Dad, Tell Me About the Time (41)

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

What is something your spouse does exceptionally well?

Lisa is very organized. She is a planner and whether we are going on a trip or if people are coming to visit us she has every day planned. She has plans for what we should do, where we should go and when we should do it.

Even though she plans every hour of every day she, is also flexible and understands that things change.

What is the most challenging obstacle you overcame together?

When I was laid off from Kyocera and went back to Hi-Z, our lives changed dramatically. Norb died and Hi-Z went downhill slowly but surely. Within just a few years my income was cut in half and my savings dissappeared. I should have bailed on Hi-Z but I was still hopeful that things would work out at Hi-Z. It didn’t. Within just a few years my income was cut in half.

Lisa and I faced this challenge together. I could have got a job in another city but we both wanted to stay in San Diego so I started a my own company and she went back to work. It has been a huge adjustment for both of us but we have seen miracles and we see the hand of God in our lives. It will be interesting to see where this all ends up.

What is something your spouse does that makes you laugh?

Lisa loves to try new things and will often come home with stuff that she just had to try. If Oreo comes out with a new flavor, she will buy a pack to give it a try and because we don’t want to eat the whole bag of cookies, she will give away the rest of the bag.

She saw cotton candy grapes and had to buy those (we did not give away the rest of the grapes, they were good). Last week she came home with donut peaches. They were actually quite good.

How does your spouse inspire you to be better?

Lisa lives her life in a way that I hope to be able to someday. She is always aware of other people’s feelings and needs and will often drop flowers off at someone’s house where she knows they are going through trials. Lots of times she doesn’t even know that anything is wrong but will feel inspired to stop by for a visit and learns that they are having a hard time.

Lisa’s prayers are very sincere and always about other people. She can’t see a problem and not do something to help. She will spend extra time at school and give up her own personal time to help a student. If she sees a student do something special at school, she will take a picture and send it to the students’ parents.

I can only hope to be that aware of other people and the trials and needs they have.

Do you share any inside jokes?

I’m sure we have a ton of inside jokes, but none are coming to my mind at the moment. Let me think on this and I will come back to it.

What is one thing you know about your spouse that no one else knows?

Lisa is a very open person when it comes to her feelings so she has few secrets. Most of the things I know about Lisa that no one else knows, are things that she wouldn’t want anyone else to know.

Morning Walks

Monday, October 7, 2024

In an effort to improve our health, Lisa and I have been going for morning walks almost every weekday. We’ve been doing it for several months now and we love the time together. The world is a different place at 6:00 am and we are starting to get to know some of the regular walkers out there. Now that autumn has arrived, and the sun is rising later we are starting to see some amazing sunrises.

While Kira was here, she joined us on every morning walk and that time alone with her made our walks even more special. One morning last week it was quite foggy. The picture doesn’t do it justice but the effect of the sun trying to make its way through the fog was beautiful and very surreal.

I love our morning walks, and I want them to continue, but I need to figure out how I can add a run or bike ride that is a little more physical.

The Palmers – week 2

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Kira and Justin headed to Universal studeos last weekend and returned Monday. Well, they returned without Justin and Landon. Justin had to work and Landon had band camp so they drove straight home from Universal Studios. Kira, Evan, Cameron and Piper stayed here until today. They will be leaving around noonish.

Monday Lisa and I worked and Kira and the kids spent the day at the beach with some friends of theirs. Monday evening we had a weiener roast and s’mores in our backyard for one of their friends daughters. Lisa and I left early to go to our dance class.

Tuesday I went with Kira and the kids to Legoland. While Kira is healed enough that she is allowed to lift Evan, he is still a big kid and tough to lift into rides even for a healthy adult. Unfortunately, mom had to work.

Legoland was a blast, it was a bit tough for Kira because Cameron kept finding things that he thought were terribly fascinating and did not want to leave his fascination to join the rest of the family. Since we couldn’t leave him Kira had to drag him away which resulted in a major scene, that was hard on her.

