The Walkers

Did It Myself

2012-02-07T21:37:00.005-07:00

We inherited this old dresser from Brad's parents; apparently it was part of their first bedroom set. (I so wish I had a before picture of the grainy walnut color and scrolly brass hardware.)

Anyway - I painted it black and used it in the guest room for a few years. But when we got a new TV but couldn't afford a new TV stand last fall (at least not the $1000 one I had my eye on), it made its way upstairs.

After a few months of still not being able to afford a new TV stand (it sucks to have expensive taste without the means to satiate it), I decided to give the old girl a makeover. I've seen a lot of people modifying old dressers for TV stands on the internets lately, and thought I'd give this whole DIY craze a try.

I wanted something like this...

Or like this...

And after some minor hiccups, I ended up with this...

It's not perfect. Up close the wood stain on the white paint just kind of makes it look dirty. And I still need to fix a couple spots and put on a coat of poly. I also need to sew some cute blue fabric liners for the boring baskets. (I was experimenting with some ribbon when I snapped this picture with my phone.) And Apple needs to release the new Apple TV so I can get rid of the bulky, eyesore XBox :)

But overall, I can't help but be proud of myself. I love the way the white color brightens up the room and contrasts with my super dark couches. I love that I don't feel the need to put any decorations on top of the dresser; I love simplicity! And of course, I love that I completely changed the feel of my living room for less than a Benjamin Franklin. I guess I can't complain about that.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-20T19:25:00.003-07:00

I swear, Kaiya was happy Christmas morning. I toyed with the idea of doing her hair, but I figured it was funnier to showcase her morning do. The poor kid looks like this the majority of the time.

Christmas sure was great this year! Marsha and Andy came over to see the kids open their presents in the morning, we attended church, and then went over to the Walkers' for our annual Swedish pancake inhalation.

Kaiya got a princess scooter and Ben got a basketball hoop from Santa Claus. FYI, That misshapen blob on the love seat behind Kaiya is a loaf of bread from Mrs. Claus's bread machine... my daughter seriously asked Santa for two things this year: a piece of bread and an airplane. He didn't disappoint :)

This was the only present Ben really cared about unwrapping: the chocolate Santa from his stocking.

Christmas morning aftermath. Ben was SO entertained.

Here are Ben and Papa after brunch...

Obviously Ben was a bit too focused on his toy here; you gotta love an awkward picture!

p.s. I never did find my copy of White Christmas. I feel like I've betrayed my heritage in some way by not watching it once in 2011. I promise I'll buy a new DVD this year.

A Christmas Preview

2012-01-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

Hot Diggity Dog!

2012-01-03T21:55:00.007-07:00

Kaiya turned three just before Christmas and we celebrated at a Mickey Mouse birthday party. We had Mickey cupcakes, rice krispies, and ears for all the cousins (we're up to eleven, btw). I am so grateful to have such a supportive family - we had all of our Utah family here for the big day. I love knowing how much my kids are loved!

Brett and Robyn had a contest to see who could draw the better Mickey on their cards... I don't think Kaiya cared.

This Barbie car was the hit of the party (thanks Alicia)

it is now parked beside this,

in Kaiya's room. Don't worry about Benzilla climbing into the second story.

I can't remember why Vance isn't in this photo... but I wanted to try to get a shot of all the crazy kids in their ears. (Some were more cooperative than others.)

Megan outdid herself with Kaiya's new beanie. Check out the built in Minnie ears! A--wait for it--mazing.

I love love love this picture of Ben with Scott and Megan.

And now that it's January, Kaiya is a bona fide Sunbeam. She was a champ on Sunday in Primary, not the least bit scared or sad. Brad and I were sitting on the back row (he was helping me with my six year old class) and Kaiya turned around to give him a huge grin and a thumbs up! She also volunteered to help lead two songs. I don't think there's a shy bone in that girl's body :)

more Disney

2012-01-03T21:48:00.002-07:00

I know I just posted Disneyland pictures, but these ones from December are too good to pass up.

Thank heaven for little girls

2011-11-25T11:11:00.008-07:00

Sayla Larsen and Kaiya have dance together on Tuesdays. Imagine a dozen uncoordinated three-year-olds running around a studio in tutus. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

The girls were playing at our house after class the other day. They are so funny together...

See? Told ya.

Other random pictures

2011-11-10T11:56:00.002-07:00

While uploading Disneyland, I found these other pictures that deserved shout outs. In no particular order...

Ben is getting more stable standing and will take a few steps at a time now. It is so cute to see how proud of himself he is. Just ignore the white-trash-too-small-onesie-and-socks-ensemble.

So, the kids were all bathed and ready for bed the other night, and I had just lain Ben down and returned to the room to find Kaiya in his crib. They certainly don't look too tired, do they?

I don't have pictures of the kids' Halloween costumes; I'm still waiting on Laurel for those. She also has all the pictures from Ben's birthday party. Come on, Rojo. Get a move on!! (Okay, so maybe I just haven't been proactive enough to request them yet.) Anyway, I was pretty proud of my Halloween costume this year for The Carters' party. I was going for "Frumpy Teacher" but I think I ended up nailing "DeAnn Lee circa 1992". I'm sad to say that my hair had greatly deflated by the time this picture was taken. I totally should have worn my Bump-It.

This last picture breaks my heart.... we all had the stomach flu a couple weeks ago and Kaiya got it pretty bad. She pretty much lay on the couch for two days with her barf bowl at the ready. Luckily, she got over it by Halloween.

Another Disneyland trip in the rain

2011-11-10T11:37:00.004-07:00

We really do have impeccable timing, don't we? It has rained at Disneyland the last three times we've been. Oh well. It makes for shorter lines. Plus, Ben didn't seem to mind.

Seriously - I don't think kids on carousels get much happier than this...

Awkward family photo #1

Awkward family photo #2 (How sexy is Brad's poncho, huh?)

I had to include this picture - Kaiya had just completely butted in line in front of about 20 kids. I didn't have the heart to pull her away from Goofy, as she was SO excited.

DAY TWO: The battery in my camera was completely dead, so these pictures are taken on our friend Kyle's camera. Thanks, buddy.

Kaiya complained that she couldn't see the princesses dance, so she weaseled her way up front-and-center. She's a funny, independent kid.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Daddy, that is the REAL Buzz Lightyear. I want to give him loves."

I love Ben's face in this second one. I'm not sure if he's excited to see Mickey or just to be out of the stroller.

We splurged on season passes this year, so I have a feeling we'll be making the drive to SoCal pretty often. And we're always up for Disneyland buddies, so let us know if you're headed that way too and we'll babysit each other's kids while we go on the "fun" rides :)

Autumny Oddity

2011-10-24T15:39:00.003-06:00

How is it that we have five of these flowering pear trees in our yard, and only one has decided to turn purple?

Finally

2011-10-24T15:25:00.004-06:00

Now that these pictures are nearly two months old, I figured I ought to post the highlights.

I might be lazy this year and use these for the Christmas card. People don't need to know they're from August, right?

Family Photos 2011

2011-09-30T16:13:00.004-06:00

I'm having issues and can't upload all my photos right now... but here's a preview.

I'm excited that I get to see this from my front porch soon!

2011-09-14T11:27:00.004-06:00

This is the artist rendering of the Payson Utah LDS Temple. Pretty Cool.

PHOTO BOMB!!

2011-09-06T10:54:00.003-06:00

I can't believe I forgot to include this picture of my dad photo bombing my would-be-picture of Brad. I like that guy.

Tony Bennett didn't sing anything about the wind

2011-09-05T15:42:00.017-06:00

Brad and I met up with my parents in San Fransisco last month for one last hurrah before school started. It was such a fun (kids free!) trip; I feel bad that I'm just getting around to documenting it.

Our first stop was Alcatraz. My hair lost the fight to the Bay wind.

Some pivoting and strategic hand placement made for a more successful photo...

We were pretty upset that we didn't have our own "Vicky" as a tour guide. But the audio tour was still really cool.

A typical cell...

Brad incarcerated in a typical cell...

We let him roam the yard for good behavior.

Here's my question to Bobby Kennedy: if Alcatraz was supposedly so effective, why shut it down?? Some bad guys are just beyond rehabilitation. I say, lock 'em in a damp cell forever.

Anyway - we also went to a Giants game that first day and had a blast! I think Brad and my dad got sick of listening to my mom and me take guesses at what RBI and ERA and all the other baseball acronym terminology stood for... we also rated the players' hotnesses as their photos came up on the jumbo tron and did some top rate people-watching. Funny how I don't remember who won the game :)
BTW, I think Zack Morris did my bangs for this photo. That wind wreaked some HAVOC.

Check out the kayaks in the water behind right field. Dozens of people showed up to catch home run balls; I guess it's a pretty common practice.

The next day we saw the sights around town, starting with Pier 39 (no pictures?) and Ghiradhelli Square, hence the breastfeeding mermaid statue,

Lombard Street,

The Golden Gate Bridge,

Golden Gate Park where we discovered this pretty waterfall,

and Coit Tower. This picture is bad but the views from the top are cool.

Here's Alcatraz from the tower

and Lombard street too.

The next day we headed down the coast to San Jose, where we toured The Winchester Mystery House. Basically, the heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune thought that the ghosts of those killed by her family's guns were were haunting her. She was convinced that constant construction and a kooky floor plan would keep them away. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, but here's a shot of a random door leading to nowhere. There were also stairs leading to nowhere, a window in the middle of the floor, and doors and cabinets opening to brick walls. Fun stuff! You have to check out the aerial view here.

