Loads of Pictures ... Loads of FUN!!!

I just really loved these pictures of Evan at the park. We will always be a Gator family ... even if they lose to Ol' Miss. Look at Evans smile while Michael is pushing him.
This weekend we took the boys to a Monster truck show. Jared and Amanda are still out of town and they bought us all tickets to treat their little monsters. It was AWESOME!!!!!! I am one of those girls who loves trucks, loves off roading ... and this was just amazing! I have added another life dream to my bucket list. I WANT TO DRIVE A MONSTER TRUCK!!!!!!! Justin says I can do it when I am 30, we'll see if he changes his tune in 4 years.
This is during the monster truck races. It is unbelievable how LOUD these things are. People warn you, but you cannot comprehend just how loud it actually is.

This is how Evan spent the majority of the show.
Karalee and I bakin' in the sun. We left our house and it was on the chilly side of things. We all dressed for it to be cold. Well ... it was definitely NOT cold. We stripped down Evan and the boys as much as we could. This was all I could do for my outfit ... aren't I a fashionista??!!

Look at him fly!!!
We have more bragging rights now as parents. Our child fell asleep during a Monster Truck show ... remember how loud it was???? Yeah ... we know how lucky we are.

Logan is totally obsessed with Transformers. In fact that is all we ever hear him talk about. Well they had a real transformer at the show, and a battle between the good and the bad one. Logan's face was priceless while he watched a real transformer come to life. After it was done, he said to Karalee "Aunt Karalee ... I can't believe he talked to me!" It is all we heard about on the way home, and we are anticipating that it will be all we hear about for at least the next 4 months. :-) He is so cute.

The Dump and our nephews

Ever since I was a little girl, the dump has always fascinated me.  I remember begging my dad to take me with him whenever he was going.  We did some more unpacking yesterday and took all of our garbage to the dump, which is conveniently not too far from our house (don't worry ... it isn't close enough to even know it is there).  I think what fascinates me so much is that the world is soooo beautiful.  Everyday I am in awe at the life I lead.  I live in a beautiful house, surrounded by beautiful things and people.  We travel to beautiful places and I am always astounded at God's creations.  Then you go to the dump and there is our reality.  I definitely know the nessesity of the dump.  We have to live and therefore have garbage, and need a place to put it.  BUT seeing the contrast of the dump (there is NO beauty in this place, we even saw a crow with a mohawk and a beard [no joke]) reaffirms in my mind the reason I recycle.    

Also yesterday, I watched my nephews, Michael and Logan, for about 4 hours.  I took them to the park and they wanted to run around in the water.  I told them it was cold, but feel free.  All of us rolled up our pants and off we went to wade in the water ... or so I thought.  After about 10 minutes they were DRENCHED, but still wanted to play.  I let them dress down to their skivy's and we left once they decided they were too cold.  I was just glad that I had a towel in the stroller.  Even Evan wanted to go in the water with his cousins.  Crazy Palmer Boys!!!!!!

Cats

My birthday present from my in-laws, Mark and Lanny, were tickets to the Broadway production of Cats.  I went with my sister-in-law, Amanda and we had so much fun!  It was wonderful to actually go out.  I didn't know before hand, but this was Amanda's first experience with any musical.  What a special time to spend it with her.  I am blessed to have family so near and I am glad that they are my friends as well.  Thank you Amanda for coming with me, and THANK YOU MARK AND LANNY FOR THE EXPERIENCE!!!!!!!! 

Random post

So yesterday Evan woke up at 6:30AM screaming (he is teething) and normally gets up at 8:00AM.  It was also the morning after my 2 hour sleep night.  Needless to say, by 12 noon we were both exhausted.  We attended a wonderful brunch for the ladies in our ward and unfortunately were one of the first ones to leave (crying babies and sleepy moms are not a great combination).  Before I was even buckled Evan was asleep in his car seat.  I decided that since I didn't sleep the night before and my baby was sleeping I would take a nap as well.  Evan was asleep at 12 noon, I was asleep by 12:30PM and we both woke up at 4:00PM!!!!!!  Can you believe it???  I guess we both really needed the extended rest, because we were a much happier pair when we woke up.  :-)

It seems like it has been forever since Heroes has been on the air and we were sooooo excited for its return this last monday.  I AM SO CONFUSED!!!!  The entire two hours we were watching the show, Justin and I were lost.  It is like we never watched last season.  Please, all of our Heroes friends, what is going on??  Were we the only ones that had no clue how the premiere related to the rest of the show?  I hate to say it, but I am actually a little disappointed.  It better improve in the future or I might just have to stop watching it.  We'll see how next week goes.       

