I'm So Glad When Daddy is Home

Oh to be a dad......an extra day where meals are prepared for you (like every other day) but with extra effort to make sure they are ones you love, you get gifts, smothered with love, sleeping in, napping, and enjoying the kiddos without having to do any of the feeding, changing,....etc. I got to thinking it must be nice to be "the dad" instead of " the mom" some days...but this Father's Day I was able to reflect and did my best to make it a good one for Bry. He deserves the best - he deserves a day of rest - of spoiling - of pampering. He works so hard for our family. He wants us to be happy, he works for provide for our needs and then some. He loves me and our boys more than I can even express. He is a wonderful father and I love him so much.

Andrew's adoption day!

New baby Carter!

It was a bit of a crazy weekend with some added responsibilities that I did not count on, but nonetheless I was able to make Bry a nice breakfast, yummy dinner, delicious dessert and let him squeeze in a nap. Sounds like a dream day to me! (then again...any day with a nap is a dream to me!) We had french toast casserole, buttermild syrup, bacon, scrambled eggs, fruit, hot chocolate, and juice for breakfast. We were a bit full to say the least. He opened presents and got a new shirt, tie, church socks, shaving mirror, and loofa (a little joke between him and I).

Bry stayed home with our mildly sick boys while I went to the beginning of church. What an experience to sit and listen to the talks given without having to pass our crayons, feed children, pick up toys, and try to keep things calm. It was wonderful. We then traded and I watched the boys while Bry went to the second half of church.

For dinner I made turkey burgers - yum a lum. Carter thoroughly enjoyed his dipped in ketchup...and had a blast with the orange jell-o.

And dessert was a marble cake with whipped chocolate ganash filling with strawberries and buttercream icing. YUM!

Needless to say, I feel like I spent 48-hours this past weekend in the kitchen, but it was all worth it. Bryan does so much for our family and we love him so much. Happy Father's Day Bry!

And it cannot go without being stated the love and admiration I have for my own father. He is such a solid foundation in my life. He is always there for me and is never one to let me forget how much he loves me. He is a wonderful dad and I am so grateful for all he has taught me, as well as for the smiles and joy he brings to my life, as well as my little family. Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Work Then Play

I slept in a little longer than expected this morning and I needed to get my work done so we could go to the pool later. This is what happens when I work and the boys play.

It was not really that bad and I did get all my work done that was due today. We had a blast at the pool and the boys are now taking much needed naps.

My Brave Boy

Andrew never ceases to amaze me. He has such a resiliance and determination in life. He is so strong and his desire to improve is astounding. Yesterday he had to go in to get an injection in his leg to help him walk better. It is a trial that we will be doing over the next year and are hopeful it will improve his walking. After all the doctors he has seen he is still excited to go to the "doctors". I let him know the night before and then the morning of and he makes sure that I don't forget. This particular appointment he had some numbing cream applied first with a bandage over it. It had to stay on for thirty minutes prior to the injection. He didn't like it that is for sure, but he did so well. He didn't pull it off and just dealt with it. The injection was rough. I had to hold him down...and all that not so fun mommy stuff, but he only cried for a minute or two and then he was done. What a champ!!!! I am so proud of this sweet boy. He is such a trooper and continues to take each day with a smile. What a blessing he is to our family!

Going Vertical

This little munchie took his first steps today. He did a couple with me while Bry was at work and then did a little performing at Grammy and Poppie's house tonight. He is a little bit of a late walker, but I am not complaining! I knew it would come eventually. My world is about to change and poor Andrew....he has no idea what he is in for. I am excited to have two toddling children - oh the fun and adventure we will have! Way to go Carter!

Get Ready to Smile

We put the pieces of Mr. Potato Head in a tennis ball tube....and let me tell you, it is the simplest things that can make a baby giggle. I just can't get enough!

Girls' Night In

Julia and I love love love So You Think You Can Dance so we figured why not get together and enjoy the amazing moves of this year's cast. Shell, Lu, and I got together at my house last night to watch and have Shell paint our toes. We ate candy, chatting, laughed, and just enjoyed being together. Next time though I will make sure my kids are in bed before they come. They were up WAY too late. I have to say last night was not at all a disappointment. Our favorite dances were the first and last, but my pick for this season so far is...

Phillip

He is amazing!!! And Bry will be glad that he does not fall into what he calls the "flamer" category. Bry doesn't like watching the boys who prance around, but hey - I still think they are all great to watch - I can not even come close to moving like any of them and I think that is why I enjoy watching so much. I am SO glad Phillip was safe tonight...but as if the judges would send him home this early!

