Sealing

 So about a year and a half ago, my step-dad Rick was baptized into the LDS church.  We were all so excited for him and it has been such a blessing for our family.  My mom and Rick have been working towards getting sealed in the temple ever since, and I am pleased to announce that they were sealed on April 14th in the Provo temple!  It was such an awesome day, and I couldn't be happier for them.  It has been my mom's dream to be sealed for as long as they have been together, and I don't think she ever thought it would happen.  After the sealing we had a family dinner at the church, which was also a going-away party for my brother Sam since he was leaving for basic training the next week for the Navy. 

April 13th - Rick's endowment (Provo temple) 

Family dinner at Olive Garden (after the endowment)

Mom & Rick opening the gift we got them, which was a framed picture of the Provo temple and a Willow tree statue

April 14th - After the sealing (Provo temple)

(Fun little side note, my mom was wearing the same dress she wore on their first wedding day!) 

Congrats Mom & Rick!!

Catching Up

Once again, I am way behind on blogging!  The last couple of months have been busy but not for any particular reason.  Here is an update of what has been going on lately:

Malea is just getting to be so grown up.  I am amazed sometimes at the things she says and how she just "gets" things.  Here are a couple of funny things she has said lately:

In reference to the house being clean, "Mommy, I am so impressed with how clean it is!"  (Must mean the house isn't clean very often...lol).

"Mommy, I heard a familiar sound."

I don't even remember what we were doing but with an exasperated sigh she put her hand to her head and said, "I'm feeling kind of stressed out right now." (haha)

Having a picnic outside on a nice day

She is very aware of what is going on, and always has a million questions.  She just seems so big lately, and it makes me a little sad.  I hold her on my lap or pick her up to carry her on my hip and she's just not the little girl she used to be.  She is such a good helper with Isaac, and is becoming more and more independent.  She is still going to pre-school twice a week, but the school year will be ending next month.  She will be going to pre-school next year too.  She has been learning so much and really maturing.  I have to say that 4 has been so much easier than 3.  She still has her moments but she is not throwing as many tantrums and it is easier to reason with her about things. 

The other day I took the kids to the library on a Monday night when they do a make-and-take craft before story time.  All the kids made little bug jars.  Ironically, that night when we got home we found this huge beetle inside the house (freaked me out!) and we put it in her new bug jar.  She has been carrying it around with her and named it "Kamper" (?)....lol.  She is into My Little Pony, Hello Kitty, and is obsessed with stuffed animals. Every week she picks a new stuffed animal that she totes with her everywhere, and she can't sleep without.  She is so funny.  She loves to do crafts and it quite the little artist.  At least I think so :)  I wish I could keep every craft she makes at home or at school, but I've resorted to just hanging some up and then rotating them out, taking a picture before I throw them away.

Kamper the beetle :)

 Found the kids sitting on the couch reading books together....so cute :)

The kids in some new camp chairs I got for them

 Isaac is just as busy as ever!  Its weird to think that he is closer to 2 now than 1.  He went in to nursery last month, which was so great and he loves it. The other day I went to get him from his nap and he was standing just inside the door of his room looking up at me....he had climbed out of his crib!  I guess I can't really say I'm THAT surprised, seeing as how he is my little monkey, but it was just funny.  He is not ready for a big boy bed yet (he's only 19 months!) so we are going to have to figure out a way to milk the crib thing a little longer.  He loves "Cars" cars, trains (Thomas), trucks, tractors, etc.  He is such a boy!  He loves getting dirty and always seems to find mischief wherever he goes!

All ready for church

At his 18 month appointment, the doctor recommended that we have Isaac get assessed from an early intervention program for his speech.  He isn't saying very many words and they thought it would be a good idea.  I got in touch with this program and they came and did an assessment.  A week later they called me and said that he technically didn't test low enough to qualify for the program, even though his expressive language score was the lowest of the rest of his scores, but the woman said that she did a "clinical opinion" for him to be in the program because she was worried that it could turn in to a significant delay in the next few months if he didn't progress.  She will come once a month and work with Isaac on his speech, as well as give us pointers for helping him.  I have been teaching him some sign, and it was been so fun to see him sign without prompting!  So far he says "mama", "dada", "this", "that", "hot", "moo" for a cow, "roar" for a dinosaur/lion/tiger, "mmmm" with food, says "shhh" and puts his finger up to his mouth when someone is sleeping, and maybe one or two others that I can't think of right now.  The doctor said that at his age he should be saying at least 8 words (which half of the things he says are technically sounds), so he was a little behind.  The woman who is working with him is also giving us pointers for everyday struggles, because he is an extremely busy child.   

