December 2008

It's been an extremely busy month and I've had so much to post about but I've struggled to find the time. Before the month is over, I need to write a quick recap of all our doings.




Spencer's blessing day Dec. 7th

















Shelby's class studied various Indian
tribes. She was assigned the Hopi tribe. She gave a little speech about them and with Aunt Lori's help, made a house out of a cake. She did a great job.





Our little dancer at her open house recital.











MERRY CHRISTMAS!























We had another wonderful Christmas. Having a new baby
made it even more special. Santa made his way to our home. The happy looks on my kids faces made all the work worth it. In between feedings and diaper changes, I managed to get all the shopping, wrapping, decorating, and baking done. I did have a little help so I can't take all the credit. We spent Christmas with my family. I'm so blessed to have them so close. My mom is a fabulous cook. She makes a mean filet mignon among other things. It was delisious and I enjoyed every bite. I made my grandma's famous Christmas cookies and my mother in law's yummy fudge. Growing up, I always loved going to my grandma's house on Christmas night. She would tape her Christmas cards to one of her closet doors. By Christmas night, her door was full and I enjoyed looking at all her Christmas cards and reading all of the nice messages in each one. I remember thinking that I wanted to have a door full of cards when I grew up so I adopted the same tradition. It is one of my favorite parts of the season. I
Love getting the mail in December. Kerry and I have friends that we have kept in contact with through a Christmas card once a year. My door isn't full yet, but maybe it will be someday. Here's a picture of my pantry door turned Christmas decoration. The best part of the holiday season is having a wonderful family to share it with. I'm so grateful for all of my blessings.

Is it time for school already?

Spencer is like most newborns who have their days and nights mixed up so we've been doing laundry together late at night. I put him in his bouncy chair and place him on the dryer while I wash and fold clothes. I think its the combination of the sound, vibrations and warmth of the room that make an otherwise fussy time more content for him. It works and we do what works! So the other night we were at it again. I've never been more caught up on laundry in my life. Some nights I'm actually looking for things I can wash. Earlier this year, I taught Brayden how to wash his own clothes. I knew he had dirty clothes in his hamper. It was about 11:00pm when I entered his room to remove his hamper. He heard me and woke up. I told him that he might have to look in the dryer to find his clothes if I didn't stay up long enough to get them out. He obviously was not fully awake. The next thing I knew, he was in the bathroom. Of course I thought nothing of it until I heard the shower turn on. I'm thinking, "is he sick?" So I knock on the door and ask if he is ok. He cracked the door open and says somewhat irritated, "Mom, I'm getting ready for school." I said, "at 11:00?" He said, "It's what time?" I reapeat. We both started to laugh and he says, "you got to be kidding me, I thought you were getting me up for school." It was a good laugh. I wish I could have a good laught like that every day.
Thanks Brayden.

Our new little one.

Spencer is doing great. I think he might be my easiest baby. I'm half afraid to admit it for fear I will jinx (sp?) myself. I can't believe it's been two weeks ago since I had him. I have to say Centennial Hills Hospital was fabulous. It was so nice not to have to drive to Summerlin. My doctor scheduled me for a 2:00am induction and I had to ask twice on that time to be sure I heard it right. Evidently that is a popular time for inductions. The idea is that the mom will likely have her baby around 9:00am before the doctor starts the day. Unfortunatly for me, instead of being the first one the doctor saw, we were probably the last one of his regualar appointment day as Spencer was born at 4:50pm. Hey, at least we cooperated very well. I hope Dr. Volker appreciated that. I was the ONLY one on the labor and delery floor that night and got my fair share of nursing care. That was wonderful. I have not always had the best postpartum care in the past and loved having the labor nurses help the first night. Besides the good nursing care, the next day, I was given a foot massage, Kerry and I were brought a celebration lunch that was actually very tasty, and a sweet little old lady brought us peppermint tea and cookies later that day. I loved the cookies and tea so much, I made Kerry go buy some more when we got home. FYI, Knott's Berry Farm Raspberry shortbread cookies and mint tea are a perfect combination. Even though this hospital stay was my best, I was happy when it was time to go home.

