The Baker Family

Happy New Year!

2012-01-29T22:30:00.001-08:00

Joel had to work on New Years Eve, so Jaden, the babies and I had a party at home! We played games! Talked to Family on Oovoo! Had Martinelli’s, shrimp moose, It was a blast!! Don’t you like my leopard pajamas! Happy New Year!

A Baker’s Christmas!!

2012-01-29T22:11:00.001-08:00

We were so exited for the festivities to begin! We made cookies and had hot chocolate! All the presents have been wrapped! Christmas cookies for Santa decorated with the Glauser boys! Christmas Eve pot luck with the Bakers. Christmas Eve in front of the tree! Jaden Landon Preston All ready for Santa! It’s Christmas Morning!! Landon Preston Opening presents! I told Jaden that I forgot to a present in my car and asked if he could go get it and when we went into the garage he found his new bike! Jaden made bank! Preston’s Loot! Landon Christmas Dinner! Dessert!!

A Major Update!!

2011-12-25T22:30:00.001-08:00

The last couple months have just been crazy fast!! It’s been so fun though! Here’s a quick update as to what we’ve been up to:

November 1st our tree and hot cocoa station went up! We’ve been able to enjoy them all season long. We even had a pumpkin roll to kick off the Thanksgiving season.

Jaden and I got busy baking yummy cookies for the season.

Landon starts to get up on his knees!

We venture out to the zoo and a fun picnic in the park.

The boys start solids!! What a mess

A crawling Landon!!Landon can now stand up in his crib. Time to lower it!!! Safety First!!

The boys love to walk around in their walkers. They can go anywhere even on carpet and they love to be were we are all the time. I call them my posy because the follow me where ever I go. Poor Preston. Landon can move and does all kinds of things to him and he’s helpless just sitting there not being able to move. Sterling and Sarah came to visit!They boys love to take a bath. They splash the whole time and get water everywhere!!! It’s so fun to watch.They can now hold their bottles!! Yahoo!!! They love watching baby Einstein. Greatest baby sitter when I need to go take a shower.

A Major Update!!

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

Thanks giving was so much fun. We all were there for Thanksgiving at my parents in Sierra Vista. My mom had set up a fun “Sweet Christmas” all decked out with such cute decorations, a candy tree and even a fun Candy Bar!! We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner trimmed with all the best! We played games, watched movies and even found time to take family pictures.

A Major Update!!

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

The next day we had a Christmas party! We had all made sugar cookies and made it a contest to see who had the best recipe. We all voted and Graham and Cherise won! My mom set up for the grandkids to all decorate cookies before our contest!

A Major Update!!

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

That night the boys all got together and made all of us an Italian feast! It was so good and they let us girls play games while they cooked!!

A Major Update!!

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

Jaden was given a play dough set which he loves and plays with all the time. The family also got a family cookbook, a new and very much needed knife set and aprons for the whole family!! We’ve loved making cookies and goodies in our new aprons!!Every night we enjoy turning on the tree lights, having some hot chocolate and enjoy listening to Christmas music. We went and decorated Joel’s Dad’s head stone for the holidays. Joel visits there often to remember his dad.Jaden loves to help mommy in the kitchen! He’s such a good little helper. Even Joel got into it one day!We’ve had fun making muddy Buddies, holiday style. Preston so desperately wants to do what Landon can do so we propped him up next to Landon and He leaned on him for support. So cute. It’s almost Christmas Eve and we’re ready for the occasion!!!

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T23:38:00.001-07:00

I used Landon to help me get our Halloween costumes put together the other day. Doesn’t he look great!

We babysat Graham and Cherise’s kids the other night and had fun making Halloween sugar cookies and decorating them.

Jaden dressed up as a sheriff and Preston dressed up as a cowboy.

Landon was an Indian.

My three little boys! Cowboy and Indian with Jaden keeping the peace as Sheriff.

We went to our ward’s Trunk or Treat.

It was such a fun party. It felt like an old fashion Halloween. So nice.

They served Chili and Cornbread. Every one brought something and it was a blast. They even had a contest to see who’s Chili was the best.

Our Cowboys

and the Indians!!!

Landon does this all the time. I think it’s so funny that he props his feet up. Just sit back and relax.

After the trunk or treat we went to the Marana Pumpkin Patch. Normally I would have done this during the day, but we decided to go to Sierra Vista to go to a Haunted Hayride with my parents so this weekend the only time we could do it in our day was in the evening. We had a blast though and the best part, no crowds or lines.

Jaden got to jump around on a giant pillow.

I’m the one always taking the pictures so I had to take one of me to show I was there.

We went on a fun tracker train ride through a corn field. Spooky at night.

We then went through a straw maze

Went through a petting Zoo.

It was really a lot of fun!

