The Walkenhorsts

A different Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 19:04:00 +0000

Thanksgiving 2020....a Thanksgiving that a lot of people never imagined, it was our first Thanksgiving with just our little family. First time with no friends or missionaries or extended family. We had a fun day though, even with Covid "ruining our plans", everything turned out great. Dusty planned and shopped for the whole menu, which was a fun switch! He smoked the turkey breast on the BBQ and it turned out wonderful and didn't take that long. We started the day off cooking with the Macy's parade and dog show going in the background. The kids were a lot more interested in it than I thought they would be. We took a cooking break to make these cute little turkeys that I saw at Barbies house, just salt dough and feathers, it was easy and the kids loved it! They turned out pretty cute. Hazel continues to be my kitchen helper, she helped me cut up cornbread for cornbread stuffing. Zara and Eli helped me take some food to a friends house and when we came back Dusty and Hazel had set the whole Thanksgiving table. We sat down together and had a great meal, it was so yummy and we played some new word games that we've been playing lately. I think Dusty and I both had a nap at some point after dinner we were all tuckered out. Then we set up all the Christmas decorations! We ended the day with a nice evening walk to check out everyone's Christmas decorations and then PIE!

Our butterfly's hatched out of their chrysalis's, it was so exciting. Every time we looked in the cage there were new butterflies. Sunday was special day, it was our families first day back at church since MARCH. We had a nice meeting with singing and the kids did pretty good.

The kids swam on NOVEMBER 28th!

Zara and Hazel enjoyed going to Target to get toys with their allowance, a bow and little critters. Eli continually amazes me with the food he makes all by himself, this week was toast with cream cheese and pickles. And also all their lego creations are quite amazing and creative to me. Leo is taking more steps everyday.

Now we are off to a camping trip!

Leo Turns One

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 05:01:00 +0000

Let's work backwards today because that's the way the pictures loaded. We ended the week reading bedtime stories and doing allowance and all that only to be "done" around 6:30pm. We figured it was pretty dark, maybe the kids wouldn't notice that they were going to bed so early?? Well, it didn't work, haha! They were up off and on till 8pm anyways, worth a shot though!

Today we all needed to get out of the house so we headed over to Lettuce Lake Park for a walk on the boardwalk, two kids fell asleep on the way there so we took an extended drive and found a few more parks to go to another day! I also got to talk to Grandma Shutt about church and Covid (they were exposed so they are quarantining just to be safe). Lettuce Lake Park was great and the weather was awesome. We saw a lot of pretty plants, "lake lettuces", flowers and some huge trees. We spotted three alligators, not too big but pretty close up which was very exciting!

Last Swim Day of 2020: November 21st!

Friday we celebrated Leo's 1st Birthday! It was a great day and I can't believe he's already ONE! Cat stopped by with the most thoughtful little gift bag for Leo, he was so happy to sit with her and open everything. We made a smash cake in the afternoon from a box and it was delicious. The night before Eli came with me to the store to help pick out Leo's gifts, he was so happy to help even though I couldn't tell if he was shopping for himself or for Leo, lol. It was so cute how excited they all were for Leo to turn one, you can see it in their faces in the picture where they are all sitting at the table and Leo is eating the cake. Leo is so cute, funny and brave. I think he understands so much of what we are saying and doing. He wants to be doing exactly what the older kids are doing all the time. He loves cellphones and remotes so we try to not let him see them or else he really can't think of anything else, haha!

We've been checking the caterpillars every day, in fact, on Thursday the first little guy started to make his chrysalis. We noticed him hanging upside down and by the end of the day, boom! He was all wrapped up! We figured out that it takes about 12 hours for them to make their chrysalis. Now we have nine that are in a chrysalis and we are just waiting for them to emerge as beautiful butterflies.

On Wednesday I asked Zara "What would make today awesome?" and without skipping a beat she said "Going to The Little Play-place". I was so surprised! But we did have some punches left on the card so I made a reservation and we headed out. That place is so fun and the kids just jumped right in masks and all! They love shopping and being in charge of the register, they even had fake little wallets this time. Leo also enjoyed pushing the cart around and putting things in his cart. They played a ton in the little house area. At one point I looked over and Zara was ironing washcloths, Eli was making toast and Hazel was lounging on the couch looking at her phone (I have no idea where she learned that, haha). They played for a long time in the little cafe and eventually Leo and I made our way over to them so they could serve us a little snack. They wrapped up with a trip to the hair salon, it is just so cute, Zara was excited that they had a hairdryer that really blew out air... even though it wasn't hot.

Hazel continues to be my little kitchen helper. This week she cut up carrots for chicken noodle soup and I was so impressed because it's not easy chopping carrots with a butterknife, but safety first!

