WZUP with the WALKERS

Chunky Monkey

2010-08-23T19:49:00.001-07:00

So Luke has no problem eating! He got off to a slow start during his first few weeks, but has definately made up for lost time! At his 6 month appointment Dr. B said that he is bigger and longer (taller?) than 95% of babies his age. He described him as an average 9 month old! Seriously.... that is why none of his cute 6-9 month clothes fit him! He has now eaten rice cereal, apples, carrots, green beans, pears, banannas, and sweet potatoes! He makes a face the first bite and then chows down! We have also discovered the greatest things ever... Baby Mum Mums... they are just these rice husk things that disolve in his mouth, but he loves them and they keep him entertained for a while! They are sticky and gross, but we go through a box a week! Luke is also sitting up now and smiles ALL the time! He is such a sweet little guy and just goes with the flow with our crazy lives! :)

East Texas

2010-08-04T05:54:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we were able to get away for a much needed few days of R&R. We headed to my parents house in Gladewater on Thursday evening and were able to let Luke sleep much of the way. On Friday my parents played with Luke all day while Mark and I went to Canton all day. It was like 110 degrees, but we had a great time and was nice to hang out just the two of us. I LOVE Canton Weekend because of all the unique treasures you can find shopping and Mark likes it ok because he gets to eat lots of fun food! We ordered some barstools for our house. I will look forward to going back when it is cooler! We then spent Saturday and part of Sunday on Lake Cypress...it was sooo great!! My aunt's boyfriend, Steve, has a fabulous 3 bedroom house right on the lake, beautiful pine trees, huge deck, rocking chairs, 2 jet skis, boat, tube... it was so great!! We got to spend lots of time with my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma, brother, and his girlfriend, Sarah! Luke was well taken care of the whole time and we all were very sad to leave. It was a long trip back to LJ on Sunday and much discussion of buying our own lake house (yeah right!!), building a deck (possibly) and getting a pool (again yeah right!!). We can't wait to go back... if we are invited!

Luke with grandma "Honey" and great grandma Hall. Luke is not spoiled at all!

The lake was beautiful!!

Just chillin'

So sweet...like father, like son!

Yes they match!

Too cool! His little blue eyes and fair skin are so sensitive!

He did NOT like wearing this!! haha

Tubing! I still have bruises on my legs, but it was so much fun! Think I could do this everyday!

Luke had so much fun!

Relaxin' in the Hammock!

Preteen Camp

2010-07-05T20:38:00.001-07:00

And Natalie and Matt flew out Sunday night and preteen camp started the next weekend! Preteen Camp is so fun!! I LOVE camp so much!! We had another great year down in Palacios! Great kids and counselors!!! 3 kids accepted Christ, 2 kids won campers of the week, of course we won the spirit stick! Lots of sunburns, tired kids, changed lives and lots of fun! Mark brought Luke down for one of the days and he had lots of fun!

Visit from my Family

2010-07-05T20:21:00.001-07:00

Well, VBS ended on a Wednesday night and Thursday my sister, Natalie, and her husband

Matt flew in from Los Angeles. They had not seen Luke since he was born, so it was a great weekend for them to hang out with him! My brother and parents came down on Friday night, so we had a house full! It was a lot of fun! We went out to the beach to a great new restaurant on the beach and the guys all went to the Astros vs. Rangers game for Father's Day...including Luke! It was sad when they all had to go home!

VBS

2010-07-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

We did VBS Outside the Walls again this year and it went awesome!! We had incredible families at our church get super involved and we had the opportunity to meet many new people in our community! Prayerfully relationships will continue! I was running around like crazy, Mark was teaching large group time at the apartments (which he is AMAZING at by the way) and Luke was having quality time with the grandparents! GREAT week! God is good!

