Wocka Wocka Walker

Father's Day

2010-06-21T20:31:00.001-05:00

For Father's Day, we made Ryan Star Wars pancakes (thanks for the pancake molds Jess!) and bacon (so maybe Ryan had to help because I always burn bacon and the new pancake molds were a little tricky). Breakfast was followed up by gift opening, World Cup watching, mowing, swimming and dinner over at my mom and Bob's house with my grandparents. We were able to have dinner with my dad on Saturday evening to celebrate Father's Day since he had an open house all day Sunday. We were also able to spend an evening last week with Ryan's dad, so we extended Father's Day over almost an entire week.

The Boys are Back in Town!

2010-06-20T13:27:00.012-05:00

We couldn't be more excited, Max and Caster now officially live in Edmond!!! It has been 7 years since Ryan has lived in the same state as his boys (and 3.5 years since they've been in the same country). Their mom was transferred to Tinker Air Force Base and she and her husband purchased a house in Edmond. They are on the other side of Edmond, but it only takes about 20 minutes to get to their house, we couldn't be happier! For the first 4-5 weeks they are going to stay at our house. They've got a trip planned with their mom and then they'll be back with us for a few weeks before school starts. We'll then have to figure out what the schedule will be once school starts. We can't wait to be a part of their lives more (in person anyways, we got pretty good at it over Skype and the phone). Bring on the parent-teacher conferences, homework, sporting events and school activities, we can't wait to be a part of it! But until school starts, it's a summer full of swimming, watching the World Cup, family time and all sorts of fun stuff.

The boys have gotten so tall! Sara is only about 1 inch taller than Max at this point. Ryan and Max are already wearing the same size shoes!

The first weekend they were here we went to Jeremy and Cori Hughes' wedding. It was so fun to be there for their big day. Of course we took the opportunity for some family pics, we all don't get that dressed up that often).

With Jess, Eric and Silas

Cori and the guys at their wedding.

With Scott, Autumn, Bob and Cindy

Cindy, Jeremy and Sara
Because the boys were still living in England when Max turned 13 (on May 10), we had a belated birthday party for him complete with steaks, cookie pizza and gifts when they got here. We're so excited that from now on we'll get to celebrate Max and Caster's birthdays on their actual birthdays instead of a month late or a month early (Caster's b-day is in September).

MMMMM.....cookie pizza

Max showing off his gift from Bob and Cindy

Italia

2010-06-15T20:30:00.019-05:00

We had an amazing trip to Italy, I wish we were still there! We got to spend a week in Rome, followed by two days in Venice. We drank lots and lots of wonderful red wine and had all sorts of fantastic food. We walked lots and lots and fit in as much as we possibly could while we were there. We went with our friends Brett, Amber, Kathy and Zach and we all shared a three bedroom apartment just down the street front the Colosseum. I am so glad we were able to get away from work to go (and that we both were able to avoid e-mail the entire trip)!

As soon as we got to Rome. We were lucky this was the only day that it rained.

The Pantheon

In Piazza Navona

The view from the rooftop bar where we had drinks

Amber, Kathy and Sara at the Trevi Fountain

At the Roman Forum. This is the temple of Castor and Pollux.

Us in the Colosseum

The Pope

Zach, Kathy, Ryan, Sara, Amber, Brett on the Vatican tour.

Inside the Vatican Museum.

After a failed attempt to take a wine tour. We were able to arrange for a driver/tour guide to take us to Tuscany last minute. We spent the day in the southern Tuscany town of Masse Marittima, where our guide had a friend that showed us around. It was so beautiful! We started with a private wine tasting, followed by lunch (the same owner had the wine shop and restaurant). We then headed to Baratti beach to check out the Mediterranean Sea. We finished off the day at the Populonia castle.

Our private wine tasting with the owner of the shop and with Cosma (our tour guide).

The view from Masse Marittima

The view from Populonia castle.

