Walters' Reunion!

I have been meaning to post about our reunion for awhile, but I just haven't had the time. This actually took me a little while. Last week, Dustin and I took the long drive up to McCall for our family reunion. This reunion consists of my brothers and sisters and their kids. It was a week long, and so much fun. When we first arrived, we were swept off to the outdoor pool right away. Here is Saki. He wouldn't get in the water, just walked around throwing anything he could find into the pool.


Here is Patrick and Kennedy lounging in the sun.


I guess it took a lot out of Dustin because he had to squeeze a quick nap in after that.


Sunday, the majority of everyone was there, so we decided to do family pictures. This is as good as it gets with a family this big. We all have t-shirts that correspond with our own little family. It helps keep us organized, right? Here is a picture with my dad and all my brothers and sisters. Ten kids. I think the last time all the siblings were together for a picture was at my wedding two years ago.


Here is the oldest. #1. Maddie, Tawny, Regan, Marty. Their oldest, Taylor, had to work and couldn't come.


#2. Bret, Carson, and Ryan. Angie came the next day with Delany, and their oldest, Tyler, was at scout camp.


#3. Kyler, Meggan, Kristy, Kellan, Gregg, and Mikayla.


#4. Braxton, Payden, DeDe, Brandt, Bailey, Addison, and Kylee.


#5. Peni, Jaycie, Rose, Avery, Tu'i, "Ema, and Brooklyn.


#6. CIndy, Scott, Natalie, Alexis, Patrick, and Kennedy.


#7. Mason, Tony, Cameron, Brennon, Kaden, and Camille.


#8. I didn't get a picture of Cody's whole family togther (yeah, I missed a whole family), but here are Lilli and Carly at least.


#9. Ife, Sakiusa, and Celeste.


#10. Dustin, Macie, and me.


I think all the stress of picture taking wore Dustin out. Notice a pattern here?


Here is the whole family (minus the 4 who weren't there)


And here is a picture with my dad and all the grandkids. I think there are only 3 grandkids missing from this picture. Altogether, we have I think 34 grandkids. Not too shabby.


This is a random picture, but I thought Macie looked pretty cute sleeping in the morning.


Monday, we had "Beach Day". Not really a beach. It was a lake. Tony rented a boat for the day, and everyone had tons of fun. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Camille and Cindy, or Ife, on the tube, but I missed that part. Here is a picture of Rose, Macie, and Carly.


All of us sitting around doing nothing.


Dallin and Lilli were being so cute. I wish I would have gotten them on video, but I just got a picture instead.


Here we have Kylee, Bailey, and Payden. By the end of the day, it was a little overcast and windy. These guys were just worn out and a little chilly.


Ife was a little chilly, too.


Who sleeps like this? Stiff as a board. Apparently Bret does.


And of course it wouldn't really be a day at the lake if Cody and Bret weren't fishing. A bunch of the grandkids actually were playing in the little stream and caught a bunch of fish, too.


Even though Dustin had to leave on Sunday, and I was there til Wednesday without him, it was still a way fun family reunion. As always, I love getting together with my family. It was so awesome of everyone to do their best and make the effort to get there are spend time together. I am so blessed to have such an awesome family. I love them all so much!

Our House!

Well, if you didn't know, Dustin is building us a house. We are super excited. He's been working very hard to get this baby framed. We probably won't really be in there til end of September...October-ish...I'm trying not to set a date yet. Anyway, here is just an update on how things have been going for him. This is our foundation. Yee-haw.


The left side is the basement, and the right side is our garage.


Then we got an upstairs, the living room and kitchen.


Dustin was VERY excited to get this cowboy hat. I never thought him much of a cowboy. I must say, though, he looks pretty smokin' in it. :)


Then we got bedrooms above the garage. Dustin put the roof on this morning. Did you notice we have no front door? Don't worry, it's there. He hasn't cut out the sheeting yet, so it's hiding. On about day number two when he first started framing, he actually did forget to frame doors in our house, but he fixed it. It's our first house, so we're allowed to make mistakes like that, right?


Here is what our house will kind of look like finished. It is backwards and a different color, but you get the idea, right?


Part of the bedroom side is framed inside, but not all of it, obviously.


This is looking down at where the stairs go. It's a split level, so the stairs split at the landing and go down into our dirty basement and up into our living room.


Dustin really has been working his tail off getting this done. He's taking a summer class, working, and building this house, so needless to say I haven't seen him a ton lately, but his part is almost done. We REALLY appreciate those who have put even a little bit of time in (and tools) to help us out. I'm so thankful for Dustin and his hard work. He's the best husband ever invented!

Blessing Day!

On July 6th, we blessed Macie. It was a really good day. Dustin did a great job. It was a beautiful blessing. I'm so glad Dustin is such a good husband and daddy. Macie looked very pretty in her blessing dress. Her whole ensemble was made by her Great-Grandma Forsgren. She was blessed in a shawl made by her Great-Grandma Merrill. It was nice of everyone to drive and come see us. I think there were only 3 siblings missing from my side. That's not too bad.




After the blessing, we went to Mac Park to have a little BBQ. We had to get a bum shot so we could see all the cute ruffles of the dress.


Here is Macie with her cousin, Carly. They still look alike even at three months apart.


Macie's cousin, Mason, loving the watermelon.


Scott and Kaden playing on the toys. It took me a sec to get them to hold still for a picture. They were having too much fun.


Lilli was having fun, too!


I should have thought and had a big family picture of all those who were there, but what are the chances with families the size of ours. Anyway, it was a crazy day, but it all turned out great, and we had a fabulous time.

Happy 4th!

Macie's first 4th of July was pretty fun. We drove up to Bancroft Thursday night and got there at about 1:00 AM. Grandma was so excited to see her she cried, of course, and then had to visit for a few hours before we could go to bed. :) Friday, we went to Soda to the parade. It was fun seeing the family. Macie slept through her first parade, but what else would she do at three and half weeks, right?

It was fun getting a festive outfit for Macie. I should have thought about something for Dustin, though. Good thing we all know he doesn't care. Macie is a face scratcher, so we had little mittens on her, but one fell on the road, so I didn't put it back on her. She sucks on them, and she's still my first baby. Lucky for me, Grandma Wadsworth gave her a manicure (filed her nails in other words) while we were there.

This was the first time Macie got to meet her cousin Saki.

Also the first time she got to meet her cousins Dallin and Lilli.

It was good going to Soda since I haven't been there for the 4th since I graduated high school. And of course it is always fun seeing family.