Here is a little family slide show Matt put together.

Summer time

Matt and I took a drive the other night up our local canyon. We were struck with awe in the beauty of our surroundings. We stopped to capture it with picture.
The house project has become a love/hate relationship. We feel blessed that we are no longer tied down to manditory construction deadline. However, the downside of this is that we're not finishing nearly as fast as we had hoped. But, it does leave us time to appreciate this rough land we call home.

Due to a surprise lab result from a papsmear exam, we have returned to the kitchen to shape up our family diet. The past two years in the construction industry have left us a bit ragged. We have recommited ourselves to better health practices. The foundation of this is our daily green smoothie. It consists of 50% greens and 50% fruit with enough water and sweetner to make it blendable and drinkable. Admitedly it isn't without its groans from some (Josh), but for the most part everyone is supportive. I've found great health tips and recipes through http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/.

Here is Jamie helping prepare one with parsley, pears and banana. yum!

My personal favorite is:

2 bunches cilantro

2-3 large grapefruit, sectioned, with juice

1 avacodo

This one needs no water or sweetner, and is refreshing enough to drink all day. Our family prefers spinach as the green, but we rotate weekly with kale, parsley, cilantro and chard too.

We visited our first kids' rodeo this summer. Here is a picture of all the children-it would seem in our entire town-participating in the animal catch. The rodeo lets out various small, baby animals in the arena, i.e. sheep, chickens, ducks, calves, pigs, etc. and the children run to catch them. It the animals don't die of a heart attack from the chase, the children get to keep what they catch...hence the new addition to our "farm yard."

Recently we participated in our community's theatrical entertainment nights. The girls and I did a charleston dance number while I sang "Thoroughly Modern Milly." Here is Jamie in the costume we made for her. Josh and Abby also sang with their show choir, and even Matt was persuaded to join when a board member asked him to do the photography. So the Walkers were very busy through July. It was fun!

Here are pictures of Abby participating in our town's 24th of July kids' activities. She won a $ in the sack races. But her talent doesn't end there. She and a neighborhood friend solicited the neighbors with promises of treats if they would come to their vocal performance. I always wanted to do that as a child, but either I didn't have the nerve or my neighbors weren't as cool as ours.

Josh had fun at 11 Year Old Day Camp. He gets his Tenderfoot on Wednesday!

Things are scooting along at our place. Every once in a while I catch myself murmuring about the vices of living in a small town; but then I see the pure joy in our children's faces with their activities and strong bonds they've found in friends and community members. We are truly blessed.