Christmas Pictures!

A Good Pic of Molly's First Tooth

Merry Christmas from the Walker Kids!
And we're done!

Christmas for a Soldier

Anyone who would like to send a card or yummy Christmas goodies to Sam...let me know. I know that he (and all the guys he works with) would appreciate anything. It's VERY hard to be away from home for the holidays. I don't think he would appreciate me putting his address out there for all of the world to see so just leave a comment or send me an email.

Here is a some cute pictures of Molly "helping" decorate the tree this weekend and the boys doing their tree upstairs. We are ready for Christmas!! (just wish daddy could be here with us, do you think Santa could bring me daddy?)

Halloween

The Ward Trunk or Treat Party (as if you couldn't have guessed based on the beautiful background)

We had the privelage of going to Disneyland for Halloween this year! I feel very blessed that my mom was able to meet the boys and I in California and that we were able to have so much fun. We spent 4 days in the parks. We could have probably even used another day. We had AMAZING weather. That was a super nice perk considering there was a foot of snow all over the cars in long term parking the morning we left. Molly was a wonderful traveller. She's just a mellow thing that goes with the flow. She loved all the neat things to look at, and danced to the music. She learned how to ask for "more", play patty cake, and pull herself up to standing while we were there! We had lots of time to sit and play with Molly. :-) She also loved the rides.

The boys were beside themselves with joy. They were ready to go to Disneyland again next week. Ryan was a little nervous with some of the indoor rides and chose to stay outside with Molly on several of the rides but in the end he still had a really good time. Ethan gobbled up every ride he could. He got to go on most of the rides twice, once with me, and once with g-ma. What a lucky boy.

We are so grateful to my mom and loved spending our family vacation with her. It was sad to not have Sam with us at the Happiest Place on Earth but maybe again someday.

The night of the Mickey's Trick or Treat Party. Frankenstein, Vampire/Dracula, Little Witch, and Miss Piggy.

This is why I'm not a fan of my yard in the Fall....

Molly's Got the Giggles

I was feeding Molly lunch today after church and I got a nasty case of the hiccups. Every time I would hiccup she would laugh outright. Ryan and I were cracking up. So I went to get the camera and of course my hiccups stopped. Ryan started pretending to have the hiccups and it still got her giggling. LOVE it.

We Made it 6 months!

Hard to believe but Molly is now 6 months old! It's been a good fulfilling 6 months. She's just now getting to that animated stage. She just lights up and gets all giggly when her brothers get home from school or anytime they come around and start talking to her. Of course the boys LOVE this.


Pictures from her 6 Month "Birthday"


Her new trick she loves to do

We were given a jumper, which she LOVES. This was her 20 min after her first time in it.


Everyone says they look alike so I had to get a picture of the two of them together.

Hanging out with Ethan. See how she is holding on to him. She loves her Ethan.

This is a great program available to deployed soldiers and their families. Sam is able to go to the USO tent and read books to the kids. They record up to 20 minutes and then they send the video and the book to the kids. The kids get to sit and listen to daddy read to them at night. It has been great for the kids to see him and to read along with the books. It's called "United Through Reading"

The Summer of 2009

You know it just reaches the point that there is so much to update that you're overwhelmed and so you don't do anything. I'm not generally like that in "real" life. I usually just dig in and 'geterdone' but the blogging thing overwhelmed me. :-)

I literally need to update my whole entire summer. That's how long it's been since I wrote anything at all. WoW.

I had a really busy busy summer. Our family was trying desperately to jam as much as we possibly could in before Sam left for his "extended overseas business trip" (that is for operational security LOL...inside joke). He left the day before our 10 year wedding anniversary. For all of you out there that don't keep up on when my wedding anniversary is, that means he left July 15th.

The first trip of the summer was a fun boys only trip. Sam took Ethan and Ryan back to his homeland of Tennessee to see the grandparents and pick up an old Ford Bronco that his dad was giving him. They spent the first part of the week in East Tennessee at his dad's house. The boys went on their first fishing trip with their grandpa Marvin and had a blast. Didn't catch a darn thing but they got to run around without their shirts on and get filthy dirty every day. That is boy vacation heaven. They spent the second part of the week in West Tennessee at his mom's house. They love grandma Mary's house because she has old toys especially Transformers. Grandma let them drive the riding lawn mower so again little boy heaven.

Shortly after they returned home, Sam got the jet ski out and started and ready for the water. Nothing makes Sam happier then his need for speed. The jetski is just a small stepping stone for now. I'm sure in upcoming years you'll see Sam driving down the road in a fast car, riding on the water in a fast boat, and speed down the slopes in fast skis.

