The Palmer Tale

Happy Fathers Day!

Fathers Day is a happy day! I have been very blessed with an amazing Dad and my little baby has an amazing Dad too. How lucky are we!
I loved this quote by President Monson:

“Father, like Mother, is ever willing to sacrifice his own comfort for that of his children. Daily he toils to provide the necessities of life, never complaining, ever concerned for the well-being of his family. This love for children, this desire to see them well and happy, is a constant in a time of change”

Moments

I have been thinking about my job as being a mom and how different my life is now, but I really wouldn't have it any other way. The love I have for this little girl is indescribable. We do have our hard days and hard moments, when I wonder how I am going to get my "to do list" done with a crying toddler attached at my leg or when I think why do tantrums have to exist? (especially in the middle of the check out line). :) Then I remember how I have it easy now with just one :) I sometimes wonder, is she learning? Am I doing what I am suppose too? My mind is always brought back to how important this time is. How incredible children really are. I love little moments we have like swinging or practicing walking and wish I could just freeze that time. I know I can't, but that our lives can be filled with these amazing moments. I love children, especially this little one and I am grateful we have eternity together.

Easter

We had a great Easter this year. Shawn had Good Friday off, so we decided that going to the temple would be a good thing to do. We haven't been to the Manhattan Temple yet, so we decide to make the trip with our friends the Adams. The city is so busy with every taxi honking etc, but once you walk into the temple it is so peaceful and quiet. You can't hear any of the outside world! I am so glad we were able to go and hope we can make it to the temple more often.
Saturday we had an easter egg hunt with some friends from church. Kanyin was unsure about collecting eggs, but she sure did like jelly beans. I have to say it was an improvement from last year. I still can't believe how much she has grown in a year.

Sunday was a spiritually uplifting day for me. It can be hard to get something out of church when you are fighting a one year old the whole time, but this last Sunday was different. When I think about what the Savior has done for all of us, it is overwhelming. I am very grateful that we will be able to have eternal life because of Jesus Christ. We finished up the weekend with an Easter dinner with our Bishop and his family.

Can you believe this? Why do babies have to grow so fast??

Photographer Shawn is getting pretty good :)

My attempt at making jello eggs. I could not find an egg mold, so I substituted by using plastic eggs. It worked ok :) This little project was more time consuming then I was hoping, but at least they look cool! I have to be honest, while I was staying up till the wee hours of the morning doing this, I was thinking of President Uchtdorf's talk about what matters most and that it is not the most important thing to stay up to finish your daughter's hair bow. Being a little drowsy Easter Sunday because of jello eggs, I am sure is justified. :)

So many places to find eggs! Thanks for coming everyone. Super fun having a get together

The Temple fits right in

Ayla and Kanyin chilling in Central Park. I didn't realize how awesome and huge Central Park is. We are definitely going back there.

Now there are two cool dads

Rockefeller Center. Instead of a Christmas tree there was a HUGE easter bunny

Kanyin the Sponge

I feel like Kanyin copies everything we do. She is at that stage where she just wants to learn and be a big kid. I probably shouldn't think that her learning to shake her head no is cute because I know I will reget it later, but we are working on yes too.

Spring Break

This was officially Shawn's last year having a spring break since the second year of P.A. school is rotations. Kind of a sad thought, but then again, that much closer to having a real income! We live close by so many neat and historical places, so we filled up our spring break with some good adventures and a few days of getting things done.
Our friends the Butlers watched Kanyin for us all day on Wednesday, so Shawn and I could do the the NYC thing. We got a really good deal on Cinderella Broadway tickets. We loved the show! It did take us longer to get there. To make a long story short, the show was at 2, we got off the subway at 1:57 and SPRINTED about 3-4 blocks. Right when we got there, the guy handed us our tickets and then picked up the phone and said, "their here, start!" Still not sure if he was just pulling our leg. I thought I about had a heart attack I ran so fast and was so worried we wouldn't make it. SOO glad we did! The show was so amazing! When Cinderella turned from rags to riches, her dress was literally changing as she was twirling. It was seriously so cool! I didn't know they did magic on broadway. :) Shawn did feel a little out of place being one of the only males there, but he still liked it :) We explored Time Square, which was so crazy! So many lights, people and shops etc. It was such a fun day and it was nice not having to worry about Kanyin.

We drove to Staten Island and parked for only $7 and then rode the FREE ferry to the city. It was super fun

We passed the statue of Liberty on the way

I can now check off NYC broadway show off my wish list

Maybe next time we can get into the Late Show

M&M world! Chocolate everywhere! It was amazing

time square

Heart of Time Square

We took a day to recover from NYC, and then decided to explore the historical Valley Forge. It only took us thirty minutes to get there!
The more I read and learn about George Washington, the more I respect him and wonder how he did what he did. It was a really cold day, but that didn't stop us. Kanyin was a trooper. It is a neat park, because you can walk or drive the whole park and they have monuments recognizing some that were apart of the encampment. We also got to tour George Washington's headquarters/house. I am excited to go back this summer when it is warmer and they have reenactments.

Kanyin was set to go! Wish there was room for the three of us in that stroller, it was a chilly day!

My favorite monument

Love this picture

Shawn and one of his heros

George Washington's house

What a good "last" spring break.

Fox Chase Farm

I often pass this cute farm while driving. I notice that they were having a "Maple Sugar Days." I looked it up and it seemed like a cheap family friendly event, so we decided to go. Plus it was a good study break for Shawn. I am so glad we went because we had so much fun and learned that we want a maple tree. This is the time of year where the sap is coming up the trees, so all the trees had little spigots that only went into the tree a few inches with a bucket attached. This is us trying to see if there is any sap.

