4 States...1 Day!

Well, we haven't been up to Montana for a really long time...so, we decided to take Courtney and DIllon for fall break and head up to see Sandie and Dick. Okay, so we love the flight benefits from Chris working at US Airways, but sometimes those benefits are not quite as wonderful and they appear to be!!

On Wednesday, we flew to Salt Lake to see Jessica and get a couple of quick hair-cuts! Jessica came up and met us and we had a great visit with her. On Thursday morning, we went back to the airport and hopped on a plane headed to Spokane, Washington. At the time, I didn't realize just how far of a drive it was to Missoula but firgured it out while we were in mid-flight! We got there and jumped into a car and started our unbelievably beatiful 3 hour drive...from Washington, through part of Idaho and into Montana! We got there Thursday evening and visited with Sandie and Dick a little bit and had dinner. Spent all day Friday with Chris' mom and saw some of his good friends. We all went to the favorite pizza place for dinner and then Saturday morning started heading back!

"Montana" in Grandma Sandie's backyard

Driving back from Montana through Idaho and into Washington!

Back in Salt Lake City, UT (and, yes, it's snowing!)

"BUMPED!"

So, we drove the three hours back to Spokane, WA. Got on a flight that was supposed to make a "quick" stop in SLC and then on to PHX. When we landed in SLC we were just in the middle of upgrading our seats to move closer to the front of the plane and we hear an announcement asking the "Baker party of 4" to meet them in the jetway! It felt like we had been called to the principal's office! Well, the flight was full and we were bumped off. This was like 1:00 in the afternoon on Saturday...we tried every flight out of there all day until there were no more and finally gave up. Called Jessica to come up and get us and got a room and stayed until Sunday morning, when we went back to the airport to wait again! The flights were actually all overbooked for Sunday and we thought maybe we would have to fly to Las Vegas and then try to get home from there - but lucked out because there was trouble with one of the morning flights and by the time they got it out 4 hours late they had moved some passengers to other airlines for the connections so it opened up enough seats that we finally got on and got home! It was long and tiring, as you can tell from Courtney's next picture!

Ahhh...finally on a flight on our way home!

Journey to West Africa

Dillon volunteered to be in a West African band at school a couple of weeks ago. He had to go early to school for about a month (7:30 am) for practices - he loved it and had a blast. They did a performance for the student body on the last day of school before fall break. They played the hand drums so long during one song, Dillon said his shoulder's were getting sore! The pictures are really blurry, sorry.

Dillon and one of his best friends "little Joe"

Homecoming 2008

Tyler went to his first dance this last weekend...Homecoming!

What a good-looking kid!

This was their "Day Activity" at Bounce U. They went the weekend before - you know they have to make the dances last at least a week now!

"Tyler and Morgan"

All the guys went to Priesthood then they picked up their dates and headed over to the Hardy's house for "group Pictures" There were 20 couples in their group - so it quite the undertaking!

This is a small sample of the guys in the group

(Quentin, Matt, Joe, Van, Ty, and Dave)

That's a handsome bunch!!

After the pictures, they headed over to Perk's house for a "Costa Vida" type dinner. Then they all went over to the dance - why do they call it a dance when no one ever dances anymore? They had pictures there and left! Went over to Gulbrandsen's for Ice Cream Sundaes...which they ended up wearing, and that was actually the plan! They swam, got the whipping cream all cleaned off (in the pool - poor pool guy) and most of them headed to Joes to watch a movie.

All in all, Tyler said he had a really good time.

If I can find pictures of the ice cream part, I'll add them later.

Woopsie!

Well, it appears I spoke to soon about our good fortune of NOT getting puppies...Bella had 3 puppies last Thursday night! Aren't they the cutest white rats you've ever seen? haha

So...if anyone knows of someone who's looking for the PERFECT Christmas Puppy...have them call me! It's hard to guess still - and I'll probably be wrong, but they all look like girls!

I just saw this on Courtney's blog and just had to copy and paste it here - too funny! Here is some tips for while your dog is having puppies...DONT WATCH!! It is nasty, I promise it smells very bad and its a bad sight, but hopefully soon they will be cute and clean!!! Haha! Dillon and Chris were here for the first two and then Courtney and I got to see the last puppy being born. Bad idea like she said!

