{Happy New Year!!}

To our beloved family and friends....have a safe and Happy 2009! We're so blessed to have you in our lives! You bring such happiness and joy to our family & we look forward to yet another year of togetherness with all of you!

Love,
Mike, Michelle & Meghann

{A Few Photos from our Paso Robles Vacation}

When we were @ Hearst Castle, Mike saw this shot and thought it would be neat. It turned out REALLY well after a bit of adjustment in my Lightroom program. My non-believer husband points out an angel...and wants a picture of it! (It IS a naked one, so I'm sure that is why he pointed it out! Ha, ha!)Here we are standing outside of Mission San Antonio de Padua. This mission is located on an Army Reserve base, Ft. Hunter Liggett. It was really neat...it's been almost completely rebuilt, but it's nice because they did it to look as it would have back then, so it's nice and rustic.

Something interesting about Ft. Hunter Liggett is that you can actively hunt on the base. Hunting opportunities include: Elk, Wild Pig, Cottontail, Jack Rabbit, Bobcat, Coyote, Tree Squirrel, Quail, Duck, Dove, and Goose. I guess that's the "hunter" part of Ft. HUNTER Liggett, eh? These elk were just standing right along the road behind the fence. They all just stood and looked @ us while we took pictures. It makes me sad that people will be shooting at these beautiful animals one day.

When we came out of the Firestone Winery on Monday night, we turned around and this is what we saw! Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?? We couldn't believe what amazing pictures our Lord creates for us to enjoy. We had a great trip and look forward to our next one!

{The Walker Winos...}

After fighting it for years....we decided since we were staying @ the Wine Country RV Resort, and we are SURROUNDED by vineyards/wineries, that we would do some tastings. Well.....3 tastings later, and we now have a "collection" of 8 bottles of wine! Okay, okay....4 of them are the Firestone Late Harvest Riesling (which is a SUPER sweet dessert wine), 3 of them are White Rieslings (2 different vineyards), and the 4th is a Cabernet Franc Rosé. We HAD a 4th bottle of Firestone White Riesling, but somehow between Dan, Cindi, Mike, and Michelle....it was gone VERY quickly! I guess we have big wine glasses! Hee, hee! We went to the J. Lohr vineyard and bought only 2 bottles of Bay Mist White Riesling (1 for us and 1 for a fellow CHiPpie). We then went to the Firestone Vineyard which is right outside our RV resort. There is actually a vineyard path to it from the park, so you get to walk along through the vineyard....really neat! THAT is where the bulk of our wine buying took place. We found that we prefer their wine. There was a SUPER cute puppy @ the Firestone Vineyard named Charlie. A King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. He gets to go to work with his owner and has free run of the place. He's so sweet and friendly and since Cindi and I went tasting there twice, we got to know and love him! We definitely will not become wine connoisseurs, but we sure enjoy it!

{Hearst Castle Night Tour}

I thought I'd post a little photo slideshow of our Hearst Castle Night Tour. It was really difficult to take pictures because you can only use the lighting that's available, and obviously at night you don't have the benefit of light coming in through the windows. So, pardon some of the use of "fill light" to make things more visible. It was a WONDERFUL tour! We got to see so many places that we didn't see last time! We saw both bedrooms that Hearst personally used, we traversed a TON of stairs up & down and got to see the AWESOME kitchen! They had a full beer-on-tap bar there! Just a really great tour, I would HIGHLY recommend it....but maybe as a 2nd tour, since during the daylight you really get to see so much more of the outer structure that is just beautiful!

{A Few Trailer Pictures}

I thought I'd post a few pictures of our trailer. I'll probably add to this post later, when it's warmer outside and I can take pics out there too! We have a 2007 Jayco JayFlight, 27 foot Bunkhouse model. It's nicely upgraded and we LOVE it! We have decorated it with a "Surf Woody" theme and have acquired lots of decor in that motif. I recovered the headboard in the main bedroom as well as the outlet covers and valances in there. I had custom bedding made out of the same fabric for the full & twin bunks in the back (aka Meghann & friend's room). Michelle's parents have bought a few things for us along the way (2 of our tin signs and my newest, surf woody key rack--see picture of the door area, it's right to the left of the door), and we've gotten a few gifts from others as well. I LOVE my stained glass woody that we picked up in Seal Beach! We started a magnet collection of places that we've visited and have it on the hood above the stove for now. Mike is talking about putting up a metal piece just for the collection near the door, but for right now it'll stay where it is.

