Palmer Family Blog

Friday night Jacey and I were snuggled on the couch watching something on Playhouse Disney, when he turned to face me with his eyes filled with tears and his lips quivering. He looked at me and said "Mom, when I was in heaven and you were at work....I reaallly miisssed yoouuuu!!!!" and he burst into tears!! I couldn't help getting choked up myself with his sudden display of emotion!! He didn't elaborate anymore than that, and after a few minutes of sniffling and snuggling, he was back into his show again. Jacey has randomly said things of this nature to me before and I try to think back to any sort of conversation we may have had about me working before he was born, but I can't think of any. So I'm convinced he was really remembering something from when he was heaven while I was working. When I was on my mission, my mission president told me that if at times I felt discouraged, to think of my kids up in heaven cheering me on! And after hearing things like this, I'm sure at times that they were. I know that I often think loved ones up there are too busy with other things to make the time to look down on us, but I'm also sure it happens! I always like to think that my grandmas are looking out for me from time to time too! :) Anyway, I'm grateful for this experience with Jacey to remind me of the bigger picture. I'm grateful for my knowledge of the plan of salvation and that we existed before this earth, that we have a purpose here now and that we will exist again after!

I laugh looking at my last post and how LONG it's been since I posted that. I know I should feel bad about not posting more often, but I just really don't. :) I might regret it one day, but for now I'm fine.

So, this summer has been tons of fun so far!! We've been able to get away enough for it to feel like summer (aka...go to places that actually have summer!) It officially started when the kids and I went to Invermere with Cyndi, Heather and kids and Brett. We just went for a few days but it was so fun! The first night was not so much fun. Me and the kids were all sleeping in the same room and there wasn't much sleeping going on. Jeffrey surprised us and came out to stay for the rest of the time. I was sooo happy and soo grateful that he could help with the little crazies!! We did nothing but play at the pool. What more could you want though?

Next, the kids and I went down to Cardston with my sister, Becky and her kids for a week. Mandi came down halfway through the week with her kids as well. We had tons of fun, riding in the wagon, going for argo rides, going to see the neighbors new kittens, swimming at the swimming hole and riding Scout (he's a horse) :) It was pretty windy down there, but the sun shone every day and it was warm enough to be outside! When we weren't doing something specific, the kids would stay outside and just play. Blowing bubbles, riding in the horse swing, playing ball...we even tried the sprinkler one day, but with the wind, it just felt too cold! Becky, my parents and I watched movies each night. Jeffrey and I are movie lovers and I had a whole list of movies for them to see that they hadn't yet. There was also lots of game playing and yummy snacks. It was really fun, but I missed Jeffrey terribly and I'm not sure when I'm ready to do that again. He stayed at his parents' house that week and hung out with them and his brother. They were able to go to the rodeo and the grand stand show, so he had lots of fun and had things distracting him enough to not miss us too much. Who am I kidding? He missed us insanely and told me I'm never allowed to go anywhere without him again!! Haha!!

After Cardston, I thought our summer trips were over. Jeffrey has officially started his own company Alberta United Insurance. He's doing it with Mark Stehmeier and they have been super busy getting things up and running. They're doing really well so far, things are moving along a lot better than I thought things could this early in the game! And of course I'm biased, but they really do provide GOOD, quick service (in French and Chinese too) and they have some really competitive rates. So if you're looking for insurance, or think you might be paying too much for yours right now, check out their website and contact them for a free quote. Auto, Home, Renters etc. I'm really proud of him and all his hard work and all the TIME he's put into it. He's been working long hours every day (except Sunday of course). Needless to say, we miss him around the house! :( Anyway, because of all that, we decided we wouldn't go anywhere this summer and we wouldn't even go to the Palmer Family reunion in Sandpoint. The Palmers all left to go, and we decided that to make it feel like a holiday, we'd live at the Palmers' new house while they were gone. It was fun, but I didn't enjoy following my kids around cleaning up after them and making sure they didn't destroy anything! After a week there, Jeffrey had a change of heart and decided that maybe we should go to Sandpoint for a few days!! I was ecstatic and agreed with him very quickly before he could change his mind again! We left Saturday and came back the following Friday. :) :) :) I was sooo happy to go! It was so fun to be there with everyone (and to see Kandice and Brady again!!!) and enjoy the SUN!! My kids were little fish, which is what I was hoping for! Last year in Sandpoint was when Jacey really took to the water and I was hoping Jaclyn would do the same thing. And she did! I think it helped that Claire was swimming around on her own too. Jaclyn loves to do what those she loves are doing! And on a side note, I'd just like to say right here, that I'm so grateful that my kids do have older cousins who are a good example, because little kids really do mimic what they see other people doing. Setting a good example is sooooo important!! It's just something I've been thinking a lot about lately because Jacey especially will do something or say something and then tell me exactly who was doing it and where and why. So I'm thankful that for the most part, it's been good stuff!! Anyway, back to Sandpoint. We literally tried to spend every moment we had outside. Either at the pool and hot tub or on the boat. It was literally heaven. My kids were so independent that I could lay out if I wanted to, or be in the hot tub or pool when they were in the other. And there were so many adults around and other kids, that there was always someone close by to give a hand. And they loved the boat. Although they usually ended up falling asleep by the time the ride was over. How can you not with all the lulling rocking! It was really really hard to leave this year. I think it meant more this year because we almost didn't have it. I miss the lake already. I absolutely love lake water!! It's so refreshing and one of my favorite things is to jump in from the boat and go for a swim. Jeffrey and I on our last night, left our kids with Cyndi and went down to the dock to jump in for one last swim. Ahh..it was really hard to leave. :) The kids traveled really well this year. I used someone's idea from FB (can't remember who) and had wrapped up little trinkets (a car, a ball, a book etc) to give to the kids each hour of the drive to keep them entertaining and happy. They loved it and it honestly made the trip go so smoothly. As did these-thank you Lizzie for introducing them to me:

