Making Homemade Candy Canes

This week we were invited to participate in a long standing family tradition with the Baer family in our ward. They are a wonderful family. They have a tradition of making candy canes every year with their children. The tradition is passed down from Dan's family. They gave a nice lesson on the candy cane and all the meanings behind the shape, the colors, and how it applies to our Savior, Jesus. There were several families who were invited and had the opportunity to see how it is done. I've never been privy to homemade candy before so I found it fascinating. We got to pull the candy until it became white, mix the food coloring with the candy to make stripes, and then the Baer family starting pulling, twisting, and cutting off pieces. The kids then got to take it to the table and shape it into a candy cane. What a super fun evening!! What a treat to be invited to participate in this family tradition.

Rampart Range

Sam got a fancy new pistol recently (which he very firmly states was purchased specifically for me since it's for someone with smaller hands ;-) and so he wanted to take the boys out to shot the gun. The boys and I went sledding while Sam played with his gun and then after sledding the boys got to have one turn each shooting daddy's gun. Ethan was really interested in shooting. Ryan thought it was to loud. He did want to shoot though. It was a nice Saturday morning Walker family outing.

P.S. that's the famous Pike's Peak in the background.

The Christmas Spirit

Well it's that time of year! Our house is most definitely buzzing with the Christmas Spirit right now. The boys are super excited! I thought last year was fun but it looks like this year will be even more fun....(for mom and dad :-)

We took the boys to see Santa yesterday. They spent the afternoon drawing pictures and making their lists. Ryan spent the day singing Santa Clause is Coming to Town which is his new favorite song. (See video) Ryan went right up onto Santa's lap and explained everything on his list. It was fun to see Ethan still believing in Santa. It won't be long before he's in on the secret so I'm enjoying it while I can.

We of course are still focusing on the true reason for the season, our Savior. The boys enjoy listing to the scripture stories and often tell me what they've learned. It's refreshing to have children who enjoy the scriptures. Ethan said "Mom I know Jesus is really important but Santa is the bomb!" He's a crack up. You really just have to spend a short amount of time around Ethan before he says something hilarious.

I hope all of you are enjoying the wonderful Spirit that comes with this time of year....I know I am.

3 year old singing Santa Clause is Coming to Town

Soccer Begins

Has fall really arrived? The beginning of soccer usually means the beginning of fall and last year it meant the beginning of winter as we had 3 games cancelled because of snow. I can't hardly believe it. I'm not ready for snow again. I've loved summer here in Colorado! No snow! Maybe we'll have a mild winter this year. Of course, my first winter in CO was the worst in many, many years.

This year my baby...Ryan started soccer! I can't believe it. He's a little more athletically inclined then Ethan and so he was super ready to play soccer. He's been trying on his uniform for weeks. The big day finally arrived and he was ready. It was hilarious to watch a 3 year old play soccer. He spent most of the time chasing his shoelaces and chewing on the string to his shorts. If the coach gave him a chance to kick the ball then he stayed in there at least until the other kids took the ball away. He's playing with kids that are 4 going on 5 because I wanted him to play on the same team as his friend from church, Jackson. Jackson missed the first game but we're excited to have everyone next week.

Ethan is getting better and better every year. I count it as a good game when Ethan doesn't cry and he stays on the field the entire time the coach expects. :-) We discovered last year that Ethan has poor muscle endurance and so he gets tired much quicker then other kids his age. He was in physical therapy for almost a year but graduated. Now we just try and keep him active. Honestly, I think he'd be better suited behind a piano because he is very musically inclined. Or maybe a stand-up comic microphone. Hmmm.....

A GOOD Labor Day Weekend...

I must admit...Labor Day weekend is not my favorite weekend in the year. It's the end of summer and traditionally has been a "bad news" weekend. So I was happy to have my mom in town this year and to be able to have an enjoyable time.

