Half Dome

On Friday, we hiked Half Dome in Yosemite National Park with some of our friends.  It was an experience!  Hiking for 10 1/2 hours for 16 miles is strenuous and hard on the feet!!  I had so many blisters but I'm glad I accomplished this feat.  It was quite a challenge!  Cross this off the bucket list!

Aaron and I before the hike started.....with smiles still on our faces....  Just kidding.  :)

Our friends that we went with:  Anthony, Shirae, Kristin, and Doug

The beatiful waterfall at the top of the Mist Trail stairs of death...

What hike would be complete without Captain Morgan?

The trekking poles REALLY helped!!

The cables.  It's not as intimidating as it looks.

Victory!!  I can't believe I did it!

At the very top of Half Dome.  Aaron and I were the only ones that went all the way to the top.

Dave and Nikita's Wedding

Dave (Aaron's youngest brother) married Nikita memorial day weekend.  What a beautiful wedding!  They were married at the Sacramento Temple and then had a reception in the evening to follow.  We hosted the luncheon.  It was a great time and I had fun snapping pictures (as I always do).  Here are the photo highlights:

Uncle Mark took a really nice picture of Aaron and me.  Still looking for that Christmas card photo....

I love this one with the temple in the background!

These are our niece and nephews:  Kaylin, Zachary, and Jared.  They were so fascinated with the fountain.  I love photographing children!  They're so fun!

My nephew, Jared is one of my favorites to photograph because he has such beautiful blue eyes.  After photoshopping some snot out, this became a great shot!

My niece, Kaylin is such a cutie pie!  Look at all those new permanent teeth coming in!  (Of course I notice the teeth!!!)

This ham saw that I was snapping pictures and decided to come and pose for me!!  He was so funny!  And I love Zachary's freckle on his forehead!  It's so cute.

I love this picture!  This is Dave and Nikita coming out of the temple.

Cutting the cake....

I think this picture really captures the love in their eyes.

Walker clan from left to right:  Me, Aaron, Becca (Aaron's brother Phil's wife, holding Jared), Phil (Aaron's brother), Dave (Aaron's brother), Nikita (Dave's wife), Em (Aaron's sister), Shane (Em's husband), Mel (Aaron's sister), Clint (Aaron's dad), Karen (Aaron's mom), and Kaylin and Zachary at the bottom (Phil and Bec's kids)

New sister-in-law!!

Aaron and me with my camera

Wicked

At the end of May, we went to go see the musical, Wicked.  My mother-in-law, Karen, got tickets for all of us girls for Christmas.  So we've all been waiting to go.  She took us out to dinner at the MalaBar and we had a great time.  These are her pictures that she took.  Unfortunately, she didn't know how to turn the time stamp off and it had the wrong date.  Oh well....

In my living room just before leaving:  me, Becca (Aaron's brother, Phil's wife), Mel (Aaron's sister), Karen (Aaron's mother), and Em (Aaron's sister)

Kissey face!

At MalaBar

Up close and personal!!

Overall, I liked Wicked (even though it felt very long) but I didn't think it was as good as all the hype made it out to be.  I wasn't very keen on the music.  There were only 2 songs that I liked.  But I really enjoyed myself.  But it can't compare to Phantom.   :)

Florida

We went to Tampa Bay in May with our friends, Rachel and Matt and also his sister and her husband.  We had a really great time!  The weather was great, there were homemade ice cream shops on almost every corner (which were delicious), and it was really nice to just relax on the beach.  Here are some of the highlights:

 Rachel and Me at Miniature Golf.  It was couples versus couples.  Team Walker won!!  (You know it!)  Aaron couldn't be prouder....

A great restaurant we stopped at.  I think it's appropriate that I'm wearing a Walt Disney World shirt and Aaron is wearing his Tampa Bay Rays hat.  Go Florida!!

The day that we rented scooters and rode all over, we found this amazing beach with a sandbar about 500 feet in.  We played frisbee out there and had a great time.  Aaron says it was the best beach he's ever been to.

This was the little scooter we rented.  We had a great time zipping around on those little things.  No helmet laws in Florida which felt weird.  Look how much tanner Aaron is than me!!  No fair!

One of the days, we were watching the sunset on the beach and decided to take nice pictures of each couple.  Aaron made me laugh....  But I love this one because it's so natural. 

And this is what we ended up with.  This is our "nice" picture.  I love the sunset in the background.  I'm always hunting for a good Christmas card photo.  This could be it....

Race for the Cure

Whew!  Time to play catch up!  In May, a bunch of us from work (who are my dearest friends) participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Breast Cancer Walk.  This was my first year doing it and I want to do it every year from now on!  It was amazing!  We went with our friend Melissa, who is going through Chemo right now and it was such a neat experience to walk with a Survivor.  Women all along our walk were telling her how beautiful she was and sharing their individual stories of survival.  It was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm thankful I got to be a part of it.

                                                Carin, Sheila, Tammy, Melissa, Dionne, Me

                                                                      Sheila, Melissa, Me

This was an awesome picture (which I improved in Photoshop) that I told Melissa is going to be her "I beat Cancer" photo.  I love it!  I have seen her change for the good fighting Breast Cancer.  She has become such a positive person.  What a great day!