Caterpillars!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 16:40:00 +0000

What a fun week, the weeks fly by so fast lately and I can't believe that Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here. Homeschool is chugging along, some days are better than others but we usually finish all our work for each day sometime between 10am and 8pm. We had a very exciting delivery on Wednesday which was also Veterans Day. Hazel was helping me make patriotic rice krispies for our veteran friends and neighbors when we heard the doorbell ring. It was kind of a crazy minute, I had marshmallows blowing up the microwave and hazel stirring something but I ran to the door and it was our baby caterpillars! Live delivery! We finished making the treats and then unpacked the critters, we had a great time setting up their habitat and seeing them crawl around. We eventually moved their house to our homeschool table so that they could have more light and so this past week we did homeschool on the couch in the living room. It was different but kind of nice too.

The kids are so funny with their little toys, sometimes their friends like to come to homeschool. I guess that is a perk of homeschool!

Other fun things this week included a fall themed art class with Grandmalita over FaceTime. The kids love to help me cook and stir and cut things, Hazel is my biggest helper lately and loves to grab a knife to help cut whatever she can get her hands on. Zara made her famous "Zara Soup" Veggie soup with noodles. The kids have also been enjoying taking baths in our big bathtub downstairs and I think Eli gets the award for best at relaxing and finding his inner zen.

Leo is getting closer to walking everyday. Lately he likes to kick is feet up on the ottoman to get up to the couch. He is a very smart kid. The playroom is always a mess, to me at least, but the kids all seem to know were everything is and they always amaze me with their creativity and the games they make for themselves. The toy of the week or the last two weeks was that huge box.

Friday is our park day with Grace, Drew and Cam. We have been going to the park with them for years every week since Drew and Zara were about 3? But, I would say that we have become even more consistent since the pandemic started in March, well actually when it first started all the parks were closed so we didn't see each other for a while but sometime in the summer they reopened the parks and we basically go every Friday. The kids love seeing each other and I love sitting and talking to Grace. The weather is getting really nice now which makes it even better.

This week we tried a new park which turned out to be a major flop! So we packed the kids in the car and went down the road to a tried and true park. Leo loves swinging and Hazel keeps up with the big kids. In the car we listen to Laurie Berkner CD's that Barbie gave us at the beginning of the pandemic. When she first gave them to us I thought, awesome. Great. Thanks Barbie. Loads of annoying kid music. But actually they have turned out to be the best gift she's ever given me. We listen to them every time we are in the car and we have all the songs memorized and when I hear the kids singing them around the house or out in the yard it makes me so happy.

Friday morning at the park is fun but what the kids really live for is friday movie night. This week Dusty leveled up and set up the tent in the playroom, we added some Christmas lights and viola! A magic sleepover! We watched the new Secret Garden which wasn't quite as magical as I was hoping, should have gone with the 90's version I grew up with.

Saturday morning is pancake time! It's amazing to me how traditions have kind of just evolved, especially since covid happened we look forward to them more than ever and the kids remember them every week too! Hazel is Dusty's helper every time he makes pancakes, it's really fun to see. The missionaries came and helped us weed our front yard which was very kind and helpful of them, we covered a lot of ground! Zara came out and helped too, with the weeding and the chatting. After that everyone was kind of hot so all the kids grabbed their swimsuits and jumped in the pool!! I couldn't believe it!

Last swim day of 2020:November 14th

The kids jumped in over and over, even Hazel! Leo and I were on the sidelines but eventually even Leo was itching to get in so he went in with Dusty up to his diaper or so and was happy as a clam.

Then we headed to Barbies house for an impromptu slip in slide. It was the perfect day, the kids did the slip and slide and the swing while the adults sat around eating snacks and sipping drinks. It was fun to catch up with Francesca since we don't see each other very often. The weather was beautiful.

Finally, some random odds and ends: I love when Hazel yells at Alexa through the tv remote, we've been watching The Crown and Alone, Spanish lessons are tough but fun, sometimes I give Leo chocolate in his highchair so I can cook dinner(he loves it obviously) and I'm reading a book about "The Secrets Of Happy Families".

Six year blogging break!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 01:20:00 +0000

This week was crazy. On Tuesday we waited and watched the votes for Trump and Biden roll in, even the kids were interested in everything that was happening and wanted to watch the TV with us. We went to bed without a winner in sight and turns out we wouldn't know till FRIDAY. We had voted together on the Friday before during early voting and Zara was curious about the candidates. She asked lots of questions in the car and she predicted that Biden would win. She said that we should give him chance because everybody deserves to have a chance. Well, she was right. Biden and Harris pulled off a win and there are lots of celebrations going on right now across the country. This election was emotionally stressful mostly just because so many people were extremely vocal, especially on social media, about who they were voting for and if you don't vote for that person then you are an awful human being. Lots of aggressive words and things I think that people generally wouldn't say if they were talking face to face. This whole thing has made me think about starting a podcast for Tampa where people would be interviewed about why they are running and their top points. It would be nice to have a way to learn more about the candidates.

While we were waiting to find out who the next president would be we did lots of fun things and tried to soak up all the nice weather. It's finally starting to cool down to the low 80's and sometimes there is even a breeze. We spent some time at a local park that we hadn't been to in a while. We enjoyed exploring the trails and finding ponds with lily pads. Lot's of time at the park this week, Leo is getting brave and crawling around the play structures. He even ventured down a slide all on his own, though I think that by the end he wasn't so sure about his decision.

