December Recitals

Between the 4 kids, we had 17 different concerts and recitals in the month of December.  We did a lot of running around, but we were so proud of all that the kids were able to accomplish!  All 3 boys played for our piano recital.  (Sorry, since I was trying to run the recital, and Justin was trying to run the video camera, we have no pictures from that one!)  Sabrina was in a dance group with 5 other 3 year-old girls, and she was the only one that stayed on stage with the teacher at the recital.  She did every move perfectly and was the cutest little Christmas angel!  Isaac was in a dancing/singing group called stage dynamics and had several opportunities to perform.  Ethan and Erik were singing with the Clearfield City Children's Choir and they performed at a variety of government functions throughout the month, as well as a few public concerts.  I'm so proud of these talented, amazing children!



Sabrina ballerina!

Blowing kisses!

By the end of the song,
she was the only one still on stage!





Singing star!

His favorite dance was the
one where he was able to swordfight!



Such a handsome boy!

Ethan and Erik's choir.  Erik is the last one on the right in the front row
Ethan is the boy on the left in the second row.  They sounded great!

Christmas 2011

Visiting with Santa

This is the first time in 10 years that I haven't put together a Christmas letter/email of some sort.  I would like to attempt to justify that.  Isaac had to go into Primary Children's medical center for a very painful surgery on December 21st.  He was rightfully very nervous about this before hand, and in quite a lot of pain afterward.  So the actual week of Christmas was not a very productive one for me.  The 2 weeks before that, I was in the process of passing a miserable kidney stone (is there any other kind?) and was basically in a Percocet coma for that entire 2 weeks.  The last week of December, the whole family went through a nasty bout of stomach flu.  It was not a very healthy month for the Baer family!  But thankfully, we had a beautiful Christmas day, and the kids were certainly not wanting for Christmas gifts.  I was so sick before Christmas, that I think Justin assumed he needed to buy all the presents.  He didn't realize I was done will all my shopping by Thanksgiving.  So, despite our intentions to have fewer gifts this year, we went a little bit nuts.  Again.  But they're the best kids on the planet, so we feel justified in spoiling them a little.  Okay, a lot!



Looking at the lights after Isaac's concert

New pajamas for Christmas Eve





9:00 church on Christmas day meant the kids had to
wait to open presents until after we got home.

Yellowstone

Last summer we planned a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park with Justin's family.  There were 31 of us staying in a cabin in Island Park, which was, shockingly, large enough to fit everyone comfortably.  The older kids slept in a game room with multiple bunk beds, and then each family took a separate bedroom.  The trip was perfect, except for one thing....Justin ended up having a major disaster (of sorts) with one of his cases and had to stay behind for all but the last 2 days of the trip.  We missed him so much!  But we were sure grateful that he was able to get everything sorted out and meet with us for the weekend.




The kids' room

Always time for games back at the cabin!

Old Faithful

That's a lot of grandkids!

Patiently waiting for Old Faithful



So beautiful, that it felt like looking at a painting

talk about vertigo!




The Yellowstone Baers

Sharing Time February 2012

Nephi was blessed for choosing the right

Explain to the primary that they are going to help tell the story of Nephi and his family.  Ask 10 children to come up and help be prompters as you tell the story.  Give each of the 10 children the appropriate props and explain to the primary that when they hear a KEY WORD in the story, they have to say a specific catch phrase and do an action together.  The prompters will each hold up their props when they hear their word in the stories.  As you read the story, the key words are capitalized and bolded.  Make sure you pause appropriately at each of the key words to give the primary time to complete the action.

KEY WORDS:
(WORD)	(PHRASE)	(ACTION)	(PROP)
LEHI	“A visionary man”	Hands around eyes	Large glasses
LAMAN AND LEMUEL	“murmur, murmur”	Fold arms across chest	Name sign
SAM	“okie-dokie”	Thumbs up	Name sign
NEPHI	“I will go, I will do!”	Fist in the air with each phrase	Name sign
LABAN	“a wicked man”	Stroke chin evilly	Name sign
THE BRASS PLATES	“the plates”	Lift scriptures (think “scripture power”)	Paper plates
A BOAT	“row, row”	Rowing motion with arms	Toy boat
THE PROMISED LAND	“Aaaaahhhh” (think orchestra music)	Hold arms above head in praise	Palm tree
CHOOSE THE RIGHT	Sing “Choose the Right”	Hands in prayer formation	CTR shield
BLESSED	“Blessings” (spoken angelically)	Fingers raining down	Play xylophone glissando

 THE STORY:

The Lord told LEHI in a dream that Jerusalem was wicked and would be destroyed.  He commanded LEHI to take his family and leave Jerusalem.  LEHI took his wife Sariah and their four sons, LAMAN AND LEMUEL, SAM, and NEPHI and journeyed into the wilderness. 

