Walker Christmas 2014

The holiday season was so busy I never got around to blogging about it. I actually just got to sorting through the pictures taken on Christmas, today, two months later. I just want the pictures to be documented for memory sake so here they are. 

This year we celebrated the Walker Christmas on the 27th and 28th. On our Christmas Eve we made the traditional home made pizza, and put together the traditional puzzle. :)

Jenna and Kevin found the cutest Santa suit for Camille. She looked absolutely adorable with her hat on. I love the Haderlie's dearly! Now Jenna just needs to have another baby, because I can never have to many niece's and nephews. 

Grandma Walker with Camille. 

All of my niece's and one nephew on the Walker side in their cute Christmas pajama's by our Christmas stockings. 

All the "kids" ready for bed in the family room. 

Opening presents on our Christmas Day!

Camille gave Lydia a bouncing ball. She loved it!!

 Opened presents everywhere!

This Is The Place Heritage Park

Blake and I for the first time in a long time had this last Saturday free. The possibilities of what to do were endless. Since I am still on my quest to visit all the state and national parks as well as temples in Utah, we decided to head to Salt Lake City, and have a fun date.

It was such a rainy Saturday. I can't even believe it is Christmas next week and still NO SNOW! We got to sleep in and in the early afternoon headed to Salt Lake to catch the 2 O'Clock Endowment Session at the temple. I had only been to the Salt Lake Temple to do baptisms for the dead so I was so excited to go. It was absolutely beautiful! I feel so blessed to have a worthy priesthood holder as a husband and for his example to me.

After the temple we went and had dinner at the Market Street Grill. We had a gift card given to us at our wedding we hadn't had a chance to use. It was delicious! I had the best hamburger I had ever tasted, and the waitress we got was amazing and so attentive!

After dinner the rain had finally subsided and we drove east on our way to This Is The Place Heritage Park. Which just happens to be a State Park. During the Christmas season they do what is called Candle Light Christmas. They usually close at 5 but during Candle Light Christmas they stay open till 9 and have Christmas activities. We paid and got ourselves a map and went strategically from house to house. From what I gathered This Is The Place Heritage Park is full of relocated historical homes. We went from house to house and at each stop there was a different activity.

One home had a blazing fire going and a nice lady dressed in pioneer attire told stories of Christmas traditions way back when and what life would be like. In another house you could make your own bee's wax candles. My favorite was the town hall that had carolers and dance instructors.

It was pretty chilly outside but since we weren't outside very much we surprisingly stayed warm most of the time.  I don't know what the park is like without the Christmas theme but it was fun to go at this time of the year to see the lights and feel the Christmas spirit.

All in all it was a very successful Saturday and we were able to strike two things off our to do list!

Car Hunting

A couple years ago I had the pleasure of purchasing my 1996 Subaru Outback, and despite the many car problems it had served me well. I knew eventually it and I, would have to part ways so for many months Blake and I have been in search of a new vehicle.  We knew we wanted an SUV with all wheel drive so we looked at those for quite a while. Then when we realized those were more expensive for the miles and price that we wanted, we decided to go for a more economical car. 

One day a couple weeks ago, while driving my Outback, I realized that when I turned my steering wheel at a specific angle the whole car would start to shake. That is when I vaguely rememebered when I got new tires about a year prior they wouldn't give me a warranty because the steering rack had serious issues. But since my car still ran I promtley ignored it. After mentioning that to Blake our, well really Blake's search for a car started on a more serious level. One fateful Saturday we were on our way to Blake's parents house and decided to stop at a used car lot to look at a few Hondas' that fell into the our correct catagories, with low miles and a low price.

Jessica the sales women who helped us was amazing. We looked at a few different cars, and took one Honda Civic out for a test drive. It was PERFECT! I loved it, and we almost bought it that night. Jessica didn't make us feel any pressure at all and told Blake that if he felt better about having it checked out by a third party then he definitely should. We agreed that we would come back up the following Tuesday, since we would be coming to Bountiful to see Blake's Grandma Davis, who was in town, anyway. 