On Sunday we carved our pumpkins. Jaden had picked his from the pumpkin patch. I asked him when we were at the patch what he was looking for and he said he was going to find the biggest pumpkin ever. I wasn’t to keen on this since it was $.50 a lb. Lucky for us what he thought was big wasn’t too bad.

Jaden designed his own pumpkin telling me what he wanted for every detail.

Halloween Night! We all headed out to Gladden Farms to go to a block party with Graham, Cherise, Kathryn and London! It was so fun!

Kathryn drove up from Sierra Vista to hang out with us and go trick or treating. She looked awesome with London dressed as Ursula and Arial. Right down to her flounder bucket.

Thanks Kathryn for coming up and spending time with us!!!

Halloween this year was so fun!! Now it’s time to put up Christmas.

It was only $10!!

2011-10-26T15:50:00.001-07:00

So, after watching the NATE show I got this idea that I needed to put a dresser or table in my dinning room. I didn’t have any money for something store bought so I went on a search for something cheap at the goodwill and garage sales. I found this dresser at a garage sale for only $10. I know it’s not the best thing, but it works.

I decided to paint it read so it would accent some of my other accessories

So, here it is

what do you think? I really do what some input. Should I keep it? Toss it? Sell it? What about to put on it? Are the lamps too much? Any suggestions??

It’s Fall!!!

2011-10-23T22:49:00.001-07:00

Now that it’s fall Jaden and I have been busy doing all kinds of fun stuff. Here are some of our highlights. We made Monster Pudding!

We made these fun candy corn pretzel treats while having a fun play date with on old high school friend.

We painted fall pictures

We made pretzel chocolate sticks and went on a picnic at the park for visiting teaching.

This past Saturday we all went down to Sierra Vista to my parents house to enjoy some fall festivities. We went on a nature walk with Grandpa

Landon propped his feet up for the walk.

We had a fun, yummy dinner at Grandma’s house and then headed out to a haunted hay ride!!

They had all kinds of fun games and treats for the kids.

Kathryn, Ryne and London all came with us too. We had a lot of fun going in a Corn Maze and seeing all the costume around.

This was us all ready to go on the hay ride. We were so exited.

This crazy clown wouldn’t leave us alone. Jaden got so scared he buried his head in my shirt the whole rest of the way.

For a fun treat we made these fun Rice Krispy Pumpkins as a snack and had our first cup of Apple Cider for the season when we got back from the Haunted Hay Ride.

We had such a fun time and really enjoyed seeing Grandma and Grandpa too!!

Twinnie Update!

2011-10-23T22:11:00.001-07:00

We took the twinnies out on a walk on a nice cool morning. They were all bundled up.

The boys can now sit up on their own and are starting to get up on their knees. They love to play together!

Jaden put this ninja mask on Preston. His eyes look so blue. I thought it was so funny.

I went in to get Landon after his nap and found him peaking over the side. These are the teddy bears Grandma Glauser gave the boys at their birth. They sleep with them in their cribs and will find comfort in them by sucking on their soft fur.

They are such happy boys. Always so good.

We went up to Gilbert to go to our Nieces Baptism and Blessing and they were dressed up so cute. We even spent some time with their Grandma Cheryl.

A Mommy and Jaden Date Night!

2011-10-16T21:45:00.001-07:00

Disney’s Toy Story On Ice

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

A Fun weekend of Candy Caramel Apples

2011-10-10T08:37:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was a blast! We started out early by going to Jaden’s soccer game. This is his team with coach Joey. Funny enough I’m the assistant coach. It’s kind of interesting with the babies, but the moms on the sidelines help me out and are happy too.

The babies were so tuckered out after the game, I was glad because it allowed me time to get ready for our caramel candy apple decorating party.

I got this idea off of Pinterest. I think it turned out cute! For our guests we had a fun spread of finger foods.

Hot Dog Mummy’s and Orange Crush drinks.

All our supplies ready to go. Everyone was instructed to bring their own supplies and then we could swap if we wanted.

Mom and Sarah decorating their apples!

Sterling and his wife Sarah melting their chocolate!

My apples were coming along. Here are a few in process!

Kathryn working on her master Pieces!

Cherise and Sarah chilling while they wait for more chocolate!

Mom’s caramel apples. They are looking awesome!

It was so much fun to come up with all the designs. I loved it! So much fun stuff to work with.

Mom packaging up her apples!

Sterling and Sarah getting their packaged up too. They used this cute twine too. So cute.

My finished apples! I think they turned out great!

Let the Fall Festivities Begin!

2011-10-04T22:33:00.001-07:00

Jaden and I sat down and made a long list of all the fun things we wanted to do this fall. We then typed it all up and made our “Fall Bucket List” We have already marked off 2 things.

Jaden and I made a Monster Wreath together out of Styrofoam and a purple boa and eyes.

Jaden wanted to put some feet on him so we used a pair from his Mr. Potato head.

