Washington D.C

So my FAVORITE place to go and visit is Washington DC, so naturally we spend a day up there with Stephanie. We ended up with a full van because Mom, Kye, Cami, and Zach decided to tag along too. We all drove up together, and then took the metro downtown. We started our day off with the mall. For those of you who haven't been to DC, the mall is NOT a place where you go shopping in DC, instead it is where all of the Monuments are. The only one we didn't get up close and personal with was Jefferson, because he is far off the beaten path and we only had one day.














Next it was off to lunch at the Air and Space Museum. This was extra exciting for the Nuffers of the trip because they serve Donatos pizza there, a Columbus chain that make some of the best thin crust pizza ever! Only pepperoni and cheese at the museum, but we'll take it. It was also nice to get inside out of the sweltering heat. Stephanie had not yet adjusted to humidity, so she was dying (and the rest of us too)!

The last and best stop was the National Archives.













I have never been inside before, even though I've been to DC more times than I can count. They've been closed due to flooding, routine maintenance, etc, so I've never made it in. We were able to see the Magna Carta, The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Having studied these documents many time over, it was humbling to see them in person, to actually read the preamble myself right off the original. It made me extremely thankful for the opportunity I have to be an American, and for what our Founding Fathers did for us!


















There was no Flash Photography allowed, so I'm super impress that Nate's pictures turned out this amazing!


















Kye found this secret door while we were waiting to go inside! It all felt A little like National Treasure or something.

I'm glad we were able to go, I just wish we had a week or more so we could see everything!!

Touring Richmond

Well, the first tourist thing we did with Stephanie was Richmond Proper. Nate took her downtown with my mom and they saw lots of cool stuff. They went to the White House of the Confederacy (yes, there is such a thing, and when you tour it you get a truly Southern Version of the history of the Civil War. It's actually a pretty cool experience). They also toured the Capital Building. Lots if interesting History. In addition to that they saw VCU campus and Hollywood Cemetery. I wasn't there to ensure proper pictures (you know, with people in them) but here are the best ones they got.

This is the Capitol Building. (Lovely Pictures all provided by Yen).

This one is mom and Thomas Jefferson's original model for the building.

This one is mom looking excited and Nate looking ridiculous.

Oh, and we went and saw Transformers on Thursday too, for details see my previous post.

The Greatness of Norman

So this patriotic weekend we are going to Michigan, but we are not taking Norman with us. That is very sad for us, but it will probably be worse for Norman. Luckily Cami will be staying with her so she won't be lonely. The real reason I wanted to post was because I took a great Picture of what happens when you try to go up against my dog.















Diane really likes this picture too, she just about fell over when she saw it.

New Stories Coming Soon....

So we had a pretty busy week last week. My Friend Stephanie Yen was in town, and she has never been to the east coast (or even further east than Utah) so we felt the need to take her all over. Suffice it to say that I have pictures with pirates (okay, sailors, but that sounds more fun and was what this guy acted like), Indians, Lincoln, And a live Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. This week will be another busy one, but I'm working on getting everything up, so until then I know you will be on the edge of your seat....

Transformers Review

Okay, so first of all, I will try not to spoil anything, but beware, I'm not perfect (contrary to popular belief!).

Nate, Stephanie, and I went to see Transformers 2 yesterday. Let me preface this by saying that when I went to the first movie, I was less than excited. I was basically going because of how excited Nate was. I walked out of the theater completely pleased having enjoyed a great movie. This one started out the same. Good action, fun characters, and lots of plot. Then it just got boring. The movie was 2 1/2 hours and would have been much better had they stopped at 2. I actually checked the time TWICE towards the end!! I swear they spend a good 30 minutes at the end just running. It was just ridiculous and anti-climatic. My second issue is character development, not of the people but of the Transformers. I am completely okay with watching a movie about Transformers (rather than humans), but I would at least like to know their names. You get that maybe once, and that's not enough for me. (yes, I knew the basics, but all of the new ones were confusing). They would have done better to focus on a few rather than tons. However, the action scenes, the military guys, and what they were able to do digitally was pretty impressive. It was not a bad movie, just not as good as the first one. Yep, that's what I thought....I dare you to disagree!

~Diane

Garden Update

Well, so far so good. All eight tomato plants are doing wonderfully. We finally staked them up today and they were way too tall for the stakes but it will just have to do for now. The peppers are growing strong, and the squash even stronger! We tied up the beans realized that there are tons there too. The only things that are struggling are the salad greens, but it's so hot outside it is hard for them to grow. We just waited too late in the season to plant them. Here are the pictures (cause we all know that's the best part!). The last picture is one of the butterflies that has been hanging out on our deck. They LOVE our flowers!!

