A Cabin in the Mountains

One of Mark's bosses in California has a million-dollar cabin up in Wise River, Montana and he was kind enough to let us spend a couple of days there. It was incredible! It was 7,600 square feet. It was beautiful. We had a great time watching movies, playing games, eating, and four-wheeling.

Julia is Married!

On Saturday, December 25, 2008 one of my best friends got married. My cousin Julia was my roommate this past semester and it was fun to anticipate the big day! I can't believe it was here and now it is over. Julia looked beautiful! I am so grateful that the roads were clear enough so that we could make it safely to Utah. I am very happy the day turned out so well for them! However, I have firmly decided that I will not be getting married in December if I have any say in the matter! I was FREEZING! My teeth were chattering the entire time :)

Random Christmas Pictures

My beautiful mother

Mel
Jamie
Mark is always hilarious! It's been so nice to have him here.

Dad
Brandon's favorite gift! haha. Mel made him this. He loves it.

I am a huge jigsaw puzzle nerd! I have been getting puzzles for Christmas since I was a little girl. I think I got 4 this year! Score!

Bryan

The Big Present is Revealed

For a month now the Walker Family has had a large (and I mean large) wrapped present placed next to their tree. It was about 4 feet tall. Everybody that visited our home joked about what might be inside the box. Some of the ideas we heard were a big flat-screen TV, Rockband, an animal, David Archuleta (Mel's wish), and a mail-order Russian bride for Bryan! We didn't tell anybody who the gift was for, but I can tell you now. The gift was from my dad to my mom. He has wanted to get her this gift for a long time but hasn't been able to until this year. He was pretty excited! Are you wondering what was in the box?

Well, I will tell you. It was a...................................

POPCORN MACHINE! Mom loves popcorn and now she can have real movie theater popcorn anytime she wants :) Dad is a sweetheart and is pretty thoughtful when it comes to my mother. She was excited!

My Darling Grandparents

I hate to brag, but I think that I have the cutest grandparents in the world! We have been able to spend a lot of time with them during the Christmas break and it has been fun. They are such a blessing to our family and I love them so much! (Here they are at our Walker Family Christmas Party. Grandpa is wearing his cute little Santa hat, haha :D)

Christmas Eve

Wednesday night brought our annual Christmas Eve dinner! Dad cooked up some tender steaks and chicken, and splurged on some Chiz's shrimp. We had so much food! Dave, Jeanette, Melanie, and Grandpa and Grandma Walker came up from Idaho Falls and we sure enjoyed their company. I think we ate until we were all stuffed up to our eyeballs! haha.


Mark flew in from Los Angeles yesterday afternoon and now our family is complete! He gets to stay for about 9 days and we are thrilled! It has been a year since we have seen him. That is just too too long.

The six Walker Bambinos

After dinner it was game time! We Walkers are a game-playing family. Here is Jeanette, Mel, and Jamie with their team stickers on their noses. We are crazy, but we sure had a great night!

Sunday Night Christmas Cookies

Sunday night we decided to bake a few sugar cookies for neighbors. It was so nice to just be together doing something simple. We packed up the plates, put on our snowpants, and then piled onto the tailgate of the truck while the snow was blowing around us and freezing our bones. It was wonderful!

Of course, Brandon had to put his own little twist into our Christmas adventure! :) He is quite a character. He even made one of our little neighbor ladies scream, haha. He was really funny.

Too Funny!

Brandon has grown up so much, and is one of the funniest kids I know! He has such a fun sense of humor. Last night he decided that he wanted to wash his face with the girls...



He is such a stud.

The "Untraditional" Thanksgiving!

What a fun Thanksgiving we had here in the Walker home! We decided to do everything "untraditionally," from the rectangle pumpkin pie to the Thanksgiving dinner at Chuck-a-Rama. It was really great actually. We didn't have to cook anything and we didn't have any dishes to clean up afterword! It was an extra treat to have both sets of grandparents come with us.

After we had stuffed ourselves silly, we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Walker's house for some games. Of course, Grandma whooped up on everybody and won every game we played. She's a champ! When we got home from Idaho Falls, we hadn't played enough for one day, so we gathered around the big screen TV for some Rock Band. We even got Mom rockin' out on the guitar! I was surprised at how good she was :) She is a rockstar at heart.

We finished the night with a movie and some popcorn. It was a great Thanksgiving! I am definitely grateful to have such a wonderful family! They are everything to me.

Going private

I've decided to change my blog to private, so if you like to stop by- leave me your email address and I'll be happy to add you to my list!

Cousins!

I have never had so much fun as I have had living with my cousin, Julia! She is an amazing girl and I am so grateful that we get to share this semester before she gets married. I remember some of my older cousins being roommates in Grandma Walker's side apartment while they were in college, but I never knew how much fun it could really be! It's not that we even do a lot of extravagant things; we have the most fun just sitting in our room, laughing ourselves silly when we are supposed to be doing homework. Julia is fun, comfortable, and a joy to share a room with! I also learn a lot from her. It has been exciting to help her plan her wedding (in December) and share this wonderful time of life with her! I couldn't ask for a better roommate, cousin, and best friend!

