Sleigh Bells Rung

Well, the whirlwind associated with Christmas has come and gone for another year. Our family enjoyed the company of my best friend, Jim Jardine and his family, Jessica and Billy this year in our home. Jim and I usually try to see each other once to twice a year, with us coming over to Pittsburgh or them coming over to see us. They came out earlier this year for my birthday weekend in March, and we took the boys with our family to see them over Memorial Day weekend. We were trying to find a time where we could visit again this year, and I invited them to spend Christmas with us, since Mom was going out of town, and Nancy as well. Since we weren't sure if the boys were still going to be with us or not, we decided not to make the trip down to Virginia to spend with the remaining family down there (Sorry Thad and Andrew, et al). They agreed to spend the majority of the week with us, since I was on vacation that week from the "salt mines".

They arrived Sunday to a steaming dish of lasagna for dinner, and we spent the night just chilling out, talking and visiting with each other. Monday was spent with me in the kitchen getting the dinner ready, with Rachel, Jim and Jess, ready to help at a moments notice. It ended up working out well, except for the mashed potatoes. I freakin' started them too early, so they sat in the strainer while I got other dishes cooked, until Rachel went to make them and they were GLUE. That just blows. Thank goodness Mom sent up potato pearls, so we had to fake that part of the dinner, but it was that or serve glue. We used the Safeway 2-hour turkey recipe again, and the turkey, again turned out fabulous. We invited John and Kim Wright, from church, over for the meal since they are quickly becoming good friends of ours. Dinner went off without a hitch, and Allison helped me make cookies for Santa. Next time, I'm using less peppermint chips in the recipe, since the oil made my eyes water each time I removed a batch from the oven. With the kids in bed, and the adults soon after, we all settle down for a long winter's nap.

Christmas morning, for the first time in years, I slept until 8:30 AM. The girls were still asleep, and we didn't have older kids anxiously biting their lips in anticipation of presents. I'm sure that's coming in the next few years, though. The girls came downstairs, along with Billy, to the joy of Santa's visit in the form of presents. We exchanged gifts with the Jardine's, and just basked in the warmth of family and being together. I received a few text messages from a dear friend at work (that's you Kirsten *wink wink*) while making pancakes for breakfast, wishing me and the family well. We played with all our presents the rest of the day, until the smell of Rachel's traditional Christmas dinner of steaks and baked potatoes wafted through the evening air. It was a good day, in large part because of the company it was spent with. Throughout the day, phone calls were made and received from family, which made the day seem complete. Thank you to all who called, or wished us well through emails and text messages. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Say it Ain't So, Santa .... Say it Ain't So

Rachel's Dad and his wife, Becky, stopped by our home on Wednesday night for a holiday visit with our family. They had spent some time with Wes' family (his mom, and brother) in upstate New York and were returning to North Carolina to spend a few more days with Becky, Zach and Daniel before flying home on Christmas Eve. They originally planned to stay with us only a night, but decided to stay and hang out with the girls for a whole day before leaving on Friday morning. We decided to go to the mall, and have the girls visit Santa, so that the grandparents could see the magic of Christmas through the girls eyes. I waited in line with Allison and Ryleigh, and Rachel gave Lindsay to Santa when it was our turn. Wes had his camera to snap a few pictures, as apparently even Santa Claus at the mall has turned evil.

The trend of charging out the whazoo for pictures of kids with Santa now is annoying. It used to be a service that the mall would provide for the customers of the particular mall, with parents being able to take pictures at will for FREE !!??!! Now, they have people and stuff blocking Santa with signs telling you to be respectful and not take pictures of your kids with Santa (see green sign in foreground). What does that mean? Be respectful? I think that loosely translates into "Please don't take pictures of your kids with Santa, but you can pay 15 bucks for one 5x7 photo from our camera". They also claim that "Visits with Santa are always welcome" on the sign, but don't tell you that it also comes with a high-pressure, guilt laden sales pitch. I almost expected the freakin' lady to tell me about the cost savings of a Time Share in the Napa Valley, in addition to the photo. They were awful, especially since they knew that Wes snapped a couple of pics of the girls. I almost don't ever want to go to the Mall again during Christmas with the girls, because Santa is now a sell out. Just another childhood memory ground to dust, sacrificed at the altar of the Holy Dollar.

Survivor Ends - Todd Herzog victorious

Okay - in a previous post, I spoke about my love for reality (or not so reality) TV. Sunday was no different, as we were looking forward to seeing how the season ended. Rachel and I run hot and cold with Survivor sometimes, but it's always fun to see how the drama plays out. We were both rooting for Todd or Amanda to emerge as the winner, as they both backstabbed their competitors to get where they ended up. Glad to see that Todd was unapologetic for his actions, and basically said, "I started playing as soon as I got to China" as opposed to Amanda, who was counting on her doe-like eyes, and pushing the "I was following Todd, so I'm not that mean" card on the jury. So, in the end, Todd took everything like a man, and turned at least two votes his way to take the million dollar prize. It was nice to see that James took home the most popular survivor cash, and that multi-billionaire producer Mark Burnett decided to "tip" poor Denise fifty grand to "make your life the way you want it." I'm guessing she'll spend it on Cheez Whiz and scratcher lotto tickets, maybe upgrade to the 1990 Ford Tempo 4-door model. Come on Burnett, fifty grand? I hope that's coming out of your overflowing pockets, and not being charged to the production budget that CBS is footing the bill for.

Now for my annoyance part of the post. What is it about Survivor and making sure that everyone knows that so and so is a Gay Mormon? This is now the second Gay Mormon contestant (that we know of) to compete, and third overall. Raef from Survivor: Guatemala was a Gay Mormon river guide, Neleh was a Mormon student, and now Todd the Gay Mormon flight attendant. All of them did very well in their respective seasons, with two of them making it to the final vote. I mean, what's the deal with bringing that out and sticking it front and center on their nameplate when they do their "aside" interviews? Does it matter? You would think that in the day and age in which we live, that being gay is a non-issue anymore, let along on a freakin' reality game show. I guess they just love to do that kind of thing as a thumb of the nose to a known conservative religious sect for some reason. Just annoying that they don't match a Gay Catholic or Gay Baptist tag on the other contestants who happen to be gay along with holding a job. Just annoys me to a degree, but that's me.

Way to Go, 'Skins

In a windswept Meadowlands Stadium, the Redskins pulled out a solid victory over the division rival New York Giants, 22-10, on Sunday night. Rachel and I were watching the Survivor finale on CBS, so I was completely unaware of the score, or even how things were going in the game. After we had caught up with the DVR (which I love), I switched over to the game to get a score while we were watching the after show of Survivor (more on Survivor in my next post.) First thing I saw was WAS 22 and NYG 3, first thing that Rachel saw was Jeremy Shockey being carted off the field. I started laughing, as I thought the Skins had no shot of winning this game. Well, as I kept swapping between channels, I saw the Giants go down to score a TD to pull within 12 points, and I thought "Here we go again" as the Skins were stomping the Giants into the fourth quarter in the game at FedEx earlier in the year that ended in a loss. Well, this time, the defense held - in addition to the Giants continued trouble hanging onto passes from Eli Manning. There was no more scoring the rest of the game, and a very happy Aaron celebrated by doing two loads of laundry.

Can you Believe the Time?

Can you believe it has been over 6 weeks since Lindsay joined the clan!! I can hardly believe it. Lindsay had her one month check up a week ago (I know, a little late in posting the details). She is in the 75th percentile for both her height and her weight. I was a little shocked, since both of her sisters barely made it on the chart at the same age. See what happens when they get to cook a little longer I guess. She weighed in at 10lbs 3oz and measured 22.25 inches long. Her nickname is fitting more and more. Allie and Ryleigh have both taken to calling her "tank". Although Allie calls her Lindser Tank. It is really cute.

Ryleigh also had an appointment the same day. She needed to get the second half of her flu shot. She did great. No tears or whining at all from her. And as a reward for her bravery she received two Backyardigans stickers. You would have thought she won the lottery. It was so fun.

Lindsay is really a good baby and has been getting better at sleeping at night. She does really well with her sisters always wanting to love on her, but lets us know when she has had enough. She loves to be held and has begun to smile. It is really great.

Just thought I would share Lindsay's progress with everyone. We are so grateful to have her in our family and look forward to all the "firsts" again.

