{The 3 Walkers by Rachael Brinton...}

Okay, prepare yourself...I will be posting 35 pictures here. Yes...35. Is that all that Rach took? Not by a LONG shot...I just had to condense it a bit! She took about 800 pictures, and put about 200 on the DVD. We're going to have her do more this summer at the beach...since that's where we live! Like I said in the previous post, I've made these smaller for the bandwidth and picture saving space reasons. When you click on them, they WILL come up larger in another window, but they won't be "print quality". If you'd like any of them in the full-size format to print, just shoot us an email @ the "Email Us" link under our profile and I'll email them right over, no problem! (Mamacita and Papa...I've already sent you guys a CD of them ALL!) Okay, here it goes:

{Disneyland Today....No School!}

So, Megs and Michelle are going to Disneyland with a few school friends since the middle school isn't in session today. WooHoo! We got all our family pictures from Rachael yesterday, so later I'll be posting a TON of them for ya'll to see! I'll be making them all small so that they don't take up a lot of my bandwidth and picture saving space, so if you'd like any of them in full size so you can print them, just shoot an email via the "EMail Us" link and I'll email it over to ya! (Ma, I'm sending you a CD!)

Happy Disneyland Day!

{The Mud "Slip 'n' Slide" Project}

At Winter Camp this past weekend, the kids had some free time before dinner one night and decided to start sliding down this hill. Well, the more they slid, the muddier it became! They put snow on it and muddied it up even MORE! So they were "mud surfing"! That's what happens when you take a bunch of kids from "Surf City" to the mountains and don't bring skis!

Meghann and Kelsey didn't do the mud slide for various reasons. (All bogus ones!) But thankfully, Meghann used her digital camera to take the following video! It's actually 18 minutes long, but Michelle decided to edit it even shorter just to give you an idea of what goes on when a large group of teenagers have too much free time! Hee, hee!

(All video editing was done by Michelle!)

{Jr. High Winter Camp Video from Dave}

Well, Meghann and the other kiddos had a WONDERFUL time @ Thousand Pines Jr. High Winter Camp. It was a quick weekend trip up to the mountains and they had a little rain and there was still a little snow up there as well, and all in all it was an AMAZING experience! Meghann took NO pictures up @ camp, but DID take an 18 minute video of all the kids sliding on their homemade "Mud Slip 'n' Slide"! (Thankfully SHE didn't do it....what a mess!) Dave took good overall video of the whole weekend, so here it is! If you click on the little "up arrow" on the lower right of the video you can choose to watch it in "HQ" (high quality) and it's much better. You can also see it on YouTube @ the following link (Jr. High Winter Camp) in a larger format. Don't forget to click on "Watch in High Quality" so it'll be nice and clear! I'm going to shorten the one that Meghann took to upload here, but that'll be a little later.

Yes, we're aware that our child is NOT wearing a jacket in some of this video. She HAD warm clothes...a nice Land's End cold weather jacket rated down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, matching scarf, gloves, beanie, long sleeves, sweaters, etc. When she DID wear a jacket, she chose to wear her lighter weight one...we are good parents who packed all the nice warm clothes FOR her, once she's up there, we can't make her wear the nice warm stuff we buy! Hmmmm, maybe she would like us to chaperon next trip! (I highly doubt it!) At least the next camp she goes to will be during the summer!

{And they're off....}

Here are some pictures of the kids before leaving for Jr. High Winter Camp. I really like the Pioneer Woman's "Seventies" action for photos lately! Especially pictures of teens....I think it's cute! I keep everything original too, but I enjoy showing the pictures that I've "Seventies-ized"!
They arrived safely @ around 7:30pm last night @ Thousand Pines. Hopefully we'll have some pictures from Dave (the youth pastor) on his Facebook soon that I can share here! Meghann has her digital camera up there, so hopefully there'll be some fun ones to show when she gets back too!

{Jr. High Winter Camp 2009}

Today we will send our baby off to Jr. High Winter Camp with Seabreeze Church. She leaves today @ 3pm and comes back Sunday @ 4pm. It's always weird for us when she's gone. When she's spending the night with a friend or staying a week @ Michelle's parents, it's not so bad. We can call her, she can text us, etc. At Winter Camp they aren't allowed to have cell phones. I know, it's only like 2½ days and 2 nights....but she's our baby, our "other third", part of the Walker pie!

Thankfully our youth pastor, Dave, signed up with a service that will send a mass text message out to the parents when they arrive in the mountains. And he'll be taking pictures and posting video on his Facebook, so we'll be able to see how she's doing. It's not like she'll be alone! All the "gang" is going! Katie, Kelsey, Shelby...and 33 other of her closest church friends! It's a HUGE bunch of kids and they'll have a blast. Thousand Pines is where they are going, if you want to check out their website to see all the fun things they can do!

We'll miss you sweet Meggie! We love you and can't wait to see you when you come home! We know you'll have fun and be surrounded by the Lord's love this weekend!

Love,
Dad & Mom

{Mike's Back-Update}

Well, yesterday Mike went and got a 2nd opinion from a spine specialist. He is on 5 days of oral steroids and will be scheduled for an epidural. We're just kinda playing it by ear to see how these 2 options work for him. He'll also undergo a nerve test to see what nerves are being affected by the herniated discs. He still experiences searing pain when getting up from sitting, when he laughs too hard, when he coughs or sneezes....it's bad, really bad. Thank you for your continued prayers for his well being!

