11

Elliot has proclaimed this his best birthday yet, which he says after every birthday. We're entering new territory…he asked for socks. Not just any socks, Nike Elites. What? The hefty price tag for socks was worth the toothy grin and hug!

Elliot is as kind as ever. With each passing year he gets greater, funnier and kinder than the last. Love you buddy!




That is a lemon cake. What? Must be a Walker gene.

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Twinners

Matching jammies. Check.


Matching beds. Check.


Best. Bedtime. Ever.

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Seis

Sister is six. She had a great day. Slept in, thank you Fall Break, zoo, Hires, tumblekats, Keva Juice and late night with cousins.




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Estudiante

Lucy is a for real kindergartner.

This is how her morning went....up before the alarm. Dressed in a flash. Ate half her cereal because her "tummy was nervous." Posed for photographs. Hugs and more hugs. Said hi to Mrs. F before heading out to the playground. One last hug. Ran to the monkey bars before I was 5 steps away.


Can't believe she's at school. I swear she was keeping me up all night just yesterday. Sigh


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Big Men on Campus

Inevitably, school has arrived. Elliot literally thought we were dropping him at the curb. No son, it's my parental right to walk you in on the first day of school. Luckily, Charlie let us walk him to class. Good luck, boys!


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Brrrr Lake

We began the vacation season by heading to Bear Lake. The boys both wake boarded. Lucy, with the help of the greatest Aunt Kathy, knee boarded for the first time. Needless to say, all three tubed.


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The Carolina Shore

We heart North Carolina!


The Outer Banks did not disappoint.


The kids played on the beach, skim boarded, boogie boarded, body surfed, hunted for crabs, fished, played with cousins and learned to play pool.


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The District

We spent a couple of days touring D.C. while we were back east.



As usual, we packed in the fun....burgers with Uncle Doug at the Shake Shack, monument march, Natural History Museum, Ford's Theater, Portrait Gallery, Nationals game, American History Museum, more monuments, Pentagon Memorial, chili at Hard Times Cafe and more monuments. Phew. So fun!!


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Cub Camp

Charlie experienced his first Cub Scout camp. And it was awesome! He shot bb guns, dove through "lasers," hiked, played games and launched rockets.

This year the Trading Post didn't sell pocket knives, which is what Elliot bought. Charlie spent his hard earned money on a rabbit skin. What the what?!

As a side note, it took him about twenty minutes to scrub his body clean.


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Dance Recital

Lucy performed in her dance recital to a packed house. She did a tap number as a dinosaur and a was a princess for her ballet routine. Lucy was fantastic!

Lucy has loved dancing this year and has improved so much. She was awarded preschool dancer of the year!

The boys were so cute with her afterwards. They hugged her and told her she was great. It might have been my favorite moment of the night.
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Rain gutter Regatta

Elliot and Roman, one of his best buddies, rocked the regatta. The boats sailed with the best of them. Not too shabby for ships that were sanded, painted and put together this afternoon!

This race is Stockton and Elliot. Let's just say Elliot learned how to lose. A skill we're still honing.

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Bright Endings

Lucy performed in our last preschool program. Her line is "We learned about the four seasons." She did a fantastic job! In the math song the kids took turns busting a move. She chose to do a cartwheel....in a dress. Classy.

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Barbara Ann

This one is dedicated to Grandpa Joe.

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Bomber

Charlie hit his first home run! With a player on 3rd he smacked one over the left center field fence. He sprinted around the bases like they would call it back if he didn't hurry. At home plate he was swallowed up by his friends jumping around him and smacking his helmet.


Charlie's coach went and retrieved the ball so he could keep his first homer. A mazing!

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Missing New York

Reality has set in. School, work, piano, dance, baseball, scouts, tumbling, baseball again, sleep, repeat.

The Spencer 5 are itching for summer vacations! Bear Lake and North Carolina can't come soon enough!

P.S. Doesn't Lucy look smart, cute and grown up?

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NYC

We traveled to the Big Apple to visit my parents for spring break. As soon as we arrived at Lincoln Square they took us to Patsy's for real New York pizza. We learned to fold our pizza and ate ourselves sick!


Our New York City adventures included: Central Park walks, The Met, MOMA, Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, the Natural History Museum, 9/11 Memorial, a Mets game, visiting the Harlem LDS chapel, Times Square, Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, American Girl brunch, Mary Poppins, hanging with the Quayles, 5th Avenue, FAO Schwarz, many subway rides and spending lots of time with Grandpa and Nana. Phew!


We ate many dirty water dogs, Gray's Papaya, BBQ at Virgil's, pizza at Patsy's & Grimaldi's, Halal cart fare, hamburgers from Shake Shack, Magnolia Bakery, gelatos, Bomboloni pastries (yum!), black & white cookies from Juniors. We pretty much ate and walked!