On one exceptionally cold morning (68 degrees) we ate breakfast super fast, threw on our coats and drove with the windows down to a paved path behind our old house to see the horses. I actually didn't get any pics of the horses, oops. When I rolled the windows down Hazel yelled "Hold on to your seatbelts everybody!" it was so cute and she amazes me everyday with how much she can say and express herself. The kids picked sticks and asked me to tie long pieces of grass to them to make fishing poles that entertained them all the way back to the car. We made it back just in time, the temps were back up by the time we got home.

Yesterday we finally buckled down and worked really hard to organize the garage, since we moved to the new house the garage had been kind of crazy. The kids played in the driveway and backyard while Leo napped. Dusty hung the bikes and we got rid of tons of stuff we never use. Now Dusty can park his car in the garage! When Covid started one of my friends gave me some cds by Lauren Berkner and we've been listening to them nonstop for months, they are really cute. Lately while the kids are playing or drawing I will hear them start singing her songs and it is really sweet. As soon as we were done with the garage we hopped in the car for an afternoon lunch at Red Robin! It was the first time the kids had been in a restaurant basically since March and they were super excited. We got fried pickles, even Leo loved them, and all the kids got milkshakes. The restaurant wasn't too busy and everyone was spaced out. It was really fun to get out again all together!

Today is Sunday and Dusty has been going to church now for a while. The kids and I stay home and watch on zoom. Last week he took Hazel with him and this week was Eli's turn. When Eli decides that he wants to dress up he goes all out and it's really cute, he does his own hair and everything. He was excited to go with Dusty. After we watched church the girls and I went out to the front porch to watch the birds. There were quite a few neat ones today! A family of Sandhill Cranes that live in our neighborhood, parents and two kids, were back at our pond. They rotate between a few ponds in the area. We also saw some Wood Storks that I hadn't seen before, they are white with a little bit of black, we had fun watching them swing their beaks back and forth in the water looking for food. I've been trying to start this whole Charlotte Mason nature journaling thing and it never seems to work out. But, today I told Zara to run in and get our notebooks and some pencils and we sat out there and drew the birds. We had such a great time. We've been doing picture study during our morning time where we look at one work from a painter and lots of times I'll just ask them "tell me something you see in the picture" so today after Hazel had drawn some lines on her page she walked around asking us "What do you see in the picture?" it was so cute.

The kids loved playing with a huge box that Dusty got for his birthday, Dusty turned 36 this week!! The kids loved getting him a gift and picking out cards. I think Dusty was excited to receive a few camping related gifts for some trips he has planned this winter. Anyway's, they turned the box into their hideout complete with lights, pads for sleeping, books and toys. Eli even step in it this weekend during the kids sleepover (every weekend since this summer the kids have slept together in the playroom and call it their sleepover).

Leo is getting brave and taking more and more steps everyday but what he really seems to excel at is climbing up on things! In the cabinet, up the stairs, the chair, the little table. He loves it! He is a really fun kid to have around. Zara started reading the book of mormon, by herself, without any of us suggesting it and she likes to tell me that she is almost to Nephi 2. She is a great big sister and really enjoys reading.

I've been trying to read more here and there. This week I enjoyed a fun book called Tender to the Bone by Ruth Reichl, she talks about all the food memories she has growing up. Her mom was a bad cook and it gives me hope that at least I'm not that bad! I've also, been watching The Great British Bakeoff with a friend, it's nice to have something special to look forward to every week. I started a book called Let Them Be Kids and so far it's a good reminder to keep the kids off the screens most of the time and let them be bored a little more. I'm always amazed at the things the kids come up with when they play together and don't watch tv, it's just so hard to keep the tv off between 3-6pm when they seem to turn into little monsters and I turn into the crazy lady.

Also! Let it be known that the last day that the kids have swum in the unheated pool so far this year is: NOVEMBER 2nd, 2020!

Tomorrow is another week of homeschool amid Corona Virus 2020, should be a good one.

Zara's 1st Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 01:04:00 +0000

I can't believe Zara turned 1 year old 6 months ago! Zara and her friend Millie had a little combined birthday party with owl smash cakes. Kasey and Collin came over from Knoxville which was really fun! Zara really loves hanging out with Kasey and Collin.

It took the girls a few minutes to figure out what to do, they were pretty hesitant to touch the cake. We all kept waiting for a big "smash" but they were pretty polite about the whole thing.

Zara mostly just liked squeezing the cake in her hands.

We thought it was funny at the end of everything that Millie's bib, on the left was perfectly clean and Zara's on the right was smeared with cake.

Zara had so much fun opening all the gifts that her family sent her. Once Dad was done with the scissors she really tore into everything and helped us get everything out of the boxes.

She loved opening all the cute cards and gifts from her Great Grandparents. So thoughtful!

