My Crazy Kids

Jared and I were relaxing on the couch last night after the kids had gone to bed. I looked up at the ceiling fan and noticed this. If you can't tell there is a #4 Face Card on TOP of the ceiling fan. I honestly have NO idea how they managed to get it up there. I don't even remember them throwing any face cards.

I must have rather talented kids.
Then of course we went to check on the kids before we went to bed. I am SO glad I don't sleep in the same bed as Aspen. Every night she's in one crazy position or another. Seriously though, that can't be comfortable.

Cooking for Christmas

With 4 kids to raise and a husband that loves a good meal, I find I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. But every now and again something strikes me at beautiful. Most people would find that beauty in a Sunset or a crystal clear lake. Today I found it in the kitchen.

I know, kind of weird. It's just onions in a frying pan. But they really are just striking to me. And the smell is just Heavenly. Too bad you can post those kind of senses.

Homework/Sister Time

Sicily is really starting to enjoy being read to. Aspen is starting to enjoy being able to read. So these 2 fit rather well together right now. Only problem is they are both rather strong willed little girls AND they both want to be the one to hold the book. Makes things interesting when Aspen tries to read to Sicily.

Bedtime Snacks

Aspen and Jared made some wonderful Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies for our after dinner treat. We then had dinner in our PJ's, just too busy with Christmas prep and all. In the end the cookies were a big hit and Aspen was wanting 2nds and 3rds. When told NO, she opted for the cold steamed veggies that were still on the table. Weird kid.
Sicily is just like her sister in many ways. Seriously, who would pick cold soggy carrots over Pumpkin Cookies?

Ground Breaking

Here's the sight of the soon to be, newest Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Chapel. We are so excited. We currently drive 20-25 mins to get to church, when this Chapel is completed it will be only a 3 min drive. You folks in Utah/Idaho have no idea how nice this will be.
Bishopric digging the first holes. Gold shovels and everything.
The floor plan looks very similar to Jared's parents Chapel in Idaho, kind of like the 6th Ward Chapel in West Bountiful. It'll be such a beautiful building and such a nice addition to our neighborhood. I really think people will like the look of it when it's done. There are other churches in our area but most of them are set off the road. Ours will be right at a main intersection, just down the street from the new High School. I really think this will help a TON with missionary work. Close proximity to a chapel makes it WAY easier for Elders to encourage investigators to come to church. SO EXCITED!!

Digging Holes, just digging holes. Those kids were so muddy when they got home. :)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

I picked the right day for a boys play date. They were all so excited when the snow started dumping. I could hardly contain them to make sure they all had on their coats AND gloves.
Never knew it could snow this much in Houston, Texas. LOVE IT!!! We told everyone we'd brought it back with us from Utah. They were most appreciative.

Boys will be boys. After the snowman we built a fort. Not a very tall one, and they didn't quite get the concept till I became the "bad guy" and started pelting them with snowballs. They quickly figured out how to hide behind that fort.

And when you're 4 snowball fights are fun, till someone chucks one in your face. They all got it at least once, came crying to me to want to go inside. I'd calm them down by saying, "We'll go in in just a minute." They'd hang out for a second more then grab another snowball and jump back in to the fight. :) Freezing cold little boys by the time we were done. Good 30-45 mins at least.
My neighbor came over to see what all the noise was about. I took a look in the mirror when all was said and done and was just a bit embarrassed, but not too much. You just can't look "beautiful" when you've been building snowmen and having snowball fights.

Since we do live in Texas, no one owns proper snow clothes. So we were all wet up to the thigh. We quickly tossed all those wet clothes into the dryer and I put my million pairs of warm fuzzy sock on us all (went up to their knees) and dressed them in Phoenix's PJ pants. Of course we had to finish up with some Hot Chocolate. Plenty of marshmallows too. YUM!

You'll notice there were no pictures of Sicily in the snow. After Uncle Evan got her in the face with a snow ball in Utah (love you Ev) she is not to keen on the snow. But she was rather excited for the Hot Chocolate.

Christmas Piano Recital

Miss Brooke has been just the best piano teacher this last year and a half. London is just about to level 4 Bastian books and Aspen is almost past Primer level and only started in September. We are so proud of our 2 talented children. We just couldn't be more blessed.
Aspen was more nervous about stating her name and song before she played than the actual playing part. But, with her nerves of steel, she did awesome! She played "Oh, Christmas Tree."

London's an old hat at piano recitals. He played 3rd to last, which means he's one of the better students. He played, "I saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus." This is a tough song. London is starting to surpass me in my piano skill. And I am so proud of him for it.

