Wyoming (Nov+Dec) plus Grandma W's 60th Birthday Party!

We have been working hard to help my mom and dad with their house! They now have kitchen cabinets (and as of the time of writing this post they also have countertops, whoo!) but not a kitchen sink, a washer/dryer OR their new floors. All of that is coming soon though and there is a lot of work to do to get everything ready. Among other things, this trip we needed to repaint the whole living room area (plus the ceiling). The kids were great helpers and we got it done! These are probably the last pictures with this blue carpet in here - but I just have to say how happy this carpet makes me and how much I love it. I remember when my grandparents got this new carpet and how soft and amazing it was. The whole house is changing so much - which is a good thing, it's going to be such a good place for my parents to live - but also kind of crazy to see it look so completely different from what it was. 

Of course, no trip to Wyoming without a little bit of fun! My dad and I took the kids sledding on the back hill. These kids are so lucky that they have a grandpa who is willing (and excited about) letting them sled down the hill and then driving the ranger down to the bottom to pick them up again and again and again. 

This picture is the only picture I have from our visit in December. You can see the new floor (!) and the painted laundry room area. Austin is working to put the cover back on the dryers electrical outlet. (Funny story, we accidentally dropped one of the screws and it slid down next to the dryer exhaust pipe into the insulation. We tried SO hard to find it and get it out but to no avail. Austin did a great job helping replace all of the outlet covers in any room that needed replaced. Progress is being made! 

This also feels like the right place to add my mom's 60th Birthday Celebration.

My mom turned 60 on November 23, which just happened to be the day that we were planning to host our  annual Walker Thanksgiving. The only thing that she wanted for her birthday was for the whole family to go to the new movie "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". We made plans to eat dinner at Melissas and then go to the movie, until we realized that it stopped showing in theaters on the 22nd. Long story short, we ended up meeting up a couple of weeks early so that we could go to the movie together instead of waiting for her birthday. That's probably more information than I needed to write here - but I just wanted to emphasize how much my mom wanted to do this and how fun it was to be at the movies with our whole family. 

My kids and I listened to the audiobook in the week leading up to the movie and finished it right as we were pulling into the parking lot. (I took an extra loop around the parking lot to get in the last minute, ha.) The storyline is so sweet and the movie was fun and funny. 



We love these people are are so happy to celebrate such a big birthday for my mom! 

I love this mother of mine and I am so incredibly grateful to have her in my life. She taught me how to be a good mother and is a wonderful grandmother. 

One thing I will always be grateful for are her kind words that echoed repeatedly through my teens and college years "You're the perfect size, you're beautiful, you are normal, you're just the way you should be." That sounds weird to write it out, but the end result from my moms consistent and loving reassurance was that I never felt like I was "fat", even if my friends wore smaller pant sizes. My confidence was steady and I felt comfortable in my body - always believing that your weight doesn't impact your worth. My mom gave me so much more than just that and I'm grateful for all of her love, all of her sacrifice, and for being my mother. 

Happy 60 years, Mom! 

Wyoming

We have been going to my parent's house 2x a month and it's been SO great. We go up on a Sunday afternoon/evening, stay the night, then come home after dinner on Monday. It's not a long trip, but it's enough to spend some quality time with my parents and help them with house projects. 

I'm actually shocked that we don't have more (i.e. any) pictures of the work that they are doing. There is SO much work to do! We are prepping the kitchen walls, floors, and electricity (everything!) for the kitchen remodel. We are working in the bathrooms and the house's main areas. I know that my kids wish we could play a little more, but we've been able to help with so many things and that's important. This is a busy time, but there will be less busy times where there will be more focus on exploring and helping on the ranch. 

A lot of the time, the kids just go out and play in the backyard. They love the cats so much. My dad loves his cats and he built them this protected hut to keep them safe from the elements. I think that part of the reason he loves the cats so much is because his mom, my Grandma Walker, loved the cats and I think it connects him to her when he cares for her cats. Obviously the cats are good for the ranch, they keep pests down and things, but it's sweet how much my dad loves them. 

He also has taken time to let us learn about and help with the cows on the ranch. This time when we came to help - we weren't just home remodelers - we were legit cowboys. I didn't take any pictures of this because we were working too hard - but we worked cows all day. My dad's cow's tags had faded completely in some manufacturing fluke and he had to re-tag all of his cows. At the same time, we needed to sort Marti's cows out of our herd. Once we had only the mama and baby cows we had to retag them all and then weigh the baby cows. Austin Lydia My Dad and I rode 4 wheelers out into the field and pushed the cows all the way down to the Alley, then we pushed them to the corral, sorted out Marti's cows, and got them prepped for pushing them through the chute. Kim came down to help a bit, but mostly it was just me, my kids, and my parents. I pushed the cows down the chute. Lydia and Austin used long thin logs to put behind their legs so they couldn't back out, then they would push them forward so my dad could tag them and weigh the baby cows. It was a TON of work (and by the end we were covered in cow poop, ha). I was so proud of my children for how hard they worked and so grateful for the life experience for them. 

