Family Gun Evening

On Monday night, we took the fam out for a rough, tough and manly night (with a dash of lady) of gun shooting! After getting a little practice out in the range during Cuzin's Kamp we found that all of us enjoyed it and it was something in common that we can do together.

We each shot 10 shots with Matt's Mr. baby glock .40 from about 15 yards away. I have to say it had quite a kick! The hardest thing was not to anticipate the shot as you slowwwwwwwwwly squeeze that trigger.

No surprises that Matt smoked us all! We decided to grade our scores on the "bell curve" which gave us amateurs a fighting chance.

This won't be the last Family Gun Evening!

Happy Flowers

Isn't it great when you have happy flowers?

I have happy flowers......

I spent the majority of my Saturday last week weeding my flower gardens in my yard. I swear that I used up about 1000 calories that day, at least it felt like it! ....something must have been wrong with that darn scale....i think. =)

Its such an accomplishment when you finish weeding your garden. You feel like you are "complete" as a person. I find myself many times during the day just going outside to look at the garden.

Here are a few pictures of the results....




My Lavender is out of control beautiful! It's just about to bloom. This plant started as such a tiny little plant and it's pretty much taken over the whole front of my flower garden. I did trim it a bit so you could still see my rock path, but I don't have the heart to really whack it!

I love watching the birds take a bath! ....we have quite a few visitors, in the happy flowers.

Clover on YOUTUBE

Matt took Clover flying for her third time on Saturday. This time he caught the whole thing on video. Surprisingly she seems to handle it all in stride. You've gotta watch this video if not to see the wonder of a flying dog, but just to listen to the clever (not Clover) words of the music!



You can read alllllllllll about his flying adventure: http://mattsbigadventure.blogspot.com/2008/06/hang-doggin.html

Ouch-eeeeeeee

Landon had an unfortunate run-in with a bike handle bar today! It hit him right in the rib cage. He will be feeling this one in the morning.....oucheeeeee!!!!


Don't you love the "I've been at scout camp all week" fingernails? =)

Fourty and Fabulous....

I have the sweetest long distance best friends that anyone could ask for! I can't remember how long we've known each other...as it seems that they've always been a part of my life! I love them dearly.

We all meet through our work and get together yearly (and daily emails) at our national conferences. Some of us have gone in different directions as far as work, but we all still feel it's important to keep in contact. We are hoping for a reunion soon!

I just received the funnest care package from them for my birthday, so I have to share. On the front of the envelope it said "Fourty and Fabulous!"




The Cutest Card!



The fun wrapped packages!

Here's what was inside..................


FUN Stationary Cards!



The coolest Pottery that Donna found at Cape Cod! That's going on my desk at work.


The most Fabulous Necklace! My sisterchicks know me too well!

Here we are together. This picture was taken at the Field of Dreams field near Dubuque, Iowa. Juli (from Hawaii), Donna (from Massachusetts), me and Linda (from Indiana). That was sure a fun trip!


Thank you girls, your the best!

Jiggly Legs in 25

Ok, so I'm on this burning calories kick.

Today I rode my bike to work. It took 25 minutes. Much quicker than the 50 minutes it took me to walk on Tuesday.

This is my actual bike!

However, the leg burn was much more intense, which resulted in that "jiggly leg" feeling. There is two blocks of steep hill that must be conquered. I made it by walking my bike up those two blocks. =) I did ride the rest. So I know that I can cut my time in half once I can ride up that hill!

I'm sure I must have looked like a middle-aged out of shape women (I'm not going to say old) that just didn't have enough "umph" to make it up the hill. I just smiled as the college students passed me by. I did wear my helmet! So I'm sure that was pretty.

I think I do need to invest in a new bike seat tho......I must say, the one that I have currently is not very comfortable on a tush my size!

It's a different animal for me to ride my bike to work. I've driven all these years..almost 10! I'm a little out of my comfort zone. I like to be clean and smelling good when I get to work, not sweaty and everything else that goes with being sweaty. Hopefully it will get easier with time. I really want to continue to do this.

I have a feeling the ride home is going to a piece of CAKE!

yummmmmmm...cake.....

Mr. Green

Since Landon and Matt are away at scout camp. Tanner, Josh and I decided it would be fun to get out for the night...so we went to see "The Incredible Hulk". I wasn't so sure going in that I would like the movie, but I actually really enjoyed it! It had an interesting story line. I definitely liked this HULK!

I remember watching the old HULK series on T.V. when I was young which starred Lou Firrigno. Remember this guy?

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I heard on the radio they were giving away movie tickets to "Get Smart", the new Steve Carroll movie. As a family we've really enjoy the recent movies he has been in...... So I said what the heck and gave it a try.

I won two tickets!!

Pepsi has rented out the whole theatre and is doing a special showing early tomorrow at 9am! I wont be able to go because of work, so will send Tanner and Joshua to enjoy the show!

That's a fun start to the day! eh???

I'm walking............

Today I woke up with the idea that I will walk to work. It takes me less than 5 minutes to drive to work. With the price of gas and the need to work off extra calories this seems like a logical solution.

I borrowed my son's heavy duty backpack, loaded up my lunch and put on my new fancy dancy headphones (that I got from ifrogz.com - Matt's new work) and headed out the door. The morning was perfect! Nice breeze.

It took me about 50 minutes to get to work. If I continue this I'll have to wake up earlier! Perhaps I need to switch to riding my bike. At the University where I work, there is a large hill that has to be conquered! I'd rather not be sweaty when I get to work, but oh well! I can't seem to fit in the exercise any other time of the day. The price we pay for beauty and good health! (At least that is the goal...)

