The rest of our summer

On Memorial Day weekend we went on a camping trip to South Cottonwood with some friends of ours Marcie and Benny their 3 girls Shelbie, Kaitlyn and Ashley also Marcie's parents Larry and Diana. Shery and Quinn and her monster's (hey she calls her blog that so I figured I was safe) Brexton, Jensen and Teagan. Laurie was supposed to join us but the weather was kind of iffy so she decided against it. We had such a great time! Jim and Benny made a swing for the kids that kept them very entertained. Other than me being scared of the cow's coming thru our camp and stomping our tent down it was great. Ya I know I am a dork! We also did a few other camping trips thru out the summer; we went up on the mountain by our house which was nice, close etc. At one of the camping trips up at 70's we were with Marcie, Benny & their 3 girls, Chance, Marcie and their 3 kids, Krista & Eric their 2kids and Chet & Tracy and their 2 boys. We were having a great time until it was dinner.....I was munching down on a pretzel and broke a tooth a molar at that, so Marcia scrambled to find the dentist phone number and Jim and I made a 9pm run to the dentist's office, nothing like calling him at home on a Friday night and making him come fix me! Well we got that taken care of which resulted in a few more dentist visits and an extraction boy was that fun NOT!


Aubrey got to play T-Ball this summer with her friends. She was on the same team as Shelbie and Rhianna! They really had a great time smacking the ball around! She also learned how to ride her bike with out training wheels. I am so proud of her she takes off now down the street with not a care in the world..even for the car's coming down the street LOL!


We ended up on deciding to go "home" to Pleasant Grove for Strawberry Day's and we are so glad we did. We went to the Rodeo with Jenny and Mike, got to go to the parade which was really neat as the theme this year was "Everyone comes home for Strawberry Days" kinda kewl considering.....We enjoyed funnel cakes, caramel apples and some fun carnival rides Jim also took Heather up to hike Timp, CJ went with as well as Jenny. We got to take my nephew's Anthony and DreShawn to the carnival. DreShawn was a total doll I loved having him and getting my baby fix! You know it is kind of funny now to think of home as Pleasant Grove....the reason being is that we now own our own home in Monticello and have some great friend's and honestly it is beginning to feel like HOME! It's only been a year so I will give it a little more time to settle in!!! :)

Every year on the 4th of July Dove Creek, CO which is on the border of Utah/CO hold's what is called the Pick N' Hoe! Ya I had to laugh at the name too but boy was it fun. We went out there with Marcia and her family since she is a native to Dove Creek. We got to enjoy the parade, the games, the pig chasing and yes if you catch the pig..The prize is the pig. Needless to say I wasn't encouraging my kids to catch it!!! Anyhow we had a really good time out there, it was nice being in a small town and seeing what has brought the city about. We ended the night off by heading to Blanding to watch the fireworks. All in all a great way to celebrate the 4th of July!


We were able to go to the Walker Family reunion/campout. This year it was up at Mirror Lake. We decided to head up North on Thursday. We headed for Mirror Lake on Friday of course making a stop to see Grandma and Grandpa Walker. The weather ended up on being pretty good except the night I had to cook dinner of course it had to rain. Other than that and the occasional pine beetle it was good. It was so nice to see all the family. Grandma & Grandpa Hansen, Aunt Cindy, Aunt Mary, Laurie, Brandon, Maddie & Braydon, Jenny & Mike, Heather, Austin, Cody, Mistee, Shery & Quinn, Brexton, Jensen & Teagon. We got to do a lot of visiting and catching up on what we have missed over the past while. We also got this amazing opportunity....I was sitting in Mom & Dad's trailer....something catches my eye and I look out the window...What was it to my surprise a MOOSE yes I said a Moose....So of course I am thinking wow I have never seen one before, I want pictures...So I went Moose chasing.....With Brandon and Jenny following suit and Austin & Braydon trying to get as close as Aunt Nat would let them. Just check out this picture I got.....In retrospect I probably shouldn't have chased her but hey it was worth the photo opp!

CJ lost all of his front teeth and is patiently waiting for them to get in and for Soccer to start. There has not been a day yet that he hasn't asked "Mom is today the day for my Soccer" He spent most of the summer up visiting with Mama Kirsty I know he had a lot of fun. He also got to hang out with Grandma Walker which he always thinks is neat.

