You should see the other guy...

So just kidding about "the other guy" because the other guy was a tile floor and all that happened to "him" was getting covered in Hunter's blood. Hunter got his first stitches the other day. We were at the bank and he just tripped and fell. He smacked his chin and ended up needing two stitches. Sorry that the pictures are so bad, I was having a hard time getting him to stay still. I guess its better for him to be still while he is getting the stitches and wiggly for the pictures.

Here they are!

Notice the blood on his shirt

(and messy face from his treat for being a good boy at the ER)

ELF yourself results

We saw this on a Friend's blog and laughed and laughed. Hunter wanted to play this over and over again, so have a laugh at our bobble headed expense.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Camp Grandma 2008

Kelli's parents (Grandma and Pop-Pop) have a tradition that every year they get all the grand kids together and keep them for about a week. This tradition was started by Kelli's grandma; who called it "Camp Grandma." The first two years it was just Hunter, and this year it was just Hunter and Natalie, which made the scheduling a little easier. Kelli is starting to wonder if Hunter may be driving before he has cousins on her side of the family! (Just teasing Shannon, Pat and Quinn :-)) They went for about a week just before Halloween; this was the first time Natalie had been left overnight. Kelli went down with the kids and stayed the weekend to make sure that Natalie would do OK, and she did great, so Kelli left them for a week and Grandma and Pop-Pop drove them back. To see the WHOLE slide show go to http://www.mcnierney.net/, but here are some highlights. They went to Ocean Journey, the pumpkin patch, the Butterfly Pavilion, jumped on the trampoline, played with the new puppies and lots of fun stuff.

Making a "candy house"

Making a "candy house"

The super heroes protecting the kitchen

Posing at the pumpkin patch

Happy Halloween (better late than never)

Here are some of the pictures from our Halloween festivities. Justin was Elk hunting Wednesday and Thursday then had open gym on Friday after school, so... we tried to pack it all into a few hours Friday night, but I think it went well. We did make some Halloween cookies with the cousins earlier in the week, but the rest we did on Halloween. We carved pumpkins, decorated, and went trick or treating. We went to the Care Center (since I work there) and then made a few stops (Jaymie's, Kari and Mike's, etc.)and hit a few of the neighborhood streets. There was a trunk or treat, but it was not well advertised because we didn't know ANYTHING about it until it was almost over.

My little stinkers

The back view

Pumpkin #1 (Hunter's)

Pumpkin #2 (Natalie's)

Natalie "gutting" the pumpkins

Sadly the BEST picture I took of the kids and their cookies

The cookies

Kelli made the top three, Natalie's is bottom left Hunter's is bottom right

( I also didn't get any pictures of the cousins and their cookies, I know bad aunt!

I was a little preoccupied trying to help 6 kids make cookies and we only had about an hour.)

Hunter learned this song from his Grandma Walker

(Justin used to sing it when he was little)

From the mouths of babes...

Since Justin has the camera on his father-son bonding hunting trip this weekend, I can't post the Halloween stuff yet, so here's something else. Inspired by a post of Amber's ( a while ago) I decided to keep track of some of the things that Hunter says that make me laugh. I think that he says something every day. So here are some things from the last week or so.

1. I had gotten an e-mail with funny things that kids had said when asked "what is love" so I asked Hunter and he said... "Its this" and gave me a big hug and a kiss.

2. My parents sent a box in the mail and aside from all the great stuff for everyone inside there were also some packing peanuts. Hunter climbed into the box and started throwing the peanuts into the air and shouting, "Hip, Hip, Parade."

3. When playing with his cars, he always starts of with "ladies and gentlemen" (said just like the "announcer guy" you know what I mean) then follows with something like "now here is the green car" as he drives it off the table.

4. He has started a phase of sometimes talking baby balk. So I'll say, "Hunter, talk like a big boy, please." One of the first times I said it he repeated EXACTLY what he had just said in a deeper voice.

5. After playing outside, "Mom, that was a great adventure wasn't it?"

6. We were sitting down for dinner and I was up getting one more thing from the kitchen. Hunter says, "Hey Kel, you say the blessing please." Then he folded his arms and closed his eyes. So I did!

7. He's always saying "that's not for babies, that's for big boys." Especially when Natalie is trying to play with his toys. He has recently added, "that's not for babies or for big boys, that's only for daddies (or mommies)" for anything I've asked him not to touch.

8. He often follows ANY suggestion he makes with, "that's a great idea!"

9. I was going through some boxes in the office looking for something and had some things out on the floor. Hunter came in and said, "Mom, did you make this mess?" with his hands on his hips. I said, "yes Hunter, I'm just looking for something." Hunter says, "Mom, it makes me sad when you do this, clean it up, please." I said, "Hunter, you don't have to be sad, I'll clean it up when I find when I'm looking for." A few minutes later he came back, "Mom, I SAID CLEAN IT UP, PLEASE." I said, "OK Hunter, I am." I could hardly keep from laughing.
I couldn't believe his tone, he was SO serious. It made me really think about what I say to him, do I REALLY sound like that? I must for him to say something like that .

