Missionary Packages (October 2015)

My little brother, Taylor, is currently serving a mission in southern Texas. Taylor will spend the next two years in this area sharing the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While he's on his mission, he is only permitted to call home on Christmas and Mother's Day. The rest of the time we only correspond by email or snail mail. 

Derek's sister Hannah, is also serving a mission. Young women who serve missions for our church are only gone for a year and a half. Hannah has been in Kirtland, Ohio since February. 

As you can imagine, I miss my younger siblings! They are some of my best friends in the world, and it's hard to have them gone, especially to think of all they are missing out on in Palmer's life. But I am so grateful for the work they are doing. I know they are serving the Lord with all their hearts, and so many blessings will (and have already) come of it. 

A couple weeks ago I put together a fun package for each of them. Missionaries LOVE getting mail, and packages are even better :) 

I got the idea from this blog, but I tweaked it quite a bit, so I thought I'd share my version of it here with you. Feel free to copy and/or adapt it for your missionaries--I know they'll love it!

The theme for this package comes from a talk by President Hinckley that was published in the 2000 (?) Ensign. In it he talked about the ten gifts every missionary should get from their mission. Each gift for Taylor and Hannah has a matching envelope. On the front I wrote the number and name of the gift. 

On the back of the envelope was a little phrase that tied in the treat or gift I had for them with the gift that President Hinckley spoke about. 

(Apparently I never took a picture of #6! It said something about the Holy Spirit always coming to your "aid" as long as you're worthy :))

Inside each envelope was a quote from the talk. 

Here's what the finished product looked like. 

(Taylor's)

(Hannah's)

I haven't heard from Hannah yet, but Taylor got his package last week and it's safe to say he's elated :) I had so much fun with this little project and it lifted my spirits to know how much it would mean to them! They are both such astoundingly great people--I'm so blessed to have them in my life :) 

I hope you can use this for your own missionary! If you do, let me know how it goes!

What You May Have Missed (April-September 2015)

Last April, Derek and I made a sudden decision to move to the Bay Area in pursuit of our millions (aka, doing summer sales). The sales didn't go all that great...but California was pretty awesome! Here follows a hundred pictures (approximately) illustrating our adventures on the coast.


We started with a stop in St. George to celebrate the anniversary and hang with the fam. Oh, and to celebrate National Grilled Cheese day. Which is a real thing. We Monnetts know how to party.

We made every kind of grilled cheese we could think of and then voted on our favorite. The winner? Cream cheese, sharp white cheddar, fresh tomatoes, and Tony's. 

Derek and I spent the morning in Zion and Palmer spent the morning at Nana's :)

We got to go to my nephew's baseball game while we were in town, and Palmer loved it!

This is while Palmer was learning to sit up--we surrounded him with a little buffer to minimize the head banging :)

And then we were off to San Ramon! Dalton was such a sport and drove our van for us so that Derek and Palmer and I could all ride together. That way we made WAY less stops because I was able to get Palmer bottles and snacks on the road. When we got to our apartment we were stunned! San Ramon is such a gorgeous (and wealthy) area. We were so lucky to live there. The view from our balcony was amazing!

One of our first Saturdays in town we hit up Muir Woods for a little hike. I was a little disappointed by the size of the redwoods (they get MUCH bigger the further north you go, and that's what I'm accustomed to), but it was absolutely beautiful!

After a few weeks we finally made it to the beach with some new friends from our ward! The plan was to head to Santa Cruz for a day, which turned into an afternoon, which turned into an hour in Capitola and then some ice cream and cookies at a popular place in Santa Cruz. Palmer loved the sand!...a little too much.

Poor kiddo was sooo tired! This is also when we learned that if you go to the beach in Northern California, you don't wear (or probably even bring) a swimsuit. You wear capris and sandals (so that you can walk in sand and water) and a sweatshirt. Or two. 

We were lucky enough to have a few friends join us in California--the Borens! Unfortunately they lived an hour away in Modesto, but Aubrey and Hayes came out to see us! We tried to alternate weeks and have me go out to Modesto just as often, but I think Aubrey ended up doing a lot more driving than her fair share! Either way our visits were such a blessing! Making friends in California was really hard, so it was great to know I had someone not too far away. And Palmer and Hayes always loved seeing each other! Palmer was a little too touchy-feely for Hayes's liking, but they worked it out :)

Mother's Day :)

At the beginning of May I was able to fly to Salt Lake and then drive up to Rexburg to visit Spencer and Destinee and brand-spanking-new Samantha! I was so disappointed when I realized we'd be moving away before Destinee had her baby, largely because when I had Palmer she was one of my greatest supports! She was always good for an hour or two of chatting or taking the baby so I could nap and I had so looked forward to returning the favor when the time came. I'm afraid I wasn't much help on my short trip...but I did clip Samantha's nails when Destinee was too nervous to do it. Because by this time, I was of course, a total pro at motherhood ;)

Palmer was a little nervous about our first flight :)

One of my favorite parts about our return trip was the group of fifty Asian tourists who couldn't get enough of Palmer. I'm sure his picture is everywhere in China by now. They were just in love with him! The few who could speak a little English begged to hold him. I let them, but he wasn't a fan. 