First Mother's Day

2010-05-20T20:20:00.001-07:00

My first Mother's Day was wonderful! I got to spend it with my little man and my mom! It is a little harder to juggle your own mother's day when you are the children's minister and have parent/child commitment, but it worked out pretty good. I sure was tired at the end of the day though! My parents came in town for the weekend and watched Luke during the morning when Mark and I went to church early. They got him ready and met us at church.

Mark and I spoke together for a few minutes to our families and parents about the role they play in their child's "God Story." We also told a few funny stories of our first few months of being parents. We challenged all parents to write a letter to their child by Father's Day to be given to them at some point in the future (wedding, graduation, when become a Christian, etc.)
Mark and Luke....aren't they cute!?!

We could never get Luke to smile in pics with me, but got him to do it here! LOVE this one!

Luke and Honey

He was very tired!

A Long Time

2010-05-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

I know my New Year's Resolution was to blog more. Obviously I stink at resolutions! Life has been a little crazy the past few months and a lot has gone on. I returned to work a at the beginning of April and Mark's sweet mom, "Grammy" has been keeping Luke at our house during the day. This sure makes things a lot easier on everyone and Luke gets to be in a normal environment during the day! Over the past few months Luke has grown a LOT and now weighs 16 pounds 6 ounces and is 3.5 months old! It really has flown by!! We had family retreat with our church at Pine Cove, went to watch Baylor play in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 and then I spent my last week of maternity leave at my parents in East Texas (Honey & Papa). We celebrated Easter on Saturday in Tyler and then drove back to spend Easter here at our church and the afternoon with Mark's side of the family. Since then we have pretty much just stayed here working and playing! I am gearing up for lots of Summer Activities at church! It sure takes a lot more creative thinking and planning to get all my stuff done around Luke's schedule! Good thing I have an AMAZING husband who is a HUGE help!!

Photoshoot

2010-02-13T10:57:00.001-08:00

We celebrated Luke turning 1 week old with a photoshoot at our house. A local photographer (and now friend) Jenny Hintze took these amazing pics of Luke!! There are more to come, but these are the one's on her blog right now! I LOVE them!! She is an amazingly talented photographer and her love for newborns shows so much through her patience with Luke (and his parents). He was supposed to close his eyes a lot more, but he definately likes to stay awake and be a part of all the action, especially at night right now. We are working on teaching him the difference between sleeping at night and day and how better it is to sleep at night! I'll post more pics when she gets them up.

Our Baby Story

2010-02-11T11:09:00.001-08:00

Well we now have a baby story to tell. Here is the short and sweet version. We went into the hospital last Thursday evening to induce labor, but by Friday evening my labor stopped progressing and my doctor decided a C-section was best...not my plan at all...but listened to my doctor! So at 7:44pm on February 5, 2010 our little boy Luke Jagger Walker came into this world. He weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 inches long. He is and was perfectly beautiful and healthy! We are soo thankful!! There were many at the hospital late that night to welcome him here including Mark's parents that live here in LJ, my parents and brother from East Texas and my sister and brother-in-law from California! It was such a special time! Our family and friends visited all weekend and we came home this past Monday. We are adjusting to our new little life as best we can. It is definately the most humbling experience either of us has ever had and the most special time between Mark and I. We are trying to sleep when he does and so far things have been going well. I have not left my pajamas or worn makeup for a week, which is actually kind of nice! Anyway, will post more later. Thanks for all your prayers! We are so blessed!

This is the most recent pic of Luke...Dad teachin' him some XBox skills early!

A quick trip at Bucees on our way to the hospital!

My husband likes to take pics! Right after we checked in to the hospital and got "settled."

About to go in for our C-section...after hours of labor I didn't progress so this was the next step!

When I first got to see him! Debated about putting this up because how horrible I look, but hey this is the reality after they cut you open! haha

While he was being weighed and measured. I could hear him crying from across the room.

The first time our families saw Luke! I was still in surgery and Mark got to go up to the nursery!

My parents and brother were here from East Texas and Mark's parents too.

Luke with Aunt Natalie who came in from California to meet him (along with her husband Matt)!