Temple Square Christmas Lights

Day after Thanksgiving they flip on the lights at Temple Square, and we were there! So much fun, so beautiful and so COLD! But we all loved it!

The Reflection pool had this life size Creche "floating" in the middle surrounded by bubbles with lights in them also floating in the water. It was beautiful, especially with the Salt Lake Temple right behind it. The true meaning of Christmas just glows on Temple Square.
The kids loved this HUGE fountain. Sicily, once again, tried her hardest to climb right in. Coat, gloves and everything. But Phoenix was the first to discover you could walk along the edge "just fine."

All bundled up for the evening. It wasn't as crowded as we'd expected it to be, but we still had to park up a hill. Which made it a little tough climbing back up at the end when everyone was so tired.

Gotta stop and watch the local street musicians. This guy had to have been freezing.

Thanksgiving with the Walkers

Thanksgiving this year was dedicated to Jared's Grandfather. He is turning 80 on Dec. 17th, so we celebrated Thanksgiving and his Birthday with plenty of turkey, potatoes and pie.

Best of all, ALL the family was there. Grandpa has 4 kids, 17 grandkids and 18 great-grands. Add all those together, plus spouses and a few friends and that was the Walker 2009 Thanksgiving, over 65 people in all.

Obviously it was held in the church. We had photos taken, plenty of chatting, kids running up and down the halls and Jared's sister, Dana, brought her Karaoke Machine. That just added a new level to the Walkers that I've never seen. :)

This is Grandpa in all his glory. He does a lot of Cowboy Poetry. If you ever call their house and get the machine there is a different poem every time. I can't remember the title of this particular one, but it's about the true essence of a Cowboy.


Sicily was rather clingy to Jared today. Lots of people and one tiny 2 year old, she was a little overwhelmed. She eventually fell asleep right in the middle of it all, but she did get some turkey so that was ok.Some of the Walker girls. Karaoke is funner than I thought. Though probably more embarrassing when you're in front of family instead of strangers.

Aspen was not shy when it came to singing in front of the crowd. She was just sad they didn't have MORE Taylor Swift songs.

This is our soon to be Uncle John. He proposed to Emily, Jared's baby sister, the night before Thanksgiving. He's a great guy and the boys already love him because he had a snowball fight with them. Phoenix has good bragging rights because John never hit him. Not once! Given, Phoenix is a pretty tiny target, and he moves rather quick.

And here are most ALL the Walker men. I couldn't believe they got all these guys up here at once. Real Cowboys just don't sing, but I thought they all did a MARVELOUS job.

Grandparents and Grandkids

We just love visiting Grandma and Grandpa. The kids always have so much fun at their house. Here's just a few snap shots of being happy at Grandma's. This is Sicily with the latest addition in cousins, Oliver, isn't he the cutest!?!

You HAVE to watch this video of my nephew Cyrus. It is the funniest thing ever! I love when kids do this at the dinner table.

Sicily with Grandpa. All day she'd say, "Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa!" But when he'd acknowledge her she'd just smile and hide. Then again with, "Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa!"

My parents have 25 grandchildren. I don't think we've ever had them all in my Mom and Dad's house at the same time, that would be absolutely crazy if we did. But LOADS of fun too. And even though there are 25 grandkids they all know they are loved. And they love them back for it.

Back to Evans for FHE

Jared and I have decided if we were to ever hire a chef it would be my sister-in-law Esther. She is the BEST COOK EVER. All of her food is delicious AND healthy. Never thought that could be possible. I think most every meal we've ever had at their home has had some kind of beans in it, and even my kids will eat it. That is saying something.

Getting ready to load up the kids on a bit of sugar. There was a total of 14 kids and 5 adults over for FHE tonight.
And this is what happens when our family gets together. SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

Here are all the kiddos, minus 2. Notice Cameron hidding in the green shirt. The 2 missing were Baby Oliver who was eating and Phoenix...

who was not feeling too well. When the evening was over, Evan took us to their awesome Pediatricians that are open till 10 pm. Phoenix ended up needing 2 nebulizer treatments and by the next morning was pretty much back to normal. It's amazing the difference in a kid when they're actually getting enough oxygen.
These are my crazy twin nephews Lincoln and Romney. I can not tell these 2 apart. This video is the exact way these boys act every minute of every day. Esther is definitely Super Mom in my book. OH! The black out at the end was because some other cousin flicked the switch just at that moment

Conference Center

After watching General Conference twice a year my kids were so excited to actually go into the building and see where Conference is held.

