Baumgarten Bunch

February 2010

2011-10-30T19:35:00.003-06:00

In February, they have Bald Eagle Day at the Fountain Green fish hatchery and throughout Sanpete County. Mardi & Michelle & their kids came for a fun Ft. Green overnighter. We had a fun driving around looking for eagles. We saw so many! One even flew right in front of the van. They are huge and amazing! After being cooped up in the car with all the kids it was time to go sledding. We had a great time!

Mark & I celebrated our 5th anniversary on Feb. 19. We went to Salt Lake and stayed the night and enjoyed an amazing dinner at Donovan's and went to a concert at the Conference center. It was fun to get away together and celebrate.

Jake sure loves his Aunt Shelly!

Boy, oh boy, oh boy!

2011-06-08T22:50:00.004-06:00

We found out today that we are having another boy! That means I will forever be picking up matchbox cars, trains, and stepping on Legos. But I will also be getting more snuggles from another adorable boy! I do love little boys!

Jacob is excited to have a baby brother. Sammi isn't too "interested in having another brother." I think she will change her mind as soon as he gets here.

We are excited and can't wait for October to come. We have waited for a long time for another baby!

2010 in Review

2011-02-24T23:08:00.010-07:00

So, I really don't have an excuse to why I haven't blogged in over a year, other that I haven't made it a priority. I like having a blog for a history sake. I am doing this so that I can print it and have it to look back on. I am going to pick up where I left off.

January 2010

We rang in the New Year in Fountain Green with family. We had a great time, ate great food, and had a fabulous time sledding.

Jacob got brave enough to go by himself.

Later in the month we finally had the perfect snow to build snowmen.

Mark celebrated his 40th birthday a month early. He went to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mexico for a week. It was suppose to be a brother's fishing trip, but only one of his three brothers ended up being able to go. Some of his cousins and a niece were able to go with. They had great time! They didn't end up catching any sail fish which they were hoping to, but they caught other fun things. When they weren't catching fish they had beautiful views of dolphins, sunsets and the ocean. He enjoyed his week of warmth and fun. I stayed home with the kids. Shelly came and stayed the week to help out with the kids. It was fun to have her stay over each night. We had lots of time for girl talk and fun.

Here was the whole gang who went on the Mexico trip.

Dec. 30, 2009 - Snow fun!

2010-09-24T02:40:00.006-06:00

When we returned from Las Vegas we had a big snow storm. The kids enjoyed a great day of sledding at the church with all of the neighborhood children. I enjoyed capturing it with my new camera. It is great have a camera that is speedy enough to catch all of the fun action shots.

Dec. 27 - 29, 2009 - Las Vegas & The Lion King

2010-09-13T00:03:00.008-06:00

We went down to Las Vegas for our little Christmas get-away. Grandma Gerry came with us. We had a great time! The kids liked walking on the "red carpet" at the Hard Rock Cafe, going to M&M world,

Coke World,
Cesar's Palace and seeing the fountains at the Bellagio.
The highlight of the trip of course was seeing The Lion King at Mandalay Bay.
I saw it in New York years ago, but it was incredible to see it with the kids. It is such a magical show! The music and puppetry is amazing! We were nervous if Jacob, at 3 years old, would watch and enjoy the show or just annoy everyone around us. He was completely mesmerized! We all loved it!
Jacob kept asking why Shelly couldn't come. She told him that she didn't have enough money. He kept talking about it later and would tell her she needed to get some money so that she could take him to see The Lion King again.

We had such a fun little trip! Such great memories were made!

Dec. 25, 2009 - Christmas

2010-09-12T23:33:00.004-06:00

For Christmas we decided to go lower scale on presents and do a fun family trip. So we got tickets to go see The Lion King in Las Vegas. The kids had fun opening their Lion King shirts and finding out the we were going in just two days to see The Lion King.

We had a great day eating fabulous food at the Baumgarten Christmas Brunch and visiting with family all day.

Dec. 24, 2009 - Christmas Eve

2010-09-10T17:51:00.004-06:00

Yes, I know that it is almost fall and I am trying to still catch up from last winter. That tells you how crazy and fun our life has been, but I wanted to print this in a book, so I am sorry that you are just now reading about Christmas. Maybe it will help you get in the Christmas spirit, since they are already selling Christmas things in the stores.

On Christmas eve, we went over to my Mom's house. Everyone else was off to their in-laws, so it was just us. The kids every year play some Christmas songs on the piano and we have a little concert. Well, Jacob had been "practicing" his for a while and also wanted to perform. It makes me laugh! Jacob started practicing this on his own. Jingle bells is his favorite song. He sings it all year long. He figured out the rhythm on his own. He just plays random notes, but with the correct rhythm. He has always loved music and playing the piano. I can't wait for him to be a bit older to start teaching him piano lessons. The big kids did a great job as well!

Sorry, I don't know how to edit the video, so tilt your head and enjoy!

Fountain Green's Live Nativity, Dec. 20, 2009

2010-01-22T02:03:00.009-07:00

We went to Fountain Green for the weekend to check on the house and relax. Wow, there was a lot of snow. When we checked the city bulletin board outside of the post office we saw that there was a live nativity going on that weekend. It was so amazing! You can park at the church and ride on a hay ride over to the location of the event.

They had a tent area where you watch a video on Jesus Christ. Then you walk though the scenes of the story of the birth of Christ. There are live actors representing the different areas such as Caesar Augustus, the tax office, the inns, the market places, the stables with live animals and a stable with the baby. They asked that you don't talk as you go through to help you feel the spirit. We didn't feel like it was appropriate to take pictures, but I did find some online from two years ago that I wanted to post. Also I found a youtube video about the event - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FRHcAI1Pfo&feature=player_embedded#

It was a cold night, but we were so warmed by the spirit and also the hot chocolate and cookies that were served afterward. The two wards in town come together to host the event. This is an event that we would love to attend each year! Another new tradition that we would love to start and another reason to love Fountain Green even more.

A few days later, when we were home, Jacob brought over a little manger that his nursery teachers had given to him. He said, "Mom, you are Mary. I am Joseph. Here is baby Jesus. Look at him. Shh.. Be quiet." I am so glad that my darling three year old is learning about Jesus Christ and how we should look toward him and how we should show respect toward him.

I am glad we had this reminder about the true meaning of Christmas!

Abigail - Dec. 18, 2009

2010-01-21T00:56:00.006-07:00

My niece, TeriAnn, had an adorable baby girl on Dec. 1. Her name is Abigail. I got to take some pictures of her. I love to take pictures and I had just got a new camera for Christmas. I couldn't put it under the tree and miss out on taking all of the photos leading up to Christmas. Here are a few of my favorites. We took a ton of fun shots!

Primary Children's Hospital - Dec. 12 & 13, 2009

2010-01-19T23:04:00.008-07:00

The Baumgarten's have made and donated blankets to Primary Children's Medical Center for many years, but a few years ago after we went up in a horrible snowstorm they decided to donate to Utah Valley Hospital instead. Our family has special ties to PRMC, since that is where we spent the first two weeks of Jacob's life. We still donate special blankets and preemie outfits to the NICU.

I can't believe that those preemie outfits use to fit Jacob!

For the last few years we have stayed the night in Salt Lake City when we deliver the blankets. Then we do something fun to get us in the Christmas spirit. After delivering our things to the hospital, we went to lunch with Grandma Gerry and Steve at The Pie Pizzeria. Yummy! Then we checked into the Residence Inn. Shelly, Nathan and Grandma Linda stayed with us. Later that evening after some shopping and dinner, we went up to This Is The Place Heritage Park for their Candlelight Christmas event. It was so much fun! We saw Father Christmas and some of his reindeer. We wrote a letter and sent it to Father Christmas in the fire. We make several Christmas crafts and ornaments. We listened to stories and puppet shows, went through the elf village, rode the train, listened to carolers and saw a live nativity. It was such a fun experience to see how Christmas was celebrated over a hundred years ago. If you are wanting a fun Christmas event to go to, you won't want to miss this one next year.

Sunday morning, after breakfast and checking out of the hotel we went over to the Church History Museum. It was fun to see the many displays and enjoy the exhibits. It was such a great weekend!

Neighborhood Party - Dec. 11, 2009

2010-01-18T22:52:00.006-07:00

We had our 2nd annual neighborhood party for our 30 - 40 something aged friends. Gerry and her group of friends have held neighborhood parties for nearly 30 years. Several of Mark's friends that grew up in the neighborhood have purchased homes in the same neighborhood. With encouragement from the older generation, we started having a neighborhood Christmas party for the younger generation. It was a bit hit last year and this year it was also a fabulously fun night. It is kind of fun to just have adult time with the neighbors. We had great food and fun games. It is great to get together with our friend and neighbors. A new tradition has begun! I am sure will still be holding them when we are 70+ just like Gerry and her group.