Leaving the hospital and driving home. All of his chosen "come home in" outfits were way too big!!

Arriving Home from the hospital!

Some of his first days at home!

Baby Luke Jagger

2010-02-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

We found out we were going to have a baby back in May 2009. It seems like such a long time ago!! We announced it to our families in Destin, Florida on vacation in June 2009 and then the next week to our friends and church family! In September we found out we are having a little boy and decided to name him Luke Jagger! My pregnancy has been pretty easy and I don't have too many complaints! :) I am not in week 41 of my pregnancy and 1 week over due! Apparantly Luke is going to be stubborn, so tonight we are going into the hospital to start the induction process! Prayerfully we will be holding Luke this time tomorrow evening. I am not sure if it has really even hit Mark and I that we are going to be parents! It is so amazing that the Lord would entrust us with such an enormous responsibility!! I hope and pray that we will be parents that point him to Jesus 24/7 and that he will grow up to be a man that loves the Lord with all his heart, soul and mind! We know we can't do this on our own, but with strength of the Lord we can do anything! We are so excited! :)

Thanksgiving

2010-02-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

Each year take turns spending holidays with my parents and Mark's parents. This year it was Thanksgiving in East Texas and Christmas here in Lake Jackson. Both were wonderful!! Thanksgiving week this year was a little hectic!! We started the week with a baby shower in Lake Jackson, then traveled to my parent's house in East Texas. My sister, Natalie, and brother-in-law, Matt, were in from LA too! Mark and Matt went in the middle of the night to get Playstation 3's in the wee hours of Black Friday. Much later that day we went to my dad's side of the family for baby shower #2 and Thanksgiving dinner! Then on Saturday morning we drove to Dallas for baby shower #3 and time with my mom's side of the family. We also got to go to the Baylor vs. Texas Tech game at the new Cowboy stadium! We ended up barely losing, but the game was good and the stadium was incredible!! Sunday afternoon we drove back to LJ tired, but with a truck full of baby stuff!! It was such a fun crazy week that I will remember forever!! We haven't uploaded all the pics from all the showers yet...sorry! But I have a few from the stadium! :)

The screen really is AMAZING!!

The official said he stepped out of bounds....obviously he did not....

He scored on this play....so if the call had been correct we would have won the game! :(

NashVegas

2010-02-04T10:05:00.001-08:00

Mark and I decided to take a last little vacation before our traveling days are slowed down by our new baby! We had some free Southwest flights saved up and Hilton Honors points and decided on a city we hadn't been to, so we went to Nashville for a long weekend right before Thanksgiving. It is such a BEAUTIFUL place and we had a great time!! I think we were able to do most of the touristy stuff! There are some pictures below that I took with my phone because I "misplaced" my awesome little point and shoot pink Canon camera!!! I was soo sad!! We think I may have left it in the awesome rental truck we had! Free Upgrade! I was sick!! I loved that little camera! Oh well... I just need to break down and get a new one! Anyway, we had a lot of fun and got to hang out with one of the youth from our church who is a freshman at Belmont and had lunch at the famous Pancake Pantry! Loved getting to see Andrew for a little while!

Oh and seriously the best sweet tea you have ever ever had!!

Really cool place to eat with little shops while you wait!

Country Music Hall of Fame. One of Carrie Underwood's dresses!

The Gaylord Hotel...like 10 times the size of the Gaylord Texan in Dallas!

The New Opry House...all decorated for Christmas! We saw the Rockettes here and it was so good!!!

At the Ryman Theatre...and we just missed Vince Gill that night!

The trees were beautiful!!

It's a Boy!

2009-12-27T20:11:00.000-08:00

So my New Year's resolution is going to be to blog more!! Especially with our little guy coming along pretty soon! I am sure I will want to post tons of pics of him! Our due date is January 28 and we are naming him Luke Jagger!! We can't wait and are so excited!
We have been busy this fall with lots of church stuff, Mark traveling for work, us traveling together for lots of "once last trips" before the baby and getting everything ready for Luke's arrival!! It has been a lot of fun! Here are a few pics of his room...a work still in progress!