Halloween Fun!

This year was a pretty mild Halloween, but I loved it. I guess that's what happens when you get old :) haha. Julia, Mel and I went to my mom's house and made a spooky Halloween dinner. (Thanks to Mel Gunnell for the ideas!) We boiled carrots to make nasty fingers, made mummy wraps out of hot dogs and biscuits, baked some beans, and made the little apple mouths. It was a lot of fun. We took some up to Grandma and Grandpa Risenmay, and Grandma couldn't bring herself to eat the fingers! She kept picking it up and squishing it, trying to be brave, but she couldn't do it. She said it just felt too much like her own fingers! We had quite a laugh. They are so much fun to visit!

Of course, Brandon had to get a few screams from us girls and kept jumping out at us wearing this disgusting mask. But crazy things began to happen when Mel got a hold of the mask....

...You can make up your own story.

Cleaning Day

Julia and I realized that our bedroom was getting a little bit dirty, so we took a Saturday evening and took it to it! We cleaned out the closet, organized the shoes, unstacked the piles on the desk, and took care of the mountainous piles of garbage that had somehow creeped up. It was such a nice feeling to get into bed that night in a squeaky-clean room!

My Latest Floral Creations

Posts

Mel is a computer genius and taught me how to upload pictures from my computer by just inserting the camera card into the laptop. You would think I could figure these things out, but I don't :) Now I can catch you up on everything that's been happening! Ready for a string of posts? Here we go!

If I ever find that cord...

I'm sorry that I have been a huge slacker when it comes to updating this thing. The truth is that I lost the cord that connects my camera to my computer, so I can't get any pictures off of my camera until I find that blasted thing. I have looked everywhere. I promise though, as soon as I find it I will get some pictures and posts put up!

Floral Arranging

I chickened out and dropped my college math class, so I needed a class to replace it. Since most of the classes were filled by this time, I added into a Floral Arrangement class. I have always been interested in flowers and so I was really excited!

I'm here to report that I love it! So far we have learned how to color tool (spray paint) flowers, tie those big floral bows, create flower jewelry, and make corsages. I never realized how much time and effort are put into creating flower arrangements.

...Maybe if I keep practicing I will be good enough to work for Uncle Bruce one day! Ü

Mel's Birthday!

On Tuesday (Sept. 30), Mel celebrated her 19th birthday! I can't believe she's that old. I feel like she should still be my baby sister! Ü She is in fact one of my best friends. I have been so blessed to have her be a tight-knit part of my everyday life. She is truly a hero and example. She is talented, beautiful, and oh so special to me! I love you Mel! Happy Birthday!

Life is so good!

Hello Family and Friends!

It's been forever since I've posted anything on this blog, so I thought I'd give a quick update about what I've been doing. This semester has been wonderful and I am having the time of my life! I am rooming with my cousin Julia and loving it. We have so many random, crazy moments and we laugh all of the time! Mel is living next door and I love running over to her apartment to visit every day. I was called as the Relief Society President in my student ward and although it's been a busy calling, I have grown a lot already! School is going well and I am enjoying my classes. I am still studying Elementary Education and have been very happy with my choice of major. I am grateful for all of the blessings that I have been given and couldn't be happier!

My Latest Adventure!

I have discovered in the past couple of years that I have this new-found love for traveling and adventure! Who'd a thunk? Last year I spent the summer in Ecuador volunteering in the orphanages where I had the time of my life!

So when this summer rolled around it was time to find my next summer-adventure destination. This time it was Chicago, Illinois! I was able to participate in the BYU-Idaho Chicago Urban Studies Program where we put on a two-week girl's camp for inner-city girls there in Chicago. We drove to Chicago, stopping at the church history sites along the way. We visited Far West, Winter Quarters, Independence, Liberty, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Nauvoo, and Carthage Jail. It was so neat to be able to see the history of the church and to gain a greater appreciation for the early Saints!

Carthage Jail.
The top window is the window that Joseph Smith fell

through after he was shot.

Our group of counselors in Nauvoo.

Our camp lasted two weeks. Some of the girls who attended are members, some are investigating the church, and some were just friends of girls that came. We had camp from 9-3 (Monday-Friday) and did all kinds of things; we did crafts, cooking and recipes, games, sports, activities, discussions, water parties, field trips, etc. It was so neat for us counselors to be able to work with these girls and (hopefully!) be good examples to them.

We worked really hard to put this camp together, but don't let me fool you....we also had a lot of fun in the evenings! We were able to see Wicked (twice!), go to a White Sox baseball game, eat out at a variety of restaurants, shop like crazy, visit a Baptist Church and a Bahai Temple, go on a boat tour in Lake Michigan, see a comedy show, visit several museums, see the Chicago Temple, etc.! We were also able to meet Elder Oaks at a conference he was attending! We had so much fun :)

It was an amazing adventure and I am so grateful I was given this opportunity!

I'm excited to see what next summer will bring... :)