Oh, this is me and Norman chillin while Nate finishes up!




I think this one might be my favorite because it is so pretty!


If anything actually starts growing veggies, I'll keep you POSTED (hehe, get it, posted, like as in another post on the blog....I'm rolling with laughter, I am just too funny!!!)

Cami and Norman Compete!

They had so much fun playing! Enjoy!

Jeni's Baby Shower

My sweet friend Jeni is having a baby girl soon and today we had her baby shower. It was so cute. My friends Shannon and JinHee threw the party and I pitched in a little. It was so fun. There was good food, good people, and fun games. We played this cute candy bar game where you have to guess which candy bar goes with the baby/pregnancy term (baby name = whatchamacallit). It was a blast!
Here is the cute diaper cake and presents table!
Here is Jeni and the food!

Here are the fruit flowers I made.
Here is the cake I made, I'm still not sure I like it, but it turned out alright. Shannon has all of the people pictures on her camera, so I don't have any fun friends ones, but if I get some I will put them up here! Thanks for reading and for all of the comments!!!!

Kye's 5th Grade Graduation

On Thursday Nate and I went to Kye's graduation from elementarty school. He has had a really good school year and is improving so much and we were really proud of them. The best part was that he was awarded the Pat Pagels award. Basically this is given to one 5th grader each year who has show dedication, perserverance, the ability to overcome obstacles, and is basically just a hard working kid. I was SOOOOOO proud of him!!! He got the award in front of everyone and it was amazing!!! To celebrate we everyone came over to our house and mom bought Pizza! I can hardly believe how much he has grown up. Here are some pictures from the graduation!

This one is of him being given his award (we were way in the back so it was tough to get a good picture) This is Kye and his teachers. They couldn't say enough good things about him!

Kye's Baseball Game, well actually snacks at McDonald's because of the Rain!

So today Nate and I headed down to Kye's baseball game. It was his second to last game, and we were really excited to go and watch. We were running a little late because Nate had Webelos. We got there in the 2nd inning, and Kye had already made some great plays. But just as we got there the lightning started so they put the game on hold. We waited about 30 minutes, but the storm just got worse, so we decided to all go to McDonald's for ice cream (Code for Chicken Sandwich and Fries if you are Kye). It was really fun to just hang out together! Here are some pics or us eating (because of course the one time I bring the camera I can't actually take pictures of the game).

This one is me, Kye, and Mom waiting for the lightning to stop.
This is me and Kye being cool...I think he got his posing skills from Shelly.
Here are my cute parents with Kye. Yep, there he is again being amazing! So hopefully I will make it to his baseball game Saturday so I have good baseball pictures! I love that little guy!!

Wedding Cake!!

So as you all know Shelly is getting married. As an attempt to save cost, they are considering letting me make the wedding cake. I've NEVER done this before, so I decided to practice so I would have something to send to Shelly to show her and see what she thinks. It looks nothing like the one she wants (cause she still hasn't sent me the picture) but I wanted to give her some idea of what I could do. I used flowers I had and the cheapest ribbon and beading I could find (since it was only a practice). I also didn't spend much time on the piping because I'm not sure what she wants. Here was the result of today's practice session:
The flowers are WAY too big, but I didn't want to go out an buy something for a practice cake.
The orange flowers are even bigger, but you get the idea. Perhaps this summer I will learn how to make good gumpaste flowers and then I will do my own, but that's pretty ambitious so we'll just have to wait and see how it goes.

On a different note, I just realized that I blog a lot about food and cooking, but guess it just goes to show that it's one of my favorite hobbies!

Employment for Nate!!!

So Nate has been working REALLY hard to find a job since school got out. He's sent out dozens of resume's, filled out tons of applications, and nothing. You'd think finding a part time job would be easier than this. Finally, yesterday, he got one. He will now be working for Blockbuster! I'm excited because in addition to Nate having something to do over the summer, it means FREE movie rentals! Hooray!!! I'm also really happy for Nate because he loves movies so I think this is a job that he will really enjoy, rather than just feeling Blah about. This does not mean he's quitting at Barnes and Noble, but they aren't giving him hours, so he'll stay on payroll and balance the two jobs if something changes. I think I may be rubbing off on him, he's had 5 jobs since we've been married! Hooray for Nate!!!