I think it turned out cute!

We also made a yummy pumpkin roll! It turned out so good.

Baker Family Update!

2011-09-30T21:51:00.001-07:00

The twinnies are now over 8 months old! Can you believe it!! They have grown so fast. They are getting so big. Both babies are now able to sit up and eat solids.

My 10 year high school reunion was this past weekend. At first I wasn’t going to go but as we got closer to the date I decided, this is one of those, once in a life time events that you should go to and that if I didn’t I would always say, what if? So I went. I took the babies and Jaden and we went the night before to the football game at the high school. It was fun and I’m so glad I went. Everyone was really nice and warming. They all liked my kids and even Jaden had fun at the football game. We came home and he told me that, “they even had a marching band”. I didn’t even know he knew what that was. He’s such a cutie.

Out of our class of 450 something people, only 27 showed up. Sad, but it was fun.

Thank heavens my good friend, Warren Grantham and his wife Megan were there to talk to. We also sat with Eddie Mott and Lisa Faulker. We had a blast reminiscing about the past.

Jaden has been practicing writing his abc’s and he’s been doing a great job. We are working on his reading and he’s so far doing so well. I had him start reading a small little phonics' book and I almost started crying when he read his first sentence. It was just precious.

In Jaden’s room he had stuff all over the floor and it just felt a little cluttered, there really wasn’t a “home” for everything so I thought of putting in a book shelf to house his stuff so his floor was free of clutter. I think it turned out great. Only $26 too!!

In the picture frames we are going to put pictures of Jaden’s grandparents so he will always be able to see them and remember who they are. While we were at it. We also went through and labeled everything.

The boys are so happy to play with all their toys. We rotate them out so they never get tired of them. This is were I hide them.

Look at those baby blues!!

He’s teething, can you tell?

Jaden is now in the mode where he doesn’t like to pose for the camera.

Fall is in full swing in our house! I love the fall!! We are even going to make a pumpkin roll this Sunday Night as a family activity and we broke out the coco-motion maker for the first time tonight!! Yummy!! The fun creamers are already out in stores!

They play so well together!

This fall we started Jaden in soccer. So far he loves it. He will practice in the house all the time. Even getting in his cleats and shin guards.

The babies love taking baths! Preston on the left, Landon on the right.

Every time they get a bath we lotion them up and they absolutely love the mini message they get.

Today was the first day that both babies tried a puff! Messy eaters. I feed both babies at the same time. One is in the normal high chair and the other one sits on top of the table in a booster seat. I just go back and forth from one to the other. Same spoon, same food. I figure if one is going to get sick the other one will too. so why not make it easy on myself.

Anyway there you go. Way more information than you wanted I’m sure.

Jaden’s 5th Birthday!

2011-09-21T17:05:00.001-07:00

For Jaden’s Pirate Party we had an awesome Food buffet! Jaden dressed up as Captain Jaden Hook!

Annual Birthday Quiz:

If you could change your name what would it be? Super hero Jaden J

When was the last time you cried? I don’t know
What do you like to draw? all kinds of pictures, well my most favoritest thing of drawing was when we went up to Cheryl’s house and I drawled that picture of Tim when we went to the park.

What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? umm, peanut butter sandwich
Do you have any dolls or stuffed animals? what are we talking about here. well I have bears and all kinds of stuffed animals.

Who are you friends with? Keegan. cuz he’s my best buddy. That’s why we are friends. Sometimes we don’t get along.

Do you have a tickle spot? why do we have to do this? After not answering the question for awhile he said, you have to be patient. what now: on my pitty. That’s where it is.

Do you still have your tonsils? what does that mean? Yes.
Would you bungee jump? What does that mean? when I explained it he said. I would do it when I go mountain climbing. because mountain climbing is fun. because one time when I was 3 I didn’t get to but now that I’m 5 I get to. Is mountain climbing for 5 year olds or do they have to be older? I’m five and I’m older so I can go mountain climbing.
What is your favorite cereal? there’s round things and there’s circles and is there’s colors and it’s cereal. and it does not have a whole in the middle.
Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? yes.

We had each kid come in and start painting and decorating their own treasure box with jewels and fun stickers.Each kid as they came through the door sat down to get their pirate scruffy on!
Do you think you are strong? yes. Do you want to see hoe strong I am. I’m very strong. Do you want to see?
What is your favorite ice cream? Ice cream with cut m&m’s.
What is the first thing you notice about people? My cousins.
Green or Blue? green or blue what? My favorite color is all the boy colors except white and yellow.

Once everyone was at the party we started out Treasure Hunt for the Pirate Booty! Each kid received a compass and the first clue was read aloud by Ben who has a great Pirate voice!
What is your favorite thing to play with? toy story toys. no actually my cars that’s my favoritest, favoritest thing to play with.

