Its been a while..

I was looking back and noticed that it has been a while since I last updated our blog. This is partly because this has been my view for the last few weeks.

(I decided that the stock Internet picture was better than an ACTUAL picture of our toilet)

But its all worth it when this is the reason why!

Walker baby #3 is scheduled to make his/her arrival on June 12th.

Goodbye Speedy

The other day we said, "goodbye" to our lizard, Speedy. He was a green anole who was given to Hunter by one of the basketball girls in Star Valley. The kids had fun holding him and letting him jump around. Unfortunately, Speedy was a lizard who would only eat live crickets. In Star Valley, that meant driving to Etna (about 30 minutes each way), here that meant catching small grasshoppers in the yard because there was nowhere to buy crickets close by. I had been feeling guilty, because late in the season we were having some trouble finding grass hoppers who were small enough for him. So I had bought some crickets and a nicer cage for him while in Idaho Falls...and he died the next day. The Kids are sad that he is gone (mom is a little relieved) but now I have a nice Green Anole cage from PetsMart that has never been opened. Hopefully they will still take it back by the time I can get to another PetsMart!

So the kids say, "goodbye Speedy, we will miss you." Mom says, "Goodbye long drives to buy live crickets!" (Does that make me a horrible person?)

Look closely, he's holding Speedy

A new friend for Zeke

We've found that our dogs seem to do better when there are two of them. Our dog Sunny passed away (unexpectedly) at the age of about 4 a few months ago. Zeke seemed fine for a while, then began chewing things, and just seemed lonely. So we had decided that once we moved we'd find him a new friend, but the opportunity came along to adopt Buddy just a few days before we were going to move. How could you pass this face up?

So we now have two dogs again. Buddy is an Akbash. They are supposed to get pretty big, like Great Pyrenese, but not as hairy. So far he seems to be living up to that! He just keeps growing and growing. He and Zeke are getting along well, and have loved the space to run, roam and explore. There was some debate about his name. Some of the choices were Jack Frost (from Hunter), Juneau, Polar, Bear, in the end we just kept calling him Buddy until we could choose a name, and it sort of stuck.

He's been a good sport with all the "playing" that the kids have done with him, or should I say done TO him!

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Well, I can hardly believe that Natalie is two years old today! She is such a sweet, smiley girl, she just melts anyone's heart. Since we had barely moved, we opted for a quiet (as quiet as it can be with our two kids) party at home with the family. Natalie wanted corn and hot dogs for dinner and asked for a pink cake with berries and butterflies on it. We kept trying to ask her what sort of gifts she wanted but it never worked out, the conversations went like this:

Mom or dad: Natalie, what do you want for your birthday?
Natalie: cake (big grin)
Mom or dad: yes, we'll have cake after dinner, but do you want some presents?
Natalie: No, I want a PINK cake with berries and butterflies!
Mom or Dad: I know, you can have a pink cake with berries and butterflies, but what do you want as PRESENTS? Are there any toys that you want?
Natalie: No, I want a PINK cake with berries and butterflies!


So we gave up and took her shopping with us for a few things. It was so cute to watch her relish all the attention. She was SO excited about every phone call that she got, she'd say, "they sing Happy Birthday to ME!" She really knew that it was about her today! When we had finished singing "Happy Birthday" to her, she asked us to sing it again, so we did! It was so cute. So Happy Birthday Natalie, Sweet Baby Girl, Princess, Sweetheart, Natters, we love you!

the ONLY late pregnancy picture I could find

Natalie at a few minutes old

Natalie at one year old being a "stinker"

Happy Natalie at one year old

Natalie at two years old

Natalie at her birthday dinner with her b-day crown

Natalie's dinner choice

The pink cake with berries and butterflies (I made them out

of melted Jolly Ranchers and Mike and Ike bodies)

Her first driving lesson in her new SUV (thanks Grandma and Pop Pop)

She also got some really cute clothes and a few toys(thanks everyone). Hunter picked out some sparkly pink sandals for her (she LOVES) shoes, it was so sweet, he kept saying, "I know she will like these."