We finished the trip by visiting Carmel (and then immediately regretted the long drive back to San Fransisco).

It was so fun to go on this trip with my parents. We see them a lot considering the distance between us, but it was nice to have one-on-one time with them. Thanks for coming guys!!

In a parallel universe...

2011-07-31T15:17:00.004-06:00

...I'm pretty sure I'm Idina Menzel.

We went to see her perform with the Utah Symphony last night and I was blown away. I was also riddled with envy. Seriously, how cool would it be to get paid to sing show tunes? Accompanied by a full symphony nonetheless? She sang a few songs from Wicked and Rent but most of the show consisted of really cool arrangements of old songs. It was interesting to watch her completely transition from song to song, really interpreting each song's meaning. The result was truly emotional and unique. I'm so glad we went. It was a perfect summer evening in Park City with some of my best friends. Thanks guys!

Tomorrow is August?

2011-07-31T14:33:00.008-06:00

I got my back to school letter from my principal yesterday. It's the worst mail I receive every year, bar none. Why does summer pass so quickly? And who's the liar claiming that summer is three months long? Once August comes around, I'm done for. I will begrudgingly return to work in - count 'em - 16 days. Ouch. But what do you do? I can't complain too much about getting paid to hang out with the two best kids ever every day for the past two months. We've had a lot of fun this summer and there are lots more exciting events on our autumn calendar (our anniversary, a trip to San Fransisco, and Brett & Robyn's wedding to name a few).

Anyway, I figured it was as good a time as any to capture this summer on film... er... whatever the terminology is for digital pictures. I'm happy with the results, but both Kaiya and Ben look so old; it makes me sad.

Check out Ben's stud pose with his legit man-tie.

Kaiya was less than cooperative until the photographer scrounged up this fairy costume. She's showing us her wings...

This picture is for Marsha. These shoes and purse belonged to her mom.

This was the least chokeholdy shot of the two of them together (Kaiya loves her brother a bit too much sometimes), but I love their Walker eyes!

Ooh, one more thing. My friend Leslie helped me make these vinyl monograms for my kids' bedroom doors. I love how they turned out!

When Daddy's away...

2011-07-09T15:48:00.006-06:00

Brad was out of town all week sweating in Havasupai. I'm jealous of the sites he saw... not so much of the blisters and sunburn he received. Anyway, we kept busy while he was gone by watching fireworks with Nannie at Aunt Lisa's, playing on the giant slip n' slide at the Walkers', swimming at Jen's parents', and going to the zoo. Of course, I only remembered to take my camera to the last outing.

We had fun hanging out at the zoo with the Walker cousins. I don't think I'd been to Hogle Zoo since my kindergarten field trip. Seriously. It was way too hot to be traipsing around with seven kids, but we had fun.

I love how Ava and Kaiya are such good buddies.

These photos are from today. Kaiya made this choo choo train for Ben and herself.

Ben has just recently figured out how to pull himself up to the standing position. He is pretty darn proud of himself.

I could figure out which of these I liked best, so I'm pulling an Alicia and posting them all :)

Check out those eyelashes!

p.s. The potty training is hit and miss. Some days --and nights-- are excellent; others are uber-frustrating. I know it's normal, but I am running out of patience. Words of wisdom, anybody??

Potty Prison

2011-06-29T15:52:00.007-06:00

We haven't left the house in three days. Kaiya has been doing this... And getting these... In hopes of earning this... We've met with moderate success, but I know we still have a ways to go. I just can't believe my baby girl is old enough to do this already!

This video is kind of weird and possibly gross (considering the subject matter), but hey, it's cute when it's your kid.

Summer epitomized

2011-06-20T18:17:00.004-06:00

We finally made it up to the splash pad at North Park last week. Kaiya was fearless. I had a hard time keeping track of her in the sea of kids. Most of the time, I just caught fleeting glimpses of her ruffly bum.

She's not the most sensitive to others' feelings. Here she is laughing at her cousin Vance.

Ben was super curious, but I kept him on the outskirts. Next time, I'll have to wear my suit so that I can take him in.

I have a feeling we'll be visiting this park often!

Has it seriously been a month?

2011-06-20T17:04:00.007-06:00

In the words of Inigo Montoya, "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

School ended.
We went on another roadtrip to the Great Northwest (this time with the Carters).
I turned 27.
Ben can now crawl like a wounded soldier.
Ben now has one tooth.
Kaiya will start potty training next week (wish us luck)!
We've spent the last five days watching the Lillywhites' kids. Five under the age of six. It's been loud.

Back to that roadtrip... We crammed all eight of us--four of whom are in diapers--in our Sequoia for the 16(ish) hour drive to Camas. We are nuts. But surprisingly, I would probably do it again. Once there, we had fun hanging out with DeeDee and PopPop and bumming around town. Here are some shots from my parents' front yard, you can see in the background that they were pouring a new front porch. It now has a really pretty red brick trim that matches their house. I love it! Ben was having a blast playing with the leaves of this tree. I snapped this priceless picture of Alicia holding him...

And then I got jealous that is wasn't me holding him in the picture... so we tried for another. None of them are quite as good as the first one, but they're cute.

We spent my birthday afternoon out on the lake. Kaiya was hilarous in the tube. She kept saying things like, "PopPop is nice for us ride in his boat." and "We're going so fast!" and "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy!"

Yes, those giant, translucent things are my legs.

She also enjoyed watching Jake and Alicia take their turn.

Ben just enjoyed the scenery from my mom's lap. I know I'm his mom and all moms think their kids are cute... but seriously... Ben has got to be the most handsome baby I've ever seen.

We had so much fun and I'm glad we got to go with Alicia and Blaine. These last few pictures were taken during one of many bubble-blowing sessions on the deck. Here's Jake.

There's a good reason I cropped him out of this one... who does that crabby kid in the blue belong to?

And here's Sarah, who (as evidenced during several games of Just Dance,) does a far better "shimmy" than I do. It's kind of the cutest thing ever.

Our little man

2011-05-18T19:01:00.003-06:00

Ben is getting bigger and bigger and cuter and cuter every day. He's getting pretty good at this sitting thing too.

Easter and stuff

2011-05-09T13:24:00.003-06:00

The Walker grandkids gathered at Nana and Papa's for an Easter egg hunt, and Kaiya was pretty excited to tote around her pretty basket. The kids were pretty cute running around the yard with Marsha.

And here are some photos from Easter Sunday. Ben is a stud. (Who is obviously still a bit unstable in the sitting position.)

Kaiya, on the other hand, is a stinker. It took forever to get her to cooperate for a picture.

I finally just had to let her pick the location. She chose the front steps, and they actually turned out pretty cute.

Spring Break

2011-05-09T12:27:00.004-06:00

Okay, so this was almost a month ago. Lo siento.
I was able to take Kaiya and Ben to my parents' house for Spring Break. It was just the break I needed to gear up for the long haul till summer. Here's my dad holding Ben. He is so cute with his grandkids.

Since the weather was less than desirable (not that we expect too much from Portland in March), we had to find indoor activities for the kids. We spent a day at OMSI, and although Kaiya was a bit too young to understand the displays and stations, she had a lot of fun playing with them.

Ben seemed to enjoy himself at OMSI too.

And I just think this is funny. Only in Oregon, eh? We don't see too many electric car charging stations in Utah County.

I'll never ___________.

2011-04-22T10:01:00.008-06:00

wake up the first time my alarm goes off

wear Crocs

cook a decent pot roast. And forget about the gravy

go bra-less

dress my son in jeans for church

remember how to spell sheriff

remember how to spell license

read a book or watch a movie with "Latter-Day" in the title

not brush my teeth before going to bed

stop drinking Coca Cola

be confident in a bikini

pay for acrylic nails

text my students

stop secretly liking Britney Spears

be able to dress my husband

take (and share) pictures of my kids' poop

watch Jersey Shore

There are more. I just figured I ought to get these ones in writing.

Magic

2011-04-04T11:05:00.007-06:00

I love Disneyland. I get so giddy every time I walk in those gates. This year was no exception. How could you not see this image and fall in love? We got to spend five days in The Magic Kingdom this year with our friends, Kyle, Denell, and Delaney Wilson (who ditched us about four years ago to live in Arizona). Kaiya LOVED every minute. And Ben was, well, Ben. He was perfectly content to hang out in the stroller and smile. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of him. And it's taken with my camera phone. Sorry buddy. This trip was quite different from past ones. While we still rode Space Mountain and Indiana Jones (my favorite!), we spent most of our time meeting characters. Primarily, princesses. We did the Royal Coronation twice, where Kaiya got to dance with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White. She was in heaven.

I am so impressed with the way these princesses talk to kids. Everyone we met was so quick to crouch down to Kaiya's level, talk softly, ask questions, and stay in character. It really made it so "real" and special for her. And it makes waiting in line for an hour (almost) worth it.

Belle

Tiana

Ariel
This is our only family picture. Sad, huh? I'm a little disappointed that they couldn't find a cuter Ariel. Sorry... but this girl has got to be related to Walt Disney somehow.

Cinderella

Rapunzel

Tinkerbell

Jasmine

Woody and Jessie

And the man of the hour, Mickey Mouse!

We were also entertained by Captain EO. Well, I was. Kaiya wouldn't keep her glasses on.

And both kiddos took lots of stroller naps.

Some Disneyland employee directed us to VIP seating for the fireworks show, simply because he thought the girls were cute. As always, the fireworks were amazing! As was the World of Color show!! Too had I didn't get any pictures of that.