Who do you miss the most? Tim.
What color pants and shoes are you wearing? green and white pants and a blue shirt.

What was the last thing you ate? waffles. Cuz that’s what I had for breakfast.

What are you listening to right now? questions for you mommy.

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?well half would be red and the other half would be blue.
Favorite smell? Air.
Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Cheryl
Favorite sports to watch? Soccer

After each kid received their tattoo the next clue was given:
Hair color? I don’t know. I think my hair is hazel.
Eye color? Hazel.

Do you wear contacts? what does that mean. well, I don’t think so.
Scary movies or Happy endings? scary movies.

Summer or Winter? Winter

All the kids were to pop the cannon balls (balloons) to find the next clue! Once they did they all got a Ring Pop and the clue was read aloud!

Hugs or Kisses? Hugs and Kisses
Favorite Dessert? Cookies. Chocolate chip.
What book are you reading right now? I’m not reading any books.

What is on your mouse pad? mouse pad? what is a mouse pad?

The kids went outside for a Fire in the Hole competition. They had to eat a Power Covered Sea Urchin (doughnut) before the other team did to will their next prize. A pirate’s earing!! We then played musical freeze on the Islands. (Musical Chairs) to pirate music. It was really fun. They the next clue was given:

Do you like to get up early or stay up late? Stay up early

Favorite thing to do outside? Look for treasure!

What song do you like to sing? Twinkle little star

Favorite summer vacation? going to the pool. Disney land is also my most favorite adventure too. even going to the wavy pool and the lazy river.

Are you old? yep. I’m older because I’m 5
How old? 5

Then the final clue was given to find the Pirate’s Treasure!

The kids all had a blast finding the treasure and picking out all their gold candy!

We sang Happy Birthday and Jaden just loved his fun parrty!

Thanks to all those that came to the parrty and for the wonderful gifts. We sure did have fun!!

An Update!

2011-09-14T20:53:00.001-07:00

All my babies!!! Can you tell who’s who? I now can. The one on the left is Landon and the one on the right is Preston. My cutie Jaden has liked sporting a red mustache. When he notices it fading he’ll make sure to reapply by having a nice cup of cherry limeade. He’s so funny.

Jaden drew this picture of the babies and him. He says the biggest one is Jesus and the other two are him and Joel and the one with hair is me. When I asked him who the babies are he said the big one is Landon and the small one is Preston because that’s how they are in real life. I had to laugh because Landon is only a few ounces different then Preston but he’s known as the big baby.

Preston and Landon in the morning, playing with some fun toys!!

Landon

Preston

Jaden wanted to play with Landon one day and decided to put him in a laundry basket and went for a ride. Landon loved it up until Jaden I guess got bored of that and left him in there alone crying.

The boys all ready to go to church.

Landon is doing so well sitting up now. He’s almost able to do it completely by himself without falling over. Preston is still working on it.

A Sneak Peak into my Family History Wall!

2011-09-12T21:13:00.001-07:00

I have come so far with this wall. First It was difficult to find out who was who in these pictures. Then I had to hunt down frames and other odds and ends to create it cheap. All my frames were under $3.00 and that’s pretty good I think. Then I had to figure out the sizes and who would go where and so on. It has been a lot of fun though. I’m just waiting on my family tree that I created online. It should look like this:

I’ve laid out all my frames on the floor to figure out a layout plan. Here is what I have so far. I’m looking to cover most of my entry way wall with this so I hope it fits.

I spray painted all the frames myself. I first spray painted my frames gold and then covered them in candle wax. Then I spray painted them black. When they were dry I went over them with sand paper and flaked off some of the black paint to see the gold shine through. I think they turned out awesome and they really do have an older look to them.

So what do you think? Any suggestions?

Odds and Ends!!

2011-09-05T21:58:00.001-07:00

So, I’m in project mode again. This time I’m doing a family History Project. It’s actually a wall of pictures and a bookcase full of family history items and journals. I found these great finds at the goodwill. Liz has really helped me to see the possibilities in things. I’ve never been crafty and this is my first attempt.

I’ll show you the finished project once I’m done, but it’s going to be big!

These are some vintage toys that Cheryl, my mother in law gave us. I love vintage toys and our nursery is that theme.

Then I found these vintage toys at the goodwill too!

Cheryl also gave Jaden some fun cookie making things for his birthday. He had a blast using all the fun cookie cutters, cookie mix, candies, frosting and so much more. He had so much fun.

That’s Preston

He did a great job!

The boys are starting to sit up, eat solids, roll over and are getting so big.

They love watching Baby Einstein!! As you can see.

Cook for the Day!

2011-08-30T21:32:00.001-07:00

On our “Summer Fun Things To Do List” we did Cook for the Day! Jaden chose to make waffles for breakfast!

Jaden loved being able to do everything for the making of our waffles.