One of the favorite games was the unwrapping game. They have money and gift cards wrapped in between layers of wrapped presents. If you roll doubles, you get to put on the gloves, hat, and scarf and unwrap until someone else gets doubles. It gets pretty intense. We scored big both years. This year we got about $30.00 in cash or gift cards. The white elephant gift exchange is always entertaining as well. We had so much fun!

Way to use your teeth Mike!

Get that dollar, Mark!

Sammi is so dramatic!

2010-01-18T19:25:00.007-07:00

Sammi loves to sing and be dramatic. We thought that we should channel that talent and put her in drama class. We actually have wanted to enroll her for the past few years, but it hadn't worked out in our schedule. This fall she started the Stage Crazy class of the Scera Youth Theater group. She has loved going to drama and looks forward to Wednesdays. They had a Christmas production on Dec. 8th & 9th. Sammi did awesome! She had a great time performing. She didn't even get nervous. She is looking forward to their spring production. They are doing The School House of Rock. She already knows all of the songs, because we have the DVD and watch it frequently in the van. She is excited to have a solo part! We are proud of her and glad that she is getting a chance to develop her talents!

The boys got to see Santa in the lobby before the production. Joe thought that he was too big to sit on his lap, but we did get him to stand by him. Jake was super excited to see him!

Hot Chocolate - Dec. 2009

2010-01-18T12:48:00.003-07:00

Hot chocolate is always a favorite around our house in the winter. Jacob is a big fan of it as well. One evening he decided he needed all of his straws to drink his hot chocolate! He is pretty silly sometimes.

Festival of Trees - Dec. 2009

2010-01-18T12:39:00.004-07:00

We went to the Festival of Tree with our friends Jeff, Julie and Anna. We had a fun time looking at all of the amazing trees, watching the talent acts, making crafts and seeing Santa. Afterward, we went to dinner with them. We always have a fun time with them!

Santa was asking if Jacob had been a good boy.

Well, Jacob is a bit mischievous sometimes, but he is awfully cute!

Baumgarten Childrens Christmas Party - Nov. 28, 2009

2010-01-18T12:19:00.006-07:00

Each year Grandma Gerry has a Christmas party for all of her grandchildren. It often includes taking blankets that she usually makes with each of the families in advance to the hospital for the children and babies that are there. This year we started by delivering our blankets to UVRCM in Provo.

Then we went to Cheryl's house for creating fun! We made gingerbread houses.

I think that Jacob are more candy than he put on the house!

Uncle Karl has model trains that the kids get to drive. They love it!

This is the way Jacob and Addy play house!
We had a great time hanging out with our cousins and family.
We always have so much fun together!

Baumgarten Photo Shot - Nov. 26, 2009

2010-01-18T07:10:00.004-07:00

Since Mark's brother, Alan and his family were in town for Thanksgiving, Grandma Gerry wanted to try and take family pictures. Well, my brother Nathan came over after Thanksgiving dinner and took pictures of the big clan. It was almost an impossible task to get that many people looking at the camera, without being silly. Well, here is what we ended up with.

Here is all of the group.
The grandchildren that were missing from the pictures were: Samantha & Joe (they were with their Mom), Carrie (in Texas), Luke & Dianna (they were SLC) & Jeanette (in Colorado).

Grandchildren & Great Grandchildren

Gerry & Children
Back row, L to R: Mark, Alan, Paul & Steve
Front row, L to R: Cheryl, Gerry, Jeanne, LeeAnn
Gerry, her children with their spouses.

Happy Thanksgiving - 2009

2010-01-14T09:57:00.005-07:00

For family night, we made posters to show what we were thankful for. I had collected a stack of old church magazines and the kids cut out pictures of things they were thankful for. They created a collage on their poster and afterward we had each of them show and share their poster with us. It was so fun. It gave the kids an opportunity to practice bearing their testimonies. They were very thoughtful and descriptive about the things that they talked about. We then put them up in their rooms as a reminder about those important things.

We had a fun thanksgiving full of great food and desserts! We ate at my Mom's house and had dessert with all of Mark's family. The big kids were at their Mom's for thanksgiving this year, we missed them. Mark's brother, Alan and his family were here for the week. It was fun to spend time with them, especially since we don't get to see them too often. I also learned how to make yummy curry from my sister-in-law, Sharry.

I am grateful for such an awesome family and all of our extended family. We had a fun thanksgiving weekend. We are so blessed!

David & Lee's Wedding - Nov. 21, 2009

2010-01-09T00:21:00.014-07:00

David and Lee got married in the Fountain Green Theater on Nov. 21, 2009. We had a fun reception afterward in the Dance Hall. It was such an awesome day. Everything was beautiful, especially the bride. Jacob got to be the ring bearer. He was so adorable in his tux! We are so excited to have Lee and Kinlee join our family. We are thrilled that David found himself the love of his life. We are excited for their adventures ahead!

If you look closely at the center layer, you will notice that
the swirly designs are 4 wheelers.
How awesome is that!

4 wheeling fun - Nov. 2009

2010-01-09T00:08:00.008-07:00

David is teaching Jacob the fine art of A.T.V. fun. He even got a power wheels 4 wheeler for him. David can always find a deal and he ended up buying two power wheels for a killer price, so he gave one to Jacob and one to Kinlee. We are keeping it at Grandma Linda's house for now, since we live on a hill and also have a neighborhood full of bigger boys who we are afraid might ruin it. Jacob loves to ride his 4 wheeler at Grandma's house no matter if it is dark or cold.

Halloween fun 2009!

2010-01-04T01:02:00.009-07:00

We started off our Halloween fun on Oct. 19 at Shelly's house for a party with all of our cousins and friends. Jacob was a monkey again. I know not original, but the costume still fit from last year and he wanted to wear it again, so we went with it. Joe was a football player and Sammi was a hippie. We had great food, fun games and prizes! It was such an awesome night.
Last year we learned of fun Halloween traditions in Fountain Green that we never knew of before. We have had the house in F.G for almost 20 years now and we never knew that Halloween could be so much fun. Our day started with carving our pumpkins. They turned out awesome!
Then we went to the school Halloween carnival. They had blow up slides, a climbing wall, games and yummy food.

We then we trunk or treating at the park. Those who live farther out in the country come and decorate their trunks and pass out treat at the park. We then went trick or treating with some of the cousins around town. Sammi went with Olivia, Bailey and their friends from Fountain Green. The rest of us went together. Nathan totally decorated the yard and had scary music and his fog machine. Some of the kids were afraid to come up to get a treat.
The teenage kids in town gather up all of the pumpkins and decorations in town and take them down to the post office. They put them all on the roof and decorate it. The next morning all of the towns people go down to check it out before it is taken down later that day. They didn't take our pumpkins. We hope they do next year, because we are hoping to make F.G. a new Halloween tradition. One great thing is we didn't get as much candy because the houses are more spread out. We always have leftover candy at our house that we finally throw away because it is so old. So we had great fun without getting too much candy!

Frightmares @ Lagoon - Oct. 17, 2009

2010-01-04T00:41:00.004-07:00

We had such a great time at Frightmares last year we wanted to go again this year. We knew the big kids wouldn't be too thrilled about hanging out with Jacob on the kiddie rides so we took his cousin Millie along with us so they could have fun together. Riley was deer hunting so he was unable to come with us. We had a great day! We meet up with Cheryl and her family for a while and we also meet up with Jeff, Julie and Anna. Shelly and I spent almost the entire day with Jacob on the kiddie rides while Mark had the big kids on the big rides. We were there from nearly open to close. That is the way my Dad taught us to enjoy amusement parks and enjoy we did!

Scarecrow Festival - Oct. 16, 2009

2009-12-31T13:13:00.005-07:00

We went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point again for the second year. This year Shelly, Mark J., April, Riley, Millie, and Breanna came with us.
It was fun to have our cousins there with us this year. They loved the blow up slides,
the climbing wall

and the animals in farm country. They loved riding the ponies.
It was a such a fun day!

Happy Birthday Samantha - Oct. 12, 2009

2009-12-31T12:03:00.002-07:00

Samantha turned 11 on Oct. 12. She can't wait to grow up! She got mostly clothes and jewelry this year. She is turning into teenager already! Happy Birthday Sammi, we love you!

Fire Safety Fair - Oct. 7, 2009

2009-12-31T11:56:00.002-07:00

After our field trip we went over to one of the fire stations in Orem. They have several demonstration to promote safety and fire safety. Jacob loved when the big helicopter took off. He had to hold onto his hat so it didn't blow off. Her is a picture of the kids with our friend Ben Williams who is now a fire chief in Orem City.

HeeHaw Farms - Field Trip Oct. 7, 2009

2009-12-31T11:47:00.005-07:00

I have a picture of Jacob at this same sign for the past three years.

Jacob's favorite drink - Diet Coke

Each fall we take our kindergarten classes to HeeHaw Farms in Pleasant Grove to the pumpkin patch. Shelly came with and brought Jacob along with her. It is such a fun place. We had such a great time.

