plucky

Hi peeps!

You're gonna want to watch this - it will make your day :)

Bye peeps!

I see the moon, the moon sees me

 Matthew's and my cool pics of Saturday night's super moon.....

wish I had remembered when it was lower in the sky, but I was still happy with these!

 It kind of kills me to admit this, but these last two - my favorites - are the ones Matthew took.....

I hope you all had a terrific weekend!

Goodnight, Moon :)

what doesn't belong

 so I'm standing in the garage where all the guys practice their music.....

standing where Davy's foot pedals are set up..... and what should catch my eye.....

 but a certain pair of red heels that look very out of place amidst all this musical equipment..... 

 I go into Matthew's room, and where does he decide to hang his hoodie? Um.....

 an all too familiar sight: various guitars, mandolin's banjos, what-have-you..... 

sitting in our chairs as if they are waiting for someone to turn the tv on for them.....

 if I didn't make my rounds every night to collect all the stray cups after everyone goes to bed.....

I fear that some day I would wake up and my house would be the subject of a Shel Silverstein poem..... 

Davy's kitty thinking she is the owner of MY brand new Mad Men chair :/

I'll give you 3 guesses who did this when I wasn't looking.....

my attempt at making angel food cake = EPIC. FAIL.

~

So friends... you may have noticed, I haven't been posting much. 

A crazy little thing called life has been demanding my time and most of my energy.

More specifically, I'm feeling like the life has been sucked right out of me.

I don't often have anything left for the little things I enjoy so much :/

I will be posting sporadically for a bit - just wanted to let you know.

Sending love to you all - xoxoxo

caine

People. This made me bawl. Happy tears. Watch the whole thing. It's so delightful :)

I know I'm late to the game (what a shocker) and many of you have probably already seen this...

but it's so worth watching... Many thanks to my friend Cindy for sharing it with me!

~

I guess it's just good to know that there are still a lot of really good people out there.

gratitude

Yesterday a dear friend - and dear person - was responsible for the loveliest gesture.

Her kindness touched me to my very core, and truly meant the world to me.

~ Thank you with all my heart ~

A pink rose just for her because I know she loves them :)

xoxo

Grandpa Owl

my father & mother-in-law, Grandpa Owl (Al) and Grandma Joan ~

one of my all time favorite photos of them, from their many, many travels!

I hit the ground running when I recently returned from Utah. And before I even left home, life pulled the rug out from under us. I scrambled to help my husband leave town, filled my kids in on details for their week ahead, and then got ready to leave myself. Sheesh! So now that I'm home and things have calmed down for approximately 3 seconds, I finally have a chance to talk about our dear Grandpa Owl.

John's step-father Al (my father-in-law) passed away just a few days before I was to go help my cousin Shell recover from her surgery. Life - and death - are strange that way, aren't they. We never seem to know when either one will sneak up on us. We knew Al was not doing well, and were worried about his health and well being. Likewise, we were concerned for my mother-in-law Joan, who was trying so hard to take care of him.

When Joan called John and told him Al was suddenly gone..... we were equally relieved that he was able to pass away peacefully, and sorrowful that he was indeed gone. He had, of course, meant a great deal to us and to our three boys over all these years. He had been a silent yet supportive step-father to John from childhood. Together, Al and Joan were fun and lively grandparents to our boys, and were always kind and loving (and patient!) with them. They were always so good to us - supportive and encouraging, and most of all loving. We will always cherish our memories of Grandpa Owl, as he is perhaps gone, but never forgotten. And always loved :)

Luna Bunny

Now that Easter has passed, I've taken my bunny off of my wild child banner.

But I wanted to mention that this isn't just ANY Easter bunny.

It's a Luna Bunny :)

I've looked for years to find a bunny that resembles the silly little thing my Luna does...

she will beg for attention by doing what we call the Easter Bunny.

She does it so often, at times I'll look in the back seat of the car, and there she is in her E.B. position.

It just CRACKS. ME. UP. 

So to celebrate spring, my cousin Shell sent me the best Luna Bunny ever!

Thank you dear Shell! I love my Luna Bunny!

It's really hard to get a pic of Luna doing her E.B.

She HATES having her picture taken in the first place...

but one of the rare snaps of her rocking the E.B. happens to be with Shell - YAY!

So... I give you the REAL Luna Bunny, hehe :)

~

I hope your Easter was lovely

xoxo

shakin da boo-tay

Would you buy pest control from these guys??? Hehehehe :D

SNOW!!!

I'M LIKE A KID IN A CANDY STORE!!!!!

(Shell is not thrilled)

around the corner

~ SPRING IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! ~

Look at this lovely lily! It's from my cousin Shell's gorgeous birthday bouquet from her husband

~

Peeps! I know I've really been missing in action lately... I sure have missed my blog!

I've been in Utah (still here!) taking care of my precious cousin Shell -

she had gnarly, nasty shoulder surgery and has very limited mobility and a long recovery.

I love her so much, it's a joy to be with her and I'm so grateful to be here. 

