We have gotten so many cute cards this year. It's a little late for me to do something as awesome as actually mailing out a card. . . but I will blog a card. :) So Lame! I know. I will probably work on it someday.

We have had a great year. Blessing have been poured out on us as we have started to see some of our dreams coming to fruition after so many years. So many exciting things are coming for next year as well.

So, the run down, after trying out three separate jobs this year, Nate has settled down with AccuSystems and seems to be enjoying it. He has made some good friends there and is happy. I have to say he is the worlds most awesome husband and father. He never stops giving and makes sure that I always have the help I need when he gets home. I wouldn't be able to keep up with my job and being a mom without his help.

I went full time with Utah Virtual Academy this year. While it has been an adjustment, we are getting used to our new life. I love my job. . .which I have never really experienced. I have thoughts of staying with K12 for the rest of my career. They are very awesome and allow for so much flexibility with family life.

Ben is half way through the second grade year. He is doing very well with his teacher and is really a bright student. We look forward to the coming year when we can move to a neighborhood where some boys live. :)Ben is constantly a friend to his sisters and loves his family.

Rachel started kindergarten this year. She loves it and is anxious to go to school everyday. She has natural talent for making friends and is always coming home telling me about each new person she made friends with that day. What I find amazing is her ability to remember the names of the children in her class. She really takes a personal interest in them.

Emily is still our cute little pumpkin. I can't believe she is four already. She has such a playful and fun personality. She keeps us all light hearted and happy in the home. She has been so patient with my work schedule and rarely complains.

Next year we will welcome another girl into our family. We are all looking forward to that moment. The kids are very interested in the coming baby. We feel very blessed that this pregnancy is progressing normally. Hopefully I can handle a little tiny one again. It's been awhile and life is so different from what it was.

So, there you have. A Christmas update from me to you. Let me end by just saying how I love my Savior. His birth, life, death, and resurrection are the true miracles in this world. Merry Christmas.

Love, The Baxter Family

Finally Caught Up

Well, I think that I am finally caught up. . .well, when this post is done. My kids are out riding bikes right now. . . with no shoes on. I watched them for a little while and thought "If I was a really great mom I would probably make them get shoes on. I would proabably also make them disassemble their makeshift bike jump that looks quite unstable." But, it is just so nice and quiet in this house right now. I hate to do anything that might make it end. It was really funny watching Emily try to get up the jump with her tiny bike and training wheels. She tried and tried. . .but didn't want to get going fast. Once again I thought to myself "if I was a great mom I would go outside and help Emily get up that jump." Instead I watched her frustration increase until Ben and Rachel came and pushed her up and over the jump. At least she has a brother and a sister watching out for her.

Anyway, to close up my marathon day of posting I thought I would end with Halloween. We had our Baxter Family Halloween Party at Wheeler Farms this year. It was quite fun and actually relaxing. Afterward we drove up to Silver Lake and walked around.




Halloween was also a good time this year. Minus the rain. We went out anyway. . . and five minutes late had to go home because Rachel's shoes "were not waterproof" and she was crying because of her wet feet. No worries. A couple minutes later we had her in snow boots and we were back on the prowl. We got plenty of candy and my kids were hyped up on it for about 3 days. I am glad it is all gone now. Our neighbor painted us that awesome Halloween Pokemon pumpkin in the second pic.




So, that is it. I am done blogging just in time to go through the major holidays. We have our big sonogram appointment this Wednesday. It is a pretty big thing at our house discussing whether this baby is a boy or a girl. I am the only one who thinks it is a girl. It will be fun to know. I just hope the rest of the family can accept it when they find out that I am right. If I am cool I will blog it. :) See you then.

Emily's Birthday

Emily's birthday was October 4th. Poor Little Emily. Nate and I both had to work in Salt Lake on her birthday. Thank goodness for grandparents who made sure she had fun all day. My baby is four years old. She loves her older siblings and will follow them to the ends of the earth. She is a good girl. I work all day everyday and she is so patient with that. She quietly entertains herself and never causes me any trouble. She saves her trouble causing for when I am not working :). Emily still gives us kisses on special occasions and loves to be tickled. We do homework every night with Ben and Rachel. Emily loves to do her homework too. . . out of one of those preschool workbooks. She really is a doll. I keep wondering when she will stop being so cute. . maybe never. She is very excited for a new baby to come to our house and I am sure she will make a wonderful big sister.