Lindsay's Blessing

When we were down at Mom's at the beginning of November, one of the things that we needed to accomplish was find a date that would work to bless Lindsay, so that as many family members could attend as possible. After a straw poll was taken, it was decided that December 2nd worked out best for us, as that date was also working for Rachel, as her father would be in North Carolina and be able to possibly participate as well. I talked to Bishop Duersch, and he said that would be fine.

Well, it turned out that we picked the weekend that they were calling for our first ice storm of the year. Great. Well, Rachel's father, wife and Zach/Daniel came up on Friday night, and ended up staying in a hotel room that Becky rented for them. Mom and Thad came up Saturday night, then Andrew/Amy and Nancy all came up Sunday morning. Andrew called Saturday night to see if what time that church started, and said he would call in the morning for directions. Well, we weren't up when he called the first time, but the second time he called we were. They ended up getting a later start than they would have liked, but started out for the journey, determined to get here. Well, as time passed that morning, and showers were finished, and people getting dressed, it was looking close as to whether or not Nancy, Andrew and Amy were going to get to our house in time. We got a call from Nancy, giving her "40" and not even 3 mins after that call, Andrew called to give us same. Even with leaving after Nancy by about a half-hour to fourty five mins, Andrew was now only about 3 miles behind her. So, we all piled into the cars and got to the church only a few mins late. The blessing was pretty much what you'd expect, I was nervous that I was going to say something wrong, or bless her with the wrong name.

Wes and Beckie (Rachel's dad and step-mom) left church right after sacrament meeting with the boys, because they had such a long drive back. The rest of us returned to our house for a family dinner we put together, before everyone returned home. It was a nice weekend, and I am glad to have everyone show up that could have. Pictures to follow.

???

Why am I watching Project Runway right now?

::goes to find movie with guns and bombs::

::digs out Transformers: The Movie::

Ahhh..... much better!

Ahso .... Vely Tastee .. |o)

I was a late comer when it came to "Chinese" food. To this day, I remain a picky eater. Chinese always has tons of veggies, which I am not a big fan, or has odd sounding if not odd tasting sauces that the stuff is cooked in. I remember the first night that I was taken to Chinatown in D.C. and ordered my first dish, Orange chicken. I wasn't too sure it sounded great or not, but in my condition at the time, I would have eaten just about anything. It ended up being great, and I stuck to ordering that as my staple for a long time, even though Chinese food was never at the top of my list of foods to eat. Then one night, my oldest friend, Alan Kanyan, and I went to Ying Chang's (sp?) in Fairfax for dinner. I knew it was there, as it's only about a mile and change from Mom's house, but due to my avoidance of Chinese, I never went. Well, that's when I found out about General Tso's chicken and hot/sour soup.


I couldn't have found a food that screamed Aaron more than this. Basically it's fried chicken nuggets cooked in a hot and sweet sauce, with dried hot peppers. It's spicy, sweet, and served with white rice. That place became a regular of Alan and mine, especially when they started their lunch buffet. I just love the crabmeat rangoons, General's chicken, the hot/sour soup and other fare offered on the buffet. When we moved up here to Pennsylvania, one of the things we tried to find was "our" chinese food greasy spoon. We tried all over Pottstown, but the General's chicken up here is way different than what I got used to at home. It's more of a sweet and sour sauce, with a ton of carrots, onions, broccoli and other filler to hide the fact that there isn't much chicken in the dish. Rachel is okay with the food, as sweet and sour chicken is pretty much the same no matter where you order from. So, now I've found that sesame chicken at our new greasy spoon chinese joint is closer to what I'm used to. It's not as spicy as I like, but at least it isn't eight bucks worth of broccoli and ninety-five cents of chicken.


Whenever we go back to visit the family in Virginia, we always try to squeeze in a trip to Ying Chang's for lunch with Mom, Nancy, or whomever wants to go with. On our last trip, Allison saw that I was using chop-sticks (very gay, I know) to eat my food, and wanted her own set to try. I attempted to give her the kid friendly version, where the back end is molded together, but she wanted the ones that are just like Daddy's. Well, here's the result:











She had a ball eating the yellow noodles, and actually ate something besides the mini desserts they have. The one bad thing was that the little (Avenue Q reference coming) cawrring me olee enter, offensive to me Lady wasn't there for Mom to talk to about the water, her kids, or general merriments. Oh, well, such is life, the food was just what I wanted and I was able to enjoy not only the Tso's chicken, but they also had sesame chicken as well.

Sorry

Okay, for the 4 or 5 of you who read this blog, I apologize for not posting much this month. I work in the grocery business, so November is a very busy time for me. That coupled with the new baby caused me to procrastinate posting much of anything. Well, something happened recently that has caused me to want to post something that's been bothering me since this event.

Okay, first off - I am not perfect. I make mistakes in my life. Some are really big ones, others are minor. I don't always consider the feelings of others, I curse more than I should, I don't eat a balanced diet, I talk about people behind their back, I talk about breasts a lot, I watch too much TV, I have downloaded songs illegally, I don't mow my lawn or do yardwork religiously, I am blunt with the truth, these and many other traits are things that I am not always proud of.

But one thing I am not is a sanctimonious flake of a person, who casts people aside like they are garbage if they exhibit a flaw, or do something to me that I don't like. If a person wrongs me, realizes their mistake and apologizes, I am more than willing to accept them into my life again. I do believe in second chances for people whom I have welcomed into my life as friends. I only "burn the bridge" with a person after repeated violations of my trust or if there is no sorrow for their actions. I also am not a person who just meets sorrow with silence, and will accept an apology with words when sorrow is expressed. I just don't understand how someone, who claims to be a Christian, would do this. It's spelled out in the Bible, to forgive people. No one is asking you to forget, for the love, and move on like nothing happened. I'm not even asking to be welcomed back into your good graces. All I am asking for is to be forgiven, and then if the bridge is still too far to cross, then it doesn't have to be. It's just frustrating for me right now, as I have lost someone that was important for me from my life.

What I did was wrong, and I am sorry for it. But let's just get this straight: I have apologized, over and over. I cannot do more than that.

The Final Countdown

Well, today marked the end of Allison's first season of competitive soccer. Last Sunday was supposed to be the end, but due to the weather last week, it was decided to postpone the final weekend to November 3-4th. The last weekend of Pottsgrove soccer is called a tournament, as all the teams play 3 games, and the association turns into festival mode as well. There were soccer vendors, a moon-bounce, but no funnel cake. Disappointed was I. Daniel and Zachary were able to take part in some of their games, but as Becky was leaving that day as well, they weren't able to play in all of them. Zach made two games, and Daniel only one. It was very cold, and the wind was swirling, but we were only able to stay for half of one of Zachary's games. Lindsay was bundled up, but even so, with the wind blustering across her little face, it just made it difficult for us to rationalize us staying. Becky came back to the house, and left soon after she packed a few more things into her SUV before her trip home. Our year of service came to an end, with tears of thanks, and a brief hug with each of them. They arrived home safely in Carolina at 8:00 PM or so. Things seem quiet again without them, and I do miss having them around after getting used to them being here. I hope that they will adjust to being home with Mom again well, but have no doubt they will.

