Happy Day, Daddy!

Birthdays. Normally a day to celebrate another year of life on this earth. But, for me, it's a day to honor the man that has shaped so much of my life and has always been there for me. There were definitely "those" days growing up where I would not have liked to have seen him but not too many! Memories of my dad include staring contests, Brown Bear/Rising Dawn, him coaching my teams when I was in elementary, trying to explain math (not that he couldn't, but he was easily frustated), learning how to drive with his yelling "BAM" when I would turn in to the incoming traffic lane, entrusting me to Jason on our wedding, instilling in our family the morals we all have today and a love for Christ, holding my children only moments as they entered the world, working to provide a nice life and good memories thru trips, and just helping out and making us laugh (some jokes not so funny).

Here's to the best Bubba, father-in-law and Daddy a family can have! Happy Birthday, Dad!

We love you!!!

New Layout

Let's all give thanks to Grant for selecting among the dozens of pretty layouts for picking this one! I asked his opinion so he could be involved in our site. Needless to say, I guarantee you that he thought about OSU orange when he yelled "Mom, pick the orange one" just a second ago. He loves those pokes! But, it is a cute one!

Let's Go to Pelican Lake

"Let's Go to Pelican Lake, it's the place you can take your little ones.

Keep it in mind when you're looking to find a place in the summer sun! What can you do?

You can swim in the pool, snack in the cool, you can ride a canoe... can you canoe?

At Pelican Lake you'll be able to make the way vacationers do!"

From the Fair Hills theme song

Any of us will be happy to bust into this song at any given time! It's been a tradition for my family (I've been 17 years) and one that Jason and I also want to start for our family - Fair Hills Resort in Detroit Lakes, MN. It's a resort retreat that we learned about from some of our best family friends years ago - the "other" Halls - and have continued vacationing together as families now for nearly 30 years. It's gone full cycle as now 4 of the 5 original Hall kids bring their own children to enjoy the magic and awesomeness (is that a word?) that is Fair Hills.

Imagine having anything you can think of doing on a vacation, all within a 5 minute walk from your cabin, including 3 delicious meals in the dining hall. Our boys had a ball this year playing tennis, golf, exploring the wonders of a clear lake, riding golf carts, diving on a huge water slide, participating on stage, riding horses, horse shoes, volleyball, wonderful fellowship with friends, new and old, and the joy of just relaxing!!! Okay, so I admit that Jason and I had just as much fun doing all of those things plus more.

We left Stillwater on Friday, July 3 and met my parents at a gas station and caravaned up to Sioux Falls, SD, and then went the remaining 4 hours on July 4. We stayed until the following Saturday morning. I didn't miss home or technology (they do have wireless for those that can't give it up!) a bit! It's neat because so many people are return guests and your friends from previous summers are back to pick up where you left off!

I posted pictures in the link below if you want to look through them.

Fair Hills photo link

Here is our album from our trip to Fair Hills! It was a lot easier to do that rather than post them all on here. Enjoy! http://www2.snapfish.com/fbshareredirect/p=677241248465934806/l=2764726013/g=112377666/redirectURL=share/otsi=SALBBL/AlbumID=1598059013/a=112377666_112377666/usercomments=I_xqd%20like%20to%20share%20my%20Snapfish%20photos%20with%20you.%20Once%20you%20have%20checked%20out%20my%20photos%20you%20can%20order%20prints%20and%20upload%20your%20own%20photos%20to%20share./counttext=254%20photos/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish

What We've Been Doing

Here's Brother's Day!

Yes, yes, yes, I'm awfully aware that the last post on this site was a full 5 weeks ago and I'm amazed! I'm chock full of excuses and reasons, but the main thing is this darn facebook stuff - when I do have time to sit at the computer, which seems more rare during the summer for some reason, it is facebook that I choose to do and not my blog. But, I know that there are friends checking this site to learn about us!

We have had a great summer this year.

- Family from both Minnesota and Texas have visited (and yes, we did the Eskimo Joes deal!)

- Celebrated a new Walker family tradition - Brother's Day - celebrated annually! It was a hit. We even had another family with all brothers over to eat cupcakes and play.

- T-ball season finished up (thankfully) with a happy player and a happy coach under our roof. The team celebrated with a potluck dinner at Grant's buddy's house (my buddy, too!).

- Grant has gone to two VBS events at local churches. After two days at one, he didn't want to go back to that one (never really found out why) and then last week, he had a great time at one for 5 evenings.

- We have gone shopping (and by "we" I mean Mom and me) and found excellent new pictures and wall hangings for the 1980 dental office and it has updated the facade a whole lot.

- Evening out with friends at the Stillwater wine bar. We then (and we're talking ages 29-40) decided we should go dancing at the Tumbleweed (on a Friday!)... get out there, and it's CLOSED. Total bummer. But we headed back to the Strip and had a great time!! It's good to have fun parent's nights out like those! That was our first time to a bar in Stillwater in 2 years - kinda makes you feel old!

- Fair Hills - that's a whole new post in itself!

- I got a new cousin!!! Miss Kayley!!! Welcome to our world and family!!!

- Jason's spring softball team (that won the co-ed adult league) decided to play summer/fall ball and that started back up. If you need us, we're at the softball fields on Friday nights now (Jason playing, Stacy chasing).

- Date night to see Harry Potter - we loved it! Both of us have read all of the books, and like most books turned movie, we prefer the books. But, it's still good.

- Pergola building - another post!

T-T Time!

Won't he just love it in the future knowing I posted a potty picture of him on the internet? nah! BUT, he is catching on about 8 months earlier than his big brother and actually just hollered from his bed that he needed to go tee-tee .... and he did when I ran up there! What a big boy! Guess I need to go buy some pull-ups!