Patrick is also in the loosing teeth camp. He also has lost all of his front one's and is so excited to loose more so he can try and catch to tooth fairy the next time she comes. He is also "patiently" waiting for Soccer to start. He was able to spend some time with Mama Kirsty but decided he wanted to come home early. He was happy to have a break from CJ...in fact he proceeded to tell Kirsty that he was so glad CJ wasn't here...We all had to laugh at that one...nothing like sibling rivalry!

Connor spent the summer at the swimming pool....hanging out with his friend's, going to Daddy's work, riding his bike all over town. He is patiently waiting for Football to start.

Darrien spent the summer working! Yes I said working! He got a job at the race track down here flagging races. He absolutely loves it and it actually pay's very well too. He also did some work for Marcie’s parents tearing down the barn. He had fun driving Diana's lawnmower...I don't think she will let that happen again!

All in all we had a GREAT summer! We hope that everyone else did as well!

Love you all!!

Summer quick summary

Just in case you don't want to read thru all of our summer here is a quick summary: (not in any particular order)

Several Camping trips, a broken tooth, going to the pick n' hoe, going home for Strawberry Day's, several birthday's Darrien, Jim, RJ, Tug (Krista's boy, Marica, Krista, Steve, me (I am sure I missed someone so sorry!) T-ball, an uh-oh falling off a trunk, an awards ceremony for the bus accident Jim was on, a river run down the San Juan and getting 2nd degree burns to show!, Aubrey learning how to ride without training wheels, several lost teeth (besides the broken one), the San Juan County fair, Darryl Worley concert....as if that wasn't enough....a family reunion which led to an encounter with a moose! A visit from Cody and Sarah, some exploring up the mountain....WOW!!! I guess we were busy!

River trip down the San Juan

Jim and I started out our summer with a river trip down the San Juan. We went with a bunch of Dad's river rafting buddies and of course Mom and Dad. The trip itself was beutiful, breath taking and so much fun. Our friend Brad let us use his boat since he doesn't get to use it much it has now taken up a permanent spot in our garage. It was a 3 day trip where we camped along the river as we made it down. I even got a chance to Kayak down the river, now that was totally fun! The last day was by far the hardest day on me, between the sand bars, the water fights, Jim kayaking down the river and leaving Mom, Dad, Shiloh and I in the boat. Jim even got to go cliff diving at slick horn gulch which is absolutely breath taking. That day the sun was especially brutal and relentless...When we got to Hall's Crossing which was our take out point I was totally fried!! I looked like a fried crispy tomato. One of Dad's friends rode home with us since they parked at our house. Stan and Roxanne tried to get it to cool off but everything made it worse... Besides that it was GREAT! The kids got totally farmed out for this outing...Jen (my friend that lives in Moab) took Aubrey and Connor, CJ went to Marcia's and Darrien and Patrick hung out with each other and spent some time with Marica and Krista. The kids had a totaly blast as well! I am so gratefull for the wonderful friends that we have made down here and the one's we got to move closer :) You all know who you are we luvs ya! (If you want to see more pictures from the river trip, let me know)

To be continued.....

As the Summer days started to dwindle down we had to come to the realization that all of the "Walker Bunch" kids are now officially in school. It was one of those bitter sweet moments you know what I am talking about?..Sweet because the boys were starting to get sick of one another and the fights became more and more, the yearning of wanting structure order and routine back to the house. Bitter because it makes all of them yet a year higher in school, Darrien that much closer to driving which is scccarrrryyy and of course the fact that Aubrey is now officially in Kindergarten. As I curled her hair this morning (it was the first day of school) I couldn't help but look into her darling little face, sparkling blue excited eyes and cry..wow how time fly's....It seemed like yesterday.....Darrien a tiny little 5'lb baby gooing and gaaing needing a bottle...now he is an actual teenager! I am just amazed at how quickly time passes you by especially when you don't realize how quick they are growing when you see them everyday. As I heard the school bells ring this morning (the school is a block away) I thought back to my school days and how excited I was, how I wanted my kids to feel the same and was so glad they did....until 10:30 when the phone rang, the caller id shows San Juan School's, which of course makes any parent gasp. I figured it was Patrick trying to adjust to a new teacher and having a hard time. To my surprise it wasn't him in fact he did wonderful which is totally awesome, rather it was Aubrey who mind you was the most excited out of them all. She proceeds to say her tummy hurts, so of course Daddy ran right up and got her. She came home and didn't look like she felt well she went and laid down on my bed and zonked out! By 1 she had woken up put her school clothes back on and declared "I feel better, I am going back to school!" Of course I had to explain that it was already over so on and so forth. The funnies part of this was what proceeded to happen later in the day. Aubrey and I were out and about I stopped in at the Pharmacy, Tim the Pharmacist proceeds to ask Aubrey how her first day of school was. Aubrey all cheery replies back and says great but I got sick to my stomach "I think I was nervous" it had Tim, the technician and myself laughing so hard,needless to say let's hope tomorrow is a better day!

