Your Highness

Whitney, you're my queen.  Actually, you're Brighton High's Queen!  Homecoming Queen!  How will you reign?  I suggest tyranny and a strict dictatorship... heehee!  Seriously, I am so proud of you!  And proud of Brighton for choosing such an awesome girl to represent them.

For those who may think that this was just a popularity contest, let me educate you in the ways of BHS's rigorous selection process:
1.  First off, did you know there are over 600 Seniors at BHS?  (There were almost 800 when I was there!)  Let's assume that half of them are female, leaving us with 300 possible candidates.

2.  Each "club" at Brighton nominates a girl.  Whitney was nominated by the Men's Association.  So she's off to a good start already.  (When I was a senior, I was nominated by the Madrigals [the singing club]!)  Now the pool is down to about 30 girls.

3.  After getting nominated, the candidates must go through an interview with a panel of three adults not affiliated with BHS.  (This was terrifying to me at age 17, and I totally choked.)  Whitney did not choke.  She prepared her answers, wore an incredible outfit, and won the judges over.  8 Candidates left.

4.  Did you think the hard part was over?  HA!  (There's a slight chance I might have actually "thrown" the interview so I didn't have to do the next step...)  The final 8 contestants must create a skit performed by them and them ALONE to be performed for the entire school.  The rules this year: A-wear Brighton colors (Orange and Blue - hello!), B-incorporate a Brighton "Cheer" into your skit.  This is where the Palmer Genes came into play.  When you don't know what to do, make up a song!  Whitney chose well in hiring Matt as her campaign manager, and he helped Whitney turn a football cheer into a clever and memorable song.  Whitney played her ukelele (key) and let loose singing about Touchdowns here, there and everywhere.

5.  The School Votes.

6.  Whitney Wins!  Do you know why?  Because she's a-gorgeous, b- nice to everyone, c- not afraid to let loose with a cool ukelele song.  You go girl.  This is YOUR weekend!  Love you!

Near Death Experience

Oliver is obsessed with my iPhone 4. He uses it almost more than I do. We're both addicted, I admit.

Tonight, at Scout Pack Meeting, Oliver dropped my phone on the carpeted floor, and the screen went black. I couldn't get it to respond. My life flashed before my very eyes. I thought of all the good times we had together, and things I had planned for us to go and do and see together this weekend in San Francisco, and beyond! I thought of unwritten texts, untaken pictures, un-uploaded Instagrams. There were things I hadn't said to my iPhone. I cursed myself for being so cavalier - how could I let a 19-month-old come between us? I wasn't ready to let go. I vowed I would take better care of my phone. I would protect it from Oliver, the violent techno-toddler. I needed more time.

Thanks to a quick Google search, I figured out how to restore my iPhone back to life! It's called CPR. No, just kidding. It's called holding both buttons down while praying very sinceriously for at least 10 seconds. It was like magic!!

Tomorrow, Oliver and I are going to buy him his own phone --- at the Dollar Store. :)

Adam's High Fivin' San Fran

Adam flew to San Francisco today for a work conference.

At the airport, by happenstance, he ran into his cousin Shannon, who was at the airport flying from SF to LA.

Then he met up with his sister, Megan.

While they were walking around town, Adam saw three people from work.

I think San Francisco is welcoming Adam back to his hometown!

I need a Retreat...

I came home late last night and went in Ivy's room to tuck her in. She was giving her report:

"I said my prayers very sinceriously tonight."

She also told Lizzie yesterday that she was "scared out of her nerds" which I think is a combo of "nerves" and "wits", and I think it's great. I've definitely been "scared out of my nerds before, too.

We just got through the craziest choir week - we hashed out the recording this week and our annual retreat was this weekend, which was a raging success, but as always, ragingly exhausting as well. :)

Adam is leaving for San Fran tomorrow, and I'm not ready for a week without him! I hope we make it!

From today: Eli is a builder.

One of Ivy's dearest friends, Sophie, moved today. She practically lived here during the summer. I fed her many meals and she was a very good playmate of Ivy's. We will miss her!