Allison's games were on Sunday, starting at 2:00 PM. For the rest of the season, the first half hour is spent on drills, and a mini-practice for a half hour. The rest of the hour is spent on the game, it's really up to the coaches. Well, this weekend there was no practice time, just three 20 minute games with no half-time break. The first game went great, with Allison's team scoring a ton of goals, and most of them by players who hadn't scored at all in the rest of the season. The second game was more of the same, as the team showed real signs of progress from the beginning of the year when we had only two kids who ever scored. That game showed that Allison was tired, and she ended up playing with a boy on the other team more than the soccer game. Coach Chris looked at us at one point and said, "Looks like someone has a little boyfriend." We laughed, and then mosied over to the last field for the final game. We ended up getting hammered that game (even though no official score is ever kept) by that team, but all the kids were tired and just wanted it to be over. Allison came over to us and was so excited about getting her trophy. Coach Vince gathered the kids around him, and handed a trophy to each of the players, with words of praise for each of them. Allison was called, and Coach Vince said, "This player was scared to play sharks and minnows when we first started, but she overcame that and scored a goal this season." He was great with her, and I thanked him for all his help in getting Allison to understand the game and enjoy herself. If he's coaching in the spring for the afternoon session, I want him to coach her again. Rachel and I are toying with the idea of trying to coach a pee wee team, if my schedule permits. Congrats Allie on your first foray into competitive sports .... you BETTER DO WELL !!! (giggles)

Halloween

Our last holiday with the boys ended up being Halloween. The original plan was for Becky to stay with us through Thanksgiving, and then she would return to North Carolina with the boys over their school break. Unfortunately, Becky was only getting two weeks leave from her unit, since she extended her active duty stint with the Army. We had already planned to have the boys with us, so we got costumes ready for the big night. Rachel and I were having a hard time with Allison deciding on a costume, as she kept changing her mind. Shocker, I know. We were at Target, and found a SuperGirl costume she really loved, but it was too big for her. She was so upset that it wasn't going to fit her, and we were back at square one. Finally, a few days before Halloween, we ended up at K-Mart, as all their costumes were discounted by 50%, and we were determined to find something that would work. Well, we found the same Supergirl costume there, but it was still one size too big. We bought it anyway, and decided in pure parent fashion to "make it work" by pinning it if we had to. Ryleigh was pretty easy, as we found an adorable Red Riding Hood costume almost right away. I got a hold of Becky while she was still in Carolina, and told her that Zach wanted to be a Carolina Panthers football player. She was able to get hold of a jersey (a freakin' nice one for a kid), and he was done. Daniel was done a long time ago, as he first wanted to be Diego. Rachel and I felt that was really juvenile for him, and he was that last year anyway. He changed to a Power Ranger, even though I felt this was juvenile, too. We were at Kohl's and found a nice costume, for cheap, and bought it weeks ago. So, we were done.

Rachel and I have been going with the Gallion's for trick-or-treating in their neighborhood for the last two years, and decided to go ahead and do that again. So, off we went. It ended up being a good time, albeit with the older kids having to be constantly reminded to wait for the younger kids. It was so funny, since this was Ryleigh's first year of T-o-T, and the first two or three houses she kept wanted me to open her candy immediately. She soon got the hang of it, and had fun with it. By the end of the night, she wanted to walk like the other kids, but wouldn't let go of her little duck that her prizes were stored in. So, I was the caboose in our train with her, and Allie ended up walking with Kirk Gallion and holding his hand. I am so glad we have them as friends, and that my kids feel comfortable with Dee and Kirk. By the time we took the 10 minute trip home, Ryleigh was crashed, and ended up with her costume as her pajama's as well. Oh, well, it was fun in any case.

Our Newest Addition

Hoo-Ray !!

Today, October 20th, we welcomed Lindsay Erin Palmer into this branch of the Palmer Family Tree. She weighed 8 lbs. and 2 ozs, and measured 19 inches long. Rachel was again, a trooper, during the whole thing, and yet again, a very short labor. We arrived, checked in, and were in the room by 10 AM then Lindsay made her appearance at 12:55 PM. There was another woman delivering in the room next to ours, and when Rachel said she had to push, I went to try and find a nurse. None to be had, and the doctor was AWOL, too. So, I hit the red cross call button on the bed, and went into the hallway to wait. Marcia (more on her later) came, and asked if everything was okay. I said that Rachel said she needed to push, so she came in, and checked. The doctor showed up 2 mins later, and then here's Lindser. She already has a nickname, too. They put her up on Rachel's chest, and she took one look at the baby, and Rachel says, "You're Momma's little Tank, huh?" Just a chubby, healthy baby, with a nickname only Daddy could love.

Marcia was our nurse today that helped deliver Lins. Marcia was also the nurse that helped deliver Allison, 4 1/2 years ago. Marcia was also the nurse that we took our LaMaize (sp?) class from in the hospital before Allie was born. We're officially inducting her into the honorary Aaron and Rachel Palmer family as an emeritus member. Anyone who is that involved in starting our family deserves it. Thank you also to Doctor Tucker, who was on-call this weekend, for delivering a healthy baby. She was great !!

A High Point in My Life

I was looking through pictures recently, trying to organize and pick some out for a project that I'm working on. As I was going through them, I found pictures that I forgot I had taken, some that I hadn't seen in a while, and some that I consider treasures.

It was December of 2005, and one of the presents I asked for at Christmas was a membership in the Queensryche fan club. (For those of you who do not know who Queensryche is, shame on you.) It came close to the holiday, and Rachel says, "Go ahead and enroll, it's one of the presents I wanted to get you." YES!! I signed up, and about a month later I got my package of stuff from the fan club - signed 8x10, some stickers, and a certificate. It's a little odd for a 32 (at the time) year old man to be so excited by this, but I don't care. My love for this band goes back to 1992. I had moved in with Tom and Jim in the Main Street house, and I was playing video games with Jim one night in his room. He puts in a CD to listen to, and I was hooked. Queensryche - Empire. Geoff Tate's voice, combined with the guitar licks from Wilton and DeGarmo, the thudding bassline from Eddie, brought together by Scott Rockenfield's drumming just amazed me. I must have borrowed that from Jim 10 times in the first month after this. Well, then Jim bought Operation: Mindcrime, their album that was immediately before Empire. Again, I was blown away. The whole Mindcrime album is a concept album, and tells the story of an underground revolution set to take down the government, and the false idols of religion. From started to finish, just my favorite album of all time. I still listen to it to this day, and if I start the CD, I almost compulsively have to listen to the whole thing. I love it. It also helped me through a rough time of transition for me, as I just left Mom and Dads and was trying to make it on my own. I think that's why it's stuck with me for so long, because that album helped to bring me out of my shell .. hard to explain to another person, but that's what I feel.

One of the things I wanted to do in my life was to see Queensryche perform Mindcrime, but live in concert. I accomplished that in 2005 once, and twice in 2006. Well, then the summer rolls around and they are announced they were the opening band for Judas Priest for their tour. Now, one of the perks of being a fan club member is the requesting of Meet and Greet passes. You actually have to sign up for the passes on their website, for the concerts you are planning on attending. They then pool the requests and randomly (yeah, right) pull people out of a proverbial hat to give passes to. I say randomly, because I don't believe it's random at all. The same people always seem to get passes, all you had to do was see the pics they posted on the forums to see that fact. Well, the time came when they announced the concert in Hershey that I was attending, and the time came and went and no pass. No surprise there, there are two pretty active local fan clubs in this area that have people who usually receive this honor. Well, I get home from work last year, and I see an email from the fan club. I get that nervous, sick feeling as I opened to find that I had been picked to receive two passes to go backstage. Well, the friend in our Ward who I usually metal out with decided against going to this concert, and now I have backstage passes. He still drug his feet, even knowing that I had these passes. Oh, well, fall out. I ended up promising one to this guy on the forum who was pretty cool, and because I didn't want it to go to waste. I told him my only requirement was that he HAD to take pictures of me with the band. Well, the night came, and my instructions were to go to Will Call window, show my ID and pick up my passes. I still didn't believe it. Well, there they were ... one envelope with my name in black marker, and inside were two passes.

I met Scott almost immediately, and we hung out before the concert. He was older than me, a music teacher from the Scranton area, and looked kinda dorky. We were both able to sneak our camera's inside the venue, as the meet and greet was scheduled for during the Judas Priest set. We jammed all through the Ryche's set, a lot of older songs that I hadn't heard live. I took my Rage for Order vinyl record backstage, and sat it on the table with a borrowed silver Sharpie. Well, they all walked in one at a time ... they talked with us, signed my record, posed for pictures, and just were so good with the six people who were backstage with me. As I left the backstage area, I was treated to the LOUDEST music I've ever heard, as Judas Priest was cranking at that point. I left and headed for home, since I was going to this same concert a few days later, and I really felt like a tool alone at the concert. I got what I came for, so no worries. Thank you, Jim Jardine, for turning me onto this incredible band. Thank you, Rachel, for giving me the gift of the fan club. Thank you Queensryche for your music, and for allowing me to fulfill a dream of meeting you face to face. Pictures now -


First Pic - Geoff Tate (I was considering naming our child Tate, if it was a boy. Rachel said she would've considered it, and liked that we could nickname him Tater)
Second Pic - Eddie Jackson (great background vocals, and hammering bass)
Third Pic - Michael Wilton (he wanted to made the faces at the camera, not me)
Fourth Pic - Scott Rockenfield (he said that it meant more for him to meet me, than vice versa)
Last Pic - Matt Stone (he replaced Kelly Gray, who replaced Chris DeGarmo when C.D. left the band before the release of Q2K. Stone's wife was so normal, I couldn't believe it)

I posted these pics on the band forum, and one of the comments that was made was asking if I was a giant, or something. She had been to a few meet/greets and remembered how tall she thought Geoff Tate was, and here I am much larger. I replied back something to the effect of - "Yes, I am a giant. Please look for me at the next concert. I'll be on the lawn, devouring little children." She said she couldn't stop laughing after reading my reply.