Rocking her Utah State jersey while checking out her new giraffe stuffed animal. Thanks Aunts and Uncles!

She loves playing with this ball track from Abu and Lita that lights up and plays music. Lately she started dancing to the music and it's super cute. She's got some moves! We have also really been enjoying the zoo pass from Grandma and Grandpa! Last time we went she walked the whole time! Pictures to come :)

Happy Birthday Zara! You are so much fun and we love you so much.

February happenings.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 17:44:00 +0000

Here is a little update about February. Zara and Millie had a lot of play dates and enjoyed reading together. Millie was walking and Zara was standing but not walking yet. Zara celebrated her first Valentines Day and enjoyed opening many cards and little gifts from friends and family. On Valentines Day we made heart shaped pizzas and Dusty and I went out for ice cream. Zara still loves swinging and we had some warm days so we went to the park a few times. We had our last activity with the YW and the Leaders, it was fun but bittersweet. I think we all miss the girls. We had lots of fun times in February!

Dad was funny and made a pair of lego google glasses, they were almost as good as the real thing.

Saying Goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 17:14:00 +0000

On January 25th my Grandma passed away. Zara and I had called a day or so before to say goodbye and tell Grandma that we loved her, she told us that she loved us too. I'm grateful that we called even though it was hard because I knew it would be the last time I talked with my Grandma. I'm glad I finally called though. I was grateful for my Aunts who were there and answered the phone and held the phone for my Grandma so that we could have that last moment with her. The funeral service was January 30th. We had breakfast as a family at the hotel. We were all wearing emerald green, my Grandma's favorite color. Zara had an emerald green bow in her hair. My Grandma had asked that all the grand-kids sing Because I Have Been Given Much so we practiced with all the cousins a few times before and we were doing pretty good, emotionally, we were making it through. When it came time to sing the song at the service we all took turns crying. My dad said that a few of us would start crying and then as soon as we pulled ourselves together and started singing another group would start crying. It was amazing to see all of the people that came out to say goodbye to our Grandma. She had an affect on so many peoples life's. The service was beautiful, the words, the flowers, the music. We were all passing the tissue box around. My Grandma was amazing, she had many gifts and talents. I learned a lot of things about my Grandma at her funeral which was neat but also made me feel sad that I didn't know those things before. I was grateful to my Dad who told me that it's "OK" to learn things about people at their funerals. I was able to say goodbye to my Grandma and hold her hand one last time. She looked beautiful and peaceful and her had was soft. Uncle Justin said a beautiful prayer when we were all in the room with Grandma. At the grave we all laid a rose on the casket and spent some time hanging around before we left, it was a cold and wet day or else I think we would have all liked to stay a little longer. It was hard to walk away. We had a wonderful lunch at the church provided by the Relief Society. There were beautiful centerpieces and emerald napkins. We watched a slide show with pictures of Grandma with our family and quotes from all the grand-kids. I think we watched it at least twice. We also were able to take a huge family photo together. There are of course some things about this day that I chose to keep for myself but I wanted to write at least a little summary of this day. I know we are an eternal family but it was still extremely hard to say goodbye.
The next few days the mood was still a little heavy but we were able to have fun and enjoy our time with each other, it had been awhile since we'd all been together! Grandma really liked to have everyone together. We went to Iver's for some yummy fish and chips and chowder. We went to a session at the Seattle Temple with my Grandpa which was great. After the session my parents reenacted some of their favorite poses from their wedding day outside the temple, silly newlyweds. We loved it.

One of my favorite memories with Grandma was when we went on a long car ride with the whole family. I was about 8 or 9 and she sat in the back with us and taught me how to whistle with my hands. She would show me how to place my hands and where to put my mouth to make the sounds, she even explained why it works. It took me forever, hours maybe, to learn but she kept helping me, she was so patient. I was so excited when I finally learned how to make the whistling sound!

Grandpa with the grand-kids and their spouses

We were wondering what they were all looking at...the flowers? No. Zara! Hahaha!

Sitting around at Grandma and Grandpas house chatting and laughing, Zara was getting some love from Aunt Cryste.

Pueblo Magico and Goodbye Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 16:11:00 +0000

One day for fun we headed out to see a Pueblo Magico, a Magic Town . These are towns that Mexico has deemed enchanting, extra traditional and just sort of special. They can receive extra funding from the government to make improvements, encourage tourism and that sort of thing. Some of my family had gone paragliding there before and had a great time so we decided to give it a go!

Zara had fun being pushed all around town by Isaac, she was so happy. We passed this brightly painted shrine to Mary while walking down the road.

Getting ready to jump off the runway! We each had our own person that went with us and controlled the whole thing, we were just sort of along for the ride and it was awesome. I almost didn't go because I knew Dusty would really want to go too and I didn't want to hurt his feelings, he and Kasey were already home in the states so that they could get back to work. In the end I decided to go ahead and go with the idea that we could go again together next time we were there. It was fun to go with Sarah, Doug and Isaac. Isaac had already done it before so he was telling us what to expect.