For Shell's birthday, she not only got her stitches removed, but we went to get pedicures!

If anyone deserved the comfort of a massage & pedicure, it was Shell!

So here are our cute toes - you know I have a thing for cute toes, hehehe :D

Happy colors for spring! :)

diamonds in the rough

Hello and HAPPY FRIDAY!

I saw 2 videos this week that were so touching, they were right up there in the life-changing category. They're both making their way all over Facebook, have been embedded in countless other sites, and to date, one of them has had more than 4 million views on YouTube alone. They're both very different in circumstance, yet they share the exact same beautiful message - messages we hear all our lives, but so easily forget - - - - - Please watch both these videos the whole way through - you will LOVE them :)

Never - EVER - judge a book by it's cover..... if we'd just open it up, it's more than likely we'll find precious gems inside. One way or another, every one of us is a diamond in the rough.

Every single living being on this earth is deserving of a safe, happy life, surrounded by love. Every single one. Witness a diamond formed from whence it came, and your heart will change forever.

HAPPY WEEKEND!

xoxoxo

knuckleheads

* the fun just never ends *

happy

Happy First Day of Spring!

Here are some cheerful daffodils for you, thanks to my adorable friend Kerrie!

xoxoxoxo

heel*tastic

I'm not a huge promoter of products, but when I find one I like, I enjoy sharing it.

And this little product is amazing - WHOA!

 I love foot products, but I'm always skeptical about their claims.

My hopes have been dashed many times, but I keep searching.

I just happened to spot this at Bed, Bath & Beyond in their spa department.

I'll do anything to keep my heels from looking dry, so I decided to try it.

It's very easy to apply. It smells a little funky but you'll live.....

because I KID YOU NOT - I did indeed, "watch my dry heels disappear"!

YEAH BABY! My feet are so happy :)

Sooo..... if you pick some up for yourself, let me know how you liked it.

You're welcome, hehe :)

use your words

the Walker house in all it's glory.....

as you will see, we're the least civilized when it comes to food.....

however we do redeem ourselves fairly well in other areas :)

 Matthew's juice when he had a horrible virus :/

 Daniel's leftovers

 leftover nacho fixings identified

 Again with Daniel! Thin mints are a coveted commodity once a year.....

 hydration is important (note my dc on the right.....yeah)

 love notes AND warnings decorating the fridge

 grad school consolation and more love :)

my very most favorite, from Matthew - xoxo

this old guitar

 Remember that song by John Denver?

It was one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar, and a fitting title for this blog post.

 When I recently went to southern Utah, I was standing in the garage of a home we own.

I happened to look down, and there in it's case, was the very first guitar I ever owned.

I hadn't seen it since my first years of college - I never knew what happened to it.

Needless to say, I was surprised and delighted - more so than I can express!

 My father bought that guitar for me when I was 14.

He and I drove down past Los Angeles somewhere, to a store a friend of his owned.

I tried out a few guitars and then saw this one hanging on the wall. 

I knew it was my guitar the second I saw it. 

It was a little more expensive than the others, but my dad was sweet and gave me his approval. 

I think I smiled the whole way home :) 

It's one of my favorite memories of just my dad and I. 

That was 36 years ago.

 I had many wonderful experiences with that first guitar.

Like the song says, it introduced me to some friends of mine, and brightened up some days :)

 So naturally, I brought it back home with me.

John surprised me by putting new strings on it for me, and I polished it up once again.

 I loved that guitar for many years, and still love it now.

But what I love about it the most, is that I have sons who can play it beautifully (Davy here)

I feel that it has not only come home once again, but come full circle as well :)

oscars, roscoe's, and countdown to 21

 Davy had an Oscar party on Academy Award night.....

Being the movie snob that he and his lovable-but-highfalutin friends are.....

he was not particularly excited about this affair, yet he wanted to watch so he could enjoy his agony.

So he threw an "overly-excited Oscar party", meaning everyone had to overreact to every lame thing.

And not only that, they had to dress as any character from one of the nominated movies.

EVEN OSCAR HIMSELF SHOWED UP!

 Now, these kids are no dummies..... they not only moved in an extra couch and two extra chairs,

but Daniel split our sectional couch in two and put one up on cement blocks to create levels!

(was he away at college too long or WHAT)

He had lots friends dressed up as fun characters..... they ate lots of food and laughed & cheered.

Davy was one of the dinosaurs from "Tree of Life". Alrighty then.

It turned out to be an extremely fun AND VERY LOUD EVENING :)  

 Which brings us to the next day, DAVY'S 21st BIRTHDAY!!!

So naturally he wanted to go to Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles to celebrate!

yayyy :/

I gotta say though, I absolutely *LOVE* the above and below photos!

 Awww..... look at that handsome Davy face!

 WHERE DID THOSE YEARS GO?!?!? :D

 Being the budding film maker that he is, his REAL present is an old Super 8 movie camera.....

But of course we had fun getting him some other cool thingies too..... and some cheesecake :)

Yeah, I guess 21 might be okay.....

:D