March Wrap Up

Here are just a few other March wrap up items:

We have been wanting to replace the light in our hallway for over a year since we took that light and put it in the basement and finally got this light which matches the pendants we added in the kitchen. 

Lydia has been working hard on making "murals" on her big poster size paper and made a bunch of drawings to show off. 

We watched the Haderlie kids and had a great time with all 7 kids including a movie night. 

The kids built forts in the basement. 

They also decided to make a video called ABC's with the cousins which was a 6 minute long video to teach kids about their letters. 

Sleeping kids are cute at any age. I found Lydia one night with her legged folded like she was sitting on a chair and she was dead asleep. So funny. 

Giant tower building. 

Austin and Lydia riding bikes together (literally together, on the same bike). 

St. Patricks day which included a festive dinner with rainbow ice cubes in our water, a gold coin candy and Irish Shepherds Pie. It was just really Shepherds pie, but saying it was Irish made if feel more festive. 

Caleb playing with his new car track he got for his birthday. 

This is one of my favorites. Shantel is always so good to let the boys help with making food. She is especially good at not just letting them help, but letting them do it. They can come down in the morning and get smoothie making going or do pancakes and know exactly what to do. Hey they are working on some pasta. Shantel is great and letting them learn and grow and do new things, even if they might make a mistake. 

I was able to grab this picture when I noticed Lydia walking down the stairs one day. This is a frequent thing, but hard to catch on camera. She was just full on reading this book as she walked all the way down the stairs without missing a beat. I love it so much. 

Just call him amazing Austin. He scales the doorways all the time and can hang on the the ledge for a surprisingly long time with his strong little fingers. 

This is how our groceries are coming now a days. We signed up for Wal-mart plus to get free grocery delivery which will be so nice. This is a typical grocery order these days and it just fills up our porch. 

Stories from Grandpa-Great

 Have I ever mentioned why we call my Grandma and Grandpa Walker Grandma-Great and Grandpa-Great? Well, I don't really know why, actually. But we called MY Walker Great Grandparents (Ellis Walker and Kimba Rollins) Grandma-Great and Grandpa-Great and that tradition continued on as my grandparents became the Great-Grandparents. It's a term of endearment and I love it. 

Here are some stories that my grandpa told me while we were visiting this last time: 

Graduated from Lyman High School. I got a job at a seismograph outfit and we covered all this country and I was in Rollins for a while. My parents were running an outdoor movie theater.  I was in Pinedale when I got my draft notice and I got drafted into the army. At that point, Mom and Dad were living in town and running the Lyman telephone company.

In 1953, the last people moved out of the ranch house. The 1953 calendar is still hanging on the wall. 

This was the cow barn. The cows would come in and we'd lock them in the stanchions and feed them hay. At that time things were pretty tough and they didn't get much grain. Just hay. Wed put hay up in the loft and pitch it down through the door up here and pitch it into the cows. 

(Grandpa told us about when they installed the electric milking machines that used air pressure to milk the cows. All the old piping is still there in the Old Barn.) 

Wyoming & Baby Calves

My Dad has been spending a lot of time helping my Grandpa Walker up on the Ranch and invited us and the Haderlies to come and spend the day with them doing chores and seeing all the new baby cows. David helped me pack everything up late that night and we left before sunrise the next morning. The kids and I loved watching the sun rise over the east mountains and Lydia took some pictures of it with the intent that maybe we will try to paint it.

We had a great day. I love spending time listening to my Granpa talk. He told us about growing up life experiences, taught us why the numbers on the tags are the way they are, and expressed some feelings that he's having about getting older. 

He's 85! He's active and hard working and such a wonderful grandpa. 

The kids rode in the tractor to help feed the cows and we got to see them tag a new baby calf. 

I love the way both my Grandpa and my Dad handle having kids come "help" with chores. They really let them get in and help instead of just watch and it's such a great experience for everyone. 

We snapped a couple of photos in front of the old farm buildings. What a treasure. 

Doesn't Lucy make the cutest little cowgirl?

The old Ranch-House Barn, Grandpa with his pet cow (it's so cute, for whatever reason he's particularly bonded with that cow and she'll always come right up to him to get her ears scratched.) Haystacks and adventuring. 

My mom stayed home with Lucy for our last foray to pellet the cows. When I came back, my mom was pushing her on the swing and she was SO happy. 

We ended the day with baths and spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa Walkers house in Morgan. 

I'm so glad that we got to go and spend that time with my Grandpa. I know he won't be here with us forever, so each time we get to spend with him is precious. I go to his house and feel like I'm coming home, in a way that I don't really feel anywhere else. There is such safety and security there. I can almost feel my grandma giving me a big hug and saying with love "Hello Special Lady."

Good Friends

I have been thinking a lot lately about how blessed I am to be surrounded by the friends that we have. Although I am very friendly with A LOT of people, it takes me a long time and a lot of effort to make true, deep, friends. We've been in our house 8 years now and we have made some wonderful, wonderful friends. Friends who encourage us, who make us laugh, who leave us feeling better than they found us.

