This feels like the fastest month of my life! In short, my brother Quinten, affectionately known as Quiz, came home from his mission to Birmingham, England on the 2nd of Sept. We've been to Soda each weekend for Labor Day and his Mission report and have had so much fun! (Side note: learned to play the card game "Five Crowns" with my card shark cousins and I loved it so much I went out and bought it! So, needless to say, game night at the Walkers is an open invite).

Because Quiz has seen very little sun for the past two years, and because we have heard of "Book of Mormon tours", our whole family is GOING TO CANCUN ON THURSDAY!!! I just started packing today and I am giddy with excitement... probably won't sleep tonight...or the next night. Halle will be staying here in Blackfoot and I am looking forward to being able to just play, but I already miss her and I'm not even gone!!! She knows who her momma is and calls me by name (Mama, not Jesse) and I'm just trying not to think about how much I am going to miss her by the time next Wed morning comes around.

Anyway, please wish us a good trip, because it's kind of, not completely, but sort of hurricane season and we just really want a couple days of sun, due to the original reason we are going. Plus it's Mexico, so come on!!
Our fresh-and-never-been-used Passports are ready to go and so are we!! Have a good week!

What do you do when you realize your 10 month old truly thinks of ways to outsmart you?
My sweet baby girl has always been a really good napper. She acts sleepy, clingy, and puts her face on anything soft: pant legs, my face, my hair, any blanket, burp rag or hand towel she can get her hands on, shoes... you get the picture. Anyway, two times now today she has shown me her tell-tale signs that she just wants to be laid down. Both times, she grabs her blanket, never fusses, and acts like she's about to take a nap. Earlier, I went in to find her covered in wipes, with wet pants because she had sat on a pile of them. How did she get wipes in her crib you might ask? Well, my awesome tri-purpose hand-me-down crib- (and this is in no way sarcastic-- I LOVE THIS CRIB) has a changing table attached to one end where I have always kept her diapers, wipes, lotion, etc. Well, now that "little miss thang" can stand and thinks she's too big for her britches, she reaches up over the side of the crib for anything she can touch. This morning's treasure: wipes. I am posting about this because I laid her down 30 minutes ago or so and she has been so quiet, I was just sure she's asleep, but I currently hear movement and quiet "talking" sounds that usually mean "I am pretty darn content at the moment". I know I should go up there, but I'm afraid of what I will find, because, yes, I left the wipes in the same place they were this morning. I guess you live, you learn.....to move the wipes.

Jesse is taking a little nap right now so I will be blogging without her permission. Last weekend we braved the slightly unfavorable weather to get our house painted. We have been planning to do it all summer but have been so busy on the weekends that we haven't been able to get to this project as soon as we wanted. Well, we finally got it done. I'm not sure these pictures give it justice, so you may have to come visit us to get the full effect. I think it looks much better...now we just need to paint our grass:)

This summer, some of the people I work with at the dental office decided to run the relay which starts in Idaho Falls called "To Bone and Back". It is 20 miles to Bone, ID, and 20 miles back. In total a 40 mile run/ 8 team members= 5 miles each. They have the course broken up into 5 mile legs. I was going to run the last leg which was mostly flat since I am probably the least experienced runner (my own fault) on the team, but i ended up doing the 4th leg which included several hills, the last one being quite a doozy. But we really had a good time!


Me, Kristin, Emily, Kristy, Shaina, and Paul before the race- getting pumped up- can't you tell? the other 2 members of our team, Katie and Lynn, had to come up later.

My cheering section!

The "passing of the baton" - actually a small plastic bone- to bone and back- you get it.
Listening to my Black Eyed Peas- my main go-to music for running. Good beat, a couple songs are very motivational "Give it whatcha got". Don't mock it till you try it.
The whole team at the end of the race. Glad we did it, glad to be done, will definitely do it again. Note to self: next time train by running a hill once in awhile!

We've been sort-of busy so far this summer, but we're having a great time!

We finally were able to take Halle on a bike ride in this bike trailer Amanda let us borrow- so now we know we definitely are going to get one for ourselves. Halle had a great time, though she is sort of too small for the straps.

This was how she ended up both times she came along- our first clue that the straps were kind of ineffective.

We were able to see my Grandma and Grandpa Kunz over the 4th of July weekend. My cute grandma is so great!

Lovin' Baked beans=JOKER FACE

I was finally able to let Halle try out her swimsuit this summer at Ross Park. She loved just sitting and splashing in the kiddie pool, which I realized she can do at home just as easily, but at least we were able to get out of Blackfoot!


By the way: "Little Miss Halle Bear", as her friends call her, is now 9 months old. Here's where she at:
Teeth:2
Mobility: TONS! Mostly army crawls, but will do the regular crawling for a minute until she falls on her belly, then she really takes off. Pulls herself to standing as often as possible. It is her new favorite thing to do.
Talking: Still loves to squeal on occasion, but mostly makes little high pitched, but soft, "dramatic sounds" like she's telling a story about all the things that go on in the day.
Kisses: open mouthed of course. Tries to give kisses even with her binkie in her mouth and ends up just pounding her binkie into our faces.

We're just loving life and having a great summer!!