He even wanted to pour the batter, which I was a little scared about but he did a great job!

This is what Jaden usually does when we make waffles. The strawberries through the handy Pampered Chef Egg slicer. Such a cool tool. What would we do without it.

They were so delicious and fun for him too.

For lunch Jaden wanted to make his own Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with chips and a cottage cheese and salsa dip.

He did a great job. I now have him make his own a lot now that I know he can do it.

For dinner, Jaden chose to make homemade pizzas and Root Beer Floats!

Preston so exited!

They are getting so big. I think it’s funny how in almost every picture of Landon, he’s never smiling.

He had so much fun putting on all the toppings. He chose half peperoni and half ham and pineapple.

He looks like a pilgrim in this picture.

The pizza turned out so well. It was what we call, “Delicioso!!” Jaden will say that all the time.

It was Jaden’s first time having Root Beer Floats too! He loved them!

Another great summer day!

My Newest Project!

2011-08-25T16:46:00.001-07:00

I recently bought this new book shelf at IKEA and I’m so exited about it. I have stored all my Journals on it and in the baskets have put papers and things still needing to be journaled. I love it because it’s all in one place and a constant reminder of them. I love to do MyPublisher! On top I have displayed some of my favorite family history items. First the picture of Christ was given to us by Joel’s dad which I love because it totally warms up this area. The lamp I got at Real Deals and it’s just adorable. I’ve had my eye on it forever!

My mom put together this floral arrangement for me awhile back and my dad is allowing me to display my grandfather’s flag. The picture is of Joel’s dad Tim and Tim’s Grandmother. I love this fame it already came in. The old-fashioned soap dish was mine but inside is a pocket watch we found in Tim’s things and his class ring. I’m going to try to find out who the pocket watch belonged to. There are also coins that Tim collected that are from some of the countries that Joel traveled to with his dad after his mission. Australia and New Zealand.

The books are all the books that have been written from our Grandparents on both sides of the family. I was surprised to see how many there were. The small one on top we found in some of Tim’s books that we were able to recover from going to the Goodwill. Inside it has his grandmothers name. It was her personal bible. The small skinny one is also something we recovered and it was Tim’s baby book. no pictures by really old and fun to look at. His mom wrote a lot about his childhood in it.

The picture is of Tim as a kid. I’m not finished with this yet because I would like to add at least one picture of each of our grandparents on it in old fun frames. I’m still looking for frames at the goodwill and for the right pictures.

Last but not least behind the lamp is a glass container that I love and inside are my most favorite chocolates. Ferrer Rocher. They just look so elegant and fancy that I wanted to have them on their for a fun flare. on the other side of the wall I’m looking to hang a family tree going back 5 generations and family pictures of our ancestors. I’ll let you know when I have that done. I love having this in my entry way. it is a constant reminder of were we came from and the people that came before us. I love history and especially family history.

I recently got this and couldn’t find a place in the room to put it so I put it on the door. I like it!

This is the finished wall in the babies nursery. I added the feet picture that Liz did of our new family. Here’s a close up.

Campout!

2011-08-24T18:16:00.001-07:00

One of the things on our “Summer Fun Things To Do List” is to have a campout, but because it’s so hot and we have little babies, we decided to just have a campout at home!

We roasted hot dogs and had corn on the cob!

We built a fire and got ready for a fun night!

Jaden was so exited and helped me get everything all ready!

After dinner we got the babies down to bed and put up Jaden’s tent in his room.

Then we turned out all the lights and headed back outside for some smores and scary stories.

Our smores were so good because we put reeses peanut butter cup inside with our marshmallow!

While out there Jaden said, “Let’s tell ghost stories”, we said ok, then he put the flashlight up to his face and started his story. I was so amazed that he even knew to do that I asked him. Where did you learn that from. His reply, “I saw it on “Finious and Ferb”. He’s so cute!

My story was so cool because I actually got Jaden to jump. Hee hee!

After our fun outside, we went inside for a story and Jaden got to sleep in his tent!

We had such a blast! I really think we pulled of a great campout for Jaden!

Look at What I got at the Goodwill!

2011-08-23T23:25:00.001-07:00

Growing up we had some really fun Banana Split Bowels so when I found these at the goodwill, I had to have them! It’s such a fond memory I have and I love that I can now share that memory with my boys! I also found these two vases. The glass one goes on my personal desk where I put a single flower. and the yellow one is just so much fun!

Our Staycation to the Arizona Grand Hotel!

2011-08-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

We started out on our staycation and drove up to Flagstaff where Joel was able to shadow our good friend Levi who is now a Nurse anesthetist. He really had fun since that is what Joel is going to school to become. While they were at work I hung out with my good friend Suzi! We were really good friends when we lived in Queen Creek. The next day we headed back to Phoenix and went to the Arizona Grand Hotel!

