She’s been pushing me to help her with ideas to make money. So we decided to try and sell hula hoops. We make them with 1-inch polyflex pipe. They’re really big, so they’re easy to learn.

Here’s the marketing video we created to sell them. Karina and I posted this on Facebook.

This was my sixth canyoneering trip since we’ve lived back in Southern Utah. I never went with Stephen when we lived here before because we were having babies and I couldn’t be away all day.

I’ve done:
Johnson’s Arch. (Heidi, Thane, Alex, Libby, me, Stephen)
Yankee Doodle. (Jason, Amanda, Meagan, Emily, Sarah, me, Stephen, Alex)
Water Canyon. (big group)
Pine Creek. (big group)
Birch Hollow. (Kris K., Kalenn, Jason, Steve Mabey, Jaden S., Josh S., me, Stephen)
Fat Man’s Misery (Kris L., me, Stephen, Joni & Thomas D., Jaden S., Josh S., Troy, Jason, Brian Geirisch, Andrea & Jeff P.)

Friday was Avery’s 7th birthday, kinda crazy and fun, but in preparation for being gone all day the following day I told the kids we’re leaving at 5:30 am and won’t be home till just before bed. I asked Alex, “Would you like to have Dallen (his bff) here on Saturday to hang out with? Do you think you could still take good care of the girls if he’s here with you?”

He said, “No, probably not. It’s better if it’s just me.”

Whoa. Okay. That was mature.

We didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before. Nearly every time we’ve gone canyoneering I debate if I should even go. Will it rejuvenate me? Will the kids be okay? And every time I’ve been glad I made the decision to go.

It is hard.
It can be scary.
I know I’ll be sore and tired the next day.

Fat Man’s Misery was yesterday, and it was 12 hours of hiking, rappelling, swimming, and wading through the gorgeous slot canyons of Zion National Park. We left at 5:30 am and got home at 9:10 pm. The temperature was a high of 80-ish in Zion. Absolutely perfect temperatures.

Stephen carries a pack that weighs what he says is 30 pounds when it’s dry, but I can barely lift it so I think it’s closer to 50. It’s insane whatever it is! I carry nothing because he puts my stuff with his, and truthfully, if I had to carry a pack, I could not do canyoneering. It would kill me to carry a pack. My shoulders and upper neck would get so sore that I would be crying the whole time from pain.

The first few water canyons we got to, Stephen spared me from getting completely wet by putting me on his shoulders (along with his pack) and waded me across. It was very sweet. I fell in love all over again. How does he do that? Where does that strength come from?

Eventually we got to the swimming canyons where you had to slide right down into the water, most of us getting completely submerged, and so I was on my own. Time to get all the way wet.

At times you’re in full sun, hiking and sweating from the heat, hoping for a breeze. Other times, you’re in shaded cool slot canyons where you’re swimming in very cold water, cursing the breeze.

Yesterday the cold got to me at one point. After swimming through a few canyons, the last one was a natural warm springs. It felt like a warm pool as opposed to super cold river water. But then we had a long hike out a large canyon filled with river water up to our knees that was shaded from the sun and I could not get warm. The majesty of the canyon was incredible. But my back started to spasm, as it always does when I’m cold, and I told Stephen with tears welling that I can’t be cold anymore; I just can’t.

He grabbed my hand. It felt warm and comforting. And we waded back and forth through the river, navigating over the rocks and sand until finally the canyon exposed the 3:00 pm sun. Like lizards, we all stopped to dry off and change into dryer shoes and socks, slathering sunscreen on our necks and arms in preparation for the long, long hike out and back to our cars.

This hike was intense, a bit like rock climbing at times, but the weather and the scenery were so majestic. We all had to stop at times to catch our breath, look around at the scenery, and eat some beef jerky or sip our water. We couldn’t stop for long or our legs would begin to seize.

It wasn’t until 7:00 pm that the first of us reached the cars. And we had started just after 7:00 am.

We did it.

