Glimpses

On Wednesday, February 1, we are about to take an incredible step on our journey. With sincere gratitude to Olivia's biological father, we have been given the rights and opportunity to adopt her into our family. I also feel humbled that with the blessing of the five amazing children I share with Sara, I will be adopting them as their mother through life. I so cherish our "not so little" family and perhaps in celebration of this event I want to share with you some of my favorite "Baker Bunch" memories.

As I got to know Brad and what are now five of my six children I felt like I had experienced a piece of heaven…literally. I described it as having tasted a bit of what I hoped eternity might feel like. As life progressed and we began to spend more time together and take on more permanent roles in our unique family, these glimpses were still prevalent, but accompanied by the typical (and sometimes severe) salt of life. Today I want to share with you a few glimpses of hope for eternity that overfill me with joy on a regular basis.

Disclaimer: Because of the disorganization of my memories, please forgive me for the lack of structure as I share them with you. They are not alphabetical nor chronological…those of you who know me well, should not be surprised that I will simply share them as they haphazardly come to mind.


A Surprise Trip to Disneyland


At the end of the 2011 School year, we surprised our kids with a surprise trip to Disneyland. We fooled them pretty well, telling them that we were going to my "Great Uncle Walt's" funeral in Arizona.  The kids had no idea, even seeing the signs and being on Catella Street…

This was almost exactly one year after our first trip to Disneyland as a "Family Honeymoon" of sorts. One of the reasons this trip was so amazing was to see how far our family had come in just under one year. To appreciate my joy in this memory, you would have to understand the comparison of our first trip in 2010.   First, I was very uncertain as a brand new mother of six. I asked my parents to come and help manage the kids (it sounds really silly now, but as a novice mom to parenting so many, Brad and I were both intimidated, and were grateful for the help). In 2011, my confidence and ability to manage the kids was a huge personal win!

Another aspect of this trip that was so wonderful was the kids genuine excitement, not only to be at Disneyland but for the sheer enjoyment of spending time together.  Watching all six of our kids interact as normal and well adjusted was so fulfilling!

As you can see, not every child loved every ride (mostly Olivia who was picky… she still dreads splash mountain) But it was obvious that each of our children love each other…and their parents too.


The Boys Earn and Build Their Chicken Coop

The summer that Brad and I were married, Tyler and Kyle had become obsessed with poultry. After a visit to their Aunt and Uncle's house in Cache Valley, their minds were set on chickens! They asked me at least twenty times a day if they could buy some chickens of their own. After some consideration Brad and I decided to provide them with jobs to earn and save money for lumber and chicks. They worked hard and quickly came up with their own money to buy and raise their own chickens.  There is something unmistakably powerful about work. It was wonderful to see these boys move through life with such purpose after so much heartache. This chicken coop was built after Brads design with the help of the Baker Bunch, sometime in August of 2010.

Brad Finishes the Pond

Brad and Sara had just finished building their new home when they learned of her brain tumor. Throughout her sickness, her death, her funeral...all the awful things they endured... this project laid untouched. It was a very healing thing for Brad to move forward and finish this pond and landscaping, which he did beautifully. It is now an every day reminder of the Lord's healing power in our lives. As I relish its beauty each day, I remember His healing power and the way it has effected our family.

Biking with Brad

Biking is something that Brad and I have in common. We love to be outside and every time we are, he says "This is the life!" he loves to be on his bike. I love to see him happy. It is a neat experience to ride 30-50 miles and feel like you have conquered something together!

Building our Cabin with Roger


This has overall been a great experience! I worried wether things would ever feel comfortable with the Campbell family. I am happy to report that things are not only comfortable but very wonderful! I love the time we spend with Sara's family…which now feel like my family too!

The specific memory that comes to mind here is when we took our entire family to the cabin site to work on the in floor heating. I don't remember the situation, but I had told one of the boys "No" in answer to something, and they turned to ask their dad (that gets frustrating but it happens from time to time) When their dad said "No" they proceeded to the ever obnoxious question, "Why?" Then Roger turns to them and says…"Well, most importantly, your mom said 'No'…" You have no idea! I had to refrain myself from running up to him and planting a kiss on his cheek! I cannot explain why this was so moving to me. It was an overpowering gratitude to feel that he was supporting me and acknowledging me in my current role as "mom"


Brad and I Scuba Certify in Hawaii! 


