Jana comes to Philly!

I know I post a lot of pics, but I just had to share some from Jana's adventure visiting us. We had the best time. She came for about a week, and I wish she didn't have to go back. Shawn was gone for most of the weekdays with rotations, so we partied without him, but he got to join us for the fun on the weekends.
Day #1 Amish Country

We drove around and did a covered bridge tour. This one was our favorite. 

Outhouses at the Amish school. Can you imagine?! I love the bonnet and hat to show boys and girls. What a simple playground

Here is the school 

petting zoo

Amish Farms are soo beautiful

Poor Kanyin spent so much time in the car on our adventures. She did well keeping entertained.

Yah we just made some soup inside a pumpkin. Sooo delicious!!

FHE carving pumpkins

We live close to a place called Forbidden Drive. It is a walking/running trail. It is so so pretty.

I built up a few more muscles carrying this monster :)

We found a covered bridge on our walk

late night hockey game! 

Go Flyers!

Philly time!

Philadelphia is getting a temple!

Reading Terminal Market in Philly. There are so many different food options! We had some amish pretzels and Thai food

Silly shutdown....at least Jana got to see the outside of Independence Hall

Betsy Ross's house.

Elfreth's Alley is the oldest residential street that is still a residential street. 

Kanyin fell right into a good mud puddle. Her pants and shoes were coverd! She was pretty distraught as you can't tell. A nice lady saw what happened and let us into her house to get her cleaned up.  

Can't go to Philly without a cheese steak

Crazy New York City!  9/11 memorial is always humbling to see

Yes those are real rats. There are some interesting people in NYC

Jana in the overwhelming times square

We went to Valley Forge the next day. I had a photo shoot to do there, so Jana and Kanyin walked and played around while I took pictures. It is such a beautiful place and lots of history. 

Jana's last day Washington DC! And the government knew Jana was coming across the country to see DC and decided to end the shutdown just for her :) We were super happy we were able to see the monuments etc. 

art museum

Kanyin loved loved collecting rocks everywhere we went

Everyone loves saying hi to Kanyin. Oh yeah...we had some indian food. 

Jana's so strong!

Natural History Museum

Shawn being Shawn

of course we had to do a photo shoot to capture the gorgeous Jana! More pics from her photo shoot are here You just have to scroll down a bit.

Sorry for the billion pictures! Pictures is kind of my thing if you can't tell :) I have been LOVING the pictures you guys have been posting. It is crazy to see how fasts everyone is growing! We miss everyone so much.  We are going to be coming for Christmas, so we'll have to have a get together some how, some where.
 I can't wait to hear about Dallin's homecoming. So crazy his two years are up. I am taking an institute class and our teachers are a senior missionary couple serving here from Rexburg. They work with and lived close to Dallin and they always tell me he is a favorite missionary and just so good. Thanks for being such a great example Dallin!   

Videos of dallin

Sorry it took me awhile to get these up. Thought I better get it done before he gets home!!! Jana flew home yesterday after visiting us for a week. It was pure awesome and a party. I will post pics soon.
https://vimeo.com/77436945

https://vimeo.com/77436666

I hope the links work for the videos.
Torrey

If wishes were fishes...

"If wishes were fishes, we'd all have a fry."

We wish all of our photos would "turn out", meaning
all of our kids would hold still, we would all smile at the same time and be looking in the same direction, we could figure out the timer on our camera BEFORE the first shots were taken, and no stray cats would invite themselves to our family photo shoot.   BUT...
Nathan and Amanda were good enough to let us go to Grandma's farm for the photo shoot (It was Jessica's idea last year and we stole it fair and square for THIS year.)  The cute bench is an
authentic TROY-built!  If you like it I can hook you
 up.  I know a guy.

Honestly we're just glad that the task is behind us
once again and we don't have to do it again for another year.  (You will get to see the one that "turned out" on our Christmas card.)

"Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades"

But "almost" was enough to get Stilman's name in the Herald Journal.  (He "almost" made the insurance goal with "a rocket of a 20-yard shot to the top right corner" but it was tipped off by the opposing goal keeper.) The mighty Preston Indians soccer team were victorious 1-0 crowning them district champions and winning them a trip to the state tournament in Boise!  What a thrill!  Therefore, the whole family is looking forward to an all expense paid vacation to Le Bois (courtesy of...El Jeffe) to cheer on the biggest brother this weekend. --Hopefully we'll get to spend some quality time with the Travis's while we're there! (Stilman's #18)

That is what's been going on around here.  Mostly soccer, soccer, and more soccer, with a little soccer in between.  (5 out of 6  kids playing?!  That's CRAZY!) We're glad it's all about wrapped up.