Oh yeah - I guess in the midst of all this, we rode some rides too. Kaiya is still talking about the "silly pirates" and "riding in the boat with Daddy". I'm not sure which boat she's referring to. Peter Pan? Small World? Storybook Land? I guess they're all pretty awesome.

Until next year!

A Preview.

2011-03-27T12:43:00.002-06:00

More pictures of Disneyland 2011 to come!

Move over Rhett Butler

2011-03-11T10:17:00.003-07:00

I have a new favorite Captain on my bookshelf, and his name is Jack Elliot.

My Buddy

2011-02-28T20:21:00.005-07:00

"Wherever I go, he goes..."

I never did have a My Buddy growing up. (I did have a Kid Sister. Her name was Heather and she was kind of the bomb.) But I sure am loving my newest buddy, Ben.

He had his four month checkup last week, and I can't remember the exact numbers, but I do know that he's 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. I guess he does have some Lee genes after all! He's healthy and strong and meeting his developmental benchmarks. But he did have to get some immunizations. It was actually kind of cute -- when Ben got his shots, Kaiya sympathy-cried longer and louder than he did. She didn't want the nurse hurting "My Benny". Ben, on the other hand, was back to his smiley, happy self in no time.

I don't know how I got so lucky!

We celebrated Alicia's birthday last week up at her house in Taylorsville, and Ben was LOVING Megan all night. He would just light up and giggle whenever she talked to him. It was so cute!

I couldn't decide which one of these with Scott and Megan I liked better. You pick.

the latter

2011-02-22T12:27:00.004-07:00

There is a fine line between being blunt and being bitchy. I just realized that I've long since crossed that line. I'm sorry and I'm working on it.

As of late...

2011-02-11T10:28:00.004-07:00

Ben is getting so big and is such a sweet baby. It's amazing how much his personality is already showing and he's only four months old. He's pretty much adorable; he loves being sung to, his binkie (I finally found one he'll keep in), his sister, and being held up against my shoulder. He lights up whenever we talk to him. I have yet to capture one of his BIG cheesers on camera, but I'll try harder.
He also loves sleeping with Kaiya's dolls. This is turning into a regular occurence.

Kaiya is keeping us on her toes. I wouldn't say the twos are "terrible"... just messy. All I do is clean up after her. She got into our playing cards a few weeks ago and now we have a face card/Uno/Phase Ten/Five Crowns basket that I don't think I'll ever get around to sorting. Especially since most of them are now torn or partially digested. Anyway, her hair almost fits into real pig tails (it's possible with a lot of hairspray and a few barretts) and I'm excited at the prospect of taming the fro.

I'm so glad I finally took pictures of this. Whenever Brad goes for a run, Kaiya "stretches" with him beforehand. She's actually getting pretty good at it. See for yourself.

By the way, I have since replaced that mirror in my entry way with a huge, rad, round one. I think I'm in love.

Benjamin Rawlins Walker (officially)

2011-02-11T09:43:00.005-07:00

Brad blessed Ben at the beginning of January, and we had some friends and family over after the affair. I love getting everybody together!! I'm not the most attentive hostess, but my fridge is always open if you're willing to get your own drinks :)

Laurel and I decided to have Ben's and Scarlett's blessings at the same time, so that my parents would only have to make one trip out. It worked out really well. K - it was really more like controlled chaos - and I loved every minute! Here are some photos from all the shenanigans.

I'm not sure whose idea this was... but Koben ended up tied up with yarn and Kaiya was walking him around the house like a dog. He thought it was a good time.

A couple more shots of guests... we figured we had about 50 people in our little house! Ca-razy.
Here's Amy, my kids' surrogate mother. I don't know what I'd do without her!

Allyn and Marsha. I love this picture - they're like this all the time.

Scott and Megan: Kaiya's spoilers.

How cute is this picture of Vance? He is such a stud.

Thanks to everyone who came to support Ben and put up with my blubbering. We are very very lucky to have such amazing friends and family!

As promised

2011-02-11T09:13:00.005-07:00

I just realized I never posted these cute pictures from Christmas morning. Here ya go.

Kaiya crawled in next to Ben in his new gym.

She likes to give kisses... he doesn't really like receiving them. Check out poor Kaiya's hair. It's such a mess ALL THE TIME! I blame Brad's genes.

And since it's way too late to document our whole trip (since it WAS two months ago)... here are some highlights:
Ben's first bath from DeeDee (This was obviously taken before I figured out the red eye thing on my new camera.)

And a shot of my girlfriends and me at dinner. I miss these girls!! Mandy, Jessica, Lacey, and Ashley, you wanna' move to Utah? It's wicked awesome, I swear.

2011-01-31T09:44:00.005-07:00

McDonald's $1 Cokes
The snooze button
Ben's Pokemon eyes
My pink phone
My camel knee boots
Using words like "procure" and "postmodern"
Getting a "car cart" at Target
Getting a "car cart" without broken seatbelts at Target
St. George getaways
Brad's over-the-pulpit-shout-outs
Cotton candy
Lagoon
Subtle sexual innuendo
Quoting movies - and not calling attention to the fact that we're quoting movies
The projector
Hand sanitizer
Jane Austen
Justin Timberlake (what?)

Get the funk out

2011-01-29T08:30:00.004-07:00

January is almost over. Finally. Why is this always the longest month? Is it the letdown after the holidays? Is it returning to work after a long break from the holidays? Is it the monotonous weather and the snow's loss of allure? Is it feeling frumpy in my sweaters? I always find myself getting the winter blues right about now. I know I'll get un-funked in a month or so... but in the meantime I'm going to try to focus on the simple pleasures. I have a list of at least 100 somewhere (Maybe in Alicia's journal? We used to add to it almost every Sunday in the SDub) but I'll try to remember a few.

A few things that make Michelle happy...

Cold pizza and Coke for breakfast
Making fun of Utah hair
Watching toddlers fall asleep at the table (check out this recent one of Jake)
Disneyland
Getting mail
"Starting" when my 2nd baby is 3 months old and I'm worried that my 3rd baby is on its way
Watching Brady make Brad laugh
A quiet house
When my students actually get my jokes
Making fun of Utah accents
Finding misspellings on billboards
Chocolate-dipped strawberries (my friends made fun of me at Zupa's last night for getting SO excited about mine)
Listening to Kaiya sing herself to sleep
When Clint starts my car for me after game night
New mascara
New socks
Kaiya's unnaturally extensive vocabulary
Stealing candy bars from Brett's (my AP's) office
Naked movie night (how long has it been since we had one of those???)
Running "Prerrands" with Laurel
Piggy tails
and
People who look like animals

That's enough for now..... I'll add more later when I'm feeling blue again.

Seriously, Nordstrom??

2011-01-13T15:19:00.002-07:00

I expected more from you.

Previewing Privates

2011-01-11T11:20:00.009-07:00

Did that sound dirty? I hope so.

I've been toying with the idea of making this blog private for a while now. I have lots of reasons for wanting the privacy and I have lots of reasons for not wanting the hassle of privacy. (I wrote some of them down a while back; if you really want to refresh your memory, click here.)

After much thought and mental pro/con lists, I've decided that my biggest gripe about private blogs is that they don't show up on blog feeds. I rely way too much on my blog feed and I'm usually too lazy to log in in order to check others' private blogs. If my blog is private, I worry that I'll lose prospective readers too. The very fact that I'm overthinking this proves how self-centered I am, doesn't it? But I digress... I think I have found a solution. Well, I actually stole the solution from a friend, but that's beside the point.

I have created a public "preview" blog. The address is http://bmwpreview.blogspot.com/ You can include this new blog in your feeds or readers or whatever, but our orignal blog will be going private in a couple weeks.

That being said, please leave a comment or email me at michelleleewalker@gmail.com with your email address so that I can officially "invite" you to be members of our supercool club.

TGIF

2011-01-07T10:19:00.004-07:00

I'm winding up my first week back at school. It's been a long one.

It's been hard getting back into a routine that starts at 6 AM, especially while worrying about Ben, but I feel well. It's kind of nice to walk down the halls and feel a sense of purpose that doesn't revolve around changing diapers or mixing bottles. (The breastfeeding is over - insert hallelujah with a tinge of guilt here.) And while I'm feeling super overwhelmed and I miss my kids, I guess it's good to miss my kids. Because honestly, I kind of wanted to give them back a few weeks ago. I need to give a serious shout-out to my husband, who has stepped up tremendously to help with cooking, cleaning, and playing with Kaiya and Ben. This is especially impressive considering how busy and stressful his job has been lately. Brad Walker, you are amazing!

I'm just kind of rambling and I need go get back to work... but before I do, I'm asking you to check out my haircut on that old picture above my classroom door... I need someone to talk me into or out of cutting my unmanageably long hair pronto.

Really Sucky Virus

2011-01-05T13:46:00.002-07:00

Okay, so I don't know what RSV stands for, but my little Ben has it. It was pretty scary over the weekend, but he seems to be on the mend. Right now we're just administering breathing treatments around the clock, trying not to cry as we listen to his wheezing and coughing, and praying a lot. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers, as this is illness typically lasts for a few weeks.

The good news is, that during the in-between times, he looks like this :-)

It's been a long December

2010-12-27T14:25:00.005-07:00

I just got crap from my mom about my month-long absence from the internets. It's been a busy month and I will attempt to summarize it in as few pictures as possible. (Especially since we still have Christmas photos to sort through too.)

This is how Kaiya sleeps pretty much every night. It's a little ridiculous; each doll needs covers and a kiss goodnight from us. This particular night, Kaiya arranged everybody on her pillow, then got really worried and asked Brad, "Where do I sleep?" He made her some room.