Monday Blake was talking to his brother Nick and he being the amazing Brother-in-law that he is took the car into the shop to be looked at. Blake informed me that something was wrong with the transmission so we wouldn't be going with that car after all. I was devistated. 

Tuesday on our way up to Blake's parents house we decided to swing by the lot again since we liked Jessica so much as a sales person we really wanted to buy a car from her. When we walked into the dealership she greated us and we talked for a minute. She said that there was actually a 4 door Honda Civic that just came in that was parked in the show room if we wanted to look at that one. Of course we did since we loved the Honda Civic from Saturday.

We all walked into the show room and BAM. There was the Honda Civic with happy birthday balloons and a big red bow! It took me a minute to realize that the car was for me. I at first was confused because I thought it was pretty odd to show us a sold car, and this car looked as though it was already sold.

That is when Jessica yelled surprise! I was in shock! Blake completely surprised me and I did not see it coming at all! 

Blake is seriously the sweetest man I have ever met in my life.  We were obviously going to get the car anyway but he went out of his way to make it special for me on my birthday. I am absolutely in love with him, and so grateful for my new car that will not leak mystery liquids or shake uncontrollably when driven. I am one lucky girl to have found a guy like this!

Melissa's 22nd Birthday

I  absolutely love birthdays! It doesn't matter who's birthday it is I just love them! This year I turned 22! I can't say that without immediately breaking into song in my head, or even out loud for that matter. Taylor Swift oh how I love you and your cheesy yet applicable song lyrics. 

I am so blessed to have my family so close to me, I feel like I say that all the time but I really mean it. 

The week before my birthday the Larson's had a nice dinner, presents, and cake for me and it was wonderful. I am so grateful to have such amazing in-laws. Huge shout out to Nancy and her amazing cooking skills because dinner was delicious. Blake's family always makes me feel so welcome and loved. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures while we were there, but it really did happen I promise. 

The day before my birthday my immediate family came over to my home for dinner, and to celebrate the birth of Matthew and I. It was so good to have them over! 

After dinner, Matthew and I blew out the candles on our cake very ceremoniously. Matthew had a nice carrot cake while I went with my traditional JELL-O cheese cake from a box. You will not find better cheese cake around! 

We made our wishes and blew out our candles. Well actually only Matt blew his out, and only he will get his wish. It took me a lot more blows to get my candles out. I could have sworn they were trick candles but I guess I am just not very talented in the blowing candles out department.

Moments after the above picture was taken Matt tried to help me blow my last candle out, being the good twin that he is, and by switching his cake to one hand, accidentally launched it up in the air. By some miracle he caught the cake and only managed to spray nuts around on the carpet. It was one of the more comedic things to happen that night. 

We then opened presents. My family was so thoughtful and kind I was so grateful for everything I got. 

Matt has had, oh I don't even know how many pairs of Adidas Samba shoes. He has a tradition of wearing them down till there are holes and then he will get a new pair. When he opened one of his presents it was a shoe box, and he was so so excited because he thought he would be getting a new pair of his beloved shoes. 

When he opened the box there lay an old pair. My parents said they found them in the closet and thought he could get a few more months out of them. Even though there was a huge hole in one of the shoes. After laughing about it my dad pulled out a brand new pair and Matt was thrilled.

One of my favorite things about getting together with the family is seeing my cute niece and nephew. Lydia was constantly moving but I managed to snag this picture of her. It is a little blurry around her edges, like I said hard to keep her still. She is talking so much now and she is the politest little girl I ever did meet. I had a blast building block towers with her. 

Austin is 2 months old now! What?!? When did that happen. Shan dressed him up in the little onesie tie I gave her at her baby shower. He looked so handsome! 

I am very grateful that I have so many people around me that always make me feel so loved. I can't imagine a better life.

Before they all left, I made everyone take pictures, because come on, it is for posterity! We missed you Jenna and Kevin! 

Arches National Park

Arches National Park. One word. Breathtaking.

When I was a little kid we made a trip the the Arches, but honestly it was so long ago I have no memory of it. It is crazy, you can do so much as a kid but not remember any of it, except the feeling of love and closeness you had with your family. 

