All Things Walker: July 2010

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Parker Family Reunion...

We're back from a three-day reunion in the Jackson Hole area with the Parker family (Jordan's mom's family). The Parkers are so great. I love that everyone in the family from the aunts and uncles to the youngest cousins all hang out. There is no age distinction. The Parkers know how to have a great time. We camped in Steve and Mary Jo's backyard and every day was filled with fun. We ran the Snake River, played water baseball, rode in a parade, spent a day in Jackson Hole, sat by the campfire, played games and ate well. Thanks Steve and Mary Jo!!!

Tagen with pizza the first night.

Steve and Mary Jo had a great zipline in their backyard. Lucy loved it!

Steve and Mary Jo live in a small town called Fairview. The town had a little parade with about 10 random floats. Our family made up one of the floats. It was great!

In Jackson Hole.

Jordan with Abbi and Lucy

The Walker girls.

Abbi and Jenny

Jenny, Jessica, Abbi and Emma

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Happy Birthday Lucy!!!

That's right. My baby turned one yesterday. It's funny how conflicting parenting can be. On the one hand, I love watching all of the new things Lucy is learning. On the other, I feel kind of sad that she is growing so fast. I was trying to explain to Jordan how I felt kind of sad that Lucy was growing so fast, and he wasn't quite getting it. I asked him, "Do you remember what she was like at one month? Five months? Ten months?!? Well, I don't." Even though we take lots of pictures and video, we can only capture a glimpse of what our baby was like at each stage. I guess that's why we have more, right? Enough with the morose, onto the celebration! We had a great birthday party last night for Lucy. All great-grandparents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, or cousins (of Lucy's) that live close by came. We had a great dinner, then let Lucy go to town with a chocolate cupcake.

Frosting cupcakes

The final result: one messy baby!

With Papa Walker

Cousin Emma

Lucy with her Hale and Parker great-grandparents. Not long after Jordan and I started dating, we discovered that our grandpas had served in the same bishopric in Bountiful. Small world.

Happy Birthday Lucy, we love you!!!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Another Marathon Post...

I. live. for. summer. What's not to love? We hit the ground running when Erin and the kids arrived on the 16th of June and it's been nonstop ever since. Warning: this post contains the contents of at least 7 posts. Feel free to stop reading at any time.

I'll begin with my dad's 60th birthday. We had never thrown a surprise party for my dad, so I thought this was the year for a big party. For weeks we carefully laid the groundwork for an awesome surprise. My brother Mike flew in from Minnesota and Steve flew in from Boston for the big event. They arrived late Friday night and hid upstairs. The next morning my mom made a big breakfast and called everyone over the intercom to come eat. My dad was sitting in the living room and was FLOORED when Mike and Steve came walking down the stairs. His reaction was so great. He was SO confused! After a day of swimming and watching the US soccer game together, we had the boys go for a hike to get my dad out of the house. We had 1 1/2 hours to get the yard ready for the 90 people coming for the party. We lied and told my dad that the neighbors were having a reunion to throw him off the scent. We managed to completely surprise him though. Even when he came walking into the backyard and everyone was singing "Happy Birthday", it took him a bit to realize they were singing to HIM. Too good. Everything turned out perfect! We had Cafe Rio catering, a great DJ, key lime and tres leches pies, and Costco cake for dessert. Each of my siblings, my mom, my uncle, and two friends said a few funny words. It was a great night.