Hump Day....well, almost.

Pictures kind of tell the story!  We're nearing Elder Palmer's Hump Day!  It's actually not until January 11, 2013....but we have to plan ahead a little!  It seems to take about a month to get a package into Elder Palmer's hands in Argentina, so we start in November!  I'm getting so excited for the Christmas phone call!  I hope we can understand him when he calls.  He throws in a little to much El Spaniole in the emails...and we just stand there all amazed! I might need to hire a translator before long.

Struggling.....

Competent bloggers don't struggle with the issues that "want to be" bloggers do.....I'm struggling with how to get my header centered......so....until I get that figured out...(I did manage to get it to move farther to the LEFT!) let's move on.....

No wonder why the lady wasn't smiling...she probably thought we had been drinking and smoking left handed cigarettes!  We acted like we had just broke out of the state mental!

Don't ask me why we all abandoned mom!  They were no where to be found...except for me.....I was the photographer.

Me and the sisters!  Kamarie, Krystal and Kimberly in Midway.

Each year my mom takes my sisters and me on a birthday outing.  This year I happened to have my camera with me.  Lucky me!  We found this cute little buggy in Midway....and decided we couldn't pass up a photo op!  The lady that owned the joint frowned at us....but in the end, we prevailed!

Whoa.....kind of forgot!

Apparently it doesn't take much to freak me out.  Forgot I changed the look of the blog!  I was feeling a little sentimental today.  It's Jace's 20th birthday, and he is in a far away country celebrating without his family.  I've teared up more than once today.....actually  23 times.  A mother's love for her child is so strong.....it breaks your heart to be apart on special days.....like a birthday.  I miss that kid terribly, but there is no where else in this world I would rather him be......wait, yes there is......at home.  With me.  But, I try to keep things in context by telling myself.....Jace is sacrificing 2 years of his life, so that those he teaches can be with their families for eternity......now what mother wouldn't want their child to do that?  Now I feel like I need a mental beat-down for being so selfish.  Can't help it.....he was the only one of my kids that let me do EVERYTHING for him....right down to buttering his toast.  Miss him. Happy Birthday Jace. :)

Praying.....

Wow...Not only are the people of the East Coast of the United States being pounded by the rain, so are our neighbors to the south.....this picture was taken in Buenos Aires Argentina....where Jace is currently serving as a missionary.  He mentioned in his email how much rain they've received, but I didn't realize JUST how much he meant until I found this pictures on the mission blog.  Yikes!

Lyndsey....grew up way to fast!

Here she is!  My youngest.... my only daughter... my shopping partner... (my partner in crime really,)....  & the Mt. Nebo Chapter FFA President for 2012-2013!  Love her to pieces and glad I was chosen to be her mother!  She keeps things lively around here!

Cattle Drive 2012

Believe it or not....I HAVE been busy!  I was trying to think of something fabulous to blog about....and all I can come up with is the cattle drive I went on (kicking and screaming.)  My kids live for this weekend, and I do too, because I GO SHOPPING!  But when your child is in a foreign country for two years, well, you get recruited to help out.....doesn't matter how loud you scream, or how hard you kick.  I'm starting to be a permanent fixture on that cattle drive, and I'm startin to get nervous.  Jace will only miss one more year of bringing the cows home.....but when the time comes, will they be able to replace the "truck driver?"

Josh and Hillary

Airport road!  We're almost home!

Jace....doing the most important work. ;)

Who does this?

Oh my goodness!  This is what showed up on my email this afternoon!  Who does this?  Scared me to death!  The tigers really are alive....but apparently they keep the animal in the zoo in Lujan, Argentina drugged so people can climb in with them and take pictures!!!  Excuse me while I take my blood pressure....I think I've just had a stroke!

It's been a great summer!!

So, we start back to school day after tomorrow......for not having any plans when school let out, I haven't quit running!!!  One child left in the nest and she's kept us running!  But we've had a great time!  Parades, rodeos, bbq's, trips, family parties, 4 wheeler rides, the fair and everything else we could cram into the summer!

Summer might be coming to a close in the northern hemisphere, but it Argentina spring is just arriving!  I kind of felt guilty that Jace was freezing his "balls off" (that would be his lingo, not mine) and I was running the air conditioner!

Look at the cute picture I "stole" off the mission blogspot.  He looks so happy...and I miss him SO MUCH!

And we can't forget about the little sister "cleaning up" at the county fair!  Lyndsey is the Sr. Fitting and Showmanship champion in the steer division for 2012!!  And her steer took 6th overall out of 54 steers!  Not bad for coming off our little farm!  In fact....pretty darn good that we can hold our own against some of the big boys!!

And one day I will catch up with my married kids and brag on them a little too!  If Josh see's this, surely I will hear about my "two favorite children" being bragged about so much!  Looks like I need to head to Salt Lake to their apartment!

 

Love this kid!!!



Jace's 1st ever attempt at throwing a javelin!



Life at the Palmer's!