Insomnia and Fall

I have never before had a problem sleeping.  Almost everyday of my life I have been lucky enough go to sleep, and sleep through the night (except a couple months with a new born, but I was definitely not complaining).  Now in the last two weeks I have had two nights where my brain would not shut off and I cannot sleep.  It is 3:20 AM and for the life of me I am too busy thinking about how to decorate the rest of my house.  The dumb thing is that I cannot even afford to do that right now anyway, but my brain refuses to turn off.  So I figured I would write down all my ideas, write a blog, and try sleeping again.  

Despite the cold weather, which I do not like, fall is a beautiful season.  I have mostly lived in places that are warm, and there is not very much visual change in the seasons.  Everyone knows that I would prefer the warmer climate, but I have to admit that the leaves changing color are GORGEOUS!!!!!!  Our drive out to work and to my in-laws takes us into the country side and the sight is stunning right now, but even the city landscape is beautiful to see.  The picture at the top of this post is our baby tree in the front of our house.  I love the trees that are turning yellow, but I am so excited that our tree turns red.  Isn't it beautiful?  

I also want to say that I am grateful for the neighborhood that we moved into.  Auburn Bay is so friendly and very nice.  I feel like I fit in, and I know that Evan is going to have wonderful friends here as well.  Everyone is young and they all of young families.  This is going to be alright.  

A Great Day in Calgary

This picture has nothing to do with our day, but I just thought it was adorable and wanted everyone to admire my "Big Boy".  He loves his rocket! 

This week has been really nice in this unpredictable city and Evan and I have taken advantage of it.  We went to the lake two days ago with our friends and then yesterday had many wonderful adventures.  

My friend Jackie invited us to go to the Calgary Zoo on her guest pass, and we had soo much fun!  One of my strongest childhood memories is of the Calgary Zoo.  I don't remember how old I was exactly, but I was really young, because it was before we had moved to California. I am the oldest in my family and was there for all of the harder times.  We were happy, but we rarely got the "extra" stuff.  I remember we went to the Calgary Zoo and I really wanted a certain candy tube that had a lion on top.  I was so excited when my parents got it for me.  It is the first time that I remember anything like that happening and I remember LOVING the lion on top that turned into a toy.  It was neat to return to this childhood memory.  

Today we were only there for the morning, but we had a great time.  All the animals are very close to the visitors and Evan was completely enthralled with every animal that we saw.  He would point, smile, and babble questions to me constantly.   

Look at this elephant closely ... it has a crown on it's tusk.  We took this picture for Justin. 

My favorite exhibit was the giraffe and hippo area.  It was so beautiful.  They even had a video of their newest giraffe being born.  

It was feeding time for the hippos and they were by far my favorite thing to see.  I don't ever remember seeing these animals out of the water and this active ... it was awesome.  One of them even stood at the gate waiting for its nose to be scratched by the zoo keeper.  Sooo Cool!! 

Evan and I then went to the Lake again and had a blast!!!!  This was my kind of day!!!

Food

This post is mostly going to be containing stories about one of my favorite things in life ... FOOD.  I hope you enjoy our most recent family adventures.

I attended a local Farmer's Market with my friend Kathy and the Hudderites were selling their vegetables as usual.  You may think I am holding a very nice squash, but it is actually a zucchini. The best part about this very large vegetable???  It cost me a whoppin' 50 cents.  Is that a deal or what?  
We are trying to teach Evan the idea of cleaning up, or not throwing food on the floor, but he is only 1 years old and it doesn't always happen.  I often look at the floor after he is done eating and laugh.  This is pretty much what it looks like after every meal.  I promise food is actually going in the mouth.  This I know because I am cleaning it up when it comes out the other end everyday.  One of these days I know he will get it, but in the mean time ... I clean clean clean! 
Ok, this is a story of my own stupidity.  I made Evan a hard boiled egg for lunch today, or at least that was my intention.  Unfortunately when I peeled the shell off I could tell I had not cooked it long enough.  As you can guess from my floor, I am not about to give my 1 yr. old a soft boiled egg.  So I stuck it in the microwave for 10 seconds.  It was still feeling too soft, so I stuck it in for another 20 seconds, with the intention of watching it.  As the clock read 15 seconds I turned around to make a funny face at Evan.  I turned back towards the microwave as the clock read 13 seconds.  Immediately after I read the clock, the egg exploded!!!  I screamed, Evan laughed and now my microwave looks like this.  
We are starting to teach Evan how a spoon works.  He has loved playing with spoons for a while now, but the concept is obviously still new to him as  you can tell from the look of his right hand.  He loved being a big boy, and truth be told, about 50% of the food went into his mouth via the spoon.  Yeah Evan!!
Alright, so not really food, but it is close enough.  For the majority of people who would read this blog you know that I don't drink.  As stated in my previous post, I am learning all sorts of things about alcohol.   From my non-drinking experience I have always thought that alcohol smelled bad and I didn't know why people would want to pay that much money for a beverage. Well I have decided what I would drink, if I were a drinker.  Someone at the restaurant ordered a shot of Frangelico while I was working.  Of course I didn't know what that was, but what I learned was very interesting.  I would probably be obsessed with Frangelico liquere.  It is a sweet alcohol that tastes like hazelnut.  It can be purchased to drink as shots, put into coffee or hot chocolate, and is even used in some desserts.  This stuff smelled amazing!!!!  Who would have known there were dessert liquors?  