More to come later this week!!

A Busy Summer

2009-08-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Summer is almost over and this is one of the first Saturdays we have actually been home!! It has been a great Summer with lots of exciting memories! We started off the Summer with Vacation Bible School: Outside the Walls. We did VBS in apartment complexes around our town. This was the first time VBS had not been in our church building! It was a great week and we were able to reach many kids and families! Preteen Camp was the next week and of course it is always a lot of fun with Preteens!! Then we went on vacation to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida (near Destin) for a week with my parents, Mark's parents, my sister Natalie and her husband Matt, and my brother Colt and his girlfriend Sarah. My family has vacationed here since I was in Jr. High and it is my favorite place EVER! I loved sharing it with Mark for the first time! We also announced to our family that WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY IN JANUARY!!! We had been keeping it a secret for weeks so we could tell them all together! We are so excited and so are our families! (first grandbaby on both sides) After Florida I went to Seattle, WA with our youth group where we lead Upward Basketball and Cheerleading camps and did some sightseeing. The next weekend was a girls weekend with all my roommates from Baylor. It was lots of fun and I got to spend some extra time with my BFF Katie and her baby, Annie! Her and our baby will be exactly a year apart and we know BFFs too! The last few weeks of the summer consisted of a visit from my mom for a week, wedding showers and my closest cousin Lee got married to Alica. I LOVE my new cousin and their wedding was beautiful!! That was the very short version of our fun-filled summer! I posted some pics below of some of the events!

My Sandcastle

Natalie & Matt on the Kayak

Our Canopy (with Dad under)

Our Condo

From our Balcony!

The Fam on Santa Rosa Beach

The whole group in Florida!

Our Group before we headed to Washington

Some of our Cheerleaders at camp in Dupont, WAshington

Mt. Rainier...it was Beautiul!!
Hiking at Mt. Rainier...on a little bridge!

Katie & David's sweet baby, Annie!

Isn't her hat so cute?? It matched her little capris!

Baylor Roomies + Baby Annie -Amanda

Alicia's Wedding Shower at Spice in Waco

Playing Catch Up

2009-06-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while...sorry to so many of you that follow...all 3 of you! :) April was unbelievably crazy month and May was spent recouperating. April was spent in Dallas, East Texas, Guatemala, Alabama and Atlanta, GA. It was all fun and I have put some pictures below. Mark and I helped lead out in a conference for all the CAM Missionaries in Guatemala...we lead the kids part! Sorry I don't have any pics of it...yet! During our trip to see my family in East Texas we had a baby shower for my sweet cousin Jeni and her husband Patrick. They are expecting their first baby, Sheridan Danielle at the end of June. (pics below) We also went to Dallas and got to see my little cousins Sidney and Aubrey play in their basketball game...it was hilarious!!! They both did so good, but I don't think we have ever laughed so hard. Sidney is the older and way taller one and did really good. Aubrey, bless her heart, had no idea what was going on and I am laughing right now just thinking of it. Their dad, my Uncle Ron, coached their team. Take a look at the pic below where Aubrey is "guarding" the girl twice her height.....HILARIOUS! I went to the Orange Conference in Atlanta, GA and took some leaders from our church. AWESOME! I could right 1000 blogs on all the Lord taught me....AMAZING! http://www.blogger.com/www.theorangeconference.comHopefully my next blog will be sooner! :)

California Vacation Part 1: San Francisco

2009-04-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Mark and I took a trip to California. We both had earned free Southwest flights and they were about to expire, plus we had free hotel rooms using H Honors! If you do not earn any type of points or rewards on your CC you must fix this now!! This is how Mark and I have been able to travel so much. We haven't paid for a flight so far! Seriously...you can get free stuff for spending money!! (I am not encouraging charging up a bunch of credit cards...use wisely and pay off each month) Anyway, we took the first flight out on Monday morning and the last one back on Saturday night to make our much needed week away last for as long as possible. San Francisco was BEAUTIFUL...not a place we would choose to live, but definately a place to visit! We did it all....you can see a few (of hundreds) of pics below!

