Christmas newsletter

2010 Christmas newsletter:

Dear family and friends,

The year 2010 has come and gone and like all years, has brought change. Here are the 2010 main events. In January we went on vacation with 3 of Debbie’s sisters and their families to the outer banks of North Carolina. We rented a beach house and had a great week with them. Just to let everyone know, Denver discovered firsthand that the Atlantic Ocean is not as warm as people say it is J (thanks Ned and Jason for jumping in with me).
May brought us to Denver’s graduation from Dental School. Hooray! Denver’s parents, sister and aunt made the journey to be there for that long awaited day. We had great company and had fun touring Philadelphia and Palmyra with them. A few days later we left our home in Philadelphia and spent one and a half months on the road until we moved into our new home in Illinois. During our road trip we were able to see Debbie’s sisters in Ohio, church history sites (Winter Quarters, Adam Ondi Ahman, Liberty Jail, Independence, and Kainesville), Mount Rushmore, and our families in Arizona.
In July, Denver left for Commissioned Officer Training (COT) in Alabama for the Air Force. Also in July, Debbie and the kids moved into our home in Illinois with the much needed help of her parents. Denver graduated in August from COT and immediately started his Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency at Scott Air Force Base. Here’s a little information about our family now:
Colson turned one in October. He is such a fun baby. He loves food, food and food and is still so skinny J. He smiles all the time, even when he’s sad. He loves to play with his brothers and loves to be held by his sister.
Sterling turned three in August. He is full of lots and lots of energy. He is very curious which leads to his mischievous actions. Let me put it this way, he is very intrigued with watching eggs crack on the kitchen floor. He makes the whole family laugh with his humor. He loves to sing and can sing “I Love to See the Temple” all by himself. He is a fun boy and we love him very much!
Garrett turned five in May. He started kindergarten at his new school which is practically in our backyard. He still loves to work puzzles with his mom and is very good at it. He is an overachiever at school and “helps” other kids when they have troubles with their work by taking it and doing it for them. He is always trying to do what is right. He has made a lot of friends and has really grown through his school experience.
Maelie turned seven in June. She started second grade this year. Her favorite thing to do is read. She will read chapter book after chapter book. She started taking piano lessons and has been doing great. She is a big help to her mom in many ways. She loves playing with and taking care of Colson.
Denver and Debbie were called into the nursery for their church. The have really enjoyed teaching and playing with the small kids. Denver has been busy in his residency, but has really enjoyed the learning and experience this residency has thus far given him. He is also adapting to and enjoying living a military life. Debbie likes to eat lunch with Maelie and Garrett at school. She loves that it is so close by. She is also enjoying her role as a mother and wife by trying new and improved meals, keeping a clean home and supporting her husband during his residency.
The Palmer family hopes this letter finds everyone happy and well and wishes all of you the very best Christmas and New Year. We love you.

St. Louis Zoo

The FREE St. Louis zoo. It takes about 25 minutes to drive there and it's free. I love it. It's a big zoo, too. At the entrance of the zoo is this gigantic statue.

The question of the day: is our friend the zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes.

This camel has a funny stance.

It was a fun, family outing!

Our Thanksgiving Tree

For FHE we did our annual thanksgiving tree.

Some of the things we are thankful for this year are:

family

leaves

food

Earth

Temple

water

animals

toys

Jesus Christ

Scriptures

Heavenly Father

church

puzzles

Christmas

Thanksgiving

my body

mom and dad

seasons

mac and cheese

friends

fall

chores

music

grandparents

the Holy Ghost

blankies

challenges that help me grow

health

AND SO MUCH MORE!

Veteran's Day

On Veteran's day, Denver had the day off. He left at 4am to go hunting. The kids and I spent the morning hiking. There's no mountains, but lots of trails and some hills in a neighborhood park. The weather was perfect!

One trail led us to this stream.

After Denver's hunt, he joined us for some more trails.

There were lots of pretty trees and perfect picture spots.

Later that day, Maelie and I went to the veteran's day parade while the boys and Dad took a nap. It was the perfect day for a parade. The weather was so nice. A great thanks to all those who have served in the military. Living the military life is really a neat thing and to be able to stand up for our country in that way is amazing.

