15 Months

26 pounds, 1 ounce

33 inches tall

That's 88th percentile for weight, 98th for height.

Not a whole lot to report this month.  She has the beginning of two new teeth.  Nice to get them out of the way.  Reka also learned how to clap.  It's so very cute to see, but she rarely performs on command.  She learned how to climb stairs now that we have stairs, but she is still scared to death to climb down.  It's a work in progress....
She still has a healthy appetite and eats most everything except potatoes and corn.  She is also not loving green veggies.  I will have to work on getting those in her.  She loves chicken.
The big story is the move, which she handled pretty well and is adjusting very quickly to her new surroundings.  There is a little park in our neighborhood so I was able give her a first slide experience.  She didn't know what to make of it but then I went down with her and she was sold!  She is also learning to love the swing.  More importantly, she is loving her grandma Walker.
We all love her laugh and her playfulness.  She loves to share her food and will often (with her sticky hands) offer a cheerio or muffin or something.  The other day she did this and I lean forward open mouth fully ready to accept this gift when she pulls her hand back, looks at me and smiles, and eats said muffin.  Yes, Reka has officially spent way too much time with her father.
She truly fills the house with joy.  We are blessed to have such a sweet little girl.

Philly: Featuring Courtney!

When planning the Indiana move I mentioned to Don about possibly going through Philadelphia to drive by some of the historic sights.  He suggested instead to call Courtney and make an event of it.  Yay for a sweet understanding husband who understands both my need for history and my need for friends!

Friday night we drove to Philly and stayed over.  Early Saturday morning Courtney drove into the city and met me at the hotel.  Don stayed with Rebekah so I was all free to enjoy every single moment.  

Here's the first view of Independence Hall

And just to prove that we were there...

*I pause here to mention that we had to valet park our van and my camera was left in said van.  I therefore am indebted to a more prepared Courtney who let me download all her pictures.

First stop:  THE Liberty Bell

Courtney always takes a great picture

I also saw this little antique toy train

Next stop, Independence Hall

The old court room

Good things happened in there.  

However....

This is where it all happened.   

Washington was here - Adams was here - And Jefferson - And Franklin 

And I was here too!

And Courtney was here too!

Here's our tour guide, Ranger Ray.  He may have been there as well....

He said John Adams sat here.  

As the tour group went to the next room I stood for a moment in silence (a rare thing since I had Reka) and looked upon this scene to imagined the "great company of men" (a phrase Adams coined) that worked here to bring about the country we love today.  There were tears.  It was truly a spiritual experience.

Love the staircase.  

Can you imagine the great men who walked these stairs?

We saw a very cool map

A neat harpsichord

This is what they would have used to sign the documents

There was even an outhouse...? 

A view from the back -

Yes, it was as cold as it looks.

Then Courtney and I walked over to Congress Hall.

Franklin was watching over all

Introducing Ms. Courtney Hastings, Congresswoman

After Courtney's brief term in Congress, we said goodbye to Washington

And got more pictures of the Hall

Then we were hungry and went to lunch.  I thought the food was very good (but it could have been the simple fact that I rarely get to eat at a leisurely pace any more.  Not to mention that I didn't have to cut up anything or let anyone else have bites...). 

Just me and my food

Either way it was AWESOME!  

But more awesome was the total coolness of our numbers:

as in "17--" 

It's like they saw us coming and planned ahead!

After our leisurely brunch we walked around to see what else we could see.

Apparently we were not the only ones who thought it was cold.  

This is where the First Continental Congress met

I may have teared up here too... (but that could have been because of lack of sleep).

I made the mistake of posing a question to one of the tour guides. We were there for a while.  A LONG while.  Rookie mistake.... When we broke free we went to The Second Bank of the United States which was full of famous art work.

Then we were off again, this time with Franklin in mind. 

 On our way we passed this statue 

commemorating the reading of the declaration

After a long walk and much exploring of the map, we made it to Franklin's burial sight. 

But it was closed.  

Courtney was sad.

Sad, but determined.  She was able to take this picture through the gate.

We hurried back to our parking and on the way came across this car.  I had Courtney take a picture for Don.  

And great news!  It came with a diagram of all the places you could hide whiskey!  

A great time with a great friend.  Thanks for coming Courtney!   I love doing history with you!   Best -Tour Guide - Ever!

