SNOW DAY #4!!

Yep, that's right...Kevin gets a 6 day weekend!! Friday classes were cancelled as well. We woke up to almost an inch more of snow this morning but the sun is shining brightly now and it's supposed to warm up significantly tomorrow and Sunday which will hopefully melt all this nasty ice on the trees, thus reducing the threat of more power outages with falling branches. HOWEVER...Monday is supposed to bring another huge snowstorm!! And depending on how the storm travels before it gets here, we could get anywhere from 3 to 10 inches of more snow! But at least they're just forecasting snow and no more ice...let's hope it stays that way!

We'll keep you posted on the exciting weather times here in Louisville! In the meantime, have a great weekend!

SNOW DAY #3!!

Once again, school was cancelled for Kevin today...much to our surprise. We thought for sure Kevin would have a late start for classes today but were shocked to get the email last night saying they were totally cancelled. And we were even more shocked to have already received the email saying tomorrow's classes (Day #4) are cancelled as well. Woohoo....it's like having an early Spring Break!! Except that the weather is nasty.

So, no pictures from today. But we did finally get out of the house...after Kevin chiseled our car out of under the sheet of ice that was on it. We had some serious cabin fever so we risked getting out of our treacherous parking lot (thanks to a very skilled Canadian-experienced driver!!!) and made our way through our neighborhood. This is where I wish we had pictures...it's like a war zone out there. Deep ruts in the snow, trees and branches down everywhere and even a few downed power lines. But once you make it to the main roads, all is clear...so we made our way to the mall to have lunch and let Alexa get some of her wiggles out.

Upon returning home, we found we were needed to help a fellow church member get her car unstuck...but after many attempts, it was conceded that she was just going to have to wait until the snow melted (due to the nature of her car and the nature of her parking lot - it just wasn't feasible!!). But as we left to help her, a UPS truck had gotten stuck in the entrance to our parking lot. Thankfully (again this Canadian-experience driver showed some serious skillz!!), we were able to squeeze past the UPS truck to get out of our parking lot, but when we came back, the driver had gotten himself in an even worse position, making it impossible to come back in. We contemplated parking on the street but didn't feel that was the most safe decision, so we parked in the parking lot below our building as they had been plowed but for some reason ours had not!

After a couple hours, the UPS guy finally managed to get himself unstuck and so we ventured out again to return our car to our normal parking space and decided to grab a few groceries while we were out since there's a chance for more snow tonight. FABULOUS!! We'll most likely be home bound again for the weekend. But at least Kevin doesn't have classes tomorrow and now we have food AND we still have our power...so we're among the lucky ones. My heart really does go out to those who are still without power though as I know what you're going through and I pray that the power will be restored soon!

I wonder what Snow Day #4 will bring...

SNOW DAY #2!!

So classes were cancelled again for Kevin today! And the weather was actually worse this morning than it was yesterday. We've had periods of freezing rain interspersed with snow, which makes for some pretty treacherous conditions! In fact, 100,000 people in Louisville are now without power due to downed power lines. I'm SOOOOO grateful that we still have ours...I honestly don't think I could have handled it after our 8 day power outage back in September! I just hope everyone gets their power back on soon. Here's a look at what we're dealing with right now. The first batch of pics are from during the storm this morning.

These first two are looking out off our back balcony.

And these two are from our front porch.

And these are from after the storm. I have to admit, things look pretty...but I sure don't want to go out in these conditions!

And I'm especially glad we didn't park our car underneath this tree. It's a holly tree that is normally straight up but with the weight of the snow and ice, is practically laying on our neighbor's car. Let's hope it doesn't break with the pressure!

I really am looking forward to 70 degree winter days and not having to deal with storms like these once we move back out west!!!

Practice makes perfect!

Alexa is taking her almost new role as the big sister very seriously! She's very protective of her "baby moose" and has to sleep with him every night and at nap time. Well, tonight...she also needed to change his bum and make sure he was all clean. At first, she was just having me help with the diaper, but then she went over by the table and got out the changing pad and the wipes and proceeded to very efficiently change his bum (despite using 1/2 the package of wipes!!). She's going to be such a great help when the baby arrives!

SNOW DAY!!

It still makes me laugh that a couple inches of snow can shut a city down...but that's exactly what's happened here today. I guess that's just my Canadian blood coming out - 3 inches is a "skiff" of snow. I don't ever remember having a snow day growing up and we would have snow piled up almost as high as the roof of the school some days. Anywho, I digress...today is a snow day and Kevin even had classes cancelled, although he had a huge test scheduled for this morning that he would have preferred to have just gotten over and done with, but we enjoy having him home. Especially when we get to play in the snow.

