Fall Soccer is Fun, Fun, Fun!

These pictures are from Drew's 2nd time playing soccer. He loved it! We loved that it was outside this time! These first few pictures were taken during his time "on the bench?" Okay, so I haven't learned ALL the soccer lingo yet?!? I'm still learning!


Preparing to reenter the big game!

Drew with his team. Andy was relieved that someone else's dad got to take a turn at coaching this time! He made quite the cheerleader, however! (For all the games except this one where he was out of town.)

Drew has become quite the runner and he isn't shy about showing the effort in his facial expressions!

Notice Jesi in the background of this picture. Did I mention that Andy was out of town. Ha ha. For those of you who might think that, due to most of our happy face pictures, life is always full of smiles and fun, I just wanted to let you know how much FUN we had during the game :). We were running late (which somehow happens around here for things like this that are not scheduled very far in advance and at odd times when we should be eating dinner), Drew had pictures (which the location was not specified and we ended up hiking a half mile or so with Kassi and the team treats, and my camera and the diaper bag and who knows what else in my arms), Jesi was crying the whole way b/c she wanted me to carry her, and I (wanna-be wondermom) decided to try to take my own "professional" pictures and save ourselves 10 bucks, so I attempted to do that with a big baby in my arms, then we needed to run from one set of fields to the far side of another set of fields and had the same issue with our little princess without her carriage, which - did I mention we were running late? That explains my huge run-on sentence :). Anyway, thought I'd let you know that although life has it's stressful moments, we try to capture mostly the happy ones on camera :)!
Jesi and Kassi were not happy with me because I only had enough snacks for the team and the snacks I had for them weren't quite as appetizing. Sob stories from both of them! Kassi is usually happy if I let her play with the lens cover to my camera - whatever works, right!?!

After the pictures were taken, which I ended up purchasing a package because I didn't remember to pack a soccer ball in the diaper bag and who can have a "professional" soccer picture without a soccer ball?!? Ha ha.

The only thing I could think of to stop Jesi from screaming and to keep the other spectators from staring was to fly Jesi and Kassi in the air on my feet. They wouldn't let me stop!

And they were having so much fun that I just had to attempt taking a picture of them flying in the air. For some reason the sky looks white, but my sweet girls look even sweeter with smiles on their faces. Please don't mind my toes. They really needed repainted. Well, to be honest, it's been a few weeks and they STILL need repainted :). But, I did pull off painting Drew's room in the last few weeks and that is even better, right! Hopefully that will be my next post - Drew's surprise bedroom makeover!

Since I'm too lazy to scan Drew's "professional" picture - here is his unprofessional shot from a crazy, yet happy to be so, Mom! We sure enjoy watching this kid participate in sports and try new things and he has grown so much from the experiences. Love ya, Bud!!! Keep up the good work!!!

McCall 2009

Here is a belated post of our annual family reunion at Andy's grandpa's cabin in McCall, Idaho. I don't think there is any place our kids would rather be! It is so nice to get away from work, the phone, the computer, and everything and just focus on family! Jesi loved eating Grandma's freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in the morning on our walk to the beach! Drew loved boating and golfing with Grandpa AND helping drive the golf cart! Kassi loved eating Swedish Fish on the way to McCall, which caused many tears because she would inhale them and would have scarfed the whole Costco bag in about 5 minutes if she hadn't had a mean mom! I believe that was the start of her hating long road trips!!! Bummer! But, she also loved playing in the sand at the beach and entertaining all of the family throughout the week! This year's memories include, but are not limited to the following: 1. The anual newlywed game thanks to Mike and Sarah pulling through again - particularly the round where we each had to mold playdough into something that represented our first date - ha ha, that was memorable! 2. The usual beach fun, boating, wakeboarding and skiing! 3. Kassi's first bath in the cabin sink. It is tradition to have your picture taken in the buff in the kitchen sink. Well, that is if you are age 2 or under!!! 4. Huckleberry picking in our PJ's! There were tons this year and we had too much fun picking them together as a family while Grandma watched Kassi. Jesi had fun picking some with Grandma too, in my sweatshirt since hers was dirty and they picked some beautiful wild flowers too! 5. Feeding the ponies and holding the kitty - I don't know which one they enjoyed most - Kassi didn't know quite what to think of standing beside the pony - but she wasn't feeling super either! 6. Jesi's first time painting a ceramic, which she picked out herself. She is quite the artist! I should get a picture of her with her piece of art after the kiln! For some reason Drew decided to join the guys and go golfing instead! He loves to go golfing, and he LOVES to hang out with grandpa and drive the golf cart!!! He'll be asking me all year when he gets to do it next! And, last but not least . . . 7. Grandma and Grandpa found Drew an awesome tag-a-long bike at a yard sale! So, we had to try it out and hope it will help him with his balance issues so that he can eventually ride on his own. He sure loves it - we just need to get our bike fixed at home so we can use it some more!!! Well, that about sums up what my brain can remember, which means I probably got about half of the memories down in writing. Not too bad for a journal entry - which is what I'm trying to think of my blog as being so that I'll try harder at keeping it updated! Thank you, Mom and Dad Walker once again for all the fun memories!!!