The view from the air. Towards the end the guides ask if you want them to do some tricks or twirl around and I said sure, it was sort crazy and I almost puked but was able to keep it all together and land without anything happening, thank goodness! It was pretty neat and I always thought it would go pretty fast but we were up there for what felt like 10-15 minutes and you just sort of glide around as you make your way down to the ground.

My mom was great and stayed with Zara down on the ground while we were up in the mountain, I think they had fun together.

Thanks Mom for showing us all around the little town, we had so much fun!

On our last morning we went downtown to have breakfast together at a hotel that makes really good breakfasts. On the way there we passed this building that had a huge spider outside, we had the same sort of thing in Nashville at Cheekwood at the time so I thought that was neat.

The hotel itself was really cool. It had a huge stain glass ceiling, old elevators and huge bird cages scattered around with birds in them. Breakfast was on an open terrace that looked over the main center of town where they have lots of festive decorations and ice skating. It reminded me of the hunger games sometimes because once in a while a women would just start talking over a loud speaker to everyone in the square reporting a lost child or some other news.

Sarah enjoying her gluten free finds...and my plate of non-gluten free finds, I guess Sarah's looks a little bit healthier :) Everything was yummy and Zara loved the beans.

A final group picture after breakfast. Thanks Oversons for a great time and the late nights, we had so much fun celebrating the New Year with you!

Isaac and Zara were really good friends by the end of the trip. Getting a few more hugs and pictures with Abuelita before we go through security. Sarah and Doug flew out at the same time and I was so glad to have their help and company.

And finally, ya know, just some artwork in a parking garage downtown. It was a very diverse collection.

Dusty welcomed us home to Nashville with a balloon for Zara, we were so glad to see him!

The Pyramids

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 02:11:00 +0000

Ahhh! The pyramids! We spent a warm and beautiful day at the pyramids with everybody. The way it's set up is there is a plaza sort of thing in the middle with a bunch of pyramids all around it, some of them you can climb and some you can't. I think there was a moon pyramid and a sun pyramid. There were vendors everywhere selling knickknacks and textiles, I think we all found a little something. We climbed up one of the bigger pyramids and there were lots and lots of steep steps, we were glad we left Zara down at the bottom with Mom and Kasey.

Zara in her cute little hat from Abu and Lita (grandpa and grandma), she kept it on most of the time.

This post is one big "Where's Preston?" it turns out he is hiding in most of the pictures somewhere, hahaha! And I have no idea why I brought a sweater, really, what was I thinking?!

Little baby toes

Photobomb!

(Preston, is that you?)

Lots of people! We were all pretty warm but the locals were walking/hiking up the pyramid in boots, boots with fur! Vests, sweaters, I couldn't believe it! My mom said that even if its hot sometimes they just want to wear "wintery" things because technically it's wintertime.

Sometimes it's hard to get a group photo.....

I bet this lady has some good stories!

(did you spot Presto?)

Just missing one sombrero and Doug.

Half way there.

Yay! We made it! At the top there is a little piece of silver(I think) about the size of a dime that's good luck to touch when you reach the top so there was a huge swarm of people all around it but we finally got to touch it. Yay!

Taking a little siesta

To buy or not to buy....

After we hiked the pyramids we ate lunch in nearby cave. The atmosphere was pretty cool, there were candles and Christmas decorations everywhere and it was neat just be to underground. At that point I was glad I had my sweater.

Zara was mesmerized with the mariachi guys and she even tried her first lime but decided it wasn't her favorite thing.

New Years in Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 18:16:00 +0000

The garland that my Dad brought back from the US in a duffel bag to replace the wreath tradition. So festive, is it Christmas yet?

One night we had dinner with some of my parents friends from church and they made a dish for us called Paella. He brought his own skillet and set everything up right on the patio. The skillet was huge, you can't really tell from the picture but he even had a special spatula so that he could stir everything without burning his arm. He started with the rice and then added sea food after sea food...fish, clams, OCTOPUS, calamari and tons of other stuff and salt, tons of salt! We tried a little bit of everything and the octupus was pretty good. It took awhile to cook so we would go out there and see what he was doing, ask questions and then cover it up and stand around and talk and then check it again and then talk some more, it was a really fun evening. I think by that point Preston had his mission call to Spain and Paella is a Spanish dish, actually I think that is the whole reason why they were cooking the Paella for us in the first place!

One of my favorite things was when the Aunties and Uncles would whisk Zara away with them to a room to hangout and I would find them all just lounging around talking, Zara crawling all around them.

Umm, Yes. This is Zara in the kitchen sink after she pooped in my parents bathtub. Oops!

New Years Eve! We hung out all night with the Obando's, they are the ying to our yang. We love seeing them. They have three girls and they are all so fun and sweet! We played lots of games and ended the night with a rousing game of white elephant right before ringing in the New Year.

The daughter of the guy that made the Paella brought my mom this centerpiece with the flowers and candle as a hostess gift. It was amazing.