How did they CHOOSE THE RIGHT?  By obeying the Lord.

How were they BLESSED?  Their family escaped the captivity and destruction of Jerusalem.

The Lord commanded LEHI that NEPHI and his brothers should return to Jerusalem to obtain THE BRASS PLATES, from LABAN.  THE BRASS PLATES contained the scriptures and the genealogy of LEHI’S family LAMAN AND LEMUEL didn’t want to go, but NEPHI and SAM wanted to obey the Lord’s commandments.  NEPHI said “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them, that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”   The brothers drew lots and LAMAN was chosen to go ask LABAN for the plates.  LABAN was angry and refused to give LAMAN    THE BRASS PLATES, and tried to kill him.  LAMAN AND LEMUEL were ready to give up, but NEPHI persuaded them to be faithful in keeping the Lord’s commands.  They went to their old home in Jerusalem and gathered all their gold and silver and precious things and brought them to LABAN, asking him to give THE BRASS PLATES in exchange for all their riches.  LABAN refused, and again tried to kill the brothers.  Now LAMAN AND LEMUEL were really angry with NEPHI and SAM and started to beat them with a rod.  An angel appeared and rebuked LAMAN AND LEMUEL and told them to go back to Jerusalem, where the Lord would deliver LABAN into NEPHI’s hands.  NEPHI was led by the spirit back to LABAN’s house where he found LABAN fallen to the earth, drunken with wine.  The spirit told NEPHI to slay LABAN, because it was better for one wicked man to perish, than that a whole nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.  NEPHI took LABAN’s sword and smote off his head.  He was then able to obtain THE BRASS PLATES and return with SAM and LAMAN AND LEMUEL to his father and mother in the wilderness.

How did NEPHI CHOOSE THE RIGHT? He had faith in the Lord and followed the promptings of the Spirit.

How was he BLESSED? He was able to obtain the scriptures for himself and his family.

               

The Lord commanded NEPHI to build A BOAT so that their family could travel safely to THE PROMISED LAND.  LAMAN AND LEMUEL thought NEPHI was being foolish and complained against him, refusing to help build THE BOAT.  NEPHI was sorrowful with his brothers and asked how they could have seen how the Lord blessed them to obtain THE BRASS PLATES, and even see an angel, and still be so hard in their hearts.  LAMAN AND LEMUEL were angry with NEPHI for the things he said, and they wanted to bind him and throw him into the sea.  But NEPHI was filled with the Spirit, and told LAMAN AND LEMUEL “Touch me not, for I am filled with the power of God…and whoso will lay his hands upon me…God shall smite him.”  The Lord told NEPHI to stretch forth his hand and shock LAMAN and LEMUEL so that they would know that NEPHI was filled with the power of God.  Then NEPHI told LAMAN AND LEMUEL to murmur no more and to help build THE BOAT so that their families would be able to journey to THE PROMISED LAND.

How did NEPHI CHOOSE THE RIGHT? He built a boat as the Lord commanded him, and set a good example for his brothers.

How was he BLESSED? The Lord taught him how to build a boat and led his family to the promised land.

Other Projects

THE FLOOR

In our first home (and all our previous apartments) we had linoleum floors in the kitchens and bathrooms.  I always thought that I wanted tile floors because I hated the way the linoleum looked.  So I was excited that this house had tile in the kitchen, entry, and bathrooms.  I like the floor tiles, but there were about 30 of them which were cracked and broken, so when I mopped, those sections always looked dirty.  And I hated the grout. 

Whether this is the color they chose, or if it was just so dirty that mopping, bleaching, scrubbing, and steaming couldn't get it clean, I'm not sure, but it was a disgusting dark brown color.  I felt like no matter how hard I scrubbed, the floor never looked clean.  There were also several sections where the grout had chipped out and there were just big empty spaces between the tiles.  Guess how much fun it was to sweep around that.  I don't have a lot of before pictures of just the floor, but this is a picture we took after St. Patrick's Day to show the leprechaun footprints.  You can at least see the color of the grout in this picture.

SO, I decided to replace the broken tiles (the previous homeowners left 4 cases of extra tiles in the garage) and re-grout the entire floor.  I didn't realize quite how awful this project would be.  It took me a total of 9 months to scrape all the grout from between our nearly 300 12" floor tiles.  Then several days of intensive labor (and Grandpa's help again) to break out all the broken tiles.  Then several more days of intensive labor to set the new tiles and grout the entire floor.  But, I am very pleased with the results!

