September 16, 2025

 Our dear friend Mike Richardson passed away suddenly the end of August and I attended his funeral with Marilyn and Cordell at the Coquitlam building last week. It is just another reminder that we are all on our individual earthly path, each with an arrival date and then a departure date we do not know but hopefully daily prepare for while also striving to live with joy. Mike and Carol are a great couple and Tom’s part in Mike’s decision to join the church has made their journey dear to us.

Cindy and I visited Jeff on September 5th for the Wagner Hills open house with the completion of their new housing accommodations. They have all been waiting for this for months and I am so glad Jeff has the opportunity to live in this beautiful new building. Jeff gave us a personal tour and the whole facility is lovely. I made him some of mom’s cookies and I think he was happy to have us there. He seems to be doing well and we pray for his success.

The Temple is on a two week maintenance closure right now but I went in a couple of times last week to aid with the cleaning of the Celestial Room Chandelier. I was shocked when I saw that it was completely dismantled. We have cleaned it before but left the crystals hanging and cleaned them individually. I didn’t help a great deal but Bela and Sharon Hara did the bulk of the work with assistance from a handful of others. I went back in the Temple Saturday to participate in a special session of Stake presidents and wives here for the coordinating council meetings. They needed an extra woman plus I helped as a worker when needed. I am washing my Temple clothes and dresses this week.

Liza and Sayde drove down on the weekend to attend the “Lion King” at the Queen Elizabeth theatre. We had bought tickets close to the Hardy family and drove down with them. It was a great production but I am still overwhelmed that people don’t dress for live Theatre anymore and they take drinks and popcorn in. A little sad I think. I took Sayde and Liza for dinner after my time in the Temple on Saturday and they drove home in the evening.

We have decided to have a Walker Family Reunion next summer from July 31 to August 6 in Whitefish. Rissa says we can use their mountain cabin and guest house. Exciting! I am hoping to honor their Walker heritage with Walker plaid as a theme. Missing our Walker boy.❤️❤️

Last bouquet of several months of  Mother’s Day flowers from our children.

August 29, 2025

 August 26 was our 55th wedding anniversary. I spent the day thinking of Tom, missing him and loving him. I went to the Temple and to then to the cemetery. Oh, how my heart aches for him but I also realize that he is still very much in my life and not far away. It is a complex yet dual aspect of my life at this moment. He has spent a lifetime making sure I was loved and cared for and that mission seems to be carrying on. One thing he consistently did throughout our relationship was COME FOR ME. I learned that, if I remained in place or on course, he would seek me out, return for me or show up for me. Let me give a few examples. When he received his mustang car for his 16th birthday, he soon after found Joanne and I at a church activity and took us for a ride. A few months after that, when I realized he was showing an interest in me, I was still just 14 years old. I could not date but he would claim me at dances and find ways to express his feelings. On my 15th birthday, March 16, 1965, I was starring as the lead dancer in our Junior High play “Ali Babba and the Forty Theives”. He turned up with his friend Peter to see the production. That summer, I was 15 and just graduating from Junior High. My family was spending our annual holiday time in Penticton and Tom convinced his father to let him take their waterski boat,  his brother Wayne and young visitor Bobby Gay to the Okanagan to join us for a few days. He was 17 at the time or just turned 17. During his mission to France and Switzerland, his family moved down to the USA for his mother to get her doctorate degree and my family were transferred to Vancouver. I was attending UBC. He returned home to his family for Christmas 1969 and the entire extended Tanner family went to Hawaii to celebrate his grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary. He asked permission to leave early and fly to Vancouver to pick me up and fly on to Calgary to celebrate New Years together. When his plane landed in Vancouver, he ran to one end of the plane to make sure he would be first off, only to find that they were disembarking from the door at the other end of the plane and he was now last in line. I could see him through the arrival doors rushing to grab his luggage and then hurrying  out to find me. At that point I wasn’t hard to see or find. There are numerous stories but let me finish with one. Some years ago I was flying back from Boise and then riding The Quick Shuttle from Seattle to downtown Vancouver where Tom was to pick me. We had crossed the border and made our first Canadian stop at the country store and then on the the airport. As we stopped at the airport, Tom suddenly burst onto the bus and came running down the aisle to retrieve me. Everyone on the bus immediately turned to me as if they knew I was the one he had come to claim. He said he couldn’t wait for me to get to downtown and came to find me. He would go out into the world to work, to serve, to explore but he has always returned to me, to find me, to claim me, to love me. I know he will come for me again. Mary Harvey says that is one reunion she wants to witness. I do not care who else is there as long as when I look up, I see Tom Walker rushing toward me. 