The highlight of the night was when Sarah and Doug received Isaac's white elephant gift. A little red kids chair, Sarah sat in it and we all just busted up laughing, it was pretty late at night.... We thought Isaac was going to DIE. It was hilarious. I think we were all laughing/crying.

We saw Walter Mitty and had the place to ourselves, turned out to be one of my favorite movies.

It is so hard to get pictures of Zara that aren't fuzzy because she is always moving around, but It thought this was a cute picture of Isaac :)

Zara dancing with dad in her new bear slippers from Abuelita.

Preston and Zara playing with some new toys.

I really wish the second picture wasn't fuzzy!

Puzzle time!

Out and about for a little architecture tour. There are some crazy cool building down there!

Tacos, soup and fried cheese with the fam. So yummy!

Preston trying to teach me how to use the settings on my camera while we were driving in the car. Kasey was doing a great job entertaining Miss Z.

Zara, budding photographer.

Christmas in Utah

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 16:49:00 +0000

Our first stop on our Christmas trip was to see the Walkenhorsts in snowy Utah. Zara enjoyed being read to by her grandparents and playing with her Aunt Kassie and Uncle Devan. We stopped by and saw Grandma and Grandpa Great and at first Zara was a little upset but then Grandma Great pulled out a dog that barks and walks and Zara loved it! She played with it the whole time and we just sat back and laughed because it was so cute.

Grandpa and Grandma Great learning how to use their new kindle fire. It was fun to watch Toni teach them how to use the touch screen.

Zara did really well with all of the Santas she met this year. We thought she might be scared to sit on Santa's lap but it turns out she was mostly just curious and spent the whole time staring at his face trying to figure him out

We went and saw the zoo lights one night and while we were waiting in the car for the zoo to open Zara discovered the cold windows and started giving them lots of kisses, she thought it was pretty cool.

On Christmas morning we opened our stockings and got lots of fun little things and fuzzy socks, even Zara got fuzzy baby socks! She loved them. She also received her first doll from Grandma and Grandpa and gave it lots of hugs and kisses right away.

I love how rosy Zara's little cheeks are, I miss them! And it's always funny to look back, I thought Zara had sooo much hair at the time but now that she really does have hair I realize that she didn't really have that much hair at Christmas, haha! Isn't she just so cute!

For fun one day we went to a bowling/putt putt golf place and had a really good time. The putt putt golf was indoor and had tons of cool sea life murals and black lights. It was pretty neat!

We spent some time outside in the snow and Zara loved it! Dusty took her around on an inter tube and at first she looked hesitant but then she realized she liked it once it got going. She also loved riding the four wheeler around. It was so great to be outside in the snow, it was cold but so bright and the backdrop was beautiful, as always.

We had such a wonderful time with everyone in Utah!

Next up: Christmastime in Mexico. We ran into Collin in the Denver(?)airport while he was on his way to Utah, random!

Christmas in Nashville

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 16:53:00 +0000

Christmas! We had so much fun this year at Christmastime with Zara!

Every year a cute little town south of us called Franklin has a Christmas Carol festival where they hire people to walk around the streets dressed as characters from the Christmas Carol and it's so fun! People bring their dogs and there are booths of homemade good set up and music, of course. We had a great time cruising around looking at everything. Zara ended up conking out at the end which was nice and so cute, I forget how cute she was when she was sleeping.

We had our own mini Christmas Eve at home before we left to go see our families. Zara was totally into helping open all the boxes and taking out all the packaging. By the time we got around to opening the gifts the sun was long gone so the pictures are sort of dark because we still don't have any lamps in our living room, hahaha! But the tree was pretty bright!

Other December happenings included Zara army crawling everywhere and me finding her in the funniest places, we started to experiment with hair bows....Zara learning how to stand and eating lots more regular foods.

On our way to Utah!

Thanksgiving 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 15:53:00 +0000

Ok, so we are a little behind on blogging over here and haven't really blogged anything since Halloween. Lots of fun things have happened since Halloween! Let's start with Thanksgiving. Kasey and Collin came for Thanksgiving again this year and we were so happy to have them. We went over to some friends house for the actual dinner and it was really yummy. It was Zara's first thanksgiving and we were excited to have her taste stuffing and all that stuff but she mostly just wanted to gnaw on a pickle.
Kasey and Collin also helped us make the wreath, which now I can't seem to find any pictures of so I took one from Collins Instagram. Thanks Collin! We had a great weekend and I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving time again!
Also had lots of fun with the YW collecting cans in our neighborhood the night before Thanksgiving. It was fun watching the girls find the confidence and courage to knock on doors and ask strangers for donations. Our neighborhood was very generous and the girls were able to collect lots of food and even about 6 coats!
Zara and I also had some good times hanging out with Millie, Zara's little friend.

11 Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 13:18:00 +0000

Your first Valentines Day! You are so much fun and are getting so big! You are still a happy camper but sometimes you get mad and make a really great sad face like in the picture above. We are learning that we have to be careful with our phones and things because you really really like them. Your little personality is getting stronger and stronger each day and you are learning so much!

