Movin' on UP!

I feel I need to brag. Jon and I have reached a HUGE milestone in our lives. Our love is going to reach to new HEIGHTS. My dreams will forever be altered. I can feel the difference already in my life. I can barely put my feet on the ground. I am so high, I almost feel prideful! That's right friends, for the first time in 5 years of marriage, our bed isn't on the ground or comically high like our newly-wed apartment. We GOT A BED FRAME! I seriously feel so weird climbing into me bed...I see things in a different light. I feel like I am defying gravity in some small way. I, Sarah Walter, no longer am confined to the ground...I am like 6 inches higher when I sleep!
Yes, you should be jealous! Our bed can finally wear a skirt!

Happy Father's Day/Suprise Week!

Happy Father's Day! Here in our corner of the world we had a great time celebrating Dad's! We went on a movie/dinner date with Scott and Susan, and had a fancy dinner on Sunday with friends. It was a great time! We are so blessed to have great fathers all around us, and Kate and I are lucky to have such a great Dad who lives with us! Thanks for being amazing Jon, we love you!

Poor Chance, Kate has been treating him like a teddy bear lately...he is not a huge fan, but he is a good sport!

In other matters of recent happenings around here, Kate and I have had a busy week full of fun and surprises! We started the week off with surprising Heather (my sister-in-law) with her sister. Her sister flew in to visit without telling, and Kate and I got to be the deliver-ers (for lack of a better term). It was fun to be a part of that. Then we got a package from my mom and grandma for Kate, with cute outfits! Kate enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with the package!

Also, my friend from good ol' Adams branch got to come by for a quick visit this week. Her family was 'in the neighborhood' and decided to swing by. It was so fun to see her and her kids. Kate just wanted her to hold her. Thanks for coming Mandy!
And finally my dear friend Nikki had a birthday this week, and we successfully pulled off a surprise birthday party! It was great! We hid our cars and everything. There was a cute cake created by Meghan, and a banner and balloons. I think Nikki loved it! Here is a shot of us girls at the party! We love you Nikki, thanks for having a birthday!

Old dogs and New tricks

This week we are dog sitting for a sweet old dog, Sadie. She is a sharp contrast to our young Chance! Sadie is DEAF! I seem to always be trying to get her attention....lol. It actually is amusing to me to see just how alike old people and old dogs are! Kate LOVES having her around. At meal times both dogs stand next to her high chair, and Kate just looks at me and smiles so big. She loves being the center of attention! She has also decided that Sadie makes a better snuggling buddy...Chance doesn't stay in one place long enough for her to use as a pillow. I think Chance just always tries to get her to play. I just love how in the picture Chance looks like he is saying "hey kid what about me?! I'm your dog!"

Kate has been busy learning all kinds of new things! This week she has learned what a fish says (she opens and closes her lips like a fish) and also she will make a fish face (by puckering her lips and making kissing noises). It is the cutest thing on her little face, but I haven't been able to get a picture. I am trying to do better at being a mom....I feel like I don't give Kate enough learning time....but I'm working on it! Our adventure we started today was the no-really-means-no-and-mom-means-business. I can't say I'm of fan of this part of parenting! I think Kate is just toying with me, she KNOWS not to do things but will try and do them when I am distracted (ie today our battle was not climbing on the kitchen table, so as soon as I started doing dishes she LITERALLY ran to the table and started to climb up. I stopped and got her down, then she left it alone until I started the vacuum! HELP! She is too smart for me!)

On a totally unrelated note: Why do people always come to your house when you aren't dressed? Like the one morning I don't feel like putting on clothes (yesterday) there was a random person in my back yard. Talk about creepy. I hope they learned their lesson and never try to break in again (or whatever the heck they were doing in my back yard which is fenced in with a privacy fence!!!) There is more where that came from backyard-stalker!

Holiday Weekend

As you know from my previous post, this weekend was fun-filled for us! Here in Texas, it has felt like summer for a long time, but now the rest of the country is starting to embrace the season. Because of this, I feel this 'gives me permission' to dress Kate for church in sun dresses. This particular dress she wore on Sunday is from her Great Grandma. It is just too cute on her!

Check out how long her hair is getting! And those curls just make it that much more adorable!