We are so grateful that Spencer is a happy healthy boy. I think he is done being poked and prodded for now. He takes a bottle great, something that my other three never did. Everyone has enjoyed taking turns feeding him. This has been very helpful to me. He looks so much like his dad. He has the Walters nose and his dad's dimple in his chin. WE LOVE HIM!

IT'S A BOY!!

Spencer Kerry Walters made his arrival into the world yesterday at 4:50pm. He weighed 7lbs. 9oz. We are so thrilled to have him and think he is perfect! Much more about him to come later.

Nothing better

There's nothing better than homemade bread right out of the oven and garden tomatoes. This is what we had for dinner tonight thanks to my sweet husband who brought back tomatoes from Utah this weekend. He makes the bread too! So delish! I haven't bought a loaf of bread in months. Thanks Kerry!


P.S. the picture doesn't do it justice. I would never get hired to take photos for a recipe book.

A new friend

Claire and her little friend Kade found the tiniest little caterpillar in the backyard last week. Unfortunately, it became her new pet. She created a home for it in one of my Rubbermaid containers and she's been carrying it around in her hand. Anyone who came to our house had to see it. We had a few close calls when she dropped it in the grass. I was somehow able to find it before she completely fell apart. With a lot of effort, I convinced her to keep it on the back porch. This morning, she went to check on it and discovered it was gone. As I quickly tried to come up with something to tell her to help her from having a complete meltdown, she said, "Mom, I know what happened. It turned into a butterfly last night and flew away." and my reply was, "Yes Claire, I think it did." So for right now, caterpillars magically turn into butterflies over night.


Here's the best picture I could get of it.

Another School Year

has started. I didn't get out the camera this year and take pictures of them in their school attire but backpacks in hand they were excited and ready to go. Brayden is in the 6th grade and attending Cram middle school. Shelby is starting 4th grade and Claire will start preschool next week. Both kids came home happy about how their day went. They were both very talkative. Couldn't wait to tell me all the details of their day. It has been nice to have a little break, but it is also good to get back into a schedule again. Back to homework, piano, dance. and all the other things that keep us busy. Ready or not here we go!

We're back.

Yellowstone was a great trip for our family. It went by very fast as all of our vacations do. For memories sake here's a brief recap .

Our trip started off at grandma and grandpa's house in Utah for a few days of fun with cousins and then it was off to Idaho. Cousins!
Tanner, Brayden, Mary, Isaiah, Jacob,Mason,Maddie,Claire, Porter,Shelby,Ryan, Michell, Hannah, Andrew,Danielle, Allianna.

We stayed the night in Idaho Falls, woke up at drove to Rexburg to visit a place called Bear World. This was one of the favorite spots for our kids. They had a variety of animals to see besides bears. Our kids were able to feed adorable baby bear cubs. A little fawn decided to befriend Claire while we were in the petting zoo. He chased her around and tried to buck her down a few times. Good thing Claire is not afraid of animals. We found this funny because she's usually the one chasing the other animals around who want nothing to do with her. They had a few rides for the kids with no lines. Yea! We also had the best fudge there which I've been craving ever since.

We gave each of the girls a disposable camera. They both used up all the film at our first stop.
claire especially loved taking pictures.

Touching the velvet on the moose's antlers.





















The playful fawn who befriended Claire

We then stopped by Kerry's aunt Carol and uncle Lamar's home for a short visit. Carol is an accomplished pianist and Lamar an accomplished violinist. Brayden was able to play a piece for carol on her beautiful piano and Lamar shared pictures of when they lived in Vienna. Brayden especially enjoyed this visit. We are grateful to know them.
We made it to the park by afternoon. First we took the kids to see Old Faithful (have to do that). As we drove around the lower loop, we noticed a group of cars parked off the side of the road. We got out to see what causing all the attention and noticed a grizzly bear munching on some brush across the river. Grizzlies are not seen as often anymore so we felt lucky to see one. Before we left the park that night we also saw a busy beaver aside the road and elk grazing their evening meal in the meadows.