We finished up our amazing trip with two days in Venice. Just like everyone said, it is easy to get lost there! Lucky for us we weren't on a schedule and didn't have anywhere we had to be.

Here is the link to all of our pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/116036608521392661007/Italy?feat=directlink

Surprise!

2010-02-07T17:54:00.005-06:00

Renzi wanted to throw a surprise party for Lee Anne and I got to help some. We surprised her at Iguana for her 30th b-day. Ryan and I got a Flip camera for Xmas, so the surprise parties were the best place to test it out.

We went to Tulsa for Shiloh's surprise bowling birthday a few days later. It was so fun to see her and Jeff and to see her cute growing baby belly. Also, I really like how red Shiloh's face can get!

Xmas...a few months late

2010-02-07T16:44:00.007-06:00

Yes, we're just now posting Xmas stuff...but at least it is getting posted. Ryan's family came into town to spend Christmas in Oklahoma. There was a big snow storm and because we didn't want anyone to have to drive, Eric, Jess and Silas ended up staying with us too. It was a full house for sure, but it was so fun for us all to get to spend time with each other. It was a good group to be snowed in with!

The girls: Alicia, Carolyn, Sara and Jess

Ian, Lily and Alicia

Eric, Jess and Silas

Siblings

The Christmas Eve table set up

We made quiche from the "Made in Oklahoma" cookbook for Christmas breakfast. So good!

Thankful for Family Time

2009-11-29T16:05:00.003-06:00

We are so thankful that we got to spend Thanksgiving with Max and Caster. Of course 4.5 days went by WAY too fast, but we enjoyed every second we had with them. We are also very thankful that even though this was sort of a last minute trip, Ryan and I were both able to be off work the entire time the boys were here (thank you Renzi and Trent!). We also squeezed in Christmas while they were here so that they could open presents from us with us, instead of just sending them in the mail. It is amazing how fast they can open gifts! We spent Thanksgiving Day over at Bob and Cindy’s house, most of Cindy’s family was in town.

Of course, it was hard to see the boys go. As of now, it looks like we won’t see them again until June…that is so far away.

Caster, Silas and Max

Happy Birthday Caster!

2009-09-18T08:50:00.002-05:00

Happy 8^th Birthday Caster! I wish we were with you to celebrate today (and hope your gifts get there on time....we mailed them almost 3 weeks ago).

Picture by Lindsay

Every summer we have a mock birthday for the boys. We have Max’s as soon as they get here (because his birthday is May 10^th) and Caster’s right before they leave. It is not the same as the real thing, but we make it work.

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-10T20:18:00.013-05:00

We spent Labor Day weekend in Collinsville, OK at the Oliver's house. It was a weekend full of back porch football watching, yard golf, real golf, boating at Skaitook lake, etc. Great times were had by all (except the OU football watching part, sad day).

Jeff and Shiloh are going to have a baby, yay! We decided to make baby Oliver some stylish onesies for when he gets here next April.

Jeff loves squirrels
The Oliver's love beards.

Logo of the guy's golf league (yes they have a logo)

Cornelius the Dancing Chicken, so the baby has something to wear to Oktoberfest

Uncle Ryan

mmmm....Bacon (notice the bacon slices on the sleeves).

You say it's your birthday, It's my birthday too, yeah

2009-08-30T21:59:00.003-05:00

August is the birthday month for us! Both Ryan and I have birthdays in August as well as a lot of our close friends. Needless to say we’ve enjoyed lots of great dinners this month.

We were so happy that Max and Caster were in town for Ryan’s 31st birthday. We went to Musashis for dinner (we did the same last year for Ryan’s birthday, I am hoping it becomes a tradition because it is so good, and the boys love it). They had to leave the next day, but it made for a really fun evening out for their last night in Oklahoma.

Kathy, Layni and Amber took me to get manis & pedis for my birthday, complete with champagne and snacks. It was so fun, thanks girls, you are the best!

Amber, Autumn, me and Layni at Iguana for my 30th birthday dinner. I wish I had taken a picture with everyone there or at least have let the guys jump in.