Alexa was so excited. She loves to "walk in the nose". That's how she pronounces "snow". And yes, those are crocs she is wearing. We are very ill-prepared for snow around this house. I had to put warm tights on, then jeans, then socks over the bottom of the jeans and then her crocs. We don't have boots or snowpants or anything of that nature here!! And we don't really intend on investing in any either seeing as we'll be heading back to Arizona in a little over a year and won't have a need for such crazy things! :-)

This is the best shot we could get of Alexa and myself as she was pretty much to her breaking point. But she did enjoy making snow angels with daddy right before that.

And I had to post a THEN and NOW segment...we had a huge snowstorm last March which was Alexa's first experience in real snow. She's wearing the same jacket but she sure has grown up a lot between now and then...my chubby little girl has sprouted up!

Kevin was sliding down the hill in our parking lot as it not only snowed but icy rain fell as well so it was pretty slick and Alexa thought it was fun. So here's a video of her enjoying "sliding" down the hill Alexa style and then of her just enjoying being outside in the "nose"!

A brief reprieve...

So we had a break in the cold weather here in Kentucky and actually had a rather spring-like day. And of course we took advantage of it to get outside. Not to mention that we'd been sick at home all week anyways because of the stomach flu, so it was nice to get outside for the first time in days!! Alexa absolutely loved being somewhere other than our living room and was so eager to explore everything at a park we haven't been to in months!

Unfortunately, the weather is supposed to turn cold again tomorrow....where oh where are the nice warm days of summer???? I'm not sure how much more of this I can take!!!

100 Days and counting...

Only 100 more days (give or take a few) until our second bundle of joy arrives!! How excited I am to see the days move to 2-digit numbers instead of 3-digits!! Although I'm nervous at the thought of having two little ones to contend with, I'm excited to meet this little girl who keeps me up late at night with her tae kwon do moves, has made me feel nauseous, has made me gain weight, makes me extremely tired AND hungry all the time, makes me visit the ladies room WAY too much, etc!! :-) Here's to 100 days...let's hope these last 3+ months go as quickly as the first 6 have!!!

Two Years & Two Months

Our little princess is growing up faster than we would like...yet at the same time, I love this stage where she is learning so much every day, talking so much more and becoming more independent by the second!! Alexa received a late Christmas present this week from my wonderful friend, Taffney C., and as you can see Alexa LOVES it! She really is our little princess...she can be so girly at times, loving to dress up, play with dolls, play with her little kitchen...but she also loves trains, cars, blocks and wrestling with her daddy!

She's also my own personal cheering section...she'll tell us "good job mom/dad" all the time but my favorite so far was at church this past Sunday. Since Kevin is in the bishopric, Alexa and I are on our own during Sacrament Meeting and, thankfully, she is an angel and does so well just sitting on my lap, sitting next to me, coloring, eating snacks, etc. I never have to take her out...knock on wood that that continues!! Anyways, we had just finished singing a hymn and she looked up at me and said "good job singing mom"!!! Awwwww...talk about making me feel good.

We're also on the verge of a new phase...potty training. I've purchased all the supplies that I think we'll need and Alexa has been showing interest for several months now so I think it's time to give it a go. However, she came down with the stomach flu again yesterday and so we'll most likely hold off until next week. I'd really like to have this task accomplished prior to baby #2 arriving at the end of April but we'll see how it goes. I'm not going to stress or push her, we'll just take it one day at a time. Wish us luck...next week we'll most likely be stuck at home close to the potty!! Ohhhhh...she really is growing up, isn't she??!!!

Baby Update - 6 Months

This pregnancy has flown compared to my pregnancy with Alexa. I guess I have other things to be focused on this time around!! Anyways, things are going well. This past month was a busy one and a sick one for our household. In fact, Alexa seems to have just come down with yet another cold after JUST getting over a nasty one. Gotta love the winter!! I've been feeling pretty good though...gained a little too much over Christmas but hopefully that'll taper off over the next couple months. :-) I'm feeling Payton move ALL the time now. She's a mover and a shaker just like Alexa was, although I think she's sitting a lot lower as I only feel her moving from my belly button down, whereas Alexa was all over the place. I still am hungry 100% of the time and extremely exhausted 100% of the time. I thought I was supposed to get some spurt of energy in the 2nd trimester but no such luck. Oh well. I can't complain too much though, this pregnancy has been pretty easy.

A cute little tidbit...Alexa is very aware of where baby Payton is right now and what her name is. I don't even have to remind her...when I ask her what her baby sister's name is, she immediately says "Taypon". Apparently, she can't quite say Payton and so gets the "p" and "t" mixed up. But I think it's pretty cute...a nickname for this little one perhaps???? I guess we'll see.

24 weeks

Getting ready for baby...

