Charlotte update

So I'm still behind on this blog. I have a lot of posts from the summer I need and want to do. But I have a different post in mind today.

My darling friend Sarah inspired me to do a post on Charlotte after I read an update she had done on her spunky, beautiful Ruby. I realized it's been awhile since I've done just a Charlotte post and it's high time this girl had an update.

Charlotte is 20.5 months old and is full of life. I'm loving this age, regardless of the tantrums here and there, she is so much fun. She's like a little sponge soaking up any information given to her. I love it. I can't get enough of her.

Here are some funny things about my bug:

-She thinks her name is you. When we show her pictures of herself Mike and I say, "That's you Charlotte." So when she looks at pictures she'll point to herself and say "Choo" meaning you. We're working on the whole name thing. Choo, is much easier to say than Charlotte.

-Charlotte loves to jump on the bed. The other day she may or may not have ALMOST fallen off the bed because of her jumping episode.

-One my favorite things she says is "thank you" but it comes out more like "dank coo".

-Charlotte has heard me call Mike, Mike so many times she will often refer to him as Mike. She still calls him dada, but will follow dada with Mike.

-Her feet constantly smell and she loves to smell them, gross I know. She'll smell them and say "sninky" (stinky). We all have a good laugh after that.

-Charlotte still loves babies, especially her baby doll. Lately she loves putting her baby in her high chair, with a bib, and pretending to feed it. She also loves putting on my baby bjorn and carrying her baby around in it. She'll make a good older sister one day.

-Horses. This girl loves horses. She neighs all the time. Charlotte constantly asks me to get on my hands and knees so she can hop on my back and I pretend to be a horse. We spend a lot of our days pretending to be horses. And there are horses on the way to Mike's parents house and if we don't pull over to say hello to the horses she freaks out. Tantrum in full effect.

-Because of this love for horses, we taught her how to gallop and she loves galloping around the house. It's so cute if you ask me.

-If Charlotte sees Mike and I hugging she comes up to us grabs our legs and says "HUG!" so we pick her up and she squeezes all of us together and we have a family hug. So endearing.

-She is still very shy. She's getting better around old people but she is still quiet when she gets around those she doesn't know. Her favorite people are her momma, dada, Emily and her papas. She does love her grandmas, but the papas always win.

-Charlotte wants to play get you all the time. She'll come up to me and say "get you" and I have to run around chase her. She laughs and laughs and laughs, so worth it.

-Some of her favorite songs are ABCs, Monkeys on the Bed, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Popcorn Popping, Wheels on the Bus. It can get a little old singing these songs over and over.

-Charlotte's great at throwing tantrums. On the floor, screaming, kicking, she's got it down. And she is still a screamer regardless of how much we've tried working on it.

-She's still an early bird and always has been, although today she did sleep in until 7 am and it was heaven since I didn't have to get up to run. I felt like I slept in! But most days it's about 6:30 when she wakes up. And I remember people telling me once she was down to one nap during the day she would nap all afternoon for like 3 hours. Yeah right, the girl sleeps 1.5 hours, most days on the dot. Once in awhile I'm really lucky and she sleeps 2 hours and rarely 2 hours plus, those days are a real treat for all of us.

-One of Charlotte's favorite activities is looking at books. Makes me so happy. We spend a good part of our days looking at the same books over and over. This activity I never get sick of.

I could go on and on about my lovey. She can be quite a handful but I sure love her. I can't imagine life without her. She makes us laugh everyday and my heart melts when she says love you. I adore the determined, spunky, strong willed, bubbly girl she is becoming. Lucky to be her momma.

One more until the big 3-0!!

I can't even begin to thank all of you for your thoughtful, sweet comments yesterday. All of your comments seriously made my day and made me feel so special. I feel overwhelmed to have so many good, kind, considerate people in my life. Thank you for taking the time to write something and for thinking of me. It meant a lot to me. And a special thanks to my sister Katherine for making it happen, you truly are one of the most giving people I know.

So I'm the big 2-9. Truth be told, this was one of my best birthdays. I love the idea of being 29 and honestly being 30 sounds even better. I'm looking forward to being in a new decade. But before I do turn the big 3-0, I made a list of 29 things I would like to do to finish off my 20s. Let's make the most of this last decade right?

Here it goes:

1. Run St. George marathon (only a month away and I'm so ready for my training to be over with).

2. Make blog into a book(s).

3. Visit my friends in Chicago (this month baby! I can't wait!).

4. Move to Cincinnati.

5. Run the Ogden Half marathon.

6. Go on a girl's trip with my HS friends. (Possibly Santa Fe April 2012)

7. Run the Halloween or Snow Canyon half marathon, can't decide which one or both???

8. Finish reading the Book Of Mormon again.

9. Hang out with my family as much as we can before the big move.

10. Learn to love Cincinnati.

11. Read more often and watch less TV.

12. Write in my journal more consistently.

13. Finish cleaning out our backyard and put in more grass.

14. Take more time to play with Charlotte.

15. Eat healthier.

16. Write hand written cards and thank you notes to loved ones.

17. Call friends more often.

18. Paint my dining room table.

19. Learn to make homemade bread.

20. Print more pictures and put them in albums.

21. Start thinking about having another baby...thinking, not making any promises friends.

22. Take a trip ALONE with Mike somewhere.

23. Visit the temple more.

24. Make a quilt out of all my race shirts that I don't wear.

25. Clean out my house and throw things away!

26. Go on a girl's trip with my mom and sisters. (Hopefully October???)

27. Do my core workouts on a regular basis, not just 2 or 3 times a week.

28. Join a running club in Cincinnati.

29. Take more time to say SINCERE prayers, and listen for answers.

happy birthday laura, you have been hacked!