Jackson Stone turns 2 on Monday. He had his birthday party this weekend, man, does Jackson know how to throw a party! Here is Jackson, Lee Anne and his cake.

Well it wasn't Isaiah's birthday, but he was smiling so I had to take a picture. I am so glad he is feeling better. That is his girlfriend Sidney with him, they like to go to birthday parties together.

Girls Lake Weekend

2009-08-30T21:45:00.008-05:00

So back in February or March, Lee Anne e-mailed the girls and asked if there was a weekend that we could all get together for a girl’s weekend. With weddings, families and everything else it took us over 6 months to plan something, August 15 it would be. Lee Anne and Renzi have a lake house at Grand and she invited us up there. Jackie flew in from D.C. and Emily Sue flew in from Austin, it was so much fun to have everyone together, it had been so long! We had a great weekend away from our fellas (and kids if applicable).
It was a full weekend of talking, drinking, dancing, boating (once we figured out how to work the boat) eating and lots of laughing!

Emily Sue, Amanda, Lee Anne, Jackie, Sara, Angela

The Summer in Pictures and Videos

2009-08-30T20:21:00.007-05:00

We had so much fun with Max and Caster this summer. We were so lucky to have two extra weeks with them this summer, but their entire eight week stay went by WAY too fast, for all of us. It gets harder and harder to say goodbye each time. In January they will move from England to their next location, we are very anxious to find out where they will be living for the next few years. Fingers and toes are crossed that they live somewhere close and that we can see them much more often!!!

Here is a link to most of the pictures from this summer: Pictures
We also uploaded videos that we took this summer. You will probably not find them as funny as we do (just being honest). Videos

From the airport waiting to get on the plane.

Layni left the boys a note on the fridge...

Football & Ice Skating

2009-08-30T19:10:00.009-05:00

Ryan is a huge Liverpool fan, but loves English Football in general. We found out that the World Football Challenge: Chelsea FC vs. Club America was going to be at the new Cowboys stadium in Dallas. We thought it would be fun to take the boys to Dallas for the weekend and go to the match and to Six Flags.

The stadium was amazing, mostly because of the massive screens/scoreboards they have. We had such a great time at the match. Caster yelled (and I mean yelled) “go Chelsea” the entire time, which was funny because the majority of people there were Club America (a Mexican team) fans.

Fun in the Hotel Room

It ended up raining on the day we were suppose to go to Six Flags. Instead, we made a trip to the Galleria so that the boys could ice skate, it wasn't Six Flags, but it was still a lot of fun.

Yo MTV Raps

2009-07-24T21:16:00.001-05:00

Family Time

2009-07-21T20:30:00.008-05:00

We have had a busy week or two. On the 11th, Katy and Corey got married in Norman. We followed up the wedding with a quick lunch at Bisonwiches (yum) and were able to go by and see Amanda and meet Baby Chloe…although the boys were more excited to meet her dog. We went to see Harry Potter on opening night with Bob and Cindy, Layni and Zach, we loved it. This past Friday night Scott proposed to Autumn…she said yes!
Sara’s family came into town over the weekend and we were able to spend lots of time with them (mostly over meals, of course) and sadly we only remembered to take pictures during the toast to Scott and Autumn. We swam some more… big surprise. On Sunday, we drove with Eric to Broken Arrow to visit Ryan’s grandparents before they move to El Campo, TX. Yesterday Ryan and the boys went to White Water for the day, they had a blast. Trying to cram an entire year into 8 weeks keeps us busy, but we are loving every second we get with Max and Caster.

The champagne toast to Scott and Autumn (the boys got to participate with a Fresca toast)

Didn't make it all the way through "Horton Hears a Who"

Maxin' and relaxin'

A little water basketball action

Visiting Nanny and Grampa

Homer's hair...one week in.

