Chinese dress

Nice fro

Minami

Save Trestles!

So, I posted this on my blog as well...In Southern California, The Transportation Corridor Agency is trying to revive its plan to build aToll Road through San Onofre State Beach and Trestles!! Those two beaches have some of the best surf in California. They have asked the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to override the California Coastal Commission's denial of the road.

The California Coastal Commission has already voted against it once. Unfortunately the agency planning this Toll Road has appealed the Coastal Commission’s decision to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary is accepting comments from the public on this appeal until May 28th. The people in D.C. need to hear from Californians and people from all over the world who care about San Onofre and Trestles!

To e-mail a pre-scripted letter to help stop the Toll Road, go to http://www.surfrider.org/ and click on "take action."

Love you everyone, hope to see you soon.

I'm famous! (kind of, not really)

I got to model for a Stanford ad. You can't really see my face, but to the left are some of the grad students I work with, and my boss, Professor Krosnick. It was pretty funny because it was totally staged and the whole time we were talking about how awkward it was to pretend to be having an intense intellectual conversation.

:)

bye-bye friends

We have been very blessed to find good friends and neighbors here in Santa Cruz. This weekend Ben and Victoria decided to accept Berkley Law School's offer. I am so glad they didn't pick NYU and will be only a an hour and half away. We have grown to love this family and their kids so much. We swap baby sitting with them all the time and Enzo and Avi have really become friends. It's so amazing seeing their interactions and how much they love and enjoy each other. It's gotten to the point where Enzo will walk to their house whenever he wants. I am very sad they are leaving and really have no idea how we'll manage without them next year. Our next door neighbors Shannon and Ben are leaving in a couple weeks. He has accepted a job back in Minnesota where they are from. She just had a baby last week and her name is Cecilia. Her son Avry is also a sweet kid and Enzo's good buddy. We share a yard with both families and we have really enjoyed just hanging out and letting our kids play together. Here are some pictures with our friends.

Isaiah's braces.

It's about time

I'm rejoining the blog. Enough of this low grade depression/confidence crisis. Here's the Naniloa Loop Palmer demographics: the new roommate's engaged getting married in June. She gets the bottom bunk because there was a cockroach and Yesenia vowed never to darken that bed again. Yesenia is leaving the 8th for four months in Sacramento. Her plan is to work two jobs so don't be planning to see her while there. Erica's off to Tonga for the summer and maybe Jerusalem in the fall. Chey is leaving soon too forever. She's going to to be a horse dentist. Ephraim and fam are coming for a couple of weeks in May. Tailee is coming back Tuesday. There will be four boys in the back apartment as soon as we get Colleen's bunk bed out from under all the apartment building supplies in their eventual family room. The apartment is fabulous. This week we've had Rick and Eva who have been very fun except they haven't been here as much as we've liked (As Adam said, don't they know we expect them to entertain us?) Meanwhile Adam and I watch Colbert and The Office instead of me reading papers. I can't read papers at home. I'm over it as it. (Could it be because school started in July? That's my excuse.) My plan for the summer is travelling nannying: Enzo, Gio and Zeke, Ada, Ezra, Tenney, and I wish Gwyneth and Miriam. I love them all.

Rise and Shout! The Cougars are out.

I graduated. It's official. I almost didn't rent the $40 cap and gown, but I am really glad I did. It was a two day event with a big processional on Thursday and Commencement with Elder Bednar as the main speaker. It snowed lightly during the processional. Elder Bednar bore a very sincere testimony of the power of learning how to learn and the importance of learning throughout your life. He emphasized the legacy of Brigham Young and his willingness to learn new things throughout his life. Tony got to sit in VIP seating because Em P's future father-in-law is a Dean of one of the colleges. It was very nice closure to my BYU experience and reminded me how grateful I am for everyone who has loved and supported me throughout the last five years. It also was a good reminder of the millions of people who directly and indirectly make BYU possible. I have received such an amazing education there that it is hard not to be overwhelmed with gratitude.

