Summer of 2007

At VCU there was a program where 3rd year dental students could work under a practicing dentist during the summer before their 4th year for extra practice.

We knew just the dentist to set us up.  (Thanks Gary!)

Permission slips were signed and our family flew across the country to work (oh...I mean play) in Twin Falls.

We moved in with my parents for six weeks.

Let me repeat that...my poor mother had our family of five living with her for SIX WEEKS.

I still can't believe we did that to her...but will be forever grateful for her hospitality.

Trying to keep Colby happy on a cross country flight.

 Carter was much easier to entertain.

(love that you can tell he is watching Star Wars)

So Steve worked, and I played.

It was a fabulous summer where we soaked in as much family as possible...we had lived away for four years and it was oh-so-good to be home.

The following millions of pictures are just a few of the things we did to entertain ourselves during those six weeks.

Water fun and Aunt JaNae's.

 To have a real back yard?  What would that be like?

 Colby, Wes and Grandma Walker!

 Grandpa Walker is always good for a horsey ride.

Walker cousins

Steve practiced a little pediatric dentistry...

 but let the real professional step in when things got serious.

(Wait a minute...isn't that man an optometrist?)

Tubs at Grandma's house are always more fun than at home.

(How big was this tub that they needed goggles?)

This tubby I'm sure was not on purpose.

His shoes are still on for heavens sakes!

 When he wasn't pulling teeth without a licence, Grandpa Walker was always good for a tractor ride.

 Wasp killing with Grandpa Dixon should be an Olympic sport.

No really, it should.

Dixon cousins were a-plenty this summer too!

 As were fireworks and tank wars on the 4th of July...not to mention the homemade ice cream!

We love our Grandma and Grandpa Dixon!

 We attended the oldest Walker grandchild's baptism.

Walker looked oh so handsome in his suit!

(Everyone in this picture has been baptized since.  Where did the last 5 1/2 years go?)

 Typical family shot of insanity.

Swimming lessons were taken.

Vision was checked.

 Haircuts were given.

(Goldfish are a great distraction)

 More baths were taken.

These kids must have been really dirty!

 No really...they got clean a lot.

Even though I don't think this really counts as a getting clean tub, more of a play in Grandma Dixon's huge tub of awesomeness!

 Even a few uncles this summer were wrestled to the ground.

One huge event for our family this summer was attending my Mom's Barzee reunion at Bear Lake.
(It was a little bright...)

Love this picture!

It shows the true emotion of taking family pictures.

One Walker grandchild even ended up in the corner right after this shot was taken and I have the picture to prove it...I'll spare that child the humiliation by not printing his/her name!

All of my siblings and our latest offspring.

Jolyn was expecting her first baby (a girl) that winter.

 Another family shot.

Andrew had been threatened with his life to happy-up and smile.

(...maybe he was the cousin in the corner???)

At the reunion, my Grandfather's restored saddle was brought for everyone to see.

All the kids got a turn trying it out.

 Of course, we had to get lots of pictures of Colby with his identical twin.

The resemblance between these two gets closer and closer as Colby gets older...at least I think so.

 Right before it was time to fly back to Virginia...we celebrated Andrew's 7th birthday.

He wanted a Harry Potter cake.

I'm not one to buy bakery cakes (at least I wasn't back then) and this monstrosity of over dyed frosting was the beginning of my steady decline in motherly birthday effort.

Thank you Andrew for letting me know how awesome it is to buy your child's happiness.

 Andrew and Walker

 Seriously...so happy with this hideous nasty thing.

Or maybe the happiness was from the money.

(Does the gleam in his eye remind anyone of my previous post?  We start our kids early with the love of the green stuff.  It's shameful.)