A couple days later, she thought Ben needed a sleeping buddy as well.

Here's a photo from the crazy snowy days we had last week. This is the sidewalk in front of our house, and Kaiya is sporting this winter's BeanLee from aunt Megan. I LOVE IT!!

We invited the families over for Kaiya's second birthday on the 18th. I can't believe she is already two!! She is getting so big.

She got some help opening gifts from her cousins. Between both of our families, Kaiya now has eight cousins under the age of five. It was a zoo! (In a good way!)

Brad found this play kitchen on the KSL classifieds, along with some other great slightly-used play furniture, which we saved for Christmas. We repainted it and added some new coordinating knobs. It turned out pretty good and she's obsessed with it. When we brought her into the toy room to see it, she went nuts opening and closing all of the doors.

It came with some dishes and cookware, and she also got some toy food. The best part was when Papa asked her to cook him breakfast. She looked around and proclaimed, "I need food!" There was "food" - but it was all still upstairs - so we had a good laugh when she left the room and came back in with two Cokes. How fitting that they were the first inhabitants of her little fridge.

We scored with this little chair and ottoman too. It will make a phenomenal addition to our theater room.

Stay tuned for Christmas photos of my kiddos in matching jammies. We had a blast celebrating with Jake and Sarah at my parents' house.

Redemption

2010-11-24T20:10:00.017-07:00

I took the kids to get pictures taken today. I should have booked the whole family to remedy our last fiasco, but I'm not that smart.

It turns out my children can turn out a decent picture or two. I guess they're forgiven. Some of these could use some more editing, which I'll get to eventually, but I had to share them anyway.

And no - we couldn't get a single shot of the two of them together.

Poor Ben

2010-11-23T13:07:00.004-07:00

Family photos sure were a whole lot easier before we had kids. Why is it that in the pictures where Brad looks freakin' hot and my hair looks amazing (let's be honest - it totally does), our kids can't perform? I don't mind Kaiya's non-smile so much, but Benjamin looks kind of like a Troll.

But really, how hilarious would it be to actually mail this Christmas card? "Ya, we had a baby. Too bad we like to torture him regularly while showcasing our own vanities. Merry Christmas!"

All I want for Christmas is a complete REM cycle

2010-11-12T20:51:00.008-07:00

It's a little unnerving to feel so busy and so tired and yet so unaccomplished. How is it possible that I've done everything and nothing in the last month?

Needless to say, life has been crazy around here... finishing end of term grades... receiving much-needed help from family and friends... running on pure adrenaline for weeks... I feel like I'm just starting to get a hang of this mom-of-two-kids thing.

Anyhoo, I should probably fill you in on what we've been up to.

Kaiya dressed up as a peacock for her first trick-or-treating experience. She was pretty stinkin' adorable.

She's been a good helper with Ben and it's been funny watching her use her new found skills during playtime. For example, I caught her nursing and then burping her dolly.

She also spent an excessive amount of time swaddling a squash (Yep. I said squash.)and rocking it to sleep.

Little Ben is doing really well. He's already gained a couple pounds and grown an inch. He's a pretty happy baby, too. We are lucky! Here are some more current pictures of our little man.

I love how tiny he looks all curled up on his tummy.

He found his thumb briefly. I actually wouldn't mind a thumb-sucker; then I wouldn't have to haul binkies everywhere.

I tried to get some pictures of him awake the other day. Why is it that babies suddenly develop lazy eye when the camera comes out? I took two dozen picures and these are the only ones where he doesn't look like Sloth.

Wow.

2010-10-20T21:23:00.006-06:00

Alicia is awesome for posting some pictures of Ben for me. It has been a crazy week and I'm finally getting around to looking at them myself.

So here's the story: I was adamant about not going into labor early... I actually had made a to-do list on Thursday, the length of which brought me to tears. What can I say? I've always been a procrastinator. Unfortunately, it looks like Ben has the Walkers' if-you're-not-early-you're-late mentality because he decided to come two weeks early just to teach me my lesson. At about one in the morning last Friday, I woke up to contractions. I didn't want to believe that's what they were and actually tried to go back to sleep. For five minute intervals. Anyway - after deliberating, waking up my hibernating husband (who, for the record, didn't believe me), and taking a very sleepy and confused Kaiya to Amy's, we made it to the hospital at 3:15. Ben was born at 4:01. (Yes, I barely had time for an epidural.) He is absolutely perfect, eating like a champion, and only woke up twice last night. Here's to hoping that lasts!

Here are some pictures from the hospital. Enjoy!
I love this one that Alicia took.

There's nothing more precious than a sleeping newborn! I'm actually holding a sleeping Ben right now while typing with one hand. It would make more sense to put him down but I don't want to :)

We never did get a shot of the whole family... sorry Kaiya.

Brad is a proud Daddy. I can't wait for that cast to come off so I can get some diaper-changing help!

Kaiya has been really cute with Ben. She went into my room today just to check on him in his cradle. She was up on her tiptoes peeking at him. This is lame, but it reminded me of the "La La Lu" scene in Lady and the Tramp. Except my daughter is human.

Hehe... look how excited she is!

Oh and day two in the hospital, I got a text from Laurel telling me that her water had broken! She delivered her healthy baby girl Saturday morning. She and I were originally due four days apart... I guess that Scarlett missed her cousin and wanted to come hang out. It was so crazy being in the hospital with my big sister!! All the nurses were making a big deal out of it; it was cute. My mom flew in Saturday afternoon to be with us and has been hopping from house to house these last few days. Good thing Laurel and I live so close to each other.

Whew. These last few days have just flown by! Ben already looks so different too. I will try to post new pictures soon.

He's here!

2010-10-16T11:04:00.001-06:00

Hey, it's Michelle's sister, Alicia.
Click here to see baby Ben.

He'll be needing your condolences.

2010-10-06T10:32:00.002-06:00

Brad sold his Acura RL last night (within an hour of listing it on KSL!)and has been moping ever since. I don't blame him; this car is amazing and so so pretty! We just need something bigger for our family. It looks like we'll be sharing the Accord and borrowing dead people vans from the mortuary for a couple weeks until we find something new.

Poor Brad... he's lost his motorcyle, his car, and a large portion of his former self this month. Be nice to him.

At least we know where her priorities lie.

2010-09-17T17:27:00.002-06:00

Laurel and Jason were babysitting Kaiya today and managed to capture this moment on video.

That's my girl.

Our attempt at a backyard photo shoot

2010-09-12T15:33:00.005-06:00

Kaiya looked so cute today all dolled up in her new fall duds. It's too bad she wouldn't quite cooperate for the camera. This is the best I could get before she ran away and fell head first into the ditch.

She cheered up again when I got her bike out... but still wouldn't actually look at me while smiling. Oh well.

I spoke too soon.

2010-09-09T13:42:00.003-06:00

Brad called me Tuesday night to tell me that he loved me.

Then he told me his bike was totaled and he was on his way to the hospital in Aberdeen, Washington.

He was able to catch a flight home last night with a broken arm, jacked up ankle, and wicked road rash in the one place he wasn't wearing leather (you know what those chaps do and don't cover from behind). But I think the thing that is most damaged is his ego.

We just might be done with the biking world altogether.

I'm here. I'm lame.

2010-09-07T09:54:00.004-06:00

I did find my camera (in my diaper bag - where I put it), but haven't had the time or energy or brainpower to post anything exciting. So, while reinforcing said unexcitingness, here are my last few weeks:

Both of the kids' rooms are repainted and adorable.
My nephews, Jake and Vance, had birthdays.
Kaiya's hair finally fits in pig tails. Kind of.
I moved my bookshelves into the family room.
None of my bras fit.
I ate Allyn's Swedish Pancakes and fell in love with the Walkers all over again.
I love my church calling.
My verbal diarrhea hit an all time low when one of the Mia Maids retold one of my stories at her dinner table. Good thing her parents have senses of humor. Word to the wise: don't talk about thong underwear at church.
I read The Alliance.
I read Mockingjay.
I loathe Box Elder bugs. Especially their babies.
School is well into its third week.
I think I found a substitute for my maternity leave.
I've discovered that little boy shopping might be more fun than little girl shopping, because there's more of a hunt involved.
I am fat fat fat.
I remembered why I shouldn't bother taking papers home to grade over the weekend.
I love Amy for offering to babysit my kids come January!
I re-organized my laundry room.
I'm in the process of re-organizing my DVD's. And yes, there are a couple rated R's that I just can't part with. (When Harry Met Sally doesn't count!)
I hung out with my dad when he was here over the weekend.
Oh, and someone's motorcycle caught on fire in Coos Bay, Oregon. Good thing it wasn't Brad's this time :)

Since it will probably be a while before I resume normal blogging behavior, here are some things I'm looking forward to:

Girls' Night!
Joining a neighborhood book club
Boating with the youth this Saturday
Megan's birthday!
Meeting my son in only seven weeks
Naming my son in only seven weeks (we're leaning toward Ben)

Here are some things I'm not looking forward to:

Creating sub plans for maternity leave
Creating "maybe" sub plans for early labor
Thinking about Christmas shopping and Christmas travel
Grading all the papers that are already piling up
Buying and operating a double stroller
Awkward doctor visits from here on out

WTF?

2010-08-25T09:16:00.003-06:00

This car passed Megan and me a couple weeks ago and I nearly caused a traffic accident while switching lanes to take a picture with my phone. It's a bit blurry... but it's not every day you see a couple boasting two dogs, four cats, and three (what I can only assume to be) fowl. I just wish I could read their names.

