Thanksgiving and the Rest of our Trip to Idaho

 The kids in my family made Thanksgiving dinner since my mom was busy with the funeral earlier in the week. Nate made his first turkey this year and it turned out great. It was a great dinner and nice to spend it with family.

The little girl table.

 And the little boy table.

 The big kid table. :)

We kept busy the next few days spending with family and relaxing. I even convinced my parents to get a Christmas tree while we were there so Paige could enjoy the process.

We picked out the tree at Stop N Shop (local store in Firth) where we often got our trees when I was growing up.

 We also went up to have dinner with Grandma Walker. A lot of my sibling were there so it was fun for Paige to play with cousins. 

 Then after everyone left Nate, Paige, my mom, and I stayed and I asked Grandma about meeting Grandpa and there early years of marriage. It was so fun to listen to all her stories.

We did a lot of tree decorating the past few weeks. We decorated Grandma Walker's tree and also my mom's tree.

 Derek and Amy and their girls and Sharolyn and Tyler came over our last evening in Idaho and we decorated graham cracker houses.

 Emily enjoyed her candy cane.

 Then we got to decorated even more trees. We always stay at Nate's aunt and uncle's house whenever we go to Idaho and on our way back we stayed the night there and we helped set up their tree. We also got to decorated Nona and Papa's tree once we got back to our Washington home. We are enjoying the holidays and Paige is so excited for Christmas!

In Honor of Roderick Lynn Walker

We made a quick decision to go to Idaho to go to my grandpa's funeral and we stayed for Thanksgiving. It was nice to see my family and to honor and remember my Grandpa Walker.

Sunday (November 23rd) was the viewing. We went up with Derek, Charlotte, and Juliette.

The funeral was the next day (November 24th). It was a busy day and the funeral was wonderful. It was great to hear all the stories about my grandpa and remember him and his legacy. I will miss him so much but I know I will see him again one day and I am grateful that I have another guardian angel to watch over me.

My grandpa served in World War 2 and it is so neat to see those that all served honor him.

My grandma did so well and she had so many friends and family help her through this hard time. She has such a strong testimony of the gospel and of the plan of salvation.

My Uncle Dwight made the casket. It is absolutely beautiful. My grandpa's brand is what is on the outside and his brand and a cow are on the top.

Then we enjoyed a nice luncheon afterwards. The oldest grandkid in each family read one of my Grandpa's cowboy poetry. We will all miss Grandpa Walker and we love him very much!

Grandpa Walker

Today heaven gained an amazing man- my Grandpa Walker. It is good that he won't be in any pain anymore and he is in a perfect place where he will patiently wait for Grandma to be by his side again. I love my Grandpa so much. He is such an amazing example! He has such a strong testimony of the gospel and showed all his family and friends that he loved the gospel through his example. He is such an amazing example of hard work and dedication. Most of my memories with my grandpa have to do with cows. There are many memories that I love and cherish like herding the cows down the snow covered roads, branding, riding in the truck with grandpa to feed the cows, and riding on the four wheeler with him to check the water. He is such a loving grandpa who would always give me a hug and loved it when I brought him sweets. There was always ice cream at my grandma and grandpa's house and my grandpa would always have a bowl with the rest of the kids. Grandpa and Grandma were always supportive of all of their grand kids and I know that Grandpa loved each and every one of his children, grand children, and great-grandchildren. We will all miss him very much and I am grateful that I have another guardian angel in heaven watching over me.

A day with Paige

 It has been pretty cold here and yesterday we finally had a warmer day so we went to the park. It was cloudy and jacket weather but still nice. It was awesome because nobody was at the park. So first we fed the ducks some bread.

The ducks were not scared of use at all. They were walking in between my legs and would get as close as possible.

 Then some fun at the park with our little cutie.

 Then after we ate some lunch Paige and I made a turkey. I traced her foot for the body of the turkey and I let her color it brown. I glued on the nose and then I had Paige draw on the eyes. Then I traced her hands for the turkey's feathers. It turned out cute and Paige loves to do crafts.

 Paige hung it up on the fridge and picked out all the yellow letters to keep him up.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was busy and fun! Christy and Lylia came up from Oregon so Aaron and his kids came to visit too. Anna and Scott and their kids also came over for awhile. The house was full but Paige enjoyed all the cousin time.

Nate, Paige, and I went on a walk on the Soos Creek Trail one afternoon to enjoy the beautiful fall day.

 All the Smith girl cousins got to be together for the weekend. It was so much fun for Paige. Paige was Lylia's little human doll.

 Then Monday Peyton, Mikey, Margaret, Lylia, Christy, Paige, Nate, and I all went to the Seattle Zoo. It was so much fun and Paige loved it so much. Yesterday Paige asked if we were going to go see the animals again.

 They were trying to convince a little bird to land of their fingers.

 These two gorillas are the grandma and grandpa of the zoo. They have both been there since 1968 and it was so fun to sit and watch them. It amazed me how human-like they are.

 She was so funny to watch. She kept on falling asleep and then waking up. It was like watching someone falling asleep at church. :)

 She was "calling" the ducks.

 Watching the hippos. They were pretty active so it was fun to watch them swim around and walk very slowing up the hill.

 Peyton and Mikey were very silly and were always making a silly face for all the pictures.

 This orangutan was in love with Paige. He was sitting up higher and then when Nate and Paige went up to the glass he came right up to the glass and pushed up his face against it and tried to give Paige a kiss. He just stared at her. When Nate and Paige walked away he went back to where he was before. It was so cute! 

It was such a fun day and a fun weekend!