Feliz Anniversario Da

Mariko beat me to the first post but I figured I had to post independently. I was even wondering if I could find a way to make Mariko's post become a comment in my post but I'm not that blogliterate yet. Plus I wouldn't want to risk any ire. In commemoration of Damaris' 25th birthday I will share a story about the first time I thought I might marry Damaris. I remember riding down in the car with a friend Mary to eat at a Brazilian dinner Damaris was cooking in Amherst. I thought I hadn't really been invited but Mary convinced me that I was and I don't usually pass up free Brazilian food. We were talking about qualifications for future partners. I was turning the discussion into typical rant about consumer society, my future sustainable home, international living, and all my other crazy ideas. Mary was trying to gently inform me that girls like to have nice things (matching furniture, new clothes), and live in non-scary places (the US). But she as nice and wished me luck in finding a girl to accompany me on my wild adventures. My lack of serious compatibility in earlier interests made me suspect she might have a point. As luck would have it, I didn't have to wait long. The next day (Damaris had convinced me to forgo my ride home and stay the weekend) I was having a similar conversation with Damaris and was getting way more positive feedback. That afternoon I realized that there was some serious potential although it took a little bit longer before I way hooked. But some central elements were begun on that first weekend, good cooking, amazing conversations, and uncanny agreement about all of the most important things in life. The more we talked, danced, cooked, skated, hiked, and generally hung out the more I realized that I had found the perfect person for me. Five years later I'm more convinced than ever that Damaris is an amazing, wonderful, beautiful, and basically perfect. I'm super stoked she was born 25 years ago.

Da Da Da Da Da

This is kind of Enzo's birthday song, but I thought it appropriate. Although my present may be late, at least my birthday wishes won't be. I'm really glad that Damaris took the chance to get to know me, even considering the fact that she was scared to meet me. Christian told us over the phone that he was dating a Brazillian girl, and it sounded more serious than I cared for (at the time), but I had already made him promise that any girl that he was considering marrying had to meet us first. I mean, Christian's kind of a package deal, and anyone who can't accept that is outta there. When Damaris showed up in Hawaii I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I was definitely NOT expecting was how Christian was so romantic, dancing with her in the living room, holding hands as they walked down the street, patiently waiting and helping her during the hikes-- I figured, any girl who could bring that out in Christian was definitely a good catch. Damaris was the one who cooked the first amazing Brazilian dinner that I'd ever had, and topped that off with lilikoi mousse, and she basically had me from then on. I am always delighted to find a kindred spirit in tastes. I never knew how to cook red meat at all before I watched and ate her cooking. It was always a mystery to me how to pick the right cuts and cook it the right way, even after I studied the Joy of Cooking's meat section. Since then I've been cooking her recipes fairly regularly. We were able to get to know each other better when Jake and I visited them in Conneticut, but when they came here to live last year I was pretty excited for them to be close by. I enjoyed being baby-obsessed and food-obsessed; hopefully she did not get bored with my only two subjects of conversation. I'm always sad when people leave Hawaii for "bigger and better" things (quotations not because I don't think that grad school is worthwhile, just because I'm making myself feel better about not really wanting to leave here, ever) because I enjoy having such accessible and good friends close to me. I'm not one to make friends easily (laziness? snobbery? both?)and I like to think that is because good friends don't come around very often. I've really missed having play dates with Amaya's fiance as well. Happy Birthday Da! I hope your day is perfect, and filled with good food. Eat some chocolate chip cookies for me.

activist in the making

We made it to the picket line to support UCSC staff and their negotiations for a better contract, well in their case to just keep the contract they have. If you want to see an article and more pictures go to this page. In one of the pictures you can find Chris pushing Enzo in the stroller and me on the crutches.

road bike

ok, so I pretty much ride my bike everywhere. Biking (or "cycling" I guess) is a big part of my life. My bike is my best friend. It's name is "Iguana" (it's dark green.) But I feel kind of bad because, although I love my bike, lately I've developed this creepy obsession with road bikes. I don't know where it all started, but lately it seems like everywhere I go, I see people riding them and I can't help but notice how sleek and cool they look...not to mention that the people riding them are always speeding past me and it seems like they're not even pedaling. I really want one, but I've never ridden one before. I'm curious if any of you have had any experiences, and have any thoughts on the matter. Is it different than a regular mountain bike?

In honor of Aaron

Aaron is the person you want when you want a long arm picture.
The quality will probably be totally awful but just a little clip
of what Karen talked about, Aaron as a Shepard on Christmas eve. Classic Aaron!

