Easter Beginnings.

Well, this year for Easter, I shared an idea-I got from a friend-with Bryce that I thought it would be nice to spend Saturday of the Easter weekend doing the more commercialized things such as Easter egg hunts, giving of the Easter baskets (candy), dying of eggs, etc. And then spend Sunday, reflecting on the Atonement and teaching our child (ren in the future) about Easter and having a nice Easter dinner to eat with family (and friends) whenever possible.

Brycen ended up getting sick 1am Sunday morning so it turned out that my idea was perfect. I held him most the day as I read the Ensign and cooked funeral potatoes and homemade rolls to eat with our ham later that evening. And Daddy went to church to hold down the Nursery fort (where we currently serve). We then ate dinner with our good friends across the parking lot (fourth dinner in a row eating with them :). It was a wonderful day and stay tuned for Easter pictures at the end.

Since I haven't blogged in a while, let's just say a few things have happened recently in the Walker household so I figure I will share them in order of occurrence.

I have made it a goal to document more this time around (picture wise) and I THOUGHT this would make a cute picture...

Brycen has this slight thing about first, being put in the spotlight and second, doing something he doesn't want to do and in this case, it was all wrong. He did NOT want to hold the stick. Daddy says he can't blame him. haha. Oh well, I have to admit that the giggles these pictures bring me far outweigh the guilt. :) We will just have to make sure the new addition doesn't take the above pictures the wrong way and understands that he/she is wanted! Afterall, Brycen currently has a slight obsession with babies.

A bit blurry but it's official! November 1st is my due date (putting me at 13 weeks today) and even though the chances of having it on my due date are low....11/1/11 would be awesome!

Brycen made a big boy move recently and loves his new bed. He refers to himself as "baby" and this is "baby's bed" and he won't let anyone but his friend, Madden, sit on it with him.

Brycen also received another haircut recently. It was way overdue and... something if up to Brycen, he never wants to do again. He cried on Daddy's shoulder during the entire thing saying, "DaDa's turn.....Mama's turn". Someone other than baby's turn. If you ask him now where his hair is, he says "All gone".

I sure miss these curls.

but I don't miss the constant bedhead he had between baths. He is very anti-Mommy bringing a brush within a foot radius of his head so... to prevent Mommy's temptations to spit in her hands and use that to tame his hair, a haircut was in order.

Ward Easter egg hunt. Brycen loved it. So fun to watch him get into it since last Easter, he wasn't even walking yet.

And the hike we did with some friends after. So fun.

Brycen with his haircut and the family Easter basket.

I have this obsession with watching Brycen sleep. I love how peaceful he looks and his skin is always so smooth. I love kissing his forehead and cheek before leaving. And who would've ever though that he would be puking just four short hours later?

Yesterday was Bryce and I's 3rd wedding anniversary. Even though Brycen was still feeling sick and we had been up with him all night the night before and Mommy had a doctor's appt to get her blood drawn (I hate needles...), it was a good day. Brycen and I slept most the day away but when Daddy came home, we had a delicious steak dinner/picnic from Applebee's take-out on our living room floor, followed by watching, "Tangled" (cute movie!). Brycen stayed up with us and watched almost the entire movie, giggling and saying "oh no!" at parts, before falling asleep in my arms.

AND...Brycen is feeling so much better today! He even used the toilet for the first time (his idea, he approached me saying, "baby's turn" this morning)! Will I get a short break from diapers after all? I guess time will tell.

O, the little things.

Brycen always wants to help. Yes, it takes longer. Yes, it's messier. And yes, I love it.

We made Chicken Enchiladas for a group dinner a week or so ago. I credit Brycen's personal application of cheese as to why they tasted so good.

Mmm....

Brycen believes in one movie and one movie only. That movie is titled, "Cars". It makes it's appearance at least twice a day (per Brycen's orders) and Bryce and I may or may not know it word for word. I sometimes wonder how much longer before I beg for Brycen to please, want to watch something else or the day comes that the movie just happens to "disappear". But other times, I am so thankful for the little distraction it can provide.

Specifically, this day:

Our first success of getting him to watch a movie in the car. I think he was way more interested in wearing the headphones but the 30 minutes (of the 5 hour trip) that he sat and watched, were amazing since it allowed me to do my favorite thing: sit in silence and look out the window. Am I weird?

I love the countryside between where we live and Chicago. So many Farms. Old barns. And stories that I yearn to know, so I usually find myself, making up my own.

We stayed the night in Chicago so we could break up the trip and attend the temple. I specifically packed a certain way, knowing that Brycen would insist on helping.

LOVE him!

So, we stopped by Costco on the way home from Chicago and bought our first sleeping bags for some camping we hope to be doing this summer. We were interested to see if they actually worked for what they said they would and since I always freeze, no matter the temperature; I volunteered to be the guinea pig.

Much to my liking, it worked! I was pretty comfortable while Bryce sat by and froze.

Since I watch my friend's little baby a few days a week; this has made it's reappearance in our living room after months of non-use.

I'm pretty sure he enjoys it more now than he ever did as a baby. And he loves that he can climb in and out as he pleases.

Bryce returned today after a 3 day trip to NY. Brycen nearly had a heart attack when he spotted him at the airport.

We are so glad he's home and are all looking forward to much needed sleep tonight.

Rocking Joy

Is it just me or is the miniature version of anything always cuter?

Brycen LOVES his new chair

.... and I find it simply, adorable.