(Click on any image to see it larger)

{On the road....with the Walker & Hernandez Families!}

Well, we've arrived safely in Paso Robles, CA! It was a BEAUTIFUL day for traveling. The sun was shining, the skies were clear, and the traveling companions were....companionable! Hardly any traffic, just a nice easy drive. We stopped @ Mission San Luis Obispo, which was funny because we had to park on the street and feed a total of 5 parking meters with the 2 cars/trailers. The mission is okay....too much renovation for my taste, I prefer them to be more "original" looking. This mission is not as pretty as some that we've seen. San Juan Capistrano is still my favorite! We'll be seeing another one on Monday....

We're staying @ the Wine Country RV Resort, right in the heart of wine country! BOY, oh BOY! Are there wineries GALORE right around us! We're only about 500 feet from the Firestone Winery, which we plan on visiting tomorrow before Hearst Castle. And another one down the street that Mike's co-workers recommended. Since we don't drink wine, it should be fun to just taste a few different ones. Our friends DO drink wine, so they'll be a little more knowledgeable about it...good people to have along! More posts will come....it's just the beginning of vacation!

{Christmas @ the Castle}

During the Holiday Season, Hearst Castle presents an opportunity for visitors to experience the Castle as it might have been on Christmas in the 1920's or 1930's. The Experience Tour is an excellent tour to see many of the decorated rooms. Every December the staff at Hearst Castle works hard to decorate the estate for the Holidays, creating a special atmosphere that is sure to get you in the Holiday spirit. Christmas at the Castle is an event that is not to be missed and is fun for the entire family! The Evening Tour program includes Living History Docents dressed in 1930s period clothing along with the holiday decorations in many of the rooms. Two 18-foot Christmas trees fill the Assembly Room as Living History Docents dressed in 1930s period clothing socialize before dinner.

Well, we're off on vacation with friends! I'll be posting some pictures of the trip here once we're up there! We're so blessed to have good friends that we enjoy camping with! Thankfully we have about 5 families that we camp with, so there is always someone to go along with us! (Or us with them!)

{Merry CHRISTmas to All!}

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
-Luke 2:11

We want to wish our family & friends a Merry Christmas!
We love you all!
~*Mike, Michelle & Meghann*~

{Merry Christmas Eve!!}

Here it is...already, Christmas Eve! I know for most people this means all the excitement of the holidays are about to culminate in the mass opening of gifts from loved ones, etc. ENJOY! We are already done! We celebrated a few times already! Once on the 7th of December with my brother and sis-in-law because they were going to their house in Maui for Christmas. And we celebrated with Michelle's parents this past Saturday/Sunday! So we're DONE! All the gifts are opened and we're just enjoying spending time together playing with the new Wii FIT & Disney Scene It II. We've watched all the movies we were given, and Meghann can't seem to pry her fingers OFF that new cell phone! WooHoo! It's such a joyous time of year with family and friends! We're looking forward to our camping trip with the Hernandez family in Paso Robles/San Simeon! We went to Hearst Castle back @ Spring Break for the daytime tour.....we're going back to see the nighttime tour and the Castle all dressed up for Christmas! We'll post photos when we return! Hopefully we'll have photos to post of our family pictures before we leave!

Remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season....without His salvation, we have nothing!

{Special Christmas Card for Mom & Dad}

This year I decided that my parents should have a special Christmas card that only THEY get. I don't know why I've never done this before, but at least I started NOW! So I'm making sure that this post won't show up until after they get their card! We're spending a few days with my parents for Christmas this weekend and are so happy that we can spend such quality time with them. We're also getting professional family pictures taken on Sunday by Rachael Brinton....a childhood friend that I was "reunited" with on Facebook! We're really excited to be able to have Rach take our pictures...her talent is truly God given!! Click on her name above and you'll see her amazing work! Her links are also on my sidebar.....

Anyway......here are the pictures of the special card for just my parents! This card involved a LOT of cutting out of small parts. The house stamp set is not decorated for Christmas usually, that is an add-on set. So you cut out the windows with the wreaths on them and glue them on top of the regular windows, etc. It was REALLY fun to create this card and I know my parents will appreciate it! They have always nurtured my joy of crafting! Maybe because they are both so crafty themselves!

(Click on any image to make it larger)

Merry Christmas to Mom & Dad!!

{Ask, and you SHALL receive......highlights, that is!}

Meghann has been asking for highlights for about a year now. We wanted to hold off a little bit seeing as once we START this....we can't really stop so easily! Well, Janet's daughter, Melissa, started cosmetology school in August and we told Megs that once she was on the floor doing hair that we would allow her to do the highlights for her. On Saturday the 13th (Papa's birthday!), Meghann sat in the chair for 4½ hours while Melissa did her hair. Melissa took her TIME and made sure that I would be happy with it.....because I told her that one of my main criteria was that it look natural. She did an AMAZING job! I was a little worried because we are having a friend of mine from Michigan take professional family pictures on Sunday, and I didn't want to have to try and "fix" it this week, but I don't have to! Meghann is thrilled, I am thrilled, Mike is thrilled.......THANKS Melissa! (Melissa was thrilled with the job she did as well, and even more thrilled with the tip!)