The best shot we could get of the Grizzly bear.












On Tuesday, we spent the day in West Yellowstone. Took the kids to the the bear and wolf discovery center, the Imax theater to see a movie on Yellowstone, various gift shops for souvenirs. Later that night we saw Oklahoma at the Playmill.


Wednesday, we got up early and headed back into the park. We took the less traveled upper loop. Leaving early paid off for seeing wildlife. Again we saw some Elk, this time with lots of babies and a big bull who appeased us by walking near the edge where the road meets. There he sat to pose for a few pictures. it was almost as though he knew the routine and was obliging all of the tourist. After driving the upper loop, we decided to go around the lower one more time. We had a picnic near the lake and made several stops at the various geysers and mud pots along the way. One area of geysers was especially smelly. As they were walking, Claire looked up at her dad and asked, "why are they tooting Dad? " Again we saw more buffalo. Many of them had babies by their side. We saw a mother and her baby crossing the river. The mother stayed near her baby as they crossed blocking the current of the river so it could cross. We tried to appreciate all the little things we saw there. Another highlight was seeing a wolf in the wild. At the same time we saw the buffalo, we noticed a park ranger pull off the side of the road, quickly get out of the car and chase a wolf back who was curiously scoping out the buffalo. It was a long day of driving and we were all very tired of walking by the end of the day, but well worth it.
Kerry and I were very pleased to hear our kids make comments of how cool this vacation was and can we come again. The fun of Yellowstone is that you never know exactly what you will see and for a family who dwells in the desert among dirt, rocks, sagebrush, lizards and bugs, it was exciting for my kids to see things they've never seen before.

Released

from my calling on Sunday. It's a bitter sweet moment for me. Maybe more bitter than sweet. I have really enjoyed hanging out in primary each week and I've loved working with my presidency! I will miss it all. For anyone who hasn't served in primary, I hope they get to some day. It's the best place.

Getting ready

Getting ready to leave for our summer vacation. Lots of laundry and packing to do. We leave for Utah on Friday for a few days to visit with Kerry's family and then it's off to Yellowstone. I hadn't planned on being 6mos. prego when we planned this trip. Just glad we're not camping! I'm looking forward to getting out of the Las Vegas heat. More to come later.

Claire

celebrated her fourth birthday last week. She anxiously waited for her day to come. Having an older sister with a birthday a few weeks before her made the anticipation more intense.
She made up her mind that she wanted a pool party. When I took her to the party shop to let her choose a theme, I was surprised when she didn't choose anything I had expected her to. When I asked her if she was sure that she didn't want Hello Kitty or Disney Princess or something like that, she replied, "No Mom, I want a pool party." Somehow she thought if she picked one of those, she wouldn't get to have a pool party. I can't complain though, because she choose some butterfly stuff that was on clearance. All of her little cousins came and happily swam I had to work at getting her out of the pool to open her presents. She was two weeks old when we moved to our home in North Las Vegas. I can't believe how fast it seems time has gone by. Claire has grown so much and is such a joy in our lives.

Good job kids!

I couldn't be more pleased with my kid's performance in school this year. More than anything I want my kids to grow up to become great people. I am just as desirous to see them excel socially and behaviorally as I am to see them exceed academically. I am so grateful to say they are doing both. Each of them were recognized today in an awards assemblies. They both have had a good year in school and have done very well. Brayden worked hard and earned A's and B's, participated in two plays where he learned and memorized many lines, earned the Great American Award, accepted the assignment of being a peer mediator, and made many friends. Shelby earned straight A's this year, improved so much in her reading, and made many friends. Brayden moves on to middle school next year and Shelby with be a fourth grader. I am grateful that my kids can go to school. It's easy to take that for granted.

Happy Birthday America!