Fall - September 27, 2009

2009-12-31T11:32:00.006-07:00

I love to go up Provo Canyon on the Squaw Peak road to look at leaves every fall. They were especially pretty this year. I love to take pictures of the kids in the fall mountains. Sammi and Joe were at their Mom's house on the Sunday that we got a spare afternoon to enjoy a drive. We were hoping to take them up another time, but we never made it before the beautiful leaves were gone. Anyway, here are a few of my favorite things combined fall, photography and kids.

Pirate Island Pizza - Sept. 22, 2009

2009-12-31T11:21:00.003-07:00

We went to the new Pirate Island Pizza in Orem at the end of September with Grandma Linda, Shelly, Nathan, David and his new fiance, Lee and her little girl Kinlee. It was family karoke night. My kids loved singing. It was a great night to go because they weren't very interested in playing the games. They were more excited to sing, which was free. They kept putting their names on the list. When we finally left they were disappointed because their name was on the list to sing more. We ate good food and had a great time. Jacob even loved being up on stage. He just danced though. (My camera wasn't working very well since I dropped it. Sorry about Sammi's blurry picture.)

Flag football - Sept - Oct. 2009

2009-12-24T11:34:00.003-07:00

This year Joe played flag football. He wanted to do tackle, but we convinced him to try out flag for a few years first as he learns the rules and the game better. He played on the defensive team as a nose tackle. He had such a fun time. He progressed and improved his skills over the season. It was fun to watch him! Way to go #13 !

Joe would always cheer his teammates on. Here a boy got an interception. You can see Joe cheering in the background. He would always congratulate his teammates on things they did well with a big high five and praise. He learned good teamwork skills.

Wipeout - Sept. 2009

2009-12-24T02:06:00.008-07:00

A week before school pictures, Jacob did a face plant on the cement driveway. He was pushing around one of his big trucks and fell on a crack and hit face first. It was pretty yucky and four months later he still has a bit of a scar under his nose. Needless to say we didn't get his picture taken then, we waited another month for the retakes and even then we put a bit of foundation on his scar. This photograph was taken a few days after his fall.

A photographic journey of our Butterfly - Sept. 2009

2009-12-24T01:27:00.006-07:00

Each fall we look for caterpillars to take to school and have at home. It is such an amazing transformation that occurs! This year after hours and hours of searching across a few weeks span of time, we were only able to find one caterpillar. Shelly was doing an observational science project and journal for one of her classes. She let us keep the caterpillar at our house, since we only found one and we helped to take photographs daily and describe the changes for recording in her journal. It was a fun way to watch the transitions occur.

Jacob loves to hold the caterpillars and butterflies!

Hanging J stage

Next day just after it changes into it's chrysalis. It is an amazing thing
I observed it go from the j to the chrysalis last year.

After 10 days it came out of the chrysalis. The first few days after it comes out of the chrysalis it is pretty docile and you can hold it without it flying away. It is pretty fun. Jacob would hold it constantly if we would let him. After taking the first picture of the butterfly I dropped my camera! I was able to fix it, but it was making some weird noises.

We released the butterfly out to the big beautiful world. I didn't get a picture because as we were trying to open our cage it took off immediately to have a new journey!

Labor day campout 2009

2009-12-21T02:29:00.008-07:00

Singing around the campfire. Jacobs favorite songs are
Going camping, camping, camping out under the stars and I love the Mountains!
He is my boy alright.

We finally had a cake and officially celebrated Jacob's birthday.

We decided to fit another camping trip in for the year, but we decided just a few days before the weekend and all of the campground spots were completely booked everywhere. We ended up dry camping off of a dirt road up above Tibble Fork Reservoir in American Fork Canyon. We actually loved our spot, except the dust and noise from all of the motorcycles and atv's that went by. The little area where we were hanging out was down away from the dust and noise though. We were down by a stream and the kids had so much fun playing in the water. Nathan make two little pools for them to play in. They also panned for gold. We didn't strike it rich, but we had a fun time trying.

We hiked to Timanogos cave. We were worried if we would make it, but they kids did awesome. Jacob even hiked a lot of the way. Mark did give him a piggy back part of the way, but overall he hiked the majority of the way. We had his leash/backpack on him so he wouldn't fall off the cliffs. We had a fun trip through the cave. We say flying bats inside. The ranger said that was the first time in her 10 years at the cave that she saw flying bats. The kids thought that was pretty cool. We loved seeing all of the formations. We went to the Jr. ranger program and the kids earned their badges. We also went to a gold panning class with the ranger. It was such a fun trip. I love American Fork canyon! I spent so much time there as a kid camping with my family and it was great to take my kids there to experience the fun.

Sept. 1, 2009 - Happy Birthday Jacob!

2009-12-21T02:05:00.005-07:00

Jacob got an early morning wake up visit from his best friends the Smith boys. Gideon arranged to come before school because he couldn't wait until after school to see him. They got to wake him up and they brought him some gifts. Jacob was surprised and happy to see his friends. It was fun to have his second family there since the big kids were at their mom's house. I can't believe that my baby is three years old!

Birthday Campout - Aug. 14 - 16, 2009

2009-11-06T02:35:00.006-07:00

We wanted to go camping one last time before school started. We went to Wasatch State Park in Midway, which has been a family favorite as we were growing up. This time we got David to come along and bring his trailer too. It was fun to have him there he always keeps us laughing. On Friday night we drove up to Park City for a little shopping. We ended up buying some warm clothes, because I didn't realize that it was suppose to be cold and I hadn't packed for the weather. We also got some new school clothes. Nathan, Scott and I have birthdays that are four days apart. My family gets together for a birthday dinner each month to celebrated those birthdays that occurred during the month, so we invited Mark and Scott's family up on Saturday to have a dutch oven lunch together.

That morning we woke up to rain and a big loud hail storm. We almost called and canceled our lunch but we decided to make the best of it. We put up some tarps over the tables and try to cook our dutch oven in the rain. We made a poncho for Jacob out of a garbage bag. There was no hood on it though, so we made a hood out of press and seal wrap. We just pressed it onto his head and it sealed the rain out! It worked really well and he wore it for quite a long time. It quit raining just in time for lunch and we managed to cook an awesome meal. We also went to the pond and went fishing with all of the family. It was really fun. The next day Mark and I went fly fishing on the Provo river. I didn't catch anything, but I did have a great time! It was such a fun birthday weekend!

This is the place - Aug. 13, 2009

2009-11-04T02:10:00.002-07:00

August is always crazy getting ready for school. We took a day off before school started and went to This is the Place. Shelly didn't get to go with us last year and so we made sure to plan it so she could go this year. We only got to go for about 4 hours again this year. You really need a full day to do it all. We didn't get to do everything, but we tried some new things this year. We love to go there and even though we went last year the kid still loved it. It is a place that we could go every year!

Aaron & Jeanette's Wedding

2009-11-03T01:26:00.004-07:00

On Aug. 11 our nephew Aaron married Jeanette in the Salt Lake temple. It was such a beautiful ceremony and a great reminder of the covenants that we make with each other in the temple. We are so excited for them. They are a cute couple.

Family Support

2009-11-03T00:58:00.004-07:00

While I was gone at girl's camp our awesome family helped to take care of the kids. Grandma Gerry, Shelly, Nathan, and Grandma Linda helped Mark out with the kids while he was at work and while he was sleeping. Jacob always loves having sleepovers at "Shelly's house." They happened to be repaving the road and Jacob loved watching the trucks! Shelly took the kids to the BYU Museum of art for the Walter Wick display that was awesome. I am sad that I missed it. Shelly also took the kids for us on Aug. 11 when we went to Aaron & Jeanette's wedding. She took them swimming and then we meet up with them on the way home from Salt Lake at Thanksgiving Point at the Dinosaur Museum. We love all of our family and all of the help that they give to us!

Families are Forever

2009-10-02T00:38:00.003-06:00

On Aug. 1, the day I came home from girls camp we got to go see Brandon, Christie and Addie as they were sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. What a neat experience! We were so glad to be there and share in their special day.

Girls Camp - July 28 - Aug. 1

2009-10-01T23:48:00.003-06:00

I went to girls camp this summer. Our stake camps by levels instead of by wards. I was the camp director over 25 1st year campers and I also had some stake responsibilities as well. It was so much work! I didn't really have an assistant or other helpers before camp, so I was exhausted. I didn't want to cook for a long time after camp. The girls did have a great experience. I did enjoy parts of camp, but there were part that just exhausted me. It was kind of a struggle for me this year. I have always loved being a leader at girls camp. I have been a camp leader for over 15 years. This year was different though, I was so busy working the entire time, I didn't really get to bond with the girls or have time to enjoy the experience. It was also different being a leader over girls you don't even know. I have a lot more responsibilities as a wife and mother now that I had to leave at home, which was difficult. Camp fell on a week that the big kids were at our house, so I didn't get to see them pretty much for three weeks. After camp I came home and thought that this year might have been my last year for a little while, which makes me kind of sad because I do love girls camp. It was just kind of hard. The flowers and the camp were beautiful though.

