Monday, January 14, 2008

Palmers at Yosemite 2008


I was talking to mom and I had an idea that as many of us as possible should get together and spend some time together in Yosemite. Mom finishes school on the 9th of June and the UC quarter ends on the 12th, so sometime soon after that we should all get together and camp out, hike, climb, etc in the Sierras. Of course everyone is invited to spend sometime in Santa Cruz as well, surfing, hiking and doing some of the other fun things around here. Leave some comments, suggestions and let me know what you think.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

more of Kaity's cute family

Since Kaity is so busy here are more pics of her cute family. We had a blast when they came to visit us. We did a little free bin shopping, went to the wharf and the boardwalk, and had a good time hanging out. Oh and the only reason why she doesn't have any free time with her kids is because she actually plays with them and is an amazing mom. I always feel energized after hanging out with her. Hope to see you guys soon!


Gio and Enzo were playing hide-n-seek at the surf shop. They had fun. We on the other hand ....
Everybody loves Zeke.
long live good dads!!!!

and good moms.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Breaking the Ice




Hi everyone. We are finally home. Well, we have been home for a week and a half now. I am just lame and I haven't posted anything in forever. I've been spending all of my time trying to take care of the children and there is really no time for anything else. I don't even clean the house or do the dishes anymore. Everytime I try to wash a dish Gio says, "Mommy hold Gio." He's saying "hold Gio, hold Gio, hold Gio Mommy" right now as I type. No rest for the wicked. Anyway, these are a few of the thousand pictures from Christmas. Gio was nice enough to give Zeke a ride on his quad for the picture. They are pretty cute.
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Snow


not that anyone is jealous, with your oceans, surf, sun, etc. We woke up to several more inches of snow this morning so I put on my rainboots and puffy coat and took some shots. It was quite beautiful. It was up to my knees in places that had been untouched and it started snowing some more on my way home. The red brick is the Provo Tabernacle.

I should have taken a picture of a few hours later when my neighbor and I got her Jeep (without 4-wheel drive) stuck in a parking lot. We realized there is a big difference between men and women when, after quite a while of our pushing, pulling and engineering traction under each wheel, a guy stopped and pushed us out in seconds. We felt a little silly, but mostly grateful.




Monday, January 7, 2008

steamer lane




I tried out my birthday present at Steamer Lane today. I got a 6'1", 19 1/2 and 2 3/8 surfboard from Buck Noe, a local shapers who's pretty well known around here. It was a board he had ridden for an little while. Thanks to everyone that contributed to the surfboard fund. I had a little extra left over so I'm sending Jesse a wetsuit, hood, and booties so you don't have to feel bad if you didn't send anything to him in Japan. The board has a pretty big concave in the tail which is different from most boards I've ridden. So far I like it a lot, very loose without being squirrely. The winds finally calmed down so I had a nice afternoon session at Steamer Lane. The darker it got the more the tide dropped so there were some fun, fast waves coming in. Damaris took some pictures so I've include a few of those. I want to get some video but first I need to learn how to surf better and Enzo needs to learn not to go through the guard rail or learn to swim.

rain rain go away



we've actually been needing rain so I shouldn't complain. We had huge storms these past three days. We were evacuated from our house because we had no electricity and I guess some other apartments had damage. We were lucky, no damage just being bored without any electricity for over 24 hours. They sent us to the University Inn downtown. It was fun. We got a nice warm dinner and breakfast and hung out with other families. On Saturday we went to watch the big waves.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Remembering January 1, 1978

I have been looking forward to Christian and Jesse's birthday since I recently came across a few of grandpa's slides that had been saved by Chelsea in an envelope YEARS ago. I took them to Andy's and he scanned and posted. Thank you, Andy.



I remember coming home from church that day and after hearing of the emergency, Andrew Boucher and I had a prayer together. I remember feeling reassured. I feel blessed to have known "THE twins" from the beginning. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I love you each and your beautiful families: Damaris and Lorenzo; Bekah, Miriam and Gwyneth. Blessings this NEW YEAR 2008!!



Mimi writes: Mike joined Austin and me in the visitors' area after having given each baby a father's blessing in the hospital nursery. We were thrilled and impressed with his words which were something like "I have a strong impression that both boys will live and will grow up to be fine men whose lives will give us all great joy. " I believed him then and now know how correct his impression turned out to be.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy Birthday Christian and Jesse



Birthday Boy




When I met Christian he was 25 and I thought he was old now I think he's the cutest 30 year old out there.
30 reasons I am so glad he was born


1- He likes to dance.
2- He is the best at cleaning up
3- He's truly the best dad I know. Whenever I come home after he's spend the whole afternoon with Enzo he's in a totally good mood. Plus he and Enzo have matching hair.
4- He loves waterfalls, enough said!
5- He's very nice to his mom and siblings
6- He rarely gets mad.
7- He's easily content, especially when we live by surf
8- He speaks PORTUGUESE (this was a huge factor when we started dating)
9- He's very smart but refuses to tell people that he went to Yale. When they ask where he did his master's he always says Connecticut.
10-He makes bread about every week and apple pies galore.
11- Kids love him. I still think he should of been called to nursery instead of YMs
12-He's totally handy. He build this cool book shelf out of an old futon frame we found on the street.
13- He builds me longboards and was always up to night skating with me in New Haven.
14- He made me a big jewelry box that not only fits all my stuff but also helps to keep it organized.
15- He still writes me poems.
16- He is very accepting of people and is not judgemental.
17-He doesn't complain about living with my crazy family when we go to Brazil. He only complains about not getting enough exercise when we're in Sao Paulo.
18- He's a good soccer player. I'm serious this has been proven many times when we're in Brazil and he joins pick up games with guys who play every single day.
19- He's good at keeping secrets.
20- He's very good at planning trips.
21- Sooooo incredibly generous.
22- and so incredibly righteous. He's a very spiritual person especially when it comes to being thankful for the creation.
23- He's a good environmentalist but isn't up on people's face about it (people he's not related to I mean)
24- He's interesting. He always knows random facts. When we first started dating I thought he made stuff up. He's proven himself to actually have this incredible memory which is perfect for our marriage.
25- He's NOT confrontational. He no longer expects me to help him with directions. He now pulls over and looks at the map and we continue on happily. This will continue until we can afford a GPS for our car after we can afford a car that is.
26- He doesn't like to spend money but NEVER complains about not having money. In fact he's so good at saving money he paid off $---- of my student loans (lets just say it would have been enough for a down payment on a house, in Kentucky but still)
27- He's an activist and hasn't given it to a total cynical mentality just yet.
28- He has initiative. He doesn't think he does but he totally does.
29- He can draw really well. I think if grad school doesn't work out he can be a tattoo artist. He makes these very intrinsic detailed designs. There was a point in our marriage where I would have weekly new henna tattoos.
30- He's my favorite person in the whole world. I never get tiered of being with him and miss him A LOT when I travel alone. He's good company. Even when we're just studying together he always makes some comment to make me laugh. He takes good care of us and is quick to show his love and appreciation (rare gift). Te amo muito meu amor. Feliz Aniversario.

I Heart Jesse





Happy Birthday Jesse!
My bestest friend in the whole wide world.
The dad who takes us exploring.
M likes when he takes her surfing.
I love hiking, swimming, kayaking, hot springing, and just being with J.
Have a great day and welcome to your thirties.