Second Christmas!

My sister came into town today from Minnesota. She wasn't able to come for Christmas because she is the new man at her work. Adam had come in last week, and came back from St. George to be with her at our house. She got in this afternoon (after many delays and stupidness on the part of the airlines) but her bags were not on the same flight as her. So finally at 10 o'clock at night, we were able to have Second Christmas! We had been teasing that we needed to have second Christmas because she wouldn't be here for the real thing, so we saved presents to her and Adam and they brought theirs for us as well.

The last present Nat had my mom open was a music box that said something about grandmothers on the top. She thought nothing of it (because I was having a baby so of course she was going to become a grandma) until she opened it. Inside was an ultrasound picture of Nat's baby!!

She's due July 24th so our babies will only be 4 months apart! We're all so excited and feel so blessed to welcome both of these long-awaited babies into the family.

New Year's Japanese Dinner

My Mom, my Dad, and both of dad's brothers went to Japan on their missions. My mom and two uncles all actually served in the same mission. So needless to say, they have shared the love of Japanese food with the rest of the family and their children. For New Year's this year, we all got together with the Walker side and had our "traditional Japanese dinner". I use quotes because I know it's not really traditional Japanese, but it's our traditional food. Everyone made gyoza (pot stickers) so we had three different varieties, and then we had egg drop soup and ham fried rice. It was so yummy! I loved it.

I also loved getting to see family. We don't get together nearly as often as we used to, and we're all growing up and starting our own families, but it's always fun to see each other.

Wendi & Breckin - 9 months, Marci & Kamri - 1 month, Me - 6 1/2 months

Christmas Eve & Christmas

Because Christmas was on a Sunday this year, the Glad's chose to celebrate it on Christmas Eve. So we got up early and headed over to their house to open presents and have breakfast. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken. (Probably for the best as none of us really got ready.)

Our big presents this year were a new camera lens for Brian's camera. He convinced me he needed it by saying it would be perfect for taking pictures of a new baby. Sold. And he got me a Kindle Touch. I love it!
After presents and breakfast we hung out for a while, but then had to head home because we still had the Barlow Christmas party to get ready for.

Many pictures were taken with Brian's new camera but I'm sure you don't want to see them all. Here is just one to document how big I was and that my mom and I have the same faces. :)

We had an ugly sweater contest (which I refused to participate in because who wants to be wearing an ugly sweater when they already feel huge?) and a gingerbread house building contest. Having Brian the architect on our team definitely helped.
We had the traditional pork roast dinner and white elephant gift exchange. And then of course brownie pudding and Christmas carols. I love traditions!

Christmas morning we woke up really early so we could talk to my brother Brad in Madagascar. It was so good to hear his voice. He sounded so happy.

Then we had breakfast with the Walkers, opened our presents then went to church. Then we went to the Glad's ward. After church we headed over to G&G Merrell's to spend time with the extended family.

Christmas Parties

Dec 20th - Lorrie Merrell's Christmas Party - We headed out to Draper for this party. Lots of good food, and entertainment provided by everyone who came. (That's how you paid for your dinner, by performing.) Brian and I sang in a last minute quintet.

Dec. 21st - Madrigal Christmas Party - In High School, Brian was a Madrigal. I was in choir, so I also go to know the Madrigals pretty well, and following Brian around to his performances probably aided in this. Anyway, we haven't been able to attend any Madrigal get together's since we got married because Brian's always had school and projects getting in the way. It was a ton of fun to see everyone again and just laugh all night long.

Dec. 22nd - Gingerbread Houses w/the Bowen's - Ok, so it's not a party per se, but we had fun anyway. We drove up to Layton and made gingerbread houses while watching Elf. You can't see it in the picture but Brian also built a car out of candy. I know I'm a bad wife, because this is the first time we've done this activity since we got married. And yes, I know I married an architect. He had a blast. This will now be something we do every year.

Dec. 23rd - Glad Christmas Party - Soup, Stories and Singing. We had a good time chatting with family and catching up. We had the traditional "non-traditional" Christmas stories read by the uncles and then had our gift exchange and caroling.

Walker Christmas Party

The Walker Christmas Party

Lots of good food, lots of loud talking, and lots of even louder laughing.

It gets harder every year because not everyone can come, but we make the best of it and enjoy those who can come.