For the fourth, we celebrated quietly at home. Lori and her family came over and swam. We grilled the good old American hot dogs and hamburgers. Kerry bought the kids a few fire works that we lit on the street. Our neighbors provided us with a great illegal show to accompany our small but legal firework extravaganza. In all seriousness though, we are truly grateful to live in this country with the freedoms we enjoy.

Happy Birthday Shelby

Shelby turned nine years old this week. She is growing up to be a beautiful girl and we're so glad she's ours. She celebrated this year with some of her favorite things. Krispie Kream doughnuts for breakfast to share with her third grade class, a new shirt from Justice (had to be blue because the birthday student gets to decide what color every one wears that day), Subway sandwich for lunch, a family barbecue/swim party for dinner, and can't forget the so desired ipod she's been wanting so bad. She shares her birthday with her Aunt Lori who turned that magical age of 29 that we all want to hold on to. Instead of cake, we did ice cream sundays. We ended the celebration by taking her and her friend Lauren to see the Kit movie from the American Girl book series on Friday. Shelby has been reading the books from this series. I think they are great for young girls. It has given Shelby an understanding of American history in a way that she has enjoyed. We hope she had a memorable birthday. We love you Shelby!!

The Great American Award

Brayden earned this award this year. We were very pleased with him for choosing to do it. It is something that the 5th grade students can do if they choose to. Brayden was one of only 22 students that earned this from his school. He had to memorize the pledge, the preamble to the constitution, the Star Spangled Banner, the states and capitals in alphabetical order, the US presidents in order, and the Gettysburg Address. It was quite the undertaking. I was especially pleased with him because among this, he was memorizing lines to a Shakespeare play he is in this summer and numerous piano pieces. Good work Brayden. We're proud of you!!

What are we having?

I've had so many ask me what I'm having. I realized that I haven't made it clear (on my blog at least) that I don't know. We have decided to keep it a mystery. So my answer to this question is "I'm having either a boy or a girl." Ha ha. I don't even try to guess because we didn't find out with Shelby and I swore that she was going to be a boy.

Sonogram

I've had my fare share of ultrasounds lately. Here's a few pictures. There is a bright white spot in the baby's abdomen that the doctor's have been concerned about. The picture below shows it. A fetal cardiologist looked at the heart this week and said all looks good. The white spot has not grown and the doctors are less concerned. We are very relieved at this news. I've reached the halfway mark. (20 weeks). Hooray!!

Visitors

Kerry's sister Sherri and her family came to stay with us last week. They were the best guests and we really enjoyed spending time with them. If we weren't eating to our heart's content, we were in and around the pool. The weather was about 10 degrees cooler than it it this week, so I'm glad they came when they did because they were already experiencing a 30 degree increase from the weather they left in Utah. Sherri and I shared the cooking. It was great not having to do all the cooking. Sherri even brought her famous Belgium waffle maker down! I think I gained 5lbs eating her yummy food! The adults got away one night for dinner. We also took all the kids out to visit M&M world on the strip. If you haven't been there, you're not missing much. It was an adventure taking out eight kids in the Las Vegas heat, but we survived. The kids can say they did something away from the house. As I observed it, swimming in the pool and playing the Wii were the big hits. We managed to avoid any injuries until poor little Jacob fell on the stairs and landed right on his eye. He was just a smidgen away from cutting it right open. Instead it swelled out like a golf ball and became black and blue. We called him "Rocky" the rest of the time. You know you have great guests when the sheets and towels are all laundered folded and put away before they leave. Thanks guys. We loved having you. Come again!!

Swim lessons

Claire went back to the swim school that I took her too last year. It's amazing to me what is accomplished in eight twenty minute lessons. I think the secret is in the one on one training. Claire reluctantly went to each lesson. By about the last lesson, she started to act like she liked her teacher. In spite of that, she is swimming great. we are amazed at how she swims all over the pool. The other night, something was left at the bottom of the pool. Claire was determined to dive down and get it. She tried over and over and almost got it. I began to worry that the poor girl was going to do herself in trying so I asked Shelby to get it, but Claire was really close!