Cub Scouts

2009-10-01T23:29:00.004-06:00

Joe is finally a cub scout! We bought his uniform over a year ago we were so excited. Joe earned his Bobcat award and his fishing belt loop on July 21. Doesn't he look cute in a uniform.

Granite Flats - July 19 -21

2009-09-24T01:48:00.005-06:00

We went camping with Brandon, Christie and Addie up at Granite Flats campground in American Fork. I love American Fork canyon! I spent a lot of time there camping as a child with my family. It was always a favorite spot. We took Shelly's trailer and had a fun time up there. We went fishing at Silver Lake Flats. Jacob and Addie had a great time playing in the water, fishing, riding the wiggle cars and playing together.

Lamb Day, July 2009

2009-09-24T00:04:00.007-06:00

So I am only about two months behind, but life has been a little busy.

Lamb day was on July 18. We had an awesome time with family and friends. We had all of Aunt Cora's kids and their families there. We had our traditional family talent show. Sammi and Joe sang, told jokes, and we told a nursery rhyme with Jake. What talent we have! There were so many people there that we took down Shelly's trailer for more beds and an extra toilet.
Some of the highlights and traditional favorites:
1. The parade - Sammi and Joe got to ride in Bob's truck and throw candy!
2. Making lamb sandwiches.
3. The dunking booth - Sammi and Joe had fun cooling off! It was a hot day!
4. The Sheeper Creeper and games at the park.
5. The sawdust dive.
6. Castco icecream bars and tons of yummy food!
7. Fireman's Raffle drawing - we won a 10' dutch oven and dinner at the Burger Bar!

Just horsing around

2009-07-23T01:09:00.002-06:00

Becca just sent me these photos from Maks' birthday. Jacob loved riding the horses. Thanks Ivan for capturing the fun in these great photos!

Joe's Baptism

2009-07-13T11:30:00.006-06:00

Joe got baptized on Sat. July 11. It was a very nice program. There are so many people that love and support Joe. He had so many family members there from all four of his parent's families. After his baptism, we had Mark's and my family over for refreshments in the backyard. Later that evening Joe and Sammi went over to their Mom's for a barbeque with Scott's and her family. It was such a special day. We are proud of Joe and his choice to be baptized!

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-13T11:09:00.004-06:00

We had a fun 4th of July weekend. We started out by going to the Balloon fest early Friday morning. It is always neat to see the balloons take off. We went over to the Colonial Days fest and played games. Sammi made a corn husk doll. We then had a picnic and walked around to all of the booths. Sammi and Joe went back to their Mom's and we went down to F.G. We went to a fun birthday barbeque where Jacob got to ride on the horses. The next morning we went over to Moroni for the parade. We enjoyed food at the Malt shoppe in Ephraim and then went back to F.G. We helped to paint the patio for a while and the kids played in the pool and playground. The boys went for a ride on the Razer and 4 wheeler. Then in between rain storms we enjoyed fireworks. It was a busy and fun weekend.

Humpty Dumpty

2009-07-12T01:26:00.003-06:00

Jacob loves to read Nursery Rhymes with Grandma Gerry. He always gets his little "lamby" and sits on her lap to read. If he starts reading without "lamby," once they get to a rhyme with a lamb in it he has to stop and go get "lamby." The other day he was sitting on the back of the couch looking out the window and then tipped back onto the couch and said, "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall." It was so funny! It is fun to see him making connections to his world, (text to self - for all of you teachers.) He is able to recite several words and phrases of Nursery Rhymes. He will often finish the sentences while reading them. We are working on memorizing the entire rhyme Humpty Dumpty. He is at a fun stage of development!

Provo Airport

2009-07-12T01:19:00.011-06:00

We took the kids plus two of our neighbors, Gideon and Ammon, to the Provo Airport during the last week of June to see the last operating B-24 Bomber that was on display there. There were also many other planes and a few helicopters on display as well. The kids got to sit in many of the them and touch them. They thought it was pretty cool. Then to make it even a "cooler" experience the fire truck squirt down all of the hot kids. The big kids loved running in the water. Jacob liked walking in the puddles. It was a fun little trip.

Fishing Fun

2009-07-11T13:36:00.005-06:00

For family night on June 29th, we went to Vivian Park for a picnic dinner and fishing. It was the first time that we let Jacob have his own pole. He did pretty well. He sat in his little camp chair and watched his line. Just as I was taking his picture he got a bite. Mark helped to hold the rod while he reeled in the fish. Sammi and Joe were so excited for him they were cheering him on and jumping around. Just as Jake was reeling his in, Sammi got one. It was fun! Jacob was a bit afraid of the fish at first until Dad helped him touch the fish. Then he really liked to see and touch the fish. Joe didn't catch one that day, but he is a great sport because he knows that somedays you catch the fish and other days you don't. On the way home we stopped to show Shelly and Grandma the fish and she cooked them up right then and we ate them. Jake tried a bite or two, but he didn't really like it too much. Shelly and I enjoyed the fresh trout though.

Bread and Jam for Jacob!

2009-07-11T13:13:00.003-06:00

We were almost out of our freezer jam and when we saw strawberries on an awesome sale we bought two flats and made more jam to replenish our supply. Jacob loves to help cook and will pull a chair over to help stir, so when he saw the big bowl of strawberries he wanted to help. We used a lower sugar recipe and it tastes really yummy. Now I need Mark to make some of his homemade bread and we can have some yummy bread and jam.

Happy 8th Birthday Joe!

2009-07-11T12:43:00.004-06:00

Joe turned 8 on June 12. I can't believe how fast kids grow up. When I met him he was just three years old and now he is already 8. Wow! What an exciting birthday. Joe got a new mountain bike for his birthday. He is having fun learning how to use gears. He constantly is riding his bike. We had a fun birthday with a hot dog roast, smores, and a sleepover with his friends, the Smiths, in Fountain Green.

Joe is excited to be in Cub Scouts and is looking forward to his baptism. He is such a great kid and we love him so much!

Rainy June

2009-07-11T12:38:00.004-06:00

Jacob was fascinated with the rainbows, lightning and thunder that came with our wet June weather.

VACATION - BRYCE CANYON & CALF CREEK FALLS

2009-07-06T13:44:00.010-06:00

Wednesday after we left Zion we headed over to Bryce Canyon. On the way we stopped at a rock shop. Then Nathan and Joe went up a canyon rock hunting a while. We rode into Panguitch for lunch and a shake and then went over to Bryce. We stayed in North Campground in the park. We were really close to the Visitor Center again. We went on a ranger walk along the rim of the canyon that evening.

On Thursday morning, we rode over to Calf Creek Falls which was about an hour a way. We hiked the 6 mile hike to the Lower Calf Creek Falls. The kids loved it so much. We all wore our swimming suits under our clothes so that we could swim in the pool when we got to the end. It was cold and refreshing. It was a bit too cold to put our heads under the water though.
We had our picnic lunch at the waterfall. There was a raven that was hanging around trying to find some scraps of food. Jacob hadn't eaten all of his sandwich, so we put it back in his bag for later. We tucked it in with our stuff. As we were walking away from our blanket the raven went over and grabbed his sandwich from our pack. Jacob has talked about the raven taking his food ever since. We have gone on a few picnics since then and if a bird comes around he will grab his food, hold it tight and tell the bird, "It's my food." It is pretty funny. It was the perfect weather. There was a little breeze while we were hiking which helped keep us cool enough. There are several sections that are sandy like the beach, it was harder to hike on those sections. It was kind of long and Joe was pretty slow, but he did hike the whole way and he did a great job.

That evening we went to the ranger program and learned about the nocturnal animals in the park. Then Mark took the big kids over to look through the telescopes. They saw the moon and Saturn. They could even see the Saturn's rings. They said it was so cool and they wanted to get a telescope after that.

Friday morning Nathan, Sammi, Mark and I hiked down into the canyon on "the best three mile hike you will ever go on!" We hiked the Queens Garden Trail over to the Navajo Trail. It was really pretty. It was cool to see the hoodoos from a different angle. The weather was a little cool. It was nice that we weren't hot! We hiked back to camp because the bus wait was longer than we could have walked back. When we got back Shelly and Mom had camp all cleaned up and we hitched the trailer so we could check out of the campground in time. We parked it in the parking lot and went on the shuttle to all of the overlooks. We had our picnic along the way. At lunch there was a cute little squirrel that kept coming over. Jacob had fun watching and talking to the squirrel.

Friday we drove back to Ft. Green so that we could stop to mow the lawn. We stayed the night there and then came back to town on Saturday. We had a great time. Mark was already trying to plan another trip before we were even back.

