VEGAS BABY!!!

Many of you know that Terri and I went on a girls trip to Vegas, we went with other friends of ours Kristen & JoMarie from here in the city - we had a blast!!! I cannot even begin to write on this blog everything that we did, but we partied like ROCKSTARS I can tell you that! There was lots of dancing and having a fabulous time! Here are some pics of our fabulous vacation - despite the fact that Kristen and Terri both lost their voices :)

Girls (JoMarie, Terri, Kristen & Lori) getting started at Margaritaville! WOW, now they can make a perfect Margarita!!! Slot time, each of us won some, each of us lost some - ha!

Being tourists in the Bellagio conservatory, it is absolutely beautiful! I think Terri would say this is the highlight of her vacation - ha! You may not recognize our new "friends" but they are Sarah Lancaster and Amy Adams. Sarah I recognized from the ABC television series What About Brian (Marjorie) and Terri recognized Amy from the Disney movie Enchanted (Giselle). It was a really fun time!

Here we are enjoying the clubs and night life that Vegas has to offer, I don't think that I need to say anymore than that -ha!

Cocoa Butter vs. Vegetable Oil

Earlier this week I bought a Kit-Kat out of the vending machine here in the office, I was having a chocolate attack, but when I opened it up and took a bite, I didn't get that same satisfaction from its taste. In fact, it seemed to have a weird taste like the candy bar was old and I was incredibly disappointed. I thought to myself, "well that is what you get for cheating on your low dessert diet." HA! A bit of history on the Kit Kat Bar - The Kit Kat was first created by Rowntree Limited of York, England, and is now produced worldwide by Nestlé, which acquired Rowntree in 1988, except in the USA where it is made under license by Hershey's. Then, this morning while I was watching the TODAY Show, this came on the television about Hershey's chocolate, take a look - what is this world coming too, Hershey should be ashamed of themselves!!!

Clean-up at the Walkers

This past Sunday the Walker clan all got together to do some clean-up around the outside of the home. It was originally going to be a painting party with the whole family in tote, but with all the rain we have had, everything was too moist to think about painting. So, it was decided that a 100+ year old shed (if that is what you call it) needed to come down. The shed was full of Walker memories dating back to the 1960's and possibly even earlier. You could hear the daughters and the grandkids all recalling fabulous memories of their childhood when they saw a piece of furniture or knick-knack that took them back in time. We heard things like "this is where we played school when we were little girls" and "I remember that, grandaddy made that with his own two hands". I think it was tough for Grandmother and Grandaddy to see the items get removed from the shed, but I think it was even harder for them to see that the furniture that was put in there wasn't worth keeping any longer after weathering out in the shed for all those years. That ol' furniture may have rotted and became broken and rodent infested, but the memories created in its day will be forever in the Walker hearts!

Once emptied out, it was time for the shed to come down. I was in the kitchen getting lunch together, making homemade potato soup and chicken tortilla soup, so I didn't get to see it come down, but I did hear lots of yelling at my husband. They did whatever they were suppose to do to the braces of the building, and then they tried pushing it over, none of that seemed to work, so Josh crawled up on top of the building and jumped and jumped until it came toppling down. Mission accomplished, but probably not done in the best method out there in taking down a shed ;P

We gathered at the house at around 9:00 a.m. and started the day with a hearty breakfast, and didn't leave until 9:30 p.m. that night. It was a long day, we ate LOTS, but got even more accomplished, and did it all in the wonderful company of family!

Happy Grandparents Day!!!

Make a Smilebox photobook

1st Soccer Game

It is the first game of the season, and it was a very good game and a great experience for Braden. The game is played with only three kiddos from each team on the field at a time. It is obviously a much smaller field than the big kids play on, and there is no goalie either with this age group. So, it is basically six boys out there going for the ball, pretty adorable! Braden's team won 9 to 3 :)

They were in the middle of the game and Braden notices I am taking pictures, so he stops playing and poses with a smile, it was funny, but then I had to yell at him to get his butt moving and pay attention to the game!

Power kick - Braden played the center position the first half of the game.

Braden and Jett were the bench warmers for a small portion of the game, they were very attentive to what was going on in the field while they were sitting it out.

Braden got a hold of the ball here and took it all the way down to make a goal, he was very proud of himself, as we were, along with his team, when he made his first goal for the season!

He was running his little butt off while playing, I just don't know how he didn't fall when I look at this picture and see the positioning of his body!

Braden going in for the steal!

Just a shot of the kiddos playing the game, I think it is cute because you can really see Braden's size compared to the other players :)

Labor Day Weekend - Nemo Landing

Fun in the Sun

It was our annual Labor Day weekend camping trip, which we all look forward to, and when it is over it is a sad day for all of us, but for a couple of reasons: 1) we aren’t ever ready to pack up camp and go home; and 2) this is the concluding weekend to our summer camping…the last weekend for swimming and boating and tubing and skiing and wakeboarding. We had some new comers this year, Quintin, Jodi, Eli, Kylie, & Devon joined us, Granny was able to come down with her bucket o’ chicken (which never lasts very long even though it is morning time when she gets there) on Saturday morning, Alyssa came again (we haven’t seen her much this summer), and Diana joined in on the fun for the Labor Day weekend. We live it up for four days though. Look at all the great pictures to see all the fun we had!

Braden & Devon playing in the Hammock

Braden & Kaylea being cute - she has so much personality!

Too much fun in the sun! Braden fell asleep while the big kids tubed :)

I just love this picture of my little man!

The kiddos in the boat when coving out for them to swim

Tubing Time!!!

Naturally, we spent a lot of time out in the boat and we had to get some tube time in for the kids! We had a blast pulling all the kiddos, and a couple adults – Steph & Quintin – in the tube.

Now that is a full tube!

All girls – getting crazy out there!

Quintin & his kiddos – their first tubing experience, and I think they liked it!

Quintin, Alyssa & Stephanie – I love Quintin’s facial expression in this one!

Quintin, Alyssa & Stephanie again – but I couldn’t resist, it is all leg for Steph –ha!!!!

DS Time!!!

Our family has a Nintendo DS problem…as you can see by the below pictures – ha! It became very intense at some points in the weekend, we were very partial to our “files” and didn’t want anyone else playing our games. I have to admit though, I think the DS’s need to stay home next time, there was A LOT of DS time going on, between the kids and the parents, it was pretty bad! Josh and Nick would even send Braden and Kaylea playing somewhere else just to get their DS and be able to play themselves – sad really!!!