nap time update

Enzo is taking a nap so I came over to Natalie's to look over some e-mail and decided to do a quick update. I tried doing this yesterday with Enzo here. It lasted about 40 seconds. He ran through this house with his arms stretched and was able to create chaos in a very short period of time. I am starting to think I raised a savage. Sacramento is very hot, over 100, right now. It's miserable except that Karen has pool connections and Enzo gets to run around naked, his favorite way of being. He had a hard time when we were in Santa Barbara and Big sur because he had to wear clothes and he was really upset about the whole thing. I guess he'll get used to it. Hanging out with K+D and the boys was amazing. I'll have to upload pictures and really go into detail about our camping trip later. Kaity found me 2 really cool jeans and hooked us up with some warm clothes for Enzo. Their swap shop is amazingly organized and she finds very cool things. Danny works hard on their garden, one of the coolest little gardens I have ever seen! They have all sorts of good things including chick peas, woah. Gio kept on telling Enzo to sit down because he was the home teacher and he needed to give Enzo a lesson. I had real conversations with him and he wouldn't just scream back like Enzo does it was very nice. Zeke looks a lot like Tenney, in my opinion, and pretty much knows he's cute so he just smiles a lot and is really nice to have around. I heard him cry once for maybe 10 seconds during the couple days we were with them. I always enjoy hanging out with them and really wished we lived closer. We saw our place in Santa Cruz. The kitchen is smaller than Kaity's, the living room is pretty big, the stairs are narrow and wooden and very dangerous, the rooms look O.K size and the study is actually bigger than I imagined with a huge window. We have a very cool backyard, no swap shop, metered parking for guests (lame) and the daycare seems great. Enzo is still waitlisted. We are getting hooked up left and right with all sorts of goodies. Shelly gave us some kitchen things and Liz is moving back to her parents house so she also gave us some kitchen things. We are having fun hanging out with Mimi and Karen. Enzo really likes Mimi, he watched almost a full episode of wheel of fortune yesterday. Everyone is being so kind to us. We'll drive down to Jake and Sarah's on Monday and meet their new baby Zack. Once we really settle down I'll post again with pictures.

we miss Hawaii! I miss the family, friends, yard, warm beach, mochi ice-cream, walking to foodland, and the mountains. I am super excited to start my program, have better access to organic food, live in a groovy little hippie town, hanging out with new family (yesterday I hung out with Liz and we had so much fun talking and laughing about our moves), meeting new people, and seeing new places.

I hope everyone is doing well!!!

utah reception

here is the only pic that I have from the utah reception. travis sent it to me. there were people there taking pictures, I just need to call them all and get copies.

ok reception pics

here are some pics from our ok reception. sorry they are mostly of me.

Nippon

Sorry I don't have any cool pictures, but Bekah has our camera. I got in yesterday. I am staying with a friend in Hachioji, on the far western edge of the city almost two and half hours from the airport. The bus only leaves the airport every few hours, so I had to wait for it two hours in the airport as well. So I got in here late, we went and got dinner then had to lug my three heavy bags and surfboard onto a train and then a bus. I thought I might be able to get them around myself, but actually even with David's help it was a huge hassle, especially getting them up and down the long flights of stairs at the train station. I almost whacked several people with my board. It didn't help that the wheels on one bag promptly broke and it was basically like dragging a fifty pound back along the street.
The next morning I woke up at five thirty. Went on a walk. This place is kind of up against the mountain and so is rustic in a Japanese city sort of way. Found a cool shrine and a really over grown path in the mountains. It is really weird to be here. So many japanese people. Everyone seems very fashion conscious. I had to go into the city for the Japan Foundation orientation and while I was there, I walked over the to the ward office and applied for my foreigner registration card. Tokyo is pretty overwhelming and I was proud of myself to be able to find my way around okay. The downtown areas are pretty neat. I walked by the tokyo tower and a big temple and several cool parks. I will take some pictures when the girls get here and give you an idea of the sights. By the time I finished, I was pretty exhausted. I took another couple of hours to get home (three trains transfers and a bus ride) and then I missed my bus stop and had to walk back.
We might go hiking to a castle ruins tomorrow (here the usually just means an empty stone base, with the actual wooden castle totally gone). I'll take it easy Sunday and maybe start on my dissertation monday.

Mohawk

This is Gio's new haircut.

Tie Dye with Jenn

Jennifer Louw Taylor was out here this last week and as a professional, showed us some new techniques. It was all quite exciting, and as you can see, the results were pretty good. Jenn tied the heart onesie and Miriam dyed it. Lucky Amaya C. should be sporting it soon. I'm newly inspired to hoard white clothing.

Bekah said I should post some of the great tips Jenn gave us.

• with the colors cobalt, turquoise, lemon yellow, fuchsia red, fire red and new black we can make different colors. Jenn only buys these colors and then she mixes them up. lemon yellow is the one that she uses the most to mix with other colors.
  
• for every 20oz bottles she puts 2 tablespoons of dye. For the black she puts 1 tablespoon of salt along with the dye.
  
• If you plan on re-using the dye then you should refrigerate it.
• She doesn't rinse them out first like we do. Instead she fills up the washer with hot water and puts in the shirts without the rubber bands. She agitates it for 30 sec and then she drains the water out. She then runs them all in a hot+cold cycle with 4 tablespoons of the special soap.

I hope this was helpful!!!! you can check out her stuff at www.ydye4.com

Gio and the frozen banana

Here is Gio sitting on the counter with a frozen banana and a headband that showed up in our laundry. I hope no one misses it. I miss everyone and I can't wait to see Chris, Da, and Enzo. I wish the other Palmer's were coming back to California really bad. What is everyone doing for Christmas?

future wedding video

We HAVE to show this video at some future wedding reception. The kids are so classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6c0vSzlpe4

Sorry I'm retarded

Here is post number three. I deleted the one that didn't work. You have to watch these hilarious Onion stories.