10. On our way to Colorado for Camp Grandma, Hunter kept singing the Campbell's soup jingle in different voices, soft, loud, scary, deep... he just keep singing, "Campbell's tomato soup, Possibilities." I almost had to pull over.

11. Again on our way to Colorado, we got stuck in a traffic jam about 3 miles from our exit on I-25. Hunter asked me to roll down his window, when I did he Yelled, "Hey, move, get out of my way, I'm trying to go to Pop Pop's house!" Some people heard and just laughed.

12. In Nursery at church they made a book about Jesus Christ. When Justin picked him up from Nursery he said, "Dad, look. This is my book about Jesus Norman." We corrected him, but when I tried to figure out what he meant. I think that he was confused that He was Jesus Christ, but He was Sister Norman's brother (one of the Nursery workers).

13. I had worked a 12 hour night shift and had come home in the morning. I was getting the kids ready to take them to daycare so I could sleep. Hunter didn't want to go so I explained to him that I had worked all night while he was sleeping, and that I was really tired and needed to take a rest. He sighed and said, "OK Mom. I'll go to Jaymie's house, but only take ONE rest, OK?" I said OK and off we went.

The big red barn

As some of you know we have been building a barn on our land in Smoot. It never would have been finished if it wasn't for all the help. Kyle and Bev worked on it while we were in Jamaica and Ben and Mike were there A LOT. For a few weeks Kyle and Justin would work for at least 12 hours a day. Kyle even brought his camp trailer and basically lived out there and continued working all day once Justin started school. Thanks to everyone for all your hard work! (for the record Kelli did help for a few hours one day, and brought the guys lunch on the days that they worked all day.)

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Natalie is ONE! We can hardly believe it. She is such a sweet girl; she is always smiling and loves to give hugs and kisses. We love you sweet baby girl! Here are some of our favorite Natalie moments from her birthday party and the week of her birthday.

The princess (complete with b-day crown and fancy bib) and her dad

Her hair is FINALLY long enough for some pigtails!!

Stinker face (this is the picture that was on her b-day invitations

it said, "don't be a stinker, come to my party!")

The before cake picture...

The after cake picture. It was so cute, she only picked off the fruit,

she didn't even eat any of the cake!

Playing with her new kitchen

Here is a video that we took and Natalie just being Natalie

She is such a girl, she loves to put lotion on after her bath,

apparently I didn't put enough on, so she had to do some herself.

Jamaica, Mon

As a very generous gift Kelli's parents (AKA Grandma and Pop Pop) took everyone to Jamaica for an early Christmas. We all had a blast! We stayed at the Sunset Jamaica Grand resort and went snorkeling, sailing, wind surfing, swimming, climbed The Dunn's River Falls, got to touch some Dolphins, Kelli got her hair braided and we ate a TON of food and drank A LOT of virgin Miami vices. (strawberry daiquiri and pina colada combined, yum...)

Justin, Kelli, Hunter and Natalie
On our way to Dunn's River Falls (Grandma stayed at the resort with Natalie because they wouldn't let her go) Notice Pop Pop's new outfit, since his luggage was lost, he says that he's "blending in" with the natives
Hunter and Aunt Shannon building a sand castle
Grandma and Pop Pop with the kids in the pool. (Its foggy because the camera went from the cold air conditioned room to outside)

There were only a few downsides to the trip; Justin got stung by a Jelly fish, Natalie got bit by a parrot, and they lost Pop Pop's luggage. (It took two days to get it back, because in Jamaica, its "island time" meaning that there is no sense of urgency, literally "no worries.")

Jelly fish track marks

This is Bob, he's the parrot that bit Natalie

One of the hits of the trip was that Hunter won a dance contest! (well it was a tie with another kid) The videos are pretty funny, so see for yourself!

He became famous at the resort for the rest of the week as Hunter from Jamaica.

P.S. If you want to see some more pictures of the trip go to mcnierney.net

Hunter to the rescue!

Yesterday Hunter found a bird in his kiddie pool. He came running to me and said, "Mom, we gotta save the hurt birdie." So we scooped up the bird and put it in a box, Hunter added some grass and a toilet paper nest. Then he put in a cup of water and half of a kiwi. I looked over the bird and couldn't find anything wrong, but he wouldn't fly away. There was obviously something wrong with the bird because it had died several hours later. So I made Hunter wash his hands about a million times since we didn't know how the bird died.

McNierney family pictures

We spent the fourth of July weekend in Colorado with Kelli's parents (AKA Grandma and Pop Pop). Kelli's friend Lindsay was getting married, it was Justin and Kelli's anniversary, and Great Grandpa Baldwin was going to be there. The drive was long, but the kids did very well (what did people do before there were portable DVD players?) Since the WHOLE McNierney family was going to be there Grandma thought that it would be nice to get some professional family pictures taken. But if you've ever tried to get a professional photographer for the 4th of July weekend at the last minute you'll know that it didn't happen. So we decided to just take them ourselves. We put our digital camera on a tripod, Justin did the set up then would set the timer and join us; here's what we got.

