The Challenge

Ok siblings. My 13 year old just started his own blog, by himself I might add. Just remember that next time you say it's too hard, or too time consuming. He did it in 30 minutes one night. Check it out but don't look too closely at spelling, verbage, or sentence structure. We're still working on that. It's called 'Luke is da bomb'. What's it about you say? Why Luke and only Luke of course. What else would a cocky teenager blog about.

Hollow-Weanie Parties!

It's every kids favorite time of year. Candy by the bucketfuls, pretending your someone you've always wanted to be, and parties parties parties! We had our fill this weekend. We started out on Friday night at Grandma Lynn's annual Halloween bash. Here is our family as Rasta Dude, JFK and Marilyn, Boba Fett, and Pimp Daddy.


Here is the cutest little pirate and butterfly ever. (Those costumes totally match their personalities also).


Then we have momma witch, baby bear, Little Mermaid, and Officer Pancho. It's nice to see you with such a full head of hair Rory! (Don't worry Wade's right behind you)

We were also visited by the clown couple and their friend the wench. (I won't tell if these are personality matchers).


We had so much fun playing Bingo, breaking the Pinata, and eating yummy food. Thanks Grandma! We always have so much fun at this party and we hope grandma continues to do it for us.


This is little Saigey cleaning up the candy the bigger kids neglected to pick up. She's happy as a clam surrounded by forgotten Smarties.





On Saturday we headed to the big city to Aunt Jill's party. She is truly a Halloween nut. Her house is always fully decorated, tons of food, activities, lots of people, and lots of fun!


Here's Aunt Jill as Cruela DeVille with Luke.


Here's our little Boba Fett (for those who have no idea who that is it's a Star Wars character).

And our Pimp Daddy Gangsta complete with gold 'grill'.

This is our family photo for the day with Grandma Black front and center. I think she's a tea party lady, but I forgot to ask.


Believe it or not this is Josh dressed as Billy Idol.(He could also be a very scary woman).((This photo has been deleted due to the extreme anxiety it caused the subject.))

Mom and Dad even got in on the fun as Dracula and the classy version of a witch.

It was a fun day, Jill even invited a magician this year. That was definitely the highlight. The kids thought he was amazing and he made them really laugh hard. It was a beautiful day, thank goodness, and we were exhausted all the way home. It was also really nice to see some of the cousins and catch up. Until next year, Trick or Treat!

Lexi's playdate

Lexi had a special playdate with her boyfriend Jack today. I was taking her for a walk and he followed us home so I called his family and got permission for him to stay over for a while and play.


They have so much fun together, chasing and kissing. Here is a little video of their escapades. She tries to get the other animals in the neighborhood to play also, but no one knows how to play like Jack Jack.

The musings of a beachsick girl

I have been feeling very beachsick this week because this is usually the week my family spends in California. I guess you really take something for granted when you get to do it every year, and then suddenly one year it's gone. No big reason we didn't go, just busy, and mom and dad have had a lot of other trips this year. Hopefully next year we'll get back.

I needed a way to purge my sad feelings so I thought reminiscing with some old photo's and memories on my blog would be a good way to do it. The first pic is of us group reading a book out on the back porch watching the surf. The second is a sunset pic of our sandcastle efforts for that day.

This is the day that we bullied Lyndsey into making her famous guacamole and we ate it for lunch in the sand. It's a tradition and an oh-so-good one. Don't ask me how a girl can stay that skinny when she's such a good cook. Some other traditions are dinner at Fisherman's Wharf, morning walks and bike rides to the coffee shop for muffins and mocha's, smore's and bonfires on the beach, falling asleep to the sound of the crashing waves, having friends over for dinner who live in Cali, and just enjoying each other's company.

This is a pic of my boys and uncle Josh stacking rocks at Dana Point. Grandpa is there too but he had to take the picture. There's so many things that I love about this vacation that I couldn't possibly tell them all. I think the crux of it though is beach and family. My long time goal in life is to someday have a little beach cottage somewhere in the world to call my own. I will take my boys and their wives and children there and we will try to reenact all the beautiful memories that my parents have created for me. If ever get a terminal disease my family better know me well enough to take me to live out my days there. (Yes, just like 'Beaches' with Bette Midler) Thanks for reading.

I've been tagged!

The 8 things tag.

8 TV shows I watch:
1. The Hills
2. Dancing with the Stars
3. Survivor
4. Gray's Anatomy
5. Any Ute's game
6. 90210 (I know it's bad, but I'm still watching)
7. Desperate Housewives
8. Brothers & Sisters
As you can see, my Tivo gets quite a workout.

