23 Pictures

Just a bunch of pictures posted haphazardly and random-like from Walkerpalooza 2013.

It was three days of pure Walker craziness.  I do feel bad I didn't  take pictures while at Roaring Springs.  However, water and cameras and me in a swimsuit do not mix.

Enjoy the highlights from our mini-vacation.

 30 of us at Red Robin.

Five of us eat gluten free and Red Robin serves great GF sandwiches.

 Cool swimmers at the hotel pool.

 Wowsers!  That skin is bright!

(That or the window let in some wicked light)

 Monkey Colby

 You think an optometrist could get some goggles that actually fit.

 Jo texted this to me...

 I texted back to her.

We decided we actually do look a lot alike with 44oz'ers coming out of our mouths.

 Yep...my daughter ate nothing but peanuts and fries one night for dinner.

Her overpriced grilled cheese went completely to waste.

 Boise has some wonderful parks.  One night we let the kids play their little hearts out.

 Saylor and Bentley.

 The cool kids.

 Hey...cute baby!

 Working on that upper body strength.

 Jon, Bentley..and a little bit of Dan.

Jared and JaNae

 Wes and Colby

 The three sisters

(I really really wanted the t-shirt that said, "I've never been the same since that house fell on my sister!" Unfortunately for me though, neither of my sisters are wicked in any way.  The shirt wouldn't have worked.)

 Playing steam roller down the hill.

 Competitive game of ultimate frisbee.

 ...no really, she truly is the favorite!

 Meg and Whitney

Holly and Leah

Me and my partner in crime.

before I forget to remember

Jolyn was in Twin a week before our "official" reunion.  Half of that time she stayed at my parents and when my dad left for the hospital,  her family stayed at my house.  We played pretty hard between the two houses and slept indirectly proportional to the amount we played.  I took many pictures of the things we did and if I hadn't, I most likely would forget they happened.  When I say my brain is mush from the last few weeks...I really mean mush.  Pudding, mash potatoes, mud pies...whatever.  It's mush. 

Here are a few pictures from the week Jolyn's family was here showing the seemingly insignificant things we did...that were actually super fun.

 Rub a dub dub...three girls in a tub.

Watching movies with Grandpa on my bed.

 Then jumping on my bed.

 Have I ever mentioned that my mom has some of the best magnetic toys ever?

Imagination runs wild at her house.

 Little girls copying their mothers.

What?

I don't talk on the phone all day!

(ok..maybe a little to my sisters...or a lot.)

We joked about it happening, but then it actually did.

Grant tried to eat Grady!

 Sadie came running into my Mom's house one afternoon beside herself wringing her hands and pacing. She could hardly get the words out declaring the presence of a big snake in the front yard.

We followed her outside and found Colby shadowing the snake until an adult could come and take care of it.   I guess I should worry more about Colby and his decision making skills.  That kid is fearless.  I was so relieved the snake was only a harmless blow snake.  It would bite you...but you'd live.  My dad being the snake charmer he is, showed us first hand how this snake defends itself. 

 His shoe took multiple bites for our educational purposes.

 Dad then coaxed the snake into the neighbors pasture where it would be free from pesky kids and large menacing tennis shoes.

Whew...snake disaster averted.

 Dan reenacted a scene from the Lion King with my 2 month old.  

I kept telling him to be careful, but then continued snapping pictures.  I'm a great mom. 

 Last on my list of memory worthy events is my nine year old's transformation into a Vulcan with a little help from scotch tape.

It works great to train little fingers to stay put where they should.

Tape works really well on ears too.

(but it hurts)

It doesn't, however, work on eyebrows.

Those have to be held put with fingers.  Bummer.

"Live Long and Prosper" anyway.

a t-shirt speaks louder

Steve and I decided that for our Walker reunion we needed to laugh.  Things have been on the heavy side lately and laughter is always good for the soul.

Steve came home with the best idea!  We got on a t-shirt website and found shirt ideas for each member of our family.  We tried to tailor the shirt to fit the wearer.  We laughed so hard picking these out and were super excited to give them to our family.

 We then took pictures of each of us wearing our hand picked shirts.  

It was hilarious to say the least.

Here are my little family's shirts...

 "I'm kind of a big deal"

 "I'd be unstoppable if not for law enforcement and physics"

 "Mom likes Me Best"

 "I Had Friends on that Death Star"

 "Pull Yourself Together Man!"