Happy Birthday Kelli

So for the next two posts, I'm gong to back date them to the actual birthday date, I know it's cheating, but you have to have a blog post ON your birthday, even if it is written later. :-)

So, since we loaded up the two trucks and trailers, hauled them over then unloaded them in one day (the day before my birthday) we decided to celebrate it later. My parents still had the kids, so on my actual birthday Justin and I did go out to dinner, but we were pretty wiped out! Plus, we were trying to put most of the stuff away BEFORE we had small helping hands!
Justin had asked me what I wanted him to make for my birthday, and I said that I didn't care as long as I didn't have to make it. So this is what he came up with:
He made some parmesan crusted chicken topped with pepperjack cheese, sautéed mushrooms, a spinach salad and some fresh pineapple! He said that we were watching The Food Network one night a few months ago and someone made this , and I said, "Oh, that looks good, and easy too." I don't remember that, but he did and remembered well enough to replicate it. Then he had made a cake too, it was GREAT.

The cake ( I appreciated not having 27 candles!)

The birthday guests (sorry its fuzzy)

Pavillion

Justin accepted a job at Wind River High School teaching PE/ Health and head girl's basketball coach, so we are moving to Pavillion, Wyoming. We've done lots of praying, and know that this is where Heavenly Father wants us to be. We hadn't planned on moving again, but we have quickly learned that it is not our plan, but His.
We have finally finalized a place to live, just in time and we are moving next week. We will be leasing part of a 200 acre ranch, so we are really excited, except that it looks like we'll have to get satellite internet, so it might be a while before I can post again. Look forward to a new friend for Zeke, the pack trip and Camp Grandma 2009!

Yellowstone!

I know it may seem strange that I've been to France, Jamaica, Hawaii but I've never been to Yellowstone. We decided that while we were living so close, that we would make the trip. We met Grandma and Grandpa Walker outside of Jackson, and off we went. We drove through the park to West Yellowstone Montana and stayed in the Days Inn there. The kids had fun swimming at the pool with the BIG slide. Then we did one side of the park and came back, then finished up on our way back through the last day. We saw rivers, falls and lots of geysers and mud pots. We saw Buffalo, a bald eagle, elk and a wolf! It was a blast and the kids did great to be in a car for 3 days in a row.

up close and personal with a buffalo

The wolf, he was pretty far away and eating
what looked like an elk calf



T-I-R-E-D

At one of the Yellowstone River falls
or Tower Falls?

The Yellowstone River just below the Lower Falls

At one of the Geyser Basins, she kept saying,

"that's really Stinky."

Finally a HERD of buffalo

Everyone in front of the Tetons

Hunter and Grandpa at Cascade falls (I think)

Grandma and Natalie

Mom and Natalie looking over the bridge

What kind of animal is that?

See, they DO love each other

Cattle drive

When Justin and I moved to Laramie we met some people that have come to be good friends of ours; Montie and Cheryl Munroe. They have a paint horse breeding and cattle ranch in Encampment, Wyoming. Every year about the 15th of July they drive 160 head of cattle from the ranch to the Colorado border on the national Forest. This was the first year that I was able to go (since I wasn't pregnant or nursing a baby).
So we met Grandma and Pop Pop on the highway and they took Natalie for a few days, then headed off to Encampment. The first day we start about 5 pm and drive the cows through some sage brush on mostly flat ground to the base of the mountain. Then the second day we start at about 4am and drive the cows straight up one side of the mountain, then straight down, and then strait up the other side, then along a dirt road for another few miles. Hunter was very excited to go, so we decided that he could ride along the road the last few miles. So he stayed with Cheryl for the day and rode around in the truck with the trailer and the other kids who were going to ride later in the day.
It was a long few days, but a lot of fun. We had a good group of riders who could keep most of the cows going in the right direction and out of the thick brush and trees. I hadn't uploaded all the pictures off of our camera before we left, so we only had 2 pictures left, so even after deleting some, we didn't get very many pictures. And I didn't get ANY pictures of the HUGE ups and downs of the drive, because I was too busy moving cows!