That was our big trip of the summer. We had fun and hiked about 20 miles. Now the kids have gone to all of the National Parks in Utah. We need to start on the National Monuments and State Parks. We are hoping to go camping a few more times this summer on the weekends. We love camping!

VACATION - ZION NATIONAL PARK

2009-07-05T18:13:00.007-06:00

After leaving the Grand Canyon on Monday morning we headed up to Zion National Park. On the way we stopped at the Moqui Cave in Kanab. The kids liked to see the gems that glowed in the dark and of course shopping in the store.

We camped at Watchman campground in the park. We could just walk over to the visitor center from the campground and get on the bus. Jacob loved the bus and loved that there was a "trailer" on the bus. We always had to sit in the back bus so we were in the trailer. On Monday night we went on the bus tour with the ranger. It was nice to see an overview and learn some of the history right in the beginning. That night we went to the evening fireside ranger talk about the flora and fauna of Zion. It had rained earlier in the day and the road was still wet. As we walked in the dark to the ranger talk, Mark almost stepped on a frog. We turned on our flashlights and saw many frogs. After the talk we went frog hunting until about 11:00 p.m. We had fun walking around looking for frogs.

On Tuesday we hiked to the Upper Emerald Pools. We also hiked the Weeping Rock trail and the Riverside Trail. We did a lot of hiking about 8 miles or so. We had a great time exploring the canyon beyond the bus tour. The kids loved wading in the water at the Emerald pools. There were tons of tadpoles and frogs. They even saw some mating. A big hit for the big kids.

Wednesday morning the kids went to a Jr. Ranger Program where they learned about wild turkeys. They got a special patch to go along with their Jr. Ranger badge. We left Zion that afternoon to head to Bryce Canyon. The kids liked riding through the tunnels. Zion is beautiful! Mark wants to go back in the fall and hike Angel's Landing. I hope we make it back there. Zion National Park is 100 years old this year!

VACATION - GRAND CANYON

2009-07-02T16:39:00.005-06:00

The last day of school was on Friday, May 29. We left straight from school and went with Shelly, Grandma Linda and Nathan on our big camping vacation. We started at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We arrived Friday evening and stayed there until Monday. The weather was rainy each afternoon, but it didn't hamper any of our plans. We just put on our jackets and rain coats and still had fun. Who would have thought that we would be wearing our coats at the Grand Canyon in June? I didn't pack many warm clothes because we were going to the Grand Canyon and it was suppose to be warm, right?

We camped in the campground in the park. It was really nice and there was a big place for the kids to play. We went to ranger and evening programs about the California Condors, bats, stars and of course the kids did the Jr. Ranger program. We love to learn about nature and enjoy the ranger programs. We hiked several of the trails that were on the rim and overlooks. It was really pretty. We didn't think that we were quite up to the 15 + mile trails that dropped down in the canyon, but we did enjoy the beautiful views from above.

Crazy May

2009-07-02T16:28:00.005-06:00

May flew by and is long gone but I had a few pictures that I wanted to post. We love the springtime in Fountain Green. We love to go up to the farm and see the baby lambs. Sammi always says that she want to be a sheep farmer after going to the farm. We helped to plant the garden. This year we are trying to grow a sunflower circle. I got the idea from a children's book. Then it becomes a playhouse during the summer. We will see how it turns out. I survived the end of the school year with all of the deadlines and our end of the year program. May is a crazy time of year for teachers, but it is a the time of year that we look forward to because it means that it is VACATION TIME!

April in Review.

2009-05-01T01:44:00.004-06:00

Ok, I am a huge blog slacker. Here is a slide show of our past month in review. We have been super busy, but have had a lot of fun. Jake is now talking up a storm and saying all kinds of things. There are only twenty more days of school, but who is counting?

New Shoes!

2009-05-01T00:39:00.005-06:00

I haven't splurged on really nice shoes since I got married. I have needed some new shoes and I have been researching for a while. I found amazing deals on the website 6pm.com and I splurged and got three pair of Dansko shoes, because I got them for over 50% off. I got three pair of shoes for cheaper than I could have bought two pairs of shoes in the store. They are so cute and super comfortable especially since I am on my feet most of the day. I have got lot of comments on my "sexy" red shoes. We also got Sammi a pair of DC skater shoes for $10.00. The shipping was only $7.00 total for all four pair of shoes. If you are looking for new shoes check out that website they have awesome deals, amazing shoes and great brands. I did try similar styles on in stores to check out sizes and fit especially since they are European sized. I love my new shoes! I also got a pair of my classic Teva flip flops. Shoe shopping is so much fun! I even bought all of them online.

Sammi the smarty

2009-03-23T01:15:00.002-06:00

Sammi has had a really successful school year this year. She was the class winner for the geography bee and the spelling bee. She got to move on to the school competitions for both of those and did well. She took 6th place overall in the school spelling bee and she is only in fourth grade. She completed against the other class winners in the 4th, 5th and 6th grades. She also participated in the Timpanogos Storytelling festival. She was the overall winner for the fourth grade and got to tell her story The Gum Chewing Rattler by Joe Hayes to the entire school and the panel of judges She entertained the audience of about 750 with her amazing storytelling skills. She did such a great job! She didn't even act nervous even though she said that her legs felt like jello. Way to go Sammi! We are proud of your hard work and talents.

2009-03-20T16:17:00.001-06:00

Feb. 24 - Draper Temple Open House

2009-03-06T01:40:00.004-07:00

We got to go to the Draper Temple Open House on Tuesday, Feb. 24. We went right after school and missed all of the long lines and waiting. Jacob loves buses. His dreams came true that day when he finally got to ride on the bus from the church building up to the temple and back. He still talks about riding on the bus everyday.

When we were in the temple Jacob was so good. We took his stroller to keep him confined. It worked wonderfully. He was so quiet too. I think he knew that is was a special place. Joe was whispering to me, asking me a question and Jacob said, "Shh.. Joe." It was pretty cute. When we were in the sealing room both Sammi and Joe told us that this is where they wanted to get married. We told to them to always remember that and work toward that goal. It was nice to have the children in the temple with us all as a family.

Family Fun

2009-03-06T01:20:00.002-07:00

We love spending time together! Jacob misses the kids so much when they are gone. He gets so excited on Fridays when they come back. We are so blessed to get to have them with us 50%. They bring so much fun, excitement and love in our home and family. One night we played the flour game. It is pretty fun, but a little messy. You compress flour in a small cup. Then turn the cup over a plate, leaving behind a compress pile of flour. Place a piece of candy or a penny on top. Then using a butter knife you take turns slicing away some of the flour. Whoever knocks the candy off the pile has to get it out of the flour with their mouth, without using their hands. I was the only one who didn't knock off the candy. Mark, Sammi and Joe all had to go searching for their piece of candy.

Bryce Canyon Winter Fest 2009

2009-02-16T15:28:00.006-07:00

Mark and I went away for the weekend to celebrate Valentines, Mark's birthday and our 4th anniversary. We went to Bryce Canyon National Park. We stayed at Ruby's Inn. They were having their 24th annual Winter Festival. They have classes in archery, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, watercolor, kids arts/crafts, kayaking, photography, geocaching and more. There were ranger talks and cross-country ski and snowshoe tours with the rangers. All of the classes and events were free and they also provide the snowshoes or cross-country skis if you needed them. We had so much fun! We went into the park and saw most of the park. We went to a geology class and an astronomy class with the rangers. We went to an archery class and also a snowshoe tour. We went and watched the sunrise on Sunrise point. It was so pretty. The park is so amazing in the winter. We were tired, because we were so busy. We ended up having beautiful weather, it was a bit cold, but it is winter after all and we were prepared for it so it wasn't bad. We would love to take the whole family down next year. The kids would love it! It was such a fun weekend. Thanks Shelly and Mom for keeping Jacob for the weekend. While we were there we bought our Annual pass to the National Parks and so we are now thinking about how we can see as many National Parks as possible. What fun lies ahead for us!

Feb. 7, 2009 - Eagle Day

2009-02-16T15:15:00.003-07:00

We went to Eagle Day in Fountain Green. There was a display up at the fish hatchery along with a map of good viewing areas in Sanpete County. You drive around to the viewing areas to look for eagles. We had such a nice day. It was a beautiful day. The kids were so good. Shelly and Grandma came along with us. We saw 18 bald eagles and 4 golden eagles. We also saw a few hawks. The kids had so much fun looking through the binoculars. Jacob even had his little kaleidoscope that he kept looking through, thinking he was looking at the eagles. Shelly has some more great pictures that she will post on her blog.

Oh, Boy! My boy!

2009-02-05T23:24:00.009-07:00

I was getting ready for school today. I had made Jacob his peanut butter and jam sandwich and he was suppose to be eating while I went to the bathroom for a second to put in my contacts and a little bit of make-up. Which is a rare thing. This evening I had my parent conferences and I wanted to look better than my usual, natural look. I heard Jacob say, "Mom, mmm." Well, I was thinking that he just thought that his sandwich was good. As I went in the kitchen to check on him this is what I found. He reached up on the counter and got the jar of peanut butter. He took the lid off and decided that he wanted some, so why not with both hands. He had his hands in his mouth and was saying mmm...