{T-R-U-C-K spells Back Relief}

Well, from the post below you already know that last night we bought a new truck for Mike. We're still trying to figure out if we can write this off as a medical expense. Ha, ha! I'm guessing that would send up a red flag to the IRS, huh? So here is the video that we created of Mike's new truck. He picked the music:

{The Camaro} 2005-2009

Well...last night was a sad night. Mike made the decision that his back could no longer handle getting in and out of the Camaro. He's been driving the Expedition for the past 2 weeks because at least it's easier on his back to get in and out of, though still painful. He went after work yesterday and test drove a Ford F-150 truck. He came home, told me it was time...and we went to Cerritos Ford and bought a 2008 F-150 XLT Crew Cab in dark shadow gray. It's a very nice truck. It was sad to give up the only car that Mike ever expressed a wish to own. Below is our video tribute to....{The Camaro}:

Pictures to come later of Mike's new truck.

{Barbara & Leni Visit The 3 Walkers}

On Saturday, Barbara and Leni came up for a visit. We were celebrating Leni's 8th birthday! She got to pick where we went. So she came up and whispered in Aunt Michelle's ear...."I wanna go to that place where we eat first and then get the cards and then Uncle Mike, Meghann and I go and play games!" Oh.....Dave & Buster's! YEAH! We all love Dave & Buster's! So off we went! A little photo slideshow of the day of fun! Happy Birthday, Leni!!

{Meghann's Last Middle School Orchestra Performance @ Disneyland!}

Well, yesterday was the last time Meghann will perform @ Disneyland as a Middle Schooler! She's performed there each of the past 3 years, and it's always been a fun time for the kids and the parents! Dave, Heidi, Max, Kylan, Mike & Michelle all went out to breakfast @ Johnny Rebs, and then headed over to Disneyland to meet up with Heather and watch McAuliffe Middle School perform. This was Meghann & Kendall's last year doing it, but Kylan will start his 3 years of Disneyland performances, next year! The kids were GREAT...as usual! We really enjoyed the performance. Then the kids headed backstage to change over for the rest of the day.
Kylan let Meghann wear his Jack Skellington hat for the day...and she was thrilled! Ky is like her surrogate little brother...Kendall would happily let her have him some days! Larissa, Meghann, Kendall & Rebecca spent a few hours running around Disneyland before the kids had to meet up with their chaperons and go home on the bus. One of the best things about having Annual Passes? Meghann has never had to go home on the bus! We just check Kendall and Megs out and stay for the rest of the night! So we had another few hours to play and then headed home. A WONDERFUL last Middle School performance @ Disneyland! Great Job Kids!!

{Happy 8th Birthday Leni-Loo!!}

Happy 8th Birthday!!

Today our sweet little niece & cousin is 8 years old! WOW! Time flies! Seems like just yesterday when an almost 6 year old Meghann was holding her newborn cousin! And NOW look @ them:

We hope you have a fun day today, Leni! Enjoy ice skating with your friend and we look forward to seeing you next weekend! Start thinking about what you want to do! Do you want to go to Dave & Buster's? Chuck E. Cheese's? Whatever you want, that's what we'll do! We love you....have a Happy 8th Birthday! (We'll call later to sing to you! We know you look forward to the Cha-cha-cha!)

Love,
Uncle Mike, Aunt Michelle & Meghann

{Happy 67th Birthday Mom!!!}

Wow! Has another year really gone by? Seems like I was just wishing you a Happy Birthday! Hee, hee! My Mom is a wonderful woman! She always had/has my best interests at heart. She taught me how to be firm, but loving...nag almost without anyone knowing it (sometimes it wasn't so subtle!)...be caring and compassionate...how to love others more than you love yourself...how to do laundry...how to iron (and if I owned ANY 100% cotton clothes *I* was the one doing all the ironing of them!)...how to run a household so that your husband could concentrate on his job...how to love children (though during those "childcare years" I was pretty sure I'd NEVER love children!)...how to save $ (not that I always listened)...how to clip coupons and file rebates...and just all-around how to be a good human being who loves the Lord and tries every day to follow in His footsteps! (My Mom is my spiritual Mr. Miyagi....if you haven't see the Karate Kid, you won't get it!) I still call her up for her advice, because it's always given with a lot of thought, not just willy-nilly. I love my Mom! I love my Mom for how good of a mother-in-law she is to my husband. I don't think my husband would even consider her a mother "in-law", more just a straight up MOM! I love my Mom for what a wonderful Grandma she is to Meghann. She spends a lot of time doing anything that Meghann is into @ the time! Whether it's American Girl dolls, Webkinz, online games, Mexican Train, painting, crafting...Grandma can and DOES do it all! The BEST Grandma Meghann could ever hope for! We hope you have a wonderful birthday, Mom/Grandma!
Love,
Mike, Michelle & Meghann

The Following Video is for ALL Moms:

{Previews of our Family Photo Shoot}

My friend, Rachael, from elementary, middle, jr. high and high school took some family pictures of us over the Christmas break. She lives in Michigan but THANKFULLY her parents still live in Hemet so we had to opportunity to meet up with her and "borrow" her talent for a few hours. Truth be told? I would have paid for her to fly out to us...we think she's THAT good! Her websites are:
Small and Simple Things and Rachael Brinton Photography. You'll want to check them both out because they are both choc-full of her AMAZING photography! Here are some of the preview pictures from our session.....WOW!

(You can click on any image for a larger one)