My last hurrah

2010-08-11T14:29:00.004-06:00

We spent last week in Washington visiting my parents. It was so much fun... I love it when Kaiya gets one-on-one time with any of her grandparents. I'm pretty sure she's the favorite. While in town, we were able to attend my friends' wedding reception and celebrate our five year anniversary! Wow.

My friends Ashley and Geoffrey got married a couple months ago in Maui (I'm totally jealous) and decided to celebrate with family and friends last week. It was so good to see everybody from home and catch up. It's funny to me that they're all getting married now (four of my best high school friends had/have weddings this summer!) when I'm chalking up anniversary number five and pumping out kid number two :)

Anyway, I left my camera at my parents' house. I think. But Brad took some pretty good pictures on his phone that are worth sharing. These ones are from some hiking trails around Round Lake (where we had our wedding party pictures taken). This pretty place is within a mile of my parents' house! Jerks.

While we were visiting, my dad had some business near Newport, Oregon, so we tagged along for an overnight trip and totally freeloaded off of his killer hotel room. Check out that view!

Hopefully my camera resurfaces so I can post some more. And, you know, not have to buy a new camera.

p.s. I go back to work next week. Sad.

I leave her alone for one minute...

2010-07-25T11:35:00.002-06:00

Kaiya ditched me in her room this morning and shut the door. Not a minute later I heard water running and found her in the bathroom.

Yes, she had climbed up onto the counter, into the sink, retreived her toothbrush and toothpaste, and proceeded to brush her teeth. She actually turned the water off before I snapped the picture, whining that her jammies were "messy".

Eating french fries is exhausting work.

2010-07-12T16:24:00.000-06:00

I have some 'splaining to do

2010-07-04T22:16:00.010-06:00

I feel a little guilty about my English teacher preachiness for a few reasons.

1) I break grammar rules all the time. I overuse parentheses, ellipses, and sentence fragments. I like to make up my own words (like preachiness). I tend to throw in commas wherever I feel like it, even though I know the rules. And I like to start sentences with conjunctions.

2) I feel like I have made people too self-conscious about their blog posts and comments.

3) I know that my rants just come off as annoying.

Here's the thing... I have accepted the fact (well, I'm trying to accept the fact) that certain rules don't seem to matter when it comes to electronic communications. Most people won't care about the nit-picky stuff in an email or on Facebook. And honestly, it's not stuff like that that keeps me awake at night. I promise. I'm much more bothered by the countless store signs, billboards, and local newspapers containing blatant errors. (Hire a copy editor!!)

In other words, please don't stop leaving me comments and sending me emails. Don't leave me off of your private blog lists. I like having friends. Just skip over my posts that my mom deems snobby (or that you deem annoying). Oh, and maybe hit spell check every once in a while.

That being said, I'm adding to my previous list, simply because I said I would.

Affect is a verb.
Effect is a noun.
My late Eclipse night has affected me for days. The effect of Jacob's abs has no age limit.

Than indicates a comparison.
Then indicates a series of events.
I would rather do anything today than clean my house, but then we'll be living in squalor.

Whether indicates a comparison.
Weather is a state of the atmosphere.
I don't care whether the weather is good; I am going to the pool!

You know what regardless means.
Irregardless is not a word.
Never speak or write the non-word irregardless, regardless of whether you think it makes you sound intelligent.

Good is an adjective.
Well is an adverb.
Kaiya thinks she is a good singer. The truth is, Kaiya does not sing well.
See, good modifies singer (a noun), so it's an adjective. Well modifies sing (a verb), so it's an adverb. It can get tricky, but just figure out if someone is doing something in the sentence. If so, you should probably use the word well.

Side note: I think this concept was drilled into my head through years of calling home sick from school... I would say, "Mom, I don't feel good," and she would correct me with "Do you mean, you don't feel well?" She would then call my bluff and make me stay at school.

p.s. If someone asks, "How are you?" it's okay to say "I'm good" (because good modifies the noun I). "I'm doing well" (with well modifying the verb doing) would answer the question more clearly, though.

p.p.s. "I'm doing good" implies that you're either a philanthropist or Superman.

I can't resist

2010-07-01T13:19:00.011-06:00

I've been in meetings all week with the other sophomore English teachers at my school, aligning our curriculum and creating some common assessments for the upcoming year. I know, it sounds boring, but it was actually really beneficial. I'm excited and grateful that we'll all be on the same page (for once). And those crazy kids can't complain about so-and-so being easier or harder than so-and-so. The suckers will never know what hit them. Mwahaahaa.

Anyway, our conversation lead to common errors that we see in students' writing. But here's the thing - I don't just see these mistakes in my students' writing; I see them everywhere!! We narrowed it down to a list of 20 of the most glaring errors (most of them homophones) that adults have no excuse for making. And because I assume you care, I'm sharing the first five quick and dirty lessons with you.

Its is possessive.
It's is a contraction.
The dragon opened its legs; apparently it's a hermaphrodite.
Obviously the clause after the semicolon was inspired by the one preceding it.

Alot is not a word. Ever. Quit using it.
A lot indicates quantity.
Allot is a verb. It indicates distribution.
Brad allotted me 50 dollars to spend in Park City. I have a lot of explaining to do.
If this misusage has ever bothered you, check out this gem on Rob's blog for some coping mechanisms.

To is a preposition.
Too is an adverb (meaning "also" or "in excess").
Two is a number.
Adam, Jessalyn, Brad, and I were two hours too late to get into The Price is Right.
This true story involves Jack in the Box, a case of carsickness, and a frantic search for a restroom in a Los Angeles alley.

There shows location.
Their shows possession.
They're is a contraction.
The monkeys are over there. I think they're eating their own feces.
I shielded Kaiya from a similar scene at the zoo last week.

Your is possessive.
You're is a contraction.
You're really pretty. It's too bad your kids aren't.
No, sensitive reader, this is not directed at you.

Next up: affect/effect, then/than, whether/weather, regardless/irregardless, and good/well. Class dismissed.

If you're lucky, you can get my lecture on subject-verb agreement at some point too.

Thanks, Brad!

2010-06-24T21:08:00.009-06:00

I've been wanting a jewelry armoire for a long time but had a couple obstacles. 1) I don't have room for one in my bathroom and I'm not planning on moving any time soon 2) I've never loved my bedroom furniture and didn't necessarily want to spend money on something that matches it.

I finally decided just to buy something that I like, that would kind of coordinate with what I have. My bedroom furniture is that log furniture look (I think it's pine?), so all the edges are obviously rounded, but the surface is finished and glossy (apparently most log furniture isn't). I knew I needed something dark brown, but everything I found was pretty boxy and too modern-looking to "work". It took a while to find one that I liked --that was actually in my price range-- but I finally did!

I do feel a little guilty for being so weirdly picky about it, because I guess I scared Brad into giving me money for my birthday instead of picking one out himself. I still consider it a gift from him, though. Anyway - here's the result:

Ya - that's the catalog picture, I'm too lazy to take my own.

Fun huh? I didn't realize I had so much jewelry until I organized it all in there this afternoon. Maybe having it accessible (instead of thrown in multiple boxes in my hosiery drawer) will help me remember to wear jewelry more often.

p.s. Kaiya's new big girl bed bedding came today! She was actually pretty excited about it and kept making a little bed for herself in its box, pulling the covers up over herself, and telling me "night night". She cracks me up.

I'm excited to create a new room for her and then work on a new nursery for the baby, whose bedding was also delivered this week. How perfect is this boy bedding, by the way!? I promise I'll post real pictures as we get the furniture moved around and whatnot.

p.p.s. Brad was giving me crap for buying the bedding for both rooms before we even have furniture for Kaiya. But I told him that Lindsi Gabler says to start designing a room around the bedding. I'm so glad I did! And I feel like both pieces give me a lot of colors and textures to work with. (I love Kaiya's crib bedding, but it kind of limited me on the rest of the room.)

K, I'm done typing now and hopefully I'm done spending money for a while.

It would suck to need this.

2010-06-14T18:34:00.006-06:00

I was looking at double strollers online and found this beauty. I can't help but feel bad for the mother whose litter would necessitate a four passenger stroller. Quadruplets? Two sets of twins? Just plain crazy enough to have four kids in four years - on purpose?
I just realized that that last one pretty much describes my mother (four kids in five years, anyway), who then tacked on two more a few years down the road. Really, Mom? Really??

My arms are sore just thinking about pushing this thing around the block. Another part of me is sore just thinking about pushing..... never mind.

best birthday present ever

2010-06-12T12:13:00.005-06:00

I was lucky enough to have my 20 week ultrasound on my birthday yesterday. It is so relieving knowing that my little buddy is healthy. It's also pretty relieving knowing that we don't have to stress about "trying for" a specific gender at any point in the future, because

It's a BOY!

I'm still processing... Brad and I both kinda' thought I was cooking a little girl in there.

Game night goes tropical

2010-05-29T11:48:00.010-06:00

We've been doing game night pretty much every Thursday with these guys for about four years. It was about time we left Utah Valley.

So, here we are...
cave tubing and zip lining in Belize

Chillin' in Isla Roatan

Swimming with stingrays in Grand Cayman

And just having fun on the boat...

What a perfect way to kick off the lazy hazy crazy days of summer!

She's had a rough May

2010-05-22T10:39:00.004-06:00

A couple weeks ago, Kaiya tried to walk down some cement steps and this was the result...

Luckily, her forehead is finally starting to heal, and the "oowee" is hardly noticeable.

