Life after Summer

I love summertime--I seriously, actually, literally, and sincerely love having my kids home for the summer! I go through withdrawals for the first few weeks of school each fall. This summer was packed full, as usual, and the school year will be packed just a full...
Jake has hit the football field running. He lives for football. It is also his first year of high school, and he is excited for the big life--classes, football, and cute girls. What else is there? Oh, he has started playing piano, and he likes it, no kidding.
Morgan is a senior and love it--he rules the school--he is taking a gazillion AP courses and will be a very, very, very busy boy. He expects to throw in his job, video games, and dating into that pot o' fun...
Abby just started 4th grade AND the viola! She is walking on the clouds with this viola. She absolutely loves it. She has some good friends, and she loves acting--unless she has a audience. She gets that from me...the mama.
Jason is on break from BYUI, he goes back in January. He will be working full time and living here for the next few months. He loves being back in the old neighborhood with the old gang.
Erryn is a junior this year, but she says there just aren't any boys worth dating right now. We aren't complaining at alllllll. She lives for volleyball, but opted out of it this season so that she could get a job. She wants to start saving some serious money for college and a mission--and babysitting just isn't letting her rack up the cash fast enough. She is in two performance groups (they have been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall next year! They performed in DC last spring) and is excited for the plays and musicals lined up for this year--Dracula, Kiss Me Kate, Taming of the Shrew, and Guys and Dolls--looks like a very entertaining year--I'm pretty sure the school district knows Kiss Me Kate and the Taming of the Shrew are essentially the same story...good times! Erryn spent a lot of the summer volunteering as an assistant coach at the Rec Center--she coached track and volleyball for little kids--she loved it.
You are looking at the new Personal Progress Leader for our ward's Young Women! I am having so much fun with this calling, and the girls are just incredible. Clint is having the time of his life working in the nursery! He loves it, especially after a pretty long gig in the bishopric...
That's enough for now--celebrate the beginning of the new season! Clint and I absolutely love FALL!

FHE!

The Walker's present FHE! This was our opening song, Book of Mormon Stories, so I'm not sure what Jake's was looking at...and our sweet dog, Cooper, wanted in on the fun!

Alma and Korihor

I explained that we would be studying the story of Korihor by performing a reader's theater. Erryn, looking a little perplexed, was the narrator, Jake was Korihor, and Nick was Spider Man. Of course, there were other parts, Morgan was Alma, Abby was Giddonah, and I was the photographer. The sun was going down, but we still had fun! I wonder what the neighbors thought...I had tried to find a 'script' of Korihor's adventures, but had no luck, so I made my own. It was the scripture story verbatim, so we just let loose as we acted out the story in scripture language!

Giddonah

The people took Korihor to Giddonah, and Giddonah listened to what Korihor had to say.

Our Narrator

The Narrator --

Korihor Preaches

Korihor tried to teach the people that God did not exist, that Christ was not coming to the earth, and that the prophets were leading them astray.

Korihor is Bound

Korihor is bound and taken to the chief judge.

Alma

Korihor is brought to Alma, the chief judge, and Alma explains the truths of God and Christ, our Savior.

Korihor is struck dumb

Korihor asks Alma to give him a sign that God exists...Korihor is struck dumb, never to speak again.

FHE After Party

After our lesson in FHE, we let the kids run loose on the tramp--they are so funny!

FHE

The boys started wrestling and would not stop!

FHE

I couldn't resist--this photo is worthy of a professional framing! After we played for a while, we came inside for treats and a discussion. All the kids had something to say about what they learned. It was great to talk about the story and what we can learn from it.

Ward Campout--two bugs in a rug! Abby and Nick absolutely LOVE to camp, but I...well...I just don't. There's no other way to say it. Clint would live outdoors if he could...every so often I bite the bullet, take one for the team, and actually go camping. It was fun and the kids are just so cute!

Erryn's Choice

This is the 2nd photo, bad photo, of Erryn's American Idol experience. All I had with me was the cell phone, great quality, I know--the details are with the next photo...

Erryn Won!

Our Stake held a Tri-Stake competition patterned after American Idol. All who wanted to participate had to audition in front of the Stake Youth leaders, if they made it to the next level, they were to perform in front of all the youth, then the youth would vote on the winner. Erryn and 5 other youth made it to the finals! It was designed to be Karaoke style, but Erryn persuaded the judges to let her sing her own song a capella, and they agreed. She did a marvelous job! She won! She received a $50 gift card, and she immediately decided to donate it to charity.