Monday, October 17, 2016

Killin It

Hazel is kind of awesome, as are the other 2 little Palmer people.  She stayed on the same soccer team for the Fall, but this league is all girls and it's outside.  So now it's bigger field, less subs, and longer games.  Hazel is fun to watch out there.  She runs all over the field and is great at defense.  The coach's wife does photography, and she caught a few cute ones of Hazel.



She was also given the Sunshine Award at school, which is given to 1 student out of the whole grade each week.  She was the first one for Mrs. Garcia's class.  We're so proud of her!  She definitely brightens our day every time she comes home from school.  Grayson and Jada just light up.  It's so cute.  Funny fact: Mrs. Garcia told us it was a secret that she was receiving the award, so on Friday at Tibbals Tracks, they announced her name, and she didn't even hear it.  They said it a few times, and finally a friend walked over and helped Hazel get up on the stage.  Next time, I'll probably let her know!


It used to be painful to try and get her to sound things out and attempt to spell.  Now she comes home from school and recreates things she did at school.  She's told me a few times that her teacher has shown her work to the whole class as an example of quality work.  Again, so proud and impressed! This picture is just what she quickly did after school to show me what she did at school.  


During General Conference, Hazel drew President Uchtdorf.  I'm always amazed by her drawings.  She just whips out stuff all day every day.  She says Art is her favorite class at school, then P.E.



Grayson is pretty awesome as well!  He started a preschool co-op with 4 other friends, and he said he really liked it.  He's looking too big!


It's true he's a little more reserved and cautious, but he's learning to step up and be the man of the house while it's just Jada, him, and me at home.  I'm bringing him to a lot more playdates, and I think he likes getting more attention.  He's such a sweetheart and tells me he loves me several times a day.  


I mean, look how helpful he can be.  Jada was hungry, so naturally she needed several choices for dinnerware.


He's getting more confident and is trying more things at parks too.


My favorite thing recently is when James and I heard him recite Hazel's part for the primary program on his own out of the blue.  We cracked up.  That morning I had been going over it and over it with Hazel so she could get a treat at church for memorizing her scripture.  Well, I guess Grayson was listening because he knew it perfectly - big words and all.  "For behod, this is my wuk and my gwowy, to bwing to pass the immotawity and etornal wife of man."  Nailed it.  He's a smart one.  He's pretty good at math, and I'm also finding he knows pretty much all of the letters and sounds, which is impressive because I don't really go over them that much. 


Then there's sweet baby Jada.  I love that her name is "Baby Jada".  She has her own jingle that is sung multiple times a day: "Jada Christine, you're the cutest baby I ever have seen!"  She really is the epitome of a cute baby.  She's squishy, happy, and perfect.  We eat her up all day long. 

The squishiness!


She knows what she likes (and that's not the bottle).


She is so patient during soccer practice, etc.


She lets us dress her up and play with her like a babydoll.


She loves tummy time and is getting pretty good at pivoting and scooting back.


Her favorite hobby is doing yoga. 



She's tried some foods, and she's pretty open to new flavors, as long as they're not cold.  She puts herself to sleep now, and is just the best baby ever during the day.  At night I think she wakes out of habit, and I can't tell that sweet face no.  Most obvious of all, her hair is super impressive.  Not an outing goes by where her curly mohawk is not mentioned.  We're pretty proud of it.  


These are just a few of the recent brag stories that I want to look back and remember.  James and I can't believe how blessed we are to have these 3 precious kiddos.  Mommin' ain't easy, but it's so worth it.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Anniversary and Birthday

October is always a busy, fun month for the Palmer fam.  Up first was our anniversary, and this year was our NINTH anniversary!  I'm still super impressed with myself for choosing James when I was only 23.  For a date to celebrate, we went to Rick's Chophouse in downtown McKinney and then grabbed a few slices of pie at Emporium Pies on our way home.  All the food was delish, the company was great, and I survived being away from Jada for 3 hours or so.


