A Pretty Big Day

We've had a rather eventful day here.

First of all let me start about a week ago. I received a phone call from the hospital from someone other than Bryan. To be honest, I initially thought there must be something wrong. I kind of had that, "is Bryan okay?" thoughts racing through my brain. Thankfully he was fine and the kind lady was just informing me that Bryan was receiving an award. She reinterated several times that this was a BIG DEAL. She didn't have to tell me twice. The only downside was that we had to be there at 7:15AM. For those of you that know me, know that 7:15AM and I are not very good friends. 7:15AM and my two daughters are even worse friends. But to see Bryan win an award was worth it. So I got up bright and early and woke up two VERY grumpy girls bright and early and this morning we headed to the hospital.

The best part of the whole experience was that Bryan had no idea he was receiveing the award and had no idea that we were coming. I will never forget his face when he walked into Grand Rounds amidst many green scrubbed doctors and saw me and his two little girls sitting there. He kept mouthing, "what is going on?" I just pulled out my camera and said, "You'll have to wait and see." Such a great moment.

So Bryan was the recipient of the Compassion in Medicine Award. Dr. Krantz gave a very nice introduction and presentation. This was the only grainy picture I got of Bryan actually receiving the award.

This is an award given to outstanding physicians for their compassion in medicine. Nominations have never been made for a resident until this year. So Bryan is the first resident to ever receive this and I couldn't be more proud. He always tries to downplay things and hates being the center of attention so I'm glad we could surprise him for this great acheivement.

Here are a couple of proud/tired little girls. Thank goodness "Grand Rounds" included a little breakfast as well or I don't know if these girls would have made it.

Not only was it a big day for Bryan, but for this little one as well. It was the day she's been waiting for. She asked me this morning, "Am I five mom?" No Audrey you are three, but three year olds get to go to preschool!

I don't know if I've ever seen a child more excited. she picked out her outfit and topped it off with the most important part, the headband. Here she is with her friend Aaron. The great thing about preschool this year is there are four boys from our ward in her class!

Here she is in the classroom ready to learn.

Now for the time being I've got 2 1/2 hours all to myself in the afternoon. I almost didn't know what to do with all the quiet! We are so happy for our little Audrey and know that this is going to be a fun class for her. I can't believe that she is old enough for preschool.

Round These Parts

Here's what we've been up to lately...

Audrey loves to dance. She has these hot pink church shoes that make her dance EVEN better. Whenever a song comes on or she is playing house she HAS to wear these shoes. She is a very fashion forward thinking three year old

She is getting very good at twirling as well.

Over Labor Day we took a trip up to Cincinnati to see some of our favorite people. Julia says, "you remember Zachy? He's like my cousin but not my cousin." That is exactly how we feel. We just love spending time with the Gaileys.

Cincinnatti is so beautiful and we went to this park filled with waterfalls and a great trail. The kids had the best time.


Kristi was kind enough to cut all three Palmer girls' hair. I have told her frequently that because of her Julia and I can be friends again. Combing those long locks was becoming a source of contention in our home. The trim makes it so much easier to cut. Thank you so much Kristi.

Kristi even took this picture for us. Though I gave her specific instructions not to make me look fat and she failed miserably. We'll go ahead and blame the unborn fetus.

The next weekend we had the treat of meeting James and Natalie halfway between the two of us. We ate ourselves silly at a Dutch buffet. It was great mixing conversation elbow deep in delicious fried chicken. Honestly that is the way I prefer to have a conversation.

The kids rocked in rocking chairs while we watched the rain pour down.


It is so great having family close by.


And these kids loved playing together.


And finally I decided I would break down and take a pregnancy profile shot to document our third child. I am not one of those that enjoys and embraces the swelling and glowing that come along with pregnancy. I wish that I were, but mostly I feel uncomfortable. That being said, I never regret documenting things like this on the blog to look back on in the future. So here we are in all 31 1/2 week glory.

A few weeks ago Bryan came home and said, "Boy Annie! You really are gestating aren't you?!" I think that wives of Ob/Gyn's are the only lucky ones to hear awesome phrases like that.


This pregnancy has been going pretty well so far. I can't complain. I am definitely getting into that "how in the heck am I going to fit 4-5 lbs more baby in here?" stage but I'm hanging in there. I crave cereal and could eat it for every meal. I swear I go to bed excited about it for the next morning. Popcorn has also been a weakness this time around. Bryan brought home chocolate covered caramel popcorn last week and let me tell you...I think I gained five pounds in one sitting. The girls are getting really excited. Audrey is having a few mixed feelings about not being the baby any more. She asks me if she can be the baby or if she can take her blanket everywhere like a baby does. I think she'll come around. I feel like I am "blossoming" more and more by the second and I hate maternity clothes and my pants keep falling down. You know the drill. I am still feeling good for the most part. We are definitely getting excited to have another little one in our home. Those babies are totally worth it.

Just Face It. It's Over.

Summer that is. Labor Day just makes it official and it comes with mixed feelings. I love the lazy days of summer at the pool almost more than anything. But I also love the feel of fall, starting school and getting back to a routine. It was 97 degrees last Friday and we spent almost four hours at our pool. And then Monday it was 68 degrees. Fall hit with a vengeance. I was so glad we got one more day as a family doing our favorite thing. The girls set some goals with swimming this year and it made me really happy to see them achieve them. I haven't put them in swimming lessons and have been torn as to whether I was doing them a disservice. But they are both swimming great and loved every minute of it. I think that I am even more sad this year knowing that we will be leaving next summer. I am one that gets pretty sentimental about things. We went for a walk on Tuesday and they were pumping the water out of the pool. I teared up a little.

Audrey's big achievement this summer was swimming with her face in the water. She loves her "doggles" and wants to be just like Julia. We even took her life jacket off a couple of times and she was able to swim without it and float on her back without it. I didn't let her go lifejacket-less too often though. I like the freedom it gives her and to be honest it makes me a little nervous when she is without it.

Here she is floating on her back. She loved to show anyone and everyone that entered the pool her tricks. I'm sure the random old dude loved the fact she could put her face in the water.

Julia's goal this summer was to swim all the way across the pool. It took a couple of months but she was finally able to figure her breathing out and got pretty fast. We still need to work on getting a stroke rather than just flapping her arms but she is doing great.

Here's a couple of videos of the girls swimming. What a great summer at the pool. I know that I will look back on these and miss these simple days. Arrggh there I go getting all sentimental again.