I guess she missed the attention of the injured, because yesterday she split her face open and needed to get stitches (well - just one) below her bottom lip.

(Sorry for the really professional camera phone pictures, by the way.)

Anyway, I really hope this is just a phase.

A futile attempt...

2010-05-20T11:25:00.003-06:00

Since it's taken me all morning to upload and sort through my cruise photos, and Kaiya has officially destroyed my office in the process, I'll be cutting this post short.

We stopped at four ports during our western Caribbean adventure, but today you'll only be seeing (a small sampling of) pictures from one:

Cozumel, Mexico

We decided to take a ferry to Cancun and tour the Mayan ruins at Tulum. My parents took my sisters and me there ten years ago (wow - has it really been that long?) and I was excited to go back and share it with Brad.

Clearly, I was hot/sweaty/crabby/tired/seasick/pregnant and was a little less than enthused at Brad's incessant photography attempts. But honestly, if it wasn't for him we would never use our camera. I always pack it, but never use it.
I have to represent this hilarious tour guide, who shamelessly attracts Mormon tourists by sporting a BYU baseball cap and a Polo shirt with his name, Mosiah, embroidered in huge letters. Hey - whatever works.

Jen, Greta, and I think we're funny.
I'll get back to you with pictures of other ports and whatnot later. (Probably next week since school ends on Thursday!! Woot!!)

Spring Break!

2010-04-22T15:54:00.006-06:00

We thought we'd take advantage of our friend Travis's hospitality just one more time before he leaves Washington DC, so for spring break we hauled our 16 month old across the country. (Not a fun flight, by the way.) We went with Adam and Jessalyn, and it turned out to be a lot of fun - especially since Brad condescended to let me eat every two hours - pregnancy is fun :)

We were supposed to be there during the cherry blossom peak, but I guess it came early this year. I was really happy when we found a few trees still in bloom in Arlington Cemetery.

Kaiya was a little "too" happy at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; she and I went for a walk while everyone paid their respects. She is such a ham!

Here are some shots from the Lincoln Memorial... Kaiya insisted on walking up the stairs. I really don't know who she gets her stubbornness from.

What in the world are those guys doing behind us??

I couldn't help but snap a picture of my two favorite people! (Brad's a good sport for carrying my "girly" diaper bag.)

Here's our failed attempt at a White House photo. How dare the sun set before we get our tourist photo opp?

Kaiya would get so excited when we'd let her out of her stroller. I love how tiny she looks next to the Washington Monument!

Finally, here's Brad's highlight of the trip: 5th row seats to an Orioles game! If us girls look a little tired and hot, it's because we were.

Oops, I did it again.

2010-04-18T20:58:00.005-06:00

It's too bad that both of my sisters are pregnant right now; it looks like I have to start buying my own maternity clothes.

Yep,
Walker baby number two is on its way!

We are really excited and looking forward to meeting Kaiya's new baby brother or sister on
October 23rd.

Easter. Kind of.

2010-04-01T09:03:00.004-06:00

Brad's mom had the grandkids over (plus Isabel) for a backyard easter egg hunt this week. It was kind of cold, but I don't think they noticed.

Kaiya was done after finding like three eggs. She was too easily distracted by the trampoline...

...the "puppy" (I am in serious trouble here: Kaiya LOVES dogs!! Especially the big ones.)...

...and the lure of the swing. I have to show off my daughter's amazing acrobatic skill here. I turned around to see her across the yard, attempting to get on the swing all by herself. She succeeded and was pretty darn proud of herself.

Private?

2010-03-31T12:52:00.006-06:00

I'm considering making my blog private. There is the safety issue: I have a daughter to protect and it wouldn't be too hard for some weirdo to figure out where we live. There is the foot-in-mouth issue: I write far too many idiotic (not to mention crude, snobby, and embarrassing) things on here that I'd rather certain acquaintances not have access to.

But on the other hand, I hate it when I'm trying to blog hop to my second-cousin-twice-removed's blog and and get the "It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog" message (which actually sounds more like "You are a loser" when spoken aloud). And then there's no way to let the author know that you want to be invited ... which, let's be honest, even if there was a request button of sorts, wouldn't you feel kind of pathetic using it?

I guess I just don't know if the privacy is worth discriminating against my adoring fans. All three of them.

Thoughts?

Validation

2010-03-25T09:29:00.004-06:00

Nebo School District is pleased to inform me that my portfolio has passed the district portfolio review, and congratulates me on a job well done.

I retract my middle finger.

Hey, remember when we went to Disneyland? Like a month ago?

2010-03-20T15:10:00.012-06:00

Since it's been so long since our trip and since I'm feeling lazy, here is a quick sampling of our Disneyland photos. Hopefully it won't be another month before I post real pictures again.

Kaiya has been really into Mickey & Minnie lately (although I'm pretty sure she thinks they're the same person). Everytime I turn on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse she shouts "MeeMee" and starts dancing and singing along to the opening song. It's pretty cute. Needless to say, she was super excited to see Mickey at the park and kept trying to grab his nose. By the way - aren't those the cutest Mickey ears EVER?!

Window shopping at kids' eye level? Pure marketing genius. I had to include the classic "Disneyland nap" shot. It was so bloody cold and rainy we didn't stay long that day :( Luckily, we had two other days to make up for it! And there you have it!

Promptness never was my strong suit

2010-03-12T12:13:00.003-07:00

Seems like I still haven't gotten around to posting those pictures. I will. Next week. Maybe.

AWOL

2010-03-04T13:05:00.011-07:00

So, Brad pointed out to me yesterday that I haven't posted anything in almost a month (and that my last few posts were cop-outs). Wow. I'm sorry. I know you've all been having withdrawals from my charming rhetoric... or at least from pictures of my chubby offspring. Let me shed some light - and complain a little bit - on the Walker happenings of February 2010.

The month started out with a slew of concrete and vinyl fence bids, which resulted in a beautiful yard and a happy Brad, but also a slightly-strained relationship with our neighbors to the south. (I'd like to think of our new fence as a "Mending Wall".)

I spent every spare minute pre February 20 preparing for our region debate tournament. I've never hosted a tournament before, let alone a high stakes region competition, and was freaking out. We didn't have enough schools to pair or tab electronically, so everything had to be done by hand. Despite a few minor setbacks (like my fake out "master key" that didn't open half of the doors it was supposed to, the absence of hallway lights for the first round, and some overly-emotional Salem Hills Policy debaters), the tournament ran smoothly and Payson snagged first place awards in LD, NX, and FX, and second place in OO. (Yes, I realize this means nothing to most of you.) Yay! And yay to the fact that after March 13 I am done coaching debate FOREVER.

Oh, in the midst of all this we had Parent Teacher Conferences. Those are always a joy.

And Kaiya had double ear infections.

And I got a new calling. I'm in the Young Women presidency; I won't tell them I have a blog so they can still think I'm a good person.

And I'm in the middle of teaching research papers (my most dreaded unit) in senior English.

Then there was my professional portfolio for level two licensure for the district. Holy crap. It was literally the most asinine assignment I've ever been given. I know that the program is well-intended and that the portfolio is supposed to be an indicator of my growth as an educator over the course of my career thus far, blah, blah, blah. But seriously!? I am awarded points based on my ability to talk myself up using specific vocabulary from the UPT Standards. --I guess that before I complain too much about being swamped with work, I should point out that I've had almost four years to complete this portfolio, but instead wrote all my reflections in the course of two weeks and turned it in two days before it was due.-- Let's just pray that I passed it, because I have never been more happy to hand over substandard work. (Except maybe for that one Math 1010 class where my teacher awarded extra credit for swearing on tests. He's fired now.)

Then we went to Disneyland with the Lillywhites. It was bitchin'.

Which brings me to the present. We've been home for three days and I still have piles of dirty, clean, and questionable laundry all over my house. I have finally caught a spare minute at work in which to rant in my virtual journal, for which I will undoubtedly be embarrassed in the years to come.

I promise I will post pictures of our landscaping improvements and our vacation in bipolar-weather-California. It's impossible to use the computer when Kaiya is awake, so I will see how much I can accomplish during nap time tomorrow!

{Insert deep breath here.}

"Jeff Malene. I'd given you up for dead."

2010-02-06T11:15:00.005-07:00

I rekindled my crush on Lee Montgomery this morning while watching Girls Just Want To Have Fun. I also have this unmistakable, all-too-familiar desire to be on DTV.

I'm not lazy; I just don't want to be counter-productive.

2010-01-28T13:22:00.009-07:00

I'm going on a cruise in a few months, and I've decided that I need to either get skinny or get pregnant before I go. So, which shall it be? I don't see much point in trying for both.

"If you build it..."

2010-01-26T13:22:00.005-07:00

I know, it looks like a big, empty field. Probably because it is a big, empty field. But what you're looking at is the future site of the Payson, Utah LDS temple! I'm so excited! I grew up riding my bike to the Jordan River temple, then spent four years driving an hour from Camas to the Portland temple, then I moved back to Utah (supposedly Mormon Mecca) and still had to drive half an hour and wait for multiple hours for a session in the overcrowded Provo temple.

Well - now it looks like I'm back to my bike-riding roots, because I get my very own temple practically in my front yard! No word yet on size or dates of construction... but everyone here in little ole' Payson is buzzing over the news. You should have seen the ridiculous amount of cars lining the street last night to look at NOTHING. It was cute.

Check out the article posted on KSL's website yesterday. (I promise that's my last hyperlink.)

And yes, I do realize how sadly rural these pictures depict my neighborhood. We really are on the edge of civilization, aren't we?