We started the weekend by attending the Colorado Springs Hot Air Balloon Classic. They had 81 hotair balloons all take off at 6:30 in the morning. We dragged the kids out of bed because we knew they'd love it. And they did....except Ryan thought it was a little loud when we were right down in the middle of the balloons and spent most of the time with his ears covered. Ethan was his usually self when he's super excited about something...full of constant chatter. You can tell by the pictures that he couldn't even stop talking long enough to have his picture taken. He looking, pointing, talking, and getting his picture taken!

After the balloon festival we went to Ihop for breakfast. Ethan has been dying for smiley face pancakes for weeks!

Next, we took the boys camping! I haven't been camping in years. I've wanted to go but didn't want to take small children. I was excited when the boys started talking about wanting to go camping after setting up their Star Wars tent in the bedroom. I asked mom if she'd like to go camping with us. I definitely didn't want to be out camping alone with just the boys and I. Even having two women and no men attracted attention from fellow campers. :-) We had a camper on the right come over and let us know if we needed anything just to let him know and a camper on the left that came over and started our fire! I will admit that our fire was being stubborn and because of the weather not really starting well. He came over with newspaper and lighter fluid...I'll remember those next time. ;-)

We arrived at the campsite in the middle of a horrible rain storm. Fun. So we all sat in the van and played Uno for an hour. I was amazed at Ryan who is 3 years old! He played right along with us and for the most part understood the concept of the game. Finally the rain subsided and we pitched the tent. The boys were beside themselves with excitement. We got the tent pitched just in time for the storms to come again. The boys stayed in the tent and mom and I sat under the back door of the van. The wind started blowing pretty hard and the boys were screaming with joy. Ethan said "get down it's a tornado!". I took a picture just for the visual. Mom and I were laughing. I was secretly thinking it was time to go home. But the weather subsided and we had a wonderful rest of the night.

The best part about the storm was the rainbow! We actually had a double rainbow. I've never seen anything so beautiful. We were all pretty excited about the rainbow.

It was a great deal of fun to go camping but I was glad it was only one night. If I'm going to do any amount of camping I'm going to need a much more comfortable sleeping arrangement!

So that's the story of my GOOD Labor Day weekend! Hopefully, there will be a few more of these in the years to come. :-)

Kitchen Blog

I'm getting a new kitchen! Isn't that every girl's dream? I know I've been looking forward to it for about a year. We bought the house about a year ago. :-) Here are some fun before and middle pictures. We took out the wall seperating the dining room and kitchen and closed off the door into the kitchen from the front door. The end result is a nice big open space that will be super fun when it's finished. I'll post more pictures later!

Just so you know, I read your blog. Took me a while for figure out how to post. That just goes to show how old I am.

The Blog Begins

Never thought I'd be a blogger. A few years ago the word didn't even exist!
Never thought I'd play Bunco either. 10 months ago I didn't even know what bunco was.... This past week my bunco pals and I were talking about blogging. I was feeling a little behind the times when I realized, I didn't have a blogspot. What no blogspot! Imagine.
I'm only blogging because I hope to keep in better contact with family and friends. That is always my objective with the computer...maintain family and friendship relations. I'm deeply connected to people who've touched my life in some way or another. I like to take one good quality from every person I meet and incorporate it into my life in some way. I learned that after attending the funeral of a handsome young man with whom I attended high school. His family said he did that. I admired him so much and felt such great pain that he was taken from this earth that I decided at that time I would do the same thing.
Take for instance my friend Allison. She's amazing. She knows how to go with the flow better then anyone I know. Fortunately for her the flow has taken her all over Europe! Now that's a trait I really admire. :-)
Take my friend Georgia. Another amazing gal. I say gal because she's just bubbly and bright...full of sunshine. You just wouldn't call her a woman. The term doesn't fit. She taught me that life is full of surprises and it never hurts to make lemonade out of lemons. She also taught me that I may never want to have two babies at the same time even though I've wanted twins since I was old enough to know I could have babies.
So here I am blogging. Just because I want to keep in contact with friends and family. The core of my life.