Happy fall to y'all!

Look who we saw!

Look who came to our house today!!!!!!!! Best surprise ever!!! One of the Elders from our ward called and asked if they could come by. We figured it was one of the two Larson boys.  Turns out Dallin was on exchanges with one of the Elders from our ward.  It was so fun to chat and see how much he has grown. The pic below proves Dallin's taller than Shawn :)  We have a little video too that we'll post later.

I threw this one in there so you can all oooww and aawww over my curb side find. The hutch was an ugly brown, but nothing spray paint can't fix. Love free things  :)

Caldwell Palmers Recap...

  We wanted to just recap the past few months and what we've been up to.  

We're sure we will miss a few things but here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Dawson William turned ONE in May!  No, he didn't eat the whole cake...He has siblings that helped him!

Lindsay took the kids bowling to celebrate Summer vacation & to break up the monotony of Summer.  It was Dawson's nap time and he was out of control!

At the end of June, we stayed a night with Mom & Clair in Clifton and then drove to Lindsay's family reunion at Bear Lake for several days.  These are the Smith grandkids.  Lindsay, her mom and sisters all made the shirts for the kids.  Our kids are in yellow. :)  Grandbaby #19 was just born in August.  (The cute boy in red now has a brother.)  The kids were getting eaten by mosquitoes in this picture!

We had a great time playing on the beach!  We rented a big house just a couple blocks from the beach.  There was so much to do in the area!

 Lindsay's dad rented a bunch of these.  We all rode these around for a while.  We had enough for everyone to sit & didn't take turns like we originally planned.  It was exhausting though and we sorta wished we had taken turns after our rental time was up.  However, it was awfully fun to race each other and tour the area.  And of course we stopped for famous raspberry shakes, too!

Travis had to work for most of the day on July 4th.  Lindsay packed a picnic lunch and took all 5 kids (alone) to the Middleton parade and had a blast!  Here's the kids ready to catch some goodies.

Travis & Lindsay went to WY for trek from July 28- August 1st.  It was a great experience but it's great to be over, too! :)  (Lindsay was in charge of planning it.)  This is our first day on the trails-- Martin's Cove.  On our walk to 'the cove'.

Travis on day 2 at Willie Site...getting ready for a river crossing. :)

Caldwell 8th ward bishopric wives. 

Eliza turned 7 in August!  Eliza and Lindsay came up with the cake idea, bought the items, etc.  Then, Travis made it!  Impressive, eh?

Lindsay took Kelsey and Dawson to a really neat exotic animal farm/zoo that is in Middleton, ID. We just discovered it.  The older 3 kids were back in school and didn't come.  This camel was getting a little too up-close and personal with Kelsey.  Lindsay happened to snap the picture at the right time!  Kelsey wouldn't go near the camels after this.  We also got to see/pet/feed zebras, bison, pigs, goats, sheep, horses, beavers, sloths, etc etc.  If you come visit us, we'll take you! :)

More pics from the farm in Middleton.  Dawson LOVED all the animals!

Eliza with a HUGE green bell pepper.  Our garden did quite well this year...except our tomato plants.  We picked about 400 jalapenos off 3 plants.  We picked 50+ spaghetti squash and about 100 zucchini!

Mason- playing football at recess split his chin open and had to go get 5 stitches.  He was tough though and said it was worth it!  He had stitches for 6 days and is back to playing football again.  He will have a scar to match his dad's.  (also from playing football when he was young)


Well, we hope we didn't put you all to sleep!  We are busy, busy but doing great. Lindsay has Kelsey and Dawson home during the day and the oldest 3 are in school.  Jaren left the charter school he's been at for 6 years and is absolutely loving the middle school.  He's taking a few advanced classes and is keeping up with all his classes and doing very well.  Eliza got in to the school that the boys' have been going to & now goes to school with Mason everyday.  She is loving her 'new school', her teacher, etc.  She has made a lot of new friends.  She went to 2 birthday parties just this week!  Kelsey keeps Lindsay company at home and tries to keep Dawson out of trouble.  He is a maniac and in to EVERYTHING!  Lindsay had almost forgotten how it was to have a toddler boy around (after an 8+ yr gap)...but is now being reminded.  It's a good thing he's so cute.  Canning season is drawing to a close (thank goodness).  Travis is busy at work and at church!

Life is good!  We love and miss you all.  Travis & Lindsay & kids