Me & Dani

3 Generations - Grandpa (only child), Merrill (oldest child), Me (oldest grandchild)

Sarah & Me

Me - almost 27 weeks

Sarah, Me & Kamri - 2 weeks old

Me & Kamri

Kamri & Mom - It's not even her grandbaby and look how excited she is!

Live Nativity

We went with the Glad's to see a live nativity in Sugarhouse. It was pretty cold, so we all bundled up and got some hot chocolate on our way. It was pretty fun, except for the part where the camel growled at us, exposing us to the worst bad breath you can imagine. I had to quickly walk away or I would've puked and just made the smell worse. Not a good idea for a pregnant lady. (This also may have been the last time I could zip up my coat.)

Me, Derek, Stuart, Nancy, Paul, Curtis

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was at my Grandma & Grandpa Walker's house. The food was delicious as always, and everyone had a good time catching up. Here are a few pictures to document. (Not everyone who was there is pictured. And not everyone was there. We missed those who couldn't make it.)

Brittany, Chris, Taylor

Aubrey, McKay, Austin

Dani & Parker

Me & Marci

Matt & Phil

Merrill & Shannan

Grandpa Walker

Meggan, Mom & Dad

Cousin Sarah's Wedding

Today my cousin Sarah got married in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. It was a very special day for our whole family. There were a lot of emotions happening all very close to the surface. I sat in the sealing room next to my Grandma Walker and my Dad. (Brian had forgotten to get his recommend renewed, which we didn't realize until that morning.) The ceremony was beautiful and some special things were said, but I think more than that, some special things were felt. There wasn't a dry eye in the room.

Sarah's dad, my dad's brother, passed away when I was 7 years old. Sarah was only 1. I don't know how much Sarah remembers her dad, but I know she is very close to him and feels his spirit with her constantly. My memories of my uncle Mitch are very special to me and I know that at the important events in my life, I've always felt him there. On this day, I knew he was standing there the whole time, watching his baby girl make this important step in her life and beaming with pride. We all felt his absence, but also his presence.

Congratulations Sarah!

Nathan's Eagle Court of Honor

Today we got to be a part of a special experience for Brian's brother Nathan. Not only did he receive his Eagle in Scouting, but he was made an Elder in our church. Brian, along with his dad, Derek, and Grandpa Merrell, were all in the circle as Nathan was ordained. Prior to the ordination, both grandma's and his mom bore their testimony. After, Nathan also shared his. It was so cool to get to hear him and see how emotional he was. He rarely shows any emotion except to make the rest of us laugh. He's such a stud and we're so proud of him.

Glad Family Reunion 2011

Paul Glad Family (minus Curtis)

 This year's reunion was a short one, only two nights, but we had fun nonetheless. It was up at Smith & Moorehouse, and there was a big cabin that we could have slept in, but since I only do this once a year, I decided to humor Brian by actually sleeping in a tent on the ground. :)

We played horseshoes and Phase 10 and ate a lot of good food. It was a lot of fun just chatting and being with family.

This is camping

Recent Happenings

Well Summer is just flying by. Here is a few things we've been up to: (Sorry for the lack of pictures. We just haven't taken any lately.)

• June 24th - Annual Ward Camp out.
• We have only stayed the night once in the 4 years we've been in this ward. That tells you how much I like camping.
• But I love going up for dinner! We have a guy in our ward who makes Award-winning turkeys. For reals. SO GOOD.
• I love our ward. It's always so much fun to go up there and chat with everyone.

• June 25th - Day of Babies
• First I went to the baby blessing of my cousin's little boy. They had it at their house and held a luncheon in the backyard. So fun to see lots of family and to hold that little guy. :)
• I headed straight from that to a baby shower for one of my best friend's growing up. She's due in September and was so surprised to see me. (It was a ward shower and since I'm no longer in that ward.... but then again, neither is she.) Glad I could go and see her.

• June 26th - 30th - BEAR LAKE
• This year we only had 16 people on our fullest day. By the last day there were only 5 of us. But we still had a great time.
• Monday Brian and I went for our annual 10-mile bike ride. I promptly got sunburned and my sit bones were so sore that I couldn't go on any more rides the whole trip. That's what I get for only riding once a year. Brian of course rode another 30 miles after that because he took my brother and two cousins out for rides when we got back. He wasn't even tired.
• We also did Minute-to-Win-it! We only did a few games because there were so few of us, but it was still fun.
• The rest of the time was spent just relaxing, watching movies, chatting with family, and eating. Don't forget the eating.
• While at Bear Lake, Brian received a request from a firm to send more of his work for them to review. This got us very excited! Brain promptly looked up their site and fell in love with them. They would be a really nice place to work for. We haven't heard anything since but we're not giving up yet.