Email, Email, Email

Okay -

Rachel and I are trying to put together something for the family reunion that I think everyone needs to participate in. No, not think, but HAVE TO participate in. I sent out an email to each of my sibling's email addresses that I have (no spouses, except for Brooke), asking for them to read the email and please respond if you are in or out on this one. I also posted something on the family website, asking for everyone to check all their email addy's for a message from Rachel and I. To this point in time, I only received 3 responses back, all wanting to participate. I even went as far as to make a second posting on the family website, asking for everyone to please email Rachel or I ASAP to tell me if they are in or out on this project Rachel and I are trying to undertake. Well, still nobody new has responded. It's really starting to tick me off at this point. If I can't get everyone to participate, it's fine, and Rachel and I will go on with this project without anyone. Just frustrating, since I see that people have visited the family site, and still haven't sent a simple mail out. Oh, well ... I need to stop obsessing about this for now. Got enough stress to carry me over.

On a lighter note, the Redskins beat down the Lions today at FedEx Field. Rachel and I were having some new ward members over to "try them out" and see if they could fill our vacant friends position that needed to be filled once the Hassells abandoned us. John and Kim Wright (sp?) are a trip! They came over between conference sessions for dinner and to hang out for the second session. Our dear friends, Liz and Ed Ott had a special day today, as it was the baptism of their son, Sam. Liz told Rachel about it yesterday, and invited us to come. They were doing a simple family and friends thing, and didn't want it to be a big deal. So, I took Zachary with me, since he is between Katie and Same in age, and they usually end up playing together once the Otts and us get together. He was a little annoyed, since he wanted to sit and watch football. It was an honor to have the Otts invite us. They only had family there besides me, so it felt good that I was able to go. There was a chance that I was going to have to go on a sev 1, but the page never happened, so I dodged that bullet. We came home after the picnic, and socializing to watch the end of the Skins game. I walked in and John said "Hey, the Skins are getting creamed, it's 24-3." I am never surprised at how the Skins can sometimes disappoint me, so "Oh, well" was my resigned reply. Well, Allison then told me that wasn't true and the Skins were winning by that score. I saw the Carlos Rogers interception run back for a TD, so that was sweet. Then we flipped back to conference, and when the choir sang, we checked on the Chargers game. That was sad, too. Both my Skins and my Chargers won, so a man has to be happy with that, huh?

More later, I have to let some anger die down a little before my typing starts.

It Falls on Me

Well, it seems like almost everyone who voted in the latest poll agreed that Fall was the best of the seasons. I would have to agree, so all those who voted along with me, give yourself 10 bucks. All who didn't agree with me .... assume punishment positions.

Allie's Big Day

Today was a big day for Allison. Allow me to brag like hell!

Today was the Primary program at church. The chorister for primary wanted to do something special for the song "I Know that my Redeemer Lives" with some of the kids. Allison, and another little girl, Addison, were tapped to start the song with a duet. I thought it was kinda silly, since it's little kids. Those little kid singers on talent shows always drove me nuts, because almost all little kids sound EXACTLY the same when they sing. Boys, girls, to me, they all sound the same. Well, first off, Allie was having a blast on the stand waving to Rachel, Grandma Davis and me. She was so proud of herself sitting in the front row. (On a side note, Zach and Daniel couldn't have been more irreverant, if you want to know more, email me.) Well, it comes time for the song, Allison is standing in front of the microphone with Addison. Rachel and I were very nervous that Allie was going to freeze up once she saw everyone in the audience. Well, she was great. She was loud enough, and sang better than Addison. Now, I'm sure that Addison's parents were a little annoyed at that, since Addison was originally supposed to do this as a solo to begin her musical career. I'm not sure when it happened, but Allison was brought into the picture later. I looked over at Rachel, and she's bawling. So cute to see Allison perform well, and then see my wife get emotional over it. And to answer your question: even after this, I still think all kids sound the same when they sing, so I'm not biased now just because of Allie.

So, after sacrament meeting, since Rachel is now on strict bed rest, we went home. Allison didn't have to be at the soccer field until 2 PM, and we were responsible to bring half-time snack and after game snack too. We threw all that together, got everyone lunch, watched a few minutes of the 1 PM football games, and then went to the fields. Rachel was feeling fine, but I told her she had to stay home. I asked Zachary if he wanted to go or if he wanted to stay home. Football was on, so Zach didn't answer me, but continued to watch football. I got annoyed, and sent him to his room for "quiet time" along with Daniel, in whom I was still annoyed at his antics during the Primary program (like I said, if you really wanna know, email me.) So, Allie, Grandma Davis, and I set out for the soccer field. Now, there are eight kids on her soccer team, 3 girls and 5 boys. Of the eight, there are varying degrees of talent. Two of the boys are really good, and the rest are just "okay". Allie is on the younger side of the team, and the less talented. Now, being a parent, I'm always encouraging her to do her best. Last week, she was running up and down the field, flapping her arms because she says it makes her run faster. All I can do is laugh when she's not looking, and tell her that flapping arms only works for birds. Well, today was no different. Allie was running up and down the field, usually behind the ball and the kids, and trying to kick it when it came to her. Most of the time she stays out of the way, and is just happy to have a uniform on, running up and down on the field, and getting a snack after all is said and done. First half over, and we brought grapes for the team (we were snack parents this week). Second half, Allie was on the sidelines, but was brought in as a sub pretty quickly. The mob of kids were in one corner, kicking the ball around, when suddenly it squirted out to where Allie was standing, and without even thinking, she kicks the ball and buries it in the back of the net. It was her first sniff of a goal, and the first girl on her team to score one, too. I was so amazed. I couldn't believe that she scored. Her coach, who has been AMAZING with her, got a huge grin on his face, gave her a high five, and looked right at me with a thumbs up. She was so excited, but kinda calm too. She almost acted like she does it all the time, as she walked back to her team's side of the field to prepare for a kickoff. I walked right onto the field, and gave her a high-five and a head tussle. I don't care, I'm proud of my daughter. Sue me. After the game, the coach goes to each of the kids, and gives them a little talk to tell them what a great job they did. He came to Allie, and said how great she did in scoring her goal. Allison, in pure Allison form said, "Thanks" and went back to her juicebox. He then said to me, "I saw the ball come out, and then Allie sized it up and kicked it. It wasn't an accident, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. I'm so happy for her." My reply, "My wife is going to be PISSED that she missed this."

Allie started out the season rough, she came over to us on a few occasions crying that she didn't know what to do, and she was scared of the kids and coaches. She's come a long way since then, with our encouragement, but also with Coach Vince and Coach Chris' attention. That's also why Coach Vince was so happy for Allie, since it's usually two other kids on the team who score ALL the goals, game in and game out.

GOOD JOB ALLIE !!!!!!

Football Poll

I have to admit some disappointment in the fact that only 3 people voted in the latest poll. Punishments will follow.

Hail to the Redskins !!

Well, it's Wednesday, and I should have posted this yesterday. Congratulations to the Washington Redskins for starting their season 2 -0 after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. It was kind of nice having the 'Skins win one in Philly, as we usually end up getting pasted by Donovan McNabb. I watched the entire game, and only really got pissed at Jason Campbell twice. Once was his terrible interception, and the second was a missed touchdown pass to perhaps the best Redskin of all, Santana Moss. I'll admit it, when we traded Lavernaeus Coles to the Jets even up for Santana, I was a little annoyed. All I knew about him was that he was fast, but injured a lot. His first season with us, I was blown away. Just so fast, and such a quiet leader. He was nothing like I expected him to be, as I was really expecting a player who in losing by 40 points, still does a little dance when he gets a first down. I hate that type of player.