The Move To Indiana

Feels like I've been packing forever.  Good news is some of my things were packed in Utah and haven't been unpacked yet.  Also, many of Don's things were packed in the Birchwood house and I went through and re-packed them right after we moved to Pinewood.  So, I suppose it could have been a lot worse.  Truth is we have been talking about the move to Indiana for about 3 years now.  (Seriously? I've known Don for a little over 3 years....? WOW.) 

Thanks goes to RuthAnn who came and helped me pack and who listened while I stressed about the move.  What would I do without you?  Also thanks goes to members of the ward who came over and packed my kitchen while I ran around after Reka.  Couldn't have done it without you either.

And special thanks goes to Reka who survived the craziness of her first move. 

The move happened so quick I didn't have time to take a lot of pictures.  They dropped the UPack off early Thursday evening.  I had very little time to ponder how small it was and how in the world all our stuff would fit in there when Don came home from his last day at work followed shortly by some men from the ward came over to help pack.  

They packed it to the top.  Every inch from side to side was full.  The next day the missionaries came over and helped us with the final items, which apparently worked out well for one elder because the mattress we were getting rid of was much better than the one he had been using.  Don packed the car and the van as full as he could until everything was out of our little apartment.  One last look and we were off.  Reka in the van with Don and I in Don's car.  It was dark.  It was snowing.  It was New York roads and traffic.  What could go wrong?

About 5 minutes into it Don and I got separated.  It was dirty snow and I couldn't get his windshield wipers to work.  Yes, I was sufficiently loosing my mind.  But I finally got Don on the phone and he back tracked and found me.  Then we were off again.  I kept repeating - I only have to get to Steve's, I only have to get to Steve's.  

I made it to Steve's.

However, the nice bottles of milk and juice and the grapes I had in a nice new bottle cooler did not.  They were nice and safe in the Pinewoods apartment fridge.  After I cried my tears out and wondered what kind of mom I was, Don assured me everything would be okay.

Steve and Maria had a nice dinner of salad and New York pizza for us.  Thanks Steve and Maria!  It was God sent!

After dinner (and a quick trip to the store to replace the forgotten Rebekah items) we were off. 

Don had the wheel.  

(I pause at this time to mention 

I have never gone on a road trip with Don 

where he has let me drive for any significant amount of time.  

SIGH.)

Rebekah was nice and comfy with her phone.

The plant, however, feared for it's life.

(that's the back of the van as seen from the passengers seat)

We were off.  Our last trip out of Long Island.  I tried to take pictures, but apparently they didn't work.  They are pretty cool to look at though... 

Not sure what this was

Leaving Long Island Sign

The Verrazano bridge

And finally.... our hotel in Philadelphia.

We stopped for the night and the next morning I met Courtney for some historical sight seeing while Don and Rebekah had a daddy / daughter date.   It was WONDERFUL!  But that's another post.

Somewhere around 2:PM we were back on the road.  We drove and drove (actually DON drove and drove....).  Rebekah did okay thanks to the blessed makers of mobile dvd players.  But we still had to occasionally  stop.  

This is one of our last stops in Pennsylvania.  

Don commented that he didn't think we were ever going to get out of Pennsylvania.  It did seem to take forever.  But once we crossed the border the rest of the trip went pretty fast.  We finally made it to our Indiana home.  

Mom had a wonderful sign waiting for us

as well as a toy tablet for Rebekah, 

my favorite coconut candies for me 

and some Rolos for Don and me 

actually I'm hoping he got some at this point.  It was a very stressful time for me... :D 

Don continued the festivities by eating Pizza King Pizza.

Rebekah chilled in Grandma's chair

And made herself quite at home....

Exploring where all the new places for things were

Finding grandmas tissue box

But back to the move.... 

Here's our rental van

(and our new neighborhood in the background)

And here's our UPack 

Don unpacked all of the UPack except for the cedar chest.  I made myself bold and called the church for some help with moving the chest upstairs.

To date, all our things are inside or in the garage.  Turns out it is a lot harder to combine 2 houses than one would have thought, but we are slowly getting there.  Don has been in a constant good mood since arrival.  Rebekah is loving the extra space and the grandma love.  I'm still stressing about every little thing, but you really didn't expect that to change, did you?

Indiana, Team Walker has come home!