• 4th of July Weekend
• On the 3rd my sister and her husband came into town. No big deal, except my sister now lives in Minnesota! So we were happy to have them.
• On the 4th we slept in. SO NICE! Then we had breakfast with Brian's family and he fixed about 5 bikes.
• Then we went to lunch with my family (Burger King as usual). Then we saw Transformers 3. I'll just say, it was better than the second, but not as good as the first.
• And then we had a BBQ. Walker chicken. If you haven't had it, you don't know good BBQ chicken. End of story.
• The only downside is that we didn't go see any fireworks. Brian and I were pretty bummed. But on the drive home we saw plenty all over the valley. Pretty cool. We'll have to catch them on the 24th.
• On the 5th, we had a Barlow get-together. Some of my cousin's and their families who live in WA & TX were in town, so we all got together to catch up. Lots of food and laughing, and very loud talking, as usual. :)

Something else worth noting: We got a BIG air conditioner! We were talking at the family dinner and mentioned that it's so hot in our apartment because our little unit just can't handle it. Well, my uncle manages a few apartments and he keeps AC units in case his renters want them. He said we could borrow one! So the very next day he brought it over and Brian installed it. HEAVEN! It cools our whole apartment. WONDERFUL! Like my sister said, I couldn't have been a pioneer. It's a struggle for me to survive without air conditioning and electricity.

Last weekend Brian had taken off Friday & Saturday to go to a Father & Sons camp out with his family. But then he decided he didn't want to go camping and he'd rather spend the weekend with me! So we got to spend a whole Saturday together, which I don't think has happened our whole marriage (except when we're on vacation). Well, most of the day. Brian still went for a bike ride in the morning, but I spent that time reading, so we each got to do something we love.

We went to lunch with my friend Richard from college and his wife Wendy & their new son Will. Way fun to catch up with them. And the baby was adorable!

Since we met them for lunch at the Gateway, we decided to spend the day shopping. :) Brian bought me some capris, a skirt, and a cute top to match. Then we wandered around and we both got some new sandals. We then spent the better part of an hour sipping large Orange Julius' and people watching. It was so great!

We saw X-Men: First Class using some gift cards I had stored up. I loved it. Not as much as the first, but when is anything as good as the first?

We then grabbed some pizza on the way home and snuggled on the couch to eat it. It was just a really great day.

Derek & Nathan's Graduation

This year Brian graduated with his Masters, his brother Derek graduated from Massage Therapy school, and his other brother Nathan graduated from High School. Three graduations in one month means a lot of speeches, a lot of clapping, and 3 great dinners. :)

May 27th - Derek's Graduation

Nancy, Derek & Paul

 June 7th - Nathan's Graduation

Nathan receiving his diploma on the big screen

All three of the graduated brothers.
Ironically, Nathan is the only one with a job so far.

Congratulations to all three brothers!

Final Choir Concert - Again

We attended Brighton High School's Final Choir Concert again this year. These kids are getting younger and younger, or we're getting older and older. This year Nathan had a solo and he did a great job.

When the alumni were invited to come up and sing the final numbers we all climbed up there, but I forget more and more words every year. And I think we were the oldest ones, not counting the teacher. That's what happens when you are the oldest of five and you marry someone who is the oldest of five.

We figured out (again) that we will be going to these until we're 32 if both of our youngest siblings do choir in high school. I'm thinking the only way we can get out of going is if we move. And even then, we'll probably come back for the graduations so we'll be here anyway.

It was still fun though, to be with family and relive some of those high school memories.

Choir Alumni - Brian, Melissa, Derek, Nathan, Curtis

Andrew & Emily's Wedding Dinner

Because Andrew's wedding was in Arizona, not a lot of Utah friends and family could make it. So they had a dinner up here at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was a lot of fun, with speeches by friends and family, and performances by the bride and groom, and really yummy food.

This time there was no official photographer, so Brian was asked to take pictures again.

