The Walkers

I'm having issues and can't upload all my photos right now... but here's a preview.

This is the artist rendering of the Payson Utah LDS Temple. Pretty Cool.

I can't believe I forgot to include this picture of my dad photo bombing my would-be-picture of Brad. I like that guy.

Brad and I met up with my parents in San Fransisco last month for one last hurrah before school started. It was such a fun (kids free!) trip; I feel bad that I'm just getting around to documenting it. Our first stop was Alcatraz. My hair lost the fight to the Bay wind. Some pivoting and strategic hand placement made for a more successful photo... We were pretty upset that we didn't have our own "Vicky" as a tour guide. But the audio tour was still really cool. A typical cell... Brad incarcerated in a typical cell... We let him roam the yard for good behavior. Here's my question to Bobby Kennedy: if Alcatraz was supposedly so effective, why shut it down?? Some bad guys are just beyond rehabilitation. I say, lock 'em in a damp cell forever. Anyway - we also went to a Giants game that first day and had a blast! I think Brad and my dad got sick of listening to my mom and me take guesses at what RBI and ERA and all the other baseball acronym terminology stood for.....

...I'm pretty sure I'm Idina Menzel . We went to see her perform with the Utah Symphony last night and I was blown away. I was also riddled with envy. Seriously, how cool would it be to get paid to sing show tunes? Accompanied by a full symphony nonetheless? She sang a few songs from Wicked and Rent but most of the show consisted of really cool arrangements of old songs. It was interesting to watch her completely transition from song to song, really interpreting each song's meaning. The result was truly emotional and unique. I'm so glad we went. It was a perfect summer evening in Park City with some of my best friends. Thanks guys!

I got my back to school letter from my principal yesterday. It's the worst mail I receive every year, bar none. Why does summer pass so quickly? And who's the liar claiming that summer is three months long? Once August comes around, I'm done for. I will begrudgingly return to work in - count 'em - 16 days. Ouch. But what do you do? I can't complain too much about getting paid to hang out with the two best kids ever every day for the past two months. We've had a lot of fun this summer and there are lots more exciting events on our autumn calendar (our anniversary, a trip to San Fransisco, and Brett & Robyn's wedding to name a few). Anyway, I figured it was as good a time as any to capture this summer on film... er... whatever the terminology is for digital pictures. I'm happy with the results, but both Kaiya and Ben look so old; it makes me sad. Check out Ben's stud pose with his legit man-tie. Kaiya was less than cooperative until the photograp...

Brad was out of town all week sweating in Havasupai . I'm jealous of the sites he saw... not so much of the blisters and sunburn he received. Anyway, we kept busy while he was gone by watching fireworks with Nannie at Aunt Lisa's, playing on the giant slip n' slide at the Walkers', swimming at Jen's parents', and going to the zoo. Of course, I only remembered to take my camera to the last outing. We had fun hanging out at the zoo with the Walker cousins. I don't think I'd been to Hogle Zoo since my kindergarten field trip. Seriously. It was way too hot to be traipsing around with seven kids, but we had fun. I love how Ava and Kaiya are such good buddies. These photos are from today. Kaiya made this choo choo train for Ben and herself. Ben has just recently figured out how to pull himself up to the standing position. He is pretty darn proud of himself. I could figure out which of these I liked best, so I'm pulling an Alicia and posting them all :) Ch...