Walter Girls

Stephen took this picture Sunday afternoon. (Nat's in town with her family.) Which of us looks most like our mother? I have an opinion. Do you?

Twisted Sister

I took Meili to a follow-up spine check at Primary Children's Hospital. Believe it or not, the doctor expects she'll live a completely normal life with this double curvature. Impressive.

Back from Camp

When I started having nightmares about kidnappings and poisionings, I knew it was time for my girl to come home. Our family's just not complete without Meili. Here she is last Friday walking from the stinky bus and reuniting with Anabelle. Hmm, four days later and she's still not unpacked.

Playing at Katie's

Katie bought the house around the corner. We're so happy and are enjoying all the togetherness. Ana, especially, has become a near-permanent fixture at their home. And Lincoln is teaching us about being an early riser.

Feeling Hungry?

Chicks

For FHE this week we visited our good friends the Furners, who just received 24 baby chicks. Too adorable!

Academic Preschool Grad

Ana with her friend Raylei.

Music Preschool Grad

The Chase family attended Ana's next big event--"graduation" from music preschool. The class did a little concert, and Ana truly thought she was the star of the show. She kept us all laughing. Afterward she kept saying, "I can't believe I graduated!"

The One with the Wiggles (video)

Spring Concert

The Children's Choir performed last week. Here's Ana before and during her concert at the Provo Tabernacle.

HAPiMUTRZdEY

Written on my card from Ana.

Phonetic Wonder

Ana is trying hard to spell everything right now. The other day I was looking over a paper she'd filled with words, and I saw this one: "Anu." When I asked her to tell me about that word, she said, "That's my name." I was surprised and told her she knew her name was spelled A-n-a, but she just said, "No, 'U' makes the "uh" sound. Ana is An-uh." Guess she has a point. What do you think? Should I let her go to Kindergarten as "Anu"?

Cake on the Brain

Katie and her kids were visiting the night of Eliah's birthday. I had prepared an angel food cake for after dinner, and Ana had her eyes on it all afternoon. At one point in the evening, Katie was playing with the kids. She was trying to get them to listen to something and said, "What do I hear?" Ana didn't miss a beat and shouted, "Cake!"

Lucky 13

Eliah had a birthday today. Can't believe he's 13. As I often say, he was simply the best baby! And he's a pretty awesome TEENAGER now. Here are some shots from his family party tonight. We started the night out with stylist guru Debbie tweaking Ya's haircut. Now he's ultra hot. In fact, he was so warm he decided to (partially) disrobe for the birthday cake ritual. After that he put on a muscle shirt and opened presents galore with the help of his trusty assistant Lincoln. Thank you, everyone, for coming or calling and just plain supporting our boy.

Wicked!

The reason Grandpa and Bonnie were in town: Wicked is playing at the Capitol Theater in SLC. Here are the kids seated just before the performance. What a wonderful day. I loved, loved, loved the play! Thank you so much, Grandpa! We love you.

Super Heroes

Scout, Ana and Lincoln off to save the world.

Spaz!

Ana was Grandpa's partner during a crazy game of Spaz. She was a champ!

A Slice of Sisterly Affection

My sweetest-sister-ever Natalie made my day when she surprised me with a whole pie from Roseville's famous cafe, A Slice of Goodness. Dad and Bonnie carted it on to the plane and brought it clear to Katie's house for our family gathering. I was taken completely off-guard and brought to tears when I realized what she had done for me. We all shared the magic of Caramel Apple Pie. (Daryl proclaimed it the best apple pie he'd ever tasted.) I even had a little left over to take home. Thank you, Natalie. I'll never forget it. (Thanks to Stephen for these pics.)

Camera's Missing!

. . . but we had a nice Easter, I think. The Walter kids out here each had rather strange and nontraditional Easter meals. We had curry chicken. I think Katie had mac n cheese with her kids. (Dave was working.) And Steve and Debbie had cold cereal. None of us was in a holiday groove. Weird, huh?! Oh well. I promise we're not mad at each other or anything! :)

Katie and kids joined our family for dessert late in the day. I attempted to make Mamoo's angel food cake, but it was literally half the height of hers. I'll keep working on that recipe. Is it an altitude thing? Anyone? Or is it just that I don't have the Magical Mamoo touch (more likely)?

My kids just started a 5-day spring break (including the weekend). What a joke! Anyway, I'll try to think of something fun for them to do besides weeding the front yard.

"I'm Yours" (video)

This is the point where Meili knew she was in love.

Mei's Favorite Gift

Meili's big birthday gift this year was tickets to the David Archuleta concert in SLC Friday night. Needless to say, she & her friend Jessica had the BEST time. They had great seats and, aside from the drunk lady who danced wildly next to Meili all night, enjoyed themselves tremendously. My tickets were somewhat further back, but I got some O.K. pictures off the JumboTron. Here's a shot of my future son-in-law. Yup, Meili's got it bad.

First Bike

Ana adores her new pink birthday bike (Thank you, Katie, for finding it!). What she doesn't love is having to wear Eliah's old, nasty blue helmet with flames on the sides. Unfortunately, her cute pink helmet from last year doesn't fit anymore. When I pulled out this one, she held up her hand with a "not on your life" attitude and said, "I don't want that one!" Hopefully, this is just a temporary solution. For now, she's willing to wear it cause it's the only way she gets to ride the bike. Now if it would just warm up again, she could get back out on it.

Last Shakespeare Play

Meili participated in the school's Shakespeare play orchestra again. It was her third year in a row and her last one at the junior high. We attended Saturday night's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I just love watching the orchestra. It's better than watching the play, in my totally unbiased opinion.

Party Time

Ana and her two little friends plus Lincoln and Scout. Not pictured: Daryl, Meili, Eliah, Tami, Katie, and Meili's friend Jessica, who came to help. The kids frosted then ate cupcakes and played lots of party games, according to Ana's plan. Katie brought Bingo, which was the perfect game to end the one-hour party.