amish country

Touring the Amish farm was one of my favorite days in Ohio. I just loved the fields of green grass, white picket fences, bright blue skies and red barns lining the roads. We drove an hour and a half to Berlin, Ohio and stopped at Yoders Farm to spend the day. We started with a picnic lunch, then toured the inside of an Amish home, bought cookies straight from the Amish kitchen, headed to the barn to see the animals with Eli, and then went on a horse and buggy ride through the fields. After leaving the farm, we headed into town to check out the quilt shops and craft stores and then ate at Farmstead, an authentic Amish restaurant. Chris and I tried out the Amish noodles and gravy on top of mashed potatoes and thought it was great. We also loved the homemade rolls with marshmellow creme/peanut buter spread. My kids favorite part of the day was holding the puppies and riding in the horse and buggy! It was a great day.

walton family ohio trip

As is tradition on Walton family vacations... we spent the last night on our Ohio trip looking through the pictures we'd taken throughout the week (again) and coming up with our 'best of' pictures to share with everyone else. With seven digital cameras...including five Nikon D40's and one Nikon D80 I'd say we take quite a few pictures -- and we love it! Usually after our trips together we have well over two thousand pictures and this trip was no exception... although I didn't take the time to actually count. That makes for several hours of downloading, organizing, deleting, and scanning for the perfect shots -- and although I'm not done I at least have a few to post.

We all arrived in Ohio last Saturday. My brother Dan lives there with his wife and kids while he attends The Ohio State University for an Orthadontic residency. On Sunday after church we headed to a nearby park for some family pictures. We had a great time of course and have countless pictures to prove it.

Amy, Mike, Scott, Mom, Dad, Dan, me and Brian

The girls... Elisha, Lisa, Mom, Amy, Sarah

The sasha pose... last year Mike met someone who asked him to "make picture of me" and then in every picture struck this pose. His name was Sasha -- and little does he know that his poses have become legendary.

the writer

When I checked my mailbox the other day this is what I found. A letter to Dallin from Emily. I didn't know about the letter, let alone that she came out and put it in the mailbox fully expecting the mailman to deliver it without any problem. How cute is that. Dallin is a little five year old in our ward... She often says "I'm going to marry Dallin or Sloan. I can't decide." When I brought the letter back in the house Chris and I opened it to see what it said... "Dear Dallon, I am glad that you ar in my clas tooday. I hop you will go to my haos some day and play on the compeutr with me. Love emily"

Emily is a writer. All over the house I find big white pieces of paper filled with writing... She writes letters to everyone in the family - always with "thanks for being sooooooo nise to me!" included within. She is constantly taking a poll. She walks around the house with a pad of paper and asks everyone what character they want to be in Harry Potter or what their favorite Pokemon is, or what their age and weight is. She makes cards for her friends and for Megan's friends too. She lists everything... names of her dolls and animals (her stuffed dog is named kyle delmr johnson), lists of all of her friends or cousins, lists of all the animals at the zoo. She writes the lyrics to songs and then comes to me and sings the song while she reads it (even though she already knows it). She writes creative stories about pokemon and people who want to go to the park. She loved writing things in her conference packet and taking 'notes'. Just this morning I found a list of everyone's names with rhyming words beside them... luke, bluke, muke, megan, shegan, tregan. She is a crack-up. Everytime I see a piece of paper lying around I'm anxious to read what she's thought of this time. This morning when she was looking for something to do I asked her to make a list of things to bring to Ohio. She sat at the bar and wrote down everything I told her and of course she loved it. Is this girl anxious for school or what!

spring break day 5 - megan's new room

I remember being so excited to have a clean room with rearranged furniture when I was growing up. Of course I didn't like cleaning the room but I loved it once it was clean.

We spent hours and hours last week cleaning the girls room, making Katie and Emily's beds into bunkbeds, reorganizing drawers and moving all of Megan's things upstairs. She is finally out of the crib. The room now belongs to three girls and their five dolls... and what do three girls and five dolls have? ... LOTS and LOTS of clothes. I wish the room would stay just like it looks in these pictures, but I know better...

