Movie Day

Hayden loves to plan activities for us to do together. In March he made us an invitation to a "summer party" . We ate a picnic in the family room next to a blue sheet Hayden had set out as the ocean. We had sand pails and even an umbrella (sorry, no pictures).


A few Saturdays ago he spent hours down in the basement working on a special surprise for "the family". On Sunday he revealed the surprise - a Movie Party! Hayden had cleaned out the entire playroom to make a Movie Theater (all the toys and games had been moved to the back hall, we'll talk about that later). He'd even darkened the windows by taping up sheets.





There were signs of coming attractions, and each "theater" was clearly labeled (our movie was in theater # 10).




Hayden prepared snacks, and the seating arranged with low chairs in the front, taller chairs in the back, and blankets for us all.


There were remote controls for lights and for the movie.

We were asked to silence our cell phones and avoid talking.


The movie was great! The company was even better :)

He's Back!

Randy's back from Iraq! Arrived at his base in GA late last night/early this morning. Yay! Best news I've had in forever. Welcome home Randy, hope to see ya soon!

To read why he's my hero... click here

Hurty Eye Brows

Emma is sick today...


She says her cheeks are hot and her eye brows are hurty. Isn't that just the cutest way to say "headache"?


She's just so cute with her pink pillow and blankie and water bottle, but when I tried to take a picture she said "Oh Mommy, not now".


Maybe later.


Feel better soon, Emmie!

My Hero

This month my brother, Sgt. Randy S. Walters, US Army, will end his second tour in Iraq as an EOD. I don't have the vocabulary to express how proud I am of this guy, and how much I admire the work he does every day. For those who are not familiar with EODs, here is how the Army describes the duties of an EOD:

• Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Soldiers are the Army's preeminent tactical and technical explosives experts. They are Warriors who are properly trained, equipped, and integrated to attack, defeat, and exploit unexploded ordnance (UXO), improvised explosive devices (IED), chemical, biological, and nuclear ordnance and Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). EOD Warriors are the culmination of the best tactical and technical training the Army and civilian academia can provide.
• They are prepared to perform missions in support of Army units worldwide, across all operational environments. EOD Specialists perform duties locating, identifying, rendering safe and disposing of foreign and domestic conventional, biological, chemical, or nuclear ordnance and IEDs; WMDs and large vehicle bombs
• They conduct intelligence gathering operations on first seen ordnance and IEDs, and support very important persons (VIP) missions for the U.S. Secret Service, State Department and other Federal agencies. Some of your duties as an EOD Specialist may include:
• Research and identify ordnance using EOD technical publications
• Explosively disposing of hazardous ordnance
• Prepare and maintain EOD tools, equipment and vehicles
• Assist in the preparation and use of advance robotics
• Assist the EOD Team Leader in performing all actions required to safely mitigate ordnance explosive hazards
• Assist in the training of Soldiers in IED awareness

Wow, can you see why I'm so proud!! It's a dangerous job, to say the least. Though highly decorated from his service, he rarely discusses the accomplishments of his unit, and never discusses personal success. When we ask about the decorations and medals on his uniform he replies "Just doing my job". He is humble, committed, honorable, and brave.

When our Dad passed away suddenly a few months ago, our first thought as a family was how to get the news to Randy, so far from home. Dad and Randy happened to share a phone call earlier that same day. It was devastating to deliver the sad news to Randy later that night. I am so grateful to all the organizations that worked so quickly and made it possible to bring Randy from Iraq to Utah within 48 hours. Amazing! We were sad to see Randy go back to Iraq after a few short weeks of leave, but enjoyed all the time we got to spend together. We have since been counting the months, weeks and now DAYS before we will see him again.

This coming week, Randy will celebrate a birthday in Iraq for the third time (and he's only 24). Best of birthday wishes! I don't know if it will top this day (i'm sure he'll LOVE me posting this one)...

Randy - we can't wait to see you soon!

Space Month

I've written before about Hayden's fabulous teacher, here is another example! In March the class studied space, of course Hayden was thrilled. The students were each assigned to do a report and project about something that interests them in the Solar System. Check out the class table, don't the projects look great!

The class also built a rocket, complete with a control panel computer inside. They got to take turns reading inside the rocket during the month.

After the class learned about the space shuttle, Teacher invited Dana to come demonstrate some model rockets which he and Hayden built together. This was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed the Death Star rocket the best!

All the rockets launched well, except....

Our "Bad Luck Blackbird" ended up a block away from the school. Luckily, the nice homeowner was able to return it to us in a few days.

The highlight of the month was a trip to the Planetarium downtown. We saw a movie in the dome theater about kids who built a cardboard rocket and travelled the solar system. It was fun to get to spend time with Hayden learning this month. Thanks to a fantastic teacher to provides such fun opportunities for the kids to learn.