But would we do it again? Well, Stephen would; this was his third time doing this same canyon. I said I would not because I know what the other canyons are like and I like them better. We tried to convince our poor friend Joni to give it another go; this was her first time canyoneering! I told her they’re not all quite this intense.

I’m used to running 3 miles every day, but after Fat Man’s Misery I can barely go up and down my stairs at home.

The thing is, it hurst so good. I love feeling sore after an intense excursion like that.

We made new friends, strengthened old friendships, fed our spirits in the great outdoors, and I felt loved and cherished.

It was a blast.

I want to plan another one soon. And I’m gonna get Alex to come too.

Jeff Poulton found a helmet for me. It fits!

Yesterday we brainstormed together and came up with a bunch of options. One of them was to sell my Life Manifestos posters door to door.

Today they came to me in my office and told me they wanted to do it.

So I set them up with some posters in tubes, which went into a backpack. I wrote them a script (below) and coached them on how to deliver it. The plan was for Avery to hold two posters up while Libby read the script.

They went out to our neighborhood and sold two in about a half hour.

They came back to the house and Libby was tired and ready to be done.

I challenged them to go out and make one more sale.

“Libby,” I said, “you’re young and you have a long time to learn this. But if you just trust me, I want to teach you something that you’ll never forget: If you’ll commit to selling just one more poster and don’t come home until you do it, you’ll be so proud of yourself. You’ll be a lot more excited to come back to it tomorrow. If you learn that habit to always end your day on a sale, you’ll be forever glad that you did. And if you sell three posters per day, you’ll have enough to buy a Chromebook in just seven days!”

But she wasn’t having it. While we were talking she looked out the window and saw our neighbor across the street come home. She said she would go to that one last house but she wouldn’t do more than that.

But Avery was totally motivated. On their way out the door Avery told Libby, “I believe dad. You wanna know what I don’t like about you? You don’t believe dad.”

Oh my gosh. I could have died. Seeing these two walking around the neighborhood, Avery toting posters with a backpack full of tubes, Libby holding her sales script.

And you know what? They sold a poster to that last house. Mission accomplished!

Here’s Libby’s sales script:

Hi, we’re Libby and Avery Palmer.

Our Dad has an online business called Life Manifestos that sells inspirational posters. He’s letting us earn some money by selling his posters door to door.

Here are some examples of some of his posters.

[Hand them the paper.]

We wanted to show you two posters today: the Family Manifesto and the Christ Manifesto.

[Hold up two posters.]

These sell on the website for $15 each. But our Dad is letting us sell them for just $10 each, or you can get two for just $15, which is fifty percent off.

We have them rolled up in these tubes to keep them protected, and you can frame them and put them wherever you want.

Would you like to buy one poster today for just $10, or two for just $15?

She was modeling it for me and I saw that it had writing on the back. “Do you know what it says?” I asked.

“No, tell me.”

I looked closer. “It says ‘High Maintenance.’ Do you know what that means?”

“No.”

“It means like a girl who needs a lot to make her happy.”

Pause.

“Oh! That’s just like me, Daddy!”

Me, in my head, “You said it.”

By Avery and Karina Palmer

(Note: At our house it is a joke that if the littles aren’t obeying or are being mean that we need to lock them up in the “hoosegow.” It’s not an actual place; just a joke to make light of a tough situation.)
 

Chapter 1

Madaley and Haley are best friends. They do everything together. They even live next door to each other.

One day they begged their moms to take them to Frightmares at Lagoon. Madaley’s mom said that if she did her chores without complaining for a whole month, then she would take her to Lagoon. Haley’s mom said that Haley had to earn the money to go and then she would take her.

So for a whole month, Madaley did chores without complaining and Haley did jobs for her mom and saved up enough money.

Finally, just before Halloween, they were able to go to Frightmares.

Chapter 2

Frightmares was way scarier than they thought it would be. At night, when it gets dark, all the scary things come out.

There were zombies, ghosts, monsters, and all sorts of scary things.