Blake the amazing man that he is, is humoring my desire to see all the state & national parks in Utah. We had this trip planned for the start of October, but then life happened and other priorities pushed the trip back to the very end of November. Thanksgiving weekend. 

We made a reservation at a cheap Inn, the reviews weren’t exactly the best but we didn’t want to spend a fortune on where we were sleeping. Especially since we would much rather camp and spend no money at all. Unfortunately below freezing at night temps convinced me other wise. The Inn however exceeded my expectations and wasn’t a bad stay after all once I got over the color of the green tub. :)

We woke up in the morning and made the 5 minute drive to the entrance of the park. The whole Moab area is so beautiful and the rocks immediately started calling my name. I almost regretted the decision to not bring climbing gear, but as we entered the park my mind changed right away. 

Our first stop was Balance Rock. Balance Rock was made of two different types of rock and the middle part was eroding faster then the top, creating an unbalanced feel. The pictures don’t do this massive rock justice and I loved this area because the rock was only a short 10 minute hike off the road. 

Next we made the drive to the Delicate Arch parking lot. It surprisingly took a while to drive there.  The park is huge, 119.8 sq miles, I had no idea it covered so much ground.  

The hike to Delicate Arch they say is about a 1 to 3 hour round trip. We made it there and back in a little under two hours. The hike at first is through very dry and sort of boring terrain. Then it crosses a huge span of slick rock. 

The last stretch until the arch you have a cliff on one side and a drop off on the other. It is pretty cool how the path was cut into the rock, obviously not by natural means, but still cool.

Then without any warning you turn a corner and there the arch stands in all it’s glory. Blake and I spent a little time snapping pictures and taking in the beauty of the Delicate Arch. 

When we got down from that hike we drove to a look out to enjoy lunch. Our lunch consisted of pre packed turkey sandwiches, carrots, and broccoli. So Good. The look out we had parked at stood in front of The Fiery Furnace. You have to get a permit to hike inside of the Fiery Furnace but looking at it was good enough for us. 

When we were telling Blake’s father Steele about our plans to head down south he suggested that since we would be in the neighborhood to make sure we hiked to Landscape Arch. I had never heard of it but took his word for it and made the hike to see.

When we got to Landscape Arch Blake’s exact words were “Why is the Delicate Arch more popular? This one is so much better!”

It really was so massive. The biggest arch in the park spanning 290 feet from base to base. When we walked up to it, I didn’t even see it at first since I was distracted, because it blended in with it’s background. As we got closer and I realized it was there and the arch blew me away at it’s shear size. 

(I wore my Arch shirt just for this occasion) 

On our way back to the parking lot we took a couple other trails to visit two other arch locations.

First we hiked to the Pine Tree Arch. Named for the tree inside of it. It was a little disappointing after the Landscape Arch but still really cool to see. The rock this arch formed in was so thick it just blows my mind at the shear force nature has at it’s finger tips. 

We then hiked to Tunnel Arch. It was two holes in the rock. One going straight through, and the other turning up exiting the roof. They were sort of small but the perfect view to end our trip on. As we hiked back to the car I knew we had perfect timing at the end of our day because my legs were starting to feel like jelly from all the hiking (so out of shape). 

We drove the 214 miles back to Eagle Mountain and grabbed Blake's car, then caravanned up to South Jordan to return our rental car. Which by the way we totally scored a deal on. 

Originally we had reserved an economical car, to get good gas mileage and so we wouldn’t be putting miles on either one of our cars. It was only going to be $38.00, including tax for two days. When we arrived at Expedia, they had an SUV waiting for us. They had absolutely amazing customer service but when they showed us the SUV you could see the disappointment in Blake’s face. The whole reason we were renting a car was to get good gas milage. He briefly and politely mentioned this to the worker and he immediately said that he would give us the gas already in the car which was 3/4’s full , we could bring the car back on empty, and he would also give us 10% off. Deal of the year, because the tank of gas basically paid for the rental fee. So awesome. 

When we got back home at 9:00 I was so physically exhausted. That is how you know you had an amazing day!