunts that this family tries to pull off. Seriously speaking, Lori is a wonderful mother-in-law who I know that I can call for help and love. She makes special efforts to see us and enjoys her time with us. That makes us feel special. I am grateful that she is in my life.

Lori married into our crazy family and she realized quite quickly how to deal with me, by bugging me right back. One of my favorite memories is when I was squirting Kelley with my watergun (in the house) and Lori stole it from me and soaked me from head to foot. It was pretty cool. She is an awesome step-mom and we love her a lot.

I have beautiful knees!

I got a new one today! I am often complimented on my legs (this is Kira speaking), and they are what I consider to be my best physical feature. Well today I was told that I have beautiful knees and that they are perfectly shaped. I have never heard that before. I started to look at my knees and I think that they are beautiful. It's just another thing to be thankful for :-)

Speaking of thankful ... I played a full day rehearsal today! I'm back! I'm tired, but I'm back!!!!

Iron Man

I apologize ahead of time, because this is going to be a bit of a random post.  First thing I would like to do is give a HUGE two thumbs up to "Iron Man".  We went to see it yesterday and couldn't have been more impressed.  I like a good comic book story, but it is easy to be VERY cheesy in a movie and this was far from it.  The entire movie from start to finish was very well done (and I want his house, but Justin said no).  

Moving on ....

I wanted to share this picture we got of Evan.  He has realized that he can move ALOT and thinks it is hilarious to do so during dinner time.  Meals have become one of the messiest ordeals I have ever seen.  Look closely, its in his hair and everything.  

Senior awards banquet

Weird ... and VERY cool!!

Some of our very good friends, the Gardners

Justin as the evenings MC

Yesterday we attended the senior awards banquet for Justin's 08 class.  He did not receive an official award, but he was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies for the evening.  I have to brag about Justin for a little bit.  He was hilarious!!!  Really, my wonderful husband was a natural up there.  He would go with the flow and really made the evening interesting.  I can't believe that he will be graduating in 2 weeks!!  It is going to be crazy around here for a little while.  

Room mate fun!

Becky and I

A shot to show you how close they were coming.  I'm standing on the dock.  

Justin and Mark

Is there anyone who doesn't love baby bums??

Baby Macy (4 months) and Evan (9 months).  

She is wearing the dress that we gave her. :-)  

One of my room mates from BYU came out to visit us with her family.  We had the best time with Becky, Mark, and their kids.  We tried our very hardest to show them all of the best Florida sites (or at least our favorites).  We haven't been able to see them since our move to Gainesville, so it has been 4 years.  They didn't have either of their two children.  Everything was working in our favor.  The weather was perfect.  When we went to Fanning Springs there were 7 manatees visiting!  They never came into the swimming area while we were there, but they came right up to the dock and the water is so clear that we could see every detail.  That was awesome!  We went to see gators and we headed to the beach.  Thank you for coming guys ... we love you!