It was such a beautiful hotel! Green and lush! Right away Jaden and I ran down to the waterpark and pools!

We ordered ice cream pool side and soaked up the sun all day!

That night we took the babies out too and had fun holding them in their little floating boats while we went down the Lazy River! They loved getting wet and it was really their first time in a pool! Jaden loved the waive pool and fountains you can play in.

We even had our own little cabana so we could hide the stroller.

Jaden loved having the whole family room area to himself and he could watch whatever he wanted on TV. He also got a hold of my camera while we were watching a movie and took some pictures of his cars. He’s so funny.

We went out to one of our most favorite restaurants, Charleston’s. It was so good. We shared our favorite, spinach and artichoke dip, and shared our entry, baby back ribs and a fully loaded baked potato! I love that place. When we got back to the hotel we met up with Sterling and Sarah for a swim!

After two nights at the Arizona Grand we checked out and went to the Arizona Science Museum! We really had a lot of fun and I know Jaden especially did too! Afterwards we met up with Liz and her family and Sterling and Sarah again for dinner out at the Rainforest Café! It was so much fun and exciting! Jaden kept saying he saw Nemo in the tank and loved going around to the different animals that move and looking at them. Especially when the storm started!

That night we spent it at Liz’s house and had fun seeing their brand new baby Natalie! What a little cutie she is. Thanks Liz and Ben for letting us stay with you guys! From there we woke up to a pancake breakfast and headed off to IKEA (That is after Joel and Ben spent 3 hours helping Sterling move a piano into his second floor apartment, not on the plan for my last day of vacation) None the less the vacation was a total blast! I got to get out of the house for a few days! Have fun and I even picked up my two pieces of furniture I’ve been waiting to get for some time now!! Pictures to come soon! Now back to the same o same o!

Identical Twins!

2011-08-21T14:05:00.001-07:00

I was looking at some old family pictures for my family history wall I’m trying to put together and I came across this picture of Joel’s mom, who is also an identical twin. I couldn’t believe how much a like they all look. Look at their faces! They are practically the same!!

Summer Fun Things To Do!!

2011-08-05T12:35:00.001-07:00

While at my sister Liz’s house I took a really good idea that she does to with her kids. Jaden and I sat down and thought of all the fun things we wanted to do this summer. Then I typed them up and posted the list on our pantry. We have been having a blast with the whole thing! Checking off things we have done on our list and now having somewhere to go to see what we want to do for the day!

One of the things we did first was we got Jaden all kinds of fun paints, brushes and paper. He went to town painting pictures and has had a blast. Even I got in on all the fun. We first started out making a poster with fun glitter to put our post it notes on of what we wanted to do, but that didn’t work and we had so much that we wanted to do it was covering up our notes we we came up with our list.

Jaden’s good friend Keegan came over to play so we decorated Sugar cookies! Jaden painted a bird house! We made fun animals and bugs out of palm palm balls and other fun stuff! This is one I made! Isn’t it a cute bee! We decorated cup cakes for my visiting teaching ladies! and we even put together this fun tree house! Some of the other fun things we’ve done so far this summer: Watch a movie and cuddle, Go to the park, Go to Frost for Gelato, Paint pictures, Dinner in the park, Drink a fun drink on the patio, Go to a tree house movie with Jaden. We saw HOP!, We wrote a letter to Jaden’s Grandma, Sleepover with a cousin, Learn how to tell time, Play with a friend, Make a fort, and there’s so much more we haven’t done yet that we are so exited to do. So if you would like to join us, let me know. We are more then welcome to include anyone that wants to!!!

6 Month Update!

2011-08-03T23:31:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it’s been 6 months since my little twinnies were born!! That’s crazy how fast that time has gone. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it though. I have really tried to live in the moment and soak them up as much as I can because I know how fast this small stage goes by. They are still sleeping through the night and have been for some time. It has gotten so much easier as time has gone by.

I thought this was so funny when I saw Preston falling out of his swing with the blanket over his head. I lifted up the blanket and that was his look at me. I now strap him in!!

Both boys are getting so strong. They can both hold their heads up without bobeling. They can both hold themselves up with their hands pushed up and they are doing better with tummy time. Preston is now weighing in at 15 lbs 9 oz. and Landon at 15 lbs 12 oz.

We are working on getting them to eat solids. So far they haven’t done very well and when I give it to Preston he spits it out all over and gives me this disgusted look. I consulted with their doctor and she said to try fruits or veggies first because the taste of cereal isn’t all that great and they might take a liking to it more, but that if they don’t start eating by 7 months then we might have to bring in a specialist.

Jaden has gotten into this mode of standing on his head. He’ll run and jump onto the couch and stand on his head. He’s so funny. he loves to make up tricks and perform them for me and the babies. Whenever the babies are crying he’ll say “the babies just want to see their big brother” He’s also gotten into this mode of making signs on his door. Some of them read “Only girls allowed” and “No bad guys allowed” it’s so fun to see his little personality come out.