On the 20th, we celebrated Hazel's 6th birthday!  The kids and I brought her lunch, which she thought was pretty great.


For dinner she requested my mini cheeseburgers.  The bites are not-so mini, however.


That evening we had soccer practice, so we brought donuts to her team.


Weeks prior, Hazel started writing birthday invitations, so I figured we should do some sort of celebration!  How cute are these?


It was hard to settle on a theme, but then she saw the rainbow leopard plates at the store, and she had to have it.  Here's her rainbow animal themed party at her favorite park in Murphy.


My niece Aubrey did some animal balloons, and we brought along some face paint... so some of us moms got experimenting!





It was thankfully a beautiful day, and we loved celebrating our beautiful 6 year old. 

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Another Farewell

For some reason, people keep moving away from us!  It's sad!  The Thompsons were our bestie friends who we could call anytime of day and hang out with, etc. The parents and kids all got along well, and sometimes that's hard to find.  We're happy for them to have more time with Chris in Utah and for the better opportunity, but we're super sad to see them go.  We made lots of great memories over 2 years.

Goodbye brunch with wardies


They came over their last night and we had Pappasitos as their send off dinner.


This is the absolute worst picture ever (not even black and white could help), but it's the only one of Cassie and me, and we wanted to get something before she left.  We have tons of pictures of the kids together, of course.  We'll miss this fam a ton, but at least we have another great reason to visit Utah now!

Monday, September 12, 2016

Back to Utah!

One of our best friends Clark proposed to a lovely girl named Renae, and they decided to get married in the newly renovated Provo City Temple!  At first, James was just going to go to the wedding, but then we realized it would be a great family vacation!  We used points for flights and points for a wonderful place to stay in Park City.  James had never been there, and we knew it would be a beautiful time of year to visit.  It was so fun to go back to BYU and all the places we miss!  We also got to spend time with my parents, friends, and some Paxton cousins.

Luckily there was a Cafe Rio and Kneaders within 15 minutes of our place!


One of James's and my favorite sandwich stops in Provo - Sensuous Sandwich.  So yum.


BYU!  Beautiful weather too.  Of course, we ran into 3 people we knew or had connections with; in fact, the girl who took this photo was from my home stake! 




The bowling alley in the WILK.  This was our first stop on our first date.  Look at us now!


Oh, how we miss football games here!  


While in Provo, we went to hang out with Dave and Mel who were house sitting.  The house was amazing, and we had a blast.  


1st pool date - Jada and Davey



We ended up staying the night because why not when you have 10 extra rooms and a few extra cribs?  The next day James went golfing with the guys, and Mel took us to the Draper Aquarium.


Our hotel had lots of fun activities for the kids too.  This was a magic show.  They loved the pool and hot tubs, and they even got a chance to collect pretty rocks.






The kids LOVED the Alpine slide, and the ride up on the lift was fun too.




Hazel was tall enough to go on the fast Alpine Coaster!  She got to go on it twice.  Once with Dad and another with Grandpa Hayes.



One of the nights we drove to Farmington to see my cousin Steph and her fam.  They treated us to some yummy food and all the little cousins had fun playing in the backyard.


On to the main event.  The Provo City Temple is gorgeous!  I love the vintage feel - the stained glass windows and little gold touches inside.  My parents were great to watch the kids on the temple grounds so James and I could go to the sealing together.  I was extra excited to go because I hadn't been to a sealing besides my own!  The room was beautiful.  When Renae walked in and got a little emotional, I did too because I remember the feeling.  I was so overwhelmed with love when I walked into our sealing room, and I think I cried through the whole thing.  It was so great to be there for Clark and Renae's special day.  They're a perfect match, and I'm selfishly grateful he chose such a great girlfriend for all of the wives of the group!





Here's the happy couple!


Love this group of guys


and obviously they love each other...


and for sure love my forever family!