First we had to check out the waterfall. Sicily and Cyrus were trying their best to go for a swim. I honestly think I would have just laughed had one of them just fallen in. It was slightly cold though, so that might not have been good.

This shot was just too cute not to post. Sicily and Grandpa inside the Conference Center checking out the waterfall. She did not want to leave this window, thought it was the coolest thing ever.

So we made it inside eventually. I took about a million shots of all the kids standing here inside the Conference Center. This had the most visible background. Inside lighting always messes with my camera. Notice the floating windows. They were actually spot lights and were moving all over the whole time we were there. They're setting up the stage for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.

There are many things to see in the Conference Center, one in particular is a hall of paintings. ALL the original paintings you will find in the Book of Mormon are found in the Conference Center.

Every boy loves Ammon. Ammon is actually my own personal favorite Book of Mormon Hero. The boys had to have their picture with him.

This is my new favorite LDS artist. And how pathetic am I that I am completely blanking his name. If you happen to know it, let me know and I'll type it in. I love this painting of Alma the Younger, it is one of my favorites.

Next you have the Hall of Prophets. My camera died at that point, so I didn't get a picture. But as you enter the room there are Bronze Busts of all 16 Prophets. We walked through the room while singing, "Latter-Day Prophets." The kids loved it.

Then you have paintings of each of the current 12 Apostles. I was rather impressed with these. They even have another room with paintings of all the past Apostles in these Latter-Days. And I'll tell ya, some of those guys were pretty funny looking.

Church History Library

My Mom and Dad are currently serving a mission in the Church History Library. We were lucky enough to have them take us on a tour and show us what they do. It was a bit of a fiasco with 8 kids under 9, but it was a lot of fun, and Dad was obviously proud to show us all off to the people they work with there in the Library.
This should give you an idea as to where the Church History Library is. We're standing right outside the front door looking across to the Salt Lake Temple.

Then when you walk across the street you'll end up at the Conference Center. Here's Jared lugging Sicily and her cousin Cyrus. They're about 2 months apart. Craziness!

Thanksgiving Sunday

So full!! You can't tell from this picture but Jared's belly is just about to pop. I think he ate at least 6 slices of pie. And that is so not like Jared.

And here's the culprit. Aunt Kathy came to Thanksgiving dinner with us with all her yummy pies in tow. They were all so good Jared just couldn't help himself. Chocolate cream and an Apple/Raspberry/Cranberry Pie were among the favorites. We love Aunt Kathy!!!

Someone else got full, but he only got second hand pie. This is our newest family member, Oliver. Jared got him knocked out easily most every night he was with us. Even London put him to sleep one afternoon. Sicily LOVES having "baby" cousins. Thanks Amy, my sister, for making those babies so darn cute.

1st (and probably last) Snow of the Season

It started to snow while we were in Utah, at my brother Evan's house.

Aspen was straight out the door, then straight back in for her coat once she realized how cold it was out there. They were so excited to see snow, I think the cousins all thought they were crazy. But then they thought I was crazy when I told them it doesn't snow where we live.
Check this out! Can you believe all this snow?!? London and cousin Spencer were freezing their butts off, and loving every minute of it.

Could not get this girl to come in all night. She was trying to make snow angels when there was only a skiff on the ground, then rolling down the hill on their front yard once it did get deep enough. That's our cousin Preston in the red.

Phoenix was a little hesitant of the cold. But when he figured out all the cool things you can do with snow, he wouldn't come inside either. Snowball fights were Heaven sent for this boy, nothing could be better.

Here they are rolling down the hill. I can't believe this much snow dumped in one evening. And we were afraid we wouldn't get any snow while we were up there. So glad we did!

Going on the Airplane

Sicily's only been on an airplane a few times in her life. But not for an awfully long time. She was so excited she could barely hold on to her water bottle.

New Moon

I have to admit I love this movie WAY more that Twilight. Mostly because Jacob is so much hotter than Edward, even in the books (sorry girls). I went with a bunch of screaming ladies and teens on opening night, just like last year. It was so much fun! I think I may just have to drag Jared to see this one, he might actually like it.

Pre-School Thanksgiving

I got to host the Thanksgiving for Phoenix's pre-school. We had so much fun.
Little apple turkeys and smelly hand turkeys (instead of glitter we used spices) were on on the list of crafts.

We also made a Thankful List. I got this idea from Joy School, and they loved it. You have to watch this little video in slow mo so you can read all their funny things they are thankful for. London counted and said there's over 70 items.

Everybody Loves a Bubble Bath

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles!
It never ceases to amaze me how many bubbles this bathtub can produce. And those boys stayed in there till the last bubble was gone.