Thanks for my cute dress Granny! It looked especially cute with her tan lines from the beach! Sadly this Sunday Kate was not her happy self in nursery. Her leaders told me that she was a little whiny and just wanted to sit on everyone's lap. Poor girl was tired. But overall Nursery is a hit. The leaders said they were surprised to see her grumpy this week, because she has been so great for the rest of the time. I hope she is better again next week...I want her to be a good girl for the Nursery leaders!

Oh and for the rest of our weekend off, we got our yard/home cleaned up, and had a cookout with the family here. It was nice to relax and enjoy 3 days together. Thanks to the men and women who have/do fight for our freedom!

Memorial Fun

For our Memorial Day weekend we decided to head to the beach with our great friends Nikki and Greg. It was a blast! The beach we went to was a bit sea-weedy...as you can see from the pictures, but aside from that it was perfect. Not too busy for a holiday weekend, and you could just drive your car right to the beach. We just pulled out our chairs and had a great time. Kate LOVED the water (but sadly not her cute sporty shades).

She spent lots of her time running around in the water. She loved when the waves hit her. It was totally cute to watch.

mom and dad watching their not-so-little-girl having fun.

Chillin in dad's chair waiting for lunch.

Hanging with her best bud Nikki. Kate wanted to be with Nikki more than me or Jon...but who can blame her, Nikki is the coolest!

Nikki ran away for a picture with mom, as you can see she wants Nikki back!

After the beach trip Kate was beat. She tried to stay awake in the car, but eventually was out. We had so much fun! Thanks Nikki for having such a great idea, and for driving with us!

Big Girl

My daughter thinks she is big, like way bigger than I'm willing to admit she is! I recently gave her one of my never used purses to play with, and she carries it around all the time.(I can't get rid of it because I bought it in London, but I never use it...so now Kate plays with it!) Our DVD remote was missing for over a week, and it was found in her purse! She also LOVES to drink out of big girl cups. She stands at the fridge with her cup reaching for water. Luckily she is too short currently or I would be mopping daily!

Also, she has decided she loves to help me clean (ya know, likes to help me clean but never the messes she makes...the kitchen cabinets can be spewed around the house--but that stuff isn't fun to clean!) She loves 'helping' me move laundry and do dishes. Yesterday for the first time I let her help me Windex hand prints around the house. The top picture is blurry-- but i wanted to prove that she thought it was fun and not let anything think I was breaking any child labor laws (or do those laws not apply to your own children?? ;)

Poor girl thought she was being such a big helper, but really she made just as many hand prints as she 'cleaned'. But I let her do it anyway...I figure I should savor the times she enjoys helping me. I'll use these pictures as evidence when she is a teenager.

Kate's First Sleepover!

Now Kate has spent the night at family member's houses, but this past weekend she had her first sleepover at a friends house! Our husbands were going to a father/son camp out with our church (kinda funny because only 1 of the 5 going actually had a son!) so the wives decided to have a party of our own. We had a classic teenage-sleepover! We ate yummy food, played outside with the kids, had LOTS of girl talk, and stayed up till 5am. It was a wonderful time! I think we had more fun that our husbands! I just love the wonderful friends I have been blessed with!

Kate's face after eating her choc-chip pancakes the morning after. She was a champ at the sleepover, she went right to bed and didn't wake up till morning!

Jumping on the trampoline. She LOVES that. I want to get one of our own soon. ps--check out her CUTE outfit. I just love it on her!

All smiles. Even when she face plants she laughs....it is funny to watch!

Swinging like a big girl. Dad has taught her how to use the big swing, and she loves it. She concentrates really hard though on holding on...so she looks grumpy the entire time. My little girl is getting so big!

Going the wrong way up the slide, isn't that what every cool kid does?

This picture looks like a 'bad mom' moment because I wasn't there to catch her at the bottom, but she was totally fine. In fact, she turned right around and started climbing back up. Our girl is one tough cookie!

Cheesy Day

Today while I was waiting in line at the post office and customer service at the grocery store, Kate was being a cheesy kid! She kept blowing other patrons kisses, waving, and throwing my keys on the ground and laughing. She was at least not being grumpy--until the last few moment at the grocery store. But I think I got my work out in for the day with how many squats the kid made me do to pick my keys back up! So since she was so cheesy during my morning, I decided she needed a box of cheesy mac n cheese for lunch. She was a BIG fan

Oh that is surprisingly delicious!

