MTC

This afternoon we dropped my brother Chris off at the MTC. Before we dropped him off we all met at the Applebees in Sandy for lunch. Ben went into work for a few hours in the morning so I rode in with my mom, Dennis and Chris. It was fun to spend a little bit more time with him before we had to say good bye. Lunch was fun. My grandparents were also able to join us for some fun. Once we were all done eating we headed down to Provo. Ben and I arrived first and waited for the rest to get there. They don't let you go in with the missionary anymore so we all gathered outside at the park and took some fun pictures. Once we were all done with pictures we headed across the street and took a picture in front of the sign. On the sidewalk past the sign they had missionaries waiting there to take the new missionary into the MTC. Chris went around and gave everyone hugs and we said our goodbyes to him. Then the other missionary took his bags and we watched him walk into the MTC. I'm so proud of him and his decision to serve a mission. I will miss him but can't wait to hear how the work is going. For those of you interested in following how my brother is doing you can visit his blog at http://elderchristopherwalkersmission.blogspot.com/ Britt, my mom and I are going to work hard to keep it updated. Good luck Elder Walker. I love you!

Elder Christopher Walker's Farewell

Elder Christopher Walker

Brussels, Belgium/Netherlands Mission

Sunday was my brother's farewell. He did such an amazing job. I can't believe how grown up he is. He is the baby of the family and I can't believe it is time for him to leave on his mission. That means I'm getting old. He did great though. He talked about sacrifice and how we need to apply that in our lives. I really enjoyed listening to his talk. It was so fun to see everyone. There was so much family and friends there. People I hadn't seen in years. After sacrament we all headed over to my mom's house for some food. People were so nice and brought so much. I couldn't believe all the food that we had. It was fun to sit and visit with people and talk with Chris for a bit. Once everyone left we were able to spend some time as a family just talking.

I'm so proud of him and his decision to go on a mission. I know it isn't going to be easy and that I'm going to miss him like crazy but I know it is what he is supposed to be doing. He is such an amazing person and brother. He is always willing to help anyone out with what they need and never complains. He is constantly putting others before himself and wants to make sure everyone else is happy. I have had a blast hanging out with him as we have gotten older and look forward to the day when we can get together again. I'm so grateful for his example to me on how we need to live our lives and about the things that are really important. I know he is going to be a great missionary and look forward to hearing all of his fun stories and adventures. I love you Chris!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Two Sunday's ago we celebrated Thanksgiving. We had yummy turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, vegetables, raspberry jello salad and so much more. We celebrated early this year so my brother Chris could have Thanksgiving dinner with the family before he goes on his mission. My mom had the house all decorated in Thanksgiving stuff and got out all of the Thanksgiving dishes. You wouldn't have guessed that it really wasn't Thanksgiving. It was so much fun to get together with family. After our delicious dinner we watched Iron Man. I hadn't seen it before so it was fun to watch. Not one that I would buy but it was still fun. I'm so glad we could have an early Thanksgiving dinner with Chris...I'm excited to do it all over again in a few weeks.

After we set up a few decorations to get ready for Chris's farewell the following Sunday.

So You Think You Can Dance

I just love this show. I have been watching it for a few years now but two weekends ago I had the opportunity to go and see the concert. Back in the summer I heard they were coming and talked Ben into letting me get us some tickets. Ben's brother Corey and sister Brandi both love the show so we decided to all go together. The morning the tickets went on sale I was on the computer trying to buy some. We were all so excited to go. Brandi had to work but was able to find someone to cover the end of her shift. Before the concert Ben, Corey and I went to dinner at Cafe Rio and then headed to Salt Lake to pick up Brandi. As we were pulling into the E Center to find a place to park I started to get so excited. I love watching the show every week and I couldn't wait to see them all live. The four of us were trying to guess what dances they were going to perform and which ones we really wanted to see. Our seats were to the left of the stage but still in the lower bowl. I thought they were great.

The show was just amazing. Everything I expected it to be and more. I was ready for more dances when it ended. I could have sat there all night watching them dance. My favorite dance was Jeanine and Phillip's hip hop dance Mad.

Ben really liked Jeanine and Brandon's dance to Battlefield. There were so many others that I enjoyed though. During the concert Jeanine and Phillip kept trying to perform their Russian Folk Dance. It was so funny to watch them try and seek it in. It added some humor to the show. Overall it was such a fun concert to attend. I'm glad we had the chance to go and have some fun. It just makes me even more excited to watch this season.