The news link

http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-ofallon-police-shooting-110810,0,3137668.story

A hiccup in the neighborhood

Last week Denver and I woke up around 3 am to sirens. That's not something we hear to often in O'fallon. The sirens sounded really close. When the sirens stopped we heard some angry shouting from a woman (Den thought he heard a man) and then immediately after that we heard 5 quick gun shots. We jumped out of bed and ran to our bedroom window. We saw another cop arrive and quickly survey the area with his gun drawn. After a short time an ambulance arrived and more cop cars. (this all happened 2 houses down from us) The ambulance didn't drive away quickly so we knew someone had been killed and because there wasn't a ton of cops arriving, we knew it wasn't the cop that was shot. Anyway, a drunk 21 year ex-girlfriend of the 19 year old boy that lives at the home had a gun and when the cop approached, she 'brandished' it and he shot. This fox news van was sitting right outside our house. I took this picture from the window so I wouldn't be appear nosy :). In the video you can see our mailbox and she is standing right in front of our house. In some of the views during the video you can see our house.

A heart full of Thanks

Today I've felt so grateful. Nothing special happened today to bring these feelings on, they've just been coming periodically throughout the day. First, I've felt so grateful for the way I was raised and for my family. I love each of my siblings so much and love that I have so many. It is neat. I don't know how my parents survived all our drama, but I'm glad they did. We have some great memories. I'm grateful for Eternal families- that we can be reunited with those we love who have gone before us. Second, I feel so blessed because a year ago today I had surgery and now you can't even tell. No visual scarring, no long term effects. That was an extremely hard time for me and I was helped by the Lord and many loving people during that experience -my mom who will never fully understand how much she helped us that week and how much her service means to us, my bishop who must have been inspired to send me flowers on the day I was the most depressed, to my ward members who were concerned for us and willing to help out in any way, to my husband and kids and to all those who were praying for me. Third, for all the life long lessons I learned and the way I grew while living in Philadelphia for the last 4 years. The way I serve in the church will never be mediocre thanks to what I learned and experienced there. Thomas S. Monson said,
"Ours is the responsibility to show our gratitude by the actions of our lives." My heart is full, my emotions are tender today.

Big helper

October-Halloween

October flew by. I love this time of year, with all the fall leaves and cooler weather.

Boys being boys.

On Halloween we had a party because the kids couldn't go trick or treating. They were excited about the family party. We made yummy food, decorated cookies and played games.

Sterling eating his cookie Garrett and his cookies. Looks appetizing, huh?

Maelie with her cookies

The party food consisted of muddy buddies, chex mix, ghoulish punch, graveyard dessert and crackers with pepperoni. The kids ate their hearts out!

The Saturday before Halloween we went to our ward's trunk or treat. I was shocked at how much candy the kids got. Who needs trick or treating when you have a Shiloh ward trunk or treat! seriously!

This picture was taken after Colson ate some candy (the pictures are out of order-sorry)

Princess Maelie's spoils

Skeleton Sterling's spoils

GI Joe Garrett's spoils

Before the trunk or treat, we took pictures of the kids in their costumes. Garrett was GI Joe although he couldn't remember what he was so he sometimes said he was a ninja. Whatever works. We didn't go crazy on costumes this year because we knew they would only get to wear them once and didn't get to go trick or treating. i think Halloween should always be on the last Friday or Saturday of the month of October, not always on the 31st.

Maelie was a princess.

Sterling was a skeleton costume that was too small for him. He could've been something else, but we laughed so hard at this costume, we just couldn't resist. Look how high water the pants are. So funny. We couldn't take him seriously in this costume. :)

Colson was a lion. Now looking back, I should've had Maelie be Dorothy, Garrett the tin man, sterling the scarecrow and colson the lion. Oh well, there's always next year.

WELCOME TO MAELIES BLOG EVERYBODY! DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE TO ME? Today I have a story to tell to your kids and it's called Rhymes. The cat and the hat is so funny to me and to you. The dog called the hog and the hog called the log. What Rhymes do you have? Did you ever hear a story called the BFF? These are the people in my family Mom, Dad, Maelie, Garrett, Sterling and Colson. What are the people in your family? WELL THAT'S IT FOR TODAY! BYE BYE AND GOOD LUCK


from MAELIE!

playing Twister as a family. Hilarious. Sterling found my makeup.

He wants to be like his daddy. He has a ways to go :)

Cheese smile