Summer has come to an end. After staying with me for a couple of days, Max, Jacqui and Aksel flew home to Australia. Jack and Annika are driving back to Lethbridge after their visit. She will be off to serve her mission in Georgia and Jack back to school. Our USA grandchildren are back at school. I had my friends for a luncheon yesterday to finish off the summer and the sister missionaries, Jean and Cheyenne for dinner. Busy entertaining day. 

I felt very loved on our anniversary as our children acknowledged it, as I went to the Temple and felt the love and friendship to be had there and as Tom wrapped his heavenly arms around me.❤️❤️

August 17, 2025

 The days and weeks seem to pass so quickly and I realize I am behind on my recording or as I look maybe not as far behind as I thought.

The Hardy Family have returned from Europe and I drove out to the airport to pick them up in their big van as they had Max, Jacqui and Aksel with them. I had been worried about making the drive during rush hour in the big van but things went well. Liza’s family, after picking Breya up at the Kelowna airport upon her return from her humanitarian trip to Ecuador, drove down again to pick Sayde and Liana from their girls’ camp. Everyone returned last weekend so I had made lasagna and had them all for dinner Saturday evening. Everyone had, had good times on their respective adventures and Ross and Sarah had bought a condominium while their family was away. It had been a productive few weeks. 

It has been really hot of late but we have received rain the last couple of days. The rain is great and needed but not easy for Kona and I to walk in. She had a grooming this week and it is difficult to keep that fresh groom look when rain drops keep falling on our heads.

I have cleaned the house and the yard this week and have assisted with two live Endowments. August is proving a busy month at the Temple. Temple closure will be taking place in September and that is probably pushng people to get into the Temple this month. 

Bryson was having a difficult week on his mission with the lack of a transfer this round but he agreed to stay when the mission president gave him the option. Then the miracle happened - he received his admission to BYU in January. Very exciting! I am proud of my family and grateful for them on so many levels. They have their challenges but they soldier on. Love them all!

August 6, 2025

 Tom’s 77th Birthday was July 30th. I was on my own to do “random acts of kindness” this year so I bought my ice cream sandwiches and distributed them to Jean and Cheyenne, the Emily Leavitt Family, Jaqui Cardno family, Sam and the Sam Moore family. I tried Mary and Lincoln but they weren’t home. Jean and Cheyenne wanted to visit Tom’s grave with me so two days later we did and then went to Wabi Sabi for dinner. I was suppose to be paying but Jean quickly paid when I wasn’t looking. I get so upset with her. Carolyn, Ephraim and Sarah, his girlfriend called the day after Tom’s birthday wanting to take me out for dinner as they passed thru Vancouver on a road trip to Vancouver Island. That was fun to see them and share an Indian vegetarian meal. Jeannette called me the day after Tom’s birthday too when they were thinking of him. He was and is celebrated, remembered and loved.

Cindy, Paul, Max, Jacqui and little Aksel have been touring thru Finland, Sweden, Norway, Amsterdam and Ireland. It has looked lovely and they seem to have been having a good time, They arrive back here on  Friday and I am certain they will be weary. I am suppose to pick them up in their big van. Sam and I have been on our own. He has been over for two Sunday dinners and he came last Saturday with Ross, Sarah and Hansen while Liza's family was here. We took him for brunch on Monday morning too with the Burgess family as it was a holiday.