Shelly's Bridal Shower

This weekend we had my sister Shelly's Bridal shower! It was extra fun because we had all 6 sisters in my family there, and we haven't all been together at thte same time since I got married. Here's a pic of all of us with mom. It was really fun to all be together.

We had lots of other people at the shower too! Shelly's favorite part was the food (yummy Cafe Rio style salads). We played lots of games. The funniest by far was the toilet paper wedding dresses. We broke everyone into groups of 3 or 4, gave them a bunch of toilet paper, and tasked them with making a dress. Here is a pic of the winning dress (please note they used a pillow to make the bussell, my favorite part!)

After all the games were done we had Shelly open her presents. This one was my favorite. I guess I better explain. When we were growing up my mom used the chip beef jars as glasses because they were a great size for little kids and practically indestructable. Plus they have cute stars across the top. Yep, so this is a pic of Cami giving Shelly 8 of those glasses (aka jars of chip beef!). Needless to say Shelly thought it was funny!

This last one is just too stinking cute not to post!

As always, thanks for following the life of the Walkers!

Pay it Forward

So I think this is a really great idea! I saw it on both Caitlyn and Maya's blogs and now I'm copying it. It took me a while to post because I had to come up with something I could home make that people would want but now I have it! Also, I really like the philosopy behind this idea, that we can do two things: 1) Find Value in the Homemade again and 2) Send something to people without need reward. I would like to think I can do both of these things, so here's one way I am practicing.

Here's the deal. The first 5 people to leave a comment here will get a homemade gift from me. It doesn't matter if I don't know you. If you're just randomly blog stalking (c'mon, we all do it) and you come across this post and want to be one of the first 5 to leave a comment, go for it! The only catch is that you have to pay the gift forward by reposting this on your blog/Facebook/Myspace. I will check to make sure you've done so. I don't know what the gift will be, but it will be homemade. I'll get it to you sometime this year (but probably sooner than later so I don't have it looming over my head). I don't promise you'll love it, but I'm not going to make you something I think you'll hate, either, because that would be like an un-gift and defeat the entire purpose.

To be fair, I am planning on having this sent out to you by the end of the week, so hurry up and claim it so I can do so! And no worries on not liking it, it's me, I know you will love it!!!

Garden

So this year we are going to attempt a garden. I am hoping that it will successful (not like last year where it looked like the place all plants go to die!!). In April we set up our herb garden in baskets off of the deck, and because they are doing so well I've decided to try a little more. We are trying lettuce, spinach, green beans, cucumbers, squash, peppers, and tomatoes. We also have a bunch of herbs (basil, oregano, dill, parsley, chives, mint, thyme, rosemary, and cilantro). I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. Nate, being the wonderful guy that he is, cleared the ground, put in the bricks and potting soil, and then the fence. He's also helping me remember to water everything (This may have been my problem last year....). Try not to be too shocked, but I actually have some pictures of our new little garden. Keep in mind that is does not include most of the herbs.These one's I'm attempting to grow from seeds....we'll see how that works.

Here's a shot of thw whole garden. I just planted flower seed in the far left corner. Hopefully they will grow and be lovely!

Well, if you have any helpful hints or suggestions that will make me a better gardner I would really appreciate them!!! -Diane

Picking Strawberries

Yep, so we (and by we I mean Nate, Cami, Sherise, Kye and I) went to the Chesterfield Berry Farm's annual Strawberry Celebration! It was super fun! We got to ride a hay ride out to the strawberry fields and then pick (and of course sample) all of the delicious berries. I forgot how absolutely fantastic a sun-warmed strawberry is fresh off the plant! Plus with all of the rain we've been getting, they were especially juicy! As you can imagine, Sherise was incredibly picky about her strawberries and picked about 10 the whole time, but I have to admit that her 10 berries looked incredible! We also got to see some really cute lambs, goats, rabbits (who live in a little village called bunnyville), and even a turkey with it's feather spread. Overall it was an awesome trip, plus it meant that we spend the rest of the weekend eating chocolate covered strawberries, drinking strawberry smoothies, making strawberry shortcake, and just eating them in general! Of course I don't have pictures because that would mean I brought my camera, which I didn't, but we had a fabulous time none the less!

Spring 2009!

Well, as always, Nate and I have had a very busy spring! Too many details to share it all, but I'll tell you about some of the best highlights!