My dad is so great. He lets us help on the ranch and teaches us about cows and hay. But he also takes time to do fun things with us. For Austin's birthday, he asked if my dad would buy new rocket motors and shoot off rockets. The kids loved this so much! They shot off several rockets and then chased them down in the fields. We realized afterward that it was hard to find the rockets, but miraculously we found all of the pieces - even though one of them my dad didn't find until a couple of days after we left. 

This time we have to spend here is a treasure and I will never not be grateful for it. 

Wyoming - Sept

My parents are officially moved out of their Morgan house and are living on the Walker Angus Ranch in Lyman, Wyoming. They have moved into my grandparents home, which they built when my dad was about 5 years old. It hasn't seen much remodeling since then (although I do remember when they got brand new blue carpet when I was young and we laid down on the carpet and wanted to sleep there because it was so soft!). It has needed a lot of work, and my parents are completely remodeling it. Not gutting it or anything, not even taking out any walls, but they are doing a full kitchen remdel, plus new flooring, new bathrooms, and updating basically everything (doors, windows, etc..). They've already painted all of the bedrooms and are prepping for new kitchen cabinets. We've been coming to help as much as possible and it's amazing how much I love this place and how my love for it has grown been more than before now that it it my parents home. I have been surprised at how quickly it went from being "my grandparents house" to just "home". 

There has been a LOT of work to do, but a lot of fun, too. I've been helping my parents, but my dad makes sure to take the kids out to do something fun at least once during our visit. I was working on a project inside the house while my dad was taking the kids out to ride the gocard.  I heard the back door open and my dad called for me. Lucy was screaming and my dad said "There's been an accident." My first thought was a broken bone or something terrible, but no, they had just ridden the gocart over a too-soft cowpie and cow poop had flipped up all over Lucy. It was everywhere. In her hair, on her face, on her clothes. This picture doesn't do it justice, not the cow-poop or how upset Lucy was. I got her cleaned up and now we all laugh about it often. 

One of our Wyoming days lined up with Austin's birthday, and we celebrated with my parents in Lyman. (Plus went out for Ice Cream at the local shop.) 

-I also have to share this funny story. Backstory: my parent's live outside of Lyman's city limits and so they don't have access to the city garbage services. Instead, they have a burn barrel in the backyard and when the garbage gets filled up they start it on fire and burn it down to ash. Austin, my fire-loving boy thinks this is the best thing ever and my dad has been waiting until the kids get there to start the burn barrel so that they can help start the fire. For whatever reason, the fire was a little hard to start on this particular time and so my dad put some fuel in a cup with the idea that they would start the fire with a small spark and as soon as it hit the cup it would start a big enough fire to burn. It was taking longer than expected and so all the kids and my dad leaned closer to see what was wrong when POOF a huge tower of flame exploded out. (I realize that this is really dangerous and could have ended really badly, but they weren't actually close enough to be hurt so so it's just a funny story.) They were all close enough that their eyebrows, eyelashes and hair were singed from the heat! They came in laughing and exhilarated, and even though I'm SO so grateful that no one got hurt, and even though we had some good lessons in fire safety, we love to laugh about this! 

I love my parents both very much. They are wonderful parents and amazing grandparents. They love me and they love my children and I couldn't be more grateful for their presence in our lives and for their example to us. My dad spoke in Stake Conference the weekend after they moved out of Morgan and I got most of the talk on film. I'm hoping to put it into a montage with some pictures of cows (ha), but it's such a treasure to have his words and testimony recorded for myself and my children.  

Also pictured above is an old wooden spinning top game that my dad found when cleaning out the house that he used when he was young. We ended up bringing it home to our house because they were going to throw it in the burn pile - but I guess my kids are as sentimental as I am and couldn't bear the thought. They loved when my dad pulled it out and taught them how to play. 

We are looking forward to lots more days (and lots and lots more work) here at the Red Brick Ranch House. 

WALKER Ranch Pictures Sign

Several years ago, I made a gift for my dad. I went to the old ranch house on Walker Lane that belonged to John C + Mary Thurston Walker and I took pictures, hunting for things that might be able to look like the letters "W-A-L-K-E-R". Then I framed them and gave them to my dad, a tribute to our Walker heritage and a reminder of a place that means so much to him. You have to use the creative side of your brain but you can see the letters in the pictures below. 

My Aunt Kim asked me for a copy of these pictures and I hunted them down for her. I thought it would be. neat to post them here, too. 

Ranch House Pictures

When we were in Wyoming for my Grandpa Walker's funeral, I took a few minutes to take pictures of the home that he and my grandmother lived in for almost 60 years. They were married in 1957 and bought land and a darling white house from Frank Twitchell. We know this house as "the old house" that acts as a storage unit for all of the things that Grandma didn't want to throw away, but every time I see it I can imagine it in the height of it's glory, a beautiful home with a white picket fence where a small family lived and loved and grew. I love this house, but unfortunately, it didn't have indoor plumbing (or a washer or any other modern convenience like that). In 1968, my grandpa built this beautiful ranch-style home, to move his family into. 

