Backyard: finally done!!!

Don't worry everyone: these are the final pictures of our backyard. We finished it last weekend, putting in play chips in one area and setting up a play toy that my sister gave me.

Needless to say, the kids are so happy that there is something to play on back here!

The rest of the completed yard

It feels so good to have all our hard work paying off. Now we can sit back and relax! To help us do so, we bought an awesome outdoor clock that has windchimes hanging down. They sound so nice when a breeze passes through!

Soccer Class part 2

For the sake of our blog book, I am posting more pictures of Dean's soccer class. As ridiculous as it is to have twelve 4-year-olds running around with soccer balls, I suppose this class is good for Dean because he is learning how to listen to other authority and follow directions.

They had a "passing and sharing" activity where they each held onto a jersey and tried to pass the ball to each other going across the field.

Dean was paired with his cousin Evy. Evy kind of took control and kicked the ball the whole way while dragging Dean behind her. It was pretty fun to watch, and Dean didn't really seem to mind.

Then there is Dawson. Try taking a 2-year-old who is OBSESSED with balls to a soccer class where he can't play with them. He did run in and steal one of the cones and played with that for a while.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks...

Last week Jonathan and I went to a Mariner's Game with tickets we got from an oral surgeon in the area. They were great seats! We sat in the 5th row, and as soon as the game started, Jonathan's dad called from Idaho and said "we can see you on tv!" It was pretty fun.

Ichiro at bat

My dad has been working at the games as an usher on the suite level, so we got to see him in all his glory! It was pretty fun.

It also just so happened that my sister Shelby and her family had tickets pretty close to us, so we hung out with them a little bit too.

We were walking around the stadium and all of a sudden, there was the Mariners Moose! It was quite the eventful game, besides the fact that the Mariners lost!

The One and Only Genuine Original Walker Family

A month ago we actually happend to be in one place at the same time and had an awesome family reunion.  It started off with a photo shoot...we look good! 

I love my parents!  They're the best.  Thank you for putting up with us all, and of course spoiling our kids with attention and fun. 

The girls.

The boys.

Here is all 28 of us!  Everyone did pretty great.

Jeff, JaNae, Walker, Whitney, Wyatt, and Wes.

Steve, Jill, Andrew, Carter, Colby, and Saylor.

Dan, Jolyn, Sadie, and Leah.

Our family!  Dean was such a trooper having the flu and all.  Dawson was a little grumpy that day.  Having some suckers to bribe him helped.

He got the sucker as soon as we finished.

Soccer Class

Dean had his very first soccer class this week. It's a 7 week course put on by Puyallup Parks and Rec. I was a little apprehensive about how Dean would do because he's never been in a sports class before, but it went pretty much as I expected. He participated in the first half and sat out the second half. He's in the class with two of his cousins, Britton and Evy.

Waiting for class to start. It's kind of fun watching Dean participate in something by himself without me helping him.

At first they just kicked their ball over to the coach to give him a high five, then turned around and kicked it back to the assistant coach.

Dean started to get a little tired of doing this, and once they took their first water break he told me he was done and didn't want to do soccer anymore. So he sat with me and watched most of the rest of practice.

At the end of practice each of the kids got to score a goal so Dean wanted to run back out to the field for that. He had fun doing that so now he likes soccer again. We'll see how next week goes!

Oregon Coast Family Reunion

Last weekend we took a family trip down to Gearhart, Oregon. We did this last year and had a blast so we thought we'd try it again. We went with my parents, 3 of my sisters and their families. To make a long story short, the first day was so hot that it brought out flying ants that covered the beach, then it dropped 30 degrees and was so foggy we couldn't see much, but all in all the kids had a great time!

One morning while my mom and I went to run errands, Shelby and Jonathan took some of the kids for a walk. The cousins in this pic are Roman and Britton.

Dean is kind of in a "mommy" stage right now, so it's fun to see him have bonding moments with his daddy.

We didn't have a ton of wind for kites, but the kids liked it anyway.

Here's Dawson playing with his little cousin Duke. Dawson absolutely loved playing in the water and especially playing with wet sand.

Me and my babe.

 

Dean and Dawsons's favorite thing to do in the pool was to jump off the side into our arms. Last year Dean was too scared to do this, so it was great to see him become more brave.

My beautiful sister Shelby