In April we held the 3rd annual Walker Easter Egg Hunt! This is the first time we have had any children participate, so it was extra fun. We had planned on doing it outside at my parents house, but the gross weather forced us indoors, so the kids had theirs up on the third floor. I'm sure we have pictures somewhere, but there were eggs literally EVERYWHERE! I've accumulated several hundred eggs at this point, so I think the kids had a good time. Then the adults hunted for the 2 dozen or so Nate had hidden on the first floor. I forgot I had put the Easter erasers in the glitter eggs, so most of the adults found silly erasers rather than dove chocolate! Nate hid the golden egg in the flour jar UNDER the flour. Needless to say Sherise found that one, not any of our friends, as they were all way too polite to stick their hands in someone else's flour. It was a blast!

Also, my friend Shannon and I made Easter skirts (again, I'm at work, so any post, even without pictures, is better than no post at all). We bought a pattern but when we opened it it turned out that someone had switched it for a little girls dress! We ended up just using one of Shannon's skirts as our pattern, and I'm pleased to say that they turned out pretty darn cute! Yep, so that's that.

Then the biggie....In March I was called to be the Ward Camp Specialist (but not released as primary chorister to my relief, I love that calling!). The big job of the camp specialist (apart from actually going to girls camp) is planning and executing a fundraiser to raise money for the girls to go to camp. Camp is $125.00 a girl, and our ward has around 20 girls going to camp, so this is a HUGE undertaking. We decided to host a dinner/dance. We served a 4-course dinner, had a the local high school Jazz band play, and had the church decorated beautifully (if I do say so myself). I must admit I'm a little crazy, I went as far as getting up on one of those giant 2 story ladders 8 or 10 times as we moved it around so I could place all the track lights right where I wanted them! We had twinkle lights all around the perimeter and twinkle lights wrapped in tulle coming down from the center of the ceiling to the sides of the gym. The tables were set very formally with cloths, centerpieces, favors, and the full formal place settings (clear plastic to my dismay, as the building did not have enough forks to feed 100 with a salad AND dinner fork). I am ashamed to admit that I didn't take any pictures, the only ones I have are of the food (and even those are from the photo shoot, not the actual night, although what we served looked just like it). I think I'll put some of those up just so you can see. Half of the girls spent the night in the nursery watching the 41 children who showed up! The others worked their tails off in the kitchen and serving dinner to the 100 adults who came to support them and it was awesome. My favorite part was the Jazz band. They were awesome and made it truly spectacular. In the end we were able to raise over half of what the girls need for camp, more than I could have ever expected!

This was the first course, a Tomato Basil Bruschetta served on a Garlic Crustini!

Course #2, less exciting, was a tossed salad with a homemade Citrus Vinaigrette.

Course #3, the Entree, was a Pesto Pasta and Italian Chicken topped with Fresh Parmesan!

Course #4 and my personal favorite, awesome ice cream with butter cookies! The only difference between this picture and that night is that we had raspberry sauce instead of fresh raspberries. Still just as yummy!

Yep, so besides that I'm keeping busy with work, Shelly's Bridal Shower (yes,our little Shelly is getting married!! Hooray!), and life! And a special thanks to Maya for giving me the push to actually update! Oh, and on a totally different note, go see Star Trek. Yes, it's worth the ridiculous theatre prices. I had never seen any of Star Trek and I LOVED it, so go see it!

Alrighty, have a wonderful day and thanks for reading!!

More Norman

So here is some more of Norman, and you will even get some of Diane too.

Some more of Norman

So we thought for those adoring Norman fans out there we would give you more of what you have been asking for!

Dinner

So yesterday i was left to fend for myself, because Diane had a business meeting. this is what i came up with (and i had crepes for dessert but no pics).

Winter Wonderland!!!

Well, it finally happened, snow in Richmond! We had so much fun!! This picture pretty much sums up how I feel about snow!! We got up to a mountain of snow! The entire city was shut down, so I worked from home and found some time to go out and play in it with my puppy! Here are some fun pics!!! I don't know how to upload a video, but once Nate has some time I'll have him do it.

I love this picture, cause it's shows perfectly how Nate felt. It's like he's saying, "What, snow in Richmond? How did that happen?"



Yes, that's right folks, we got almost 10 inches! (and no, this is not in a drifted spot, it's smack dab in the middle of my backyard!!!)

Yes, she has a coat! And doesn't she look cute in it!!

Norman and i had a great time! I would throw snow balls and she would try and fetch them, but got confused when she couldn't find them!

Well, that's about it here. We are happy and healthy and doing great! Thanks for reading!

