Draper Temple Open House

The kids and I had a chance this weekend to attend the newest temple in Utah, the Draper Temple. It was such a fun and memorable experience. It also made me remember just how blessed we are to live in a country where we have religious freedom. It is wonderful that there are places of refuge from the world so close to us. Before we moved to Idaho, we literally lived just down the hill from this newely constructed temple.

From left to right: Little-ist sister, Brooke, one of the middle-ies sisters, Courtney, babies Clay, Court's hubby, Adam, Morgan, cousin Areianne(kneeling), Me and James-ey.

My sister Courtney's husband, Adam thought it would be a crying shame not to take a photo of us all on the diagonal. He's must know something about the eternities that has evaded the rest of us. Thanks for the super-fun time, Adam and for being such an awesome uncle to the boys. It would have been so sad for us sisters to get together and not be able to experience Twilight again!!!

Check out the Construction Photos of the temple sight. It's amazing how quickly a building of this size and magnitude can be constructed.

James' Potty Party

Wednesday was the day. I had been putting it off long enough and Tyla probably wants her book back so she can start training Clara. When James woke up, the house was decorated like a campout. Josh and I made a tent out of sheets and blankets in the living room. Wildlife coloring pages were taped up on the office door, in our "meadow" right next to the fish pond. I checked out every book and video from the library and had the VCR ready to go along with the books laid out on the fireplace mantle. Then there was the present. "Tommy" James' new friend was wrapped up and waiting for him in the bathroom. We were going to spend the morning camping and unbeknownst to James, helping Tommy be a big boy and go on the potty. We had so much fun taking Tommy to the potty and giving him candy and stickers when he went. He also got stickers and candy for practicing when he had an accident. The real incentive here is that Tommy is a doll and can't really eat the treats so guess who gets excited about taking Tommy to the potty? Yep, James--in fact, it didn't take James long to suggest that Tommy needed to go potty about every 15 minutes.

The morning started with James, Tommy and Mom finding a camping map and then going on a hunt for cool camping things, like a fishing pole, binoculars, a cooler with camping food, play camera, a magnifying glass, cool bugs, a compass--you get the idea...all the things you need for a good campout.

The coolest part of the campout was the "lookout" high in the mountains with lots of leaves and fun things to do--like blow bubbles, color, play guessing games--keep James occupied and distracted long enough to sit on the potty. You get the idea.

The real purpose of the cool "camping lookout" was the potty of course--lots of time to sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and sit and wait...for something to come out.

And when it did...or when it didn't..basically any time we spent on the "lookout" we got to pick a cool sticker to put on the chart.

After nap time, Tommy and mommy had a present for James. Can you guess what it was? James was plenty happy to just go "commando". Luckily, he warmed up to the new "big boy" underwear.

What's a potty celebration without cupcakes and balloons? At the end of the day, we had a family party celebrating James becoming a "Big Boy". He was still undecided and said he was perfectly happy wearing diapers. But by Friday, he had come around and was really excited about picking out his "big boy" underwear. He will even tell me when he has to go...and he's not just crying wolf. He has way too much to do each day to waste time with unnecessary trips to the potty...even though it usually gets him a chance to:

1. flush

2. play in the water(of the sink--not the toilet!)

3. a sticker

4. a treat--we're on sugar overload this week!

Then came to presents. Like most kids his age, James totally loves ripping the paper. It's almost as good as the gift! But wait...unless the gift is DINOSAURS!

Wow! All that hard work and practice time on the potty earned James a present. He was so excited for his dinosaur gift. He loves dinosaurs right now. His Grandpa Baker gave him a BIG book of dinosaur facts including all of the different kinds of dinosaurs from around the planet for Christmas and James loves it! He spends a lot of time during the day looking at the pictures and then acting them out with his dinosaurs. Oh...and remember the origonal "Land Before Time"? I have it on VHS--probably from Morgan and we have watched it over the past week no less that 30 times! Oh Little Foot, don't be sad, you'll see your mommy again some day.

All in all, a very rewarding and fun week---even with all the extra laundry.

What is Valentine's Day without Cookies?

The first bite is always the sweetest!

James just can't wait! Amazing. The kid only eats chicken nuggets, pizza, bagels, applesauce, mandarin oranges, toast and cereal...must love the sugar just like mommy!




My sister and neice came to visit this weekend, so we made some special cookies to celebrate Valentine's Day. I have it on good authority (from several close friends) that this is the best sugar cookie recipe they've ever tasted. Thank's aunt Patty!

What we've been up to...besides living vicariously through Bella, Edward and Jacob.

James is a superhero. Don't get too excited. He is still a lion about twice a week, but he has also been testing out his "super" jumping abilities in his new cape--yes, minus the clothing. He has taken a real fascination to removing his clothing, usually during naptime and I often find him without his pj's in the morning.


Morgan has been keeping busy with the whole growing up thing. She turned 16 and has her driving permit. Only 6 months of driving with Mom until she's free. She got her first guitar for Christmas and was excited. She is also our ward youth director for the upcoming dance festival--lots of cute boys, holding hands, dancing...oh the joys of teenagehood.



Clay's new nickname is "Clay-Clay naughty pants" which I kind of borrowed from his niece, Abby, who is "Abby naughty pants". He climbs on anything and everything. Good thing he can't open doors yet. That is the only thing keeping me sane. Did I mention he is also fond of plant dirt? Here he is helping me unload the dishes. Ya, right!

Is this Christmas or Halloween?

Morgan looks forward to our advent calendar which counts down the days to Christmas. James is finally old enough to get into the spirit this year as you will see Morgan showing him just how the calendar works. You may notice the lion costume. No, it is not Halloween. These pictures were taken on December 1st as we were putting up our Christmas tree. At this time, James had been wearing his lion or monkey costume daily for the past 3 weeks. The only way we can get out of the house without a costume is to tell him that it is in the wash.




Here's the proof! It really is Christmas little lion!

From my little Turkeys

For those of you who haven't given up following my blog--as I haven't posted anything for 5 weeks--you may not want to get too excited and think that I've turned a new corner or something and will be posting more frequently. I guess anything is possible. I did want to point out, however that I did and probably will make it top priority to change my playlist before December 1st even rolled around--F.Y.I. my favorite secular Christmas song is Sleigh Ride--the Johnny Mathis version.

Check out James' cool hat. I know, I'm just getting so crafty in my old age. If you're not creative, like me, just have friends with little kids. Those elementary school teachers are always coming up with cute ideas.

Clay it totally out of here---not that James was torturing him or anything. Look at the totally innocent grin!

"Monkey-ing" Around

Happy Halloween! In my mind it's never too early to start taking Halloween pictures. You just never know how Halloween night is going to go.

James was supposed to be Mr. Incredible from the Incredibles, or as he calls it "Heros Big Trouble". Once he saw baby Clay's monkey costume, he said that Clay could be heros big touble and James could be a monkey.

The cutest baby monkey in the Baker Family Zoo!