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Took Wade shopping for 'skinny jeans' (he dropped 20 lbs.)
2. Ate my favorite lunch at 'Kneaders'
3. Took Lexi for a bike-run
4. Yelled at Luke for grades, again.
5. Froze my butt off at PM baseball games
6. had a political debate with my brother about Prop 8 (Vote NO people!)
7. Took Zac to dinner at YuckDonalds
8. blogged

8 Favorite places to eat:
1. Fisherman's Wharf in San Clemente, CA
2. PF Changs
3. Outback
4. Beehive Tea Room
5. Market Street Grill
6. Iggy's
7. Red Iguana
8. Kneaders

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. The election being over
2. Twilight movie
3. Selling my house
4. watching my nieces on Friday
5. The Holidays
6. seeing Wade in his skinny jeans (hubba hubba)
7. another vacation
8. bedtime

8 Things on my wishlist:
1. That my Bro's and Sis would get a blog
2. That my Bro's and Sis would learn to leave comments on my blog
3. Ugg's
4. to drop 20 lbs so I can look hot like Wade
5. a bigger house
6. my first BMW (wow I'm really shallow)
7. laser hair removal
8. World Peace (OK so I threw that in for points)

8 People I tag:
1. Mandy
2. Kelly B.
3. Jen B.
4. Lindsay M.
5. Leslie
6. Jodi
7. Tiffany
8. my Bro's and Sis ( oh wait, that would require a blog)

Bright Lights, Big City

So, you all know how busy our lives are with sports hopping. Last night we had the chance to fulfill a childhood dream for one of our boys. One of Jake's double header Saturday afternoon games got rained out last month, so last night we had the make-up games. They were in Lehi at 5:30 and 7:30 so mostly in the dark. Jake was so excited to play under the 'big lights' that you would have thought it was the World Series.


It was freezing cold, about 40 degrees, so we really had to bundle up. He didn't even notice the cold. He was so serious and macho about the whole thing. Apparently those lights erase a multitude of senses.


Zac and I toughed it out as long as we could, but finally ended up in the car for the last game. (Don't judge me, I know all about toughing out the elements for the sake of your child. I'm fighting a 2 week old cold, OK.)

Fall Fabulous Fall

Fall, fall beautiful fall. One of my favorite times of year. I love getting out my favorite jeans and sweaters, making soup, having a little break from the boys sports, making jam, and putting up fall decorations. It's just so cozy and fun. One of my favorite days of the year is the first day it's cold enough to turn on the fireplace, drink a mocha, and wear sweats all day. We as a family have a tradition of spending a family night going to a pumpkin farm to pick our own pumpkins then we go to dinner at the kids favorite place "One Man Band" (don't ask because I couldn't tell you).


This year we visited the Jakers field in Springville. What a bargain. Any pumpkin in the field is less than $3.00! (except for the ones on steroids over in the corner) I, just like my sis-in-law, love pumpkin pictures so here are a few.


Why do teenagers always have to act so cool. Here's a hint Luke, nobody looks cool holding a pumpkin so you might as well give up. He's a good sport though and always goes along with our plans and tries to make it fun for his brothers.

Here's Wade and his little shadow showing off their finds. We had a fun night and look forward to it again next year!

The Walkers return to Lake Powell

It's been three long years since we sold the old boat "Big Bessie" and upgraded to the new boat "the Batman Boat". It's been such a busy summer that we haven't had time to test her out on Lake Powell until this past weekend. Yes it was sh*tty weather but I thought everyone would enjoy a recap anyways. Just for fun (and because I loaded my pictures backwards) we are going to start with day 3 and end with day 1. (It's opposite day, live with it)












On day 3 it was cloudy and raining with a temp of about 50 degrees. Not good weather for sunning, so we packed up and set out to Goblin Valley. It was perfect weather for climbing. The clouds broke and we spent the afternoon climbing the rock formations. This was Jake and Zac's first visit so they had a total blast running and climbing everything within their reach. Luke had fun outdoing them and always climbing the highest rocks he could find. Lexi was just happy to be off her leash and allowed to run amok.

















Day 2 was a surprise because we thought the weather wasn't supposed to turn until the evening. We woke up to pouring rain and more cold temps. After a quick visit to the visitor's center we decided to catch the Ferry across the Lake and spend the day at Natural Bridges National Park. On the way Wade spotted some Indian Ruins so we explored them for awhile. (He has a lot of Bryce in him) The kids found it all fascinating. Once we made it to the park the kids enrolled in the Junior Ranger program. It was perfect entertainment for the rainy day. Attached is a pix of them taking the Ranger Oath. The overlooks to the Bridges were only about 100 yds from the parking lots so we didn't have to spend too much time getting wet. It was really fun to visit a National Park that we had never been to.















Day 1 was perfect Lake Powell in the Fall weather. We visited the canyons that we have missed so much. Moki is still our favorite. It was really fun to see Zac's reaction to it all. He was only 2 the last time he was there so his memory of it consists of the inside of the boat. He repeatedly said "Wow, this is so cool, when do I get ice cream" The kids played on a knee board (that didn't last very long because the h20 was pretty cold) We did some climbing on the slickrock and just had fun being together. All in all a pretty successful trip considering the conditions. PS. Yes that is a lifejacket on Lexi, I wouldn't want my little princess to drown now would I? ( some may say an intervention is in order)