We had been up since 3am and were just arriving in San Francisco.

San Francisco Trolley...it really was lots of fun...one of my favorite things we did!

My first time...it was amazing...and is now Mark's favorite store! haha

Sea Lions being lazy in the sun...my kind of life!!

AT&T Park where the Giants Play. It was an awesome stadium!

Alcatrez Island

On the Cruise over to Alcatrez Island...it was pretty cold!

Alcatrez Island Cell

Mark in a cell on the toilet.

The Bestest Chocolate Brownie Sundae Ever!

2009-04-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

View from Hotel Room during the Day

View from our Hotel Room at Night

The "Crookedest Street in America"

The Golden Gate Bridge

Winery in Napa Valley. It was really cool and beautiful!

Redwood Forests

California Vacation Part 2: LA

2009-04-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of our vacation was spent in Los Angeles with my sister, Natalie and her husband Matt. They got married last June, about 6 months after Mark and I got married. It was lots of fun seeing their cute little townhome and hanging out for a few days. We did all the touristing stuff with them...Walk of Fame (all the stars), Kodak Theatre, In and Out Burger, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica Peir, Hollywood Sign, Universal Studios... The only thing I didn't get to do was go to Pinkberry...but that's ok! Here are a few pictures below!

My sister, Natalie and me.

Delicious overpriced cupcakes that you have to wait forever to get, but it was way worth it!!

I made him pose for something!

Taken for my bestest (obsessed) friend Amanda McDonough! :)

We drove as close to the sign as we could get...against Matt's wishes and got some guys from Germany to take our picture.

Santa Monica Pier with Natalie

Right before we drove to LAX to come back to Texas. Glad we decided to go for the day...it was a really cool park!

2009-03-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

We had our first ever Family Retreat at our church last weekend. We went to Pine Cove Crier Creek in Columbus had had an aweosme time! As some of you know I used to work at Pine Cove in Tyler back during college and LOVE PC!! So of course their staff and facilities were amazing and our families loved it!! I also got to hang out with my youth pastor from home, Chad, who is now the Family Minister at my home church! He came in to speak to our families and brought the whole family! It was so much fun having them as neighbors for a few days and getting to know their precious kids!! They are the "Eskimo Joe's" Family in the picture at the bottom. My friend Hannah from Prestonwood also came to lead worship. We had hayrides, smores, fishing, ziplines, horses, scavenger hunts, Bible study, and lots more! It was lots of fun and we had a great first annual Family Camp Retreat.

Waiting on Families to Arrive!

Family Scavenger Hunt: Photo part...YMCA!

Mark's influence on innocent little Ashton

About to go Horseback Riding!

Paddleboats

Ziplines & Some Family Fun!

The Whole Group!

Upward

2009-03-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

We have had an Upward Basketball program at our church for the past 10 years...way before my time here! This past season we added Upward Cheerleading to our Basketball program. We had 83 cheerleaders on 11 different squads. The season was long, but went GREAT! Mark coached two basketball teams as well, so we both were consumed with practicies, games, refereeing, awards nights...for about 11 weeks. Fun Times, but not sad it is over until next year! Here are a few random pictures of cute little cheerleaders :)

Diaper Cakes

2009-03-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

I learned to make diaper cakes for friends a few years ago when all my friends started having babies! Well, so far this year I have already made 4! I am starting to make them and sale them too, so if you need one for a special occasion let me know! I can do all sizes, themes and colors! Below are 2 different medium sized diaper cakes. One was for a Winnie the Pooh themed shower and the other is for a Circus themed shower. I made a really awesome pink one last month, but forgot to take a picture of it! I LOVE making them for people!

Go Lady Bears!