Madaley and Haley went on one ride that frightened them the most. It was a roller coaster that passes really scary things that look like they’re alive!

One time they went in the Haunted House together. They were screaming.

Chapter 3

When they left Lagoon, on their way back home, Madaley fell asleep in the car. She had a nightmare.

In her dream she was locked up in a dungeon, but they called it the “hoosegow,” with monsters and zombies surrounding her.

She noticed, across her cage, there was another girl inside another cage. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could tell who it was. It was Haley!

She couldn’t believer her eyes. Madaley screamed for Haley. Haley screamed for Madaley. But they were stuck in their cages.

Madaley noticed there were holes in the cage and she thought she might be able to slip through them. So she tried it. And she did!

But the monsters and zombies saw her out of her cage, so she had to run away from them.

She screamed for Haley to slip out of her own hoosegow.

Chapter 4

Haley was able to escape the hoosegow and she was able to grab a bow and arrow while running away.

But Madaley slipped into a hole while she was running away. It was so deep that Haley couldn’t see Madaley down inside. So Haley slid down the hole too.

They fell ka-plop in the mud of a swamp. There was moss and it smelled bad.

They looked around and saw glowing red eyes in the swamp forest. But they had a bigger problem than that. They were stuck in the mud!

Luckily, Haley still had the bow and arrow and she had practiced shooting it at a homeschool river activity once.

But when Haley shot the bow and arrow, she missed.

The glowing red eyes got closer and closer. It was a werewolf!

She knew she only had one more chance. She shot one last time, but, oh no, she missed again.

Now there were two werewolves coming at them.

Madaley found stones in the mud and started throwing them at them. She hit one of them.

Next thing you know, they felt the ground rumbling. It turns out they were in a volcano.

Chapter 5

The volcano began to erupt and the werewolves got burned by the hot lava.

Madaley and Haley pulled their feet out of the mud, but their shoes were left behind.

It was a miracle what happened next. A fairy poofed out of nowhere and she sprinkled magical flying dust on the girls so they could fly out of the volcano.

They saw a beautiful view as they soared across the sky.

Their houses were not far away. They flew to their houses and crawled into their comfortable cozy beds, safe from all the scary things.

Chapter 6

When Madaley woke up, she realized she was in the car with her mom and best friend.

She woke up Haley and said, “You’ll never believe the dream I just had.”

Haley said, “You’ll never believe the dream that I just had.”

They soon discovered that they both had the exact same dream!

Madaley and Haley are best friends. They do everything together. Even in their dreams.

The End

I don’t have to get up, but I want to. I set my alarm for 7:15 and get to spend a few minutes with her before her ride shows up.

Today I caught her writing me a note. We decided to both write notes to each other.

Hers said:

“Dear, Best mom in the history of the universe, I love you more then you can imagen. You have ben so so so so good to me! I love u!”

Mine said:

“Dearest Child of Mine: You are incredibly special. God love you SO much, even when you make mistakes. He wants to hug you but only I get to do that. I’m so lucky! Well, I guess He can hug you through the Holy Ghost. That happened to me before I love your face, your countenance. Your light and brightness. You are a joy to me and others. I’m so proud to call you “daughter.” And I miss you when you’re at school, but I hope you learn a lot. Mostly I want you to learn to be patient with friends and learn to love people who are not like you, like Madison and/or annoying people. (I don’t want you to be like them. I just want you to learn to love them like God loves all of us even when we’re annoying.) So have a great day and come home soon and hug me. Love, Mom.”

I think we’ve stumbled onto a new tradition. How fun!

Here is a picture I snuck of Libby reading to Laela.

She said, “Lulu did.”

I love Avery’s giggles in the background. She’s so proud. Later she said, “It’s so pretty!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDvHqfcL_vw&authuser=0

By the looks of her room, she should be cleaning it but… she’s not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLgWVFWJdNE&authuser=0

I thought she was so stinkin’ cute in her description of these special cupcake treats, I had to video in secret.