Headed Out to Carls Jr...

All of the Walker Grand Children...

 We had so much fun going with all of the cousins and aunts to Carl's Jr.  We sat and talked and watched the kids play and slide down the slide.  They had so much fun climbing up the playland and enjoying their time with each other.  We just had to get out of the house, and spend sometime with their cousins. We had a BLAST!!!

The Shed....

The work in progress!! I will get another picture before we head out of here in yet another snowstorm on Sunday!!!  :)  Good Times!!!

THANKSGIVING...

Aunt Erika and Anna came up with crafts and activities for the kids to do while Thanksgiving Diner was being made.  We had  a whole turkey family because some kids made two.

Dani's turkey has purple feet, and J.J.'s has red feet.  We had so much fun!!!

We had so much fun!  I love these little Turkeys! We had so much fun building and bending the pipe cleaners. Dani wanted to have all purple feathers. We had to talk her into having a colorful turkey.  J.J. was just wondering around, but when I showed him his turkey he was so excited.

We had a fabulous dinner.  We waited for the men to come in from working on the shed.  They have been working so hard, day and night, in the freezing cold.  The best thing about the shed is that when ever we get together in the future we will always be able to look out the window and know that the boys poured their sweat and tears into this shed. No blood has been spilled yet, but we still have some time.

Cathy is in Town...

Cathy is in town.  What a blessing it is to have her in my life.  I know that some people have only a few nice things to say about their mother in law...but not me! The list is endless! I Love Her!!! She is such an amazing woman.  I am blessed to have her!!! Thanks for coming to visit! Tonight we watched "Letters to Juliet".

I can never get sick of sappy romances.  It makes me so grateful to have my very own sappy romance. Because when I watch those romances develop on screen, it makes my heart soar, knowing that I feel that way about my husband. What a miracle to find someone to love so much!

Halloween...

We had so much fun at Aunt Erikas! We went Trick-or-Treating with Uncle Jerrod, Anna, and Nathan.  We went around the block and the kids gathered a lot of good candy.

Dani was a Pink Princess with Pink Hair. She as Beautiful!!!

J.J. was a Musketeer.  but he ended up looking more like a cowboy than a musketeer.  He wouldn't carry his sword, and he was tired by the time we were half way through with Trick-or-Treating.  

Special Birthday Moment!!!!

Today, my sister-in-law, Erika took care of my kids while both Jerm and I were at work. I went to pick the kids up after I got off of work. I missed the great big sign on the sidewalk that said, "happy birthday mom". So I was really surprised when I walked in the door and there was balloons and kids hiding all over the house. They were so excited to jump out and yell, "Happy Birthday!" It was so cute! J.J. and Dani were hiding under the kitchen table, and Erika's kids were hiding too. The kids were so excited to show me the balloons and the birthday cake that they picked out. It was so fun!!!

The sweet moment came when Dani decided to take "her" balloons outside, and you guessed it, she let them go. She came in, and asked me, in a very stressed out voice for a really tall ladder cause she let go of her balloons. Erika came to the rescue and told her that Jenna's Birthday was coming up and she needed some balloons too. Dani proudly told me that she sent Aunt Jenna some Happy Birthday Balloons. She also told her daddy that she sent Aunt Jenna some balloons for her birthday. She is so proud of herself! Thank You, Aunt Erika, for the birthday party and for making a potentially disastrous situation tolerable.

Jerm's Owie...

For those who didn't know, the morning Jenna passed away, was my first day at my new job. About 45 minutes before my lunch hour, I get a text: "do you think you can come home early for lunch?" So...I give Jerm a call trying to get information out of him. Why do I need to come home? What is going on? All he would tell me was, "I think I need to go to the emergency room. Will you just come home?" So I jump into the car, and I get home, and Jerm has a towel wrapped around his hand. SCARY!!! I give Erika a call, and she said, "bring over you kids". So the kids had their first experience being watched by Erika. After convincing J.J. that crying was not helping, she said that he did okay. So...back to Jerms finger. He was mowing the lawn, and something got stuck in the blade, so he turned off the lawn mower, and lifted up the flap to remove whatever was stuck, and when the unwanted object was removed, the blade had one final spin to rotate, and it literally hit his finger so hard it blew the top off. He wasn't cut by the blade, just the pressure from it's impact exploded the fingertip. So, stitches were needed. While we were in Idaho, Jerm decided to remove his stitches, and just glue his owie back together. If we were smart, we would have glued it to begin with.

Lesson Learned!