Grandpa & Grandma Merrell w/the bride & groom.
Grandpa wasn't able to come to Arizona so it was nice to have a reception up here.

I just had to add this picture because it's one of my favorites at weddings.

Derek, Brian & Nathan - all dressed up

Melissa & Brian

Arizona Trip

May 15th - May 19th we drove down to Arizona to see Brian's cousin, Andrew, get married.
It was a long, two-day, drive. But seeing these two get married was wonderful. And we were happy we went.

Emily & Andrew



Brian was an unofficial photographer at the wedding, and we had a lot of fun playing around at the reception.

Me, Michelle, Megan - goofing around

The weather was awesome! Not too hot, but not cold. Even after it got dark at the reception, it was still warm enough that I didn't need a jacket. I could live with that.

Me & Brian

 We stayed at an old pioneer home in St. George. There was an old granary next door that they had converted into more bedrooms. Brian & I stayed out there. I just had to document how tiny the bathroom was. It helps me to not complain about our tiny bathroom. It can always be worse.

Brian is on the toilet, and he can reach into the sink & the shower.

We were really happy to get home. 24 hours in a car is a long time.

Garage Sales, General Conference & an MTC preview

Saturday morning I went garage sale-ing with my friend Marci. I didn't find much, but I just like to go and look for good stuff. Marci on the other hand found lots of good stuff. I can't wait for the weather to get better so there are sales on almost every corner.

When we got home I enjoyed the Semi-annual General Conference for our church. I enjoyed Saturday morning by myself and then went out to my parent's house for the afternoon session.

Saturday evening I went over to Marci's house during Priesthood session where she invited a bunch of girls over and we had shakes and talked. After Brian got home, we went to his grandparent's house and had more ice cream.

On Sunday morning we went out to Brian's family's house and had breakfast and watched the morning session.

During the break there was a special about the MTC, so we went to my parent's house to watch it together. My mom started crying when it first started and at one point I went to laugh at something and started crying. I don't know what came over me.

We watched the last session and then had dinner with my family and watched How to Train Your Dragon.

I loved the talks given and can't wait for the Ensign to come so I can read them again.

Brad's Farewell

Today was my little brother's farewell. He did a great job talking about humility and gave a touching testimony. I'm so proud of him. After the meetings we went back to my parents house for some food, family and fun.

Nat, Brad, Melissa

Brad & Phil

Mom, Brad, Dad

Brad & Dani

Brad & Melissa

We also found out today that Brad's mission is the furthest mission from Salt Lake City before you start coming back around. He leaves in 2 1/2 weeks. I can't believe it!

Little Brudder!

(10 points to anyone who knows the source of that title)

Today my youngest brother turned 19.

Weird. This makes me very old.

But nonetheless, I am very proud of him and what he's doing with his life.

He's getting ready to go on a mission, in a little over a month.

Not even a broken collarbone could stop him.

Yesterday I spent the day with my family as we went to Mr. Mac's and picked him out some suits and ties.

He's a pretty handsome kid all dressed up.

Then we went out to dinner.

Sushi.

Yuck.

But we had a fun night just laughing and enjoying the silliness that is, Brad.

Love you bud!

Christmas 2010

I'm sad to say that I, personally, took no pictures this Christmas. I guess I'll just have to steal some from my mom.

Christmas was great this year. Very low-key and relaxed. We spent the night at my parent's house and all the kids were able to fit into the room in the basement so we were back to our traditional sleepover on Christmas Eve. I found it hard to go to sleep because I was so happy to be with my family and we have the best time teasing each other.

Christmas morning we had Monkey bread with hot chocolate and orange juice. We opened stockings and then presents. We were so blessed this year and received lots of fun stuff. But I always like to remember what I gave instead of what I got. A few presents I was excited to give this year were:

• Bow ties to Brian. He's wanted one for a while now so he can look like our High Councilman, Brother Knott. And the other Architecture student in our ward wears one so Brian decided he needed one too.
• Countdown blocks for my sister Nat. I made these myself. Well I painted and glued and vinyled (not sure that's a verb). I don't have a saw to cut wood myself.
• A Malagasy Book of Mormon to my brother Brad. I know he can't read it yet, but I thought it was a pretty cool gift and he seemed pretty excited. We were looking through it and the words for "Doctrine & Covenants" each have 8 syllables. 8 each! 16 syllables to say two words that take us 5 syllables. Good Luck Brad!