(The last line says "I hope you like orange - No or Yes")

And we went to the Mesa Temple tonight as a family. We saw the Reflecting Pool, which is a favorite, and the evening dusk was so beautiful tonight.

I love my family!

Veteran of natural disasters here.

I experienced my first earthquake! I am using the term "experienced" loosely.

Yesterday I was on the phone with Erin, who lives in Virginia, when I heard a sound over the phone like someone shaking a box full of stuff. Erin was confused at first but then started yelling, "It's an earthquake!" and put the phone down! And I could hear her checking on Maria. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was wild!

Brilliant at the Basics

I love this - I've decided this is my motto for the week. We had an excellent Relief Society fireside tonight and I have come home with a desire to be better. Our home has been chaotic the last few weeks as it usually is this time of year, but I also have a tendency to live in crisis mode. I'm very good at figuring out what is urgent to get an important job done and then leaving the rest behind, but I struggle with the steady pace of constancy. As a result, my home feels chaotic at times. Sometimes this is okay. But this week, I feel that it's time to refocus on the basics. And a phrase I heard from Julie Beck tonight was to be "Brilliant at the Basics." This can be applied in many ways. For me this week, it means keeping the house in order, keeping schedules in order, making family prayer a meaningful priority, cooking dinner and making our home a pleasant place to be. Because how wonderful is it that I'm able to control this environment at this stage in my life?! Very wonderful.

Can I tell you about our delicious dinner tonight? We had grilled chicken salad, fruit salad and corn on the cob. We had a lot of fresh vegetables that needed to be eaten. But don't despair - we had sumptuous Ultimate Brownies for dessert.

Oh baby. They're good.

you know what's fun? Blogging!

I forgot how fun it was to blog. :) Look at me - - two days in a row!

Today, I sang for almost 7 hours. I was making the practice cd for the CCC. Wow. I'm exhausted. Here's what it looked like from my view. Jenni is my sound engineer. We have fun laughing at my mistakes together!Then tonight we went to Desert Breeze Park and poor Oliver was so excited he promptly ran and tripped and fell. The worst part of it is covered by his hair. Poor poor baby. :(

Goodnight!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday this morning, and do you know what he said to me? He said, "Hey, Aimee, it's been a while since you posted on your blog!"

"Yeah, I know, I've been busy."

"I keep checking it and there's NOTHING NEW!"

And I countered, "But, what about Instagram?! It's my new favorite diversion. I post every day! You can check me out there!"

And he brought it home with, "Hey, I know! - for my birthday, you can publish a new post on your blog!"

"AH! You got me there, Dad."

Now you know how much I love my dad! So here you go! A fresh new post from Stewartopia, complete with Lizzie's poetry, an Eli-ism, Ivy's wordies, and maybe an updated picture of our Baby Monster, Oliver

Okay, so first up is an "Ivy's Wordies" from TODAY:

We were looking at her papers after school today, and she was showing me her calendar. Ivy said:

"The first day of school was on the EIGHTH. Library is on the TWENTY-FOURTH. And Computer Lab is on the TWENTY-TWOOTH."

It makes a lot of sense when you think about it...

Ivy also wrote me a birthday card that said, "Dear Mommy, Happy Birthday. You make my heart feel good. Love Ivy"

Eli-ism from this summer:
Adam received a phone call at work from Eli.

"Hi Dad. I just have a quick question. I'm trying to make high voltage electricity and I need your help..."

Lizzie's Poetry Corner:

Sunset
At Sunset, when the mountains hide
against a bright orange sun, beside
The Great Blue Sky of old are clouds,
Clouds of puff, Clouds of wisp,
Its color to me was loud.

Against the Great Blue Sky of old,
The clouds of puff, clouds foretold,
The sun was sinking to the sky,
Lighting clouds to make them cry:
"O see me now, thou people low -
See me soar above the sky!"

Just their cry does make me wonder why.