In June of 2011 we took a trip to Hawaii with some of our closest friends. It was really nice to have some time as "husband and wife".  Most couples grow roots as they slowly grow a family one child at a time. In many ways our husband wife relationship takes a lot of work since we do not yet have the root system that most couples do by the time they have a house full of kids and two teenagers in the mix!

Scuba certifying and this ten day trip to paradise did just the trick! It was really neat to share this unique experience and we are really looking to taking another scuba trip this summer.

Halloween 2011

Kyle is such a good brother! He is so cute with his sisters and you can see how much they admire him! Annie had gone Trick-or-Treating with some friends and Tyler and Katelyn are already a bit old for that so I convinced Kyle to take his sisters. He didn't want to dress up, but he took them all around the neighborhood anyway…what a nice brother!

Tyler and Katelyn stayed home with us, and I had one of the best halloweens ever thanks to my wonderful children! Brad and Tyler played XBox in the next room while Katelyn and I were cozy in the master bedroom eating junk food and watching a scary show. It was awesome! I love hanging out with my kids!

Black Friday with my Girls


If it looks like I am forcing my eyes open in this picture…you're right! This picture was taken around 2 am on black friday. We are just about to scope JC Penney for some awesome deals.

It is awesome when your kids are old enough to come with you to do these things because it is way more fun with them!  And it full out ROCKS when they actually want to do things with you :0) We were all exhausted but honestly, the fact that my girls eagerly woke up in the middle of the night to come and hang out with me at the hectic sales…that was enough to make it all worth it!

Hanging with the Howards


In the beginning, there was quite a bit of animosity from my kids toward my family. Every time we were with them they were concerned as though we might forget about the Bakers or the Campbells. Once everyone was more secure with their place in life they opened their hearts to my family as well and it has been an incredible thing to witness.

 This picture was taken after we shared with our kids some Howard rites of passage, this is some of them after being "hypnotized" for the first time.

As the kids have grown to love me they have simultaneous embraced my family. I feel so blessed to have them. And I love to see their relationships grow because these people really do have a lot to offer them…if I do say so myself :0)

Disneyland with the Campbells


Although we had already been to Disneyland, we could not refuse a family trip with the Campbells, so in November, we went again :0)

 I know I have already mentioned it, but its worth saying again. I feel so blessed for the opportunity to get to know Rog and Jane and their kids. I have really come to love their family!

Christmas Season 2011


A Christmas Carol at Hale Center Theatre has been a long standing tradition in my family since I was a little girl. 2010 we attempted a trip to Salt Lake to see it but, it was a hard year and we had some unhappy kids no matter what we tried.

This year was much more successful. I love to see our kids embracing new traditions along with the old, and just embracing life in general. This is a picture we snuck of Kyle, walking arm and arm with Olivia.

Behind the scenes, Brad and I put a lot of work into this holiday season. We wanted to teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas and help them feel and recognize the spirit of Christ.  One of the things we did was to do away with the name drawing and encourage our kids to buy or make something for each one of their siblings. We hoped this would encourage family unity. All of the kids did a wonderful job at this. I was especially proud of Tyler. He made a list of the things he wanted to buy each member of our family and worked until sundown every afternoon pulling weeds to buy the gifts he planned. He said that he loved this Christmas season more than he ever had before. You can imagine me fighting back tears as I opened my gift from Tyler, in a red box lie a round pendant on a silver chain. It said "mother" on the back was engraved "I love you mom"

On Christmas Eve, we planned to be at home and spend time as a family. The last thing we had planned was to sit by the fire with wassail (my specialty ;0) and share our testimonies. Toward the end of our sharing, Annie said "I know it sounds weird, and I don't know how to describe it, but I feel strong." This was an amazing win! What an opportunity to sit as a family and share our testimonies of the Savior, have our kids receptive to it, and then take the opportunity to explain to them what that feeling of strength is, and what it means.

On Christmas Eve Brad and I were concerned there wouldn't be enough. We had intentionally scaled down a lot this year. It was wonderful for our kids to thoroughly enjoy their Christmas. It was truly not about the getting, but the giving; and through our giving we each received beyond what we could have otherwise planned or even imagined!

We are so truly blessed! What a miracle that we have each other. I feel so grateful to each of you for your love and your prayers. We are strengthened every day and things are so incredibly awesome! Above all I feel overwhelmed with gratitude to a loving Heavenly Father who loves us and knows us in a very personal way. I feel his hand in my life and see it touch those around me every day.