Congratulations to Chris Cooley (my favorite Redskin) on his new contract, and the incredible catch he made for a touchdown. He's going to be a 'Skin for a few more years, and I couldn't be happier. I've been a big Cooley fan since he came into the league. First off, he's a Utah State alum (like Mom), he plays the game like it should be played on the field, and he's a colorful figure off the field too. The Philly press was trying to hammer him and Clinton Portis for making a scene at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City after the game, but I loved it. I also loved all the people who I work with giving me crap about how we were "lucky", and that the Eagles lost the game more than the 'Skins won it. I told them that in the end, the only stat that counts is the final score. I don't care how we won two games, we won them. Hopefully it continues, but if it doesn't ... that's fine as well. I love my Redskins through good, bad, ugly, and indifferent. I'm trying to find a Cooley jersey now on eBay, so wish me luck.

Sick Father + Two Children + Pair of Scissors =

This story is a perfect example of why moms should listen to their intuition. Last Thursday I had to take Zach and Daniel to soccer practice, because the Doctor had told me to take it as easy as possible I decided to see if Aaron would watch the girls while I went, rather than chase them around the soccer field. Aaron had been falling asleep on the couch off and on all afternoon, since he was after all sick. He assured me he would be fine and that the girls would be fine, he would stay awake. I told him, if wanted to sleep I would take the girls with me it would not be a problem. Well in the end I left the girls with him.

When I came home from practice I was so busy getting everyone ready for bed I did not even look at the girls very closely. Then as I was changing Ryleigh's diaper I noticed some of Allie's hair on the floor. I asked Aaron if he had given Allie a haircut, she did need one after all. He said no and that was that. I then looked at Allie alot closer, she had taken the scissors to her hair and given herself a new style. But apparently that was not enough, she decided to cut her sisters hair as well. Man......Aaron was laughing when I pointed it out to him. I was a little mad. He apparently had fallen asleep. He saw the girls over in the corner with the scissors. He asked Allie if she was cutting paper...her reply "No". So on Friday morning we went and got Allie's hair fixed. It is a lot shorter than I wanted it, but what do you do!!!

Ryleigh's we haven't fixed yet. Probably will see what happens with her hair. She doesn't seem to mind.

Moral of the story.....never leave your children home with a sick father who is half asleep any way...no matter what they say!!!!!

Patriot's Day

I didn't know that today was officially known as Patriot's Day. I don't know why I was unaware of it, I just thought it was more of an unofficial moniker. It would seem to me to be unnecessary to mark this day with any name, as I will never forget the events of that horrible day. I mean, is there a name attached to December 7th or November 22nd or even April 12th? (If you know what is important about these dates, I invite you to comment to this post.) I don't need a calendar date to remember those I consider Patriots to this country.

In any case, I digress. For those of you who don't know already, Rachel and I are guardians to our nephews while their parents are on active duty in the Army overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. We enrolled them in the local elementary school, and they seem to really like it. Well, seeing as Becky is stationed at one of the air bases in Iraq, she was able to get an American Flag for Zach and Daniel that had been flown on an F-16 fighter, and one that was flown on a Chinook helicopter as well. She also went the extra mile of getting another two flags for the elementary school that were also flown on the same aircraft. We made sure the administration got the flags, and accompanying certificates. Well, Rachel received a phone call last week from the principal of the school. Being that I am who I am, a call from the principal at home is never something you look forward to. In this case, I was fine ... no suspension for me this time for trying to look up the girls skirts. She said that they were having an assembly to recognize Patriot Day at the school, and wanted to present the flags to the student body on that day. They also wanted to honor Becky and Eric, and have the boys recognized for their parents efforts. She just wanted to make sure that it was okay if they did that, and for us to make every effort to be there for the assembly. I had a doctor's appointment today, Rachel dropped the girls off at a friends house, and we met for the assembly. The principal had invited the Pottstown Mercury newspaper to the event, and they decided to show. They interviewed Rachel and I, the boys, and took some pictures. The principal ran down the basic tentpoles of the assembly, and then she said she was going to be recognizing us as well as the boys and their parents. Rachel got nervous, because we would be sitting in front of the entire student body, and have to stand at some point.

So, the kids start to file in, and it's the normal rowdiness that precedes all elementary school assemblies. Nice to know that this didn't change from when I was their age, too. This time, though, it's Rachel and I sitting in front watching them, instead of me being in the audience wondering who the odd looking bald man was sitting next to the hot lady. It was a nice presentation, the boys told where their parents were stationed and what they did for the Army. The boys teachers from last year, and this year held the flags up for the students to see. The principal, true to her word, introduced Rachel and I as the boys guardians and as Patriots to the country as well for our service to the country. I almost teared up at this point, because I never thought of this being a big deal. Whenever someone would say to me, "You are making such a huge sacrifice" or "I don't know if I could do something that big, for anyone" my counter was always, it's family. You do what you have to for your family, because you love them. I am proud to do this, as it shows a huge level of trust in Rachel and I from Becky and Eric. I did it for those reasons, not to be lauded or recognized publicly. I did it because I was asked to. If someone wants to buy me a HD Big Screen Television now or replace my iPod that they lost, I won't complain. *giggles* Otherwise, this is Rachel's and my labor of love. Just nobody else better get any ideas, we gave at the office.

I am not sure if the paper is going to run this story or not, it's really up to them. If you want to check out the website, it might be on there: http://www.pottsmerc.com/ also available at your local WaWa or Turkey Hill.

I hate ....

There are few things in this world I hate, although many that I don't like. I don't like seeing pro athletes, famous actors, musicians, etc. in commercials toting the wares of jeans, sodas, delivery companies, also etc. It's just annoying, like I am going to buy NFL Sunday ticket because Peyton, Eli, and Archie Manning told me to. I just figure, stop spending the money on their exhorbitant sponsorship fee, and maybe my bill will go down.

DirecTV is a scam, by the way. They recently switched over to the Dish Network business model of leasing their equipment to their customers, all without really notifying their customers. Last year, our Tivo (TM) DirecTV receiver died. We went to buy another one from Best Buy (TM) because that's what always was done in the past. Rachel even worked at their call center in Utah for a time, and the customers always purchased the equipment from whatever store they wanted to, and then called to have it activated. Well, once our Tivo died, we called DirecTV customer service who told us we could lease one from them for $99 bucks one time fee, and then $5 a month leasing fee. Or we could buy it outright for $499 and not pay a leasing fee. Hah !!! We went to a few different stores, and finally ended up talking to a guy at Best Buy who assured us that once we bought the equipment, it was ours, and no leasing fees involved. We bought the machine, took home and hooked up. We called DirecTV to have the receiver activated, and all was well. Until New Years Eve. Rachel and I looked at our bills, and noticed that our bill for TV was higher than usual. Upon further inspection, there it is ---- an effing LEASING FEE. Rachel called that night, to see what the heck was going on. Between the two of us, we spoke to a few different people, all who told us the same thing: DirecTV now leases their equipment, just like Dish Network. What our lovely foreign call center person (notice I didn't use any slurs in the sentence) who activated our receiver in the first place didn't tell us was that by activating this new DVR, we were agreeing to the Leasing Fee AND were now signed up for a two year contract with them.

WTH ??????????

The one supervisor that Rachel talked to even told us that there was no entry in our account that said we were told of the new policy DirecTV had taken towards hardware. We weren't told any of these things, they admitted it, and they still said we were locked in. Sure, if we wanted to cancel our service, that was fine, but we'd be receiving a bill from them for the entire two years of subscription fees we would have incurred on our account in addition to the early termination fee of $149 (or some amount like this). He said that there was nothing he could do, and I think Rachel even talked to this supervisor's boss that night, who told us the same thing, "Sorry." They gave us the address of the legal department, and we would have to take it up with them if we felt we were illegally dealt with. What a crock ! So, we talked about it and decided it really wasn't going to be worth the time and effort to try and wrangle with a bunch of effing lawyers over a TV bill. (BTW- this is what they count on with their customers.)

