Happy Birthday Brian!

Tonight we celebrated Brian's 26th birthday. We had a delicious steak dinner per Brian's request. We also had green salad and broccoli and roasted potatoes. Mmmmmm. When we got every thing cleared away it was time to open his presents. The card had a Napoleon Dynamite quote "whatever I feel like gosh!" He remarked that Heather Rose had signed it "your sister Heather" that way it eliminated the confusion.

The suspense builds....

...is it really something from New Egg, or is this just to throw him off the trail? No it really was the hard drive that he wanted from New Egg.


We had turned out all of the lights so when Brian blew out the candles it went totally dark.


Heather Rose was goofing off with the gold cord from the package. I told her she was pulling a Chris. You see it's normally Chris who puts the ribbon or package trim on his head. She tool the picture of herself. Nice expression!

Happy Halloween!

Today Heather wore her costume to school. She went over to a friends house early this morning so that her mustache could be drawn on with eyeliner. She makes a very convincing Mario.


Today Ashton and I went to the mall. We stopped at the build a bear. This is his baby named Josh. He also referred to it as his baby brother who is a werewolf. He has a big imagination.

At the ward Halloween party I had the young women paint cat whiskers on my face for fun.

Heather won a cupcake in the cupcake walk.

This is Heather clowning around with some of her friends. Belle and Cinderella are her friends Emily and Bekah, the witch is Tila.

Heather and her princess friends.

Bob and Heather with the pumpkin that Bob carved.


A better picture of the pumpkin Bob carved. If you can't tell who it is I might tell you if you call me and ask.


We got a new game to play and Ashton loves it. It is called UNO MOO. The skunk in the draw two figure and when I play it I say "sorry Buddy, close your eyes and draw two." Ashton plays any figure and says "sorry, mom." The first day we played for an hour before he went down for a nap.

Here is Ashton with the bug eyed glasses that he convinced me to buy. He is wearing an old witch hat of Heather's and has on a super value girls cape.

I had Ben's kids overnight last week and they all wanted to carve pumpkins, luckily I just happened to have a few that we grew.


Here is Heather with her pumpkin. She carved hers a little too soon and he is now residing in the yard debris bin. Poor pumpkin.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Heather Says the Bun is Half-way Done!

Brian and Heather were over for family dinner tonight. Heather is really starting to show now, so I wanted to get a picture for the blog.


Here she is with the maternity pillow that I made for her. She saw one at Babies R Us, but I was able to make one for less. They brought some more ultrasound pictures for us to see. There was a really clear picture of Simon "flexing" his arm. I thought it looked like he was shaking his fist at the technician.

Brian and Heather's New Apartment

Brian and Heather have moved from Lehi to South Orem. The found a cute apartment that allows pets and has two bedrooms. Here is their living room, it even has a fireplace.

Their cute kitchen.

Here is Brian in the dining area carving a pumpkin.

This is the Simon's room. It is very spacious and will easily accommodate a dresser and rocking chair.

Simon's room will have a nautical theme. It is sooo cute! We are so glad that they were able to move a little closer to their jobs and us.

Here is Heather's pumpkin.

Brian's pumpkin. Heather Rose want to do her pumpkin now... so that she can make pumpkin seeds.


We tried a new Christmas cookie. They are called mint crackles. They are flavored with Andes mints. They were really good.

Walker Family Applesauce

We started out with four boxes of apples. We have reds and goldens. Because we are making applesauce Bob gets the smalls and the "rubs" (they cost less).

Heather Rose was goofing off with the camera. This was taken downstairs so maybe this is the face that she made when I called her up to help with the project.

This is me making a face because apple juice squirts every where when you use the corer slicer.



Sometimes it would get off center. No worries it all get ground up anyway!


All the apples go into the big pot for steaming.

These are the steamed apples that are ready for the Victorio Strainer.

Bob is the master of the strainer!

Cranking out the applesauce. The peels and other yucky stuff comes out into one bowl and the yummy applesauce goes down the chute into another bowl.

Our secret recipe calls for 1 teaspoon cinnamon.


1/2 cup sugar per batch. I batch is one 5 quart pot of apples.

Since we made the applesauce last year I really can't stomach the store bought kind that comes in cans anymore. We will be getting two more boxes this coming weekend to make some more.