Friday was the College of Humanities Convocation where they read your names and let you walk across the stage. Tony and Austin were a good support team and I loved the lei that my mom sent from Hawaii. The main speaker was C. Terry Warner. He is currently working on an exhibition about Education in Zion that highlights some of the stories of early church educators and the founding of Brigham Young Academy. He talked about Karl G. Maeser's fervent prayers about the school and the inspiration that lead to his plan for BYA. It seemed like a really cool exhibition and another good reminder of how important education is to the Lord. It was also fun to have them read my name and walk across the stage (although brief). Sienna Miquel Palmer Dittmer did take up two lines in the program.

As always, Tony was very supportive throughout both days. Thanks again to everyone who has supported me through college and helped with money, encouragment, friendship, etc. You guys are the best and as cliché as it sounds, I couldn't have done it without you. I love you.

I'm Free!

Today was my LAST day of work at Dr. Kevin Baize's office...
I thought I would be "gloriously happy", but it's actually bitter-sweet.
So now I have time to play at the beach, hang out with Pammy, play ultimate, and for once, RELAX!

I wish you were all here to bask in the moment with me!

enzo putting me to sleep

Yesterday, I was totally avoiding puting Enzo to sleep and just lay in bed without doing our usual routine. He got out of bed and took maters in his own had, to put me to sleep. I usually read him a couple books then I go to my desk cover up the lamp with something (not the plastic band he used) to make it more dim, pull my hair back with my tiara and read quietly until he's asleep. He did the whole thing perfectly even the same order. It was pretty cute.

Ez and some other pictures

Doesn't Ezra look so handsome with his long hair? I love it! Travis was ever so kind to take AMAZING pictures of Ez's b-day party and send it my way. Thanks Travis you're the best connection to the NY Palmers. Check out the pictures here. Beware for an overdose of cute pictures of Ez, Ada, Tenney and friends and a deep feeling of missing them so, so much.

Me and Little G

With M at school for 6+ hours a day, G and I have been busy having fun. She loves to play at the park making meals for me out of sand. We also go to the children's center and jump on the trampoline or play with their toys. Today we went out to sushi with some of our friends. G only ate one tamago sushi, though she didn't eat that much when we got home either. Tomorrow we're going to learn how to crochet. And last week she came while I covered my tea box. We're also taking long walks so I can get some endurance for hiking. She's a swell partner and always game for an adventure. We have some museums and fabric stores to visit after golden week. The trick is bringing snacks and water and not balking at buying more. Remembering that she's doing me a favor helps keep it all in perspective. And always bringing the stroller, that's a must.

em p's bridal shower

so here are some pictures from emily p's bridal shower. i spent a lot of last week planning, cleaning, and getting everything ready. it was pink and green asian themed. i spent a lot of the day friday and saturday making sushi, inari, and mochi. we also had really good salad that linds made, virgin margaritas by bybee, and a few other goodies. not everyone came, so we had a lot of left over food. linds is laying on our new makeshift couch. she drove up from st. george just for the party. it was pretty impressive. anyway, i miss everyone. hope you enjoy the pics. i am sure i will have more to post later from graduation tomorrow.

4/20

4/20 is the police code for pot possession. It is also the day that people congregate to smoke pot. How creative. It's pretty much a Holiday here. People take it very seriously and congregate in the Porter meadow which happens to be right behind family student housing. Last year they had over 5000 people. Yesterday I have no idea how many people showed up but for sure it was at least that many. Oh and guess what at 4:20pm they all scream and light up together, even more creative. I actually don't normally mind people smoking pot but the second hand smoke of thousands of people in your back yard is not cool. Not to mention the insane traffic coming back from church and the insane traffic of people everywhere. Some families participated in the festivities by making cookies and brownies and selling it over priced to very hungry stoners. I would of been very tempted had it not been Sunday. Instead I stayed home tie-dyed and watched my neighbor from across my yard sell pot none stop. What a day. Anyway, I hadn't tie-dyes since Hawaii so it was fun. Here are my creations.


for Enzo


For a friend



For my kitchen

This was supposed to be red and white but it came out pink and purple.