Our future's so bright...

Everyone on the grass

Wait Hunter is touching Natalie...and she's not crying!

In the front yard

Just the boys


Just the girls

They turned out pretty well for amateurs. The only things that were hard were that it was almost Natalie's nap time, and with a tripod the kids didn't have anyone to look at, so they are oblivious.

Our very own old faithful and Christmas in June!?

Well we arrived in Star Valley and have unloaded everything and unpacked enough to live, making it very unmotivating to unpack the rest (especially since Justin has been gone at basketball and football camps). We have been settling in at the rental house and working on plans to fence off our land and build a barn so the horses can be wintered there. As part of that plan, we need to irrigate the land so that the grass (well, actually mostly dandelions) will grow and provide grazing and hay for the horses. Pipe irrigation is the way that is done around here, and this is our first shot at it...and it didn't turn out so well.

This is not how it is supposed to look. You are supposed to just have some nice sprinkler heads gently sprinkling the land, and not flooding with a geyser. So thanks to good neighbors, cell phones and a nice Water Master (or Water Marshall, I'm not sure which title he has) it was fixed and we are now successfully pipe irrigating our land.

The other surprise we had was our Christmas present arrived from Mom and Dad Walker. We had no idea it was even coming, but we got a call from Kari, who told us to make sure we were at home around 11:30 am. The next thing we know here comes an Ashley Furniture Store truck backing up our driveway. This is what they delivered.

We really LOVE it! It was the perfect gift; exactly what we would have picked out for ourselves but never would have been able to justify spending the money on a bedroom set. So thanks Mom and Dad Walker; its perfect! We just wonder who's going to help us move it when our house is built? It took two very strong men with belts and straps galore two hours to move it in and set it up...maybe they will come back!

Star Valley here we come!

So our lives have been turned upside down. When we moved to Green River we knew that it would be temporary; maybe 4 or 5 years. Well those 4 or 5 years have turned into 11 months! Justin has accepted a job (along with coaching responsibilities) at the high school in Star Valley, WY. (For those of you who aren't familiar with Star Valley, it is actually a series of towns in western Wyoming near Jackson Hole. We will be renting a house in Afton while we build our house.) It seemed like we were waiting FOREVER to hear about an interview, and for the interview date to come once it was set. Then they offered him the job on the spot after the interview, and we have to be there by the 10th of June! So after it seemed like we were living in slow motion, now we are sprinting through life. We are trying to move all of our stuff (we just keep getting more and more and more...), two kids, two dogs, three horses (the rest we'll pick up later) and sell our house all in the next week.

So here is a quick update, and an excuse for why there hasn't been a post in a while (and why there may not be another one for a while longer).

But check out the great views in our future hometown.

Spring is here!

The weather has finally taken a turn for the better. After a rough winter of a burst pipe in the basement, broken washing machine, broken sprinkler system pipe in the back yard and just recently a new hot water heater...it is a new season! It has been a while since we last wrote, so we'll catch you up. We fixed all of the above problems which involved flooding the laundry room several times, a 20 foot hole in the backyard and lots of help from Grandpa Walker (the joys of owning a home!). we both have new callings; Kelli was called to be the primary president and Justin was called to be the 1st counselor in the young men's presidency. The kids have grown, and grown... do they ever stop? Hunter runs and runs, and Natalie is working on crawling (She's done it once for Justin) We've been to a few baby blessings, baptisms and birthday parties and are hopefully home for a while.
But now spring is here, there are tulips blooming in our front yard and the kids have moved outside during the day. So hopefully things will calm down (wishful thinking we know.) Here are a few pictures of the kids playing outside. They were so excited that they could see the driveway that we decided to pull out the sidewalk chalk. Hunter colored pictures, and Natalie tried to eat it...but we were outside and loving it!
P.S. Natalie only has Hunter's hand-me-down hats, so she's wearing a blue baseball hat even though its not very girley she has to wear it because she doesn't have any hair to keep her scalp from being burned!

Hoping, and wishing and dressing for spring!

Wyoming weather likes to play tricks on you. In the morning it will be sunny, offering hopes for a trip to the park after nap time, only to be squashed by wind and/or snow in the afternoon. Then one day it will be 50 degrees, then snow that night. So here at the Walker house we are hoping for spring. I know that Justin and Hunter would be content to bundle up and brave the weather, but Kelli and Natalie may have a different story! We've been trying to take walks in the evening with the dogs, but some nights Kelli wusses out due to cold or wind. But the cold does make you appreciate to wonderful Wyoming summers. Temperatures in the 80's and 90's; just perfect for enjoying the outdoors.
Here are the Kids' most recent pictures. They are all dressed for spring, even though it isn't quite here yet. We had them taken in Colorado while at Grandma and Pop Pop's house for Easter. While there we had lots of fun dying eggs, playing with an Aunt, Uncles, Grandparents, Great Grandpa, etc. Justin got in several rounds of golf ( in 40 degree weather one day), Justin and Kelli got to go out on a date, and we even celebrated Great Grandpa's 80th birthday!