Memorial Day Weekend!

We've had a great Memorial Day weekend. Joe's best friend from high school (who is also named Joe :) and his family came to stay with us. Joe and Liz are living in Tennessee right now where Joe is going to Dental school. We haven't seen them for years and it was so fun catching up with them and their sweet little girls. Becky, JJ, Abby, Emmy, and Emmy were inseparable the entire visit. We have missed them a lot. It was fun taking them around D.C. and making some fun memories.
Thanks Joe and Liz! We hope to see you again soon!

"Take me out to the ball game"

We had an awesome day today!
One of the partners Joe works with offered us his tickets to the Nationals game for today.
We took all the kids and had a blast.
The seats were great! Just 15 or 20 rows up from third base.
We watched a few innings, then I took the little kids to a playground they had in the out field.
Later we met up with Joe, Becky and JJ for "helmet sundaes" and pictures with the 4 presidents who race around the bases between innings. Dallin wasn't so sure about them but the girls thought they were cool.
I forgot my camera! Grrrrr. But we took a few pictures on our phones. (Now I just need to figure out how to get pictures off my phone.)
It was a great day! I recommend it to anyone.

Women's Conference and WICKED!

A week ago my sweet mother flew me to Utah to attend "Women's Conference" at BYU with her and my sisters. What an awesome week! Joe's Mom and sister flew our here to take care for the kids so I could go. Joe's sister Beth did a cute entry on her blog about the going's on here in Virginia while I was gone. You can read about it here.
Anyway, I've never gone on a trip by my self before, and it was so nice to have a little R&R.
I had the chance to see most of my brothers and sisters, we did a lot of shopping, :) and Women's Conference was awesome as usual! I always come away from those two days feeling like I can conquer the world! (well, kind of:) Then to top off the week my sister got tickets for all of us to see "WICKED!" Wow! It was amazing! I had never seen the show or new much about it but I was hooked by the opening number. Definitely the perfect end to a great week.
Joe and the kids were so great about letting me go for the week. I've never been away from any of them that long before. I have to admit that when it was time to get on the plane I was a little wary of leaving for so long but obviously it ended up being such a great trip!

SOOOO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT!

I've been a real slacker when it comes to blogging lately. My excuse is that we've had a lot going on the last few weeks with the move and everything. Then we didn't have internet for a few weeks after the move. So, since I haven't been blogging along the way I have a lot to catch everyone up on.
First things first.....

MOVING DAY!!!!!

(I forgot to take pictures on our actual moving day but here is one of Emmy and Dallin a day two before the move playing on some of our boxes.)

We moved into our beautiful new home over Conference weekend. No one hates moving more than I do but I have to say that over all the move went really smoothly. I spent the week leading up to moving day boxing things up. Joe took Friday off to help me finish boxing and organizing. He also had the fun job of taking apart everyone's beds and anything else that couldn't fit through the door.
We got up early Saturday morning. I finished up a few things at the house while Joe went to pick up the moving truck. Joe had asked a few guys from the Elder's quorum to come at 9:00am to help but we weren't sure how many would willing to give up their Conference Saturday. By 9:10am we were both a little worried that it would be just the two of us. However, at about 9:15am cars started pulling into our apartment and before we knew it, it felt like the whole Elder's quorum was there helping us load the truck. It's true what they say, "Many hands make light work." We had the truck loaded and ready to go by about 10:15am!
On the way to our new house to unload I was so touched as I saw the long caravan of cars in front of me. I was filled with gratitude for our friends who gave up time with their families to come help us. And for their families who gave up their Saturday with their husbands and dads so they could come and serve us. We live in the best ward ever!!
I was so impressed with how efficient everyone was. They had the truck unloaded by 11:00am!
Everything seemed to work out great! Since Conference doesn't start until 12:00pm out here we got to spend the rest of the day listening to conference and putting things away.

So many people stepped up to help us through the whole process. Thank you to everyone who helped watch my kids while I packed and cleaned, helped pack boxes, and helped with the move. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We are so lucky to have such great friends.

We couldn't be happier with our new house! We all love the extra room. It's so nice to have a yard for the kids to play in and we live right across the street from a little play ground. We have already spent many hours playing there.


HOME SWEET HOME
Only a week or two after moving in we had our first adventure in "home ownership."
We had a big rain storm come through the area and our sump-pump was leaking water into one of our basement window wells and we ended up with a half an inch of water in our basement.
Luckily the problem was easily fixed and we survived our first catastrophe.

Every one is adjusting to our new place really well. We all love the extra space . I've already given up worrying about every little spill, scratch, or finger print on the wall. With four young kids it's just unavoidable!

We feel so blessed to have such a great place to live.
Now that we have more space we are hoping to have more visitors! (hint-hint:)
We are looking forward to hosting parties and having family and friends come stay with us more often.
Pack your bags...."The Hotel Walker" is open for business!



EASTER
We had a great Easter!
It was so funny watching Dallin figure out the easter egg hunting thing.
Here are a few pics of the kids in their Easter Clothes!
















Whew! I think that's all I have to catch up on for now.

Signing our life away...

We just signed the papers and got the keys to our new house today!
As we left the mortgage office I couldn't help but squeal with excitement.
I feel like a 5 year old on Christmas eve. :)
We've been "visiting" our house since we started building it in December. I can't believe it's officially ours now! Here are a few pictures I have taken along the way.









We are planning to move next weekend.
YAHOO!!!!

"My Daddy........Mr. Incredible"

One of Emily's favorite movies right now is "The Incredibles." Whenever Mr. Incredible appears on screen she says, "Mommy look! It's Daddy!"
I have to say I agree with her. To us he is.... "Mr. Incredible!"

Today Joe participated in the Washington D.C. Half Marathon. I, for one, am totally impressed! Not just because he finished but also because he ran 13.1 miles in only 2 hours.

Joe has had a lot on his plate lately with work, church stuff, and trying to find a spare minute here or there to spend with us. I have to say as I think of all the things he does for us...he never ceases to amaze me! Joe is one of those people who is always working toward a goal. But not only that, he doesn't stop until he achieves that goal. He is the one who came up with "RAISE THE BAR" as our family motto. He was really inspired by the conference talk L. Tom Perry gave on this subject and Joe lives by this motto daily. He is not afraid to face difficult obstacles and actually is at his best when he is being challenged and likes to find new ways to challenge himself. He works hard at everything he does whether it's work, church callings, sports, study, or just being a wonderful husband and father.
We feel really lucky to have him as our dad.
We love you Daddy!
Way to go!

Snow Day! :).......and a sick day :(

Yesterday we had another snow day. If I had to guess--probably one of the last. Virginia is known for having pretty mild spring weather. The kids were excited to have a day off of school. They all had a blast playing in the snow. We actually got a pretty good amount too!

Unfortunately Julianne has to take a few extra days off of school due to a bought of strep. She's being a tough little patient though. We all hope she feels better soon.