Happy birthday to me!! and more exciting pictures

On September 4, 2009 I officially turned 27 years old! Yes, I am freaking out a bit because people are calling me mam and Mrs. Walker. Well, I guess they have been doing that for a while, but it didn't hit me that I am actually considered an adult until this birthday. I know, I am a little slow on the uptake, but I still feel 21, so being closer to 30 is a little odd. True, I have one child and another one the way, so I guess it's great that I am not as young as I tend to think I am. Anyways....

I love my birthday! For those of you who know me, you know that I love my birthday! I honestly cannot explain why I love it so much, but I just do :) Thanks for all who called :)

My birthday fell on a Friday, so Tyson still had to go to work :( I decided that Reed and I would just chill and maybe look for some new shoes. I was pretty excited when I got my gifts from my in-laws which was a gift card to Famous Footwear and some twix bars! Woo woo! Reed and I went straight there and looked around. It was the one time that I did not bring a diaper and wipes with me, and it turned out to be the time I needed them the most!! So, we trudged back home to change his diaper.

It was about lunch time by that point, and I decided to try out a place called Burrito Brothers. I did not have my hopes super high that it would be great Mexican food because I haven't found a lot of that out here. It was just ok. I guess I am a little bit of a snob when it comes to Mexican food - it really is the best in the West :) Ah well, it was still pretty good.

Reed then went down for his normal nap time and I took a little nap of my own, only to be awoken by a pounding on the front door. I was a little dazed and confused, but got up to see who it was. To my delight, it was the UPS man with some flowers for me from my sweet husband! Yahoo! That is definitely something worth being woken up from a nap for, in my book.

That evening Tyson, Reed, and I went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory! I love that place :) It was amazingly scrumptious! Then, Reed was dropped off at a friend's house and Tyson and I went to see Julie& Julia - a movie still in the theater and not from the Redbox! Yes, it was a definite splurge, but it was my birthday :) It was a really cute movie.....a little girly, but that was to be expected!

Overall, the day was grand! Tyson even 'made' me an ice cream cake (which consisted of me buying the Oreo pie crust and the ice cream, and Tyson scooping the ice cream into the tin and freezing it again). He also gave me a super soft robe, a king-sized pillow, and the Wicked soundtrack! Yahoo! Thank you, Tyson, for being so thoughtful! Oh, I musn't forget that much needed present from my parents - a new bottle of Clinique Happy! That is still my signature perfume, and has potential to be for a really long time. Thanks, mom and dad!

Sorry about the lack of pictures from my birthday....Tyson is not the best photographer...we are working on that :)

Cala lillies and roses - so beautiful!

Definitely worth being woken up for....

My cake....yeah, 27 candles on that little thing!

Reed tried to help me blow it out

Recently, Reed has beeng doing some pretty fun and exciting stuff! Check it out!

He can now say the word bubble and asks to play with the bubbles everyday! That can mean in the sink or the bubbles that you blow, just depending on my and his mood.

Playing in the sink....still.....

Reed actually took this picture of the "truck" we were watching at the playground. Reed makes a certain noise for trucks and that is the noise he made for this vehicle.

Reed - mesmerized by the digging by the playground

I couldn't get him to smile, but this is Reed's suit....I love little boys in suits!

Reed learned how to climb into our entertainment unit...oh goodie for me....but it was hilarious at the time!

These are some of the glasses I got in NY and Reed loves to model them for me! He looks good in fake D&G!

I thought he would cry after taking off his shoes at the playground and walking on the wood chips, but he didn't. He actually thoroughly enjoyed it!

Don't hate me because I am beautiful!

Jared and New York

Jared, Tyson's younger brother, came to visit us from Friday, August 14th -Tuesday, August 18th when we all left for NYC.

We did lots of fun stuff, of course! Jared has pretty much seen everything in DC, but we did take him to the American History Museum which was closed when he was here last. We saw the statue of Albert Einstein, the Pentagon Memorial, the Dulles Air and Space Museum, the monuments at night, and even had time to fit in going to 5 Guys (a burger joint that is popular here). It was fun to have him here with us!

The funniest thing is that when Tyson and Jared get together, they start acting similar. It was just one of those things, I could tell they were both their father's sons. :) Ah, Walker boys are all the same...well, same same, but different :)

All the Walker boys love trains (American History Museum)


Reed and daddy on an old train in the American History Museum
American History Museum - riding the 'train'



Reed playing with all the fun stuff for kids in the American History Museum

Eating hot dogs = something you must do as a tourist in downtown DC

Jared loves Howard Hughes - I forgot what plane this is, but Jared knows.

The Pentagon Memorial

The sunset in DC is always so beautiful!


Jared with Elbert Einstein (I affectionately call him Alby).

The inside of Ford's Theatre - that booth was the one President Lincoln was sitting in when he got shot.

No explanation needed :)


The Space Shuttle Enterprise

The Enterprise


Enterprise, the back end
Reed just happy to be walking around

I believe it's called the SR-751, something like that.....seriously amazing!

If you have seen Transformers 2, this guy looks familiar.....