Hunter on King, Me on Rebel on the road the last few miles

(Justin and I traded off on Rebel for that last little bit with Hunter

because Luke lost a shoe)

Justin on Rebel, Hunter on King


Hunter holding King from the truck (he was

passing out drinks) on the first day

The view on the first day (with King's ears)



another view of the first day

P.S. At first I thought it was silly to wear the western shirts and cowboy hats, but they really do make a big difference! It was dusty and sunny and there were a lot of branches that could have scratched my arms, but I was cool and sunburn and scratch free.

Happy 4th Birthday Hunter!

Hunter turned 4 today! I can't believe he's already 4 years old. It seems like it couldn't have been that long ago that I looked like this:

2 days before Hunter was born (I can't believe I'm posting this)

One day old, the day he came home

One year old

Two years old

three years old

four years old

He asked for a gun, a Spiderman cake and a party. He wanted to have a party with his friends, especially since we are moving soon. When I asked him what he wanted to do he said that he wanted to have a water fight. Since our air conditioning is broken and this is what the thermostat in our house read, we said yes.

Yes, that is correct 83 degrees INSIDE

Hunter's Spiderman cake that I made

pictures from his party

Pictures from his party

Hunter filling up the water gun

Everyone in the front yard for the fight ( the pool is filled with warm water)

Happy birthday Buddy, Turbo, Bucko, Buckaroo! We love you Hunter!
(P.S. happy birthday to Whitnee, Beth and Pat too)

The 1st Walker Family Pack Trip

Justin grew up with two parents who were teachers and so spent a lot of time in the summers going camping and on pack trips. He had a dream of taking his own family on one since I found out I was pregnant with Hunter. Justin, his dad, and I went on a pack trip when Hunter was about 1 year old, but his dream was to take his kids and do something he had grown up doing and come to love.

Now since Hunter is almost 4 and Natalie is almost 2, we figured that it was time for the 1st Walker family pack trip. We planned for weeks and picked a place that was close enough that we could get to the camp site with only about 1 hour of riding. Grandpa Walker came along and brought a pack horse so we could take plenty of stuff. We soon realized how difficult it was going to be with two kids who are not old enough to ride alone. Hunter has been riding on his own horse with a lead rope and Natalie rides with me. But with three adults and a total of 6 horses it was a little bit of a challenge to get everyone loaded and up the trail. To make things more complicated, the two pack horses had never been packed before and Justin was riding a horse who had been gone for the last 9 months. But we made it in with no big problems.

We camped, we fished, we played and ate...then the rain started. Camping is great, but keeping two kids inside the tent to stay warm and dry is NOT very fun. Justin and Grandpa got horses ready for us and as soon as the rain let up for a bit Justin, the kids and I rode out. We made it out without getting wet, but Hunter had a little tumble. The horse Justin was riding got spooked by something and backed into the horse that Hunter was riding and his little hands and legs couldn't keep him on, so he bailed and jumped at the last second. He cried and cried and I was afraid that he was really hurt even though he landed on his feet and bum. When I asked him what was wrong he said, "I'm not a REAL cowboy, because cowboys stay on!" We had to laugh. We told him that real cowboys just get back on when they fall, so he did and rode the rest of the way out. Then Justin went back to help Grandpa take down camp and bring the rest out. It was a great trip, we had lots of fun, but I think that we'll wait until the kids are a little bit older to try it again!

Grandpa watching the fire

The family and I, of course, couldn't put down my plate

The horses tied up for the night

The two cutest kids ever

On the way out, ready for more rain