Fireworks, bacon, Homer, blue teeth and more swimming

2009-07-12T15:22:00.014-05:00

We spent the 4^th of July over at the Feeback’s for a cookout. After the cookout (and about an hour of Caster wrestling their bulldog, Winston) we headed over to watch fireworks. We thought we’d outsmart everyone and watch from a parking lot across from UCO. We’ll the joke was on us, it took us 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot. The boys didn’t make it too far without falling asleep while we were trying to get out of the parking lot.

Walkers out.

Ryan taught Max how to make bacon and eggs…a very important skill for being a Walker boy. Max did a great job making his first bacon and egg breakfast.

The dogs were waiting patiently for some bacon to fall on the floor.

We've had a Chia Homer in a box for a long time (I am not sure why we have it)...well, he finaly made it out of the box. We'll keep you updated of how he's growing.

We weren’t sure how well the boys were really brushing their teeth. We found this mouthwash that turns their teeth blue and you brush it off…great invention, now we know they’ve really got clean teeth.

And more swimming...

“Someone” found the book of temporary tattoos

2009-07-04T12:07:00.004-05:00

So after the "marriage" was over, the cousins found the temporary tattoo book, so all the kids had tattoos for the reception. Caster went all out and this is what he looked like. Note the sword tattoo on his forehead.

Then I caught him on Max's bed adding a few more... And this (as of now) is the final product. I assume at some point he'll add a few more.

This was the conversation that took place at Bob and Cindy’s pool that afternoon:

Scott: “Caster, you look like Regan.”

Caster: “You know Regan, how do you know him?”

Scott: “Uh yeah…he’s a legend.”

Caster: “A tattoo legend?”

Scott: “Ha, um, sure.”

The “Marriage” of Eric and Jessica

2009-07-03T21:30:00.000-05:00

Eric and Jess got married…but don’t call it a wedding, they’d rather refer to it as the “marriage.” After years of dating they got married on June 28^th, their three year anniversary, in our backyard. Ryan got ordained in Oklahoma (he performed Leo’s wedding in Texas a few years ago) so that he could perform the ceremony. We were glad that we were able to be so involved with the marriage and the preparation. On Saturday, we made 180 cupcakes to make up the wedding cupcake cakes and there was a lot of yard work to be done. On Sunday morning we got up early, Ryan finished the backyard, Sara started cleaning, Jess finished icing her giant cupcake, Eric made the playlist for the reception and Carolyn got all the food ready. Shiloh, Autumn and Fallen set up at the Jazz Lab so that it was ready for the reception. It was a beautiful ceremony, Rev Ry did a great job and most importantly….the cupcakes were delicious!

Thanks Autumn for most of the pics...

Yard Work

2009-07-03T10:49:00.000-05:00

Our yard was in terrible shape. The dogs had destroyed it, and we didn’t do much to make it any better. When Eric and Jess decided they were going to get married, and that our backyard would be the perfect place, we said of course…..and then panic set in. They clearly hadn’t seen our backyard in a while! So the work began. When we moved in, there was a dirt mound in the backyard that grass had begun to grow over, so that had to be leveled and then there were weeds galore and trampled flowerbeds. Keith came over one weekend and he and Ryan rototilled the mound. That left a huge dirt pit in the backyard, and we knew as soon as it rained that would equal a mud pit for the dogs to play in. We had to put up a lovely orange construction fence to keep the dogs out of the dirt while we planted seeds and gave the grass time to grow. The following pictures are some before and after shots of the transformation. Of course…Ryan finished up the yard at 7:30am the day of the wedding….nothing like procrastination.

The "mound" beforeFun with the rototiller

The fence...the dogs were not excited about half of their yard being taken away from them
After
Before
After

Before...this is where the "marriage" would take place

After Before

After

Before

After

At the wedding the yard looked great…now we just have to keep it that way!

Father's Day

2009-06-23T21:19:00.004-05:00

Opening gifts

Max, Caster and Silas making Father's Day cards

The sweet shirt Max and Caster picked out for Dad...and Pops in the
background

Chris, Rick, Sara and Scott

The Boys are Here!