Liza and her family arrived last Friday evening driving two cars down as Niki Kenyon had kindly offered to take Sayde to the multi Stake girls’ camp on the island and she needed their wheelchair van for Sayde. Sayde’s friend arrived on Monday and stayed overnight. I got them off with Niki yesterday morning and then went to the Temple and cleaned the house. Liza and Brendon went to the Temple while they were here and picked blueberries with Sayde. Keaton flew into Abbotsford from FSY in Edmonton on Saturday. We went for a Brae Island walk on Sunday. 

Trevor and Tammie are preparing for a trip to Utah to meet Jaxon and are then bringing Jadyn and Treyson back with them for a visit. Treyvn is back at football and school. Rissa and her family went to the Bull family reunion at Disneyland and have been home doing activities and spending time at their lake home.

I have busy with my yard, my callings, my kids and my dog. It has been a warm summer and watering is required. Marie, my neighbor, has been away from time to time and I try to do some watering there too. Lincoln sometimes comes to water for her so I try to determine if he has come or not. I am busy, often tired but always blessed. Enjoying my new car and missing my precious husband.

July 19, 2025

 Well, our big news is that we have a new baby - suddenly but gratefully - we have a beautiful baby boy Jaxon Randall Walker 8lbs 6 oz born July 16 in LasVegas, Nevada!!! He is being adopted by Justin and JayLynn and they are over the moon. They just recently put their names out for adoption as JayLynn has been advised not to have more children due to her medical concerns. This little guy’s parents chose Justin and JayLynn and they, in turn, hurried down to meet him. In Nevada the adoption can be finalized in a week so they are staying in Mesquite so Justin can go to work from there. His parents are both black but already have three children and did not feel they could financially manage another. He is very cute and already very loved. Wonderful blessing for all our family and especially for Justin and JayLynn. I don’t think they expected this to happen so quickly.

I stayed up in Kelowna until Tuesday, July 8. We got Sayde up to her camp near Vernon on Monday and Liza felt that the older children didn’t need me after that, so I packed up and left Tuesday. It is hard to walk away after you have been taking care of the children because you worry about them and think about them all of the time. We got Sayde ready for camp while I was there, I got the front door painted, took her to her clinic appointments (she had pool appointments too), did lots of laundry, made meals and anything else that needed to be done. Ted had the girls and their families at his home so he slept in our basement each night. Luke and Matthew spent time at our house and the girls and the rest came over for swimming one night. We went to a BBQ at Dave and Jeannie’s one evening too. Breya and Keaton really wanted to go to the Burgess family camp, so after Liza and Brendon got home and Sayde was home from her camp, they drove up alone. George Goeders said they had a terrible storm while they were up there, causing a tree to fall on a car. I just wanted to make sure my grandchildren were okay. Liza and Brendon got back on Saturday, July 12. Alyssa picked Sayde up from her camp on Friday, July 11.

Cindy and Paul left for Finland yesterday. Max, Jacqui and Aksel are there now too, Aksel got RSV from daycare just before they left and ended up in hospital but the doctors gave him the all clear so we are praying for him.

I have been trying to get things done since I got home. I have checking with how friends are doing, power washing the stairwell (on a very hot day), doing banking and yard work, painting the driveway grate that Tom always painted, getting Kona to her annual vet appointment and getting back to the Temple. I always have things to keep me busy. Mostly though, I  been feeling grateful for my children, my grandchildren, my life, my heritage, my husband and the Savior and His gospel. All combined - I am very blessed. We are not perfect but I am very blessed! 