Wow, that's a large picture. Anyway, they were perfect. My kids love to tip their ziploc bags of treats over and I can't tell you how ANNOYED I get of cleaning up crunched up fishies, or salty popcorn twists from the car floor!! But these amazing, heaven sent snack bowls, allowed the kids to tip all they wanted and only very few crumbs could escape. PLUS, it takes the kids MUCH longer to get through the snack, because once they stick their hand in, they can only pull out a few at a time. So they were happier longer. :) And I was happier longer! You can get these miracle bowls at Walmart for only $5. :) WORTH EVERY PENNY!

There is a Cameron Family reunion (Cyndi's side of the family) down in Cardston this weekend, and we are contemplating going down for the saturday. To go to the parade and participate in some fun activities. Then the weekend after that, we are planning on having a GIRLS' weekend in Invermere. NO KIDS ALLOWED! Except for baby Warren of course. It's still a little up in the air because of a few things, but I'm determined to make it work....I want a REAL holiday ;) And depending on if Jeffrey and I can separate again, I may or may not go down to Cardston again to my parents' place. Totally undecided still.

For now, I'm working on potty training Jaclyn. She's showed a lot of interest in going and has actually gone a few times on the toilet before. Having Jacey as her example (again with the good examples) has helped her a lot. She wants to be like her big brother! I follow the book 3day potty training (if anyone wants it, I can email it to you) and one of the things it suggests, is to completely take away diapers and to not use pullups or any sort of "crutch". That way, if they have an accident, they're aware of it and the discomfort and don't want to do it again. Of course, it takes a LOT of tries, but I think it's a pretty good method! We're on day two right now and so far we've had an accident free day. Yesterday, we had 4 accidents, but she went on the potty 6 times, one of which was NUMBER TWO!! (sorry for details, but every mother knows how exciting that is!!). I'm excited!! It's hard work and I've never really had to do it before (Jacey's a freak of nature and potty trained himself, if you remember). It's so fun to see her run around in big girl underwear though and I know these few days of dedication and work will definitely pay off!! Okay, I just have to add that she JUST opened the bathroom door, turned on the light, took off her little undies, climbed up onto the toilet and went to the bathroom ALL BY HERSELF!!! :) This method is working so well!! Major progress! :) So proud of her!!

There are two things that happened this week that I've been wanting to document. One cute, one scary. I'll start with the scary. We had the youngest two Sherwood kids with us this past weekend while Becky and Keith were at trek. That's it..that's the scary story. Haha, jk. (lame joke) We were at the Palmers for sunday dinner and afterwards, they were all playing outside. And I rarely check on them out there, because everything is gated off and they always have fun and keep themselves entertained enough to not try to escape. But thank goodness for promptings and the Holy Ghost, because I felt prompted at one point to just go see how they were doing and when I went out, Jaclyn wasn't there and the other kids didn't know where she was. I paused to listen to see if I could here her somewhere and sure enough, I heard SCREAMING, but FAR away!!! And I couldn't figure out what direction it was coming from. I called Jeffrey to come and he pointed to where it was coming from. She had gotton through some bushes at the top of the yard and took off. I booked it to find her, thinking she was stuck somewhere, or in someone's yard with a dog or who knows what. Her scream was one of those "I'm dying" screams. Apparantly I was really moving, because Jeffrey said that he and Brett were sprinting behind me and they couldn't keep up with me! I found her 5 yards away, crouched over on a rock. Nothing was wrong with her, nothing was physically hurting her, I just think she realized she was lost. I am SOO grateful she was screaming because we would never have known where to look!! And I'm so so so grateful to Heavenly Father for looking out for us and letting a negligent mother know when to check on her children! Looking back on everything, I know that it could have been much worse, and we were really lucky, but when I start thinking about all the things that could have happened, it makes me want to cry and my heart starts pounding!!! Anyway, on to the cute thing. Jacey has his first crush. Or rather, someone has a crush on Jacey for the first time (that I've been aware of anyway). There is a beautiful, curly haired blonde girl in his primary class at church. This sunday when they came in from class to sharing time, she sat down on the same chair as him. He was there first, and so immediately he starts complaining that it was his, he was there first, blah blah blah! I asked the little girl if she wanted to sit beside him or move to another spot. She was like "no, i want to share with him!" and Jacey kept getting upset. He didn't want to share. Of course, he wouldn't move to another spot either, he was there first after all. (stubborn child). Cyndi tried physically lifting the girl up to move her over a chair and she held on for dear life and was like "NO, I want to share with him!" So she stayed. And stubborn Jacey didn't move. So for most of sharing time, they both sat there, side by side, sharing that small little sunbeam chair. It was soo funny to watch!! Eventually her mother (who is their teacher) made her move over, but I almost wish she didn't, it was so cute!! What's funny, is that the little girl's younger brother is in nursey with Jaclyn and has tried kissing Jaclyn before. Who of course, always refuses! Such cute little romantic children. :)

Well that's been our summer so far. Hopefully August ends up being as great as July's been! :)

PS. My blog is no longer private, so those of you who have my link listed as private, might want to switch it so that you can see when and if I update. :)