Shell did a great job on Julia's toes and she even did mine after we were all done at 10:00! She really wanted to try this tiger thing...and it turned out great. She is getting really good at what she does. I am so luck to have a sister who can do hair and the other do nails! Shannon and I joke about what we bring to the table.....typing....fast typing....hey - at least it brings in the money right!?

Updates with the Little Bakers

Just some updates of the cuteness that runs ramped in my house these days.

Carter LOVES to be naked. Luckily neither of my boys are big pee-ers when in the nude so they get to be free for a little while before and after their bath each night. Carter tries to escape during diaper changes to catch a few minutes of freedom. I thought it was funny I caught Andrew poking Carter's belly button. (pretty good picture editing, huh?!)

Once again...Carter is SUCH a water baby. He loves the water whether it comes from a cup, a pool, the hose, the sink, the tub, or the shower! I was getting ready to take a shower the other morning only to find Carter was one step ahead of me. He was soaking wet in his jammy shirt and clean diaper.

He got his first freckle! His sweet, smooth, oh so soft baby skin now has one little adorable tiny freckle on his right upper back/shoulder. (click the picture to make it bigger and you can see the tiny little brown speckle on his back!)

Summer is here, but I am glad to say it is not too hot these days - hallelujah!!!! We did get a tiny pool for the backyard to help the boys burn some energy when we can't get to the big pool. They love it! They have figured out they can get in and out, which makes for a very grassy pool by the end and a busy mom following them around the yard, but hey - its fun! Carter loves to splash, but it makes for a red face, watery eyes, and a drippy nose by the end. Drew is not too fond of all the water madness, but he is getting used to it! Drew loves to lay on his tummy and kick his legs and "swim".

How I have missed....Utah!

A couple months ago I scheduled some doctor’s appointments for Andrew at Primary Children’s, but due to insurance issues, differing opinions from doctors, and who knows what else, we had to cancel. Since I had already booked flights for Andrew and I…and my mom bought a ticket so she could help out we figured we might as well still go and spend the weekend with Shannon and her family! So Saturday morning Andrew, Carter, my mom, and I headed to the airport.

Bry drove us and we thought we would have plenty of time if we got there an hour early. Oh boy, were we WRONG!!!! I have never seen so many cars at the drop off and there were so many people in the check in baggage line. Our flight left at 8:20 and we didn’t get our bags checked until 8:00 and that means we still had to go through security. Since we had late bag check-in we had to take our car seats with us to the gate and check them there. That was fun pushing a stroller, pushing a cart, and making sure Andrew kept up!

When we got to security I had a bag full of liquids and since I had baby food, pediasure, etc… they said the fastest way to get us through would be to give me a pad down. So…I did. Carter sat on the dirty floor while my mom tried to corral all our stuff that went through the x-ray and keep Andrew close by. We then had to quickly jog to our gate hoping we didn’t miss our flight. While running Andrew managed to run into a seeing eye dog which in turn made the poor vision impaired man a little off balance as well. The car seats were falling off the cart and we were just trying to get on the plans. Oh this was just the beginning.

We made it to the gate and were able to get a seat together since the flight was not full – thank goodness! Once on the plane I managed to spill chocolate milk on my pants, my mom flung little bits of gum all over, and to top it off the little video player we had that was supposed to be charged turned on just enough so that the kids knew Baby Einsteins was coming and then it DIED. Perfect! After that I think the flight went pretty well. We got our rental car and off to Shannon’s.

We spent the weekend watching Justin play soccer, playing with the kids, eating yummy meals, enjoying being together, doing a little bit of work, and relaxing!

While we were there Cody got his first unicycle. Apparently they are big up there and he was SO excited. It was fun to watch him learn how to ride it. Shannon and I had a go…and we’ll just say we won’t be riding pros anytime soon!

We even had time to sit and just do nothing…yes, nothing at all. My boys were napping so we just all sat on the couch and talked and did nothing. I can’t remember the last time I did that!

On Monday evening Ethan took us up the mountain to the most gorgeous spot ever. We are so going back in the fall to see all the trees change. Bry saw the pictures and said he was ready to move back tomorrow! I was a little nervous on the ride up…but that does not even compare to the ride back. We were all looking for deer and were quite excited when we found one – apparently this event was absolutely terrifying for Andrew. He was ready to break through his carseat. He cried and cried until I took him out and held him. He made sure to have one ear against my chest and I had to cover his other ear. Poor little man, I think it was just too much going on for him. Don’t tell him there is a deer outside, it still makes him nervous! He will say deer are cute now, but I think he has a love/hate relationship.

Andrew really wanted to go for a ride on the quad so Shan took him and Rylee for a quick spin.

