Cali Girls!

Wow, where to begin. I was lucky enough to meet up with some of the best girls this last weekend. My roommates from my sophomore year of college and I met up in sunny California for a quick vacation. :) It was great to see the many ways these ladies have grown and developed over the years, and yet, they really are the same girls I fell in love with 10 years ago.

I loved talking about old memories and current situations, and I loved making new memories around every corner.

We went to Disney Land the first day and to the beach the second.


Here are a few of the memorable moments for me:

1- I can in fact travel by myself. I CAN navigate my way through an airport, get transportation after, etc. I was quite proud of myself.

2- Seeing people that I love after not seeing them for about 8 years makes me really happy. My heart even raced as I watched for my girls to come down the airport stairs. :) VERY fun!!!

3- Waiting for a shuttle for 45 minutes on the pick up curb at the airport is o.k. and goes quickly while chatting and catching up.

4- KY time and LA time are TOTALLY off!! :) I was up about 3-4 hrs before my roommates were. :)

5-Disney land is fun at ANY age!!!!

6- my feet and back hurt after walking for 13 hrs.

7- the wonder of color show at the end of the day was totally worth sticking around for. It was amazing watching the water and lights show while projecting the movie clips on the mist of water.. .. VERY COOL! Here is a clip of the finale!



8- I really like dancing. I always have. I probably always will. I loved loved loved the Disney celebrate parade.




9- I LOVE the ocean.

10- Never believe someone, even if it's your old roommate, when they tell you the beaches are cold and windy this time of year. Maybe in N. Cali, but the beach we went to was BEAUTIFUL and we were wishing we had our suites. oh well, it didn't stop me from playing in the water. :) I really couldn't resist. It was sooo gorgeous.

11- iphones do not survive falling in the ocean. But nice Apple people replacing it for free helped me survive my stupidity. :)

12- Sea Shells are really fun to collect.

13- Sunglasses will fall off your head and be swept away into the ocean, but sometimes really nice natives see them from the pier and swim out to get them for you (or my roommate in this case!! :) I was impressed someone was that nice. He even told us sincerely to have a nice day and we deserved the glasses because we were working so hard to get them ( well, we had forgotten about them and were continuing to collect shells, but it was nice of him anyway.)

14- Jenny still really likes shopping and spilling all our stories to complete strangers!!. :)

15- Eating out is always fun!

16- saying goodbye is tough, but planning Paris for our next 10 year reunion makes it feel better!

17- It's always fun when my family gets excited that I am home.


:) :) :) :) :)

and for your viewing pleasure, here is a slew of pictures in no particular order! :)

This free photo slideshow customized with Smilebox

Soccer and the park

We went to a new park last night and Lo had a game today. Hopefully I'll catch J's game next week. :)

This thing was pretty cool. It was kind of like a caterpillar teeter totter, it was all hooked together, but the humps would teeter at different times.. . cool.

I'm almost there!!!!

The BIG race. . . I think Lo got a head start!

Here we gooooooooo.........

Meg has never sucked on her toes before, but I guess she really liked the taste of DIRT!

Lo is loving soccer. He only has a couple of weeks left. He will be sad when it's over.

When the cat's away, the mice will play!!!!

o.k., so not that J, lo, and Meg are cats to z-man, but it just so happens that He and I have about 2 hours all to ourselves in the morning while J and Lo are at school and Meg is asleep. How do we spend our time you ask???

We dance and party, of course!!! LOL

When we wake up early, we have time to . . .

do this!!!! Everyone was ready for school this morning and we had time to spare, so Z-man and Meg got a ride!!! :) Meg liked it the first time, she wasn't sure after that. :) Z-man could have stayed in forever. :) oh to be a kid again!

Our budding soccer stars!

Well, we have two in soccer this season. J and Lo. They love it! They look forward to practice and games and are pretty sad if they have to miss for some reason. Well, I get little peaks and glances at them and shout a good job every now and again, but for the most part, this little lady (and z-man who is too fast for footage right now) keep me in 20 different directions. :) :) Although Meg is getting to be quite the soccer star!!!

(After she falls down, she is calling for DAD. She can't quite get to a standing position unless she has something to pull up on. . so she's calling for someone to come help her up..... silly girl)

!

When she isn't practicing her amazing soccer skills, she is excavating in the closest baseball diamond. She has found many 'treasures' there. :)

It's just normal life!!!!

I don't know how many times I've been asked what is going on, and all I can think of is, "It's just normal life." OR how many times I've asked others and hear the same response. Well, I'm sure that in only a few years time, my 'normal life' will change to a different 'normal life.' I've thought capturing a 'normal life' day on video just so I can remember what a normal day was like at this stage of life. Although I haven't done that, I do have a few pictures of 'normal life' at the palmers house. ... ... ..

Life starts out getting J and Lo ready for school. They each have their own morning tasks that they do to get ready for school--breakfast, pack lunches, brush teeth, do hair. . . etc, etc.

Once J and Lo are off to school, we start with the gym and then move onto a little cleaning.. ... . or dumping out the tupperwear drawer. Ya know, whatever you feel like. Z and Meg are good little buddies (most of the time). They make each other laugh a lot. And NOTHING beats the tupperwear drawer!!!!!!

After lots and lots and lots of 'play', it is nap time. . . oh how we LOVE nap time!!!

Pretty soon everyone starts to come home. Lo comes home mid day, J comes home a few hours later, and FINALLY D comes home after work. Everyone RUNS to the garage when they hear the garage door open. D is VERY loved and I have to fight my way in for a kiss when he comes home.

Of course we can't pass up a beautiful afternoon rain to play in!!

Then pretty soon, it is time for dinner, cleaning, bath and bed. :) (unless we have soccer practice. . or some other equally thrilling event!!!)

J and Lo are waiting to be tucked in.

And then the kid's day is done, but it seems that there is so much more to do... D has calls to make and church work to be done. I have more than enough house work and catching up to keep me busy many more hours (which I usually try to put off!! ;) D and I have a few minutes to hang out together. . ya know, watch the stars come out, check how much the trees are growing, turn the sprinklers one, walk around in circles in our cul-de-sac, talk to neighbors, etc. We read our scriptures (try to) and head to bed.

Life seems so busy to me right now. I guess it's a good thing, but I feel I'm being pulled so many ways that I do everything mediocre and nothing superior, but I will keep trying and doing my best and hope the rest is made up somehow!

I love my family. I love living my life with them!

(Sorry for the quality of pictures. It seems like 'life' happens when my camera is put away, so my phone is most accessible.)