Trapped!!!

Currently the city is asphalting our road and we aren't allowed to drive on it.  It is sure a good thing I left this morning for an arobics class, now we have a car that is free.  Justin took it to study and now Evan and I are trapped.  I am not saying that I was even planning on leaving, I just don't like knowing that I can't.  I do have to say that our road looks amazing though!!!  

Supernatural

For anyone who knows me you will find this post a little shocking, except my dad, who I have already talked to about this.  I DO NOT like scary things!  I am very affected by scary movies, haunted houses, really anything along those lines.  If I watch a scary movie (even a mild one) I usually have a very hard time sleeping at night.  Now that I have said this, I have to tell y'all that I am completely addicted to a show called "Supernatural".  As you can guess from the title of the show, it is not something that I would normally watch.  To tell you the truth, I don't even know why I started to watch it in the first place.  It is terrifying!!!!!  If we watch it at night I am super clingy to Justin, and yet I cannot get enough of it.  

I do have to tell you about one of the episodes because it is just so funny that I even want to watch this show.  I have three major fears in life.  Flying (really it's falling from that high in the air), Supernatural stuff, and Spiders.  One of the episodes was about a demon that would possess people on planes with the sole purpose of taking the plane down.  Awesome ... a show that combines two of my three fears ... lovely! Why do I love this series again? 

These two boys play brothers in the show and they are some of the most likable characters that I have ever come across.  I want to know more about their story, I like watching their interaction with each other, and I love watching their relationship develop.  This all aside from the fact that they are unbelievably attractive, and I can't decide which one I like more.  Most of the time I lean towards Dean (the short manly one in the back), but I can't help be in love with Sam (the tall pretty boy).  

If you think you can handle it, I totally recommend this show!  It is awesome ... aside from all the scary ghosts and demons. :-) 

Bartending

Last night I worked my first day as a waitress.  It was loads of fun, but I do have to say that there are disadvantages of being Mormon and waiting tables.  I know nothing about alcohol.  Last night I learned what a highball is, and how to make it.  I wrote down everything the customer said and took it to my co-worker.  I then said to her:  "what is a highball?  She wants a Vodka Sprite pressed with water."  Kirsten showed me how to make it, and now I won't be confused when that one comes up in the future.  Unfortunately, I still have a lot to learn.  That same night someone asked me if we had Canadian's.  In my head I am thinking "I think most of us are Canadian ... I wonder what he means."  I told him that I didn't know what that was, but I would find out for him.  It is no wonder he looked at me like I was insane, because it is a brand of beer ... and no we don't sell it.  

By the time I don't have to work anymore I might just be a pro ... NOT!

We Run

My mom's birthday present came in the mail a couple days ago ... it was awesome!  There were several things, but my favorites are

1) a sign that has my quote "Bloom where you are planted"

and 

2) These AWESOME shirts!!!  

I am a big dork and totally dressed us in matching cords and our matching shirts.  I had fun! :-) 

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday dear Kira
Happy Birthday to me!!!!

It is true 26 years ago today I had my world premiere. Yesterday we were able to celebrate my birthday with some of my in-laws and today I am going to Peter's Drive In with the others. It has been a good, relaxing day and I even got to go out to lunch with some girlfriends. :-) Thank you to anyone who has called, or sent me notes via technology ... it makes me feel so loved!