I was trying to hurry and get a few things done that I needed to do for parent conferences tonight. Of course, I can never be early or even on time for anything. There always seems to be something exciting like this going on at our house. A few weeks ago it was Vicks Vaporub, now peanut butter! At least peanut butter doesn't sting like vicks and it probably tastes better too!

I can't leave him alone for even a minute. He always seems to find some trouble to get into! Boy, I love this messy boy, even if he makes me tired and causes a lot of clean-up for Mom!

Mmm, mmm, finger licking good!

Family fun day - Saturday.

2009-01-26T01:52:00.008-07:00

On Saturday, we tried to go swimming at the Lehi swimming pool. As we walked into the foyer of the Lehi recreation center we saw a big sign that said, “pool closed for the rest of the day”. Boy were we disappointed, but after we found out that someone pooped in the pool, we were glad to know that they wouldn't risk the health of their patrons. Since we were already in our swimming suits, we came up with a plan B. We ended up going to the American Fork pool instead. So, there aren't any of the really fun things that they have at the Lehi pool, but we still had a really fun time. We played volleyball with our beach ball. We were having such a great time playing that four or five other children came and joined in the fun.

We couldn't pass up going to Cabella's, since we were so close. Then we ate really yummy food at Rib City. We are glad that Shelly came up with the plans and joined us for the fun.

I'm a blogging slacker!

2009-01-26T01:20:00.008-07:00

I love looking at other's blogs and I sometimes think, "What is going on with them, they haven't blogged in a while." My Mom said the same thing to me. I realized that I was a slacker on my blog. Jacob is still working on potty training. He is doing alright. The hardest part is for me is remembering to take him regularly. Thank goodness for pull-ups. It sure saves messy clean ups of little accidents. He likes to wear his underwear on top of his pull-ups. He doesn't like to go in big potty's, so that makes it interesting to try and get him to go in public restrooms. He still is telling the nursery leader that he has to pee, but when we try and take him he won't go.

He came out of his room the other day with a pull-up on his head, like a beanie. It was so funny, so of course he thought it was a fun game to make Mom and Dad laugh!

Where do you wear this thing?

He can have quite an attitude sometimes. If he doesn't want to do something, he will for sure let you know about it. Here is a picture of him with his "angry eyes".

A three day weekend!

2009-01-26T00:41:00.004-07:00

Over Martin Luther King's weekend, we got to get away to our favorite place for the weekend, "F.G." as Jacob calls it, otherwise known as Fountain Green. We just relaxed for the weekend, watched movies, had naps and slept in. On Saturday, I got to go cross-country skiing up Maple Canyon with Shelly. The best part about it was that there was no inversion and pollution. It was about 40 degrees and a beautiful day to be out. We came back on Sunday evening and it was nice to have an extra day off on Monday to get things together. I even got to do a little shopping and found some great sales!

Vicks VapoRub anyone?

2009-01-13T01:47:00.006-07:00

Well, we are already starting our second week back to school. Last week we were working on getting back to routines. Jake got off schedule over the break and the nap time got pushed back a bit, so last week we were trying to get him back on schedule. On Monday, Jake was watching his "ho, ho, choo, choo," otherwise known as the Polar Express. He hadn't yet fallen asleep, but Mark had already crashed, when he discovered my new, big bottle of Vicks VapoRub in the dresser. He loves Vicks, I think thanks to Grandma Linda. Well, he was still recovering from croop and while he was sick he looked forward to getting his Vicks rub down, so when he discovered the bottle he of course knew what to do with it. Rub it all over his chest, face, clothes, carpet, etc... and probably ate some as well. Mark finally woke up after the entire bottle was gone and Jacob was crying because of the burning in his eyes and I am sure everywhere else. It took two baths, three washings of his clothes, and shampooing of the carpet to clean up the mess. I wish I had a picture for you, but I had our camera with me at school. It must have been a sight. His clothes were just caked with Vicks. We still are finding little Vicks fingerprints on random things in the bedroom. He sure keeps us on our toes! It is good he is cute and that we really love him or he would really be in trouble.

He is getting older and is starting to potty train. It is really training the parents. He is starting to get the hang of it, but needs to be better at telling us when he needs to go. He told the nursery leaders each time he needed to "pee" even though he was in a diaper. They thought it was pretty funny! Life is an adventure and there is never a dull moment around here.

No one else get sick! Please!

2008-12-30T00:53:00.007-07:00

It seems like the holidays have brought sickness over the past several years.

This year our dear friend Peggy Wilkinson passed away on Dec. 23. She was 80 years old and is now in a much better place, but it is a hard time of year to lose a loved one. We wish her family much peace and comfort.

Jacob got a cold and on Christmas Eve his breathing was so raspy and labored that we took him to the doctor. It sounded just like when he had pneumonia last year and was in the hospital. He then ended up on oxygen at home for two or three weeks. The doctor said that it was just croop, but he told us to watch carefully because it could easily end up as pneumonia again. Luckily he didn't get too bad. He now just has a runny nose still, but we are grateful that it didn't get any worse.

My brother Scott, has not been feeling well for the past several months. He has been to the doctor several times trying to figure out what was wrong, especially because he got a kidney transplant about eight years ago. We were concerned that there might be a problem with his kidney. He went to the hospital Christmas evening. It took two days to figure it out, but they diagnosed him with Colitis. This is an inflamation of the colon. He is being treated with medication and should be able to fully recover. His kidney is functioning well and is fine. Yea! He has been in the hospital for a few days, but should be coming home soon!

Our close friends, 7 years old daughter has been having stomach pains for a couple of months. She has been to the doctor several times. They never came up with any reason why she was in so much pain and kind of blew it off. Finally on Christmas day, as well, they took her to the emergency room. After a seven hour wait, they finally looked at her and her heart rate was so high they put a pick line into her heart to try to stabilize her heart rate. They also drained 2 quarts of puss from her stomach. They decided to fly her to Primary Children's Hospital, but the weather was too bad, so they took her by ambulance. Dr. Rebecca Meyer's (the doctor that performed Jacob's surgery) performed an exploratory surgery to try to determine what is wrong. They weren't able to detect the cause, but all of her digestive organs and stomach were filled with infections and inflammation. There was so much inflammation that they couldn't close her up the same day. She was in a sedated colma for two days so that they could let the inflammation and swelling go down enough to close her up. She is going to be up at PCMC for at least two weeks while they try to fight the infection. They still didn't detect what the cause of the infection was.

After talking to my Mom, we decided that we should just skip the holidays next year, because someone close to us always seems to have some pretty serious health problems. In the past we have also had similar experiences. So if you see us skipping Christmas next year you will know why. We don't want to try to jinx anyone else.

So, everyone stay healthy! Be grateful for your health. I will be glad that I only have a little cold. I can deal with that.

We are thinking and praying for you Scott and Brylee. Get well soon!

We had a "Wicked" Christmas!

2008-12-29T20:22:00.006-07:00

We didn't put up many Christmas decorations this year because we have an active two year old boy. But he did surprisingly well leaving the tree and other decorations alone. I was afraid that he would destroy them, but he didn't!

We had a nice Christmas. Sammi and Joe were with us on Christmas Eve. We had dinner at Grandma Linda's and enjoyed a Christmas concert by all of the talented kids. We sang songs and played with the rhythm instruments as the big kids played the piano for us. The big kids went back to their Mom's for Christmas. On Christmas morning Jacob had fun opening his trucks, cars and trains. He is all boy! We then had the Baumgarten Brunch at our house. We had a ton of great food! We went over to my Mom's house and exchanged presents with my siblings and spend the evening playing with my little brother's new Guitar Hero World Tour. Mark had previously told me, "I will never sing on that thing." While I was upstairs I heard him singing. I was surprised, since he was never going to sing and all. But the next day he had nearly lost his voice from all of the singing he did. He found that he actually loved singing!

The next day we picked up the kids from their Mom's and they got to open their presents from us. Sammi loved her High School Musical MP3 player and Joe got the huge Vulcon Nerf Gun and some walkie talkies. But the big kids most exciting present was one that was wrapped about 8 times, thanks to Shelly. It was tickets to Wicked the Musical when it comes to Salt Lake in April. They are so excited! Sammi has been dying for us to take her to see Wicked for about three years or more. We are so excited to have gotten tickets, thanks once again to Shelly!

Sorry about the poor video taping. Jacob was trying to grab the camera, so he could see it. That is why he kept yelling, "me."

Merry Christmas to Mark & I.

