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!