LAURA! Happy Birthday to you!!

I hope that you have the most wonderful day!

You deserve the best!!



You are a beautiful, loving, thoughtful woman.

You are a patient, dedicated, wonderful mother!

All of us are lucky to have you in our lives!

Please join me in wishing Laura a happy birthday today, share a memory or kind words!

Know you are loved, dear sister!!

Katherine

California Dreamin

Beginning of July the whole Walker clan headed to Oceanside, CA.

It was fabulous to say the least.

The beach, Sea World, Baseball games, BBQ with Mike's cousins, running along the beach, watching dolphins, eating delicious food...ahhhh it was heavenly.

Charlotte loved the water. It was almost scary how much she loved the water. She would have run as far into the ocean as I would let her. She didn't want me to hold her hand, she just wanted to run free and go wild in the water.

(One of the rare moments she would let me hold her hand)

Best family picture of the trip, and of course our lovey is too busy to look at the camera.

Charlotte was so entertained by the animals at Sea World.

But I think her favorite part of Sea World was seeing the Sesame Street characters.

Oh man, that girl loved the Sesame Street characters.

The last night of our vacation we went to a baseball game in downtown San Diego. My mother in-law Carol watched Charlotte so we were baby free for the night. Carol, such a gem and I know Charlotte loved having Grandma Carol all to herself that night.

Having Mike with us, playing with cousins nonstop, warm weather, no agenda or schedule, being with my wonderful, wonderful in-laws; we couldn't have asked for a better vacation.

The week ended all too soon. Take me back.

Thanks Walkers for a piece of heaven for a week!

America's birthday

The 4th of July is easily one of my favorite holidays. It's the ultimate summer holiday and I look forward to it every year. Even though Mike worked all night the night before the 4th, we were still able to do some fun things and celebrate America's birthday!

My mom and I started off the day with a 5k. Although it was a little humid, it was such a fun race. The course was scenic and well organized. If you're looking for a good 5k to either PR or run for the first time, you should check this one out.

My mom is such a champ. Love being able to race with her.

Once I got home from my race we packed up and headed over to Mike's parents' house to swim. Was it overcast and raining? Yup.

It didn't stop us.

Regardless of the weather, Charlotte was in heaven.

I can't tell you enough how much I love seeing Mike and Charlotte together.

Makes my heart melt.

Love this girl.

After afternoon naps, that evening Mike went to a BBQ for work, while I hung out at my parents (yeah, I'm cool, I choose to hang out with the rents). Then once it was dark, and after Mike came home and we put Charlotte to bed, we sat on our front lawn, watched fireworks and made smores on the grill with a few family members.

What could be better for a summer night?

Not much if you ask me.

Although it was low key, it was another great fourth of July!

Kinda sad we won't be in SL next Fourth of July....

but I hear Cincinnati has lots of fun options to celebrate.

Happy birthday America!

Love this

Wow. I really need to do a serious update on this blog. Since the beginning of July it's been go, go go between girl's camp, holidays, heading to California, having family in town and then leaving again to Glacier National Park with my entire extended family. I'm still wiped out from the month. But I'm determined to get updated on this blog. Soon enough. Until then I had to share this quote with you.

"God does not give us overcoming life, he gives us life as we overcome. The strain is the strength. If there is no strain, there is no strength. Are you asking God to give you liberty and joy? He cannot, unless you accept the strain. Immediately you face the strain, you will get the strength."

Oswald Chambers

Don't you love it? So perfect. So true.

I read this on my girl's Kristin Armstrong's blog. You know how I feel about her writing. I simply love her, her perspective, her honesty, her humor, her way of saying exactly how I feel at times. If you would like to read her whole blog post, go HERE. Go ahead, read it. It's so worth your time.

I'll be back with a real update soon!

PAR-TAY

The end of June Mike officially completed his Internal Medicine Residency! Three years of residency flew. I'm so proud of Mike. He did so well during those years, so we had to celebrate his success. I threw a small party for Mike celebrating his end of residency, beginning of his chief year, and matching in Cincinnati for a GI fellowship.

The party was red themed since the University of Utah's (where Mike did his residency) and University of Cincinnati's (where Mike will do his GI fellowship) colors are red.

Treats were given, cake was pounded, pizzas were devoured, and tables were covered with red tablecloths and candy. Good times for sure.

Charlotte as you can tell in the picture below, was ready to party.

Ok so maybe she doesn't look like it in this picture. But she did have a blast running around, and playing with her cousins.

Poor girl, fell and scrapped up her nose. She's still darling if you ask me.

Mike with his sister Stephanie and brother Brad, not quite complete without Jamie!

We had perfect weather ideal for playing in the hammock.

Our little family of three. Such a struggle to get a decent picture. Out of maybe 6-7 pictures taken, this was the best shot of all of us.

Thanks family for coming and celebrating with us! We of course missed the Ericksons and Lythgoes. No party is ever the same without you.

Way to go Mike! Charlotte and I couldn't be more proud of all you have accomplished. You found a way to balance being a thoughtful husband, involved, fun father, excellent clinician, faithful church member, perfectly all while lookin soooooo good! We are so excited for your Chief year and then three more years of fellowship in Cincinnati!