After presents at my house we went to Brian's for just a little bit. When we'd woken up at 7:30 Brian joked that we should call his family because they were probably done by then. We found out that he was right. :)

Unfortunately we weren't able to stay long because we were going to visit my Grandma Barlow in the hospital. She had a bad fall about a week before and had to have surgery on her shoulder. It was said to see her like that, but I'm glad we got to go visit on Christmas.

After spending some time there, we headed up to Bountiful to spend the rest of the day with my Grandma & Grandpa Walker. We had a yummy lunch and then watched "Date Night" the edited version, which my parents had gotten for me and my sister.

I also ended up finishing Brian's final present, which was an afghan he had requested about 2 weeks before Christmas. It's huge! But I finished it on Christmas so I still made the deadline. And he loves it. So do I.

Overall, a great Christmas. We are so blessed and so grateful for our wonderful families and friends.

Here's to a fabulous 2011!

'Tis The Season

This year we've been so blessed to have so many friends and family to celebrate with. Here's what we've been up to:

Dec. 4 - Ward Christmas Party
Great way to kick off the Christmas Season. Our Bishop has it catered and our (previously known as) activity committee does a great job with decorations and games. We love getting together with our ward. And there's always a special visitor for the kids.

Dec. 8 - Relief Society Christmas Dinner
Our Relief Society does a great job providing good food and a fun time. Our Bishop's wife is in a singing group that came and performed for us after dinner. It was great! And I even got to bring my mom with me, which I always like.

Dec. 12 - Community Sing-a-long
This year our Stake sponsored a night of singing Christmas carols. We had a pretty good turnout and Brian and I even participated in the musical number our ward contributed. It really helped put me in the Christmas spirit singing all those songs I love.

Dec. 14 - Brighton Christmas Concert
Like I said on Facebook, we might be going to this until we're 40 because of all the siblings we have. (OK, so only until we're 31 or so, but still that's a long time.) It was fun though to go up and sing. Two of my younger siblings happened to be there too (to see old friends) and Brian's brother is in the choir, so we all stood together again. I am really starting to forget the songs though so hopefully we get pushed more to the back.

Dec. 16 - Glad Christmas Party
Always a fun time. We had yummy soup and rolls and then sat around listening to Grandpa Glad's Christmas stories (which incidentally have nothing to do with Christmas, but it's tradition.)

Dec. 17 - Brian's Work Party
We all went bowling. I have gotten worse at this and I always break the nail on my thumb. No Fun. But we did do one game all left handed, so that was pretty entertaining.

Dec. 18 - Grandma Glad's Birthday Dinner
We went to a place called Golden Dragon. It was really yummy Chinese food. Brian's dad ordered most of the food, and it was so good. I ate way too much. I even tried dim sum for the first time.

Dec. 19 - Bishop's Christmas Open House
We really love our Bishop. He is always so good to have us all come and invade his house. They had yummy food and we had a good time just talking and singing Christmas carols and even playing a few minutes of Christmas Charades. This party is always so much fun and a bunch of us always end up staying to the very end because we don't want to go home to our tiny apartments after having spent a few hours in his huge house. We're going to miss this ward a lot.

Dec. 20 - Walker Christmas Party
Gotta love family. This year we switched things up and had an awesome Italian dinner, complete with Olive Garden salad (the only salad I will eat, probably because of the dressing.) And of course, the traditional brownie pudding for dessert. We had our program and sang some more Christmas carols. Then our grandparents passed out the gifts. They gave the married couples this year a nicely framed picture of the temple we were married in and a sign that says "Families are Forever". I love it!

Dec. 21 - Fesitvus
Our friends Landon & Marci invited us over for a Festivus party, a first for us. (It's from Seinfield.) We had our Airing of Grievances over dinner, most of which consisted of small apartments, and our husbands golfing too much, then we had the Feats of Strength, in which we played Ticket to Ride & Blurt. We had so much fun with everyone and laughed a lot!

Dec. 24 - Barlow Christmas Eve
We had our traditional Pork Roast and Potato Casserole, with Brownie Pudding for dessert. We had a program and sang more Christmas carols. And we ended the night with Silent Night on the harmonica and guitar. Even though we do the same things every year, it always makes me happy because it's a great time to get together and feel that Christmas Spirit.