2009-03-15T21:29:00.001-07:00

Houston Rodeo with Josh Turner

2009-03-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

I always like an excuse to go to the Houston Rodeo. This time it was Mark's mom's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNN!! I think I would go every weekend if Mark would let me and if I had time.....and if I had a LOT more money! Last year I had tickets to see Rascal Flatts and the lead guy got Brochitus the day of the concert!!! Like hours before...it was so rude and so lame. But I am glad that he is better now and I got to see them later in Dallas. They are my FAVORITE!! We saw Josh Turner this time and he was AWESOME!! I love his voice, great songs and he put on a fabulous concert. At the rodeo we got to see the kids try and ride sheep! I have never seen this in person, just on the movie 8 seconds. It was the cutest thing ever...and I have NO pictures of it! Just one of the little boy being interviewed after he won by staying on his sheep the longest. It was really cold and raining, but we had a great time! Oh and the food and shopping was fabulous as well!

He was so cute!

Trying to get the ferris wheel...

Someone took a pic for us!

Riding the "Lite Rail"

Mark's Parents: Lynn & Louis...HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lynn!

Josh Turner...oh and his cute pregnant wife was singing backup and playing the keyboard.

Maybe they aren't Dead Yet!

2009-03-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Mighty Will Fall
Baylor scored the first big upset of Championship Week, taking down top seed Kansas in the Jayhawks' Big 12 tournament opener.

Drug Free is the Way to Be

2009-03-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

So obvioulsy Mark and I do not support the use of drugs or breaking the law. We want to obey policeman and do not participate in any illegal activities. I have been pulled over by these nice policeman, though, more times in the past year than in my whole life. I am not proud of this at all, but I am super annoyed. I think I must have a huge sign on my car that says, "Mr. Policeman please pull me over for anything at anytime!"

Well, yesterday I was headed to have lunch with my sweet husband on my lunch break and was on a 4 lane road. I was traveling in the right lane and saw someone pulled over on the shoulder ahead. I turned on my blinker, changed to the left lane, passed the car on the shoulder, turned on my blinker again and changed back into the right lane. A few seconds later I realize a policeman is behind me with his lights on, so of course I pull over. I know I was going under the speed limit, all my tags are current (I know because that was my last pull-over!), nothing! So he comes up to my passenger side window and tells me that he is pulling me over because I didn't leave my blinker on long enough. I am suppossed to leave it on for 100 feet when changing lanes. ?????? Do the Math at 60 mph...... that's all I'm saying! BUT then he asked if he could open the door and look at something. He then picked up some "dried grass or dirt or something" off my floor board and smelled it. Then said, "Oh, I thought it was something else!" EXCUSE me??? Do I not have a Jesus fish on my car, an Upward Basketball/Cheerleading magnet and a Baylor sticker on the back?? Do I look like someone who would have "stuff" in my car??? I was going to my church staff meeting after lunch! I just got a warning, though, so that was nice! But it didn't stop me from being a little upset and angry.

Then today Mark calls me from work and says that I will not believe what happened to him. For After over five years of working for the same company he is chosen for the first time for random drug testing today!!! Apparantly someone must think we are "smokin' something..." maybe it is because we spend most of our free time with CRAZY kids and teenagers! haha I don't know, but we thought it was funny! (I didn't at first, but Mark always did!) Anyway, just for the record, we a big fan of hugs, and not drugs!

2009-03-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

Our Wedding: December 29, 2007

The Incredible (already totally demolished) Candy Table My Mom Created!

Honeymoon in Hawaii

Trip to New York Last Summer

And So a New Addiction Begins...

2009-03-07T19:49:00.001-08:00

I wasn't going to start a blog because I spend way too much of my free time "stalking" (according to Mark) other people's blogs and Facebook pages, but I am finally giving in! I don't know how great I am going to be in keeping up with this...we will see! And I am really not sure who will want to read about us...we are not too exciting! For now I will just post some fun pictures of Mark and I until something happens to write about! :)