2012...

2012

The drive-by version:

*Kevin and I went on a cruise
*Kevin, Dad, Brian, and Travis went to the ACC tournament in the ATL! 
*Camping in Boone
*Trips to the Zoo
*Bur-Mil pool
*Ballet
*Caroline Started Kindergarten
*Lots of trips to the beach
*I started taking piano lessons
*Caroline loses 2 teeth...in Boone...not on the same day
*Brynn starts nursery
*Katy stays at our house for a whole week
*UTAH: which includes, but is not limited to the following:
            sleepover, Seven Peaks, picnic up the canyon, Lily Mae blessing, family portrait, Denver,   fishing, baseball game, Cafe Rio, etc.
*Caroline 6th Birthday with pony rides
*Brynn 2nd Birthday with the Fresh Beat Band
*volunteer at Pilot Elementary
*I got to take lots of family portraits
*Kevin is working with the cub scouts
*I am still Relief Society President
*Annual Nutcracker Ballet night for Toni and Caroline
*First Annual Walker Christmas Tree Trip to the mountains 
*Lots of fun times with family and friends
*Caroline has swim lessons
*First Annual Walker Summer Bucket List

No wonder we are exhausted!

We are reminded at this time of year how truly blessed we are.  We know our Savior, Jesus Christ, lives and loves us infinitely.  The gospel provides peace to our family.  We love each of you and count you among our greatest blessings.  Please keep in touch.  

Cookies

 I know it is cliche but I wanted to have warm cookies and milk waiting for Caroline when she got off the bus after school.  She loved it.  Now when we have a few seconds to spare we whip up a batch, back a few and freeze the rest of the dough.  Now when she is almost due home I just scoop out a few and they are piping hot when she comes in. 

Mother Knows Best

Have you seen Tangled?

I have, like, a million times. That is what happens when you have a girly girl.

And since I have seen it a million times I have had time to ponder the underlying meanings and overwhelming symbolism and the thematic nature of it all. And I have to say...

Mother Gothel gets a bad wrap.

I mean, sure, I guess it is bad form to steal a baby just because the baby's magic hair will keep you young forever,

but, you have to give her credit. She keeps Rapunzel locked up in the tower for 18 years to keep her out of harms way. She is right. The world is a dangerous place. People will take advantage of you and there is that pesky Plague. What about the poison ivy? The quick sand? It IS better to keep them locked away.

She had a point, right? Right?!?

I have had time to ponder all this because, you see, my dear sweet Caroline made a very big step into the world today.

She started Kindergarten.

Oh how I wish I could just lock her in a tower and teach her all the things she needs to know and protect her from every bad thing that COULD happen to her. How I wish I could guarantee that she would never be hurt, or sad, or disappointed.

But I can't.

What I can do is create a safe haven for her. A place that she can return to over and over for reassurance, guidance and love when the world is too much for her. A place that will always be warm and inviting and constant when the world is not. I can create that place right here in my home. A home base where she can recharge, get back out there and thrive.

And if that home is way up high and really hard for any boys to find, let alone reach it, that would be ok too.

Fast Forward

{Sigh}



I knew that Caroline loved letters, and numbers, and books. I knew that she would love school but I wasn't prepared for this.

She loves her teacher, Mrs. Shelley. She loves learning about different subjects. She loves her classmates.
When she gets home I can tell what the lesson was about or what they did that day. When she told me I could be Leader #1, I assumed she was line leader for the day. Just today I found her reading a book to her toy puppies. She would "read" the page and then turn the book around for the puppies to see.

I took this picture on her first day of "school". She was so proud of her pink Dora backpack and her blue lunchbox. I have to admit I got a little teary-eyed. She is growing up so fast. She is so independent and so grown. I love her so much, but where did my baby go?

{Sigh}