Aaron Austin Lipman

Today is Aaron's 33rd birthday! So, if you read this I hope your birthday is great. You always make things better. Thanks for coming for Christmas Eve and for wearing a wise man costume and for great hugs. Love to my tallest nephew. Karen

A typical morning in the Palmer household in Santa Cruz

5:45/6:00 Chris leaves to go surfing and brings Enzo a bottle.
7:00am Enzo wakes up and starts jumping on top of me
7:05 Enzo stops jumping and goes to his room to get some books
7:05 and 1/2 he's returned with books and starts throwing them on my face.
7:10 after being abused by baby I finally get out of bed.
7:11 change Enzo. Every morning I regeret dearly that I didn't get up when he got up and changed his diaper right away because now his jammies have absorbed the pee from his diaper.
7:12 I pop in the same sesame street video for Enzo to watch. I always feel guilty because he's seen the same video a trillion times and I try to convince myself that today is the day that I'll go to the library and get some new ones.
7:15-7:45 Enzo watches his video I continue to wake up, get dressed, brush teeth....
7:45 we go downstairs for breakfast
8:00ish Chris comes home from surfing, Enzo is super duper excited to see him, decides daddy is way cooler than breakfast and leaves his cereal in his bowl to become mush.
8:10 Chris has taken a quick shower and is now downstairs feeding mush to Enzo.

but today.....
6:00 Chris got Enzo the bottle but did not go surfing
7:00 Chris woke up and baked scones for his class
8:00 Enzo and I woke up (he slept in because he went to bed at 10:00 last night)
8:01.... I won't give you minute by minute detail of the rest of the morning but seriously from 8:00-9:00am Chris was grumpy. I don't mean grumpy I mean totally and utterly upset. He printed out his article that he "had" to read before class, kept complaining that responsibility is over rated, kept interrupting his reading with comments about how Anthropolgy is this and that.... He got very little read, came back upstairs checked the surf report screamed. Screaming when he checks the surf report is pretty common. Was totally ticked that the surf was good and made the absolute worse decision in his life to be responsible and read before class and bake scones since it was his day to take food and left the house in the worse mood I've seen in a long time. I tried to take him very seriously as I could sense that this was an urgent matter but as soon as he left I laughed. It's so obvious why he's so dang concentrated on his work at night when he has to get things done, because he can not miss a surf session at the expense of yet another reading. How on earth is he going to survive 2 weeks in Sao Paulo next month?

Mmmmm

Happy 92nd Birthday Mimi!

I have always been proud to be named after my grandma Mimi. My mom says that I am like her in some ways. I hope that is true. I love and admire Mimi for so many reasons. Here are ten (in no particular order).

1. She taught me how to play Scrabble.
2. She has an awesome relationship with Grandpa that we can all look up to and try to emulate.
3. She has ten kids and managed to stay sane and intelligent and gorgeous. (I only have two and I've lost it all.)
4. She writes poetry.
5. She makes good bread, pies, pomegranite salad, etc.
6. She is generous.
7. She's good company and tells good stories.
8. She is faithful and strong in the gospel (still reading the Sunday school lessons and commenting in class).
9. She taught me to be frugal.
10. She is adventurous. Not only did she travel the world with Grandpa, but according to the slides she wasn't afraid to take the kids on roadtrips all over and she's still going to Hawaii and swimming at the beach!

I love you Mimi and hope you had a good birthday.

The Wells

I had a chance to chat with Rebekah Wells today for a couple minutes. It was really nice and the new addition has arrived. For those of you who did not have the chance to meet the Wells they were the other family living at the Palmer compound. They recently moved to Utah. Rebekah seems to be doing really well. She sounded happy and excited.Here are some pictures and I will also post an e-mail that she sent me. If you want to contact her her e-mail is

	♫ rebekah.wells@gmail.com

Caleb Christopher Wells

Born Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 11:19 p.m. (Thank you, Caleb, for arriving on your due date!)

7 lbs 15 oz, 21 inches long

It was an easy labor and delivery (I had no idea I was in labor). Chris convinced me to go to the hospital anyway. Good thing-- I was already at a 7. Whoops! Once they broke my water, it didn't take long for Caleb to show up!

We are all doing well. Caleb is a cutie. He has dimples (you can't see them in the photos-- they only show up if he's really mad or smiling really big). And he has light brown hair with patches of white-blonde (definitely from Chris). I hope to catch those dimples on film soon. He is also extremely strong. He rolls himself on his side when you put him down and his legs, despite their scrawny appearance, are extremely strong. The nurse today said he was, "the strongest baby she has ever encountered" and broke into a sweat trying to get a blood sample from him. (:

I haven't shared the news with the Hawaii friends, so please feel free to forward at will. I need to get updated contact info from everyone...

Love,

Rebekah