My OTHER favorite part of our return trip was the guy waiting on the other side!! Derek picked us up at the airport and we spent the day doing a little San Francisco exploring. We went to the Pier, and that ended up being all we had time for, but it was a blast!

One of our weekend trips was to the Samuel P. Taylor State Park. We went on an awesome park, then headed to Stinton Beach. It was so nice and private! Probably because it was cold and full of sandcrabs, but Derek actually liked that part.

See look, I learned how to dress for the beach!

(Sand crabs. He never got tired of digging them up!)

Another weekend at Stinton. I will never get over Palmer's sailor outfit :)

He looks just like my nephew Ezra in this picture!

Aubrey and I took a little trip to Ghirardelli Square together one week. My memories of that day include a lot of figuring out where we were supposed to nurse these boys, how they would get naps, and other basic baby needs. But we had a ton of fun (and a ton of food!)

Another plus to California apartment living: pool time!

These boys!

You'll notice that about half the pictures in this post are of fun, California-specific adventures, and half are just pictures of Palmer. I mostly chose ones that I felt were milestones--or just really really cute. This one though, when I saw it in my photos, really squeezed my heart. It seems to capture a lot of what that summer was. Derek worked a lot--usually from 9 in the morning until at least 9 at night. I had a car most of the time, but not always gas money, so a lot of times it was just Palmer and me at home all day. There were good times and bad. And a bittersweet moment of every day was when I nursed Palmer to sleep at night. He would fall asleep in my arms and I would feel so relieved to be done with the work portion of my day--but also so sad to put my baby down and be alone for however many hours it took till Derek got home. A lot of times I would hold him for much longer than I needed to and just...not be alone. I hope that doesn't come across as too depressing. It was a hard time for me, but I just loved to feel this little boy of mine with his heavy breathing and deep sighs and know that I had a purpose.

Father's Day baked pineapple :)

Palmer's first time teething! Poor kiddo.

At the end of June I got to take a trip to St. George to see my little brother Taylor off on his mission. Palmer and I started to get really good at flying! It was so good to have the whole family together one last time before Taylor left for two years. But it was really sad to not have Derek there! Everyone missed him so much. 

Mom fail: Palmer got sunscreen in his eyes. I promise I took this picture AFTER spending at least ten minutes trying to clean his eye out. Poor baby :(

Last picture with Uncle Taylor!

And I always have to share the picture of me returning from my trip because I was always SO ready to get home to my hubby!

4th of July

Sleeping at church

 And then we were off again! But this time Derek got to come with :) We left for Salt Lake just before the 24th of July for the Allen family reunion. Our flight had crazy delays because something was wrong with the airplane. You can see the drop in our enthusiasm as time went on. Palmer was smart and escaped into a nap :) Our reunion, which Derek and I planned, was in Yellowstone. We had an amazing cabin in Island Park, and everything was just beautiful! It was fun to see how quickly Palmer warmed up to all the family. He was especially interested in anyone who shared food or read books to him :)

   

Samantha and Sam!

It was awfully windy, but the view was worth it!

And apparently on this trip, Palmer decided to grow up! Look at that boy!

The day we got back to California we headed straight for Santa Cruz for a little beach time. I have hardly any pictures of this day because I was so busy taking videos of the pod of dolphins, the sea lion, and the fifteen foot waves! It was such a crazy cool sight! 

I had to post this picture because a.) Palmer's face and b.) this was the day I met a dear friend of mine! I'd often go out to the little grassy area with Palmer on nice days (pretty much every day in San Ramon is a nice day. It's either nice enough to swim or nice enough to hang out on a blanket eating muffins). This particular day there was another mom walking around carrying a baby. She smiled at me and I made a bold decision--I said hi! Doesn't sound too bold...but I am the most socially awkward person ever, so saying hi was a big deal. I gestured for her to come sit with us and we got talking. Garima is from India, and we got to talk a lot about our different religions and experiences. I love her so much an am so grateful I met her that day! When the company Derek worked for decided they'd need us to move to a city about forty minutes away I was so disappointed because I had finally made a friend at my apartment complex. But Garima and I have stayed in contact ever since and I'm so glad we have.

This was taken on our final day with Aubrey and Hayes in California! We sure missed them after they left!

The company treated us to some tickets to an Oakland A's game. I was surprised at how stinking fun it was!! And what made it even better is that we beat the Dodgers! I may have only lived in the bay for a few months, but I basically consider myself a local now, so Oakland's my team ;)

Wait, what do you mean I'm wearing this shirt in almost every picture from last summer? You're crazy...

Palmer helping us move ;)

The new digs in Antioch!