To bring you up to date with our BORING lives...

So, I've been chastized by Jessica now, because it's been over a month and I haven't posted anything...There just has not been too much to say, I guess.

Except for that Madison was baptized by Tyler on Saturday, September 13th. Jessica gave a really great talk on the Holy Ghost at the baptism too, it was a really great day for everyone. Maddy was really excited to be able to have her brother baptize her and her great-grandpa Johnson confirm her a member of the Church. I got these pictures from Brad, I'm so glad he took them - I totally forgot to take a camera. oops...

Other than that, seriously nothing is going on around here. Jessica hasn't come hom from Utah since the Baptism and my hair is getting too long if that's something! I guess I'll have to go up there and get out of this rediculous heat and get my hair cut up there - I would love to get out of here!

I guess some good news is that we thought we were going to have MORE dogs around here by now, but Bella hasn't had any...so I guess she just hasn't lost her baby weight from the last time! Thank goodness!!

COURTNEY IS A TEENAGER!!

Courtney turned 13 on August 24th...She's so grown up now!

We had the "standard" BR ice-cream cake and presents with just our family.

Courtney asked for new bedding for her bedroom - which is "new" to her, because we moved her into Jessica's old room - it's bigger. She loves it...it's Black and White polka dot!

We love Courtney and the fun she brings to our family. She tries her best to keep us all in line and remembering to do the things we know we're supposed to be doing. She is a great example to all of us. She has grown up so pretty and she has so many new friends at Stapley - she is having a really fun year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY!!

Claiming Our Legacy of Faith - August 2008

Our ward did a Pioneer Trek for our youth a couple weeks ago. We have a great family in our ward that has a ranch just outside of Superior and they let our ward use it for the Trek.

Both Tyler and Courtney were able to go on the Trek. Chris and I were able to be a part of it also, by being on the food committee. Now, I know that we ALL had some pretty negative things to say about going on this trek. We knew it was going to be HOT...it was! We knew it was bad timing being the last weekend before school started...it was, but not as bad as we thought! We knew serving food to 130 people 3 times a day would be a lot of work...and it was! But, IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!

Has anyone ever gone on a Pioneer Trek without having a few negative things to say before going? Not here in my house...But, we always come home with nothing but positive things to say about having gone. I guess that's the point, right?

The handcart pioneers had to deal with extreme cold weather and I know that I HATE cold weather, and in my opinion, there's nothing worse than being cold. But, having really hot weather for our Trek gave our kids sort of an idea of how awful it was for them to have had to deal with the bad weather. And they obviously didn't have all the resources we have now to deal with the medical conditions - we are very lucky. Although we did have a few people "go down" due to the heat. We played some fun water games where everyone got to get really wet to get their bodies cooled down. Both Courtney and Tyler had some really great things to say about going on the Trek. They were both put in awesome families with super ma's and pa's that looked out for them and took care of them. I know Courtney's Mawas pretty concerned about her, being that the wagon wheels were taller than she was and wondering if she would get decapitated by the front bar on the handcart! But, I know she helped her family - I watched her push that handcart up a huge steep hill on the women's pull with just four other girls in her family. And Tyler's family was so grateful to him - he was the biggest guy on their handcart (besides his pa) and he worked HARD the whole time. Still, a week later they keep stopping me in the halls to tell me how much they enjoyed having him as part of their family and how hard he worked. What a trooper! I'm so glad that they had the opportunity to do this Trek, I know that they now have a greater appreciation for the pioneers and more specifically our own ancestors who crossed the plains to get to the Salt Lake Valley and beyond, and that their testimony's have been strengthened through this experience.

At the house, before leaving and getting all dirty and grimy!

"Water Games"


This is Courtney's Ma & Pa here on the left! It was really hot!

After a good nights rest(?), and some breakfast, they're off for some more trekking...

All the "Men" leaving for The Mormon Battalion...The Women's Pull up "Rocky Ridge"

The Forrest Family

The Boehme Family

Cooling off after the last trek day!