Thankfully we were able to get in two trips to the lake before Sam left on his "business trip". We spent one day at the lake with his good friend from college, Chris Badurek, and his family. We were super grateful to the Gray family because they have a fast boat! We love, love, love to go to the lake with the boat and the jet ski. Everyone trades off riding in the boat or on the jet ski or getting pulled on the tubes or skiing. My boys are 'scaredee cats'! However, Ethan did ride on the "screamer" (this is the Gray's name for the tubes, but a horrible name for someone like my kids who are scared of everything). He had this sort of panicked look on his face the whole time and the boat was literally going beyond slow BUT he did it. Sam and I had fun jumping the wakes and getting some good air. Leslie and I had fun too! However, it's more fun when I drive.

On one of our trips we camped at the lake and then played on the water all day the next day. That was so much fun for the boys to go camping. So we went camping again the next weekend up in Woodland Park, CO at the US Air Force Academy's campground, the Kingdom of Farish. We tried to fish again. That lasted 10 minutes. Then we hiked around. The best part was smores around the fire and playing UNO as a family.

Our big family vacation of the summer was a trip to South Dakota and Mount Rushmore over the 4th of July weekend. What an amazing trip! I highly recommend it to all my friends that I care about. There is ample things to do in the area to fill up 4-5 days and we were only there 3 days. If you've never seen the Badlands National Park...you must. If you've never seen Mount Rushmore in person...you're missing out. It was on the way up to South Dakota at a little park off the highway that we had our first ever family of 5 picture! Don't ask me why it took so long to get all five of us in a picture. BTW...Molly was a champ for the entire trip. I hung up her 'taggie blanket' on the side of the tent and she layed in there laughing and giggling at that. She slept well except one night it was a little cold. Did I mention we camped on this trip? It turned out ok but honestly I would have liked a hotel room. BUT if you want to camp when you go the KOA in Keystone was great. Two pools, playground, mini golf, pancake breakfast, jump pillow, bike rentals, horse stable, ...

The Badlands

These are pictures of a very very funny moment during our vacation. One of those times you wish you had a video camera. We were going into Custer State Park to see the buffalo. Well they also have wild burros there. They are left over from the gold rush era. The burros come right up to your windows looking for food. It was pretty incredible. They are not the least bit shy. Ryan was fast asleep when we got there so Sam rolled his window down and I put some popcorn on his shoulder. The reaction when he woke up was priceless. We laughed and we giggled for a good 20 minutes after that one.

Sam and I went out to a REALLY nice steakhouse here in Colorado Springs called Mackenzie's Chop House for our anniversary dinner. Yummy. Lovely Carrie Badurek kept our kids overnight for us so that we could go to dinner and then a nice night at home by ourselves having fun. :-) I will say that I might have screwed up royally and may possibly not live this down for another 10 years.... For my anniversary gift we took the diamonds from my grandfather's, Paul Weight, wedding band and had them put into an anniversary band that matched my ring. It turned out so pretty and most of all those diamonds have a great deal of sentimental value. Sam brought the wrapped ring box to dinner so that I could unwrap it and he put it on me. (Ah how sweet, you can all sigh) then he says to me..."so what did you get me?" Seriously! I did not get my own wonderful husband a gift for our 10 year anniversary! To be honest...it never even crossed my mind. I felt horrible. Beyond horrible. Yeah, yeah I've been a little busy with the new baby the last few months and up until the night we went to dinner I hadn't even thought of gifts but I do feel pretty bad. Don't worry though, Sam will help remind me for a very long time to come. He poked and teased me about it for 10 days before he finally left the country and his mind was on something else. Any ideas to help me make it up to him? I'm not to prideful, I'll take any help I can get!

After Sam left then I had one major medical procedure to get over with...man I was worried, and then the kids and I planned a two week vacation to Utah. Just something to get our mind off daddy being gone and help the summer go by a little faster.

The major medical procedure we had to do was my little Ryan's colonoscopy. This was his second one in 6 weeks. He had one just after getting home from Tennessee. He's had blood in his stool for over 9 months. They've done all kinds of tests but couldn't determine a cause. In fact he had 5 or 6 vials of blood drawn at the hospital the day Molly was born. When we talk about the day Molly was born we have to talk about the time he went to the lab with daddy too. The first colonoscopy they found a GIANT polyp in his colon, which they removed and sent to the lab. It was benign...thank the Lord. However, he had extensive bleeding and they were not able to finish. The doctor wanted to do another one in 6 weeks. Of course, that would be after Sam left. I'm so grateful for Holly Badurek, Chris' wife, who willingly came with me to watch Molly while I was in the surgery suite with Ryan. The second colonoscopy had much better results. There was no infection and they found no more polyps. Now we just have to keep watching him. He has to have another one in one year. I'm hoping he forgets about it before then. Although honestly for anyone who's ever had one (I'm not included in that group) the two days before the procedure are the worst.

After Ryan was healed and doing great we packed up the van, to the brim mind you, and headed to Utah for an extended vacation with my mom. I always feel that when my mom comes to visit that she just didn't stay long enough. I wanted to be able to stay for awhile and really enjoy her company, let the kids spend time with her, etc. We had a blast! I actually got to play two 18 hole rounds of golf. That alone made me happy. I played a round of golf with my dad, and my old singles ward bishop. The best part...I didn't have to pay! j.k.