2009-06-21T11:41:00.012-05:00

Max and Caster flew in last week to spend eight weeks with us this summer. They’ve grown so much since we saw them in November, Max is now 5’2” and Caster is 4’! It is so much fun having them in town. They’ve adjusted much better to the 6 hour time zone change this time (last year they were waking up at 4:30 am for the first week). We’ve already done a lot of swimming. Bob gets excited to buy fun toys for them and got them the best pool rafts! Eric and Jessica joined us this weekend, they are in town for “the marriage,” and the boys love having their cousin Silas here to play with.

Dog pile on uncle Scott!

Max, Silas and Caster and the DS

Baby Isaiah Stone was born on Monday, June 15th. Congrats Lee Anne and Renzi, he is so cute!

June = Friends Having Weddings and Babies

2009-06-11T21:54:00.011-05:00

Ryan and I go to a lot of weddings; lucky for us we always have fun at them! We missed Evie's wedding while we were in Cabo, but heard it was great. We made it back just in time to go to my high school friend Lynsey's wedding. She and Matt had a beautiful outdoor wedding...and a photo booth with props. Last weekend we went to Christina and Mat’s wedding, also outside and fantastic.

My co-worker Adrianne had sweet baby Ethan last Thursday. Our friends Amanda and Ryan had baby Chloe on Monday of this week. As you can tell she’s already very stylish, just like her mom. Lee Anne and Renzi are set to have Isaiah on Monday morning; we can’t wait to meet him.

Chloe Ryan

Evie, Chad, and us at Christina and Mat's wedding (photo courtesy of Lindsay)

Max and Caster get here this weekend to spend 8 weeks with us for the summer, we can't wait! Eric and Jessica get married in two weeks...we'd better get back to the yardwork so it looks great for their wedding.

Cabo!

2009-06-11T21:19:00.010-05:00

Things have been a little crazy, so I haven’t been able to update in a while. When the Downs got married, they went to Cabo for their honeymoon. The end of their honeymoon fell over Memorial Day weekend and they invited a group of friends to join them. Ryan and I had talked about taking a trip to celebrate his graduation so we decided to stay a few days after the group left to relax. It was a much needed vacation for the both of us and it was so much fun to take a trip with friends!

Sara, Ryan, Kathy and the giant chess set at our hotel
Our "Goonies" picture

At Cabo Wabo, shots from Cindy

Walla, Ryan and Downs

Jena, Layni, Sara and Kristin

The Big Weekend- Part 3:The Downs' Wedding

2009-05-17T21:53:00.010-05:00

Well, Downs and Kristen got married! The wedding was at the capitol and was beautiful, then we all headed over the the Greens for the reception.

The Rebel Force

Sara, Downs and Fee

All the girls with New Girl...and Zach

Layni and Sara

The Big Weekend- Part 2: Graduation

2009-05-14T20:53:00.001-05:00

Finally, the day had arrived. When I started school back in the Fall of 2004, this was the goal I had been striving to attain. GRADUATION! The night before had taken a toll on all of us, but it could not keep me down...I was going to walk across that stage, shake the hand of some man I have never met before and he was going to hand me a diploma holder with nothing in it. I know, it sounds just like a fairy tale. All the graduates lined up at Old North at 1:30 and began the march across campus. I think it was supposed to be nostalgic for us, but really it was just a long walk to get to the prize. We lined up outside the building that would house the ceremony, and continued to stand in that line for over 20 minutes. "Hurry up and wait" seemed to be the theme of the day. But once we made it into the building, I was greeted by hundreds of people who had come to see me graduate. And as much as I appreciated all of them showing up, I was more excited to see my cheering section with Sara, Eric, Jess, Leo, my mom (Carolyn), Sara's dad (Rick), my dad (Keith), his wife (Margie), and my always supportive in-laws, Bob and Cindy. Everyone watched as I sat in my chair waiting for the big moment. It had arrived...

