A Lot Can Happen in Nine Years

Nate and I just celebrated our ninth anniversary. It's crazy how different life is from when we first met doing dishes at Little Caesars. Who would have thought we'd actually get married and populate the world with little crazy people (just kidding kids). We have had a great time. . . most of the time. We have had good times, bad times, successes, and failures. Whatever we have done we have been in it 100% together. I think that's what makes our marriage work. Nate is my very best friend. I love him! I mean, only a great man would take his wife to Color Me Mine to paint celebratory plates for their anniversary date. We also had a fun time hiking a trail up Squaw Peak. . .really, all we did was hike. We finally used a gift certificate Nathan's brother gave him on graduation to the Olive Garden. And of course, what date would be complete without a walk around Walmart. I was a wonderful anniversary. A special thanks to my big sister who let my kids stay at her house so Nate and I could enjoy our anniversary.

Feelin Alive at Five

Rachel turned five. Last night we watched some video from her birth. What a perfect day. Well, the one hour of the day we enjoyed before Rachel was born. We woke up at 6 am the day before and were hoping to get into the hospital for me to be induced. Well, we finally got to go in around 3 in the afternoon which meant I had her just after midnight. The epidural was perfect and she just popped out. . . well it wasn't too bad anyway. I remember being absolutely starved right after. The nurses didn't want to give me any food because they were afraid I would throw up. It took me awhile to convince them I needed more than soda crackers and sprite. After all was said and done, I didn't get to sleep until about 4 am, but it was worth it. Rachel came into our lives peacefully and beautifully.
I can't say that things are still so peaceful and beautiful but she is a lot of fun to have around. I love her so much. She had a fun birthday and we ended up with an impromptu party. The kids in the neighborhood just heard we had cake and ice cream in the backyard and they came out of the woodwork. Then, of course, since Ben went swimming for his birthday, Rachel wanted the same. We had a great time.

Our Latest Project

I love projects. And I love pulling Nathan into my projects. Our latest was to make magnetic boards for the kids rooms. We have a fabulous neighbor who was able to get us scrap metal. Nate built the frames and I decorated them. :) They are imperfect (as all of our projects tend to be) but I like them. I think they look pretty cute.

We Try So Hard

Family scripture at our house lasts a total of 5 minutes. Really, sometimes it's less than that. Sadly, even that 5 minutes is too long for us. Five minutes is just enough time for the kids to start kicking each other and complaining about how they don't have enough room.

It's enough time for Nathan to have to get up and try to control the situation so we might actually be able to hear the scriptures.


And it is enough time for us to be glad when that five minutes has expired.
I am sure, many, many years down the road we will be glad we did this and realize the fruits of our labors. I'm sure.

Week's Highlights

This week started with Ben heading back to first grade. Ben is an August 31st birthday. That means he has been the absolute youngest in his class during his first two years of school. I have often worried about this. When school started this year Nate and I talked about it again. After contemplating for a couple weeks we decided that the pros of having Ben repeat first grade outweighed the cons. We sat Ben down and told him he could choose to stay in second grade, but that he would always be the youngest in his class or he could choose to return the the first grade for another round and be the oldest. He told us he wanted to be the oldest. So, Monday he started his first grade class. He started crying when he woke up in the morning. I felt so bad. But, I knew it was the right thing for him. We got him to school and voila, he was fine. He actually loves being in first grade again. He has n't even given it a second thought.

Nate's job continues to go well. He is still only a contracted employee and the only way he will become a permanent hire there is if another engineer quits or the company gets busier. He love the company and the people. I told Nathan he needs to start giving some of the other engineers job referrals. "Hey, I saw a great job in the paper this week that you'd be perfect for." If we could just get someone to quit. :)

I haven't heard anything on my Dillard's job. They had to send the hire into the corporate office the be approved and I guess they are slow there. So, I am still keeping my eyes open for other possibilities.

We splurged and went to Golden Corral this week. It's the only restaurant I dare take my kids to. With Ben and Rachel getting bigger we decided to let them wander off to fill their own plates. What did this result in, you might ask. Rachel returned with a plate full of jello and Ben returned with a plate full of spaghetti and ten strawberries. Nate and I just about died laughing, to which Ben took great offense. He's so sensitive. In the end we all had belly aches. The invention of the buffet was a terrible thing to do to people who are addicted to food.

Today Elder Hales of the quorum of the twelve apostles came and spoke to our stake in a special conference. His talk jumped around but I had to laugh when he told us a personal experience. He had a few years where his health was not good. He had to have several surgeries. One of these was a surgery that had never been done. He said he often prayed and wondered why he was going through this trial. At one point he said he offered a prayer in which he said " Whatever you are trying to teach me, I have learned it. Trust me." I laughed because that's how I feel. Alas, he then told us then some of our trials are not meant to teach lessons at all, but simply to give us experience.

So, the experience continues for our family. We have it drilled into the kids that we are on a tight budget. A couple of days ago, in the car we were talking about how one day, when we have our own house, we might build a clubhouse in the back yard. I suggested maybe we could build a big one like our cousins have at their house to which Ben responded "No, that won't be necessary. We won't have enough money for that. Just a small one." Good kid. But one day we will build a big one. :)

Just Peachy

This month Brigham City celebrated their famous "Peach Days". Well, in my head I thought "Yummy. Peaches. Let's go." So, we packed up and drove the half an hour to the quaint town of Brigham City. I was hoping to find many delicious things made with peaches. Unfortunately, there was only one booth selling fresh peach cobbler and the line was about a mile long. We ended up with Funnel Cakes which we happily shared. They were pretty good.