So we're home, school has started, and the reality of life has set in. Daddy's gone and it's all up to me! For the most part I'm cut out for the job but there are some days I wonder when it's all going to end. I started back to work only one day a week. We could benefit from the extra income and honestly I love my job so much that after awhile I really miss being out there helping children. It's nice to have another role beside just "mom". Since Sam's gone I don't even get to be a "wife". So now I'm a "mom" and a "speech therapist" and that make me happy. I'm also happy because I found a wonderful, sweet, kind woman to watch Molly in the home. I feel blessed.

Me and my girl before church.

Molly's first food, sweet potatoes. Actually that's not true. Her first food was avocado that was given to her during Sunday dinner at our house with the Badureks. Darrell and Linda insisted she was ready to eat and why not start with avocado. She gobbled it right up!

The first day of school. Ryan started Kindergarten this year!

Speaking of Molly, did you know she turns 6 months old in just a few days! Where does the time go? She is sitting up, rolling all over the place, eating solid foods, sleeping through the night (8 hours), watching everything that happens around her, grabbing anything she can, slobbering, smiling, and having a great life. The boys are enamored by her and she just gets giggly when they come in the room and start talking to her. It's a good thing.

I did it! I'll try to not get so stinking far behind next time. It's like writing in your journal. It's a good thing but you got to keep up. I actually cut and paste this whole thing into my online journal. That way I accomplished two tasks at once! Anyone who knows me really well knows that I can hardly ever only do one thing at a time. If I'm talking on the phone, I'm cleaning. If I'm on the computer, I've got three things going at a time. If I'm at church, I'm.... :-)

Until we meet again....that seriously took me almost 2 hours!

Someday

So I've been thinking about updating my blog a lot lately, BUT I've been thinking about dieting a lot lately too. Obviously, I haven't done either one! Eventually, I'll get around to both.

Our Humongous Fungus

Spring has SPRUNG! These are our humongous fungus!

The Greatest Show on Earth

Took the boys to the circus today. It was a really nice mother/son outing. Sam stayed home and took care of Molly. We had really good seats. We also had a special treat! Ethan was picked from the audience to perform a magic trick. He made me levitate in mid-air! As I was floating, I asked Ethan if I was floating and he said "yes", "how are you doing that?", "I have no idea!". But he didn't want to stop wiggling his fingers just in case that was the magic that was keeping me levitating. :-) A fun treat and something I'm sure he'll remember for a long time to come.
Because it was just the boys and I, then Ryan had to come down to the arena too. He was our official photographer. He also had the special opportunity to sit with the clowns. The clown took a picture of him. :-) How fun to go to the Greatest Show on Earth and then get to be IN the Greatest Show on Earth!

AND Molly turned 3 months today!

Mine Own Book...

This is a shout out for a good friend of my that is a SAHM. She has started her own business making children's books. Now these are not just any children's books. They are MINE OWN BOOKS. Meaning that she takes pictures that you submit of your child and turns them into a book. For example, you send her pictures of your child's eyes, mouth, nose, etc...and she puts them into their own book. She's a wiz at Photoshop and the books are super well made and definately cute! If you have any kids between the ages of 1-5 this would be a super cute gift. If you know of someone who has kids these ages then pass it on! We all know some of the best advertisement is word of mouth or in this case "word of blog". Put a post on your blog maybe there will be several readers that would be interested. I'm sure Leslie would appreciate all the business she can get! Thank you kindly.

A Fun Series of Pictures

We were trying to get Molly to smile for the camera...

One...
Two...

Third times a charm! Say cheese!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Ethan had "what do you want to be when you grow up" day at school last week. He had decided he wanted to be a dentist ever since our last visit to the dentist. The dentist lobby has a fire place and he thought that was pretty cool. He had to fill out a questionaire about why he wanted to be a dentist and how he was going to make a difference in the world. Here are his responses; "Well, I want to be able to fix people's teeth but really I'm all about the money!" I said; "the money?" "Of course, I want to be able to provide for my family and buy daddy a Porshe!" In our house it's is highly "publicized" that daddy provides for the family by going to work everyday and that someday one of his boys had better buy him a Porshe!

In the course of all these conversations about what you want to be when you grow up we asked Ryan. His response; "I don't know maybe a paratrooper". I will say that Sam and I have the very same opinions about our children serving in the Military...only as a last resort. Not that it's not a noble career but there are some significant sacrifices that come when serving our Country...and there are A LOT of stupid people. Sam recently had a jump exercise down in Canon City and it was during the day, when the boys were out of school, and nice weather...so I packed up the kids and we headed down to watch him. When we lived in Ft. Bragg then I use to take Ethan, who was very small, to go watch Sam jump out of the planes all the time but since we've left the 82nd Airborne Division we haven't been to see him as a family. Ryan has never watched. This was Ryan's response after watching daddy fall from the sky. "Do you still want to be a paratrooper?" "I don't think so".