Cousin Larry Appleton

2010-01-19T14:58:00.007-07:00

I am watching Laurel's little girl, Isabel, today. The girls were being eerily quiet in Kaiya's room, and upon investigation, I found this. How cute are they?

I love Isabel's face in this last one. She is so pissed that Kaiya is ditching her.

Check out this video Marsha made with her iphone!

2010-01-13T14:20:00.003-07:00

http://gallery.me.com/mhuffyw#100027
(I might have cried a little bit the first time I watched it.)

Homecoming!

2010-01-12T20:40:00.004-07:00

My little brother Brett (who will always be this little brother Brett)

is coming home from his mission in Tempe, AZ tomorrow!! I'm so sad I can't be there to help him through his "weird phase", but he will be out here (parents and Matt in tow) in two weeks when he moves back to Provo. YAY!!

Let's see, he moves into The Riviera next month... so he should be married by Memorial Day. Right? Isn't that how it works?

okay, so it turned into two posts

2009-12-31T15:30:00.006-07:00

Kaiya looked so cute all bundled up to go deliver neighbor Christmas gifts. I just had to snap a picture.Anyway - on to Christmas morning - Santa brought Kaiya this awesome table and chair set. She was so excited when she came into the living room and saw it. I love it because it reminds me of the one that we had growing up.It's a good thing she got that practice opening gifts on her birthday; she had it down for Christmas. But, she still preferred to play in the boxes.
Around noon, we headed over to Brad's parents' house for Swedish pancakes (a sacred Walker Christmas tradition that I am so stoked to be privy to) and more presents. Every year gets crazier with all these kids running around AND I LOVE IT!!

This wasn't planned... all the kids (minus four-month-old Vance) were fighting for a seat on Marsha's lap. I thought it was so cute. And of course, as soon as Kaiya saw the camera, she turned on her cheeser.

Well - that's it for 2009!

just one last post before the new year...

2009-12-31T14:28:00.008-07:00

I thought it might be good to get some birthday/Christmas photos on here before 2010 sneaks up on me. Kaiya turned ONE on the 18th and was an absolute doll. We were lucky enough to celebrate the day with all of her cousins, most of her aunts and uncles, and Nana and Papa Walker. Kaiya loved the presents (and the "help" opening them), the cake, and of course - the attention!

I bought her this little outfit months ago... good thing it still fit. Barely :) ... showing off her new BeanLee (from Megan and Scott) and coat (from Dee Dee). This smile kills me. All night she would look around the room, make eye contact with someone, and turn on this "cheeser". She is so freakin' funny.Presents, presents, presents.She seemed to have more fun sitting ON the boxes than she had opening them.

The cake eating process started out very civilized.

Cutlery was involved at one point....Until Kaiya realized it was easier to eat it with her hands...And then Scotty started playing tricks on her...

And then Daddy encouraged her to rub her head... Pretty soon it was bad news all around.

And.... done.

2000-ish, revisited

2009-12-23T15:12:00.006-07:00

I know that I need to document Kaiya's birthday... but I've decided instead to focus my efforts on much more pointless banter.

I have spent Kaiya's nap perusing my journal from high school (a sidetrack from cleaning out the office closet) and I've found some entries that are pure gems. Everything in pink is copied directly from the worn, tear-stained, obviously overused memento from my adolescence.

I am getting a kick out of the occasional artistic depiction ("Here is a pic of my Snoball dress"), reference to some pop song ("So there's this Tim McGraw song that TOTALLY expresses what I'm feeling right now")... followed by the complete lyrics. There was also some Poison, and some O-Town among others). Then of course, there are is the hilarious phrasing...

"I hard-core cleaned my room last night."

"K but seriously - I want to write about ___ - (not like I don't write a mother load about him anyways)"

"I freakin' butched my hair off yesterday & I am a cross between a mom, a pixie & a dike"

Yes, I have since realized and repented for the misspelling and the bigotry.

But my favorite findings of all involved my choice of expletives.

"GAYBALLS!"

"Holy f*ing sh*tballs"

"Let's just say, ___ is full of a lot of BULLSH*T"

Apparently, spelling swears phonetically or replacing vowels with asterisks doesn't count as swearing.

There is also a certain girl to whom I referred often, including her "middle name" that I gave her. Which was spelled using a PH instead of an F... you get the idea. Hey, it was alliteration.

Anyway - I doubt that any of this is half as funny for you as it is for me... and I'm sure that in another ten years, I'll read this blog and once again laugh at my immaturity and idiocy. But hey, at least I'm ensuring myself years of entertainment.

I think her toes were cold.

2009-12-12T10:55:00.005-07:00

Apparently I wasn't paying enough attention to Kaiya this morning while I was on the computer. I turned around and found her IN the heating vent. She was pretty excited about her new seat, though.

Black Friday = White Christmas

2009-11-27T12:21:00.004-07:00

You couldn't pay me to brave the stores today. Nope - I'm staying in. And I have these guys to keep me company...

A Dream is a Wish...

2009-11-11T18:11:00.002-07:00

I saw this bed at RC Willey and I've never wanted to be spoiled rich girl so badly.

Mrs. Featherbottom?

2009-11-05T09:51:00.015-07:00

Markelle and Brent's party was - once again - amazing. We went as the Funkes. (Anybody who is familiar with Arrested Development will think we're funny. Everybody else will think we're weird.) Brad was the sexually confused Tobias, I was Lindsay, and Kaiya was Mr. Banana Grabber.... I may have bought her costume in the pet section at Target.By the way... little did we know that Brad's BFF in DC would put an even better spin on the character (check him out here). Sorry Travis - I didn't even ask for your permission to link this, but I just figured that exhibitionists like attention.On Tuesday, Laurel, Alicia, and I got together and attempted a Halloween photo shoot with the kids. Luckily, Val loaned my sister some costumes, so Kaiya could don something other than Klan-reminiscent fruit. She does make a pretty cute witch. Check out Jacob as a dragon! Their costumes (and the props) proved themselves to be a little distracting... Here's Isabel showing us her "guns".Ya - she knows how cute she is.What? Are the kids supposed to actually look at the camera in a group photo?

when I dip, you dip, we dip

2009-10-23T12:15:00.006-06:00

Jason and Steph bought a new boat and let us help them break it in last weekend in St. George. Of course, we hit up Nielsens Frozen Custard and Kaiya helped herself to Brad's bumbleberry concrete.We spent two days out on the lake. Kaiya was not a fan of her lifejacket. Okay, so this one needs some explanation... I was trying to get her to fall asleep, and I didn't want her to get sunburned in the bow, so... VOILA! I put Brad's tee shirt over her lifejacket and his baseball cap on her head. I thought it was working because she didn't move a muscle for at least twenty minutes. (Yes, everyone made fun of me, and yes, she was breathing.)

Then Brad came to sit by me and started laughing... TOTALLY AWAKE. And for some reason reminding me of an Ewok?Anyway - Brad got his turn on the air chair and I wakeboarded for the first time in years and sucked it up. (Only nobody loved me enough to take a picture.)

I heart Fall Break.

Gardner Village

2009-10-23T11:34:00.007-06:00

Alicia and I hung out at Gardner Village on Wednesday with the kiddos. Kaiya and Jake are only four months apart and they are so cute together. (Just like George Michael and Maeby.) They kept reaching out to grab eachother from their strollers.Too bad Kaiya wouldn't keep this BeanLee on her noggin. In the rest of the photos, the sun is glaring off her peach fuzz.We finally let them out of their strollers and let them explore this deck. They were hilarious.
Alicia and Jakey...
Kaiya and me...

Random Confessions

2009-10-13T08:56:00.005-06:00

Sometimes when I fall asleep holding Kaiya, she gets a pool of drool on the top of her head.

When the ringing phone wakes me up, I practice saying "hello" a couple times in an attempt to minimize my man-voice.

Every once in a while, I just give all my students A's on their papers and call it a "present". Really, I just don't feel like reading them.

Sometimes when I'm sleeping in on a day off and I hear the garage door (meaning Brad's home unexpectedly), I hurry and jump in the shower so that my husband will think I'm somewhat productive.

I've been known to buy new underwear instead of just doing the laundry.

I have totally scared myself (like, screamed out loud scared myself) in the middle of the night by catching my reflection in the mirror and thinking I've seen a ghost. Twice.

Do you think Brad will like my sexy bunny costume this Halloween?

2009-10-08T13:14:00.003-06:00

I'm so glad that there's an example of how to paint my face if I don't go with the full mask. I would hate to do it wrong and look creepy.

three wheelin'

2009-10-01T18:18:00.004-06:00

The best three investments a girl can ever make:

#1. Black knee boots

#2. A jogging stroller

#3. A husband who jogs

Brad takes Kaiya for a run a few days a week after work and she LOVES it. I might love it too - I get a whole hour at home to myself. It's getting kind of cold, though, so we bundled her up pretty well the other day before they hit the pavement. I'll be so sad when it snows and I don't get my "alone" time anymore. (Is that awful?)

I love her Cabbage Patch Kid smile. Oh, and she's getting pretty good at that standing thing. Last night we caught her one-handed.FYI: Tylenol is good for teething in more ways than one. (Relax. She can't get the lid off. Yet.)

Big (slightly sad) girl!

2009-09-26T09:42:00.004-06:00

I went to get Kaiya after her nap yesterday and she was standing up in her crib! I thought it was really cute so after changing her diaper and whatnot, I got my camera, put her back in, and tried to take a picture. Apparently she thought I was trying to put her back to bed because this was the result...The close up just made it worse.I did manage to get this really creepy, really chubby pose.
And this "almost" smile.