You can click on any image to make it bigger.

Our "little girl" is growing up....she's SO mature now. Her braces should come off in about 5 months. Her teeth look AMAZING with them on, I can't wait to see the results! As parents, that's one of the best investments you can make for your child...it makes them feel so confident about their smile! (Meghann always DID feel confident about her smile, now even MORE so!) And nothing is more precious than your child's smile, it tells you SO much about what kind of person you're raising! WE are raising a happy, healthy, loving, kind, generous, beautiful, talented, WONDERFUL daughter! Lucky us!

{Disney FINALLY Recognized How Much $$$ Michelle "Donates"....}

{RIP CHP Officer Joseph Sanders}

2008 is almost over....another 16 days and it would have been one of the few years in CHP history that went by without the loss of an officer in the line of duty. However, on 15 December 2008 @ approximately 4:30am, Officer Joseph Sanders from the Santa Fe Springs office (Mike's first office) was struck and killed by a motorist on the 60 freeway while he was attending to another traffic accident. The wet roads and rainy conditions make every CHP wife nervous.

Officer Sanders is a Marine Corps vet who served in Iraq. He survived a war half a world away, only to leave this earthly life here at home. He is survived by his wife and three children, ages 7, 3 and 10 months. His wife is pregnant with their fourth child. Our hearts go out to this family, as we are reminded that this could so easily be any of us. And with the accident that Mike had on his birthday this year, it's just too much of a reminder for me how dangerous their job is, and how much the quote in the CHP Officer's Oath of "if necessary, lay down my life" means.....

Rest in Peace Officer Sanders......your fellow officers will take up where you left off.

{Happy 70th Birthday, Dad!!}

Happy 70th Birthday!!

Today my Daddy is 70 years young! He is one of the most amazing people that I know! You can't run into anyone in our hometown that hasn't met him, had him as a Principal, who's parents haven't had him as a Principal, who's grandkids haven't had him as a Principal, etc. He is a docent @ 2 local museums and just continues his love of teaching people new things and showing them new things! We are SO blessed to have him in our lives! Besides being an amazing father, he's the best husband that I know (next to mine!), a wonderful chef (cook just doesn't describe it!), a fabulous Papa to Meghann, and just an all-around SUPER dude! He's also a shy guy. Doesn't like the spotlight on him. We attended a 70th birthday party for our close friend's Dad last weekend....who is just 5 days younger than MY Daddy. Unlike my Dad, Fred LOVES the spotlight and big parties. Our gift to my Dad this year......NOT doing a big party! Hee, hee! That's how you know your family loves and adores you.....when they WANT to do something to acknowledge what a wonderful person you are, but because they know it would make YOU uncomfortable (and you'd probably get your butt kicked for it later anyway!), they just don't do it! But we LOVE YOU Daddy.....and we want you to know it! All these years have meant a LOT to a TON of people, and we're happy to share you with all of them......but really love having you to ourselves!

Happy 70th Birthday!!

Love,
Mike, Michelle & Meghann

{Various Christmas Cards for 2008}

This year when I was starting to make our Christmas cards....I just could NOT bring myself to make 50 of the same card like all the years past. So I decided that I would make about 6-8 of each version. Some, I only made 2 or 3 of. I just wanted a variety! You'll have to wait and see which one arrives in YOUR mailbox, but this way you'll get to see each one! You can click on each picture to see it larger. We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

{Our Daughter's Middle School Orchestra}

You'll have to pardon the watermark that appears occasionally across the video. I didn't want to buy the full version of the conversion software until I knew that it would do what I wanted it to! Our daughter is in the back of the orchestra, standing up, playing the string bass. It's a small video, so it's hard to see her....mainly I wanted to put this up here for the audio. These are 6th, 7th, and 8th graders @ McAuliffe Middle School in Los Alamitos, CA....a PUBLIC school! Meghann is an amazing musician, but I suppose when both of your parents are too, it helps!

{The 1st Post on our Family Blog}

Well, I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon of blogging so that family members can keep up with what we're doing. Hopefully I can post to it @ least once a week to keep everyone updated on The 3 Walkers!

My goals with the blog:

1) Keeping family/friends updated
2) Posting pictures for everyone to enjoy (or laugh at!)
3) NOT to ramble on about stupid stuff just to get "my opinion" out there because we ALL know that I LOVE to talk!

We hope to see you all here....Walking Through Life with us!