Will we ever get caught up?!?

Do you ever feel like you'll just never get on top of things? This picture was just too funny - it reminds me of how I feel sometimes! Hope you are all able to take a break every now and then and yawn uninterrupted!

Or, do you ever feel like if you get anything done, it will probably end up inside out or backwards? Well, that is how I've felt about blogging lately. So, don't mind if we have things all mixed up and backwards trying to get things caught up around here! As you can see, Kassi is getting the hang of the backwards thing! As Kassi didn't travel so well the last couple trips I finally broke down and bought some suckers and although they entertained her for a while, they were not exaclty my idea of peace on earth! She would rub the sucker on any surface BUT the inside of her mouth! But, you'll see in the slide shows below that between the messy suckers and the baby wipes, she stayed entertained for a little while! Hope you are all doing well and getting into a regular routine! We're still working it! But, we did have some fun this summer and I'll try to get our blog all updated ASAP!

St. George and Cove Fort

Traveling back from Andy's roommate reunion(slide show below this post), we stopped at St. George to visit the temple and then later at Cove Fort (located about half way between St. George and Provo) for a neat little video and tour. I have always LOVED the St. George temple because that is where my Dad grew up and where my parents were sealed. We used to visit my grandparents down there - usually for Christmas since my Dad was a farmer - perfect timing for St. George! It just has a special place in my heart and I love when I'm able to stop by with my little family. Drew told me to take another picture of him in front of the temple and at that moment, a ray of light came through - that is one of my favorite pictures. We always seem to be traveling through St. George on a Sunday, but someday I really hope to be able to spend the weekend down there and go hike the red rocks together and visit Zion's National Park! But, the Cove Fort experience was pretty neat too! I didn't know anything about it before our little stop. It was built to lodge those traveling from Salt Lake down to St. George, to protect them from Indians. There are lots of senior couple missionaries to lead the tours and it was very interesting. We learned all kinds of things like why we sometimes say, "sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" and other funny things we'd never realized. Back then they had ropes that worked as a bed frame to hold up the straw mattresses. They would tighten the ropes (which is where the "tight" comes from) and the straw mattresses are where the bed bugs would come from (thus the "don't let the bed bugs bite"). Anyway, someday maybe I'll remember the other things we learned! Until then, I'd recommend it as a fun break if you're driving down South! Oh, and the funny pictures of Kassi in her car seat are of her cleaning and playing with a baby wipe - she is usually happy for a few minutes with a wet wipe!!! She loves to get dirty and she loves to clean up!

Andy's roommate reunion at Lake Mead!

Thanks to Larissa for organizing this fun little reunion in Boulder City! We all had a great time - despite Kassi's decision that she does not like traveling in the car anymore! She did have fun rubbing her sucker (which was my last resort) all over her legs, the car seat, and everything else. At least it kept her happy for a little while. She slept much better in the boat than at the house - where she woke up a couple hours earlier than everyone else. She got some good one on one time with Daddy those two mornings! The highlight of the trip for the kids (other than driving the boat - which is Drew's dream come true) was feeding these hillarious, disgusting fish! There were hundreds of them swimming on top of each other trying to get the food and they had these HUGE open mouths with big fat lips that grossed me out!!! I guess Larissa tried putting her foot in to see if they would suck on her toe - you wouldn't catch me doing that :)! Check out the pictures - I think they are like #3-10 or so on the slide show and tell me if you've ever seen anything like it! I didn't have the camera the first day we went boating, but Drew and Jesi loved tubing and Andy and I got to wakeboard and ski with Jon. We had a great time hanging out with Andy's roommates and their families at the fun house Larissa lined up for us, touring Boulder City Main Street, and viewing the amazing Hoover Dam. We all had a blast and the kids had so much fun running around with each other while the adults caught up! It was fun to go somewhere new and meet up with old friends. We hope to do it again someday!

Mom and Kim's Wedding!

For those of you who didn't know, my Mom married Kim Sanderson this last August and we are so happy to be so close!!! It was a beautiful ceremony and we are so happy for them both. I didn't get a ton of great pictures after the wedding, but my sister-in-law's sister-in-law :) took some GREAT wedding pictures and a big family picture that maybe someday I'll get copies of?!? It was SO fun to have the family all here to share in the celebration and we were so happy that my Dad's siblings were all able to make it!!! It was wonderful getting to meet Kim's siblings and relatives as well. Joining two families is quite the task, but I know that Mom and Kim will do a wonderful job of loving and reaching out to each member of their new combined family! We made a birthday board as a wedding present which has a star for each member of the family! There are a lot of stars and they are still coming!!! There is also a picture of my sister Tami's beautiful quilt that she made for my sister Nicole. It has the pockets of my dad's old shirts sewn on the squares and is amazing! I am sure that my Dad and Kim's sweet wife were there in the temple that day. And, as Kim said in a recent talk that we had the opportunity to hear, their marriage will help them to make it back to their spouses that they have been sealed to for time and all eternity and they will be able to find joy in that journey together! Thanks to my cousin's wife Monica for watching the kids and bringing them to the temple after the wedding. They loved being there and I know they'll never forget it! Congratulations, Mom and Kim! We love you! We love you too, Nicole, and are so happy to get to spend more time with you all!