She still has a thing against the camera!

Mom this is the BEST lunch ever!

Using this fork and my hands is taking entirely too long....maybe if I pick this up...

Ah eureka! Open mouth, pour in mac n cheese!

Fun in the Sun!

Today, thanks to Jon mowing the grass this weekend, Kate and I ventured outside. It was hot, but not so hot you want to run back inside. So we played with water. My mom suggested I take random tupperware outside and let her play in the water, so I was a good daughter and did just that! Kate mostly had fun taking the containers and drinking out of them, and then dumping them all over herself! She also really enjoyed sticking her face in the containers and making bubble noises. It was fun, so much fun that she cried when it was time to come inside and eat lunch. I wish that the weather here would stay like this....I am not ready for it to be even hotter. But I am working on my tan so that when I do take Kate somewhere that requires a bathing suit I don't blind people with my whiteness!

Mother's Day and Progress

As just about everyone knows, this weekend was Mother's Day. It is such a great holiday when you are a mother! I got to spend the whole day Sunday saying "But it's Mother's Day!" and getting my way. Those of you who know me understand the pure joy getting to boss people around brings me. To start off the weekend we had a game night with our usual crew. We learned that girls can't do pull ups. Enough said. Then we went out to eat with the Beaumont Walters and to a chick flick (Mother's day wins again!). Sunday also was a great day! Jon took Kate to visit nursery for the first time (FYI that is where the 18 month old and up kids get to go during church untill they are old enough for Primary) Jon said she did great! So great in fact that when he had to leave to go to his Priesthood meeting, the Nursery Leaders told him to just leave her! In just 3 more weeks she will be officially old enough to go there full time. I just love feeling free at church! Hopefully she continues to enjoy it! Look at her on Saturday: )

My little girl is getting so big! She has so much cute curly hair that I just love! Don't mind her expression, for some reason she is not a fan of the red light on my camera. But look at how tall and skinny she is getting! She used to be so chunky...that to me she seems tiny now! My girl is starting to talk lots too. One of her favorite pastimes is taking my phone, and with someone on the line or not, holding the phone with her cheek and shoulder and walking around the house talking. She calls her stuffed animals (especially the bears) babys. It cracks me up. And almost any time you ask her to say mom she says dad. I think she does it to torture me, cause she smiles after she says it.

Also, this update is a long time coming: We got new windows for our house! The seals were broken on most all of the exsisting windows, so we got a killer deal on new ones! Here are 2 of the before shots. You can see all the moisture trapped inside the windows. And these pictures were taken right after I washed the inside and outside of the windows!

Then TA DA! Look at how much more lovely outside looks when it isn't constantly cloudy! I didn't even notice before that the beaker box was rusty! I will be making my hubby change that out someday soon! I just love how clean and new my windows look. And they are apparently energy saving, so maybe the next power bill will reflect that. Also for mother's day I begged Jon to do a few small jobs around the house. I feel so much more put together with those small tasks done! My man is awesome. He made me feel special on my day. Oh and he got me a blizzard icecream cake....yummmm. I get to celebrate me again with a slice of that tonight! Hope you all had a great mother's day also, and that you spoiled the moms in your life!

Let the hunt begin

Kate's first Easter Egg hunt was a success! We got together with the Beaumont Walters and set the kids loose in the yard. Kate was pretty good for a newby.

Once she found the eggs she would throw them back on the ground so she could find them again.

Kate and her biggest helper!

It was great, Jon lifted her into this bush and after that she would walk to where an egg was and hold her hands up asking for help. She knows how to work it already (I'm so proud!)

Marching around with her first 2 finds... too cute!

She would make grunting noises as she bent over for eggs....it is hard work.

This is the first spot she found an egg...she kept looking back like it would reappear.

She liked the hunt so much that she cried when we tried to go back inside. So daddy being the nice guy he is hung out with her outside for awhile longer. She was a big fan of chillin' in the swing. We are so blessed to have been able to spend such a wonderful holiday together as a family. I am so grateful to our Savior for all He has given us!