Ten Years. . . Ten Years

This year Nate and I celebrated our tenth anniversary. Hard to believe that it has been that long. We have known each other for 17 years. Pizza, pizza in 1993. We met doing the dishes. I remember just talking for a couple of hours because. . . well, frankly, there was nothing better to do. We were stuck there for the night with a pile of greasy, disgusting pans. We just hit it off. I was hooked immediately. We had the wonderful blessing of developing a very solid friendship over those first years. It has made our marriage better. We have been on a lot of rocky roads over the years. I am just so glad that I have been on those roads with Nathan. And, I have to say, it is awesome to be on some smoother roads with him now. :)

We were hoping to do something really awesome for our tenth anniversary but that didn't work. So we stayed in Park City at the Waldorff Astoria. Way too classy for us. Valet parking only. We had a great time and enjoyed swimming in their very heated pool under the stars and a full moon. The jacuzzi was great too, if you minus the drunk people who seemed to gravitate to that point. We shopped (because I love to and Nate knows it), we had a nice hike, we ate, we went down the zip line at the Olympic park. We had a lovely time. And one day, Nate will take me to Italy for our anniversary. I am sure of it. Oh yea, and we still like to shove cake up in the other one's face. . . figuratively speaking. True Love. :)

Rachel is SIX

Rachel had her sixth birthday on September 23rd. She is such a stellar little lady. Starting school this year has been a wonderful adventure for her and she is proving to be very good at it. She has already gotten a safety award in an assembly for learning the rules of the school and doing them and this last week we got a note that said she had been invited to be the student council representative for her class. I know, she is only in kindergarten and not likely to do much with that. . .but it just shows her personality. She is very obedient by nature. A trait that I am sure will serve her well for many years. She is also a leader. She often comes home and tells me about how she befriended a new person or stood up for a student who was getting picked on. I think part of it is being one of the oldest in her grade, but she seems to take on responsibilities easily. Rachel is a joy to my life. :)

Some Things Never Change

My girls will always be Daddy's girls.

Neighborhood Parade

These are the kinds of things I don't want to forget as my children get older. The kids and their friends put together there own parade. I was the one and only spectator. . . I tried to cheer really loud.

Red Butte Gardens

Let's see, this was done on Labor Day. We went to Red Butte Gardens. Surprisingly enough, I didn't hear any butt jokes that day. They are plentiful every other day :). We had a nice time as the weather was perfect. . . although I remember Nate was kind of sick that day. Anyway, it was still a nice daycation and we took some cute pics.

Ben's Baptism

BOO!!!
Wow, it's Halloween. That means I didn't blog once for the entirety of October. I have a ton of things to catch up on so I will just give this a whirl.
First off, the reason for not blogging.. . life is just crazy. You know how they say you only use 10% of your brain. Well, work is taking up at least 5%. . . probably closer to 7% of my brain. That leaves me a measly 3% to handle the more important things in my life. The kids have adapted incredibly well to our schedule. I have adapted. . .not as well as them. I so don't have it in me to get motivated to blog. Yet, i don't want to leave all of the lovely things happening behind. So, let's start with Ben's Baptism.

Well, we were very excited for this event. Many of our family memebers made the long drive to Ogden in order to be with us on Labor Day weekend.

Doesn't Ben look handsome. All ready to go. We, of course were running late, so let's hurry! But before we could get out the door the phone rings because. . .

something is wrong. The doors to the Stake Center are locked. What in the world!!! Phone call, phone call, phone call. . . .finally over an hour later success. Someone who has a key to the building and the font.
Gracious family waiting and waiting.. .


Finally inside, we still have to fill the font. Apparently Labor Day weekend is the worst weekend to have a baptism. It came down to a simple mistake. . . the guy in charge forgot and was out of town for Labor Day. The baptism was supposed to start at 6:30. We started about 2 hours later. You know what though, we still had a beautiful baptism. It was really neat to watch Ben be baptized and recieve the Holy Ghost. He isn't a man of many words. After the baptism he simply said "I feel good."
Ben was baptized along with a sweet girl in our ward. . . Anna.

Our family. . . they are just awesome. Not one of them complained about the long wait.



So, it was a really fun day. We had a nice bar-b-q before. . . so at least everyone had full belly's during the wait. We can't say enough about how much we love our family. Can't say enough about how much we love Ben!

The First Day!

