Ethan's Baptism

WoW! My little tubby rolly polly blonde haired blue eyed baby is 8! Ethan was beyond excited to be baptized! His baptism got pushed all the way to April 24th. We were waiting for daddy to get home from Iraq, then we went on vacation for Spring Break, then we wanted Mrs. Linda to be there...and before you know it....it was April. He was very patient with all of this stuff. Just occasionally asking "when am I going to be baptized?". He was so happy to see "Ethan's Baptism" on our kitchen calendar.

We had a wonderful turn out of kids in his class, and family friends. I was especially grateful for the support that was shown to Ethan and our family. We had some great talks and the baptism was extra special. It's hard to believe but I almost started to get teary!! (Some of my friends will appreciate that comment ;-) Thank you everyone for being in Ethan's life and teaching him the gospel and setting a good example for him. He's a wonderful kid and our family is blessed to have him!

Molly's 1st Birthday

What an exciting time in the Walker house! How fun it is to have a one year old. We all love being here and seeing all of her new accomplishments. I was much to caught up in being a "mom" with the boys to really appreciate the things we do with Molly. It's a big deal in our house when Molly walks, talks, burps, cries, laughs...you get the idea. Her birthday was no exception.

We were soooo excited that Grandma, Grandpa, and G-Ma Julie were able to come out to help us celebrate. I am beyond appreciation when family is able to come to big celebrations. That's one thing about being in the military that is truly difficult. The extended family misses out on lots of things. I'm grateful for my new Flip video camera so we can send them videos.

For Molly's birthday we took her down to Canon City to ride the Royal Gorge Railroad. It was the first train of the season. So there was some excitement for the crew which added to the fun. It was Molly's first train ride, Sam's first through the Gorge, and g-pa is a big train enthusiast. It was a good time. We got some really great pictures on the train.

We got home pretty late in the afternoon. Just in time for dinner and cake. Isn't it fun to watch a one year old eat cake? Molly was no exception. She was bushed after dinner! There would be no opening of presents for Molly. She was in bed by 6:30. I guess all that partying pooped her out. There was a benefit to that though because the next day, Sunday, we had invited people over for dinner and everyone got to be there while Molly opened presents.

It's hard to believe that a year passed by so quickly. That also means that Ethan is another year older, Ryan is another year older, Sam is another year older, and I'm another year younger!

Of course, Molly is actually 13 and 1/2 months old now. But nobody's paying attention.....right?

Recent Pictures

Sometimes it's just easier to do a photo journal. As I recently heard...you can either live your life or you can blog about it. :-)

Believe it or not...Molly is now 11 months old! This is her on the morning of her "celebration".

This is a perfect picture to capture her personality. A picture is worth a thousand words!

I've been busy with a few birthdays. Ethan and Ryan both celebrated their birthdays in the last few weeks. We went with a dinner and a movie theme this year. Since I was home alone (Sam was still gone) then we kept it small. They each had a few friends over on a weekend night for pizza, popcorn, cake, ice cream, and fun!

Ryan with his Bakugan. He loves these little round balls. I would guess that at least 80% of the time he is carrying one somewhere on his personage.

The party goers...

Ryan and Ryan on his actual birthday. Ryan was going to be out of town on party night so we invited him over for a playdate and our annual b-day dinner at Red Robin. Ryan loves chillaxin with Ryan (I know confusing huh)

Ethan had his party on a Saturday so I actually had time to put towards a fun cake. I love the way the cake turned out. That's a giant platter of spagetti and meatballs in the background. Bet you can't guess the movie the boys picked out...

The party goers... That's Molly picking up popcorn crumbs.

Did I mention that my wonderful husband made it home safely? Wow what a difference one more person makes in our house!!

Let the Party Begin...

Our Ethan is 8!

Can it really be true? Have 8 years passed by since we welcomed this beautiful blonde haired baby boy? What an amazing 8 years it has been! Ethan is full of life. He was given so many gifts from his Heavenly Father. He has the gift of kindness, consideration of others, respect for his teachers, empathy, music, and many others. He is the best big brother! It is extremely funny to just sit and listen to him talk. From the time that he started talking then we would talk about Ethan's "Ethanisms", meaning funny things he would say that just made us chuckle. Of course, he's usually very serious when he says these things and isn't try to get a giggle at all. That's what makes it cute. Here are some fun pictures of Ethan's life (so far ;o)

When Ethan was born (via C-section) the very first words that came out of Sam's mouth were: "He has blonde hair!". That was a shocker. Neither one of us expected a blonde haired baby. On top of that he had TONS of blonde hair. It was fun to have all of the nurses on the unit coming into the room to touch and rub his hair. Everyone was amazed by the little blonde boy.

We had a lot of fun with his hair! I gave him SEVEN haircuts before his first birthday!

Before we knew it he was ready to eat. Of course the chair was a little big for him (but that didn't last long)

Some favorite pictures as a 1 year old

Two Years Old

Shortly after he turned two he became a big brother. A role he usually cherishes.

3 years

4 years (shortly after moving to Colorado Springs)

5th year

6th year. He loves art and his awards he got in 1st grade really helped him have even more interest.

7th birthday helping to make his birthday pizza

Shortly after his 7th birthday he became a big brother again. He most definitely takes the role of big brother to Molly seriously.

and now he's EIGHT and 8 is great!

Happy Birthday Ethan, we love you and cherish you so much!

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.