For my boys

BFsF

I really like this picture that I took with Sienna's camera. I think that Pammy and Sienna look so pretty and I really like Zeke's expression. He's feeling shy or something.

For some reason everyone who sees Zeke running up and down the sidewalks by our house thinks he should be talking. So, in case you were wondering if Zeke talks yet too. . . he doesn't. But he does say the sounds mama, dada, up, down, dog, and no no. He also dances when Gio sings (however monotone). He's being supportive I guess.

I am trying to think of something funny that Gio has said or done lately, but as it is 1:03 am and my brain went to sleep at 8:00 pm with the boys the only thing I can think of is that Lizzy let Gio bring home a recorder (the instrument) or "whistle" of theirs that he was playing with. Later, as I was making dinner Gio was talking about something I couldn't decipher. He wanted to know if I knew where the thing went from earlier that he was "weasling" with. I laughed kinda hard when I figured it out.

Also, Gio has conversations with his friends now. This is one he had this morning.

Gio: Doyle, can I have turn on your two wheeler when you're done.
Doyle: No. I'm not sharing.
Gio: But, sharing is fun. Sharing is so fun.
Doyle: No it's not. Sharing is yucky.

(I think his mom taught him that sharing gum is yucky.)

what I learn in school

I'm taking this social software class because I thought it would be a good idea to learn how to make webpages and podcasts. The idea is good the class is, humm..... not at all in my comfort zone. It's me and 10 guys who all happen to be game majors. My fellow class mates happen to be in the class and happen to know what they are doing. I have NO idea what I am doing. this week we are learning about php coding and as a project we have to create an application for facebook. I had to create an account. Bekah wrote a good post on her blog about facebook. In the end of the quarter I will delete the account so don't go out of your way to add me or anything like that. I already use ORKUT so if you are on that let me know.

ANYWAY.... all that blah, blah because I am shocked with something I found out on facebook. Bekah is right you can find pretty much anyone. I was resisting adding friends but kind of needed it in order to create an application so I decided to search for friends from middle school. In searching I found out that this kid I used to be good friends with and later developed into my first kiss is in the film Cloverfield. So basically I wasted class time being shocked and now I will probably waste more time watching the movie. I just have to. I should of taken another social science class nothing exciting happens in those classes.

HE DID IT and I missed it. arghhhh!!!!

Enzo has been practicing doing somersaults for a long time. He tries so hard but his huge head, short arms, and short legs just aren't proportional to somersault success. Today he did it all by himself for the first time. I did a quick run to the food panty and when I came back to the yard all the big boys were surrounding Enzo and talking about it and Christian told me that he had just done it. ARGGGGG!!! I missed his first somersault. He did do it again for me and it was everything I've always wanted in baby somersault, nice and clunky.

National Museum

I think it's called that, but I could be wrong. I loved this drinking fountain. Functional art. Japan has figured out that drinking fountains are good and should be everywhere. Every park has one.

I lost it today because of this

this is my carpet with a few grains of rice on the floor that fell off Enzo's plate while he was having lunch. I could care less about it but Enzo cares a whole lot. He cares so much that he can't continue eating or do anything else until the rice is picked up off the floor. He screams, he kicks, he shouts, he won't function. It's a million times worse when it falls on him, then he REALLY looses it and is not consoled until it's clean. He eats with a dish towel always close by so that if any food or drink falls on him he can be cleaned up immediately. This is driving me CRAZY. I know it's not untypical 2 year old behavior and that kids have their little obsessions. Christian is sympathetic because he remembers going through a phase where if his shirt was wet he would have to change it immediately. I don't remember being this particular but I love Enzo and I am trying hard to be understanding but today I completely lost it. I try to deal with it to a certain extent but sometimes I ignore it and there has been times where I'll put him in time out which is probably not the best approach but i just feel like he's being a a whinny brat and I don't want to encourage it at all. So I either deal with it, ignore it, or punish it.