Two children in school. Slowly my children are growing up and leaving the nest. I will tell you what, Rachel just couldn't wait. She was so excited to start kindergarten. In fact she said "I just can't believe it is FINALLY time for me to go to kindergarten." It was better than Christmas for her. I took her that afternoon for her first day. She was a little shy and I sat on the stage with her until they were ready to start. Then they told us to wave goodbye and I left my girl to start finding her own way in the world. She comes home everyday telling me about her new friends. I think it is amazing to her that there are so many girls in the world to play with. This will be a very happy year for her. :)

Now, Ben. He was not excited at all for school to start. I can't believe he is already at that stage of "my favorite subject is recess". However, I have to say that he is doing great so far. He has a new to teaching teacher and he seems to like her. He has to read and write 3 sentences for homework every night. He tries to think of how he can say what he wants to say in the fewest words possible, which Nate praised and I condemned. Another attribute that must come with being a boy.. . for the most part. There are always some exceptions. All in all, for how difficult the school year ended last year, so far this year things seem to be going well.

Back to the grind stone. It is nice to have kids in bed before 10 pm and start to regain a little of the evening time. We are trying to be on a schedule of homework at seven, jammies by eight, and in bed by 8:30 . . . well, I mean quiet time. They still don't go to sleep until 9:30 or 10:00, but at least they are out of my hair. . . I mean that in the nicest way possible. :)

Ben's Birthday

Well, Ben's birthday was a big hit. We had all the neighborhood kids over for a celebration. Games, a pinata, and of course cake and ice cream. Planning parties is stressful for me. I am not amazing at it in anyway, shape, or form. However, I am determined that all three kids will get to have a kid birthday party this year. . . so now I have one down. I wish I were more like my sister in law who has amazingly creative birthday parties. Anyway, on with the show.
Ben's favorite gift this year is a remote control airplane he bought with birthday money we gave him. When Nate and I went to buy the plane we didn't see exactly what Ben was looking for, plus they were all pretty expensive. Now, I don't mind Ben getting a nice toy. . .but I did want him to understand that he had a set amount of money for his birthday. If he chose to spend it all on a remote controlled plane then he could. I don't know, I just wanted him to take good care of it and be happy with it because he would have to give up other presents to get it. In the end, it has been a great present. It is a remote controlled plane about 10 inches long. It is very lite weight and sensitive. You have to fly it at a big park because it can get some distance. I highly recommend it to anyone who may want a beginner remote controlled plane.
I can't believe Ben is 8 years old. He is such a cute kid and we love him so much. He has been nothing but fun since the day he was born. He is a wonderful older brother and great example to his sisters. He does love to tease them now, but they also play together and get along wonderfully. Today I went in the bedroom where they were playing and asked if I could play with them too. They told me no because it would be too embarrassing. Apparently it is not cool to play in front of your mom when you are 8.

Here We Are!

The crazy fast summer is over. And, it has been crazy. We were supposed to move mid August but the week before we (when I say we I really mean Nathan) decided that we didn't want to rent anymore. So, we have been trying to get someone to give us a home loan. . . it may be a few more months before that pans out. If anyone has talked to me personally then you probably know I had to eat some words I may have said at the end of the school year. I won't reiterate them. I still have hope that we will get moved by Christmas.
In more exciting news, we found out that we are expecting another baby. I am only about 9 weeks now and haven't even gotten to the first doctors appointment. It seems like things are going pretty normal so far. Nate and I already have a bet about whether or not it will be a boy or a girl. It's a girl . . . I am telling you right now. Nate thinks I am crazy. We'll see who's crazy. :)

So, aside from those things, I have also started working full time with Utah Virtual Academy. Still special ed, just a bigger case load and I am still working from home, which I love. Aside from the distractions (housework, children, and the list goes on and on). Nate has been working with his new company, Accu-System, for about 8 or 9 weeks now. He mostly redesigns machines that are made to cut wood cabinets or a ton of other wood things. He likes it there. The people and the job. It's a pretty secure job since the engineering team only consists of himself and an electrical engineer. Our two jobs together are a much needed blessing and the only reason we can even think of buying a house right now.

Now, summer has been filled with a lot of fun. Recap.

Isn't this the cutest picture of my girls. Rachel has turned into an excellent big sister and it shows.
We had our Stalker family reunion at Jordanelle. It was a lot of fun as usual.