 "I Just Awesomed All Over the Place"

 "Caffeine Loading  Please Wait..."

Sadly this is so so so true.

I would post every member of my family, but that would be 31 pictures.  Whoa Nelly.  

I'll settle for three of my absolute favorites.

 "As a matter of fact, the whole world does revolve around me."

 "Being Awesome has its Advantages"

I think this one is the best one of all the shirts!

"Guns Don't Kill People.  Dad with Daughters Do!"

Walker Family Pictures

I'm happy to report that my dad was released from the hospital today.  He's staying in Boise for a few days at my sister's house and will be home at the end of the week. 

I'm feeling...not sure how to describe how I feel.  Maybe relief, gratitude, love and happiness all balled up into one big "My Dad Rocked His Surgery" package.  I'm so grateful for prayer and faith and how it has blessed my dad's life in the last few weeks.  Miracles still occur on this earth and I think my dad is one of them.  

Perspective is also been felt this week.   Not that I didn't know this before...but my family means everything to me.  I'm so grateful for such wonderful siblings and for their spouses.  My family is amazing and I appreciate each and every member.

And here they are...

 Jill, Steve, Jolyn, Dan, Caprice, Jonathan, Jared, Cara, Jeff and JaNae

 The Women Folk

 The Manly Men

 The Little Girlies

Saylor, Sadie and Leah

 The "not so little" Boys

Colby, Wes, Dean, AJ and Dawson

 The Middle Boys

Carter and Wyatt

 The Middle Girls...they give being in the middle some serious style.

Annie, Whitney and Meg

 The Oldest and "most" Mature

Andrew, Holly and Walker

Last, but not least are the three babies of the family...

 Bentley...who loves his dad VERY VERY much.  

Wouldn't you?

 Grant

aka: Oh. My. Cuteness.

Grady Paul

(who still sleeps deep enough to slobber no matter where his is)

a tale of two teeth

 Colby has had his two bottom teeth loose for some time now.

He's wiggled them until were both hanging by nasty threads.

A week ago, Colby finally told Steve he was ready for a good pulling.

 Ready...set...GO...and the left loose tooth was out!

(Who knew how that tooth was hanging on...a stiff breeze could have blown it out.  I'm so grateful it didn't fall out in Colby's sleep and choked him.)

The lost beauty.

 Colby put his precious tooth in an envelope and wrote a darling letter for the Tooth Fairy.

And what did that Fairy leave him???

NOTHING!

What?  How could that happen?

Colby came up the next morning with the most deflated look on his face and while fighting back tears said,

"Mom, I had a really rough night.  The Tooth Fairy didn't come!  I don't think the Tooth Fairy is real."

(Yeah...I felt pretty awesome as parenting goes.  Little boys just don't understand how tired the Tooth Fairy is.  They don't know that by 11pm when it's time to magically leave money for deserving tooth losers...the Fairy's brain isn't working on all cylinders and she just wants to collapse in her bed and sleep.)

I gave Colby a well deserved hug and explained how the Tooth Fairy doesn't like dentists...because dentists steal teeth at their office and NEVER leave them under pillows for her...and if a dentist's child is on her route, she leaves them to the very last and sometimes runs out of time.

Colby tried again the second night.

That Fairy pulled through and left him not just a two dollar bill, but also three dollar coins.  I'm guessing that Fairy felt bad for skipping out on such a perfect tooth and deserving little boy.  

(guilt might have played a part too)

 Fast forward one week and the second wiggly tooth was pulled out by Steve per Colby's request.

 Now Colby is sporting this gappy grin.

...and that lazy Tooth Fairy??

She left 12 quarters...the first night.  She's learned her lesson I think.

All 19 of them

We spent the weekend in Boise for a Walker family reunion.

The reunion was originally planned to be in Oregon, but cancer is no respecter of vacations.

We decided to postpone our Oregon plans and get together in Boise so we could be close to our parents who are hanging out at St. Luke's for Dad's recovery.  He requested that we still play our guts out...he is a trooper that way.

We had a wonderful time together as siblings and cousins, but still missed Mom and Dad terribly.

Friday morning we got together for pictures.

Here are ALL 19 of Mom and Dad's grandchildren.

It's a pretty good looking group if you ask me.