Once they collect the sap, all you have to do is boil is for a LONG time and ta da...you have syrup.

Behind us is boiling sap magically turning into syrup

This farm is used for four H events etc, so they had lots of animals for us to see. Kanyin loved loved the horses! Now whenever I show her a picture of a horse she gets so excited and she says "sstt sstt" I guess that means horse in baby language. She wasn't the biggest fan of the goats, but she did love the pigs. I don't know why Shawn decided to pet the pig. Actually it was trying to bite him, so that is probably why, but his hand smelt like nasty pig for a long time.

We even got to try the syrup. We would have loved to buy some, but real syrup is a little on the pricey end. We will probably stick with the fake stuff while we are living on the student budget.

Shawn and Kanyin learning about maple trees.

The old farm house

Just had to throw this one in there.

and this one.

Moral of the story is we had a grand old time at the Fox Chase farm and are hoping to make it back to the sheep shearing day! Love living in the east. So much to do!

Kanyin is ONE

No wonder babies have to sleep all the time...they grow so much in one year! Kanyin turned one on February 25th. It's hard to believe a year ago, our lives changed completely! After having a baby, I decided that birthdays should also be a day of celebration for the mom. It took a lot to get Kanyin here, so I think I should get a cake or something. :) I really can't imagine life without her now. Thank you to those who helped celebrate with us and sent her packages etc. She is a spoiled happy little girl. Her birthday ended up not being all roses though....poor girl got her hand caught in the oven drawer while her birthday cake was baking and got some really nasty burns on her fingers! I felt so bad. I still feel really bad. Especially when I get comments in the store like "oohh her poor little fingers." They are pretty much healed now, but it was for sure a traumatic day for the both of us. What I don't get is she still wants to play with the oven drawer.

Kanyin took her first steps a few days before she turned one. She could walk, she is just hesitant. Growth wise, she is pretty average, except for her head which is in the 90th percentile. Not sure what happened there.

Kanyin has turned out to be quite the character. Some of her LOVES include:

-Dora the Explorer whenever I ask if she wants to watch Dora she says "de de de" and gets really excited

-Cheese She could eat cheese all day if I let her

-Books This girl loves to read. Especially Dr. Seuss books. Sometimes I will find her surrounded by toys, and there she is looking at a book. Her favorite thing to do in the car is look at pictures in a book. She has just started talking gibberish while she is holding her books. SO so so cute.

-Play Chase (especially with her dad) She loves it when we get down on the floor and say "I'm gonna get you!" She will turn the other way, scream and crawl as fast as she can.

-Baths no matter where she is or what she is doing, as soon as she hears that bath water running, she is right there ready to go.

-Walks Kanyin is usually always on the go, except for walks, she is usually really content and enjoys the outdoors.

-Emptying the kitchen drawer it's pretty much a ritual now that while I am cooking she empties the tupperware drawer. At least it keeps her happy and allows me to cook. She just started learning that there are other cupboards and drawers with exciting things inside. Most of which are not baby safe, so we need to do something about that.

We have loved being parents. It has been such an enjoyable time with lots of learning experiences in between. Shawn and I thank our Heavenly Father through prayer for bringing Kanyin into our family. It is a great responsibility becoming a parent. Whenever I think about all the negative in the world today, I get nervous about being a mom. I think about Kanyin going to school etc and how I hope what she learns at home will help her to be a strong girl. I love this quote:

"Raising our children is a much greater responsibility than we can do alone without the Lord’s help. He knows exactly what our children need to know, what they need to do, and what they need to be to come back into His presence. He gives mothers and fathers specific instruction and guidance through the scriptures, His prophets, and the Holy Ghost."

—Cheryl A. Esplin

This does give me comfort knowing as long as ask for the Lords help and stay on the right path doing those little things to have the spirit in our home, he can guide us and help in raising children.

Happy Birthday Kanyin! Click Here for the link to my photography blog where her one year pictures are posted.

I also made this video to document her first year. My goal is to do this with all our future children as well. We will see if that really happens :)

Sometimes the video won't work in blogger. So here is the link if it won't work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GDiYNWvzFA
Happy Birthday Kanyin

A few days late

Simple Pleasures

Sometimes the smallest things give babies the biggest pleasure. Kanyin's new favorite activity is to stand on our bed and look out the window. So many things to find out a window! Oh I just love this little baby. Actually I just realized that she is almost a toddler and I have to stop calling her baby soon. That really kind of hurts my heart. Why do they grow up so fast?!

Our first visitors!

The Wrights live in Utah and decided to come and visit us over the long weekend in January.The Wrights are our close friends. Shawn grew up with Justin so they have been good ol pals since they were wee ones. It was sooo fun to have them here! Their little boy Ryker and Kanyin got along so well. It was the cutest thing to watch them interact. We did the whole Philadelphia tour, which was such an adventure! Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, watched a rally, the famous "love" park, philly cheese steaks. Friday Shawn had school, and Justin volunteered to take the babies so Heather and I could have a shopping day. It felt so good to have a girls day out. Sadly Sunday night they found out that their apartment in Utah flooded! It wasn't the best ending to an awesome weekend. But things are coming together and they should be able to move back into their apartment soon. We loved having them and miss them already. We love having visitors.... hint hint. :) We live so close to so many neat historical fun things. I hope we get to it all while we live here.