Lucky Charms.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

This holiday always reminds of Bryce. For those of who don't know (a little Walker history): I came home from my date with Harold my Freshman year of college (Harold B. Lee Library, I was very, very against socializing in my RM ward) starving, and walked in the kitchen to find -to my dismay- a huge group of people around the kitchen table in my Heritage Halls apartment at BYU in Provo, Utah. In an effort to try to make me appear "normal", my roommate went around the table, introducing me to all of them. I could really careless-all I wanted to do was grab my cereal, milk, spoon, and bowl and escape to my room; but I do remember one (and still, only) person that was there.

He was wearing green with "Ireland" printed across his jacket, had red hair, and blue eyes. I never caught his name or made an effort to because I already had one for him. As I grabbed my favorite cereal, Lucky Charms, and made a dash for my room--I looked at the Leprechaun on the front of the cereal box, the one I have stared at ever since I fell in love with the cereal and kept thinking to myself, "How crazy! Leprechauns do exist!".

A week or so later, the Leprechaun came, found me, and sat by me in the 1000 seated room of American Heritage. I thought it was because he remembered me from that awkward kitchen night but it turned out that it was all my chance. I happened to go to an earlier class because I stayed late one day after Biology (held in the same room and found out the same teacher taught American Heritage right after, so instead of going home and coming back, I stayed) and as Bryce described it, "he found a pretty girl and sat by her".

We started talking and became friends. I ended up saving Bryce and his friend-also in our ward-a seat every day since I was there from the class before, and American Heritage easily became my favorite class that semester. It wasn't until a while and some drama later though, that we had our first dance at a St. Patty's Day Dance. It was to "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias. Bryce sang the lyrics in my ear as we danced and it became "our song" that we danced to at our wedding reception and Bryce still plays for me (and sometimes we dance) from time to time.

and here we are, almost 5 and a half years later...

with a little Leprechaun of our own and a cabinet full of Lucky Charms.

Who would've ever thought I carried the Leprechaun gene?

And that, that same lil' Leprechaun would get the biggest kick out of eating ALL of Mommy's marshmallows out of her bowl?

The last part might drive Mommy slightly crazy but the rest of the story is amazing and meant to be.

In celebration of the day, the lil L and I made some delicious cookies. He insisted on helping every step of the way and it was a blast (and success).

The food coloring was by far, his favorite part. After he observed what the first drop did, he said, "WOW! MORE!" He then grabbed the bottle and added a ton, if you ask me. Ask him? There's more in the bottle; so, clearly, not enough.

Brycen adding his own artist touch.

Next time, I should probably check before hand, if I have all the ingredients... but thankfully, my neighbor lent me some vanilla and the Reese Cups turned out to be a yummy alternative (I first tried chocolate chips but I wasn't fast enough and the cookies cooled before I could get them all on, causing the cookies to fall apart).

And to complete the holiday, my husband that got up and dyed the milk green this morning and is wearing a certain green jacket with "Ireland" printed across the front, came over and gave me a fair share of pinches. I'm sure, all out of love.

After everything, I forgot to wear green. I always do.

The Cutest WIP

My shopping partner in the making...

Now, if only I could teach him to not plow into every person, child, shelf, and clothing rack within a foot radius, that would be great. His frustration, rescue cries, and needing to constantly apologize for his run-ins make shopping nearly impossible, obviously devoiding the whole purpose of it.

Oh well, we have 16 more years to work on it....:)

Free Entertainment

Who knew a garbage truck could be so fascinating?

I would be okay with garbage day being every day.

Arizona Deliciousness.

My brother, Mike, and his wife, Jenn, live in Sunny Arizona and they have been wanting us to visit for awhile so we made an agreement with them that if they visited us, we would visit them. Well, they came here last October and knowing that we wanted to do it before Brycen turned 2, when amazing flight deals opened up for February--it was clearly, our opportunity.

Brycen loves all the attention he gets as the only child on my side.

We got to see their house for the first time and quickly fell in love with all the space. Bryce and I had our own sink in the bathroom--what a treat!

Nothing like brownies and milk before bed while watching the parentals dominate bowling on the Wii. :)

So of all weekends to go to Arizona, we got the weekend that the whole nation experienced a cold spell (the 70 degree Texas we left just 4 days prior, was in the single digits). Thankfully, Arizona wasn't that cold, but it was still pretty chilly. My toes and fingers froze while we did some Orange picking early Saturday morning.

By the time we finished picking the whole tree and 40 grocery-full bags later, Brycen had already consumed at least 4 oranges. Fresh oranges is in a whole new category of deliciousness. We have thoroughly enjoyed the ones that we were able to bring back with us. I was even able to pick some fresh grapefruit....mega DELICIOUS!!! Too bad we are on the lasts of it.

Mike served his mission in Russia, hence this Russian hat Bryce found.

Haha! I think it's safe to say, he has some room to grow :)

We walked around the Glendale Chocolate Affair Festival Saturday night. And even though I couldn't bring myself to pay the outrageous price for one amazingly looking chocolate dipped strawberry, it was still so fun.

Brycen LOVES "pairplanes", as he calls them and finding them in the sky. It might have something to do with just finishing his 28th flight...

NYPD pizza for dinner=amazing!! While waiting for the pizza to arrive, Brycen was kind enough to set the table for us before managing to knock 3 of the 4 forks on the ground.

Brycen loved the idea that plants needed watering in February and made sure their plants were thoroughly drowned...I mean, watered. No doubt Mike and Jenn are paying for it through their utility bill.

We were able to bring out the shorts the last day we were there-- of course. But at least, we could. Can't yet say that for Indiana.

Mike and Jenn spoiled us rotten with their treats, their space, and their company and we are looking forward to seeing family again soon.