Jaden loves to play with the babies! They also love to watch him and see what he does. I can tell they are learning a lot from him. I have to keep reminding Jaden that he has to be a good example for the babies because the watch everything that he does.

Jaden snapped a picture of me while feeding one of the babies. This is pretty much what I do all day. The good thing about it is that I can watch all my favorite shows and not feel guilty for watching so much TV during the day. Just to give you an idea of what I do now, I feed the babies 14 to 16 bottles a day and I change 18-20 diapers a day. Thank goodness for my bottle sterilizer!! We go through 2 36 oz. value size cans of formula a week. That’s 8 cans of formula a month costing $144 a month on formula alone. We go through a box of diapers a week. That’s 4 boxes of diapers a month. Costing $100.00 at least a month.

I thought this was such a cute outfit given to us by the Laulusa’s!

Joel likes to dress the boys alike, even though he said he would never do that.

Frost’s Gelato!!

2011-08-02T20:18:00.001-07:00

Kathryn and London enjoying some yummy Strawberry Gelato! One of the things on my Summer Fun List of things to do was to go to Gelato and enjoy some yummy goodness! I got the one with Ferrer Rocher in it. My favorite and Jaden got of course, Bubble Gum. We invited along my sister in-law Amy and her son Tyson to have some too. They come here all the time. We had a blast and it was so fun to get out of the house!

Decorating the Nursery, Kid Bathroom and Jaden’s big boy room!!

2011-08-01T23:08:00.001-07:00

A little while ago I finished the nursery!

My mom made these adorable quilts for the boys! I love that they have their names on them.

The outfits that are in the shadow boxes were worn by the boys in the NICU. To honor Joel’s dad we put a picture of him holding the boys in their room. This was the last picture taken of Tim. He took me to the hospital to see the boys when Joel wasn’t able to. It was the last time he would see them alive. This is the boy’s bathroom! Jaden’s Bedroom! My mom painted these pictures for Jaden!! Don’t they look awesome! I think I’m done with the kids rooms for now!! What do you think?

Sugar Cookies!!

2011-07-28T22:24:00.001-07:00

One of Jaden’s favorite things to do is have a fun drink on the patio! He’s constantly asking me to go out and sit. It’s so hot, so rarely I go out there.

Jaden’s best buddy Keegan came over for the day to play. We decided to make some yummy sugar cookies!

We had a lot of fun decorating them. They were all animal shapes so it made it even more exiting.

Here’s a few of mine! I admit it, I love to decorate too.

They had a blast and we were even able to off load a lot of cookies to Keegan’s family!

I thought this was a cute pair of pajamas we were given by someone in our ward.

Dinner at the Park!

2011-07-27T11:28:00.001-07:00

For fun we picked up some Chipotle and headed to the park for a little night out. We met up with Joel’s sisters Amy and Mary and their kids.

We had fun seeing Amy’s new little dog Marley and It was funny seeing how many people came up to us commenting on our twinnies. We must really look like a freak show or something.

The babies loved getting outside and the weather was so nice and cool.

Jaden taking pictures

2011-07-23T21:58:00.001-07:00

Jaden got a hold of the camera and was taking some fun pictures of the twinnies and I.

We somehow took this picture on the ground. I thought it was so funny.

The boys are starting to teeth and the drool has already begun. They are a little more cranky, but it’s not too bad.

All my cute little babies!!

2011-07-18T17:05:00.001-07:00

My little boys are all getting so big. On Tuesday the twinies will be 6 months old!! I can’t believe they are already that old. They are such good babies and I couldn’t have had it more easy with them. I actually hope that if we have more, that I have another set of girl twins then I could be done in 3 pregnancies. That would be welcomed so I’ll put it out there in the universe. Here are some pictures of them from the last couple of months.

Joel giving Preston a bath!

I found Preston falling out of his swing with the blanket over his face. I thought it was so funny I had to take a picture.

all my cute little babies!

Jaden standing on his head.

We are having such a fun summer!

I’ve lost 10 pounds already!!

2011-07-15T21:25:00.001-07:00

So it’s now been right around 3 weeks since I started my Lean Cuisine life style and it really seems to be working. Since I have started 3 weeks ago I have lost 10lbs. I’m so exited because I have seen results just about every day. It’s so cool. I don’t feel like I’m going without, cutting back, or eating anything I don’t want. It all tastes so good, I can have snacks if I want and I am just so satisfied that I find I really don’t have any snacks. Here are a few of the meals that I have had.

I have found that if I take the meal out of the trey it comes in after it is cooked and I put it on these fun summer plates It looks like more food and I fill the rest up with veggies and It totally feels me till the next meal. The cool part is that all the meals are under 300 calories each so it’s easy to have a nice good meal without feeling guilty for having so much. Go me!!