Because what is the one thing you want to do with a clean room? Play in it. On Friday when we finished organizing and cleaning the girls had a pile of things they wanted to play with. They dressed all their dolls, reorganized their Bella Sara cards, scrapbooked and made a fort in their clean closet. A clean room doesn't stay clean for long... but it is great while it lasts. (Now we need a few more things on the walls... a bulletin board, another shelf etc.)

Megan loves being in her 'new room' and sleeping in her 'big girl bed.' On her first night, after a lengthy discussion on 'not getting out of your bed' I went downstairs and within minutes heard feet running above me. I went upstairs and picked her up and put her back in her crib downstairs. She was so sad. The next night we had the same talk only this time she didn't move a muscle, until the middle of the night when she fell out of bed and came all the way down to jump in bed with us. Nights three and four she stayed in bed but wouldn't stop singing and talking to Emily. (poor Katie) Now we're back to hearing the pitter patter of her little feet. It's going to be process!

spring break day 4 - bubbles with Megan

Our nights this week have been perfect for playing outside. We've jumped on the trampoline, the kids have played croquet, Chris, Ryan and I have played catch, Katie practiced batting, we've walked and riden around the block and Lukey has sat in his bumbo and watched everything.

Thursday night, after dinner Megan asked Daddy to blow bubbles. The other kids were upstairs so just Chris and I and Megan went outside. When is it ever just the three of us? After a minute I ran in for my camera. By this time at night Megan's ponytail and bows are long gone. She changes clothes several times a day it is no surprise she is wearing this outfit... her favorite orange striped shirt (that she wears at some point each day) and her favorite pink striped pajama pants (these ones are Emily's!). Classic Megan. Chris blew bubbles for 20 minutes straight and I took dozens of pictures. She was so happy, so giggley and so much fun. She waited with anticipation for each round of bubbles, ran around giggling and clapping and then bounced back to the same spot to await the next round with a smile. It was definitely a highlight of the day. What a sweetheart.

spring break day 3 - callaway gardens

We are enjoying the Georgia spring. It is fun to see all the trees blossoming and bushes bursting with azalias. Everything is getting green again after a long 'brown' season. When Chris got home from work on Wednesday we packed a picnic lunch and headed up to Callaway gardens to see our favorite park in the spring. We ate, played at the playground, went for a walk by the beach and then explored a new trail with beautiful flowers, lakes and bridges. A great night.

spring break day 2 - montgomery zoo

Tuesday was a great day. We packed the van and met at our friends house at 9:00 and then caravaned an hour and a half to the Montgomery, Alabama Zoo. Kim Ence and her five girls (Brantley, Mallory, Bailey, Sierra and Belinda) and Tami Evans and her four (Elizabeth, Joshua, Blake and Matthew) and me and my five ran from animal to animal and had so much fun being together. We were really impressed by the zoo... it wasn't too big and had the greatest animals. The weather was overcast and 68 so those of us who had sweatshirts were just right. Turns out it was great weather for the animals... they were so active! After a couple hours of walking around, playing in the park and a train ride around the zoo we had a picnic with our Chick-fil-A food.

The kids watching the baby monkey show off right in front of them. So cute!

My favorite picture... they just love him to pieces.

Lisa's favorite animals... everything because they were so active... but I loved the lions - really impressive, and the baby elephant - adorable!

Ryan's favorite animals... all kinds of turtles and the baby rhinosaurus and the baby giraffe

Katie's favorite animals... the eagles, the turtles, the monkeys and the BYU cougar

Emily's favorite animals... the screaming monkeys. They were the funniest... their throats got all big 'like a frog' and then they screamed and made all the kids laugh and laugh!

Megan's favorite animals... I started typing everything she said but soon realized it was every single animal at the zoo! She loved them all!