This past week has been very busy one!

Landon left for scout camp yesterday. He will be gone for a week, home on Saturday. He was very excited as this is his first year. Matt will be joining the troop on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sunday was HAPPY FATHER's Day, which we were able to spend with my extended family. Happy Father's Day - Matt, Davey and Charlie!

Saturday, the family started bright and early as I was in charge of a yard sale fund raiser for my son's (Joshua and Tanner's) high school marching band.

There ended up to be 48 families involved and we couldn't have asked for better weather, which brought in many valley residents to support the band. The site was almost overwhelming as we had row after row of STUFF! I wished I would have taken a camera to snap a few shots. It was quite a site! We made $7 shy of $4,000 in 5 hours. I was very pleased with the results. I don't even want to talk about what it takes to clean up an event like this. It was a bit overwhelming! Let's just say that it took a good two days to recover. Thank goodness for good help!

Perfectly Birthday-ish!

Yesterday I celebrated my 40th birthday! I'm actually excited to turn 40, as 30 didn't go so well for me. =) On to bigger and better things.

It started out as any normal day....get up...go to work....yada yada yada.

My friend Joan met me for lunch and we got caught up on life and had a great conversation.

I received several emails and texts during the day from my family and friends, wishing me a happy birthday. I even made it on to some of my sister's blogs...it must be because it's the big four O! Perhaps they just wanted to really rub it in a bit... or perhaps they are just jealous! (it's probably the first choice)

After work, we went out to dinner as a family....and it was just wonderful! Everyone was content and we enjoyed the moment. The food was really good and the atmosphere was fun!

Then we headed to the theatre.

About 30 years ago I saw Saturday's Warrior for the first time. Just so happened the show was on tour again and in our home town on my birthday! I was really looking forward to seeing it again! I had such a nostalgia feeling sitting in the theatre listening to the music...and it was the best feeling in world to have my family with me. We were on the 7th row - middle! The show was inspiring.

Couldn't have asked for a better birthday! As Matt would say "Life is good!"

Bulls-eye Bunch!

If you haven't seen it already, Matt did a great write up the on the gun shooting porton of Cuzin's Kamp! His video includes the "Kamp Song!" Here is the link: http://mattsbigadventure.blogspot.com/2008/06/bulls-eye-bunch.html

Cuzin's Kamp - You'll Shoot your Eye out!

Every year my parents host a "Cuzin's Kamp" for their grandchildren that are six years and older. The event is something that has been come a tradition for the Walker cousin's and one that they look forward to every year.

There are some of the cousin's missing from the pictures!!

This year we tried something different and involved the parents of the kids, because the event keeps getting bigger as the families continue to grow!

Its quite difficult to get everyone under the same roof at one time....but it did happen at various times of the day! Some still needed to come and go depending on other obligations. We fought through sickness, crying babies, a non-working video projector and Tanner's dirty feet.

Here is the view from the home were we stayed! It was only about 20 minutes from our home.....and up to 2 hours for others. The weather was absolutely perfect for the 4 day event.

This year's theme was "The Bull's Eye Kids!" Clover got to come up for one afternoon to spend with the family.

The theme centered around GUNS!! We learned about them, studied them, and even got to shoot many types of them. Matt taught a safety class to the "bull's eye" kids who would be shooting. He even had them take a test and sign a form! You can't be too careful about this subject! Grandpa Dave gave an inspirational "gun" thought each morning before the days activities. One afternoon we enjoyed riding motorcycles and giving rides on four-wheelers!

Yes that is me in the red jacket with that SHOTGUN!

We also had a good old fashion marshmellow WAR with pvc pipe! The boys figured out if they quickly put the mini-mallow in their mouths right before they shot -- the mallow went a lot further and could even give a little "sting" or a "stick", which made for many laughs and girly screams.

There is a nice little "mallow" surprise at the end of the video!

Nice - Helmet head Joshua!

Thanks Mom and Dad for keeping the TRADITION ALIVE!

Wake up SLEEPY HEAD!

Tuesday night after returning from the piano recital, we quickly pulled things together for Joshua to go to Priesthood in Action camp. Everything was nice and tighty on the kitchen table. He had instructions to meet at his leaders home at 8:30am Wednesday morning.

Wednesday, Matt and I headed off to work. Got Tanner off to Marching Band and Joshua & Landon were still sleeping.

I called home 8:00am no answer

8:01 no answer

8:02 no answer

8:05 no answer

8:07 no answer

8:10 no answer.............ummmmmmmmmmmm huh!

So I made a call to my neighbor and asked if she would make a "wake up" call visit!

Needless to say...it threw everyone for a loop. Clover went crazy barking nuts when my neighbor entered the house. Landon woke up from Clover's barking thinking he was being robbed. Josh happened to be getting OUT of the shower and was mortified that he was seen without his shirt! lol.

This was approx 8:20am.

He did make it to his leaders home by 8:30.....ISH!

I wondering if Joshua will get up earlier for scheduled activities in the future??

....probably not.

Fortunately, I still know the neighbor's phone number!

She called me later that night to make sure that the boys weren't permanently traumatized!

We want a Pitcher!

Landon had a game tonight. He had an opportunity to pitch for the first time this season.

Here's a little taste of the first inning. About 2 minutes into the video, Landon makes a great play!

Way to go bud!

The FRIENDship

I have to share a few pictures from our recent Ward Primary quarterly activity! It was a huge success and the children had such fun. We decorated the church building like a cruise ship and used activities from The Friend Magazine to entertain the children for 2 hours! We made ice cream, sailor hats, took pictures, sang songs, played bingo and even did a little hula hooping!