Once the Big Show was over, it was time for pictures. My VIP section met me outside where the photo op's were aplenty.

Overall, it was a day filled with many emotions that I'm glad I was able to share with my family. I could never have reached the finish line on this journey without the support of my friends and family, and I am so grateful they were all able to share in the celebration with me.

Eric getting autographs

Ryan and Carolyn

Cindy, Ryan and Bob

Jessica, Keith and Eric

Eric, Carolyn and Ryan

Eric, Keith and Ryan

Rick and Ryan

The Big Weekend- Part 1: Graduation Party

2009-05-11T20:22:00.015-05:00

Friday night was the graduation party. Thank you Cindy/mom and Bob for hosting all of us at the house and for all of the great food and drinks. It was so fun to have family and friends in town to celebrate with Ryan! Surprisingly, it didn’t rain at all during the party (we’re going on the 15th straight day of rain) and we were able to spend most of the evening on the back porch. Here are some pictures of the evening…

Eric, Jones, Jeff, Brent and Shiloh

Katy and Elanna

Dave, Leo, Corey, and Kelli

Cindy and Scott

Scott, Autumn, Jaime and Trent

Jena, Zach, Walla, Layni and Kathy

Sara and Shiloh

Levi and Ryan

Regan really enjoyed the Dos Equis

The Countdown

2009-04-29T19:33:00.004-05:00

Who am I kidding, the countdown to Ryan's graduation started a long time ago, but now it is so close! Ryan finished his last presentation and actual class today. He will finish up his internship at Box Talent tomorrow. He has a final Friday and next week on Monday and Wednesday and then graduates next Saturday!

Over the past weekend we went to Amy (Airington) and Josh Allen's wedding. It was so fun to see friends from both high school and college. We also got to catch up with friends at Jaime Tallerico and Amanda Phillip's couples shower before we went to the wedding. On Sunday I hosted (along with Angela, Amanda and Addie) a baby shower for Lee Anne.

It was a great weekend catching up with so many different groups of friends. Sadly, I never got the camera out...I will make sure to do that this weekend when we have another round of fun events.

The Downs’ Shower, New Phone and Great Weather

2009-04-19T20:14:00.012-05:00

This weekend, we went to a couples shower for Brian and New Girl (Kristen). The evening started off at Chelinos in Bricktown for dinner. We then headed over to Michael Murphy’s, a new piano bar, it was very entertaining but a little too loud for conversation. The night ended at the Martini Lounge back in Edmond.

Kristen and Downs...the happy couple-to-be.

Downs and Layni

Me, Jena and Layni at the piano bar

Ryan has been waiting for months and months for April 21...why you ask? Because April 21 was the first day he was eligible for a phone upgrade. So as soon as he left his internship on Tuesday, he went right to the AT&T store and got his iPhone.

You can see how excited he is!

The weather this week has been great! Tonight, Ryan is off work, so we decided it was the perfect time to grill out for the first time this year. Smells great so far...

The First Post

2009-04-18T17:54:00.003-05:00

About a month ago during Ryan’s last spring break, we went to Nashville to visit Ryan’s mom, sister, niece and nephew. We had a great time spending time with family and exploring Nashville. While we were there, Ryan’s mom (Carolyn) mentioned that we should start a blog. We’ve been talking about it ever since, but we weren’t sure if we would have enough exciting things to blog about. One of my co-workers, Lindsay, said that we have lots of good stories and agreed that we should start a blog. So here it is. If you don’t enjoy it, you should blame Carolyn and Lindsay…just kidding.

On the way to Nashville, we ate lunch at McDonalds in Sallisaw, OK. We then noticed this lovely fake floral arrangement with a wolf statue in it. We had to take a picture, it was so random.

Ryan drove the entire way to and from Nashville, thanks Ryan (I hate driving on road trips, I prefer to nap)!

We forgot to take pictures on the rest of the trip...oops.