Devon's 20th B-day

Last Saturday we went to Jack and Kathi's to harvest the few remaining things in the garden. This is the ginormous carrot that we pulled out of the ground. Heather Rose claimed it for herself! She wasn't really able to bite it this way and ended up cuttign it up into bite-sized pieces.

Devon doing the clean up after his birthday dinner. We had the Irish boiled dinner with homemade soda bread. Almost everyone was there Seaneen, Vince, Anna and Dani. Bob, Heather and I. Brian and Heather. Grandma and Grandpa Walker even dropped in after their FHE dinner.

Devon with the card that we gave him. It says Happy Birthday Son.
We wrapped up a ratty old deck of Uno playing cards. He saw right through the disguise and opened the box to find the Walmart gift card that we hid there. Devon is moving back to Washington this week and we wanted him to be able to get anything that he needs when he gets there. He will be working at the Mill Plain Walmart and living with his brother Chris in Vancouver.

Brian and Heather got him a PC game that he loves "Portal". He looks pretty happy about it.

Heather Rose wanted to be the one to bring in the cake. It turned out really well. It is a layer of white cake with nutella and chopped pecans, then another layer of white cake with strawberry jam, followed by another layer of the cake some more nutella and chopped pecans topped of with the last layer of cake and covered in butter cream frosting. The Nutella makes the cake really rich, a little went a long way, if you know what I mean.

Finally a picture of Heather smiling in the silly way that we all love!

We Had a Mini Baby Shower

We got them a cute outfit that said Grandpas or Bust!

And I found one yesterday that says Off to Grandmas. We also found one that said Mommy's little hero and one that said basketball that Heather Rose wanted to give to her nephew.


This was Brian's favorite of the outfits that will be for next summer.



We made a video of them opening the gift from my mom. This will be my mom's first great-grandbaby. They needed receiving blankets, and they thought that the little dino faces on the footies of the pants were so cute.

A Weekend in the Pacific Northwest

After they picked me up from the airport we tried to go to the Oregon Zoo but the newest exhibit was opening for members and we could not find a parking spot. We decided to have a picnic in the park instead. Renae climbed up the bank to stand by a tree for a picture. Her hair looks like a golden halo.

Then Corrin joined her for a picture. She had been riding her scooter around the park.

Micah showed me a lot of the tricks that he can do on his bike.

Kyle got into the picture with his sisters.

The next day I went to the Oregon coast with my mom and sisters. My mom didn't know that I was coming it was a big surprise. Ami after a delicious lunch at Moe's.

Becki after lunch. Going to Moe's is our first stop. It's a tradition to eat lunch there before we go to the Christmas Shop to buy ornaments for Christmas.

Becki asked this guy "Excuse me sir, do you know how to operate a camera?" He took our picture above the beach access at Moe's.

After we agonized over the ornaments and made all of our selections we headed over to the outlet stores. Out of all of the baby stores there Carter's had the cutest things for baby. We are picking out clothes for Brian and Heather's baby. Yes, I will be a grandma and it is going to be a little boy! Hurray!

We all really liked the cute monkeys on the outfits. They also had some cute bears and dinosaurs.

Sometimes we like to take a couple of crazy pictures. I am like my mom someone says make a crazy face and I just make my normal one!

The tide was in and things were really over cast so we didn't go exploring on the beach. We had spent so much time shopping that it was about time for dinner and to get out on the road home. When the tide is out we like to look for shells and rocks on the shore. It was a really great day. It was good to feel the cool salty air and be with my mom and sisters.

Renae and Roxy watching Rock Band.

We didn't get home from the beach until 9:30 or so. Michael and the kids had gotten the new Beatles Rock Band. So we all stayed up to play it.


I think that we were up until almost 1 am playing Rock Band.


On Sunday we went and got Chris to come over and play with us for awhile. If I could we would get Beatles Rock Band to play with after family dinners. It was a lot of fun to play. It is something that even people who are challenged in their hand eye coordination can play. You don't have to be a good singer just know how to modulate your voice and project.

We got together at mom's for strawberry shortcake Sunday afternoon. It was really good to see everyone. Monday I just relaxed with my sister Ami. Then I flew home. It was a very nice trip.