He has started wandering off lately, and I am just amazed at how fast he is.  It will be a matter of like less than 30 seconds and he can be completely gone!  We had a really scary incident the other day when I took the kids to the park.  We were having a little picnic and Isaac was just playing on the play ground and then he would come back every so often for food.  I got distracted for a couple of minutes and realized I couldn't see him.  I got up and looked around by the nearby pavilion, inside the slides of the playgound, etc and still couldn't find him.  I finally looked WAY down the opposite direction of where I was looking and saw him standing by a group of kids that were probably like 9-10 years-old.  I ran over to where they were, thinking how grateful I was that they stopped him since there was a pond nearby.  However, when I got to him he was soaking wet up to his neck!  He had gotten in the pond, and luckily one of the little boys that was nearby got in the water and got him out!  The sweet little boy had gotten his shoes and half of his shorts wet getting in the water to rescue him.  I was just sick about it, and could hardly sleep that night thinking about what could have happened.  I'm convinced that he must have a guardian angel.

His favorite new thing...using the stools to climb up onto everything

Poor baby fell asleep on the floor, he wasn't feeling very well that day

I don't know I even bother cleaning them up!

Isaac found a cup full of red punch and decided to take a drink

Before

After! (Oxyclean is amazing!)

As for Keith and me, a lot of our time lately has been spent working out the details to buy a house!  It has been a long, stressful, frustrating, exciting process, and I can't wait until we are able to find a house we love!  Everything takes so much longer than you think it will, and it is hard to be patient.  It is also frustrating to see a house you love and then find out it is already under contract.  I can't believe how fast they can get snatched up sometimes!  But we know that everything will work out.  I am also just finishing up my 2nd semester of graduate school, and I am learning a ton.  This semester has been a doozy!  It has kept me so busy.  I am looking forward to, but also nervous about, my residency coming up in June.  I will be going to Colorado for a week to do an intensive as part of my program.  It should be a good experience, but it also scares me a little bit.

Well that's about it for now!  I will be doing a separate post about Easter, but tata for now!    

Life is Fragile

This past weekend I found out that my kids' pediatrician, Dr. Greg Nielsen through Utah Valley Pediatrics, passed away. It was such a shock, especially considering that he is young, probably only in his late 30's or early 40's. Malea had an appointment with him a few days before and they called to reschedule the appointment because he was sick. Then the next I heard he had passed away. I don't know all the details, but apparently it was from a serious Staph infection, combined with a heart condition and a high fever that led to a stroke. He leaves behind a wife and 5 young children.

:(

We chose him as a pediatrician when Malea was born, so about 4 years ago now. I didn't know him personally other than through a professional relationship, but I have been surprised at how much the news has affected me. I have gotten emotional about it on several occasions when talking about it with other people, and I felt inclined to blog about it. He was one of the greatest doctors, so caring and genuine. He was always so sweet with my kids. I was so happy when I found a great doctor and wanted to stick with him throughout the years with all my children. My concerns were always validated, and I never felt like I was "wasting his time" when I took my kids in for illnesses. I have had experiences where doctors have had this attitude, and I never went back. He took the time to answer any questions or concerns we had, and didn't make us feel rushed. He was starting to get busier, obviously because he was so good, and I was getting to the point where I didn't want to tell anyone about him because I didn't want him to get busier! (lol). He was very cautious, maybe even overly so, but I appreciated that. There are several experiences throughout these past 4 years, with both Malea and Isaac, where he showed such sensitivity. He would go out of his way to make sure I was informed and to give me peace of mind about my concerns. The community is losing an amazing doctor, and a great man.

Death is always such an awakening for me. We go along through life, putting stock into such menial, unimportant things, and forget how fragile it is. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of eternal families. I hope that his family can find peace in this knowledge during this difficult time. This experience has given me a reminder of making sure to keep my house in order, and to make sure my loved ones know how much I love them, because you never know when it will come to an end.

February = Party Month!

February is always an eventful month at the Walker home! Malea turned 4 on February 12th, Malea’s Valentine’s Day party for pre-school was on the 13th, Keith turned 29 on February 14th, and we celebrated Valentine’s Day! It was a stressful weekend, but so fun too. (On a side note, in addition to February being a big birthday month in our immediate family, we have Keith’s sister, Keith’s brother, Keith’s niece, and my brother’s birthdays in February too!)

We had a friend birthday party for Malea on the 11th (since her actual birthday was on a Sunday this year). We invited a few of her friends to go to Provo Beach Resort for some fun activities, and then had everyone over at the house afterwards for a ‘My Little Pony’ themed party with pizza and cake & ice cream. It was so much fun! Malea got lots of fun presents, including her first bike from mommy and daddy! She got to ride around on it a little bit that day (seeing as how it was like 50-ish degrees that day!) but then the next day it snowed :( Oh well, she will get to ride it soon enough!

