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!!!!

Birthday week 08

Now that we have returned from Phoenix, Birthday week has officially started for Diane (although I did start about a week ago by giving her sleeping beauty). So now that it is under way, don't forget to wish Diane a Happy Birthday week!

p.s. we plan to get our pictures from AZ up asap.

No TV and Video games this weekend....

So we have had a really fun weekend! My parents went out of town, so we had Kye all weekend and that means I actually plan activities and cook dinner! Here are some pics (and details of what we did)

These ones are of all of us decorating Sugar Cookies. I had to go super fast because I was the only one making them the way I like (you know, pumpkins and jack'o'lanterns orange, ghosts white, and bats black). This pic is of me and most of the ones I did. (and contrary to popular belief, I am not just OCD, I have proven time and again that the normal looking ones get eaten much better than the "creative kind")
Here are pics over everyone else's "cookies"

Nate's (the green Ghost is Slimer....I actually liked this one)

Kye loved this, he made one of his ghosts purple and then glued wings on it, very creative!


Rachel's were pretty good, the wierd green one is supposed to be a gourd...

Sherise had more fun playing with the icing. Yes, that is black icing on her mouth, not lipstick. She thought it was the funniest thing ever! (I enjoyed that it stained her whole mouth black, teeth and all!) Needless to say we couldn't use the black icing after this.
Norman really liked the icing, and she looks cute with it on her nose!

We also painted Halloween decorations for my house...I love the crafts at Michaels. Rachel and I did some wall hangings. Sherise and I did haunted houses, and Kye and Rachel did masks. Here is a pic of the masks and Sherise's house!

Well, that's all I've got for now, but be proud that I have now successfully posted 2 blogs in a row in one week! Yay for me! (Oh, and if you haven't said hi yet, please leave me a message, I'm vain and will write more if I know I have an audience. Please don't act suprised, you know me :) )

New Habits

Alright, so I hate to admit it, but Nate is the only one who blogs in our family. I pretend like it's me, but up until now, it's not. I've decided that all that is going to change, so here we go.

Yesterday I did something so uncharacteristically Diane, I feel like it's my duty to share it with the rest of you so you can enjoy. Last week I scheduled a French session with my Mom for Tuesday at 7. Great, one more that we can get out of the way! So then my Dad calls on Sunday to ask if the Cub scouts can come to my house for their activity instead of the church (they are learning to cook over fires, and I live 1 minute from the church. By doing it at my house, dad could use is portable fire pit and not have to leave it at the church overnight while it cool, instead it could just sit in my back yard. Plus it's more fun to cook around the woods, and my backyard backs up to the woods, but I'm getting off track). Of course I tell him yes, no problem, I'll be there. Then on Monday our friend calls to invite us to his wife's surprise party the next night, time TBD. We tell him of course, we love JinHee and will definitely be there (by now you should see where this is going). So I'm driving home from the store Tuesday night at about 5 and Nate calls. He asks if 7 will work for the surprise party and I say "Yes, of course, why wouldn't it" he mentions that I have french with mom and I'm like that doesn't matter....not making the connection. It takes a few seconds of his prompting and I realize that I've double booked. Then my dad calls, crap, I've triple booked. That's right, me the very organized control freak has not just double booked, but triple booked WITHOUT REALIZING IT!!! I still can't believe it! I cancel on my parents (dad doesn't need me there) and go to the party, but now I'm doubting myself. I've triple checked my schedule today to make sure I don't do it again. It's driving me crazy! Oh well, it happens to us all. It just re-emphasizes to me how important my calendering is!

Also, if you are reading this, let me know by saying hi. I'm interested to see how many people actually check our blog! (I'm vain, I admit, I will most likely write more if I know people are actually reading about me!) Well, that's it from me. I'll be back soon!

-Diane

PS. Here are some pics with me and the kids I borrow on a regular basis.

She's doing my nails...so cute!

He's out cold, but so adorable!

First No-Hitter since 1972

Last night Carlos Zambrano had his first no hitter of his career. He also ended the cubs drought of no-hitters which lasted 36 years, the longest in the bigs. the only teams who have had longer droughts are the Mets and Padres, which do not really count since niether team has ever had a no hitter. It is nice to see the Cubbies make history, and we give props to Zambrano. Now we can't wait until the next drought is ended in october...

Norman Houdini

here is a fun vid of Norman

Norman Walker

As of Aug 29 2008, the Walker family grew by 1 member. Norman Louisa Walker whose birthday is July 4th joined our family at about 8 weeks old. we rescued her from a local animal shelter. It is also a plus that we wanted a dog, and wanted to start with a puppy. She is a black Labrador Retriever mixed with an Australian Shepard. here are some pictures.

In this First one, she was wandering around our Kitchen and found this cubby and climbed in! So CUTE!!!

In this one she is sleeping with her favorite toy, her, Leopard. It's about the same size as her now but that will change.....

This is her at the vet. She was skiddish when we first went, but once she had met the vet she went right to sleep, happy and healthy.


Finally, here is a video of her playing. I'll try and get some better shots but this is what you have in the meantime! Enjoy!

The Summer

So this summer has been a blast we have done a lot of different things. We started the summer off by getting our own place, which happens to also be our first house.



Our first trip of the summer was the 1st annual Walker family reunion at Cedar point. it was a lot of fun, and we took kye with us. we went on a few rides, and since we were there on the fourth we also watched the fire works on the beach outside the park.



We also took a family picture of the walker clan while we were there, since it was the first time in a while that the enitre family was together, especially after a few weddings and births.


Later on this summer We were able to chaperon the youth conference trip to Palmyra. it was a lot of fun. we enjoyed our family that we had, and loved seeing all of the church historical sites, along with the pageant. Diane even met Nephi (see picture below)!!!!!!


We also took and impromptu trip to the beach where we stayed at a family friend's beach house. Most of the Nuffers were already there, so we kept Kye and Sherise for the extra days that we stayed. we went miniature golfing and to the beach a lot so it was a blast.


To end our summer break we went to Water Country USA, although we didn't get any pictures of this because we were all too wet to try and take them. We took Kye and Rachel and it was a lot of fun going to a themed water park with all of us. As it turns out, Diane does not like pitch black water slides. We heard her screaming the whole way down. We are thinking of getting season passes for it next year, thats how much fun we had.

So all in all it has been a pretty good summer break from school for Nate and just summer fun for Diane from work.