HAppY BDAY JamIE

Just because you are the best
And your teeth must be cleaned with Crest
Michelle and emily want to give you a birthday vest
It would look nice on your chest
Even when facing west
'Surely while creating your and stevens nest

Birthdays come but once a year
Do you want a beer?
Anyways, hip hip hooray, that is the walton cheer!
Yes, we all love you so much dear

Live Free or Die Hard

Only one word:

Awesome.

That's all.

Again...

Awesome.

Go see it.

Love

Steve

PS...

Awesome

Speaking of Waltons . . .

Hey, I'm glad that Dad put up that last post, cause it reminded me of some research while I was working at MyFamily.com. I have two family trees that I did, and I would converted them to pictures or something like that, but there are so many names that they're too small to read, so I'll put up the PDF's instead:

There are two versions: (Click to download)

Seven generations back
Twenty-seven generations back

It's cool to see how far back the Waltons go, and on Grandma Holt's side, look for Henson Walker, who led a group of pioneers to Salt Lake City.

Enjoy!

Senator Walton

Here's a fun cartoon of your great-great grandfather.....

WACOM MADNESS!!!

I got a WACOM (this, which is a pen tablet for drawing on the computer) for my graduation! Yayyyy!!! (well, sort of... I used some graduation gift money to buy it... almost the same...) It only cost about $66 on Amazon.com, but now its up to $90. We think there might have been a glitch in the system, or a super-secret-sale. But I got it for $66, and it arrived yesterday!!! Steve and I practiced using it last night as part of our FHE activity:

Steve's impressionist interpretation of Heavenly.




Steve drew me a rose and wrote my name, all with different texture settings.




I drew (from top to bottom): A wasp, a Manta Ray (like in Finding Nemo... "lets name the zones, the zones, the zones, lets name the zones of the open seaaaa!") and a lady bug on a leaf.




I drew the outline of the flower, and Steve colored it.

Watch out, Kevin. We're coming for your job...

Now, this is Steve, it's late, and I have one more addition... These digital drawing pads are fun... See for yourselves! Mom and Em having a blast with cuban cigars in Aussietown!

Mom's a little overkill, but I think Emmy's sideburns match her mullet pretty well!

Yums in Down Under

We have been having a lot of fun eating all the yummy food in Australia. Some of our favorites are the meat pies from Jesters. The wedges with Chili sauce as you can see we ate the "whole bowl" and then also going to Haun's Cafe and eating their yummy curry dishes. Emily is ordering for us from their menu. And of course, we have eaten a ton of chocolate!!!!!

Meanwhile, in Provo . . .

Yesterday, Eric came with me and Rachel as we hiked up to the Y! (He would have been up there in half the time it took us, he had to wait for us older folk)

Eric enjoys his new flavored water beverage, Rachel is proud that she hooked him

Eric makes the shape of a "Y" . . . on the Y . . .

"Polls show they like serious . . ."

Maybe a little too serious . . .

Dad's Back...

Ok......my password has been reset so I can finally post some stuff. Here are some funky photos of the Synchronized Swimming Skit (The SSS) that we put on for Jessica's High School class on that wet, rainy night in the Spring. Notice that not only were they graced with their dad's presence but with Barney and Justin Timberlake - It was a GALA affair!!!

LITTLE LAD DANCE! BERRIES AND CREAM BOY BUSTS OUT

jess and eric this is for you!

On the subject of stupid commercials...

I saw these the other day...





I'd say that's about enough, though, on commercials...

Berries n' Cream

"fun" with the kangaroos!

which one is the kangaroo????

FREO PRISON

Mom doesnt like this first picture but i refuse to erase it. These are from fremantle prison.

Beach in FREO

These are just at the beach and in the maritime museum. fun times. mum is a great photographer. notice how she had me pose so perfectly in a position holding a lighthouse between my fingers. Mum's vision also allowed emily to get intimate with the cannon and the wall statue man as well. yum.

mean australian shop owner.

After we arrived in Fremantle Mum noticed these really cute and fun mannequins and thought it would be fun to take a picture. so we took a few and were laughing having a good old american time when this strange man came up behind me and stared me down. I didnt know what was going on (hence picture number three). He didn't say a word to me... so i just babbled on. I said- "we are just taking pictures.... is that all right?" no response. "We just really like your manniquins." no response. what seemed like an eternity later he finally said "Next time it would be nice if you asked and turned and walked away. He was very mean and very odd. It freaked us out for a while and i started to wonder if this how people treated two americans together. But he has been the one and only meanie.

