Five and Alive

Fun With Cousins, April 2012

Cousins and friends forever. Hanging at the Provo Mall.

Natalie, Amelia, Liberty and Porter

Sam and Porter

Amela's Preschool Graduation In Provo, Utah

Amelia participated in a small preschool group of 4 kids. She was the only girl. Me and 3 other moms rotated teaching the kids out of our homes. It was just once or twice a week for a couple hours. One of the moms made these fun superhero capes for each of the kids.

My little cutie, growing up

Amelia's 1st Preschool Class: Amelia, Luke, Desmond, and Henry (their Dads were in BYU MBA program with Matt).

The Moms/teachers (and my friends from the BYU MBA program)- Brittany Crane, Cami Plumb, Erin Blackhurst, and Moi

Friends and neighbors, Jasmine and Kayla, joined with us in celebrating.

Natalie and Kindergarten friend Neveah. (I taught her piano lessons too.)

Around Home

Natalie and Kindergarten friend Ryan Wilson


Sam is ready to potty train himself! (And proud of it).

I found Natalie playing in my room one day with this costume on, meant to fit a toddler. And notice the "broken arm" on her left. Not really broken but she loves playing with ace bandages and pretending things are broken. Love this girl!

Rebecca's Music and Movement Class

(a new era of life begins)

For the first several years of marriage, starting in Long Island, I taught private piano lessons. Then when we moved back to Provo, Utah I decided to try to do a music class for babies and toddlers . This was my first group. We had so much fun, and I especially enjoyed my own kids participating in the musical fun. At the end of the year, we did a recital for our parents and friends.

I loved these kiddos and had so much fun singing and dancing with them. Since this time, I no longer teach piano lessons but I have continued to teach toddler music classes for the last 4 years and LOVE it!

Natalie's First Golf Lesson (only from the best)

Natalie was very excited to have a special date with Matt and Grandpa Walsman. They took her to try some putting down in South Provo. As you can see...she loved it.

Grandpa passes his talent on to the next generation...

Getting Ready for Church

Sam's first suit. Looking good, Son.

I think he needs more hair on his head to match the grown up look of the suit.

Can you please stop taking pictures, Mom, and can we just go now?

April 2012 Good times...

The Masters

Hello Atlanta! A dream trip for Matt with his Dad and brothers Dan and Dave to The Masters.

For all the golf fans out there...Tom Watson

and Tiger Woods...

but the winner for 2012 was...Bubba Watson!

Is it just me or does Matt look 10 years older in this picture?? Searching for the perfect hat... this one was the close second. Winner hat is in the photo below.

Matt wants me to note that HE found the hat, and his older brother copied him. Also worthy of noting- the hats were on clearance because they were from last year's tournament hat selection. Classic and frugal. That's my man.


I love this picture of my father-in-law...Tom Watson (one of his favorites) in background.

Father and son

My First and Last Time Skiing

These pictures are rather embarrassing in reality. A bad memory that I'm trying to turn into a comical one. This day was much like my first and last day snowboarding as a single adult- a disaster. Here I am before we head to the slopes of The Canyons...or somewhere in Park City, with all the hope in the world. It only took Matt 7 years to get me to TRY to go skiing with him. It was a birthday present for Matt (30th) gone wrong. In our fantasy world, I would have turned into the perfect model skier. A natural. Here's what really happened...

When in the world did Matt get this picture that day? I look happy and carefree. (I'm not pregnant even though the extra gloves in my pockets make it look so). The truth is...we rode up the lift and I pretty much had an anxiety attack as we rode higher and higher. The anticipation of having to get off the ski lift with out killing myself was enough. But then I had to go somewhere after that. For some reason I really do think we were on the hardest "beginner slope" possible. A narrow path downhill with cliff on one side and trees on the other. Hello???!!! I've never skied before. I was pathetic. I freaked out. We had to walk down. Old and young glided by us gracefully as we trudged down down down the snowy hillside, awkwardly carrying our skis and poles. Matt was a gentleman and stayed by my side even though I insisted he go on ahead. SO humiliating. Get me out of here. Goodbye. I consider myself a relatively athletic person, but going high-speed, down a hill, feeling out of control, with possible wipe-outs all around me...no thank you. I'd rather hike the hills snowshoeing or even cross country skiing (that's pushing it a little though) and enjoy the scenery in SLOW MOTION.

Fortunately the date was not a complete disaster, and Matt although bitterly disappointed because he IS a comfortable and capable skier...still loved me. (Had this date been prior to marriage...it might have been the last date.) We took a walk around Gardner's Village to finish off the day to try and cheer me up.

This definitely helped.

Stop it.

Maybe there's hope for future Walsman skiers...but it won't come from this desert bred mama.

Easter 2014...Some of Our Family Traditions

I love this image...Matt helping the kids up the stairs to the House of the Lord with missionaries gathered above them.

A favorite Easter tradition for our family is to take a walk around a temple with our kids. Here we are in front of the Provo temple with swarms of missionaries.