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/report_many_u_s_parents

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/in_the_know_is_our_wealth_hurting

Ziki

Here's a picture of Zeke, so you can see how he's growing. I have lots of action pictures of Gio and then I decide to take a picture of Zeke and he's always sleeping. He's awake and smiling a lot these days though.

Potty Training

I don't know why that last picture didn't upload. I'll try again. Thanks for the undies Bekah. They're pretty big as you can tell, but they don't make them small enough for him (at Kmart, which is our only store). He loves going pee and poop in the potty because he gets jelly bellys. He sometimes tricks me into giving him jelly beans when he's not even planning on going.

Princess Party

Minami's birthday party was great. Courtney is really creative. She made these little hot dogs wrapped in biscuits, anyway it looked like a butterfly. The pictures aren't great but it gives you an idea of what went on.

portraits by miriam

Some pictures by Miriam. It's fun to go through the photos since I never know what I'll find.

Breaking the Ice

I almost posted a while ago but I got hung up on the fact that I didn't know how to add more than one picture to my post and never finished. Can someone teach me how? So here goes, one random picture and some updates. This is Gio and Doyle in Doyle's double stroller that is just like the one I ordered a few days ago. Lizzy (Doyle's mom) and I are baffled by the fact that when Gio and Doyle are not together they are constatly talking about each other and asking to play with the other, but all they do when they are together is fight. They are potty training partners and pee on trees together. Gio is potty trained and even wakes up from nap and bed with a dry diaper, but for some reason he wants to keep wearing diapers. (Maybe because Zeke does?) Our garden in producing in abundance. We have zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, eggplant, bell peppers, soy beans, beets, strawberries, and basil to name a few. How do you put a video on.

You guys have probably already seen this, but if you need some laugh therapy watch this show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bK63uSTTNs

utah

hey. Thought we would join the fun. I have never blogged before, so we'll see how this turns out. Things here in P-vo are good. I am busy doing my internship at an ESL school for adults. They are all very mature and very cooperative which I appreciate. But I don't get paid and there are a lot of days when I wish I could pass out snacks so I would have something to do. Although, last week I got to play a game with my grammar class and this week I will start teaching some lessons.

The receptions in ok and ut were good. It was fun to have Trav and Sara and kids and Amy and kids at the Utah party. Although, we have just barely finished off the leftovers from the Utah party. There were a lot of people there, but it is pretty impossible to buy the right amount of food.

Anyway, our house is really small, its kind of like one room. Yesterday, I tried to make brownies, I thought it would be a cute sunday wifely thing to do, but I smoked out the whole house (I mean room) and so we had to sit outside for a couple hours until it aired out. Turned out the bottom of our oven is not a drawer but an actual broiler and I burned some pans that were in there, oops.

Here are some pics of us fishing in kamas last weekend when we went to linds and randy's cabin. It was my first time fishing, even though I look pro.

ENGLISH ONLY PLEASE

Christian made a really nice colorful sign that read "English Only Please" for my ESL class. Last week Bekah and I taught English to Japanese students who were staying at the YMCA. Bekah had 6 students ages 7-9 and I had 11 students ages 9 and 10. We were both shocked how jaded and rude these kids were. Seriously, we tried so hard and they just would not cooperate. It was extremely frustrating. Not to mention that it was in Wailua so we had a long ways to go. We did make $400 so that's kind of nice. Not to mention our completely crazy boss. You know right before v-land there is a farm with sheep and stuff. Well she lives there, with the sheep. Today I picked her up and asked her again, "Barbara do you really live here" and she said "well not here on the street, I live in that barn over there." She is completely crazy. I still feel bad for convincing Bekah that it was a good idea to do this job. To top it off, this week I am also working with Barbara. This time it's only 4 students, all high school age. Very polite and pretty good English. Barbara decided that she could teach the class but she still needs me to be there. She said she REALLY needed me to pass out the snacks. So I sat there for 3 hours just listening to her teach and passed out the snacks, which took maybe 45 seconds. So this is my new job. Whenever I complain about staying home Christian says that work is not that much fun. He's right.

as for some updates on the rest of the family and Hawaii.....
-Iris left on Thursday and I really miss her. She said her trip was perfect especially because Bekah took her to see Jack Johnson last Wednesday at BYU swim lessons.
-Ben, Yesenia's boyfriend, left last week so that's sad. I'm sure she could use some e-mails or phone calls to cheer her up.
-I keep teasing Adam that he's rich because he has one photo shoot after another. I'm glad his business is going well.
-The outdoor shower is completely fixed.
-Minami's birthday is this Wednesday and she's having princess party.
-Ephraim and Melinda temple came to visit last weekend. They leave to Samoa on the 15Th. I think. They seem excited. Not to mention that they'll be able to save a ton of money because their rent is only $100 a month.
-our rent is almost $1200 but we did get into family student housing and we're very happy that it worked out.
-Scott was totally M.I.A but no he's back and he makes things really cheerful. I like him a lot.
-Do you guys know the Skafs? They just adopted a little girl. they come home tomorrow.
-My friend Cristiane had her baby. Her name is Rafaella. They are doing well.
-The kids are totally cute. Enzo still doesn't say any words and Gwyn is learning Portuguese quit quickly. His jumping has improved significantly and he now jumps from the top of Waimea with Christian. He really likes it.
-what about you guys? send some news!!!!!!!!!! Post some updates!!!!