Maybe Now He'll Get Some Rest

Gordon B. Hinckley, the man we mormons have called our prophet and our great leader for the last (almost) thirteen years, passed away quietly in his Salt Lake City home last night. Normally I might say this makes me sad, but when I think about all this man has accomplished in his nearly 98 years of living, and more especially during his service as the president of the LDS church, I'd say his rest is well-deserved, and probably very timely. He was a man who never, ever tired, spiritually or physically. He truly was the epitome of the Energizer bunny! So while my thoughts and prayers will be with his family members who I'm sure will miss him greatly, I know that he has gone on to rest in peace with his wife and with his Father in Heaven.

CLICK HERE FOR A VERY NICELY-DONE SLIDESHOW TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT GORDON B. HINCKLEY

Some great quips and quotes from President Hinckley:

“Your faith will perform miracles especially when you get your hands and feet involved.”

“Popularity ends on yearbook day, but respect lasts forever.”

“Our lives are the only meaningful expression of what we believe and in Whom we believe. And the only real wealth, for any of us, lies in our faith.”

"Faith in something greater than ourselves enables us to do what we have said we'll do, to press forward when we are tired or hurt or afraid, to keep going when the challenge seems overwhelming and the course is entirely uncertain.”

“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.”

Party People in the Houuuuuse

Look at these beautiful people! I love them! Since Tami and her crew will soon be moving away from us (the jerks), Tami threw herself a little going away party and we all came to her house and ate her food--love those kind of parties! Not sure why she's going to miss friends like us (you know, the kind who make her throw her own going away party). Nevertheless, here's a very brief run-down of the evening:

Love these girlZ. L-R: Debbie, ME, Tami.

Your tax dollars hard at work, people. What do I mean by that? Well, let's see. Above we have Jeffrey, one of our hard-working FBI agents. Yup, that stands for FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation. The ACTUAL FBI. Jeffrey carries a gun, but one might wonder about his hand-eye coordination when one sees the GIANT STAIN DOWN THE FRONT OF HIS SHIRT! Who let him eat without a bib?? But what a good sport. He even posed just so I could take a picture that he KNEW would end up on my blog for the express purpose of exploiting him.

Now, below we have yet another of our outstanding FBI agents, Dave (whose goofiness is completely overshadowed by the radiant beauty of his stunning wife and my dear friend, Holly). Dave still thinks rabbit ears in pictures are funny. Dave, Dave, Dave...sigh...do NOT get me started.
Above: Ammie, Debbie, Angie. Can you tell they weren't really ready for this shot? Well, at least AMMIE wasn't!!! Sorry, Ammie! Last but not least, more Federal employee-type people. Newest FBI wife Alisha, and not-so-new Border Patrol agent wife, Lisa holding little man D. Ok, Tami, you can move, but leave the little man here. We'll take good care of 'im. Promise.

Tagged for Seven

Lori of DaHamFam fame has tagged me for a list of seven little-known facts about myself. Hey, don't blame me, LORI opened this can of worms! And be sure to read at the end to see if YOU have been tagged by me for this fun little game. Now here they are, in no particular order:

1. I have monkey toes. My family knows this, but it's not something I tend to broadcast. What are monkey toes, you might ask? Well, apparently, when you have a large gap between your big toe and second toe, those are monkey toes. Yup, that's what I have. If you want me to pick something up off the floor using my toes as pinchers, it just ain't gonna happen people. They're just too dang far apart.

2. I used to be quite the avid Phoenix Suns fan. Ok, avid is not a strong enough word. Obsessed. Sick, perhaps. So once when a Phoenix radio station was doing a drawing giving away various Suns-related prizes, I went to the place of entry and stuffed the box with a gazillion entries containing my name and the names of every family member and friend I could think of. The result: I won a trip to Chicago to see the Suns play the Bulls, and also a pair of tickets to a Suns game in Phoenix. It pays to be obsessive.