Fast forward another few months, and we decide to downgrade our package with DirecTV to help save us some money. Rachel calls, and gets the package lowered to the next lowest tier. A few days later, we get a letter from DirecTV stating that since we lowered our package, that we were in breach of the contract we had with them upon activating our DVR. Oh, I was PISSED !!! Rachel ended up calling customer service before I got home, or else my colorful metaphors to whomever I got on the line might have gotten me into trouble. They said that everything was fine, and showed nothing on our account that would be a breach of contract. So, it's been quiet now, and our contract is almost up with them. I think it's in October .... I already have a picture of my rear end to send in with my last payment, along with an invoice of my new service with Dish Network. Screw them for screwing me over.

One last thing - this post originally started as a vehicle for me to say how much I hate the Dallas Cowboys. So, I hate the Dallas Cowboys.

UPDATE: After Rachel read my post, she was afraid to tell me that we actually have a 3 year contract with DirecTV once we activated that DVR. Looks like I'll have to save that picture for next year.

Potter #1!!

Looks like Harry Potter and the OOTP is the number one movie among Palmer family and friends who partook in the polling !! Congrats to J.K. Rowling, yet another accolade to throw on the collective pile.

Under the Weather

Being sick sucks. I hate being sick. I woke up on Wednesday morning, with my throat very, very sore, and just knew a doozy of a cold was coming. You know how that is, right? I mean, once you've lived in your body long enough, you know when something isn't right. My tell for sickness is the sore throat. So, Wednesday I knew all day what was coming. I sucked on hard candy, and gargled with salt water, which I knew wouldn't work, but sometimes old wives tales turn out to be true. Thursday, I awoke and was just miserable. My head hurt, coughing my head off, achy, and just altogether a mess. I worked that day, and just knew it was a mistake. By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was go to sleep. We got dinner and the kids squared away. Friday morning came, and I was still just out of it, but this time I called out to work. I don't call off from work unless I am a danger to drive, and in my condition, I just didn't feel safe behind the wheel. Saturday, I'm in a little better shape, but still sick. I was supposed to go to a training meeting at the Stake Center, but blew it off so I could rest. I'm sure Dave is going to be pleased with me. So, this is a short one .... take care of your bodies, all !!

Heroes

Monday nights are usually a slow night around the Palmer house when it comes to watching TV. Rachel started watching "Prison Break" when it first came on, but I never got into it. I would usually take that time, and play "Guild Wars" or download music. I started to watch with Rachel eventually and got hooked on the suspense, and the writing on the show was fantastic. You just never knew from one episode to another who would survive, or where the story was going. Just an amazing job of creating suspense. So, when this new show came out called "Heroes" on NBC (of all places) - it seemed hokey. Not to mention the fact that it came on at the same time as PB, we just never watched. Even as the series exploded among fans and critics, we still were oblivious to the hype. So, summer came, and there happened to be a marathon on the SciFi channel of said show. There was nothing else on, so I watched an episode at midnight. Boy, I got hooked. I watched the next one, then the next one, then the next one, until 4 AM. That's when SciFi decided to sell their time to the assorted wares of juicers, pasta makers, speed reading, and Showtime Rotisserie Ovens. Yes, the set it and forget rage overtook the marathon and I had to get ready for bed in any case, since Church was right around the corner.

The marathon began again, but I was only able to watch one or two more episodes. I decided to set the DVR to record all upcoming episodes. In all, I probably watches 9 or 10 of them. One would think that I wouldn't have been so late on the uptake with this show. It's a match made in heaven for me - in an X-Men kind of way. Well, the inevitable DVD was released on Tuesday. Rachel and I had a rebate coupon from Costco, and we chose to buy it. I am so glad we did, but we've only made it through the first two shows so far. NO RUINING IT FOR ME !! NO SPOILERS !!

My favorite character is Matt Parkman, the LAPD officer who can read minds. Of all the powers on the show, that would be the one I'd like to have. To be able to read people's minds would pwn. The other power I would like to have, if mind reading was taken, would be invisibility, but who wouldn't like that one. So, I'll close with a hearty "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" and switch my laundry over to the dryer. Peace.

A Proud Father

Mark it in your journals - August 26th, 2007 - Allison Palmer starts her journey into sports.

Yes, it's true. Allison had her first Pee Wee Soccer game today. Now, before anyone jumps all over me for enrolling my child in a league that plays games on Sunday, let me say " I DON'T CARE. " Daniel played in this league in the Spring, we were impressed by this soccer club and decided to have Zach, Daniel, and now Allison play for the fall season. Part of your enrollment fee includes the jersey, the matching color socks, which is pretty cool. Daniel and Zach were both red teams last year, and now Allison has joined their ranks. Just so funny to see.


We hurried over to the field after church let out, as church is done at 1 PM and they start at 2 PM. We brought lunch with us, and we able to get Allison partially dressed, as their jersey's weren't done printing yet. This year, all the teams got sponsors on their jerseys, to help defray the cost of "upgraded" uniforms. This year, Zach and Daniel have actual soccer jerseys instead of a T-shirt with a screen printed number and logo on it. One of the teams that were playing on the pee wee fields were green, and sponsored by Dick's Sporting Goods. That's right, there was a large DICK's logo on those poor kids shirts. I was laughing. Anyway, here's Allison all decked out for her game:

I definitely teared up at the sight of this. She's getting so grown up, and is really starting to explore the world around her. I am so proud of her, she's my little angel and gift from Heavenly Father. So, the game went well, Allison was having so much fun. They don't keep score, but try and teach the kids basic skills for a few years before moving them up by age to their next level. Allison is 4 and will be able to play pee wee for another 3 years before she is forced to move up. That's if she wants to keep doing it. Rachel and I have decided to expose our kids to as much extra-curricular events as we can until she finds something she likes to do. Maybe this will stick, maybe not. In any case she's just so cute in her uniform, a few more pics and I'll stop my head swelling with pride.

One last thing: Allison knew from past experience with her cousins that after the game was over, that the players got a drink and a snack. So, after the game was over, we looked over at her and saw her surrounded by a bunch of blue jerseys. She followed the wrong team back to their coach, and was digging into their treat bag. It ended up working out better for us, because instead of a Tootsie Pop, Allison got a Sunny D and some cookies. No sticky suckers !!

I don't get it, Maw

I'm sitting in front of the computer tonight, kinda watching what is on TV right now. It's NASCAR Primetime, some sort of "behind the scenes" summer show filler. So, a commercial comes on, for the umpteenth time tonight, for the DVD release of "Blades of Glory". Now, I love movies. Besides video games, movies are probably my second great hobby. I love going to the theater to watch, I love the home delivery that Blockbuster has now, and I love getting movies for gifts on birthdays, Christmas, Anniversary, or just because. I love all kinds of movies, with the notable exception of the British period pieces (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion,etc) that just annoy me. I must have missed the boat entirely on Will Ferrell, though. I just don't find hardly anything he does funny, as a lead actor. I loved him in Old School, I will admit that, but he wasn't really a lead in that movie. "Elf" - BAD "Anchorman" - Atrocious "Talledega Nights" - hokey and stupid "Zoolander" - weird. One of the newer movies he's tolerable in is "Stranger than Fiction", mostly because he isn't trying to be funny or cheesy. I didn't like him on "Saturday Night Live", either, to be fair. The cheerleader sketch was overplayed, although one of the most well known of his many less than funny parts. I just know that whenever he's in a movie, to avoid wasting money seeing it in the theater, or buying it from the store. I just don't get why people think he's so funny.

Granted, I think a lot of what is considered "potty humor" is funny. I just laugh when someone gets covered in poo in a movie from an exploding port-a-potty. I also love "America's Funniest Videos" because people get hurt on there all the time. I told Rachel a long time ago, that I hate when people fall down in front of me, because my first reaction is never "OMG - are you okay?" it's almost always "BwaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" and then I come to try and pick you up and see if you're okay. Doesn't matter if you're 16 or 60, people falling down is funny to me. We went to Hershey this weekend, and I was standing in line for the virtual tour of the chocolate factory. Rachel took Allison to the bathroom while I stood in line, and held Ryleigh. While in line, I look down to my left and see a woman on the ground who slipped on what looked like a shake of some sort. I had to stifle myself, because I just kept imagining her face while biffing it onto the ground. That in turn made me want to laugh, but I didn't want to appear to be more of a douche than I already do. So, I just kept eyes front and centered and cleared my mind. Just a little insight into my mind. Sick, aren't I ?