My favorite group dance

Baby Blessing

On Sunday we had to opportunity to head out to Tooele for a baby blessing. My cousin Jer and his wife Amy had their baby and now it was time to bless him. We still went to our church because we were practicing the primary program and we needed to be there with our class. We had to leave a few minutes early to make it on time though. We arrived at the church just in time. It was a beautiful blessing. There were 13 priesthood holders in the circle. So many people who love little Austin. After the meeting we had a little lunch in the gym. It was so fun to see everyone and spend some time with the family. Little Austin is so cute! Thanks for letting us share this special day with you guys.

Happy Halloween!

Well this Halloween Ben and I celebrated a little differently than we have in the past. Instead of dressing up and going to a party or carving pumpkins and hanging out with friends...we bought a new car. That's right we went car shopping on Halloween night.

So my jeep finally died. We knew it was going to happen sometimes because it was so old but we were hoping it would wait till June. It has been giving us trouble all month. We have had it in the shop three times and it was still running like crap. I couldn't get it to go over 55 on the freeway and it just putted along when we drove it. So we decided that it was time. We had been spending more money to repair it than it is worth. This past week we have been looking online at different cars to see what we like. Friday night that's all we did. Both of us sat on the couch and we just looked up different cars. We finally decided that we liked the Mazda 6. We found a bunch online that met all of our requirements and we made a list of where we would look first. We decided to look on Saturday after our fun activities.

Saturday Ben went hunting with his dad and brother again. Kailua did great once again and they were able to get 20 birds. While Ben was hunting I was busy at home. I cleaned our house, did the laundry and cleaned up our yard and got it ready for winter. I pulled our all of our flowers, trimmed back everything and raked/mowed up all of our leaves. I was just finishing when Ben got home. We were both tired but decided to still go looking for a car. We started at the Mazda dealership in Bountiful because we figured they would have more than one Mazda 6 for us to look at. We got there and started to look around. We found one in the color we wanted, within the number of miles we wanted on it and so much more. We decided that we wanted to test drive it. We found a salesman and he showed us everything about the car and then I took it on a test drive...since it is going to be my car. I fell head over heals in love with it. It was so much fun to drive. We got back to the dealership and talked prices for a little bit. We weren't planning on buying a car right away but everything just fell in place and we ended up buying it right there and then. I felt kind of bad because we made them stay late...but at least they made a sale.

This is bittersweet for me because I loved my jeep. It has been such a fun car these past 7 years. So many fun memories with that old jeep. But at the same time I am so excited about my new car. The jeep was fun but this car is cool. It has everything the jeep never had...power locks, power window, AC, a huge trunk, a V6 engine...I love how much power it has, and so much more.
On Monday we had to take the jeep to the dealership to drop it off. That was so hard for me. I really wanted to cry...pathetic I know. I made Ben take a bunch of pictures of me with it. I'm going to miss my fun jeep but am so excited to get to know my new car.

Last time driving it

Saying goodbye

Happy Halloween!

Dance, Birthday, and Christmas

Two weekends ago was a busy but fun weekend with many different activities going on. Saturday I had dance practice early in the morning and I actually had to get ready for the day before I went because I had to leave half way through the practice to go to a judges meeting. Practice went well. We just worked on cleaning our jazz routine and getting it ready to perform. The judges meeting went really well also. We talked a lot about what they expect from us judges and way that we can become a better judge. I really liked this meeting and found many ways that I can improve myself. On the way home I stopped at my mom's house for a bit to say hi. They were busy getting Chris ready for his mission. I ran a few errand with them and then headed home to pick up Ben. He took Kailua pheasant hunting for her very first time that morning. Ben said she did awesome. She could work on pointing a little better but she did a great job bringing the birds back. When Ben got home we headed down to Texas Road House because we were celebrating Brandi's birthday. The whole family was there...even Corey. He had driven down from Oregon for his rotation here and made it in time for the celebration. We had a blast just talking and all hanging out together. Towards the end of our meal they made Brandi sit on a saddle while they sang happy birthday to her. I wish I would have gotten pictures of our fun night. Happy late birthday Brandi! Love you!

Fun picture of us in Cabo

On Sunday we got to have Christmas Breakfast. We usually have this closer to Christmas but my brother requested we have one earlier before he leaves. My mom was so cute and made our house feel like Christmas...minus the Halloween decorations that were up. She set the table just like at Christmas time with all of her cute Christmas dishes. She even had fun Christmas music playing in the background. It got me in such a Christmas mood. We had our traditional egg sausage casserole with scones and honey butter and fruit cups. We couldn't forget the hot chocolate and orange juice. It is such a fun tradition that started years ago that we still do every year with my mom's side of the family. For desert I made this delicious Reese's cake. I found the recipe a few months ago and had just been waiting for the right occasion to make it. If you don't like Reese's you won't like this cake...but since they are my favorite I loved it. After dinner we watched Transformers 2. Ben had never seen it.

What a fun weekend. So many different activities to keep us busy, but so much fun.