Perhaps the most memorable experiences for the kids were rats on the subway, a crazy man taking on a bus, trying to master their New York accent, graffiti in Queens, climbing rocks in the Ramble, playing catch in Central Park, Adam at the Times Warner Center and being squished on the subway.



We had the best time!


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Ouch

Elliot got his tooth literally yanked out playing dunk ball tonight. He went up for a reverse dunk and the net wrapped around his tooth. When he came down his tooth went flying.

It's now attached with wire and glue. For reals?!


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Baptism

Charlie was baptized by his dad last week. It was loads of fun. The bishop introduced him with lots of fun facts like red is his favorite color, he likes pizza and math. When he grows up he wants to play football. His favorite scripture story is Nephi and the plates because Nephi was obedient. His favorite primary song is "I Love to See the Temple."

After the introductions we went to the font with the Sonntags. Liza and Charlie are five days apart in age. It was so fun to share the day with Liza! As an added bonus we got to be with all the Hogans, Sonntags and Uncle Phil. Charlie acted as a gentleman, a bit by force, and Liza went first. When it was finally his turn you could see the excitement on his face. As he came up out of the water I wanted to cheer out loud. I think we totally should incorporate cheering at baptisms. It's an exciting event!

Daniel confirmed Charlie and gave him an amazing blessing.

We celebrated with dinner and March madness after. Thank you to everyone who came to support Charlie. He's so lucky to have y'all!

Congrats Charlie! We are so proud you chose to be baptized.


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8

What's better than playing baseball and catching lizards on your birthday? Nuthin'



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Mii

Here is Charlie's birthday "Me" he shared with his class today. He's wearing his Blast uniform. On his legs it says, "My favorite food is pizza," and "I like to play baseball." On his torso it says, "I like mountain lions." So there you go, now you know more about the one we call Charlie.



Charlie also likes to sing really loud for no apparent reason. He loves Lego guys. He rubs his nose with his soft eagle right before he falls asleep. Charlie wakes up delirious in the night and has to be physically walked to the water closet and then back to bed. He is a sweet cousin. Basically, he's the best.

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Almost Birthday Boy

Charlie had his 8th birthday party a week early tonight. It was a March Madness celebration. The ten boys played basketball, shot hoops and ran a relay with a WX jersey and Justin's high tops on. We ended the party with pizza, presents and my attempt at a basketball cupcake cake.



Fun was had by all. My head may need a 2 liter of any caffeinated beverage to recover. Eight year old boys are loud.


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Concussed

Charlie took a line drive to the forehead last night at baseball. Luckily, it was deflected a tad by his glove. You can literally see the stitch mark skids from the ball on his skin. Yikes! All is well brain wise. No worries.


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Dress Ups

Lucy is in one magnificent ensemble after another these days. She loves layering leotards, skirts, sweaters, tutus, dresses and anything else she thinks is fabulous. You can often find her in one of her "outfits" under a table or behind the yellow chair deep in conversation that is highly secretive.

Justin has put his foot down about letting her out of the house looking like this. But he's not around too much so she may have been seen all around town looking fancier than Fancy Nancy.

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Jazz Man

Charlie is playing on his first basketball team. He's on a team with lots of his buddies. The Fast Cats are pretty much totally awesome. His coach has them passing, running fast break plays and making sure everyone has a chance to score. They wear colored wrist bands so they know who to guard. It's hysterical!  Go Fast Cats!!

There's a Storm Coming

Basketball season is in full swing. Elliot is practicing hard and playing hard. His team is playing in the upper 4th grade division against tough teams from Lehi to Farmington. So far, we're hanging in there. They've beat some great teams, lost some close games and been blown out. The competition is steep, which helps Elliot learn and improve each game. He's even accepted losing without tears. No that's progress!

Snow

Finally! Snow! We've waited a long time for winter to arrive. The kids got bundled up to go play in the powder. They focused on snow forts to take cover in during their "epic" snowball fight.

Elder Wray

Dan's home from Toronto! The kids have been counting down for weeks. The boys followed him from room to room for most of the day. Lucy wasn't to sure about the situation. She hugged Justin instead of Dan at the airport. She dared to sit by him after about two hours. Five hours in was their first official hug.

After he was released we ate lasagna dinner and then headed to Elliot's basketball game. He didn't disappoint. Elliot scored 10 points and played great defense.

We're so glad Dan's home!!! As a side note, Dan's mission experience has been filmed for a documentary series. So look for us to blow up, fame wise, soon. We'll try to remember you when we're famous.