The Morgue / Final Grades / Eric Update

Okay, so none of these things really have anything to do with each other... But because it seems that Mom checks the blog and that she will probably be in contact no other way, I figured a little update from the Steve side of the world.

So, first of all... I started my volunteering in the ICU of Scripps Memorial Hospital on Wednesday. I basically do whatever anyone needs me to do, and while I'm there I'm around the ICU and can watch whatever procedures and stuff that I want to. I spent a good half hour just watching the nurses take care of a man who was just released from an aortic valve replacement, and one of the head nurses, Abby, was explaining everything that was going on to me. She was great!

Okay, but... The first thing that someone said to me after I check in and pick up m pager: "Could you help take a dead body down to the morgue?" Death is a pretty rare occurrence, so it was very random that this would be my first task. I helped two nurses wheel the body down to the morgue. The morgue is just a little place, but yeah... My first half hour in the ICU consisted of moving a dead body. Interesting.

So, that's the end of the morgue episode.

Final Grades: A in Biomechanics, A in Engineering Experimentation Techniques, and A- in Biostatistics. Bumps my GPA up to a 3.46, much more competetive for medical school. Still need to nail the MCAT, though.

Now, Mom, on to the Eric update:

Eric shows up on Tuesday afternoon after Grandma and Grandpa get lost. They had forgotten to download California maps to their GPS system. It was kind of funny. So, Eric shows up and hangs out with us on Tuesday. Tuesday night, we go to the beach and hang out and it was a blast. We played frisbee and hunted for crabs and watched the sunset. We tried to start the applause their once it went down, but it seems to remain a Santa Cruz thing to do.

So, Wednesday comes and Jamie wakes up feeling icky. Eric had showered, so it wasn't his smell or anything. So, we get up, Eric and I go swimming for a while, and I leave Eric with Jamie while I go to the hospital for volunteering. Then, later, we go with Grandma and Grandpa to dinner at Black Angus (num... Jamie still has leftovers that she's eating as I write this...)

Then, it was time for Eric to go. We convinced Grandma and Grandpa that it would make sense to stay in San Diego for the night and then head out in the morning so we could have one more night with the E. We tried, but every little Inn and Hotel in San Diego was completely booked. So, they decided to head out to Temecula. Not a fun ending to a short two days. So, I called Dad in shambles trying to figure something out. Long story short, Eric was going to stay with us for a couple more days, and we'd fly him up to Boise and Kevin would drive up to visit him for the week.

So, I drive an hour to pick him up in Temecula the next morning. New problem: Eric cannot do a layover flight as an unaccompanied minor. So, new solution. Send Eric to Kevin's who can have fun with him for a few days then drive him up to Boise. Now, I guess Grandma and Grandpa are flying him up to Boise. The little punk will be on three flights in less than two weeks.

So, update: Eric arrived in SLC airport at 1:30 this afternoon and is now chilling with Kevin and having a blast, as it sounds. He will be there on Thursday, at which time he will fly up to Grandma and Grandpa's and stay there until the next week sometime. Two and a half weeks ends up divided pretty evenly between Steve and Jamie's, Kevin (and Rachel's?), and Grandma and Grandpa's. It feels strange to have everyone all over the place.

To all you foreigners, please keep in touch and let us know how things are going.

That's all. Thanks for reading my essay. Love you all.

Steve

@ the Beach with E-rock

We had a blast hanging out with Eric this week. We went to this park at the beach twice, and Eric fell in love with the grass (he said it was the perfect color and perfect length) so when we went last night he and Steve played some soccer & Frisbee on it to really test it out.Eric practicing his moooves.

face off...

my view from the picnic blanket

Steve jammed his toe pretty bad (on Eric's heel). Eric is noticeably concerned.

imitating a sea creature?

tidepools!!!

sunset. mmm.

Eric & I checking out the tidepools.

Steve loves these birds (migrating North for summer).

Eric staring at...

...the same thing Steve is staring at...

A CRAB!!!! AHHH!!!

Eric took a lot of great shots of the crabs, risking life and limb for his photography.