I think the kids going back to school gave me a little extra push that I needed to take some time to sit down and update my blog. I think Marcie has finally realized that hounding me to update my it wasn't going to work, rather the fact that she hasn't said anything is what helped push it along as well.

Needless to say I have lot's of writing to do to catch up. So wish me luck and stuff....My next post will be about our summer.

Love to all :)

-Nat

Yes I will update my blog!!!

Okay Okay! So I stink at updating my blog...I will try and do better I promise...Yes Marcie and Laurie you can fall over because I updated it :)

Catch up series-Connor

Wow this has been a fun year for Connor. He started out the summer playing football, you are probably all asking yourself was it flag or tackle...well my little troppper did tackle!!! I was so proud! As I sat at his games I would often reflect as to what happend to him just 3 short years ago when he had the accident with the entertainment center. I have to admit that a couple of times it brought tears to my eyes just watching him run up and down the field..of course tears of joy and love. He is such an amazing little one. He is always trying to help out around the house. Boy does he also help his little brothers....He makes sure they get to thier classes and makes sure they get home okay every day. Every day he sits down with Patrick and they work on thier homework together, it is just really neat. I love how the kids have bonded as if there was never a time that they wern't siblings. Connor often misses the boys if they happen to go up north to visit thier mom. He will continually ask me "Mom when are my brothers coming home"

He is doing awesome at school acceling really well and is now reading Harry Potter ya he is only in 2nd grade but hey he loves it and it makes him happy.

Tonight he had his first pinewood derby race for scouts. He was so proud of his car (I will post pictures soon) He won the "Judges Favorite" award and he is totally excited about it.

He has made quite a few friends down here and often has playdates. He really enjoys the beautiful country and can't wait to get out in the summer and play on the rocks.

He wants me to let you all know that he loves and thinks of you guys often (isn't that sweet?) He misses you all and hopes to see you soon!

Series of Catch Up Posts-Darrien

So I know I am a total slacker so I thought I would give you all some updates on the family. I will start with Darrien and work my way down.

Darrien was fortunate enough to enter 7th Grade this year, sadly there isn't a Jr. High or Middle School down here so he went straight into High School WOW! So far it has been pretty good for him. He has made quite a few friends which is always good. He joined the tech crew they setup for plays and music performances. He also plays drums in the band he is always drumming on something around the house so I think he kinda likes it :). He took up Wrestling earlier this year he was doing great with it and really loving it until he broke his foot on a Scout Camping Trip. he jumped across a dry creek bed and slid down the embankement and landed wrong. That pretty much ended his season he was heartbroken about it but is ready for next year so look out. His foot has since healed and is doing much better. He turned 12 in July of this year wow does time fly by. He has been such a trooper he makes it to church almost every Sunday. He was able to be ordained as a Deacon this summer. Mom & Dad came down and Dad had the pleasure of ordaining him. He was totally excited about the fact that he got to pass the sacrament and pick up tithing...until he went out in the freezing cold and had to walk all over town to get them...after that he didn't like it so much but has sense gotten used to it. He is very invloved in Scouts and is even the Den Leader for Connor Aldon's Scout Troop. I think he enjoys sharing all of his learning's with him.

Other than what I mentioned above he is doing really good and is totally loving life down here in Monticello. He loves the freedom and the slow paced life style. He does miss his friends and all of the family so I am sure he will be pushing us to come up and visit quite frequently.

I can't think of anything else to update you on Darrien but if you want to chat with him let me know and I can give you his email address :)