Crockpot Cooking!!

2011-07-12T14:00:00.001-07:00

For a long time now I've always talked about how I love my crock pot cooking and people are always asking me for the recipes but I've just always forgotten to get it to them. Well, here you go for anyone that wants to try them out. These are my favorite ones so far that are awesome and most of all, easy. (p.s. the pictures I took off the internet so they don’t look exactly like this but very close.)

Dips:

Southwest Bean Party Dip
1/2 to 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey, browned and drained
2 cans (15 ounces each) refried beans
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes and chilies, with liquid
1 package taco seasoning
1 pound Velveeta cheese, cubed

Combine all ingredients in greased 4 1/2 to 6-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat 3-4 hours or on high heat 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes until cheese is melted. Makes 12-15 servings.

Serve with tortillas or tortilla chips.

Turkey:

Creamy Mushroom Turkey
3 to 4 pounds boneless turkey breast
2 cans (10.5 ounces each) cream of mushroom soup, condensed
1 can (4 ounces) mushroom pieces, drained or 1/2 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 cup sour cream

Place turkey breast in greased 4 1/2 to 6-quart slow cooker. In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients, except sour cream. Spoon mixture over turkey. Cover and cook on low heat 8-10 hours. An hour before serving, break turkey breast into large chunks with two forks. Stir in sour cream. Cover and cook remaining hour. Makes 10-12 servings.

Serve over steamed rice.

Chicken:

Cheesy Chicken
4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans (10.5 ounces each) cream of chicken soup, condensed
1 can (10.75 ounces) cheddar cheese soup, condensed
1 teaspoon dried rosemary or dill

Place chicken in greased 4 1/2 to 6-quart slow cooker. In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours or on high heat 3-4 hours. Makes 8-10 servings.

Serve over noodles or rice.

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken
2 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup salsa
1 can (15 ounces) corn or fresh or frozen
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained
1 package taco seasoning
1/2 cup sour cream 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Place chicken in greased 3 1/2 to 5-quart slow cooker. Pour broth, salsa, corn, beans, and taco seasoning over chicken. Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours or on high heat 3-4 hours. Separate chicken with forks. Add sour cream and cheese on top. Makes 3-5 servings.

Serve with tortilla chips, tortillas or alone.

All-Day Salsa Chicken
3 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 jar (16 ounces) chunky salsa
1 can (10.5 ounces) cream of chicken soup, condensed

Place chicken breasts in greased 3 to 4 1/2-quart slow cooker. In a bowl, combine salsa and soup. pour mixture over chicken. Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours. Makes 4-6 servings.

Serve with rice if desired.

Desserts:

Perfect Peach Cobbler
1 can (29 ounces) peach slices, with juice
1 can (21 ounces) peach pie filling
1 white or yellow cake mix
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut
1/8 cup butter or margarine, thinly sliced

Pour juice from peaches into a separate bowl. Spread pie filling and peaches on bottom of greased 4 1/2 to 6-quart slow cooker. Sprinkle cake mix, cinnamon, and coconut over top. Pour peach juice over dry ingredients. Place butter slices over the dry areas. Cover and cook on low heat 4 hours or on high heat 2 hours. Makes 10-12 servings.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping.

I hope you have fun trying out these fun crock pot recipes!! Let me know what you think after you have tried them!

Happy Independence Day!!

2011-07-04T23:39:00.001-07:00

This was such a fun day today! Jaden and I went to the pool with his cousins. It was nice to get out of the house and to enjoy some fun in the sun.

This afternoon Jaden and I made some yummy rice Krispy treats for our BBQ party we were invited to.

We went to Joel’s sister, Amy’s house for a fun BBQ with family. We are hot dogs, lite sparklers, took care of babies and had a good time.

Once it got dark, we headed down to the park for some fireworks!

The best part was we were able to get home within 10 minutes of the show ending. Love it.

Thank you to all those who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom. Especially my dad who served in Iraq only a short time ago. We love and appreciate you!!

The boys then and now!

2011-07-02T22:41:00.001-07:00

I thought it would be fun to see what the boys looked like a little after they were

born and how they compare now. They have grown so much.

Landon Nicholas Baker 1 day old then and Landon now.

Preston on the left Landon on the right- in both pictures.

Preston Joel Baker 1 day old then. Preston now

My twinies!

2011-07-02T22:17:00.001-07:00

My two little cuties are chilling on the floor!

Do you know who’s who? Me neither. J/K

This one’s Landon & This one’s Preston

All my babies parked in front of the TV. They love to look at

Jaden and see what he’s doing. They are just barley able to

sit up in these walkers. Their feet don't even touch the

ground yet. They are getting big fast though. I’m loving

every minute of it.