Fare Thee Well !

Okay, so ..

I am sitting at home last Monday, and I get a phone call from the Bishop. Now, this is almost never a good thing. Not that I don't like the Bishop, just that a phone call is usually a harbinger of change. Well, after talking to him, he told me that The Smiths were moving, and he wanted to get some people over to help load the truck on Wednesday. I was like, "okay, what time" and "how many people you want", stuff like that. We ended the conversation, and then it sunk it. The Smiths? No way. I was kinda shook up, and afraid that I had not listened to the Bishop properly. I called Dee Gallion, to see if she heard anything about this. I figured if anyone knew this bit of information, it would be her. Well, for the first time ever, I scooped Dee Gallion. I asked her to call the Smiths, to see if they were moving, otherwise I would have to call the Bishop back and tell him I wasn't really paying attention to who was moving. Dee called back, and sure enough, they're leaving. What a crappy week, first the Hassells leave, and now the Smiths. There will always be a special place in my memory of Phil Smith. He and Paul DeNys showed up at our doorstep on the evening of our first official day at church to welcome us to the Ward and to see if we needed any help or anything moving in. It was a nice gesture. Phil and I have been friendly since.

I wish you luck, Phil and Tracy. I hope you find what you were looking for in Utah, and that you keep in touch. We'll miss your spirits, and I'll miss finding new ways to shock Tracy with my colorful metaphors and crude tongue. Ask me about the last time I made Tracy blush, it's a good story, but not to be shared in the pages of this blog. Love you guys, and the primary program just won't be the same without Matthew. Fare thee well.

Our Weekend

I love going to Renaissance Faires. I love them. There is just something about the whole experience that I get caught up in. Maybe it's the food, there is nothing like chowing on an oversized smoked, grilled turkey legge while watching human chess or the joust. Maybe it's the people who work there, dressed in traditional attire and affecting an english accent. It could be the atmosphere of the tents, selling everything from hand fired, hand made silverware from a blacksmith to those selling attire of the period. A lot of it is encompassed in the attendees, those that dress up for the fun of it, or people like us who just go and want to bathe in that whole affair. We try to go once a year, and it's getting more fun now that Allison knows more about what is going on. More on that later.

We arrived a little later than we usually go, since Rachel wanted to stop at the Carter's outlet in Lancaster to try and get some more accessories for an outfit that she picked out to take the baby home in. I was a little annoyed, since it took us a long time to get to the outlet due to traffic. Neither of us knew how to get to the Faire from the outet, so I decided to stop at a hotel and see if they knew. Yes, I stopped for directions ... sue me. Rachel popped in, and they actually had directions typed out for people. I was impressed. The Faire is held on the grounds of Mt. Hope Mansion (http://www.parenfaire.com/ if you want to check out the site), and once we were inside and got a schedule of events, we found that the first joust was just about to start. We meandered over, and found seats on the ground. Allison loved the horses, and Ryleigh loved that she was able to run around for a little bit, free of the stroller. After that was over, we went to find the childrens area for a show that Allison would like. There was a guy dressed in a jester's outfit who was doing some fire-eating. Allison was a little freaked, she turned to Rachel and said, "Mommy, he shouldn't play with fire like that." We chuckled, and assured her that nothing was wrong, and that it was safe if you knew what you were doing.

We checked out a black-smith demonstrator, who was showing people how to do make some basic items using iron and a simple coal forge. He was good, we saw him make a toilet paper dispenser and he was also refinishing a knife, fork and spoon that he made the previous year. Allison and I were mesmerized. She loved the hammering mostly.

Before we arrived at the Faire, Rachel and I discussed what we had to do while there. Rachel wanted to see human chess most of all, and I wanted to see the Ultimate Joust. Well, it was time for human chess once the blacksmith guy was done with his project. We got there, and found a perfect spot for viewing. Basically, human chess is pretty self explanitory, it's a large chess board with the pieces being humans. Every year there is a theme to the Faire, this year being Sir Walter Raleigh and the Duke of Essex quarrel and Irish rebellion. Last time we went, the theme was the feud between Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth, before that it was Queen Elizabeth against the Spanish something or another. It's always been Queen Elizabeth, though. So, human chess pitted the Duke of Essex against Sir Walter Raleigh. It's a predetermined outcome, and the pieces have set-piece fights as they fight over spaces on the board where they've been moved.

The end came when the Duke of Essex demanded that Elizabeth name him as her successor, and Raleigh defended the Queen. The outcome of this disagreement would be determined during the final joust of the day. We never stayed long enough for the Ultimate Joust, as it takes place at 6 PM, and the kids are usually wiped out or we are after that long out in the sun. Well, we decided to stay this year. I'm glad we stayed. It's a full on joust, albeit with-out the full armor. I am assuming later in the year, when it's cooler, the Knights probably wear more armor as heat exhaustion is less of an issue.

They have special effects and everything, I wish I had known that the English Knight, Sir Lucas, was going to enter through wall of fire caused by burning hay and gas. It was sweet, and would have made a great picture. So, they have the joust between the 4 knights, and at some point the Duke of Essex gets pissed and decides to storm the throne and take by force. There ensues a battle between forces, and Sir Walter Raleigh is successful and the Queen orders that the Duke be imprisoned in the Tower of London for the rest of his life. So, at that point, we were walking out and Allison was upset, because there were no dragons. Well, the place we told her had dragons was right outside the joust arena. They sell these dragons that sit on your shoulder, and you can animate by playing with their tail. They also have a dragon egg bazaar, where you can buy a dragon egg, and they'll hatch it by putting it through this machine that drops a cannon ball through a series of ramps and smashes into your egg. They have different size eggs, at different size prices, so Allison picked the egg out she wanted to try. Well, she ended up winning two dragon sculptures from her egg. She is so proud of them, and shows everyone. She also plays with them. It is so cute to see her tell people, "These are my sculptures. My daddy got them for me." So, she has two pet dragons now. Man, I love that kid. In the meantime, I told Rachel that I think it would be cool to dress up for the next time we go in some simple costumes. I want to have a kilt and tartan, and the girls in matching peasant dresses. Mom said she would help me work on it, because she thinks it's a neat project. We'll see though.

Hootie - Three Inch Tool

Too Funny !!

A Sad Day

Today is a sad day for me. Allow me to explain.

The end of last week marked my six year anniversary here in Pennsylvania. Rachel's is a month away, but I can't get over the fact that we've been up here that long. We spend two years in the apartment, and four here. In that time, we've always been in the Pottstown Ward, and we've recently decided that it's not such a bad place to be. For a long time, we really didn't like it at church. We were able to find little excuses not to go, or sometimes not even find an excuse. We would normally go on Sunday's I had to teach in Elder's Quorum, but that was pretty much it. We just felt very left out for the longest time. I thought it was because we didn't have kids. Here we were, this young couple, but no kids. We didn't know hardly anyone, and the people we did know never really seemed to know us. We always had people asking if we were new, up to the fourth year of our anniversary here. It was okay for a time, but after a while, we just added that to our reasons to not attend. It also didn't help that every time Rachel and I made friends with someone in the Ward, they'd move. It is still a running joke between us, that "If you want to move from the Pottstown Ward, make the Palmers your friends." It started with Mark and Natalie Edwards, to Scott and Arlene Eck, and now to Dustin and Erin Hassell. Most of our friends promised to stay in touch, but never did. We tried to keep the communication open, but either never received calls back, or emails went unanswered. That's why I am sad. I am going to miss the Hassell's most of all (unless Dee and Kirk leave, then I will miss them the mostest.)