O.K....Thank Goodness for the Sturdy Cabinetry of the 1950's

Jerm and I were running all over the house getting things together to get out the door and start our drive up to Idaho for Jenn's funeral. The kids, (insert clearing throat sound) were kindof left unattended. All parents understand how that can happen. Anyway, J.J. decided he needed a drink, so he opened the sippy cup drawer, and hopped in. He, of course, took his blankie with him. Kids crack me up. I am grateful for his determination to get himself a drink while mom and dad were going crazy. Self preservation is a good quality for our kids.

Children are a Blessing.

Jenna Lee Returned to Her Heavenly Father...

Jenna Lee Walker

August 23, 1985 - July 14, 2010

Jenna returned home to her Heavenly Father Wednesday, July 14th at 9:36 pm. After her four year battle with Ewing's Sarcoma, a connective tissue cancer, she was finally released from her earthy body.

We are grateful for all of the prayers that have been said on Jenna's behalf, and we are grateful for the prayers that are being said for our family and those who love her. We are feeling the comforting powers of the Spirit and are so grateful for The Loving Plan of Our Father in Heaven that will allow us to dwell with her and Our Heavenly Father again.

We Love You, Jenna Lee, and we are grateful that your trials of this life are over and you are no longer suffering. Please watch over us, and visit us when we are in need of your love.

We will miss you!

Kiaya's Baptism...Yeah Kiaya!!!

One of the blessings of our move has been the opportunity to be to the family gatherings like baptisms. Our sweet, beautiful, wonderful, happy Kiaya (my little brother, Jon's, daughter) chose to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are so proud of you!!! Kiaya, you are a blessing to the Walker Family. We are grateful for your presence in our family, and we love you!!! Thank You for setting an example for all of your cousins to follow! Remember to be faithful, truthful, and prayerful. Congrats Kiaya!

What the?

I searched for this sippy cup. Judge if you want, but I put J.J. to sleep with a sippy cup still. Just with water, but it has to be one of these playtex cups because they don't leak. They are wonderful!! Anyway, I couldn't find it anywhere. I almost called out a search party. In my frustration, I saw some dishes that needed to be loaded, so I opened up the dishwasher and I FOUND the much needed sippy cup. This is just one of the many things that Heavenly Father has helped me with. If you seek, you will find. And, yes, a non-leaking sippy cup is something I pray to find. Every normal mom does.

4th of JULY!!!!

All I can say about the 4th of July, is...

I AM GLAD WE ALL SURVIVED!!!

We had a blast! Jerm and Joie put on a good show. Both Jerm and I had to work the 4th, so our fireworks show was on the 5th, but hey, kids got to see fireworks. Who can complain?

Makes a Momma Proud!!!

Truly, is there anything more wonderful than a child that listens and is willing to help? I love my little Danilynn!!!! She is such an incredible little girl. She is always so willing to help, and I can always see in her eyes her desire to make us proud and to do the things that make us, as parents, happy. Last week when I picked her and J.J. up from Nursery, I was told that she is such a little mommy. She was always by J.J. making sure he was okay. Someday, I hope that she can learn that having fun is important too, and that part of life is making yourself happy. Not just the people around her. She is amazing!

Smile Bug!!!!

I had to post these pictures. They are from the Ranch, but I had to post them cause I love them. She was talking to me about wanting to go down the zipline again, but then she got distracted by the tree. So Danilynn! She is so precious! Love you Bug!!!

Hale's Rainbow Ranch...

So all of the Walker Clan headed up to Afton, Wyoming for Father's Day. We were up there first, and made sure that everything was ready for us. Jon, Brittany and their kids came up the next day. Jordan and his wife, Krista, came over from Horseshoe Bend with Mom, Dad and Jenna. Jerrod, Erika and their kids came up on Friday, and even JoAnna and her roommate came over from Rexburg. The whole crew was there.

Gotta Love the fact that all the kids on the front row weren't looking at the camera. I think Dani was entertaining them. Look at that fabulous family!!!

Any kid who knows anything about the Afton grocery store, knows these little carts. Any parent looking at these pictures knows the fits that happened when one thing ended up in one cart and not the other. Taking Turns meant nothing to J.J. and we experienced a break down half way through the store. Good Times!!!

A quiet moment...we all had a few of these moments. But I had to capture this on camera because I thought it was so tender of Uncle Jordan and Kiaya.

This is one of my favorite pictures from this trip, okay, I have like a million favorite pictures from this trip. But I loved that Oakley fell asleep on grandma. Whitney and Dani just had to crawl up to be next to her. I loved watching them. I thought it was so cute! Cute of both Grandma and all the girls and how they found comfort being with Grandma.