Today we were on our way to the doctor and he was eating cheerios and one of the cheerios fell and Enzo flipped out. He screamed and cried and wanted desperately to get out of his car seat so he could pick up the cheerio. I couldn't deal with it because I was driving and I couldn't ignore it because he was screaming right in my ear and I felt like I was going to crash the car because it was making me so angry. So I screamed back at him STOP RIGHT NOW and a few other things. He stopped. I couldn't believe it. It was so bitter sweet. I felt like I had succeeded at making him stop being whinny over a stupid cheerio. At the same time I feel like I am missing the point. Obviously to him it's not just stupid it's important and also I don't want to have a screaming relationship with him, ever. Any suggestions on what to do to keep my sanity but not have to scream at him and also not encourage this O.C.D behavior?

I know I need to relax and just not take him so seriously but it's been going on for so long now that it's really getting to me.

Happy Birthday Ezra

I'm so glad to have a nephew that dresses like me and that is so passionate about bacon as I am. I love y0u Ez. Happy birthday!

New Addition...

Hey guys! I just got off the phone with Ali and she wanted me to relay the good news...

Mateo Ikaika Charles Martin-Blevins was born on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 11:16p.m. weighing in at 7 lbs, 8 oz. and is 22 inches long with lots of black hair! He is pretty much the boy version of Chloe but doesn't like to suck his thumb like she does. He does, however, like to snuggle and is very patient with Chloe, who can't stop touching him.

Ali was a champ being dilated at 9 cm until the doctors noticed that Teo's heart rate as dropping due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around his neck, left arm, and left leg.

All is well now and they are all super tired, and Ali wanted everyone to know that Lehi has been WONDERFUL and super POSITIVE :)

She will be adding new pics of baby on her smug mug account (look at Da's post for the link).

Tons of family members are over visiting and helping out so if you want to get a hold of her, do so through e-mail!

Welcome Teo! We love you!

Mikey wins an art contest

Vincent van mikey

a snapshot of home for spring break

I went home for Spring Break. A short 10 days, but very worth it. I got to see Austin and hang out with Sienna and Kaity and Gio and Zeke and Yesenia and Pammy and my family and everyone. It was so nice. Probably too nice, because I didn't want to come back to school....but now that I'm here and "spring is in the air" I guess it'll be okay. I have a bunch more pictures -- if you want to see more you can visit my facebook. :)

Enzo and his hommies

Few things in life are as good as hanging out with your cousins.



and even less things are as good as having family who save the day. Kaity and Danny totally made Enzo's b-day happen. Kaity made cupcakes and Danny was awesome at the grill and played with the kids and helped clean up and... (Thank you guys!)



At the park



Enzo ate one million cupcakes. well not really but he would have if we had let him.

Musings from Mimi

April is not the cruelest month in Sacramento; it's the kindest. The roses are primed to bloom; even grass heads stand up and wave to all of us passersby. We can count the baby peaches being born. Everything that hadn't yet, blooms. Oh, wonderful April! Her breezes are benign.

I was glad to read your posts and see the pictures. Keep blogging! Happy days!

remember her?

Chloe is so BIG! I wish she and Enzo still had play dates. They've both grown and by what I can tell they share something very important in common, an Elmo obsession. I just got an e-mail from Ali and soon baby Mateo will be here (hopefully). By looking at Chloe we can only imagine how amazingly cute this kid will be. I am taking the liberty to post her smugmug account so you can see more pictures of Chloe http://martinblevins.smugmug.com/
I know Ali won't mind. Plus she's too busy being overdue.