Erin and I sat up talking last night, and just talking to her, made me realize how much I am going to miss them. Dustin is such a great man. He has a quiet, but powerful spirit to him. Just talking to the man, or listening to him teach a principal in class, just makes me envy that leadership quality he has. He was called as the EQ president like two weeks after moving into the ward, and I just couldn't figure it out. Here he was, moving into the ward, and out of the blue, he's chosen to lead the quorum. Chah, Right !! I started to talk to him before and after pack meetings, and I found him to be this really cool guy. I mean, he's not a huge pro football guy like I am, but he let me tease him about things, and never took offense to me (that I know of.) Then there's Erin: what a freaking hoot ! I didn't have a decent read on her when they moved into the ward, all I could remember thinking about her was I thought that she seemed like a Molly Mormon, goody-two-shoes lady. Well, at one pack meeting, there was cake. I love cake. A lot. Cake. One half was yellow, and one half was chocolate. Well, I got a piece of the yellow, and it wasn't very good. Erin let me taste a piece of her chocolate, and it was so much better. I made a comment like, "I should have gotten the chocolate." Next thing I know, their daughter is bringing me a piece at Erin's request. I thought that was sweet, and what Erin did was nice, too. Cake. Well, that started my thaw to her. She's such a fun loving, salt of the earth, sweet woman, how could you not love her? So, Rachel and I started to do things with them. We had dinner with their family one night, although I had to leave early because of work, but Rachel said it was nice (Erin sent home dinner for me, so I thought so too.) We sat up talking about her family and life last night, I shared my life experiences as well. We traded some of our favorite videos from the internet, and just had fun. She's nothing like I originally thought, which goes to show you that first impressions are often wrong. I completely missed the freaking target on the Hassell family, and it makes me sad to think of the time wasted because I didn't get to know them much earlier.

So, I get called to be the second counselor in the EQ presidency a few months ago. Dustin said he knew I was going to be the next one for about six months. Fetcher. Cake. The Matson's moved closer to Temple for his schooling, so we had an opening for friends. The Hassell's slid right into that slot, and fit perfectly. We were on the cusp of really becoming close, and then the phone rang. Dustin was calling me to let me know, firsthand, that he had accepted a job in California and they would be moving by the end of the month. I remember being very upset that night. I just kept saying, "it's happening again." I was almost crying (honestly). We offered our help to their family, to move, paint, clean, etc. but they said everything was fine and taken care of. Dustin left with the kids to start work, and Erin was left behind to get their house packed up and cleaned up to sell before she joins them. She mentioned she needed a place to stay for a night or two, once they packed up the furniture. We were more than happy to offer our home up to her, as one last gesture to a dear friend departing. Erin is flying out tomorrow, and we're sad. We love you guys, and hope to see you again one day. We started missing you the day you told us you were leaving.

And the Winner IS ......

Well, looks to be a 3 way tie for winner of the "Harry Potter" poll posted. Poor HufflePuff .... again they get the poopy end of the lollipop. So, thank you to all who voted ! Check out the new poll coming out soon.

*SIGH*

You know it's bad when you sit back, and think "Wow, I am surprised that I am still alive." I only say this, because now that I am a parent, there are times when I just don't know what to do when my kids misbehave. That also causes me to try and remember all the stuff that I did as a child, and also what I got away with that Mom and Dad never found out about. It's just odd being on this side of things now, and seeing your kids try to get away with things.

I grew up on Dad's Mantra "A parent is always right. Even when we're wrong, we're right." I resented Dad for that, and still have some hard feelings towards the way he decided to express that mantra to me. Even as I got older, instead of him letting go, and letting me find my own way in life, he decided to turn the screws even tighter to exert his will upon me. He always said that I reminded him the most of himself, and I think that freaked him out. I have fought against that for all my adult life, with Dad's bad habits and attitudes almost hard-wired into my head on a subliminal level. I remember when Rachel and I were in the Manassas Ward, and one of our friends were blessing their baby. I was asked to be in the blessing circle, and that was an honor. After sacrament meeting, the parents of the mother of the baby came up to me, and said "As long as you walk the Earth, your father will never be truly gone." I thought this was a curious thing to say out of the blue, until they told me that they knew Mom and Dad when all were younger, and from their recollection I was a pretty good copy. I don't mind it anymore, but that used to really frost me when people said those things. I've gotten over most of my hard feelings towards Dad, but there are some things I was to remember to help me do right by my family. Even in our family, each of the siblings have a different opinion on Dad because he treated us all differently. And, get this, there's nothing wrong with that. Don't ever let another person influence your memory.

So, anyway, back to my point. Parents are smart. They've been where the child has been before. All it takes is a little observation of a child, and you can recognize their patterns and their "tells" (to use a poker term.) I was almost always astounded as a child when Mom or Dad would know when I was misbehaving. I thought they were psychic. Now with Allison, and Ryleigh, I watch what they are doing and I know when they're hiding something. This skill has also been refined while Zachary and Daniel have been with us. Not to say that all children are demons, or that they need to be constantly monitored, but you just know when there is something amiss. That's when you look back and try to remember the things parents said to us to get us to fess up and admit to it. Funny how the mind works. Even funnier now that I'm on this side of the table. Maybe I'll have a grilled cheese with my little Aaron ghost I'm looking at, and let the memories glide between us.

"Attention, Lords and Ladies of the Ward !!"

On Friday, the first activity I wasn't in charge of in the last two years was pulled off. Rachel is still on the Activities committee, so I was well aware of the pending doom that she was predicting. Well, I am glad to say that she was wrong, and that I was jealous at how fun and successful the activity was. There was plenty of food, there were plenty of people who showed up, and there was plenty of fun to be had. They decided to do a Medieval theme, with the crowd separated into teams (colors) who sat together, and captained by Knights who would either compete in events or choose members from their team to compete in their stead. I was the White Knight, as Rachel volunteered my services. Dustin said that he was trying to give me a break from participating, but Rachel knows that I was perfect to pull off the cheesy loudness required for such the job. I wore my white Skins jersey, white turtleneck, motorcycle gloves with the gauntlets, and my fake throwback Skins helmet.

Now, when I was still the activities chair, my committee had started to tentatively plan this shindig. I had already selected Ed Ott as the King, as he had acting experience (in L.A. even) and would do a good job being over the top. We planned the menu to be finger or hand foods, and no silverware. The only thing we didn't start to plan were the activities. I wanted to do a scripted event, where the outcome was predetermined, and that way we could have a villian and a hero already thought out and all we would have to do was practice and then roleplay. Well, that never happened. They planned six events: tug-o-war, wife drag, skateboard joust, wench pillow fight, piggyback horsey ride, and the Gauntlet. The Knights only competed in the tug-o-war, and chose contestants for the other events. Apparently, the Black Knight was supposed to cheat in the events by messing with the other competitors. Unfortunately, the Black Knight was an attorney who spent half the night on his cell phone, and didn't play up the part like it needed to be done. Rachel told me after the night was over, that her and Melia thought I should've been the Black Knight, as I would have done a great job in screwing over the other competitors. Regardless of my color, I still took glee in being the villian for a few events. In the horsey race, I stepped right into one of the people who was racing and prevented him from winning. It was awesome. The guy never knew what hit him, just bounced off me. Everyone was BOOING and shouting that I was cheating - - - but Ed, in his dubious King voice proclaimed "I saw Nothing" when the Green Knight protested. The next racer I took it easy on, and gave a chance to avoid me tying my shoes in the line of racing. That was funny, but that guy's kid came up to me after the race, telling me to stay off the course so his Daddy could win. Nevermind the fact that this guy was racing a teenage girl .... I told the kid to nevermind what I did and to never speak to me like that again. (On a side note, I despise this child and his brother. They are both Zachary's friends at church and Cub Scouts, so I am well aware of their horrid behavior before this episode.) In the Gauntlet, one of the tasks was to arm wrestle each of the Knights. I licked the hands of the kids who weren't racing for my team, and generally was a menace. Like I said, incredible night. I was also the unofficial Town Crier, as my voice was the loudest, until sissy boy Dustin got a microphone.

I had people coming up to me, telling me what a great job we had done. I told them all I was jealous, because I didn't pull this one off. I guess I was kinda hoping for a stinker of an activity, so that I would be validated as having pulled off the best get togethers. In any case, everyone had a blast and was sent home with a warm belly. Our only unfortunate event occured later in the night, when Ed noticed that his iPod was missing. I bought a cable to hook my iPod to the system in the Cultural Hall for the Sweethearts Dance to play music. Ed wanted to borrow my cable to play his celtic music while we were eating and socializing. Well, some choice individual decided they wanted the iPod more than their decency and absconded with it. They took the charger and the iPod, but left my cable attached. We have suspicions on who took it, but unless decency takes over, it's gone for good. Such a crap thing to happen to such good people. Things like that have affected people's views on the Church, and have caused many a person to go inactive. Just frosts me ..... a few more pics, and this post will be done.