2008-12-29T17:49:00.007-07:00

We have wanted to replace the flooring in the kitchen for a long time now. We decided that for Christmas we would finally replace the floor. We were hoping that we could get it done in a day. We're crazy I know! We did run into a few problems that we had to deal with. We ended up needing to replace the sub floor. That was a bit frustrating because we scraped three layers of old linoleum off of the floor. If we had know we were going to tear up the sub floor we wouldn't have had to scrap off all the old stuff and we would have saved a lot of time. The end result though is beautiful and the floor was laid in two days. We layed a wood laminate on the entire kitchen floor. We use to have linoleum in the kitchen area and in the dining area we had carpet. Carpet under the table with a two year old is kind of a disaster, but it is there no more!

We couldn't have done this huge project alone. My family helped out! Shelly and Nathan were there the most, but David and Mark also helped out too. My Mom kept Jacob at her house the first day and then the second day she came and brought taco soup and played with Jacob here at our house. My Mom and Gerry helped fold laundry and feed us while we worked. We sure have a great family who always get roped into helping us with our crazy projects! We love you guys!

(I think this video is cute. Sorry, I haven't yet learned how to edit the video. I wanted to crop it at the beginning and end, and of course turn it the right way, but I don't know how to do that yet. So pretend that it is perfect.)

Jacob wanted to follow us around with "his" drill. He had a blast when we let him help put a screw in the sub floor.

Busy December!

2008-12-23T02:57:00.007-07:00

We have had a busy month. A few of our highlights. Jacob got to meet Santa at our ward party. Mark, Sammi, Joe and I got to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert and see the lights at Temple square. We went to the Baumgarten's kids Christmas party and had fun making gingerbread houses and of course eating yummy food and treats. Mark and I had a fun Christmas party with some of our neighbors. What a great time of year!

Thanksgiving weekend brought much to be thankful for!

2008-12-10T23:36:00.004-07:00

What a great Thanksgiving weekend we had! It started off with fabulous food at Doug and Jeanne's house. The next day we went up to Salt Lake City for the night. We first went to Primary Children's Medical center to carry on the family tradition of donating blankets and to show our appreciation to the NICU staff who took such great care of Jacob and us for his first two weeks of life. We then dropped Jake, Dad and Grandma Gerry off at the hotel for naps while we went off on adventures. We went to the Galavan Center, the State Capital Building and then we ended up finding the trail head for the Ensign Peak overlook and decided that we should go for a hike. We left Grandma Linda in the car to read her book. We then ate delicious mole at The Red Iguana before we headed out to The Gateway for a little shopping and Christmas lights. The next morning Mark, Gerry and I went to TeriAnn's wedding. My Mom and Shelly had the kids at the hotel and enjoyed breakfast and the pool all morning. After the nice luncheon, we met back up with the kids and headed down to Cabela's. Then we went straight to the reception from there. It was a full weekend of fun! It reminded us of many things we are thankful for family, temples, marriages, nature and fun family times together.

LOVE

2008-12-10T22:43:00.004-07:00

On our Christmas card we had the kids spell out the word LOVE with their bodies. We tried each letter and with much effort got a pretty good shot of each letter. My sister who was taking the photos, thought that we could do better and she tried to arrange the kids as I took the pictures the second time. She learned that it isn't easy to get the kids to cooperate for photos. By the time she had wrestled them and moved them for the shots she was exhausted. It took a long time and the second shots turned out very badly. Both Joe and Jake cried at some point and we were ready to kill them. We had to remind ourselves that this was about LOVE that we were taking the photos. Our Christmas card really did turn out cute. Thanks to our awesome photographer, and designer, Shelly. She even ordered them and picked them up for me. So, if you thought that I was on the ball in getting Christmas cards out early it was really because of Shelly. Thanks Shelly, we love you!

Happy Thankgsiving!

2008-11-27T10:01:00.004-07:00

(The above picture is of "Tilly the Turkey" that use to live at Clear Creek. She would come and visit the students who went to summer camp there. I always looked forward to the seeing Tilly when I worked there.)

This time of year always provides opportunities for us to think of some of the things that we are thankful for. I am thankful for many things, but below are a few of them.

T - Time with family
H - my Husband and my Home
A - America
N - Nature
K - my Kids & Kindergarten students
S - my Sister Shelly
G - the Gospel
I - musical Instruments
V - our Vehicles
I - the Internet
N - our nice Neighborhood
G - a giving God

I hope that you have a happy Thanksgiving and remember all of the blessings that you have in your life to be thankful for.

Jr. Rangers

2008-11-23T23:04:00.011-07:00

Boy, is it hard to get kids to pose and get a cute picture sometimes!

Looking back at it, I think these are pretty funny.

I was pretty annoyed at the time though.

We love to do the Jr. Rangers Programs at State and National parks. The kids have earned so many badges and pins that I decided to make a banner. We have had a great time learning about this amazing world we live in. We are already thinking about what state or national parks we want to go next summer. Any great ideas anyone?

Nap time

2008-11-23T21:19:00.003-07:00

Mark works in the middle of the night. When he gets home, he sleeps for a while and usually takes a nap with Jacob in the afternoon. This is often the way we find them. Notice the remote in Mark's hand and his glasses still on.

Jacob loves the song The Wheels on the Bus. We have a Scholastic movie of the song. He loves to watch "swish, swish" before he goes to bed. He likes to hold his toy bus as he watches it.

I thought it was so cute to find my sleeping boys. Mark is such a trooper with a crazy sleep schedule. He does it to support our family. We sure love him!

Tagged - 8

2008-11-19T01:16:00.009-07:00

8 TV shows I love to watch
1. The Amazing Race
2. The Ellen DeGeneres Show
3. Dancing with the Stars
4. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
5. Jon & Kate Plus 8
6. The Price is Right
7. What Not to Wear
8. American Idol

8 Places I love to eat
1. At home
2. My mom's house
3. Creamery on 9th
4. Brick Oven Pizza
5. Bajio
6. Betos
7. El Azteca
8. Apollo Burger

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Jacob got the pitcher of apple juice out of the fridge and threw it on the carpet.
2. I shampooed the carpet.
3. We made blankets for Primary Children's hospital.
4. We had yummy fajitas.
5. Had library day at school.
6. Went to recess and enjoyed the warm afternoon.
7. Went grocery shopping and saved 66% on my Savvy Shopping trip.
8. Filled up the van with gas for under $30.00. Yeah. Road trip anyone?

8 things I am looking forward to
1. Weekends
2. Going to the temple this weekend.
3. Thanksgiving break
4. Putting up Christmas decorations
5. Teriann's Wedding
6. Going to Primary Children's Hospital to take some donations, not for a stay.
7. Cleaning up my house - should I say having a clean house.
8. Christmas break.

8 things I love about fall
1. Seeing the beautiful mountain.
2. The smell of autumn. (I wish that you could really get that scent in a candle.)
3. The nice mild weather.
4. Driving in the mountains to see the leaves.
5. Finding cool leaves.
6. Starting a new school year. Did I just say that?
7. Harvesting the gardens.
8. Playing in/raking the leaves with the kids.

8 things on my wish list
1. Another baby
2. More relaxed, "fun" time with my husband and family.
3. A desire and the drive to get fit and healthy.
4. A clean, organized house.
5. A clean, organized classroom.
6. More time to get things done.
7. A "good" group of students.
8. A new kitchen floor.

8 people I'm tagging
1. Shelly
2. Mardi
3. Michelle
4. Amber
5. Marissa
6. Gray
7. TeriAnn
8. Sheridan

Sunday in the park

2008-11-05T23:54:00.005-07:00

After Church we went over to the botany pond at BYU and then a nearby park. It was a beautiful fall evening. Jacob loved feeding the ducks.

He started following this big white duck. He was trying to catch it, but he never did.

Jake had a fun time running around the pond several times, each time he would scare away all of the ducks that other groups were feeding. He laughed as the ducks would hurry away.

The ducks started honking so loudly that Jacob started covering his ears.

At the park it was designed for toddlers, so Jacob could play without much help although he loved interaction from both Mom and Dad, so we did race him down the slides.

He kept wanting us to slide with him again and again. We did finally have to tell him that he could have one more turn before it was getting dark. We had a nice relaxing evening enjoying life through and with our our two year old.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-05T23:40:00.004-07:00

Halloween was so busy and fun. Jacob had fun trick-or-treating. He especially likes to pick a candy out of his bag to eat. We have to keep all of the bags out of his reach or the candy would be gone. I was a clown. Sammi was a vampire. Joe was a skeleton. Jacob was a monkey.

Lagoon - UEA break

2008-10-28T02:25:00.003-06:00

For our UEA - fall break we went to Lagoon on Friday. Shelly and Mark's friends, Jeff, Julie , and Anna Wrigley went with us. Jake's favorite was the Merry-go-round. At the end of the night the big kids were going on the roller coasters and Jacob and I kept going on the Merry-go-round, the attendant didn't make us get off. We got to stay on and keep riding since there wasn't much of a line. He kept on saying up and down and motioning around. He is still talking about the rides. All of the kids rides were the same, up and down, and round and round, but Jacob loved them.