I have better things to do with my time but...

I know I'm monopolizing the blog but I read this in the news and thought it... I don't really know what I think. I personally would like to have Snoop Dogg in my ward. I need to stop reading the news so much. You can read for yourself here.

Enzo's B-day party

I can't believe Enzo's party was just last Saturday. I think because school started and we are already on our routine that it seems like a long time ago. Anyway, we had a really great time. It was a lot of work and I am SO thankful for my mom and my auntie Rosa for pulling it off. They made the whole thing happen. There was close to 100 people and of course we had lots of good left overs. They made feijoada which is our national dish. I never made or participated in making a legitimate feijoada before and don't know it I ever want to again. It takes days of preparation. It turned out very delicious and everyone was happy. Enzo ended up napping for most of the party which was good because I at least got to talk to most of the extended family that I hadn't seen since last year. When he woke up he was ready for cake. We had ordered a cake but pretty much less minute the lady who was going to make it canceled. Pammy rescued us from the other side of the world providing us with Grandma Day's carrot cake recipe. Christian made a wonderful cake even though we had a few scares. Here are pictures of Enzo's kite birthday party. You can just click on the pictures and it will take you to the online album or you can watch it here as a slide show.

This is just to say

. . .we made it home safely. The boys were really good on the flight. They both slept most of the way which made the flight seem really short. This is a picture from before Gio cut his mohawk. And now the purpose of the post--I wanted to post Gma Day's carrot cake recipe for everyone to have. Here it is.

Grandma Day’s Carrot Cake

1 ½ c. vegetable oil
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
3 c. grated carrots
1 c. drained crushed pineapple
1 t. vanilla
2 ½ c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. salt
1 c. chopped nuts
1 c. coconut (if desired)

Cream oil, sugar, and beaten eggs. Add pineapple and carrot. Add sifted dry ingredients, vanilla, nuts, and coconut. Bake in greased floured cake pan 45 minutes at 350 F. Check with toothpick to see if done.

on being back

we got back today at around 3:00pm and I had class from 6:00-9:00pm. This is when you regret coming back the day school starts, oops I mean a day later. Getting to Brazil was awful (long trip) coming back was awesome. Enzo has graduated to having his own seat and it makes ALL the difference. He watched cartoons and slept. I was so excited that he slept that I also fell asleep for the first time ever on a plane. I'm kicking myself for not trying to sleep right when he fell asleep. Instead I stayed up and watched P.S I love You. Terrible movie, don't waste your time.

Being in Brazil was fun. We pretty much ate and hung out with family. Enzo had a MEGA birthday party. I'll have to give full details later but for now I'll leave you with the fact that my mom bought 45 lbs of meat for the feijoada. It was days and days of production. In retrospect it was all wonderful but he will not get another party like that until his wedding. We are having a birthday party here on Saturday at the park with no decorations, hopefully not too many plastic toy presents, and only cake and water if I am feeling generous. I'm doing it because my friends here want to celebrate his birthday. Plus I convinced Kaity and Danny to come for the weekend.

I had this brilliant fantasy while I was in Brazil that I would start swimming this quarter. Today I already gave that idea up. Too cold for this wimpy one. What exercise can I do other than move my mouth and up down and swallow food? I still can't jog much less dance. I can walk for about 5 minutes without pain and then I start regretting standing up. What should I do? Any suggestions?

good news, Enzo weened himself from his pacifier. We had nothing to do with it. We tried stuffing it in his mouth several times since it took us hours, yes hours, to put him to sleep every night. bad news, hours to get Enzo asleep. Today he was exhausted so apparently he went down quick. Chris had him 'cuz I was in class. I gotta sleep, tomorrow I have him all day.

If you are around

Come celebrate Enzo's second birthday with us at his favorite park

Date:April 5, 2008, 4pm

Location:Frederick Street Park

Address:168 Frederick Street Santa Cruz, CA