We went to Lagoon. We debated because we went on one of those terrible rain storm days. It poured rain until about 1:30 but we trudged on and the sun came out about 2pm and stayed out for the rest of the day. We had a fabulous time. I was so glad we still went. Half the reason was because a couple of years ago the same thing happened and we chickened out, only to have the sun come out about 12:30 and taunt us for the rest of the day. I was not going to let that happen again.

For a catch up blog, this is short. Coming soon are the first day of school, Ben's birthday and baptism, and then the girl's birthdays as well. I am sad to see summer go, but glad to have some structure again. I'll be back soon. :)

Wait JUNE, wait, Come Back!!!!!

I simply can't believe June is already over. July isn't going to go any slower either. Man, I love summer. It's so easy going. We stay up late and the kids sleep in until 9am pretty much every day. I wake up earlier, but just have lots of quiet time in the morning. It is wonderful. So far summer has been fabulous. We kicked it off with that great memorial day trip and here is some of our other adventures.

Family Reunion
This was a very extended family reunion for Grandpa Baxter's family. The kids just had a blast exploring around Mutual Dell. The highlight was this awesome zip line.




Ok, so that was fun. A few days later my kids and Nate decided to officially kill my birthday. . . by destroying my huge birthday balloon. :) I told them all that my birthday would live on as long as the balloon did. I think that balloon would have lasted until next year. So, my little family took matters into their own hand. The balloon did well until Nate got to it. Then it was over. I am still mourning the loss.




Antelope Island
What to say about Antelope Island. The first time we went was last year. I think we went on a warm spring day in April or May. It was beautiful. No smells or bugs. This year we wanted to go again but didn't get around to it until the second week of June. As we drove over the pass from the main land to the island the most atrocious smell hit. I thought I was going to barf. I held my breath over the entire pass. Now, once we got over the pass the smell was significantly better and we were able to have a pretty good time. Bugs were plentiful, but it was fairly harmless little flies. We didn't get any bug bites, although we did put on bug spray. The water does look a little gross. Lots of little floaties. I didn't mind putting my feet in it, but I did not want to touch it. Nate was less afraid and got down and dirty with the kids. He always does. I love him. :)




Nobody told the kids that fully submersing themselves in this water could be harmful to their health. We just let them play. They had a great time. . . and I learned to take my trip to Antelope Island before May is over. . . probably in late April or Early May.

Just a fun little side note trivia. At the end of June we have officially gone through 5 bags of Popsicles and about 200 otter pops. Early in the summer I decided to make Popsicles and microwave popcorn the snacks of choice. They are cheap and I don't mind feeding them to the neighborhood kids. On the down side, our yard constantly needs picking up due to hundreds of popsicle sticks and otter pop wrappers. Don't worry. The kids do it. I also make them clean their room every day. They are beginning to not like me. HAHAHA.


Waterfall Canyon
Waterfall canyon is a beautiful hike. It is fairly challenging. Mostly uphill with many large rocks to climb up. It is well worth the effort. Unfortunately for us, this is the hike that we dropped our camera in the creek. Thus, I only came out with one picture from the entire hike. I know, we are still in the parking lot. . . but I promise we made it to the top.
Miraculously, after dropping our camera in the water, it still works. I brought it home. Took the back off of it and let it dry out for almost 2 weeks. The day I decided to brave it and put it back together I prayed that it would work. Now is not the time for us to have to buy a new camera. I closed my eyes and flipped it on. I almost jumped for joy that it still worked. It doesn't have even one problem. I personally attribute this to a blessing of tithing. God is good to us. I am grateful.


Just the Boys
Nate takes Ben on a special camp out every year. I can't say enough about how much Ben looks forward to this event. This year they rented a kayak and went to a breathtaking little reservoir east of Ogden. They had such an good time. . . until they got stranded on the way home. The road was closed because of a terrible accident in which five people died. They had to wait about three hours before they could get through. Other than that though, they had a blast.



Random Ramblings
If you didn't already know, Nate scored a job in Taylorsville. He started this week and it is going well. Consequently, we have decided to move closer to the family. I think we have settled on Lehi as it is half way between family and his new job. We are hoping this job will be a longer term situation and we can settle down for a few years. We are planning on moving sometime the last week of July. Hopefully we will find a place by then or we may have to live in my parents motor home for a few weeks. :) We can't wait to be back close to our family and friends. It's really exciting. It has been 8 years since we moved away to get Nate into school. We have gone through lots of wonderful growing adventures during that time, but I am ready to move on. :) I am ready to come home. I was thinking that might never happen so I am just thrilled with these current events. I can't wait. :)