Look at these little love bugs!

I am sure they will not appreciate me calling them that in ten years but I am organizing pictures and ran across these :) Last night we were talking about how beautiful Virginia is in the fall so I went down a trip on memory lane. I thought I'd share some pictures of these little cutie pies raking leaves!

Little Snippet: Andrews 3rd Birthday Party

I was just thinking as I was organizing what buddies these guys are. Do you think they will hug each other like that when they're 12!? I sure hope :) They are awfully cute.

Introducing Nathan Ronald Palmer!!

Wow! Has it really been that long since I've posted anything on my blog? I told you I was no good at this and I was right ;) However, I'd like to update you now, if you'll forgive me, with some pictures and fill you in on the Palmer happenings.

We just moved to Culpeper, Virginia and are loving it!!! After some rough spots with finding a place to call our own, we have been richly blessed...finally. It has been a very rough past few months! But it has been a wonderful Christmas setting up our little home, getting acquainted with each other again, and mostly relaxing, visiting, playing, and enjoying each other!

I really love it here. Culpeper is a beautiful place. The landscape is so beautiful but if that weren't enough, I have been so pleasantly surprised at how genuinely kind, welcoming, and friendly everyone I've met here is. Even Wal-Mart cashiers smile, strike up conversations, and make you feel like an old friend. Brians school was like walking into the Berenstain Bears classroom!! I fell in love with his teacher she was so sweet and I knew this was the right place for our family. I will post some pictures of our house I promise.

Also, I'd like to introduce the newest addition to our family, Nathan Ronald Palmer! He was born on March 30, 2010 (Yes, it has been that long!) It was a very successful and quick labor and delivery and it was exciting and also a joy to have my parents there!! Here are some pictures.

Us leaving the hospital. Daddy and Andrew came to pick me up. (Little Brian was at school!)

Brian was so glad to get him home!

Sleeping Angel

Baby Blessing

Cat Nap with Grandad!

Nathan has been a very lovable baby! From the moment he was born, he has been very alert, smiles a whole lot, and regularly makes me laugh!! Welcome to our home Nathan, I love you!!!! P.S. Here is little Brian's first day of school!

OurTrip to Virginia

Well, after talking to Natalie, I've resolved to keep this up and running! I always have stuff to post and things to say but when I sit to write something, all I want to do is post pictures and I never feel I have time to write a decent post! BUT I assure you that I will not entirely abandon my blog!

We had a remarkably smooth trip from Utah to Virginia. But before we left, we had a little going away party. One of our friends, Fina, made the best Mexican soup I've ever had. I love any kind of Mexican food!! Many of our friends from Wymount came and we sort of celebrated little Brian's 4th birthday with a little birthday cake. I thought I'd just make it low key since we were too overwhelmed with moving to do a full party but even making a cake I found out was quite the excursion!

This next picture is so sentimental! A few weeks ago, little Brian and I were watching Jungle Book and he leaned over and quietly said, "I didn't want to move" and then he started to cry. At first, I thought he was adjusting remarkably well, and for the most part he is. But I think now he has realized the full impact of the move and the fact that we aren't going back. He is looking over my shoulder right now at this picture.

Happy Birthday Brian!

I also want to thank all of you who helped us move. I can't tell you how grateful I am for everyone who made us meals, helped us clean, and was so loving towards us, even thinking of things like making treat bags for the boys. We really felt so loved and we appreciate all of you. we will miss you guys so much!! Even though we are enjoying our family here, we still miss our friends.

Here we are taking off. Since we already needed a new vehicle and we knew we were moving, we purposely looked for a van with a DVD player. We got a great deal, and it was a great break to be able to pop in a movie during the trip. It was really a blessing and made the trip smooth!

Warning: Our trip was a blessing because it was so smooth but unfortunately retelling it may make for a really boring story! So read on only if you are really interested. :)

For the first leg, we drove straight through Wyoming and half way through Nebraska and stopped in York Nebraska to sleep. We arrived in York in the middle of the night so there were no regular rooms at the hotel but the woman working at the front desk gave us a large suite at the regular rate. Sweet! It was so much fun because of the space we had. The boys jumped on the bed and we let them! We all crashed and it was delightful! In the morning, we went swimming in the indoor pool. I wish we had taken pictures! It was a welcomed respite after being in the car for so many hours.

Although I didn't get pictures of the hotel, I did get pictures of Nebraska. It is my favorite part of the trip because I started seeing things that reminded me of Virginia.

Thick forests, especially when it starts to surround everything, feels so much like home. I have so many memories of playing in the forest growing up in Virginia.

and the farms in Nebraska...

...remind me of the farms in Virginia. Here is Gettysburg.

(I'm sure I will blog about our trip there on another post but here it is so you can see. This picture looks much better enlarged.)

The last half of the trip was as smooth as the first half. We drove straight through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia. By the time we hit West Virginia, we were so ready to be done. But Brian was still determined and somehow awake enough, so he kept going and we drove straight through to Virginia. We were so glad to be home!

Probably the most entertaining part of our trip was hearing different accents at different restaurants and gas stations. The accents changed through out the states but the most memorable one was in Kentucky. We overheard a lady ordering from a McDonalds drive through as we were walking in for breakfast. It sounded sort of like this, "Naw, I won't a lrge coke, an lota aice." We weren't expecting such a thick accent from such a cute little lady. It really caught us off guard and so it was really funny! At that point we knew that we were not in Utah anymore!

We had a remarkably smooth trip from Utah to Virginia. Here are my favorite 2 pictures from our 32 hours across the country.

I bet you can imagine why!

Even though we love being home, we miss all of you at Wymount. Don't ever forget us and please please keep us updated on your lives!

Duck Pond

Hi friends and family! I thought I'd post some more pictures of the boys at the BYU duck pond. We go there every other week since Andrew just LOVES the "quack quacks." :) So I finally brought a camera and boy am I glad I did. I got some gorgeous pictures and the weather was just beautiful. The boys enjoyed climbing on the rocks after we ran out of bread. There is one very funny picture of Andrew below where his eyes are closed. I was being the photographer and so I asked Andrew to say cheese, and below is the result.

so cute!

"Cheeese"

Andrew enjoying some bread

adorable Brian

Climbing rocks

Quack Quack!

throwing bread

more climbing

Pioneer Day

There was a pioneer activity today in our ward and the children went on a little Wymount pioneer trek, complete with little handcarts made from wagons. It was so cute! The activity was complete with games, stories, and treats.

Natalie and I kept laughing at how adorable the kids were pulling their wagons in their little pioneer clothes. We were joking that we better stop laughing or we'll be like the obnoxious parents who take tons of pictures but I think it was too late. I may have had just as much fun laughing as the kids did at the activity. They were so cute pulling their handcarts. Kimber, Jessica and Jamie, thank you! You guys did an awesome job. And thank you Natalie for sending these pictures!

Brian & Alex

So cute in his suspenders!

Candace and Brian

Kate, Brisa, Candace & Brian

Just adorable

Candace & Brian are definitely two peas in a pod

We Have Finally Arrived

Hello! I have decided I just can't contain myself anymore! I have spent an hour and a half looking at all your blogs and couldn't believe it has taken me this long to jump on the bandwagon. So here we are!