Walker Family

Walker Family

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Family Pictures 2012

A few weeks ago we had our annual family pictures taken.  I'm always glad when I have them done, but I detest choosing what to wear and getting everyone ready.  I'm not going to lie, sometimes it feels like World War 3.  For some strange reason, this year wasn't too bad though.  Once I got past choosing what we were all wearing it was pretty much smooth sailing.  Here's a look at our favorites.












 A big thank you to Jared and Jenni Skelton with Silverstrand Photography for taking the pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was early this year, November 22, to be exact.  Did you know that's the earliest it can ever be?  True story.  One thing I was grateful for this Thanksgiving was the nice weather.  You see, every Thanksgiving morning we play Walker/Sundell Family Football with our dear friends, the Sundells.  We play come rain or shine, so I was glad there was mostly shine this year. 

 Team Sundell

Team Walker

Team Walker was super lucky to have our nephew, Luke, visiting from BYU/Idaho.  Luckily he's a Walker, so he could join our team.  Each year we mix up the teams a little bit, but we always begin with family vs. family.  I'm happy to report that Team Walker won by one touchdown this year!  Lahoo!  (As Sadie would say!)



As you can see, we had a fabulous time.  Sadie was particularly excited to play this year.  She had a great time trying to tackle Curt at every turn.
She also had fun sitting on people that were already down, even if they were on her team!

This year we decided to mix it up with kids vs. adults. 


That was...interesting.  It turns out the Walker girls (not Stacy, mind you) are afraid to catch the ball!!!  This was a major source of frustration for Luke, though he was a good sport the whole time.  When worse comes to worse, you can hand off the ball to the littlest kid and run it and them in.

Disclaimer:  No children were injured in the football game...not too badly anyway.  Sorry about the knee in the head, Brannen!

When all was said and done, we had a great time and we are even still friends.


P.S.  We tried to get Grandpa Walker to join in on game, but he chose to be the cheering section and part-time photographer. 




After football we had worked up quite the appetite, so we were off to Sarah and Dean's house in Riverton for some awesome turkey dinner.  Jared's twin sister, Janelle, wasn't there so I felt obligated to shoot a few pictures.  (Love you, Janelle!)

We ate and ate and did I mention that we ate?   I was so full I thought I would die.  A huge thank you to Sarah and Dean for hosting us and making such a yummy feast for us all to enjoy!

These three had fun making faces for the camera while they laid on the floor trying to recover from eating way too much food.



Later that night, I was forced to go to Target for some awesome deals for Christmas gifts.  When I say forced, I mean this guy made me go.
Okay, to be fair (and honest) Luke didn't make me go.  I was going and he decided to join me.  We met up with my sister Lisa and my sister-in-law, Cher along with two of my friends.  It was cold by evening, I was glad I had my hot cocoa to keep me warm.  We were able to get everything I wanted and still get home by 9:50!!!  Huge success and one happy mama! 

The next day I took all the kids, and my little Luke, up to the new outlets in Lehi.  We had fun checking out all the shops.  My little shopper, Sadie was dying over these earmuffs at the Gymboree Outlet.  She was so excited when her big cousin tried some on too and posed for a picture.  She sure does love him!  I can't blame her, we think he's pretty fabulous too!



What a great weekend we had.  We have much to be thankful for.  Most of all, I'm thankful for this darling little family that is all mine for eternity.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Two Weeks of Catching Up!

Here goes a major catch up with what's been going on around the Walker house.  Two weeks of random stuff coming right up.

First, we celebrated Grandpa Allen's 69th birthday.  I'm pretty sure you're a little irritated that I posted your age Dad, but I love you.  We had my brother and sister and their families over along with my dad's sister and her husband and one of his brothers.  We had a fabulous time eating, visiting and laughing.


Next came Halloween.  It's no mystery that I don't love Halloween, but I worked hard to put on a good face for the littles.  The pumpkin carving is always a highlight for them.  



This vain little girl didn't want to share her picture with a pumpkin, go figure.

For as much as I dislike Halloween these littles do love a good Halloween and I must admit that they looked darling in their costumes.



 


After Halloween the BYU basketball season began.  My dad has always had season tickets.  Luckily for us, Jared got two tickets from work as well.  The night of this game me, Jared, Ethan and my dad all went to the game.  

Ethan got to sit with Grandpa.  This was fun for lots of reasons, one of which was the treats Grandpa provided for him. 
Yes, my son is wearing a red shirt at a BYU game.  I'm shocked that neither one of us noticed!

Next comes the fact that my little boy has been melting my heart quite a bit the last week or so.  We all overslept a morning last week and at our house that can become disastrous quick.  Jenna and I leave for the morning at 7:20, the other three leave 20 minutes later, followed by Jared 10 minutes after that.  So, the parents not waking up until 6:30 puts a huge wrench in the works.  Ethan got up quickly this particular morning.  He emptied the dishwasher, helped Sadie get breakfast and got some for himself as well.  He was such a huge help.  Sadie was sad because she wanted Jared to read to her.  Ethan solved that problem himself.  He told her to get her doll and he would read to both of them.  This is how I found them.

He is seriously such a good little boy and his little sister adores him.  If he sees her at school without anyone to eat lunch with he has her eat with him and his friends.  He also brings her along to play sports with his friends if she can't find a friend on the playground.  He gave our family night lesson last night.  He taught us all a lesson on missionary work.  I fell in love with him again as I watched him reading to us from his Book of Mormon.
To say I adore this little guy would be a huge understatement, I can't believe how much I love him.

This past weekend we had the first snowstorm of the season.  Last year we had almost no snow.  In fact, they never once even put their snow gear on!  So, when I picked them up from school on Friday they were giddy to put their snow clothes on and go play.  We had received about 5 inches and it was still snowing.  They spent hours out playing on Friday and then again on Saturday.


Monday afternoon Jenna had one of the best day in the last 18 months.  She got her braces off!  She was so excited to finally be done with her mouth full of metal.  To celebrate we made a huge bowl of sticky, gooey caramel popcorn for our family night treat.


To round off the past two weeks we celebrated Jared's 38th birthday!  He had the day off so we were able to go to lunch together.  Then we had a yummy dinner, presents and some birthday cake to finish off the night.


As you can see we have had a crazy, yet fabulous couple of weeks.  With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming I'm sure the next few will be the same.  I'm going to post a bunch of pictures of some of our favorite Christmas activities and traditions, so stay tuned.

P.S.  Sadie brought home three smiley faces on her behavior report three days in a row last week.  We celebrated with a big frosty from Wendy's.