Luke's favorite animals... the kids! Luke just loved being pushed around by Ryan - who was stroller pusher for the day - and watch all the kids run around like crazy animals!

spring break day 1 - polka dot party

On Monday afternoon Megan's friends came over to celebrate Megan turning three! Ryan and Katie were so excited to be home to be part of the fun. The kids played with balloons and hoola hoops, played plah-doh, blew bubbles, played musical spots, played ring a round the rosie, opened presents and ate cupcakes -- with a half hour left I sent them outside to jump on the trampoline while I swept up a million cupcake crumbs!

opening presents

a thank you hug for Austin for fun new dress up stuff

Megan and her little friend Erika.

playing with balloons

Erika, Megan and Brantley

eating cupcakes

Megan tells us all the time "I'm going to marry Austin and he's going to marry me and we're going to be a happy family!" ...except when she's in a mad mood and then she says "I'm not marrying Austin!" What Austin says or does has nothing to do with it... she's just moody!

Megan and I were both worn out after the party but only one of us got a nap!

really three

When Megan woke up on Sunday morning I said, "Megan, it's your birthday!" She looked at me and said "Right now???" After we explained that the presents would be a little bit later she said, "Mom, I'm starving. I need a pupcake!" (Pupcake is Strawberry shortcake's dog's name so all of my girls have gotten that confused!) She has been counting down to this birthday for a long time... we even made a birthday chain in her bedroom so she would know exactly how many more days. If anyone asked when her birthday was she'd answer with '6 April!'


After conference Megan opened her presents. She got dishes, a toaster and a dishwasher for her kitchen, a cradle for her baby and a cute metal cart for her groceries. She was also spoiled from her grandma's and grandpa's. You could tell she loved everything by the high pitched squeal which lasted most of the afternoon. All the kids loved Megan's new presents. I've never seen kids so excited to do the dishes!


Later in the day when she and I were alone she said, "Mom, I'm really three!" Happy day kido... you are really three!

our favorite things...

about this conference weekend

- sleeping in and being lazy all morning... (we start at noon!)
- waffle breakfast on Saturday
- getting lots of organizing done
- being part of the solemn assembly and standing to sustain our new prophet
- the kids being so excited about working on their general conference packets
- hearing from our new apostle, Elder Christofferson
- seeing our friends Adam and Marilee on TV at the press conference!
- so many great great talks
- feeling the spirit and feeling rejuvinated and recharged!
- getting to know President Monson a little bit better
- chatting with family
- not having to wake up and get everyone ready for 9:00 church!!!
- delicious quiche for Sunday brunch
- my first time making yummy cinnamon rolls (they turned out good!)
- one of my new favorite quotes: "when we delight in serving the Lord, the Lord will delight in blessing us" - Susan W. Tanner
- crying during Elder Ballard's talk on motherhood -- especially when Katie gave me a hug right after it was over.
- spending two straight days of quality time with Chris and kids
- celebrating Megan's 3rd birthday (pictures to come...)

field day

Katie and Ryan had field day on Friday. The whole school walked across the street and through the field to the High School track field. The high school band and spirit team were there with loud music and cheers for the kids and high school students coordinated all the games at each station.

Every grade had different color shirts and made class banners. It was well planned and all my kids had a lot of fun.
Ryan and his buddy Steven getting the giggles on the 3 legged race... they did great the whole way and back only to fall right before the finish line... but they still won!
This pizza box game was a hit. The first person had to carry one box, the second person two boxes etc. The last couple people were pretty funny to watch.
Katie trying to sit on and pop a balloon... but she just kept bouncing off. Her friend and teacher finally had to give her a hand.
And what field day would be complete without a parachute?
Katie thought the best best part about field day was showing off her sisters. All of Katie's friends call Emily and Megan 'Katie 1' and 'Katie 2'.
I carried Luke around on my back but when I did put him down Megan occupied his attention, patted him on the head, gave him tight hugs and squished his cheeks. What a helpful girl.


The one thing I didn't get a picture of was when Megan wandered over to the main table, pushed the button on the microphone and said, "HI!" through the speakers all over the field. That's my little rascal.