After Grandma got up to put Oakley in her bed, the other girls decided they wanted to stay in the chair and take a little nap. Fun times, they never fell asleep.

Don't they both look a little mischievous? My cute boys!!!

We had to take the opportunity to hook up the Zip-Line. Dani watched the other kids go down it once, and she was itching to take her turn. She loved it, couldn't get enough of it. She cried when we took it all down. You can see her little face poking out over my arm. Such a little Dare Devil.

This is Jerrod and Nathan. and Judge the dog, Jon's dog, who likes to jump up and bite your ankles as you go down the line. Sadly, no one warned me about this before I went down, but Jerrod obviously knew. I am patching up the holes in my ankles as we speak.

Isn't this pretty?... if you look closely you can see Jordan hanging from the seat, one of the kids are on the seat, and they go flying when he lets go and drops into the lake. That is one fun ride.

Here is Jordan, up close, with Kiaya. Good times.

Dropping down. The lake was too cold for me to do it. Luckily!

Whitney, just after Jordan let go. She was laughing her guts out.

Dani wanted to go for a ride in the paddle boat, so we got her life jacket on, and she was a happy camper.

Jordan, and his wifey, Krista. She was screaming!!! It was great fun!

You aren't at the ranch unless you take a 4-wheeler ride. I had Kiaya, Justin, and Dani. We went over the bumps, on the way down one of the "bumps"

Can't be in the state of Wyoming without pulling out the guns. Jerrod, Jordan, Dad and Jon all brought their guns. If we had only known we would have brought Jerm's guns. We loved watching all the kids fire the guns. It was so much fun. Thanks guys for bringing up the firearms. This is Nathan, shooting with his dad's, Jerrod's, help. So much fun!!!

Dani wouldn't stop pulling the trigger. Jerm had to stick his finger under the trigger to give the gun a chance to breathe.

Loving to shoot! Daddy's Little Girl!!!

Justin, such a big dude!

Anna! You go Girl!

The boys were having contests. No one stood a chance against the army sharp shooter, but they all tried.

Jenna felt well enough to watch the boys play some horseshoes, and us girls throw the ball to the doggies. It was so much fun to have her outside enjoying the Wyoming air!

Okay, I learned a while ago, that every sport Jerm tried, he was good at. Horseshoes is another one of those games. I have no chance to be better then him at anything. He is my Man and I Love Him!!!

My sweet Sister-in-Law Erika! She was out for a swing.

Jerm loves all the pictures that we have of us like this. Hahaha!

P.S. Nice Butt Jer!

Walking on the rocky road after the ball, humm...I wonder who kicked it all the way out there?

This picture makes me smile! I love my Daddy, and watching him with my daughter melts my heart. She was so excited to look through the scope. He let her do it over and over and over and over and over again. It was wonderful.

Check out the open eye on the outside of the scope. Hahaha, sometimes I wonder if she ever saw anything through that thing.

Oakley...she is the wandering child. She never stays where you put her. You can always find her walking along side of the road, headed out the swing set, or throwing a tennis ball in the pond for one of the dogs. She is just a wandering child!

Everyone is tuckered out!

My cute Kids! I love them so much!!!

Who doesn't love this little dudes smile! I never realized he had dimples until this picture. Guess, I am used to seeing his scowling face.

Blow it up Buddy!!! Jerrod taught J.J. how to blow up his fists with a pound. J.J. asks us to be blown up all the time. Does it make sense that my army brother is the one teaching my child to blow stuff up? You would think that he has blown up enough stuff, but being a boy, he can't get enough of it.

Love you kids!

Swinging!

Who needs a sandbox when you have a Horseshoe Pit? My kids could always be found playing in the pits. They love the dirt.

Kiaya is a little model! Just like her mommy!

Justin, he is one freaking smart kid! I love having conversations with him. He blows my mind!

Gotta love this picture! I have so many memories of growing up at the Ranch and it felt so wonderful to have the chance to be there with our whole family. We have so few moments left to be together, that it just felt incredible to be at the Ranch with our kids. Who would have thought all those years ago, when the Ranch was first built that we would be taking Grandpa Hale's Great-Grandchildren to the Ranch? What a legacy Grandpa and Grandma have. It was such a blessing to have these memories! Thank You to the Aunts and Uncles who have kept the Ranch for our us, and our kids. We love you!!!

We had to take one last chance to get a Shake from the Red Barron! Jenna obviously got a kids meal because she was enjoying her bobble eyes. Love you Jenna! We are all so grateful that you endured the long drive over to the Ranch! It was so wonderful for us to all be together for Father's Day! Hope all you Dad's had a good Fathers Day!!! We Love You Daddies!!!!