While we were in Canada, my sister, Jenn, gave me some new clothes for the new baby. I brought them home and put them in Alexa's closet (soon to also be Payton's closet as well since they'll be sharing a room) to await the arrival of this little one. Well, the other day, Alexa found said clothes and insisted on wearing them. I tried and tried to convince her that they weren't for her, they were for the new baby...but she just kept saying "lessa try baby's clothes". And she wouldn't take no for an answer. So here she is, modeling Payton's clothes. A little snug...but I have a feeling in not so many years, I'll be putting out many fires about sisters borrowing each other's clothes!!!

Patience!

I know there are a lot of pictures and posts to look at...but I finally found the time to get this all done. You may want to scroll down to the first post "A fun surprise" and start there. Happy reading...or if you don't want to read, just look at the pics! Enjoy!

Merry Christmas 2008

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day came a day later than the rest of the world since we didn't get home until the morning of Christmas Day. Thankfully Alexa didn't know any different so she wasn't upset at all by it. After we finally arrived home on the morning of the 25th (thank you to our wonderful friends, the Wilkes, who turned on our heat the night before, bought us some groceries to get us through everything being closed on Christmas Day, and for picking us up from the airport), we got organized and had our own little Christmas Eve. We opened our Christmas jammies and Alexa was so cute...she kept saying "tane-too Santa".

Here's our little tree...a little Charlie Brownish but Alexa loved it! Kevin and I had fun putting Alexa's Dora Trike together that evening while watching 'White Christmas'. The trike is a gift from Alexa's Uncle David. He sent us a gift card since he had our name for Christmas and we bought the trike before heading to Canada.

It was a BIG hit with Alexa...eventually! She wasn't quite sure what to think at first! But it's her favorite thing now.

Despite our unexpected delay, we really enjoyed our own little family Christmas and the time we were able to spend together and to focus on the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and wish you all the best in this New Year!

An unexpected delay...

We were scheduled to come home from Canada on December 23rd, with a layover in Chicago...however, the weather had different plans for us!! Due do bad weather in Chicago, our flight leaving Calgary was delayed by 4 hours. We overheard the United lady telling other passengers that if we didn't wait for this flight, there wasn't another available flight leaving Calgary for 2 weeks!! Yikes...we definitely wanted to get home before that, so we buckled down in the airport to wait it out...hoping, praying, wishing that our flight wouldn't be cancelled. And thankfully it wasn't. BUT, since we left Calgary late, we missed our connecting flight in Chicago, which also happened to be the last flight to Louisville that night from Chicago. Fabulous!

On a bright note...Kevin's brother, Duane, was in Chicago with his family visiting his inlaws for the holidays! It couldn't have worked out better for us. Instead of having to wait in a long line at the United Customer Service Desk, Duane and his father-in-law were able to reschedule our flight to Louisville, but not until the morning of the 25th. So we were stuck there for a couple days. Because of that though, Duane also booked us a hotel for those two nights so we didn't have to sleep at the airport!! We are sooooo grateful, more than we can say, for the generosity of family. What could have been a really stressful situation was not so bad. We even got to spend the majority of Christmas Eve with Duane and the Duncans. Here are a few pictures from our unexpected stay in Chicago!

Alexa and Ainsley had so much fun playing together!

And Kevin and Duane had so much fun playing together!! :-)

It was great to be able to see more family at this special time of year. Thank you again, Duane & Emily for helping us out!

My baby brother gets married!!

The day of Sammy's wedding, we got up bright and early to make the 2 1/2 hour drive to Cardston. Jenn was gracious and offered to take Kevin, Alexa and myself which was a nice break from driving!! Here are 4 of us Baker girls (left to right: Katrina, Benita, Jenn and myself). Tausha was there somewhere and Shental wasn't able to make it due to bad weather. This was before the wedding actually took place, while we were all trying to stay warm in the Visitor's Center at the Temple.

And here comes the newly married couple....introducing Sam and Clarissa Baker.

It was so cold that day, so we all would run back inside to warm up for a few minutes and then run back outside to get a few pictures. I'm sad to say that my little family didn't get any pictures with the Bride & Groom all dressed up. We even forgot at the reception that night! But here is one with all the Baker siblings, minus Shental.

This following picture is one of the major reasons why I felt so strongly about going to Canada. My sweet Grandma is 93 years old and probably won't be around too much longer and I just would regret it so much if I didn't get a 4 generation picture with her. I had completely forgotten to do this on our last trip to Canada when Alexa was 9 months old so I am so extremely grateful that I was finally able to do this.

And we can't leave my Grandpa out of the picture! Can you believe he's 95 and still has almost a full head of dark hair????? I so hope I've got his genes!!

Okay, so there is sort of a picture of us with the bride and groom....and all the rest of the families from both sides.

Jenn made their cake and did a spectacular job! It turned out beautiful!

What a fun day! Good luck Sam and Clarissa with this exciting new chapter of your lives! We love you and are so happy we were able to share in your day!