Our flight home was another momentous one. My mom rented another car to save Shan the trip and we made sure to get there well over an hour early. We parked and as we were walking into the airport we walked past a guy who was somewhat of a gangster. Right then a cop or security person or whoever comes over cuffs him and another guy goes after another gangster in the rental booth. He starts to put his hand in his pocket and the cop was yelling at him to take his hand out. We were seriously like three feet from all of this! They got him cuffed too and we then saw a security guy take off on his bike and then three other cops or whoever go running off on foot. We didn’t stick around to see what happened – if only we knew this was just the beginning of the excitement!

We walked right up to check our bags with no line only to find out…..our flight was CANCELLED! Yes, cancelled. Go figure! I think I prefer to barely make a flight than to have to wait in the airport for five hours with two little boys. We played at the play place with a variety of children; some nice and some not so nice. We had ice cream for lunch. We finally boarded, but the flight was delayed another 35 minutes due to ice on the wings. The Iceman who came to de-ice the plane was then having problems with the pressure of his machine so we had to wait for ANOTHER one.

We finally took off and the pilot was trying to make up time, which made for very fast ascending and descending. Long story short – Carter fell asleep before we took off, Carter woke up, Andrew threw up (luckily he was facing out and Grammy caught it in his shirt), later on I threw up, and we landed.

I had no extra clothes for Drew so he walked through the airport in a diaper and shoes. What a site! What a day. We were exhausted to say the least! We will definitely be using Dramamine next time! Thanks Mom for everything – I could not have done it without you!

Baker Reunion

This post is long overdue, but I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the pictures we have taken and all there is to blog about, but here it goes!

Memorial Day weekend we headed to California for a big Baker family reunion to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bryan’s Mom and Dad. His dad passed away about 25 years ago so it was so sweet to hear the memories and stories about him and the love they have for one another. It was so fun to have the whole Baker gang together for some very packed, yet fun days!

We left Thursday afternoon. This was our first long car ride with Carter being a bit older. The last trip we made he was just a couple months old. They did pretty well in the beginning. I thought it was so funny how they were both holding their feet. Silly boys. They watched movies, ate snacks, looked at books, played with toys…..and napped, but not without a few tears shed. Carter was not thrilled with sitting in his car seat for so long! I thought he just wanted to get out to eat, but no I was wrong. When we would stop for gas and I could take him out he was instantaneously happy! I have to say that Andrew was a dream. He was just a happy kid without so much of a whine because Carter was touching him.  

Friday morning we hung out around Bry’s parent’s house. We made a quick trip to the mall to get Bry a shirt and jeans for the family picture on Saturday. We dropped the boys off at Lynnie’s house who was so wonderful to watch our boys while we were gone for about 7 HOURS!!!! That was the longest time I had been away from them and I am happy to announce they both they and I survived! We were so lucky to be able to attend the temple with all the Baker boys and spouses. It was a nice getaway from all the hub-bub going on (minus the traffic and getting there late). After the temple we met at a church building where the Baker boys attended church growing up. We had a beautiful dinner and were able to relax and visit with the adults (plus my children who I picked up on the way). We were also given a wonderful gift that my sister-in-law Jami had worked so hard to put together. It was a book of pictures from Greg and Dianna’s past, along with baby pictures of the boys and them growing up. What a treat that will truly be treasured!

The fun did not stop there though! We met Saturday morning for family pictures and then a BBQ and a day of fun at Bry’s oldest brother’s house. It was so much fun!!! It was a little crazy getting all six boys, their wives and 22 grandchildren in one picture, but well worth it in the end. What great memories. We were able to get a few snapshots of all that was going on. I am excited to get the final pictures !

All 22 grandchildren!!

The Baker Boys and their Sweethearts

There was A LOT of rough housing going on – the older cousins are so good with the little ones. They all had a blast and it kept them busy while the pictures were being taken!

 

Carter and Caleb – only two weeks apart!

My Drew had a BLAST running around with all his “friends” and the “kids”. He is so funny and oh so cute!!!

Andrew and Carter staggered their naps perfectly on Saturday so we could spend one on one time with each of them. Carter napped first and then Andrew. To say Carter loves the water would be an understatement. He is such a water baby!!! Andrew is warming up to it and I am sure he will be a fan by the end of the summer.

After things settled down, all the girls went out to dinner while the boys watched the Lakers game. It was so nice to be able to sit and visit with one another. I am so blessed to have such wonderful sister in laws and mother in law!!! **We went to Wood Ranch and Camille and I split their BBQ chicken salad….divine! It was so good!!!! And to top it off we got peach cobbler. Yum. What a wonderful ending to a very fun filled day!

It was a wonderful weekend. We loved being able to spend so much time with family! The car ride home went pretty smoothly thanks to Baby Einstein, Baby Dan Vinchi. Carter and Andrew LOVE that one. I think we watched it about 6 times through on the way home, but hey – they were happy!