They had a lot of great crafty booths but the kids were only interested in one thing. Rides. Now, Nathan and I, like any kind loving parents, want our children to be happy. Really. But when I saw the cost of those carnival rides I just about turned around and left. The Ferris Wheel would have cost our family $20 for one ride. We managed to satisfy the children with a cheaper car ride and a huge slide ride. They were happy.


So, it ended up being an interesting evening. To tell you the truth, I found it extremely entertaining to just watch the people. You get quite a variety at a Saturday night fair. I can only imagine what the State Fair would look like. Yikes! I guess we'll try again next year. Maybe there will be more peaches.

Climb Every Mountain

Being a hamster in the Baxter household means days full of adventure. You might get to follow a bread crumb trail around a train track. Just watch out for the trains.


You might get to climb a high mountain and then use a wonderful little slide to get from the top to the bottom.

And in the end, you'll fall asleep in that mountain and refuse to come out, leaving mother Baxter with only one option. Remove the top of the mountain to pull you out. But hey, no worries, there is plenty of food, everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.

Summer Ends with a Bang

I have to say that we are a very lucky family. We have two sets of wonderful, active grandparents who love to get together. So, this weekend we had to find a way to be with both. Thursday night we drove to Thayne Wyoming to stay with Tom and Mary in a beautiful log cabin (really, it was a log house) on a golf course and only an hour away from Jackson Hole. Even after driving 5 hours (we missed a turn off and extended our drive by an hour) and arriving at midnight our kids still said it was worth it because the log house was so cool. Friday morning we got up and drove into Jackson Hole. We hiked a newly developed trail that was a three mile loop to a gorgeous lake that was owned by the Rockefeller's until a few years ago.
We shopped a little and Nate and I reminisced a lot.
We spent our honeymoon in Jackson Hole, the Tetons, and Yellowstone. Tom and Mary even gave us the night off and let us have a date which was so fun.

Us then.
Us now. Saturday we went golfing. We did as much as possible to disobey golf edicate by letting our kids hang with us while we golfed and even drive the golf carts. They had a blast!
And, of course, to my horror, we spent Saturday night watching the BYU game. I said that we didn't drive all that way to watch tv. Nathan said that this particular BYU game was huge and that he must watch it. Honestly, I am glad we did watch it because I would have never heard the end of it if I had made him miss that amazing game. Even I was interested in the last three minutes. We drove home after the game arriving in our drive way at one a.m. Exhausted we all fell into bed.

Now, I know you are all bored but the second half of our weekend was about to begin. After church and Nathan's first time conducting in sacrament meeting(he only messed up a little) we headed in the opposite direction to Aspen Lakes, the camp where my parents have been serving as camp hosts this summer. We arrived there just in time to put up a tent and go to sleep. We spent the next day motorcycling, playing on the ropes course, and zooming down the zip line.

Nate and I even made a determined climb to the peak of a hill where we stumbled on a huge flock of sheep and were almost attacked by sheep dogs.
We all played, got very dirty, and had a super fabulous time. The kids were very brave jumping in the ice cold water from the zip line. I did it and I thought I was going to die. I couldn't move my body. Poor Rachel wanted to jump in so bad. She had watched Conner, Ben, and Sophie all brave it but when it came to her she just couldn't do it. She wouldn't get out of the swing when we pulled her back in. She was so embarrassed that she couldn't do it. She said "I want to jump in but I am too scared." It took me a while an letting her use my camera to convince her that it was ok.

I thought this particular photo was kind of artistic.

So, after that whirlwind weekend and about 15 hours of driving we are all exhausted. My house is kind of messy. And, instead of taking care of it I am sitting here remembering our trip and wishing we could be having more fun. We are so lucky to have such great family. Can't wait to be together again.

Ben Turns Seven. . . Holy Cow!

I always get nervous when the birthday season rolls around. My three kids all have birthdays within a months time. I am not very good at planning kid parties. . . in fact. . .I always put it off too long and just try to have a family party. Then I stress about whether it will be fun enough to make the kids like their birthday. Well, yesterday was Ben's birthday. Aside from getting the hamster we made his day by

1) Letting him stay home from school. Hey it was his birthday. I called the school to excuse him the secretary asked me if he was sick. "No. It's his birthday" I said confidently. I could hear the giggle in her reply. Maybe birthday's are not a legitimate excuse to the school but they definitely are to me.

2) We went to Mcdonald's. Oh, the amazing happiness that comes into a child's life because of a happy meal and the playland.

3) We baked him a cake. Do not judge me. I am not a professional. . . just close to it.

4) We made Ben cards. He giggled when he looked at Emily's. She just scribbles. But she was so cute when she said "Happy Birday Ben." No one can resist her charm.

5) We squeezed in a few other presents.

6) We wrapped up the night with swimming at the local outdoor pool where Ben showed off his seven year oldness by insisting on going through the lazy river by himself. He is so proud that he can touch the bottom. Rachel had her own moment of glory. She learned to float on her back. Man was she beaming.
So, despite my non professional abilities in birthday partying Ben had a great day. I am so glad.