On Tuesday, August 18th, we headed off for NYC by train! I was pretty excited to ride a train in the U.S., since none of us had ever done it. It was actually pretty impressive. It was a bit crazy getting there because we were going to drop our car off at my brother's house, first. Well, we ended up taking the wrong exit and DC is not forgiving if you miss an exit. So, instead of taking the bus from my bro's house, he ended up driving us so we would still be in time to ride the train! (Thanks, Ryan!!!) The train ride was cold!!!! I didn't think I would need shoes other than flip flops and pants on, but I was wishing I had both. The weirdest thing about the train ride was that Reed was not there with us. This was a non-kid family trip - so, I felt a little empty when we left. Reed is just always with me, so it was weird to leave him for almost 1 week! But, we both survived :)

We got to NYC and Tyson's family (minus Tyson, Jared, and myself) had been there since about 7 am...they had gone on a red-eye from Las Vegas...always fun :( Needless to say, they were pretty tired, but that did not stop us from getting out and seeing all the cool stuff in NYC! We did way too much to go into detail about each one, but here are some highlights (yes, Kimber, I took this pretty much from your blog - thanks!):

• Tried to go to Guggenheim (but it was closed)
• Tried to go on a speed boat tour, but it was closed due to weather :(
• Rode in a taxi!!!!
  
• Empire State Building Observatory
• Grand Central Station
• Radio City Music Hall Tour
• Rockefeller Center
• Top of the Rock Observation Deck
• United Nations
• Ellis Island
• Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum
• Ground Zero
• Walking Tour of the Financial District
• Statue of Liberty
• NBC Studio Tour
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  
• Battery Park
• Central Park
• Madison Square Garden Tour
• Serendipity III
• Wicked at Gershwin Theatre! (my favorite)
• Mets game
  
• Manhattan Temple
• Manhattan Museum of Art
  
• China Town
  
• Ate at a bunch of good restaurants including a Brasileira one!!!!
  
• Lots of hot dogs
• Lots of waiting in the sweaty subway!

Yes, Walker vacations are pretty much busy! It was so much fun just bustling to all the different places, getting lost, and just hanging out! I will definitely NOT miss the humidity (so much worse than DC), the no-so-nice people (we did find some nice ones, but most were not-so-nice), the dirtiness of the streets/subway platforms, and the stiflingly hot subways (I was surprised - there is no air circulation at all down there. No fan, no A/C on the platforms, nothing.....I almost passed out once).


Our gate to our first train ride in the United States! Woo woo!!!

First Amtrak experience - it was pretty nice!

Getting on the train to NYC

Madison Square Garden

First view of the Empire State Building on Tuesday

Our tour of Madison Square Garden - amazing building!

View from the Top of the Rock!

Radio City Music Hall - it was absolutely amazing!!!!

USS Intrepid

Times Square

Ellis Island

The Statue of Liberty was originally copper, but over 30 years it changed to green!



Manhattan from our boat!

Tyson's great-grandma Anna Allenbach (married a Zobrist) came from Switzerland to US via Ellis Island.
Pretty awesome view from the Empire State Building!

I actually think that I really look like my little sis, Kristy, in this photo (People tell us that frequently, but this one really does look like her). She is always doing this in pictures. This is us on top of the Empire State Building.

Another Crazy Month Gone By

I cannot believe that August has come and gone! I thought that July was crazy busy, but I was wrong. August was even crazier and busier than July! Ah well....that's just how life is, right?!

So, at the beginning of August, Tyson and I finally went miniature golfing - something we had not done until this year! You would think that since we dated in Provo, we would have gone miniature golfing at least a dozen times, but no, you would be mistaken. Actually, we went with the Young Men/Young Women at our church. Tyson teaches the 12 and 13-year-old boys. This activity was a combined one with the young women, so Tyson was supposed to attend. I do not work with the youth 12-18, but decided to go anyways since we had never been miniature golfing. It turned out to be a pretty fun evening! Some of our friends also work with the youth, so they were there and we all golfed together! I am not the best miniature golfer, but I did ok for me. Really, Tyson and I shared a club so one could watch Reed while the other golfed. We did not lose in our group, so I was happy! Plus, we got ice cream after it was all said and done :) A pretty great night if you ask me.


Taryn - an excellent golfer :)

Reed wanting to jump in the nasty water they had there. (Yes, I know he is getting super long hair. It has been cut.)

Joe - he actually got 2nd place...bravo!

The kiddos playing by the hole.

Our golfing group, plus Tyson and me. Lookin' good, Jana :)


A few days later, we were off to a Rowberry family reunion to be held on Georgetown campus. Sadly, I was a pitiful photographer during the 5-day reunion, so I only have a few pictures. But, we did take some family photos, while I will be posting on my next post (weird I don't think I have ever written post and posting in the same sentence). We sang lots of songs, all had our turns to cook, played lots of games, went to the zoo, had a talent show, went on a boat ride down the C&O canal, and even watched slide shows of pictures that my Grandma Dalling had (I had not seen very many of those, so it was really fun for me). All-in-all, it was pretty exhausting, but a lot of fun to be able to see all of my siblings and their families! During all of this, my sister, Kristy, came home from Taiwan where she served an 18-month mission for our church! I cannot believe that she is already home and that it has laready be a year and a half! Time certainly does fly! We got to go to the temple one night. It was amazing to have my entire family at the same temple at the same time! I can only imagine the joy my parents must have felt :) Well, that is a pretty rough outline of the Rowberry family reunion, but there it is.

Apparently, I only took pictures at the zoo!

Looking at the lions and tigers!

The molar of an elephant! That is how they mash their food....pretty amazing!


Elephants are always a must when visiting the zoo!


The death stare from Evyn - it can be deadly, so don't look for too long.

Alia -always ready for a picture :)


Nathan had finally given up and fallen asleep in a stroller.

Well, that covers the first 10 days in August....so I think I will stop there for today. Be on the lookout for more posts about an exciting month of August.