Last Post for 2009

It's time to say good-bye to 2009. It's been a good year with lots of changes and triumphs. Here are some photos from November and December.

Rachel enter the PTA Reflections competition again this year. The theme was "Beauty is...". Her painting of an orangutan entitled "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" went on to REGION this year! Rachel is very excited.













My parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary on December 13th. All 5 of us (my brothers, sisters and I) put together a little surprise celebration the day before Thanksgiving. We were all able to be there--which was great. My niece made these sashes for them that say "40th Partiers". Cute.









Jean spent the weekend knitting these awesome gloves!



















The Cousin's Table was THE place to be for Thanksgiving dinner...Thanks Carrie!












We celebrated Carrie's birthday the day after Thanksgiving at Brick Oven Pizza in Provo. YUM!

















This picture is only funny if your last name is Day...but I couldn't resist!















Decorating the tree...I think Sam must have had some bad memory about pre-school when he pulled out this ornament he made when he was 4! We've been getting real trees the past couple of years...and I don't know if I'll go back. The SMELL is my FAVORITE!











These little Christmas cherubs actually made the naughty list this year after they found all of their gifts under my bed! (They did redeem themselves, though.)

This year was a little bitter sweet...see those cute gingerbread people that hold treats for Santa? Well, they didn't get used this year for the first time ever. I now have a house full of non-believers--and my kids didn't even PRETEND to want to put treats out for Santa (sigh).





Sam was overcome with emotion when he met up with his beloved 1st/2nd Grade Teacher, Karen Steele. The former class had a little surprise holiday gathering for her downtown. Mrs. Steele will ALWAYS hold a special place in Sam's heart (and ours, too).
















Rachel received this hat in the mail from her BFF in Pennsylvania, Julia. She wore it for 2 days STRAIGHT!















We found that we were able to lure Dr. Stress-Pants away from his laptop with jigsaw puzzles. As soon as he finished this one (in 1 day), we bought him another one!











Our Christmas Eve traditions include having a grand Buffet--each person chooses two favorite things (no limitations). This year's buffet included: flank steak with mushrooms (aka Andy's Yule Log), mashed potatoes, spinach salad, chocolate dipped strawberries, pizza, root beer in a tall glass with ice, chicken pasta and crescent rolls. The rest of what you see here are some favorite holiday treats.













Another favorite Christmas Eve tradition is opening family gifts. In this photo Sam and Rachel are overcome with emotion upon opening Mario Kart. They were convinced that they had been seriously deprived up to this point because we didn't have it!









Isn't this disgusting?! We didn't have the energy to clean up as we opened things on Christmas morning. Perhaps the reason is that our Christmas cherubs got up at 4 (yes 4) to open their stockings. They weren't allowed to wake us up until 7. They came in at 6:00 and then at 6:59. By the time everything was opened, we went back to BED!

We've had a very lovely, relaxing time the past few days enjoying our gifts and each other (and yes, cleaning up the mess).

We are so very thankful to have each other and to be surrounded by so many loving friends and family members. We love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy 2010!

Life on Jars #27: December 20, 2009

We're baaaack. We discuss a 40th wedding anniversary, show pics of the Day family clan and review New Moon.

Annual MadLib 2009

It's our Walker family tradition. Who wants to read a plain old Holiday letter when you can co-author one about us? Okay, probably those of you who are writing your own, but think of this as semi-productive avoidance behavior. If you're looking to kill some time then fill out our Mad Lib! It includes some helpful directions for posting the results as a comment here in our blog (we love reading these). As a new edition this year you can also read the real letter.

Life on Jars #26: November 1, 2009

This v-cast is too sexy for your cat. Sam goes all nostalgic on us, Rachel discusses her online stalking of Johnny Depp and we didn't leave out the spoonerism of the week (which may need to be renamed. But bi-monthly spoonerism doesn't have the same ring).

Life on Jars #25: October 25, 2009

In this episode complete creative control was given to Rachel and Sam. (Apologies for the late post, had this up on FB, but forgot all about the family blog).

Is it really October?

Here's our favorite 3rd grader doing something he loves--COOKING! Here he made a "fruit cake"--we all thought it was delicious and he was quite proud of his efforts.

Speaking of 3rd grade, Sam is loving it (mostly). He loves the technology in his classroom (the computers, iPods, and flip cameras). He isn't a huge fan of homework, though!

Sam has almost completed his Wolf in Cub Scouts--go Sam!


(Doesn't he look huge? I'm his mother and I think he looks huge. He IS huge. He's a solid mass of boy and stink and I find myself wondering how much he will tower over me in a few years).





Here we are (some of us) outside the Logan Temple. We took Rachel to do baptisms for the first time. We all look a little dorky because we're a little wet, but in all truth it was a great experience. She loved it! (This was Labor Day weekend, by the way...we're a bit behind!)









Here's Rachel...on her 21st birthday. Actually, it's the day she got her hair cut and I had to have myself a silent little cry because she looks so OLD! I know she's only 12, but in my book she's growing up TOO FAST!

7th Grade so far has been a series of ups and downs. Rachel is still at Cedar Ridge. She's finding the course work a little more challenging and of course, the drama of being a 7th grade girl has us all wondering what to expect from Rachel from one day to the next!

Rachel joined the Northern Utah Youth Symphony this year and LOVES it! She still takes art lessons and bass lessons and goes to Young Women activities each week. She's BUSY (and so are we).






Here's Andy the night we brought home his beloved 50" plasma screen TV--the one he fretted over for weeks. The one he waited for and dreamed of and drooled over. He finally found the deal of the century and went in for the kill. All of his wildest dreams have come true!














Here are Andy and the kids on the trampoline one fine autumn evening. They were playing a game with balls that involved not getting touched by a ball or you're out. I chose this one because Andy is so valiantly trying to avoid a ball while Sam is valiantly trying to avoid Andy's butt (or so it seems!)










One of the down sides to trampoline frivolity...



















Andy and Rachel on their way to a Youth talent show at the church. They did beatnik poetry to "Popcorn Popping" with Rachel on the bass and Andy with his cool as a kat voice. They were well received--but felt slightly irreverent when a group of young women got up and sang "A Child's Prayer" right after they were done!














Rachel and Sam (and Andy) were in the Edith Bowen school "float" for the USU homecoming parade. Good times. Good times.











Just to give you an idea of the crazy weather around here: Is it autumn or winter?!

Rachel took this as we pulled out of town last week to visit family in Mapleton. We've had really cold temperatures and snow in the mountains. We want AUTUMN and DEMAND that it return...








Jen and her Mom (Larri-Lea) tied EIGHT quilts last weekend! It was crazy, but great--we now have some warm fuzzies to lounge with. Hannah and Leah got in on the action too...

Life on Jars #24: September 20, 2009

Rachel discusses options for poor children forced into watching LDS general conference. We show off our converted gun rack. We finish with an homage to beatnik poetry. Smooth man, smooth.