On the 12th (her actual birthday), we had a family birthday party for her and Keith. We had the family over for tacos and cake & ice cream. It was so fun hanging out with family!

On the 13th, Malea had her Valentine’s Day party at pre-school! The night before we put together little treat bags for each of the kids in her class with some candy and a “Tangled” valentine. She decorated a bag the week before to hold all her fun treats. They got to eat yummy sugar cookies and watch a Charlie Brown Valentine’s movie. She was a little grumpy about going to school that morning (her new phase lately….not sure what the deal is!) but she still had fun.

(Side note #2: See if you notice anything funny on the picture of the V-day decorations I hung up….)

That morning I made the kids heart-shaped pancakes with pink food coloring (and didn’t realize until I went to take pictures that BOTH my kids were wearing Christmas jammies…lol). To make up for that, I made sure to get a picture of them together in their Valentine’s jammies. :) That night Malea and I made some homemade Valentine’s and hung up hearts on our front door. She also decorated a birthday card for daddy.

Unfortunately on Keith’s birthday/Valentine’s Day we both had to work so we didn’t get to see each other much :( We did make Keith’s favorite cookies (No Bakes) and took them to his work though. Hopefully we will get a date night soon (hint, hint to anyone who wants to babysit for us….;))

I think I am all partied out! Now Spring can hurry up and get here! (Please?)….

Princess Festival

During Christmas time we found out about this Princess Festival they did at the Provo Towne Center. We have a Pass-of-all-Passes and found out that it was free with the pass so we took Malea. It was really fun! She got to dress up, I did her hair like a princess, and I even put a little bit of makeup on her (don't worry, we're not going all "Toddlers & Tiaras" or anything ;)). You basically get a ticket and go watch a little program, but you move through different rooms and stuff. She was being super shy about it but still had a lot of fun. Then she got to have her face painted afterwards :)

First Haircuts

On December 23^rd both my kids had their first haircuts! My amazing hairstylist Chalene Parkin was the brave soul who did it. As you can see from the pictures they both did NOT like it and both cried! They looked so cute after though and of course I kept a little bit of hair from each of them for their baby books. Isaac’s hair was especially bad but I didn’t want her to cut off all of his adorable curls so she just trimmed it down. I couldn’t believe how much curlier it got once she trimmed it! Malea’s doesn’t look that much different but it just looks healthier I think. Good job Chalene!

Christmas 2011

This post is so late but oh well, better late than never! We had a great Christmas season. We have some little family traditions of our own that we have started, and it makes it really fun. Malea was so fun this year especially since she is a little older now and understands more. We of course went to see Santa (see previous blog post). We went to see the lights at temple square, which was really fun because we ran in to a sister missionary who is serving there who Keith knew from his mission in Malaysia! We also made lots of crafts and goodies, and had fun decorating. We also had so much fun at the annual Nu Skin Christmas party, and they never cease to amaze with their generosity! This year they gave everyone Kindle Fire’s!
Woo hoo!

Temple Square

Helping mommy make treats

Christmas jammies

Crafts & counting down to Christmas!

On Christmas Eve we went to the annual Christmas Eve dinner at my Grandma and Grandpa’s condo clubhouse in Provo. We played the most hysterical game….my cousin Travis took about 12 of us aside one at a time secretly and had us sing a Christmas song in to a tape recorder, but the funny part was that we had to disguise our voice! Then he played all of the songs in a row and we had to guess who’s voice it was. We were all rolling by the end of it! After the party we stopped by the Riverwoods mall for a minute to look at their beautiful lights, and then we headed home to make sure and leave out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Santa came and even left Malea and Isaac a letter! The main thing Malea wanted this year that she asked for from Santa was a Wuggle Pet. Her wish came true and she was so happy! She also got an art desk (since she loves to do crafts and anything artistic), a giraffe plush chair (her favorite animal), some My Little Pony’s, and some clothes. Isaac got a Cozy Coupe car (which he loves), and some little toys and clothes. I got Keith the first season of Star Trek on DVD, a Blu Ray set of all the different Star Trek movies, a BYU pillow pet (haha), and some clothes. I got a cute pair of boots that I’ve been wanting for a LONG time and that I love, a pair of Toms, and a couple of other little things. Overall we had a great Christmas! It came and went so fast as usual, but we have tons of fun memories.

(Christmas Eve)

(Christmas Day)

For New Years Eve we had some of my family over for the evening for soup and to play games. Isaac didn’t make it very long but Malea made it until 11:30pm!! I couldn’t believe it. We had a lot of fun ringing in the New Year!

Hope you all had a great holiday season as well!