3. Going back to #2, I thought it'd be fun to quit a perfectly good job and go to work for Danny Ainge (Suns player at the time) in the main office of his sports attire business. I liked Mr. Ainge A LOT. So what could be a better job? Well, I got the job and it was fun for a while, but turned out to be much less lucrative and glamorous than I'd hoped. Luckily, the aforementioned perfectly good employer was kind (or dumb) enough to take me back after my momentary lapse in judgment.

4. I once had a tumor in my big toe, which had to be surgically removed. Do I really need to elaborate?

5. I've been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Not that interesting? Well, have YOU been there?

6. When I get really mad, I have a tendency to throw things. No, not AT anyone, but my favorite--when I'm really mad--is throwing shoes at the washing machine. Makes the loudest noise and therefore has the best effect, in my opinion.

7. My children are not allowed in my master bathroom. Since we moved in our new house in '06, the one with the great big old bathroom with the garden tub, I adopted said room as my haven. That's "mommy's room." If the hall bath is occupied and one of my kids has to go really badly, they'll come to me dancing around and ask if they can use my bathroom before they'll step foot in there without permission. They know that room is the equivalent of ancient Indian burial grounds around here. Just call me the bathroom nazi. (did #7 contain enough politically incorrect references between the burial grounds and the nazi comments?)

I'd better stop now.

I'm tagging the following peeps:

Jenna Alyssa Kristi, the token baptist Samantha Laura R. Tami H. Debbie (imaginary friend Debbie)

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission...to Boise???

Today was a big day in the Walker Family. The one and only boy in the fam, the baby bro, embarked on his two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. What a good boy! Mom put him on the plane in Phoenix this morning and 3 of his 4 sisters (that's right, I'm in dumb old AZ) met him in Utah and delivered him to the MTC (Missionary Training Center--bet you non-mormons didn't even know one of those existed, didjya?). After about 3 weeks there, he'll head off to the war-torn region of, uh, ok, Boise. Not really war-torn. I was going for some drama.

I love these pictures, especially the one with all 4 of my siblings. Are they not gorgeous, people? I ask you! I'm sad I missed that moment, but happy for Jerry and his big adventure. Good luck, Elder Walker! And good luck, ELIZABETH Walker (aka mom), who no doubt is home right now sitting in a dark corner amidst a pile of crumpled tissues and thumbing through Jerry's baby pictures.

It's "B" Day!

Baptism and birth day, that is. Our precious oldest girl turned 8 today and got to be baptized on her birthday. She (ok, WE) had lots of people here to help her celebrate. She looked like a princess in her beautiful white baptism dress (a loaner--thank you, Bodily's). And she only had to get dunked once. Uh, if you're not a mormon, that won't mean much to you. Skip it. One highlight (in my opinion) was the Billy Bob teeth, pictured here a few times. Daughter #2 got the most enjoyment out of them and seemed to really know how to wear them. Figures she'd be a natural.

I feel I must comment on the pic of Holly, Polly, and Debbie. Is it just me, or does it appear that Debbie and Holly seem to be conjoined by some alien life form sprouting from their abdomens? If there's a way for ham-ster Polly to make it into the shot, she'll find it. And she did. Good work, Polly. Anyway, thanks to all who gave or sent gifts and well-wishes, and/or showed up for free cake today. We're so grateful for our wonderful friends and family.

And it would certainly be wrong to post today without mentioning our wonderful uncle Jerry (my baby brother, pictured here with Hallie). We love him and will miss him so much for the next two years. He leaves for his mission on Wednesday and we're so proud of him, but my children are going to have SERIOUS uncle Jerry withdrawals for a while. We're oh so glad we got to see him today before he leaves on a jet plane.

One more side note. Notice the pictures of Hallie opening her gifts. In every picture, her friend Jordan poses very purposefully as if he's the guest of honor. We didn't have the heart to tell him otherwise. We got a kick out of it, nonetheless. Thanks for the smiles, Jordan!