Anna Wrigley is in the pink shirt. She looks like she could be one of our kids.

We took sandwiches and plenty of snacks for both of our meals in the park.

Shelly, Mark, Sammi and Joe on the Jet Star II.

The big kids loved the new Wicked rollercoaster. We stayed the night at the campground, so we got to stay at the park until closing. We were almost there from opening until closing, Dad would be proud! We had such a great time and will plan that trip again. Next time, we might stay at Cherry Hill, since we are trying to relive all of our childhood memories.

Happy 10th Birthday Samantha - Oct. 12

2008-10-28T01:41:00.009-06:00

What a lucky girl, Samantha got a new bike at our house and her Mom's house! She is growing so much that she was way to big for her old bike. She has loved riding around the neighborhood and is learning how to use her gears on our hills. The kids love to go to the church parking lot to ride bikes.

For part of Sammi's celebration we went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving point.

Sammi loved the rock climbing wall and she made it all the way to the top.

We got to go over to Farm country. We loved seeing the animals and riding on the ponies.

Jacob even rode the pony. In the summer, we went to This is the Place Monument and he cried and wanted off of the pony, so we weren't sure if he would do it, but he did great.

There were fun pedal carts that they loved to ride.

There were so many activities to do. We were there about four hours and we only did about 2/3 of the activities. We had such a fun day.

A few more butterfly photos

2008-10-27T01:14:00.007-06:00

I had a few more cute pictures
of the butterflies.

Have you ever heard of butterfly kisses?

"Is he still up there? I can't see him."

"Oh, there he is!"

HeeHaw farms

2008-10-07T15:47:00.008-06:00

I took my kindergarten class on a field trip to Heehaw Farms in Pleasant Grove. Jacob and Shelly (or Nan as Jacob calls her) came with. Jacob loved watching the pigs and feeding the horses . There is a great big slide that is built on the giant hay bails. It is about 15 - 20 feet tall. It is so fun. Jacob didn't want to go on it this year, but he did enjoy the other bumpy slide. They got to pick their own pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. He had a fun time and it was fun to have them there even though I didn't really get to hang out with them a lot, because I was trying to be a responsible teacher.

Beautiful Butterflies

2008-09-29T22:13:00.006-06:00

Two weeks ago we went caterpillar hunting. We found 14 Monarch caterpillars on some big milkweed patches in Moroni. I took three to school, gave nine to other teachers and kept two at home. Jake wanted to hold the caterpillars, but got nervous as they started to tickle his hands, so we put them on the high chair tray and he watched and touched them carefully. All but two of them have spun into chrysalis'. Now they are starting to come out of their chrysalis and it is so awesome. I saw two of them change from a hanging J shape into their chrysalis, it was the most incredible thing to see that happen and it goes from a J shaped caterpillar to a chrysalis in about two or three minutes. It is really cool. One of our butterflies came out today and Jacob is so fascinated by it. He loves to hold the butterfly.

We Love Autumn!

2008-09-23T01:07:00.005-06:00

We went to up to Southfork Canyon to enjoy the beautiful fall colors and take some fun pictures. Shelly was our photographer. She did a great job. We did catch a few pictures of her too.

Another fun camping trip!

2008-09-18T10:53:00.003-06:00

We went to the ward campout up Hobblecreek canyon on Sept. 5 - 7. The ward only stayed one night, but we stayed another. It was such a great fun and relaxing weekend. Mardi and the kids came and visited on Saturday afternoon and Gray stayed over with us on Saturday night. The kids had so much fun. It is amazing that sticks and rocks can keep kids entertained for over ten hours of play time. The kids were so great. They didn't even fight. Wow! We have had some great camp outs this summer.

Sammi the amazing gardner!

2008-09-17T00:06:00.008-06:00

Sammi got the start of a cabbage about four inches tall from school in May. They were having a cabbage growing contest. Here are her results. It weighed 19.5 lbs! We are hoping that she could be the state winner and receive a $1,000 scholarship. We'll keep you posted if she wins. Does anyone want some cabbage? I am the only one in my family who will eat cabbage, but I don't think that I can eat that much.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

2008-09-15T00:55:00.005-06:00

I can't believe that Jacob is already two years old! Kids grow up so fast. It seems weird to remember him in the NICU at Primary Children's Hospital and then to see how strong and energetic he is now.

Back to school!

2008-08-27T23:44:00.004-06:00

Wow, we have been so busy. I was really dreading going back to school especially since it came so fast. I went back to meetings on Aug. 12. School started for the kids on the 18th. Sammi is in fourth grade and Joe is in 2nd grade. They are growing up so fast. I am still in kindergarten! This will be my 11th year teaching kindergarten. My first group of kindergarten students are now in 11th grade. I can't believe that.

This year I have 27 kids in my class. They are pretty cute. Two days before school started we had 33 kids in each class and we finally got approval from the district to hire another teacher. The principal asked me if I wanted to go full time. It was a bit tempting, but I decided that it was more important for me to spend time with family and little Jacob. So we hired a teacher the Friday before school started. We had twelve more kids register during the first week so we still ended up with big classes. Oh well, we will do the best we can to teach all of those cuties.

Mark and I went to Lagoon with my brother and sister, Nathan and Shelly on my birthday. Grandma Linda watched Jacob for us. We had a fun day. We rode on the new roller coaster Wicked and it was really fun. I realized that I can't quite handle the rides like I did when I was younger. I was feeling a tiny bit sick. Next time I go, I think that I am going to take a motion sickness pill just to take the edge off. We are going to take the kids to Lagoon and stay in the campground during UEA break.

We went camping at Payson Lakes last weekend. We took a canoe and boy did the kids have fun. They rowed all afternoon. We tied a bunch of ropes together and tied the canoe to the shore. It was like a dog on a leash. They would row out as far as the rope would go and then they would circle back around. They got really good a steering and paddling. We tried to fish, but we didn't catch any. There was a bear in the neighboring campsite, but we didn't know that until the next day. We felt safe in Shelly's trailer, but if we were in a tent I probably would have packed up and gone home.

We are doing piano again and Joe will be starting this year. It will feel good to get back in a normal routine.

Fallen Arch

2008-08-09T12:25:00.003-06:00

I was watching the news last night and heard a report that Wall Arch fell this week. That is crazy. It is or should I say was a huge arch. We were there in June. The kids and Mark climbed up and stood right under it and had a great time exploring and climbing around the area. I am glad no one was there when it fell or it could have been really dangerous. I am also glad that the kids got to see it before it fell down because it was pretty impressive.

What we did during our summer break.

2008-08-07T01:12:00.003-06:00

Goblin Valley

Hiking in Arches with Grandma and Shelly.

Chocolate Fondue Dip made by Sammi. Yum!

Jordonelle State Park with Shelly.

Fly fishing in the Provo river.

Hiking in Devil's Garden - Arches

Fun in Shelly's new trailer.

Delicate Arch

Happy 7th Birthday Joe.

Goblin Valley
Playing hide and seek.

Arches National Park
Delicate Arch

Firey Furnace - Arches

Joe's lost his second tooth
with the help of Shelly.
Grandma Linda pulled
the first one a few weeks before.

Petting zoo at Newton
town celebration.

Washing the car.

Doing pioneer chores at
This Is The Place Historic Park.

7 Peaks - Jacob overcame his fear of the water
and loved swimming once again.

This Is The Place Historic Park.

Singing around the campfire
at Kelly's Grove in Hobblecreek
Canyon.

Digging trenches for
our new sprinklers.

Balloon festival at the
Provo Freedom Festival

2008-08-05T01:22:00.001-06:00

Summer is almost over!

I can't believe how fast summer has gone. They say time flies when you are having fun and we sure have had fun. We had a camping summer, thanks to Shelly and her new trailer. We spent the first week of summer at Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Goblin Valley, and Capital Reef. We had a great time learning all about the parks and going hiking. Sammi and Joe earned four Jr. Ranger badges that week and we had fun making up songs about the cryptobiotic soil. We also went to Jolley's Ranch up Hobble Creek Canyon for a couple of nights and last weekend we went to Jordonelle State Park for a couple of nights. Of course we went to Lamb Days and had a great time. We even rode up to Newton to visit Aunt Cora for a weekend too. I went to Girl's camp for a few days and I have taken a few classes this summer as well.

This summer we have also done a lot of home improvements. We put in a sprinkler system in June. Boy is it nice to have a green lawn. We were always fighting to keep it alive in the hot summers previously, but not this year. No more dragging the hose around. Yeah! We just got new windows for the entire house this last week. The windows look so good , now there are a lot of things that don't look so good, like the posts and the paint. There is always a list of house projects that we want to do. Oh, the joys of owning a home!

Now it is time to get back to the classroom and get all ready for another school year. It always makes me sad, but it is a bit exciting too. I miss the carefree days of summer already though.