July 3, 2025

 I am in Kelowna right now staying with Liza and Brendon’s children while they are in Germany for Brendon’s IronMan race. They have been in the Netherlands too and able to visit with Bryson. I am hoping that they have a good time and that they are able to relax a little. The children and I are doing fine. Sayde has pool therapy everyday, as well as clinic therapy. I drove up on Friday and managed well except for traffic getting out of the lower mainland and getting thru West Kelowna. Kona got a little car sick which was disappointing. Liza and Brendon left on Saturday and I drove them to the airport in the large handicapped van as Brendon had his large bike case to transport. We went to a Stake youth activity at the West Kelowna chapel on Sunday. The youth had their own sacrament meeting, Sunday School and then ate lunch together. Sharon Hara was there with her daughter and grandson. Breya came too. We all went to the pancake breakfast at the church on Canada Day. Breya went to the beach with friends and then shopping with Keaton and other friends, They brought Michael and the Harper children over for a swim and I fed them all hotdogs before they went to watch the fireworks. Sayde stayed home with me. Big day! Keaton has been golfing with Ted and his Burgess cousins the last couple of days. He and Breya went to play pickleball with their cousins this morning. Breya keeps herself busy with friends and on her own with crafts and sewing projects. I am busy getting Sayde to her therapies, doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning up to be ready for Ted moving in downstairs when his girls and their families takeover his home. He will only come to sleep here at night. I have washed the front porch and back deck and I am now painting the front door. Keaton’s came Costco shopping with  me and is a good helper. Busy days! I will be leaving on Monday after Sayde gets off to her camp next week.

I spent the week before getting ready for my trip here. Kona was groomed and I got a pedicure and coloured my hair. I took Wendy and Cindy for Japanese food on Cindy’s Birthday. I drove Wendy for dialysis and ministered to Sam and Jaqui and got all my property and personal taxes paid. The week before that I worked on getting the Tesla ready to return. I cleaned it inside and took it for a car wash. I took it to the dealership when all was in order and Jean picked me up to get me home. I am glad to have just one car and I am happy with my Lexus. The difference in the breaking system has been the most difficult element to adjust to and remembering to lock the car, as you just walk away from the Tesla and Lexus requires actual locking,

Summer is in full swing and I am busy and blessed. Just FaceTime with Liza.

June 13, 2023

Wendy McKinley drove me out to the airport on Tuesday, June 10 and I flew to Kelowna, as my family here were all at work. Ladene Rempel picked me up in Kelowna, as all the Burgess family were at work. Thank goodness for friends. I had a nice visit with both of them. As Ladene dropped me off I received a video call from Bryson. We had a nice and unexpected visit. I took the family out for dinner that night and settled in, minus my little “pup” who was staying at the Hardy home. I worked at my Temple and other responsibilities the next day before getting a drive with the Lexus shuttle to the dealership where I took care of all the paperwork, insurance and had my orientation to the car. They were all very nice but somehow had me spending more money. I drove back home the next morning by myself in my brand new car. We were hit by a few bugs. I felt calm and didn’t get tired - a miracle. I know I was blessed and had my “angel” with me. The car is lovely and now I have to get the Tesla ready to return. 

I went to the Temple this morning to do some LOW training and attend a session. Jean is coming over tonight for me to prepare her for our very busy day at the Temple tomorrow as she will be helping with three new Mandarin sisters that will be coming for the first time. I am praying that everything goes well and the angels jump in to help us provide a good experience for our total of 8 Own Endowments throughout the day. I am sure it will be fine.

Cindy took June 6th off work (the anniversary of Tom’s passing) to be with me. We went to the cemetery, cleaned the grave site and brought a plant. It looked very nice by the time we left. We went for brunch at the Saba bakery and then picked Kona up and headed for West Vancouver and visited my parent’s grave. We cleaned it and left plants too. We ate A+W at my house in the evening. My dear friends Melanie and Mary both left flowers at my door during the day. I have such wonderful people in my life. Kelly Groom also called and DeEtte messaged.  I am so surprised that people remember. I love Tom so much. I miss him with every breath I take and I pray for him always.

Breya and two friends arrived on Friday too and went to an outdoor concert. They stayed overnight at my place and left in the morning and had some Vancouver adventures before driving back to Kelowna.

I finished my Temple Preparation classes with my currents group on Sunday and then attended the Temple Workers Devotional Sunday evening. It was a beautiful hot spring day. Lost a pair of sunglasses.

I walked with Mary on several days last week and had my house and windows washed one of those days. She looks good and is doing better but just feels she is missing energy.

My friend Barb has been recovering from pneumonia and asked what I have been doing lately. She thinks my life is very busy and it is. I am a little weary tonight and still have “miles to go before I sleep”.

I am grateful for my busy and my blessings.❤️❤️