So much for that Kodak moment.

Anyway - on to some other fun stuff:

Here's Kaiya showing me her new teefs. (Which are totally coming in crooked; should I be worried?)

And she loves to crawl around with stuff hanging out of her mouth. It's usually a sock or the ear of a stuffed animal... this time it was a necklace smuggled by Isabel from Nana Walker's house. (I've got to remember to give that back.)

I want this.

2009-09-17T13:14:00.000-06:00

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10670967&findingMethod=rr

just a thought...

2009-09-15T13:49:00.003-06:00

I was talking to my friend Jen about Yann Martel’s Life of Pi recently, and she reminded me of the following idea -

The author refers to agnostics as being caught up in “the thrall of reason, that fool’s gold for the bright.” This line is so telling of our generation. I think that agnosticism is a common fallback for people who consider themselves to be too smart for religion, but to me, it just seems like they’re too lazy for it. (At least atheists believe in something.)

Maybe God exists… Maybe not… There’s no structure, so there’s no accountability. And what's the point in living if not to progress? I think Martel sums up his argument effectively with these words: “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”

Goodbye. Again.

2009-09-14T11:45:00.005-06:00

My mom and dad got to see about twelve hours of THIS yesterday -- man, Idaho is boring -- on their drive back to Washington. I am so sick of saying goodbye to them. They came to visit for a week after dropping Matty off at BYU Idaho, and I'm not sure when I'll see them again (February, maybe?). This sucks. Will someone please give my dad a million dollars so that he can retire and move here?

Meg's Miracle A Success!

2009-09-01T12:09:00.003-06:00

Thanks to everyone who came out last Saturday to support Meg's Miracle. We were able to raise a lot more money than expected and had a ton of fun in the process! Laurel has (as always)posted an excessive amount of pictures on her blog/Picasa if you're interested.... I just thought these two were funny. Kaiya was SO good all day. Look at that bald beauty!

What are you doing on Saturday?

2009-08-26T13:45:00.006-06:00

Some of you probably know my big brother, Scott and his wife, Megan. They are seriously two of my favorite people in the world. (I even like their dogs.) They're usually pretty private, self-sufficient people and will probably be embarrassed when they see this post, but oh well :)

For the past several years Megan and Scott have been battling infertility. It seems like more and more of my friends are dealing with issues like this and it sucks. There's no other way to describe it. Megan and Scott would make amazing parents; they're already the best aunt and uncle EVER. It just doesn't seem fair that they are still waiting for their turn to have kids. But I have faith that someday, somehow they'll get their children whom I know are waiting for them too.

It's been a long, hard road. From fertility meds to artificial insemination to in-vitro fertilization to adoption prospects, nothing has worked. Yet. And I won't itemize all the other crap (non-fertility related) that has gone down along the way... mostly because it would take days. Needless to say, these guys are spent. Physically, emotionally, and of course, FINANCIALLY. I've been feeling helpless, not really knowing what to do to help them. But I do know, more than ever, that it's in God's hands. I know that God wants my brother and my sister to be happy. I know He wants to bless them with children. But none of us knows what His timeline is... and (understatement of the century) that's the hard part.

These last couple months have been particularly hard, and as we've come together as family and friends, it boils down to this: we can't guarantee that Megan and Scott will get pregnant, but we can guarantee that they'll be able to pay their medical bills. Megan's friend, Julie Kaye, has spearheaded a benefit for Megan and Scott that will be taking place this Saturday at Mountain View High School in Orem. There will be a boutique and silent auction from 12-7, fantastic entertainment from 7:30-8:30, and an outdoor movie at dusk. Check out the website for some of the incredible stuff up for auction. Of course, all proceeds will go to Megan and Scott Lee's efforts to start a family.

I'll be there all day (hopefully with a happy Kaiya in my arms), so come stop by. I know there will be some great crafts and yummy treats for sale and of course, the auction will be stellar. I'm pretty sure they're screening Forever Strong, too. I'll see you there!!

hand-me-down

2009-08-15T21:27:00.013-06:00

25 years ago my Nannie and Papa brought me back this beautiful eyelet number from France. My mom had my picture taken wearing it...

And last week it was Kaiya's turn to don the duds. I'm sad 'cause the shoes I brought just didn't work. Oh well. I still like her little toesies. She was such a cheese-ball throughout the whole shoot. I absolutely LOVE this picture.

And this one.And this one.You know that feeling you get when your roommate borrows your shirt and looks a lot cuter in it than you do? That's kind of how I feel right now :)

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Anniversary

2009-08-05T14:00:00.000-06:00

Four years today! Wowza.

Air Chairin'

2009-07-31T11:56:00.008-06:00

Brad's friend Jason owns a boating company (charters/rentals/etc.), and treated us to a quick outing on Utah Lake yesterday morning. I think my highlight was when Brady said, "Go ahead and open your eyes under water, Jason. That's a good way to get an infection. Or a superpower." (Anyone who has wiped slime from his/her body after swimming in Utah Lake gets me here, right?) Then there was a pretty animated discussion involving what Utah Lake Man's powers would be, including shooting sludge from his fingertips. Ya, we're dorks.

Anyway - I forgot to bring my real camera, so this is the most decent shot I could get with my phone camera. Brad is seriously hilarious on the air chair. I don't think I've ever seen anyone more giddy out on the water. I was too intimidated to attempt it, but I do have a pretty wicked sunburn that proves that I was there.

Maria and the kids

2009-07-20T17:07:00.002-06:00

I've been spending the last few days introducing Kaiya to my favorite old musicals. Friday was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and today was The Sound of Music. I had forgotten how good this movie is! Yes, the kids hop up and down steps while singing their respective dos res and mis, and Liesl does exclaim "WEEE" after kissing Ralph. (And while I point out these scenes' cheesiness I admit that they are some of my favorite parts.) But alongside all that cheese is a really heartbreaking story about a family in the midst of Nazi takover. I guess as a kid I didn't really pick up on the serious undertones... I was too focused on trying to sound grown up while singing Liesl's part in the "Edelweiss" duet.

Anyway - I can't stop thinking about the captain's face when he sings about his homeland in "Edelweiss". This is such a pivotal scene. Not only does it show his soft side toward his children, but it creates such sympathy for his situation. I mean come on, this guy was a naval captain decorated by the emperor, obviously affluent, and these German bullies are on the brink of taking everything away from him. By the way... I know that the festival performance is supposed to be the more dramatic scene, but I always think about how everyone in the crowd must be thinking about how p. whipped that Von Trapp guy must be that he's singing in this lame festival with his new, ugly haircutted, wife. (No offense Ms. Andrews but you were much hotter as Mary Poppins.)

I'm sure that Kaiya appreciated the film and is deconstructing its layers right now. Next up: Singin' in the Rain - she and I can discuss the modern applications of the Lina Lamont character in regards to Talent ranking second to Beauty in the entertainment industry. Ooh, and also the Hollywood romance facades cooked up in the name of publicity. Now that is a smart movie.

Happy Birthday Brad!

2009-07-12T22:55:00.008-06:00

Brad's turning 30 on Tuesday.
To commemorate, I'm making you look at some of my favorite pictures of my amazing husband. I love this guy.

What a good lookin' guy!

I'm not a pet person, but...

2009-07-12T16:03:00.006-06:00

I'm kind of cold-hearted when it comes to domesticated animals. The nature/nurture debate double whammied me at a young age.

Nature: I'm allergic to anything with fur. (Bunnies, doggies, Brad Walker.) Scott likes to tell the story about how I hid under my Aunt Lara's bed in a game of hide and seek and my eyes were nearly swollen shut when I emerged. Apparently that's where the kitties slept.

Nurture: Both of my parents grew up with animals, decided against inflicting the accompanying duties on themselves as adults, and coerced us into "liking" fish as pets. I vividly remember watching my mom kick a stray cat. That's right. DeAnn Lee kicked a stray cat circa 1992. Call PETA.

I (usually) don't have anything against other people's animals. I admit to liking Sasha, Frank, and Bronx. I just don't want my own animal. I'll use my allergies as an excuse when Kaiya is begging for a puppy in a few years, but really, I just don't see the point in being a pet owner. I'd rather get a jet ski.

But I digress. There have been a few times in my life when I HAVE truly wanted a pet. And it's no surprise that this temporary insanity has come from movies. Because come on...

Who wouldn't want to dress up her kitty in doll clothes and push her around Scotland in a buggy after watching The Three Lives of Thomasina?? And there's no need to be sad when one's kitty dies, because part of this movie was filmed in kitty heaven and it looks awesome.
And I know that "cats rule and dogs drool"... but who wouldn't want to take all three of these guys home after watching Homeward Bound? If I had a dog/cat, it would totally trek through the wilderness to find me. And it would talk.
Now, here's my point. This morning I watched Marley and Me and I cried like a little girl. For 90% of the movie I was like, "See, that's why I don't have a dog!" (I think I even said that out loud, directed to the TV screen.) But at the end, I was like "Marley is so special! Every family needs a dog. Look how much he loves them. Blah, blah, blah."

Don't worry, I came to my senses when I got mad at Kaiya for spitting up on my newly-washed jeans and imagined how much worse it would be if it were doggy vomit. Or if it were doggy feces all over my carpet and chewed up shoes all over my closet. But for a few brief minutes there, I almost had a heart.

Wait, is that Kaiya? Or is it Brad with a flower on his head?

2009-07-03T12:16:00.002-06:00