10 Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 13:14:00 +0000

In January Zara turned 10 months old! She had a cute Jack-o-Lantern smile for a while with her little teeth on the bottom and a random side tooth up top. It was pretty cute! She also got her first ear infection which took a while for me to figure out but once we went to the doctor and she got some medicine everything was a lot better, we did enjoy the extra snuggles. Some of her favorite things at 10 months were books and lego blocks.

Nine Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 13:07:00 +0000

Playing catch up, big time! Zara turned 9 months old in December.

December was a great month, we saw lots of family around Christmas time and had so much fun. Turns out Zara was fascinated by Santa Claus. Zara was a super duper army crawler and she got her two bottom teeth in around Christmas time.

Bath time via Iphone Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:33:00 +0000

Oversons Visit Nashville!

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:27:00 +0000

We were so lucky to have the Grandma, Grandpa and Isaac here in October for almost a whole week! We had so much fun hanging out and mostly just watching Zara do her thing, eating tons of yummy food, seeing a few sights here in Nashville, and watching many episodes of House Hunters International. Kasey and Collin even made it out for the weekend and we played a crazy game of wits and wagers :)

We had dinner at the Loveless Cafe and ate our weight in biscuits and jam. The boys took the motorcycle for a spin. Do you put that much butter in your biscuits....?

A little fall car ride through Edwin Warner Park to see the leaves.

We went and saw a Norman Rockwell at our local art museum and it was pretty great. We liked the art and Zara enjoyed eating the pamphlet about the art.

We spent an afternoon in a little town south of our house called Franklin and had fun just browsing through the stores and grabbing lunch.

Lunch at Merridee's for soup and sandwiches topped off with a smorgasbord of pies and desserty things.

Kasey and Collin! We went downtown to Jacks to get some BBQ and got caught in a crazy rainstorm. Every. single. time. my mom has been downtown it has down poured on us. Every time.

This sidewalk act on Broadway was pretty interesting, they had a lot going on.

We had to stop and get a treat at Starbucks at least one time.

Showing Grandpa all her toys.

We took a tour of the Belle Meade Mansion and walked the grounds. Dad worked his sleepy magic on Zara, a fall time miracle!

Mom saying "Don't take Zara away from me!"

Hanging out on the front porch, check out those shutters!

We walked around and saw the slave quarters and read about a few of the workers they kept at the house. Zara had so much fun with her Uncle Isaac.

On Halloween night the kiddos dressed up :) and we we and got some really really yummy pizza! Then we drove down a street that was all decked out for Halloween, it was a windy but warm night.

The pumpkins were amazing and there were tons of them. We decided that we think the neighborhood must have a pumpkin carving contest because some of them had ribbons.

We really enjoyed seeing everyone and making memories. :) see ya'll again soon!

Random October Happenings

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 16:51:00 +0000

Zara, eagerly awaiting for someone to answer her Face Time call.

October was a fun month for the Walkenhorsts. Lots of nice weather, walks, face timing family, Halloween and an Overson visit!

We finally went for a walk around a little lake here in the middle of Nashville called Radner Lake. It was a beautiful day, we got there sort of late so we had to hustle to make it around the lake before the sunset. Zara had fun watching the leaves from her stroller (we couldn't decided if strollers were allowed on the trail or not but we went for it anyways).

Zara had a random "photoshoot" in the middle of the day when we were just a little bored. She is at such a fun age. She was jabbering away the entire time!

Zara and her little friend Millie hanging out.

You can't really tell but in the picture below Zara is watching it snow for the first time.

Zara's first Halloween! She was a little owl and as a family we were Harry Potter, Hermione and Hedwig the owl.

Eight Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Mon, 25 Nov 2013 19:15:00 +0000

Zara is eight months old now and busy all the time. She loves to army crawl everywhere and is getting to be pretty adventurous, crawling from room to room all on her own. For Halloween she was a little owl. She loves books and will roll around reading them to herself and flipping the book around looking at all the pages. We are still waiting for her to get some teeth, hopefully she gets some soon! In the picture she is holding one of her favorite things, a highlighter, she likes to watch it roll around on the floor and chase it. She has also figured out how to swing doors open and closed (if they are already open) and she likes to pull on drawer pulls. She is working on learning how to pull herself up on things. Zara is still a pretty happy camper and loves to smile at everyone!

And now a word from Zara herself....

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Seven Months Old

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 15:05:00 +0000

This cutie pie is seven months old now and keeps us on our toes more and more each day. Zara's an expert scooter, scooting across the floor on her tummy to get anything she wants. She can also stand and hold onto stuff like the sofa or her saucer, one of her favorite things is to stand up on the couch with her tummy against the cushions and look over the back of the couch. We think(hope) she might get a tooth soon, she's chewing on everything and sleeping is a little harder for her lately. She is so much fun to have around and laughs at us when we are silly especially Dusty. Bath time is so fun, she rolls and slides around on her belly to reach all her rubber duckies that swim away. The other day while I was in the kitchen she crawled over by me and was trying to scrape some of the sunlight off the floor with her fingers. It was pretty cute. It's starting to get chilly here so we finally broke out her cute little bear coat that is HUGE and so fluffy. It has little bear ears on the hood and little bear pockets. Maybe I will post a picture of it here soon. Happy seven month birthday Zara! Pretty soon you will be 1 year old!

