So much for posting regularly....LOL

Well, I said I would try, but it didn't happen. LOL... what can I say, life in the Baker household goes by at a rapid rate of speed.
We are all doing well. Rach is cheering again, she is the capitan of the JV squad. She is working her tail off trying to get her back handspring. No easy feat when you are 5'7 and never done tumbling but she is a trooper and she isn't giving up. She is almost there!

Skye is always busy with friends. She is in 8th grade but most people think she is Rachell's older sister. Heaven help us....she is beautiful and outgoing and full of energy. She is great to help around here and her and Rach have become pretty close (GASP!!) and they go many places together.

Grayson is in 4th grade and he is Mr. Social. Wonder where he got that? He loves to skateboard and play baseball. Needless to say, winter is not his favorite time of year because he can't do the two things he loves.

Gordon and I are doing fine....plugging along, trying to keep up with the kids and all their activities.
Hope everyone is well.
Love,
The Baker Brats!

My how time flies....

Wow. It has been a long time since I posted on my blog. I wish I could blame time running away from me, which is partially to blame, but there is some emotional blame there as well. I couldn't bring myself to "bump" my tribute to my Dad. But, life goes on and so must I!

The kids are keeping us SOOOOOO busy! Rach has cheerleading, cheerleading, and more cheerleading! It is competition season in the world of cheerleading. I also try to help Danie out by supervising the cheerleaders at games here and there, although I haven't done that too much. But the exciting news about cheer is that we are going to California for competition at the end of March. I am going with and so is Kelly, and my Mom. Whoo hoo! It will be fun! We will be going to Disneyland and a bunch of other fun places! AND, we get to fly! I would NOT be going if it involved a bus, there is not enough Valium on earth to get me on a bus with 20 cheerleaders for 12+ hours.

Skye is our social butterfly. She is always invited to go here or there and it almost always includes Della. I am pretty sure those two were twins in a previous life. But Skye's big news is that she is going this Friday to an open call for a modeling agency. She went to see Twilight with Della (shocking, I know) and they were approached by a talent scout (I wonder who tipped them off that there would be teenage girls at the opening weekend of Twilight?? LOL) and they called us a few days later and wanted us to bring Skyelor in. Needless to say, it was on the same night as my company Christmas party and I am the committee chairperson. So, we went to my party for a bit and then Gordon left to go and take Skye to this open call. She made the first cut and then they found out she was only 12. Oops....they never told us she had to be at least 13. Of course, for anyone who has seen Skyelor lately they surely understand how they could have mistaken her for older than 12. So, they told Gordon to bring her back in Feb. at their next open call and to make sure that we put down that she has already made the first cut. They have called us twice in the last two weeks to remind us. It seems to be pretty legit. They don't charge us unless she get selected for a shoot and then they get a percentage of her pay. She is so excited!

Grayson is getting ready to start baseball season. He went and got his annual hair cut. For those who don't know, Grayson likes the long shag hairstyle (it IS the cool skater hair do after all ya know?) but he gets it cut every year right before baseball. It looks like Gordon is going to be coaching his team this year. Grayson is so excited for that. Other than that, he is having a good time hanging out with friends and skateboarding.

We got a new addition to our family. Maximus (Max for short) is our new Yellow Lab. He is 6 months old and he is so stinkin' cute! He is such a good boy.

Well, I am going to end this novel for now. But I promise to TRY to keep up better so when I post it doesn't have to be a 10 page novel.

TTFN!

Chelle

My Daddy.....

So I have been putting of this post ever since I started this blog. I kept blaming lack of time as my reason to post, but the reality of it is...I just wasn't ready. Am I ready now? No, but if I wait until I am ready, it will probably never make it on here and my Dad deserves at least that.

Most of you already know the story, but I am just typing what is in my heart. I lost my sweet Daddy on October 4th to complications from lung cancer. He was diagnosed in March 2008 and he had been doing chemo. He was actually doing ok (probably better to say he could have been doing much worse). The tumors in his lungs had shrunk substantially (Dr's words) but the lymph nodes near his collar bone had gotten bigger. The Dr. decided to do a type of chemo that targets lymphoma cancer to see if it would shrink the tumors in his neck. About a week after he had chemo, he began to get very sick. Not chemo sick, just a different sick. He deteriorated a little every day, they admitted him to the hospital to have a blood transfusion and he never got to leave. His kidneys couldn't handle the chemo. So really, he passed away from renal failure. One part of me is so sad that he left us sooner than we expected and the other part of me is so thankful that he didn't have to go through the end stages of cancer. He had been out mowing his lawn the week before and he got to come and see Rach cheer at a Hunter High game.