I was asked recently what age I would pick to stay at for the rest of my life and even though most of the other people around me were picking ages in their 20s, I firmly would pick my 30s. I feel like I'm more confident, happier, wiser, and surrounded by such wonderful people. I would absolutely pick 31-33 over any year in my twenties. I think that confidence, belonging, and happiness is really reflected in my friends. It's also interesting because as I've been compiling this post, I have realized that SO many of these friends have been brought to me by the visiting teaching/home teaching/ministering program of the church. Without that, I would not have these friends in my life, and how grateful I am for that! (I'll indicate with a * just for fun)

This post is part what I love about these friends but also just part what we've done this month notable enough to take pictures of. I don't have time to write all of the things I love about these people, but hopefully this post will capture a tiny bit of my gratitude for these friends plus a few nuggets of recent happenings. 


Ali Middleton
Picture from a recent virtual game night that we did. I often say that everything Ali touches turns to gold, and it's true - which is one of the reasons why I'm so grateful to be her friend because you leave hanging out with her feeling like pure gold yourself. This entire post was prompted because just a few nights ago after a late-night Marco Polo message, I came to bed just beaming and giggling and mentioned to David how grateful I was for Ali and the good friend she is. It's so nice to be able to share the struggles and triumphs of homeschool, mothering, and life with someone like her.


Karli Shields
We were in the same Thanksgiving Meadows ward before it split and there was much sorrow over the fact that their house was the first house in the other ward. This month I was able to skip homeschool for the day, let the kids play, and help Karli paint her bedroom. She's been cheering me on through my bedroom painting projects and it was so fun to spend the time painting together. (*)





Amy Perkins
The other night Amy texted me saying that she had a surprise for me. She showed up 1/2 hour later with a huge plate full of donuts. I think there were 10-12 different kinds of donuts. She hosted a donut taste-off with her family and knew I would love it so she took the time to make me a plate and bring it over to me. She's is thoughtful and kind and so insightful. The donuts were amazing (we both LOVE donuts) and I was left with the feeling of undeserved gratitude for Amy's friendship. 

I have a constant text thread with Amy and Karli and just this last week I was saying how grateful I was to have the two of them to talk to, who I can just be myself around, and who I don't have to overly worry about being awkward or saying the wrong thing. I had just had a VERY awkward meeting for my primary calling and was feeling self-concious about my awkwardness, but they were quick to cheer me up and buoy my confidence. It's just good to have good friends. 

Jenna

My sister. I love both of my sisters so much, but I have to include Jenna on here. We Marco Polo all the time about everything from potty training, to making dinner, to thoughtful questions about testimonies and faith and life. Our kids love each other, so sometimes they hijack our marco polos, but I'm just so grateful for Marco Polo to keep us close during these years where we are in the same stage of life (that can sometimes be so isolating). I'm even more grateful that Jenna lives in Utah now instead of Iowa. I love spending so much time with her. 

Leah & Andrea
When Lydia and Austin were really young, there was a group of women/kids that would meet up outside and hang out together while their kids played. I often would go out and let L&A play and try to visit with the women, but for whatever reason it just did NOT click. I remember one time one of the women turning to me and asking "So, Shantel, who are YOUR friends in the neighborhood?" And I was like "YOU! I'm trying to be friends with YOU!" Ha. I can laugh about it now, but I would always come inside feeling anxious and awkward. Fast forward to now when my kids are the age as those other neighborhood kids and now I am the one sitting outside letting them play all afternoon. Most of the other women have moved away now, but now I've gained my own pocket of women to spend our afternoons together. Our kids play while we visit and I'm grateful for them. Andrea is always so insightful and so building-up of others. Leah is faithful and funny and we also love playing games with them and swapping babysitting for date nights.  

Ashley

I met Ashley 9 years ago and although we live farther apart now and have much less overlap of our lives than we have in the past - I am just so incredibly grateful for her. (*)

Also, my friend Karen that I go on walks with regularly and who I have late-night texting conversations with (our conversations are always interesting, engaging, and don't shy away from politics and important world happenings) (*) and Stephanie who lives several doors down from me (who I used to serve with in the Primary presidency) and who is always encouraging and funny. (*)

I clearly can't include every friend that I have, but right now, this moment - these are the relationships that I am the most grateful for. (Aside from David, of course, he's my true champion and best friend.) 

I would be remiss in including a blog post about good friends without including screenshots of our 
Marco Polos. (I mentioned it so much above, I should probably include more info here.) 

Marco Polo is an app on my phone that allows me to connect with these friends and others in convenient and meaningful ways. It's a video chat app, but you can send video messages back and forth with each other. Phone calls are basically impossible right now. They just are. My kids need my attention and if I'm ever on the phone for longer than 5 minutes it's hard on them and the clean-up/fixing time is hard on me. But with Marco Polo, I can send a video message where I can talk about things that are light and funny or deep and meaningful to me and then whenever they have time, they can watch it and send a message to respond. The conversations are drawn out over days and even weeks, but they are meaningful and give such a sense of connection between me and these sweet friends of mine.

 

I also keep a Marco Polo chain with my family and David's family members both in varying groups from just the girls, just the utah siblings, just one or two in a group, just my parents, just his parents, etc... It's such a great way to keep connected and I love it all. I especially am grateful for Marco Polo keeping my family connected.