Lyndsey in the Salina parade July 2012

Lyndsey in her "Tough Enough to wear Pink" attire.

A great tradition at the Ute Stampede.  What an awesome sight!

Lyndsey and her fan club....Brenly, Gradee, and Sibley.

Saturday night of the Ute Stampede!  Bring it!

So it's over!  The big Ute Stampede has come and gone.....that was fast!  Lyndsey was an attendant to the Stampede Queen this year.  Our summer has been filled with parades, running here, running there, washing horses, making sure Lyndsey is ready for the next parade...a few rodeos, and more parades!  Did I mention I've been to a few parades this summer?  I'm posting a few pictures of Lyndsey in her "blingy shirts" as her nieces call them.  They think Lyndsey is a princess when she gets all decked out and ready for the parades!  The more I think of it, she kind of does look like a princess.  Enjoy Lyndsey!

So much fun!....then....OUCH!

Youth Conference 2012 will now go down in the history books!  What a great time!  Bear Lake is BEAUTIFUL!  I would move there in a heart beat....but right now there's a love/hate relationship between us.  I had the best time there and the lake was WAY fun....but I hated the way I felt later that night!  Got whipped off the "water wienie" in a crude fashion...and talk about hurt!  After consulting with the Dr., the lake had gotten the best of me!  I broke my ribs!  We need to keep that on the down low....I'm sure the Youth don't want some old lady "tag-along" to be the reason they can't take a boat to Yuba this fall!!!
So what's a post with out some pictures?  BORING!

Service project....cleaned the Montpelier cemetery, and marked out new plots!

Marty and Me!  Still can't pull it off without the hat! Minnetonka Cave.

                      

Nothing but the best for the Nephi 6th Ward Youth!  We took them to Paris!................(Idaho)

We are blessed!

We're coming off another whirl-wind week at the Palmer home!  I started physical therapy on my left arm on Monday.  I lost some of the mobility in my arm after my surgery last September.  I love my therapist!  He's amazing!  He's got me doing things I didn't think would ever be possible again! He asked me if I could lift my arm up to do my hair.....and I looked at him funny and said, "Have you seen me?  I haven't had to do my hair for 9 months!" He felt a little silly after that. :)
Lyndsey had a tonsillectomy on Wednesday.  What a trooper!  Poor little thing can't hardly get off the couch.  Her diet right now consists of slurpies..and slurpies.  That's all she can get down.  And Marty has food poising as I write this.  This started Wednesday morning....and hasn't let up yet.  Good thing we have 4 bathrooms in our house...and we were stocked up on toilet paper!
And one last event......drum roll please.......THE  CHEMO PORT WAS FINALLY REMOVED!!!!  And that, my friend, is the last chapter of "living life with breast cancer".  Let's close that book...actually, let's BURN that book!
And why do no pictures accompany this post?  Who wants to see Lyndsey passed out on the couch in pain? Or Marty sitting on the throne?...(or kneeling by it.) Or me, with my man's haircut (looking more like Marty's brother than his wife) letting the therapist contort my arm into positions I didn't think humanly possible....and I know my face is contorted while he does it.
Why is this post titled "We are blessed?" ~ Because we are!

He made it!!!!

You cant see me right now....but I'm doing the "Happy Dance!"  Jace made it to Argentina!  Here he is meeting President Carter for the first time!  I'm so happy that his mission has a blogspot so I can "borrow" pictures off their blogspot to put on mine!

And here are the "reinforcements" as they are known in BAW, or the "waiters" as they were known in the U.S.  That must have been quite the sight to see all of them gathered together at the Atlanta airport last night.  Stripling Warriors are what they are! 

Jace is the 4th from the right.......and he's still smiling after flying the "red-eye!"  I love that kid!

Watching Jace's plane fly over the Caribbean Sea.

It's finally here!  Jace is flying over the Caribbean as I write this.  Not gonna lie.....missed a call from him at the airport this afternoon...and I've been crying all evening.  Can't imagine how he felt when he got our voice mail at home, then on my cell, then tried to call his brother....voice mail...then about 6 friends....got all voice mails. :(  Luckily one person answered his call.  I feel awful!  I won't be able to hear from him until Christmas!

Thankfully his Mission President in Alabama felt it was important for him to call us last night and have a nice long chat before he left the country.  For that I am grateful!  Otherwise I don't think I could have handled this situation like an adult!  I just keep thinking the reunion at the airport in 19 months is going to be SWEET!

It came!!! He's outta here!

FINALLY!  I got word from Jace's mission president in Alabama that his visa has been cleared, and he leaves for Buenos Aires on Monday,  June 4th!  I only wished I could have seen the look on his face when he found out!  He's been waiting so long....I bet it was PRICELESS!  On the other hand....he's been shopping and bought himself a new pink tie that he thinks is the shiz....and from the picture, I'd say he was right! :)

Ute Stampede Queen attendant!