Happy Birthday Dad! WE LOVE YOU!!!

It was my Dad's 61st Birthday on July 8th. To celebrate his birthday, Mom, Nicole, and I took the kids to the zoo. I was amazed at how much Nicole loved it - she had to see EVERY animal!!! We had a great time. I wish we could show some video clips from my video camera - snapshots just don't do anything justice! The monkeys were hillarious and we enjoyed watching the tiger take a bath in the waterfall right in front of us! After the zoo, the kids, including Nicole ALL fell asleep about as soon as we got in the van for the drive home.

Then we enjoyed eating dinner with Andy and my Dad's handmade candlesticks. For anyone who hasn't seen these, there is a picture of us all at the table with them. They weigh a ton! My dad and his best friend got together and made these from a 100+ year old tractor. They removed the parts, painted them, and even put felt on the bottom! The coolest thing is that my dad made them for all the family for Christmas and since we were with Andy's family that year, he MAILED them to us in Idaho - just a few hours away. It cost him $25.00 to mail them to us because they were SO heavy. That's just how my Dad was - wanting to make the holidays special for everyone and not wanting to leave anyone out. Boy I miss him! After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday to a candlelit pie - we wanted to find a sugar-free one in memory of my Dad's sugar free pies, but this was all we could find at our market down the street. We then watched a DVD of pictures of my Dad's life that my friend helped me put together with music shortly after his death. What a treasure - I owe this friend, Emily and her husband a million thanks and so much more. Nicole and I bawled and we all were touched by the good life he lived and the memories we were blessed to enjoy with him. We miss you so much, Dad. We hope to live our lives so that you will be proud to call us your family and we are so grateful that families can be eternal!!! Happy Birthday and we'll see you soon (with an eternal perspective)!

4th of July Parade and Celebration at Kim's Home

Other than the crazy morning searching for the van keys, (which we still have no idea how they ended up in the knife drawer), we had a wonderful 4th of July. The kids were happy that we could see a few of the big hot air balloons going over our house since we woke up before 6 AM to go see them!!! I guess one of the hot air balloons landed in a culdesac right by our house a year or two ago?!? That would have been fun to see. The funny thing is I had everything all laid out Thursday night to go see the hot air balloons Friday morning. We had my family (Mom and Nicole) and some good friends (Jonathan and RuthAnn Gibbs) staying with us and we decided to switch and do everything on Saturday so we could stay up late Thursday night :). I should have been as prepared Friday night!

Anyway, we really enjoyed all of our company - Stacy and her family were here for a night as well and it was great to see them and their sweet baby Taylee. Stacy and Ryan took Nicole to Stadium of Fire, so that is why they aren't in the pics much. We enjoyed going to the parade (in the Subaru) with Mom, Kim, and Nicole later Saturday morning thanks to the Gibbs having some room for us to squeeze in! Kassi got a little scared when the sirens went off, but the kids loved the bands and everything else about the parade! What is a childhood without frying through a few parades now and then! Actually, we got rained on at the beginning which was kind of fun! The highlight of the day was going over to Kim's house for dinner. We got a few family pictures on the front steps before the rest of the family arrived and then we enjoyed a delicious dinner and enjoyed getting to know Kim's wonderful family better. We even got to play a little Holey Board, which is a favorite of Andy's Dad's. It was a wonderful evening and we enjoyed being at Kim's home and associating with him and his family. We are excited to welcome Kim and his family into our own and to become a part of his throughout the upcoming years! I've rarely seen my kids warm up to someone so fast - especially Jesi! As soon as Kim walks in the door, she is playing tag or something with him! After meeting Kim for the first time, Drew said something like, "He is awesome!" I think we all feel that way about Kim now! Hope you all had a great Independence Day!!!

Oh what do you do in the summertime?

Drew and Jesi had their first lemonade stand! They had so much fun eating their lunch and waiting for customers. They had 3 customers total - all kids from next door. We still need to plan a way to spend all of that 30 cents they earned :)!

Drew and Jesi were so excited when I suggested that we wash the van. I think it looked better before we cleaned it (with all the water spots) but, it was SO worth it. I think cleaning the van makes the top 10 list for the summer for these two kiddos!
The kids have been having lots of fun playing in the back yard this summer. Kassi really does have a swimsuit that fits her. Jesi picked this one out and I didn't want to cause tears by suggesting another! But, I had no idea it would be quite so small! This picture makes it look like Kassi really didn't care for it, but she had fun too!
Kassi has a very interesting blueberry pancake eating technique! She picks out all the blueberries and cries for a new pancake. She does the same thing when I feed her oatmeal with blueberries - she has to have a blueberry with each bite or she refusses to eat another! She is our official fruit-aholic!
Drew's baseball is over for the year. Here is a cute picture of him with his medal and one of his faithful fans!