Words can't even begin to express the heart break I carry with me everyday. A part of me died with my Dad. I will be the first to admit that we had our rough times when I was growing up, but I was always a Daddy's girl. When I was a baby and he was a new detective on patrol (he was a Salt Lake County Sheriff) he use to work nights. But every night when he took his lunch break he would come home, give me my bath, powder me from head to toe, give me my bottle and put me in bed. That was the routine.....every night. When he would go away for work or for schooling he would send me cards in the mail telling me he missed me and to be good for my Mom and he would be home soon. He was strict with me growing up, but now that I am a parent myself, I know why he was so over protective. My Dad made sure that we took a family vacation every year, he managed to always give us not only what we needed, but what we wanted as well while at the same time showing us to appreciate what we were getting and be humble.

Since my Dad died, I have heard so many people use the word "Integrity" to describe my Dad and his character. I couldn't agree more. He had more integrity in his little finger than some do in their entire body. He was loved and admired by so many, but especially me. I love him more than life itself.

He didn't just stop at being a great Dad, he was an amazing Grandpa to all of his Grandkids. Everyone of them have special memories of him and fun things he did with them and for them.

I could type forever and never run out of things to say about my Dad, but I have made this post long enough. So here's to you Daddy, my friend, my mentor, my hero. Watch over me until we meet again. I love you!

Chelle Bug

Tagged by Angie

TV shows I love to watch:
1. ER
2. Survivor
3. Boston Legal
4. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

Places I Love to Shop:
1. Target
2. Walmart
3. Aeropostle (obviously not for me, I couldn't even fit my leg in the clothes there...but my girls like it)
4. Online
5. Kohls

Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. I went back to work after being off for almost 3 weeks!
2. Went to Apollo Burger for dinner (YUM!!!)
3. Went to look for Halloween costumes (unsuccessfully, I might ad)

Things I Look Forward To:
1. The weekend.
2. Seeing my Mom again.
3. WICKED!!!
4. CHRISTMAS!!!! Only 64 more days! Whoo hoo!!!!

Things I Love About Fall:
1. Changing leaves
2. Warm (not HOT) days and cool evenings.
3. Sleeping with my windows open.
4. Fall colors.
5. Football (Go Vikings!)
6. Baseball playoffs and the World Series.

Things On My Wish List:.
1. To pay off my debts
2. Go to Yellowstone with the kids and my Mom.
3. Go on another cruise.
4. Lose weight
5. See my Daddy just one more time....

Okay, so I tag the following people:
1. Monica
2. Sarah
3. Allison

What a weekend!!!

Okay, so we were suppose to go camping with three of Gordon's brothers. We were all heading to Goblin Valley for 3 days of fun and sun. BUT, alas, it was not meant to be. The computer system at Gordon's work experienced a major melt down and they lost ALL of their computer systems; server and all. This was a BIG problem because nobody could clock in and out and it was payroll on Monday. SO, being that he and his boss are the only two people in the computer department, he had to work. Bummer. We decided to hurry and get as much done to go as we could. Me and the kids were scrambling to do the things that Gordon usually does to get us ready for camping. Poor guy was not only trying vigorously to repair the computer system so we could go, he was fielding questions from us on how to do things. Ha ha! Needless to say, we got it all done so when he got home all he had to do was change. Now, the other part of this story is that we had worked a concert at the E-center on Thursday night and we didn't get home until 1:00 a.m. and then Gordon had to be to work at 5:00 a.m. to take care of the computer problem. So, that meant 2 1/2 hours of sleep for him. Needless to say, when he finally got home and we were all packed up and ready to go, he was less than thrilled about the 5 hour drive to Goblin Valley. So there we sit, in the drive way, trailer hooked up to the truck, house locked up, kids in seat belts and Gordon says, "Are you guys ready for a LONG drive?" A chorus of "Yes" comes from the back seat and Gordon sighs and says, "Too bad, because I was thinking since we won't even get to Goblin Valley now until about 6:00 tonight, we could just go and stay at a hotel with a swimming pool for two nights and do fun stuff around here." I am not sure which child escaped the back seat the quickest in the quest to get their swimsuit! Needless to say, we had a great weekend of swimming, great food, pillow fights, haunted corn mazes, and miniature golf, and lets not forget, GREAT COMPANY!!!! It was so much fun.

Well, I did it...joined the crazy blogging world...

What can I say, peer pressure has always been my weakness. And, I probably need to go back to work....but this is funner. I don't know what else to say other than "WELCOME".