Kira’s emotions were heightend by Legolands policy of transferring Evan to a hand wheelchair and leaving the electric wheelchair with the strollers. Kira was not about to leave the $150,000 wheelchair unsupervised with the strollers so the first few rides resulted in a twenty minute delay while the workers had to call in someone who could work with us.

After a couple of hours of this we were seriously considering getting our money back and leaving, but then we found a simpathetic manager who spread the work to the entire park to watch for the crazy lady with the wheel chair and give her what she wants. We had no problems after that, but before we left for the day, the Guest Services got an earful and Kira and Legoland will be having some serious discussions about their wheelchair policy.

Other than the occassional issue with Cameron getting stuck, the rest of the day was great.

Tuesday evening we celebrated Camerons birthday. It was a good day.

Wednesday Kira and a couple of her friends drove to Temecula to visit a friend who has had a tumor removed from her brain. She is doing well but it is very scary. We had a good evening with the kids. Well, I had mutual and Piper was hiding in her room all night on her tablet but no one went to bed until late so it was good to hang out with Cameron, Evan and mom. Thursday was a slow morning while Kira packed and then we said our good byes.

Kira and Justin, thank you for spending your fall break with us. 

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Because of genetics, about 90% of drugs only work for about 30-50% of people.

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My Kilt

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Last week on Monday we took Kira with us to our dance class. She thought it was just as fun as we do. When we got there, Jodi took us over to a table that has clothing laid out on it. The clothing turned out to be all Scottish related and right on top was this beautiful kilt.

Jodi told us that the kilt belonged to a member of the dance club who was now so old that he could no longer participate, but he had a kilt that he wanted given to someone who would use it. Jodi said that the guy was tall and she figured it would fit me. It fit me perfectly.

She then started pulling out everything that goes with a kilt and that is a lot more than you would think. I had to look up the names of everything but here is what I got.

1. Kilt
2. Vest
3. Jacket
4. A big fat belt with a cool lion on its buckle
5. A sporran (the purse that hangs in front of the kilt)
6. Kilt hose (Socks)
7. Flashes (ribbons that hang on the kilt hose)
8. Sgian Dubh (a knife that you stick in your kilt hose)

All I need now is a black tie. I think they normally wear a bow tie but I might just go with a normal tie. So I just googled it and it looks like it is about half and half bow tie and normal tie and it also looks like a lot of them are wearing red ties. I think I need a new red tie.

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Buz Aldrin was the first man to pee on the moon

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Kira & the Kids

 Monday, September 30, 2024

Last Tuesday after work, Kira and her kids went with Mandy and her family to a place called the Imaginarium. I went with them but mom had a meeting she had to go to. That is really sad because she is the one found out about the Imaginarium and it was amazing.

I guess the best way to describe it is that they walled off a portion of a parking lot and covered it with fields of iluminated flowers with walk ways all through the flowers.

Around the edge of the space, they had dozens of booths. Some booths were places where you could pose for pictures and others were just fun places to walk through.

There isn't much more to say so I'll just share some of my favorite pictures.

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A bowed whale has been found with a harpoon lodged in it that dates back to 1870.
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Kira & Justin

Tuesday, September 25, 2024

In addition to my whole narcolepsy/CBD experience on Friday, the Palmer family also arrived on Frideay; minus Kira and Landon. Landon had a band commitment on Saturday so Kira and Landon flew in Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening Justin flew back to Arizona so he could work for the week.

Saturday we spent several hours at the beach. It was a perfect beach day. The water was in the 70°’s and it was sunny. We stayed for several hours. Sunday we all went to church but Justin left after Sacrament meeting to go get Kira and Landon at the airport. Sunday night after dinner Justin flew home.

--------------------trivia--------------------

Mamoths and Asian elephants are more closely related to each other 

than either of them are rleated to the African elephant.

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