My dad said: "Dad had it built, I was young but have so many memories of it being built. He hired one guy and for the most part that one guy did it all. I know Dad worked on it with him and the guy was really nice - he let a 5-year-old follow him around all day. My two best memories are running around the foundation with Susan, Wendy, and Marti after it was poured and before any of the house was built. There was a notch where the fireplace was and the kids told me it was a fireplace. I didn't know what that was so I thought it was a place for a fire truck to park and we were going to have our own little fire station in our house. Also, the guy had a red-handled hammer. I loved that hammer. I'm sure I helped a lot by pounding nails in the wall base plates into the floor. It was probably just this guy's way of keeping a 5 year old busy and out of his way." 

This home served them well as they raised their small children, managed rambunctious grandchildren, and enjoyed visits from many, many great-grandchildren. 

 

My dear friend Ali Middleton who came to visit the ranch with me shared this at our homeschooling retreat as she was telling about that experience. It's so beautiful, I want to keep a record of it forever: 

"Her grandpas house had a powerful effect on me. Last summer we got to spend the day at his ranch and it became a core memory for me and probably for my kids too. He had pictures of his family literally all over his wall, trinkets from vacations covering shelves, so many evidences of a full, incredible life. Nothing was fancy or trendy, but everything told the story of family. Do you know when you cook a really fragrant meal and the smell lingers forever? It was almost like that but with love. Which sounds kind of cheesy, I know, but being in his home was like a hug. The lingering love of so many years was almost tangible."

That is the essence of this house: Lingering love. After my grandma passed away, my grandpa didn't change a thing.  Now that they are both gone, it is inevitable that things will begin to change and I wanted to capture it just the way it is right now. 

Entry: 

Note the sticky notes, handwritten phone numbers, and telephone message notepad. These haven't changed in 20 years at least. The only thing that would change was the calendar. 

Front Room Area

Pictures and pictures and pictures on the walls. Grandma's blue chair is in the corner and Grandpa's spot is next to her on the couch. There is no overhead lighting, so there are a handful of room lamps - but none as beautiful as this one. My dad tells a story about it, "Marti and I were sword fighting with brooms, and with one of my mighty swings to dispatch the foe I hit the glass shade of the lamp and it broke. I was so shocked and terrified. I ran out into the big tree out back, climbed one of the big branches, and stayed there all day. I thought it had been replaced, but one of those shades is still broken, it's just turned so the broken part is in the back." 

Some of my favorite photos are the round glass mirror above Grandma's chair with pictures of each of her grandchildren in them and the collage sitting on the fireplace/stove of Grandma on the Price is Right. 

Kitchen: 

More pictures, more love. You can see the big tree in the backyard out this window. The small kitchen table served as a desk for Grandpa, but also as the center for big family dinners. I remember Grandma pulling out extra card tables to extend this table and sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner in this space. Can you see Grandma's purse sitting on the stool next to the dresser? She's been gone for about 7 years now, and her purse still sits right there. Grandpa always kept his wallet in her purse, and even though she was gone he would always return home and slip his wallet into its spot in her purse for safekeeping at night.  

Strawberry Bedroom

I believe that my dad calls this the boys bedroom, but us kids always called it the Strawberry bedroom because that quilt has been on that bed for as long as I can remember. You can see the stickers that my dad covered his dresser with during his "misguided youth", ha. Wrestling trophies on the wall, model ships on the shelves. Books and books and books from my grandma lining the walls. Little touches of my grandma everywhere. I can't believe I didn't take a better picture of it, but in the left picture you can see the side of my grandpa's gun safe. My dad built that safe for my grandpa when he was in college working at a safe manufacturer. It's massive, ha. 

Grandma and Grandpa's Bedroom

I didn't spend a lot of time in this room. It was off-limits to the grandkids. (Even today I just stood in the doorway to take pictures, ha.)  but I can see touches of my grandmother everywhere. 

 Bunk Bed Room

My dad calls this "The girls room", but this is where we would sleep when we came to visit as children. Once grandchidlren stopped coming to sleep here, it evolved into more storage room than anything, but in it's heyday this room was the best place to play. The bunk bed served as a pirate ship, a secret clubhouse, and much more. There were games in the closet and we spent hours playing in here. There is a beautiful while chest of drawers that grandma kept her sewing things in. I remember laying in this bed as the sun peeked up over the horizon and being woken by the cars driving past on the busy road outside. 

Pink Bathroom

My grandma redecorated this bathroom in a pink palette and even though I remember my parents/aunts/uncles teasing about how it was Pepto-Bismol pink, she loved it. I loved her jewelry hanging on the wall, the mirror filled with more jewelry and boxes and boxes of lipstick and makeup. We loved to play hide and seek in the laundry closet by the tub, and I remember my Aunt Susan getting me special bandaids out of the cabinet above that one when I sliced my knee open (I still have the scar). At one point my grandpa installed a lift system and hand bars so he could help my grandma in the bathroom when she was doing really poorly, but those are gone now. Left over are the silk flowers, decorative towels, and lots of memories. 

Back/Main Area 

Desk, piano, curio cabinet full of grandma's bells, pictures of the grandkids on the table that grandma would rotate regularly so every grandchild had a turn to be on the front row, a stand full of VHS movies, and more-more-more pictures. 

I love this house.