Here she is!  This is going to be an awfully busy summer at our house!  We're down to one child, and we're facing probably the busiest summer so far with Girls Camp, Youth Conference, FFA officer training, parades, rodeos, a job, and whatever else life can throw at us!  Bring it!  We're ready.....I think. ;)

Congrats to Hillary!!!

Just got back from Cedar City.....Hillary graduated today with a BS in Psychology at 19 years old!  Wow!  What a woman!  Josh always said he was either going to marry a lunch lady, or at least someone he could carry on an intelligent conversation with.  Looks like he found her!  Good luck in California this summer you two!  Wow....I just noticed the people in the background....I hope I'm not in the background of someone else's pictures looking like that!  And by the way.....nice "diploma" Josh had you hold!  I have one of those too...only mine is a "program". (wink, wink.)

Lyndsey and Tyson

Mom to TWO PRESIDENTS...so far....

Lyndsey and the 2012-2013 Mt. Nebo Officers and  the State FFA Officers

Lyndsey and TyLynn..(former Chapter President, now State FFA President!)

Lyndsey and the 2012-2013 Mt. Nebo Chapter Officers.

What a whirl wind this week has been!  Wednesday night was the annual FFA installation banquet.  Lyndsey forgot to tell me about it....someone else had to. :)  Anyway...good thing Marty and I decided to attend!  Much to our surprise, and to Lyndsey's, she was named the Mt. Nebo FFA 2012-2013 PRESIDENT!!!!  After taking last year off from running for office...which just about killed her....she decided she would run again!  She is so different from Jace.....he is VERY intense, and the whole week before "sifting" he was crazy insane.  Lyndsey...no so much.  We kind of forgot she was running!  I did however remember when she told me 10:00 p.m. Sunday night she needed treats for the committee Monday morning at 6:00 a.m. Got to love those kind of surprises!!!  Anyway...Congrats to Lyndsey!!!  Love you!  You're going to do great!  Keep that FFA in line!

My baby's all grown up and going to Prom!!

Wow.....I can't hardly believe Lyndsey's prom has come and gone already!  Thanks to her best friend Tyson, she had a fabulous time!  And she looked gorgeous! 

Tyson, Lyndsey, Mallory, Landon

Lyndsey and Tyson Jr. Prom 2012

Marty, Tyson, Lyndsey and Kandas

My first peek at my Argentina--by way of Alabama missionary!!

Down on grandpas farm.......

Branding day at the Palmers!  I sure do miss Elder Palmer!  When someone from the crew is missing....they invite me to brand!  YUCK!  I hate the smell of burning hair!  I mostly took pictures.....I'm more of a hazard than a helper.  When I was helping sort the cows....more of them got turned back rather than into the chute where they were suppose to be!  I tried hard....but still didn't get fired!  What's a girl got to do to get fired around here?

Congratulation balloons for finishing my cancer treatments!!!

Feeling VERY blest!

Wow!  A lot has happen since I posted last....first thing that's happened....I figured out how to post again!  I had forgotten how this blog thing worked!

Second....My missionary was FINALLY released from the MTC after 13 weeks!  Elder Palmer is still awaiting the clearance of his visa.......the paperwork has been in for  8 months people!!!!!  geez! Until then, he's happily serving the people of Birmingham Alabama!  Got the funniest email from him today.....he LOVES the people there, they make him laugh!  He loves their southern names, and he was issued a girls bike since the mission is a total bike mission.  That will do his heart good!  He gained 13 pounds in the MTC!  He has to wear a bike helmet!  He wouldn't even wear a helmet when he rode the 4-wheeler back home.....someone in Alabama really has some pull!

Third.....stick a fork in me!  I'm done!  Done with all my treatments!  Yee Haw! The teachers and staff at Nebo View are the BEST!  They helped me celebrate by having a "Purple Party" for me!  All the teachers were wearing purple....even the men!  and we ate purple food until we thought we were going to puke!

Life is good!  Glad Elder Palmer wasn't in Argentina for the tornado that recently went through the area!  The Lord truly does have his hand in his work!  I think he knew this mom's heart was to weak to handle news like that right now.  Bring on the visas!  We're ready!!!

I'm sporting me some tatts!!

I'm feeling like a rebel now! I went in today and had five tattoos! I never, ever thought I'd get a tattoo in a million years, but today was the day! I actually had to get the tattoos for radiation purposes....but I wasn't lying......I've got them.

I've had two CT scans in just over a week. Getting the tattoos was the final step in preparation for the radiation We do a "dry run" next week.....and then the real deal starts on Thursday, Feb. 16th. Happy Valentines Day to me.

I'm looking forward to getting a clean bill of health and having this nightmare behind me. In July I will be able to look back and say this was all just a bad dream. And I will hopefully have hair by then! I'm enjoying being able to get out of the house in 15 minutes flat, but I'm looking forward to being able to buy hair products again, having bad hair days, and even trying a different style! Wonder what I'd look like in dreadlocks? Hmmmmmm.....we'll probably NEVER know!

Farewell Elder Palmer-Look out Argentina!