All Things Walker

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Ugly Sweater Party 2012--Keeping it Classy

Last December, I opened the ugliest sweater vest I had ever seen in a White Elephant game with the young women in our Utah ward. That night, a seed was planted.

That seed came to fruitition last Friday night with an Ugly Sweater Party hosted by yours truly.

It. was. so. fun.

I put on a hot chocolate bar, and had everyone bring desserts and appetizers. Our friend, Josh Shelton, did all the photography.

Charlie bit my finger!

Enjoy:

And the winner was......

......Josh.

Hope you're enjoying your 'Forever Lazy'--the full body Snuggie suit complete with hood and butt flap.

Another Crazy Utah Trip....

Remember how we went to Utah over a month ago? I do. Remember how I haven't blogged about any of it? I do. Sigh. Honestly, it's been crazy town since we've been home so I'm finally getting around to blogging about our many adventures. Unfortunately, I forgot to get all the pictures off my parent's cameras before I left. There were so many situations where I didn't take pictures because I thought, "Oh well, I'll just snag their pictures." Crap. My dad claims he will mail me a disc soon. We'll see.

While we were in Utah we managed to fit in a crazy amount of events. In the first week we were there we blessed Charlie, celebrated my mom's birthday, celebrated my birthday, attended bachelor/bachelorette parties for Annie and Joey, celebrated TWO Thanksgivings, and saw Annie and Joey get sealed in the temple. Whoa.

On my birthday, I'm pretty sure I consumed a weeks worth of calories. That morning we went to Kneaders for their scrumptious french toast breakfast.

After breakfast we got ready then headed into the City Creek. I bought myself a killer pair of boots and then we met up with my mom, dad, Scott, Rach, Annie, Aunt Elaine, cousin Erin, and Jenny for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

After lunch, we went home and I got to take a nap. Oh yeah. After I woke up, we dropped the kids off at my parent's house and Jordan took me to Benihana for dinner. I may have eaten my body weight in shrimp with garlic butter. After dinner, we had ice cream cake at my parent's house. Overall, a perfect day. I wish I had all the pictures on my mom's camera!! My normally handsome husband decided to shave a mustache on my birthday so he could freak Annie out with it before the wedding. I was less than pleased.

My little man on my birthday. How crazy is it that my mom had FOUR kids by the time she turned 28? Whoa.

Papa Walker loved little Charlie too.

After the wedding, we stayed in condos at the Marriott Resort in Park City with my family. After the craziness of the previous week, it was nice to relax. We played cards, watched movies, shopped at the outlets, and soaked in the hot tubs.

I busted out a batch of the traditional caramel apples.

One of the nights we went to see the lights at Temple Square. We bundled Charlie up for his first time seeing the lights.

I was so glad we were able to see the lights while we were there, because we will not be in Utah for Christmas this year. The lights got me sufficiently pumped for Christmas.

I can't believe my kid sister got married. Post pending.

We all got pedicures before the wedding.

A cute shot of Charlie.

Well, our flight home was mostly uneventful. Charlie did manage to blowout from his neck to his ankles when we were getting off the plane. At least he waited until we landed.

Since we've been home, we've been getting the house all gussied up for Christmas. I've been playing Christmas music nonstop and having a ball decorating my own house for the first time. I hosted an Ugly Sweater Party the Friday after I got home, so I spent the entire week getting ready for it.

Maybe I'll post again when I receive the pictures. We'll see.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

A Belated Halloween Post....

So, I recognize that Halloween was more than 10 days ago, but sometimes I feel lucky to even get a shower--so cut me some slack. Our first Halloween in Georgia was wonderful. It was fun to be our own little family and start our own traditions. We did borrow from some of our family's traditions though. The night before Halloween I made some Brunswick stew, a southern barbeque soup, and we carved pumpkins. Lucy really got into it this year.

Even Charlie got in on the action.

Jordan and Lucy carved the ghost, and I carved the much cooler hand emerging from the tombstone.

On Halloween day we got all dressed up and went to story time at the libary with our friends, the Sheltons. Lucy and Noah love each other. Seriously. After story time, they had a costume parade around the library. Oh so cute.

Jordan was able to get off work early that night. We made some "witches brew" (homemade root beer). Side note: NOBODY sells dry ice in Georgia. I drove all over town looking for some. I finally called Publix and was informed that they have one store that sells dry ice. I drove 20 minutes across town to buy some only to find out that it cost $15 for a block. Oh well. I was determined to have homemade root beer.

We also had "mummy dogs" for dinner.

Then it was time for the main event.....Trick or treating!!! Have you ever heard the Jerry Seinfeld bit about Halloween? I have to agree with him that the main objective of any child is to, "get candy, get candy, get candy." I can honestly say that there was no more exciting time in the life of young Laura Hale, than the moments leading up to trick-or-treating. Magical I tell you. Lucy really got it this year. She was thrilled to get all dressed up in her Belle costume.