Yay!

South Caroline: Savannah, Charleston, The End.

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 20:13:00 +0000

We took a couple day trips to Savannah and Charleston. Savannah was gorgeous, one of the fun things about South Carolina in general was that there was spanish moss dripping from every tree. Savannah was cool because every few blocks they had a park with a statue or a fountain and plaques talking about war history. There was just so much history everywhere.

Yummy, yummy sandwiches

They built these house a little close together...

Zara with the St. Patty's Day Committee sign, maybe one day she will be president ;)

One of the many beautiful parks downtown

We walked through this really old cemetery and some of the tombstones were attached to this wall, we aren't sure why. Most of the tombstones said what church the person attended and how old they were to the day when they died.

Savannah had an amazing cathedral, the stain glass was so intricate and beautiful. They were refurbishing the exterior so there was scaffolding everywhere outside but the inside was very peaceful.

We took a detour to go see a lighthouse and drove past this little jem....wow.

We also stopped by an interesting place called Wormsloe. We pulled up and there was this grand looking entrance and then we drove down an incredible drive lined with 400 live oak trees but the actual home is in ruins so there wasn't much to see. The driveway was over a mile long and pretty amazing. The land was settled in 1733 by a man from England that was one of the original settlers of Savannah. He planted all the trees along the drive and built a house for his family. He was one of the only settlers that lasted. You can see all the mortar and seashells that he used to make the foundation for his house which was pretty neat. There was a little house nearby so you could see what it was like to live back then with a little room for cooking and then the sleeping quarters above in a loft.

The homestead backed up to this swamp area.

We stopped by a country store on our drive back to Edisto. It was so cool, they had tons of ciders and homemade jams and jellies. Yummy!

On our way home we stopped by Charleston. We didn't have that much time but it was fun to walk around a check things out a little bit. We decided we could definitely make an entire trip just out of the Charleston!

Dusty loves bridges and they had a pretty cool one. It was so windy!

We also got to stop by my cousin Alicia's house for a night to see her family. We had so much fun catching up, meeting her cute little kiddos, and eating delicious soup and bread. Zara and Charlotte hung out a little bit :) I think they are about 3 or 4 months apart but are pretty close in size.

Of course when we drove through Atlanta we had to stop by Ikea.

That wraps up our South Carolina adventure!

South Carolina: Riding Bikes

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 19:32:00 +0000

We rented bikes for a day while we were in Edisto and we were so glad we did. It was such an easy and fast way to get around the island, we were a little sore the next day though! We even got a little seat for Zara and she seemed to like it.

Getting all ready to go.

We saw these crazy berries and thought they were pretty neat

South Carolina: Visiting the Serpentarium

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 19:50:00 +0000

While we were in Edisto we visited their Serpentarium full of all sorts of Alligators, Turtles and Snakes. We made it just in time to see the Alligator show. A young man with an awesome local accent stood above the alligators and fed them huge pieces of chicken while he told us all sorts of awesome Alligator tidbits. Zara and I loved the Turtles and Dusty loved watching the snakes. There was even a snake show! If you're ever in Edisto check out this random place, it was a lot of fun.

Crazy turtle with a huge tail!

Zara really wanted to pet the Turtles!

The only Alligator we let Zara touch :)

These little guys were super fast!

She was so tired by the time we were done seeing everything, so sweet.

South Carolina: The Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Chelsea and Dustin Walkenhorst.) — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 02:04:00 +0000

We had a blast at the beach! It was Zara's first time seeing the ocean which was neat, she took awhile to warm up to the water. We think the sound of the waves scared her more than anything. The water was so warm and we basically had the beach to ourselves just a few people here and there. The first couple of days we would get all of our beach stuff together and go play on the beach like we did when we were little, Dusty built sandcastles and we would take breaks to go play in the waves. Zara ended up eating a lot of sand and getting sand in her eyes so instead of playing on the beach we decided it was easier to just go for really long relaxing walks and look for sea shells. This beach had shells EVERYWHERE! We had fun looking at the beach houses while we walked and watching people fish in the ocean. We even saw a couple of dolphins in the water.

If you look close you can see a butterfly next to Zara's head, there were butterflies everywhere!

Zara's first time in the ocean, warm like a bathtub.

Ended the evening with a beautiful sunset.

Funny face!

Zara makes the funniest faces. Zara napping with one of her favorite toys......paper.

Totally zonked out.

All Zara wanted to do was pull his hair.

Walking home from the beach through the JUNGLE! This was when we realized that bikes are ALWAYS a good idea so we rented them the next day.

Zara and her sea shell.