I am the worst blogger, because my husband has to come in and leave a title

Yes, it is true, I am officially the WORST blogger in the world! Nate and I have been so busy lately, and I'm already bad at this, so my adoring readers (if I have any left) suffer. I have so many fun pictures to post that I don't know where to start, but I promise to do so over the next few days ( I would do so now, but I'm on my work computer, so I don't have any way to access them). This is just my post saying that I , Diane Walker, will do better and get you all some great updates.

In the meantime, I really like the memories thing that is going around, so post a fun memory you have of me or Nate and we will do the same for you if you've done this on your blog. I think it's a fun way to remember things!

Love,
Diane (and Nate and Norman)

PS. If anyone has any good fundraiser ideas let me know, I'm our ward YW Camp director and need some good fundraisers so our girls can go!!!

Michigan New Year

Our trip to Michigan was fun and we made it back safely. We did a lot of family things, but one of the things we did the most was play the Wii, or more specifically Wii sports bowling. We had a lot fo fun, and my dad was able to make pro status in just two days. what was even more impressive was on our final day there, my dad bowled a perfect game.





Well all and all we had fun, and ate lots. here is a little video to hopefully make you smile.

Fall Catch up!

Okay, well, I'm going to give you the best updates ever. I'll try and keep them in chronological order, but no guarantees!

Remi's Baby Blessing:

Nate and I flew out to AZ for my beautiful niece Remi's baby blessing. Arizona was really warm, and I loved that. Taylor, Nate, and my dad pretty much played pool around the clock. I had no idea my dad even played, so that was crazy. (oh, obviously mom and dad flew out too, along with Grandma Allie and Cami!). It was really nice. The day of her blessing (they did it at their house) Taylor made some excellent mexican food! Her blessing was beautiful and it was nice to have the family together. There were four generations there on both sides! What a lucky little girl!

My Birthday/Caitlyn and Chaela Visit:

Caitlyn Hair and Chaela came out for my birthday. We had a great time. We made dresses (meaning I ironed and cut while Caitlyn sewed). Chaela went trick or treating and was the cutest little princess on the block. We also went out to Williamsburg and enjoyed window shopping and walking through the streets to see the beautiful colonial williamsburg. I loved having them here, It reminded me how much I miss Caitlyn on a day to day basis

Ohio State VS. Michigan

As always, we had our annual party! We had lots of friends show up to see Nate's team lose (again!). Tons of food fun and buckeyes. I must admit I always enjoy that day, cause the Buckeye's haven't lost yet! (since we've know each other....)

Thanksgiving:

We had an awesome Thanksgiving! We went over to my parents house with my family, the Lovelands, the Jurys, the Diemlers, and the missionaries. We ate tons of food and played games and just had a good time all around. I think I've decided I like the snackies before just as much as the actual dinner! Oh, and I made 8 pies!

Colonial Williamsburg Grand Illumination:

Nate and I went out with my family to the grand illumination of Williamsburg. We had a great time! We walked around and looked at the shops, listened to a fife and drum core (old school drum core basically) and watched a fantastic fireworks show! I also have to admit that I have fully adjusted to Virginia weather. It was about 25 degrees out and i was FREEZING! I kept making Nate stop by the fires so I could warm up. Crazy, huh?

Christmas Season!!!:

We put up all of our Christmas stuff, and it reminded how much I love the holidays. We have two trees this year. The pretty one in the living room and the family fun one with all of our homemade ornaments and presents under it! We put lights up on the house and everything. I even made Norman a stocking (well made is a stretch, after the disaster last year, I just sewed a stuffed animal on so it would match ours and called it good. If you haven't heard that story, ask me, it's a good one.) We will be staying in VA for actual Christmas Day and then heading up to Michigan. It will be the first year we are in our own place on Christmas day so I'm pretty excited about that! Anyway, I'll add pictures when I get home but this is better than ever.

Merry Christmas! (Oh, and Say Hi, you know I like a fan club!)

For Lil' Johnny

So Johnny asked for more videos of Norman, and so he will get them. Here you go Johnny!



So this is not Norman's best show of listening to us, but she has been better in the past. To be honest, I Think she is tired because I played with her a lot already before this.

If you would like to learn more about Norman, she has her own Blog at Norman the Female Dog.

Update Coming Soon

Well, I did so well for a little while, then fell off of the face of the earth....again. I have taken lots of pictures and I PROMISE to update as soon as I get home today. So this entry is to say, get ready, the exciting details on the Walkers are coming!!!!