For the bright orange sun sinking to the sky
Does turn light upon the sky up high
Lighting up clouds of fold
A bright pink tale against
The Great Blue Sky of old.

My kids have been having lots of fun lately with the computer camera and video. Here's the Fearsome Foursome:
And recently, Lizzie was inspired to make videos for Oliver on our computer. He loves to watch them. Here's an example:

Okay, nevermind, I forgot how videos suck the life out of you when you try to post them on blogger. Ugh. So a cute picture of the kids MAKING a video will have to suffice.



And an update on Adam: He hiked 75 miles in the Uintahs with J-MO this summer over four days. He lost 9 pounds and grew a beard. But he shaved it and I'm working on getting those 9 pounds back on him.

And we have been Choir Crazy the last three weeks - whoa! We opened our season yesterday - biggest day of the year for us! It was exhilarating.

Well, that's all for now. Love to all. Especially Dad: Happy Birthday! You are as youthful as ever! One of my highlights of our trip to Utah this summer was watching you play Capture the Flag at Eli's birthday party. You'll never be old! Love you tons!

Goodnight.

Big news in the Palmer Family

The Palmers had 2 arrivals in March:

Baby Maria Elizabeth Morley born to Erin and John on March 14th, 2011! Isn't she beautiful!

Sweet new family:

AND, Elder Matt Palmer, missionary from Japan, came home on March 18th! (He's the one in the middle. They took this in one shot!)

Matt's arrival made the news. You see the huge family with the big flag making a proper raucous? Um, that's not us. So, since we Stewarts are in Phoenix, Erin's in VA and David's in CA. And Maria was born that week, so Mom was out in VA with Erin, Whitney was on a dance company tour to CA, so it was just my dad with his mini flag there to welcome Matt home!!
I mean, yeah Matt, we all wanted you to make more YouTube movies as soon as you got home, but I didn't think you would take us LITERALLY!!!
Can't wait to see you!

A Mutinous Birthday for Lizzie

Welcome to Lizzie's 11th Birthday Party! It's a Mystery, Pirate Style.

If you dare to enter, you must walk the plank.

This is what the last Party Host looks like now:

Some of the snacks included Peg Legs (carrots), Octopus legs (Gummy Worms), Goldfish, Pirate's Teeth (yellow corn), Golden Nuggets (Hershey's nugget candies), and our favorite, Jellied Ocean with sunken treasure (blue Jello with diced peaches).

The Birthday "cake"

Now, let's introduce the characters: The notorious Captain Unibrow Petra (played by the Fantastic Alyssa Pike!)

Swashbuckler Sam (The Birthday Girl!)

Hook-Handed Holly (Nicolette)

Clam Bait (Eric)

Sleep Simon (Kaley) - love the beard!!

Nauseas Nikki (Audrey)

Kemo Swabby (Ashley)

Peg-Leg Chester (Jacob)

One-Eyed Wally (Ryan)

Pan-Head Pat (aka Sarah)

Toothless Terry (aka Sarah)

Mud, the Cook (aka Chris)

The Entire Crew

Now one of these innocent-looking underlings threw Capt. Unibrow overboard. Luckily, she was saved, and now she wants to know WHODUNNIT! Through 6 rounds of clues, the motives and suspicions unfolded.

Time to break for pirate snacks and swashbuckling practice.

ATTACK!

Awaiting their turn on deck...

The swarthy mates

Look out, Lizzie!

Now it's time to find out who the overboard-throwing buccaneers were!! It coulda been her. (Kemo Swabby)

Mighta been him. (Clam Bait)

Or Peg Leg Chester, or maybe Swashbuckler Sam...

Definitely could have been One-Eyed Wally...

In the end, it was 3 villianous Pirates - Nauseas Nikki (Audrey), Sleepy Simon (Kaley), and Toothless Terry (Sarah). BUT they decided to all commit mutiny and make the scurvy Captain Unibrow Petra WALK THAT PLANK!

To the Fathoms below!

Hooray! Naught but her bandanna is left now...

I guess the Captain can't have ALL the fun! Happy Birthday Lizzie!