THE BUILT-IN SHELVES

Another strange feature in this house was the window ledge in the TV room.  It extened the length of the room and was covered in carpet.  I always felt like it was just wasted space. Although the kids did like to sleep on it.

So I of course came up with a design plan to make use of the space.   With Dad's help (what would we do without Grandpa?) I built shelves to fill up the space around the 2 windows, creating the perfect place to store our movie collection where the little ones couldn't reach (and subsequently destroy) them.  We even made the shelves adjustable so if the next homeowners want to use them for something else, it will be easy.

RABBIT HUTCH

This project is not a pretty one, but I'm still proud of it and I'll tell you why.  We got a baby bunny for Easter one year and she was so cute and tiny.  We had her in a cage in the house, but she grew so fast and smelled SO bad, that I knew keeping her indoors wasn't going to be an option for much longer.  So I started looking into buying a hutch that we could keep in the yard.  Used hutches were going on KSL for over $200!  I figured I could just build something that would work.  So, using scraps from the garage (leftover wood from the deck, extra flooring from the piano room, unused boards from my shelving projects, etc) I was able to come up with a design and build a rabbit hutch ALL BY MYSELF.  I spent $17 on the cage wire and the hardware (hinges and a latch), and everything else was built from scraps.  So if it looks like a modge-podge of building materials, that's because it is!  And Hazel-Rah the Rabbit LOVES her home outside and has now survived 2 years in my ugly, yet snug hutch.

More House Projects

THE DECK

One of the things I liked about this house when we bought it was the large backyard deck.  We bought the house in winter and everything in the back was covered in snow, but I could at least see the basic shape of it.  It was large enough we could have kept the barbeque grill and a patio set on it.  Unfortunately, once the snow melted, we could see that the entire deck was in pretty sorry shape. The handrails were separating from the deck, several planks were rotting through, and the wood had obviously not been treated to withstand the elements.  The foundations were set into concrete footings, but the beams that were drilled into the footings were cracked and deteriorating. 

We knew the deck would need to be replaced, we just didn't realize quite how quickly...until Justin's leg went right through the wood on his way out to the grill one night.  The whole leg was one giant purple and red bruise and he could barely walk for several weeks afterward.  We were grateful it was his leg and not one of the kids, and realized we couldn't put off the repair any longer.

 Deconstruction of the deck was a lot of work, but a lot of fun at the same time.  We had great weather the entire week and Grandpa was able to come help with the project.

The wood was so rotted on the deck that the boys were able to pry entire boards off with their bare hands, although using the hammers was definitely more fun!

It wasn't long before we had a sizeable pile of rotted wood and the deck quickly disappeared.

We chose to put in a stone patio and build a porch coming off the back of the house.  First we had to do A LOT of digging.  We had to dig out all the old concrete foundations, which was tricky, but then the real trouble started when we had to dig through all the roots from the giant tree which for whatever reason was planted about 8 feet from the back of the house. 

Eventually, we had the area cleared of roots, then rented a compactor to pack the dirt down. Then we ordered several truckloads of patio fill rock, compacted that, leveled everything off and started laying patio stones.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

Due to budget constraints, we finished the deck, the center section and one side section of the patio, but the other side section had to be put off, and is going to be finished (hopefully) this summer.  The giant tree limited my project design possilities, but I am extremely pleased with how well the entire project turned out.

House Projects

We have lived in this house for over 4 years now and it seems like we have undertaken at least one major renovation project each year. I was thinking about all the work we've done on the house, and thought it would be fun to document it all.

THE BATHROOM.

This was something I knew would have to be changed when we bought the house. The bathroom was pretty yuck, and I really wanted a jetted tub. This is a before picture. You can see how the drawers in the vanity are broken. There's only one showing in the picture, but all 4 drawers were like that. And the shower was ultra yuck. Yes, those are wheat stocks on the lighter tiles. And this was what it looked like after several days of bleaching and scrubbing to get rid of the black grout between the tiles. We lived with it for as long as I could stand it, but the bathtub was so gross that I didn't even let the kids bathe in it. They learned to take showers instead.

CONSTRUCTION!

We started with the vanity and after we tore it out, we found 2 layers of different linoleum under the tile. Then after we took out the bathtub, we realized the subfloor was completely rotted through. Thankfully, I had inflated my budget sufficiently to cover the expense of replacing not only the flooring, but the entire subfloor as well. We had to re-plumb the entire bathtub and shower to accomodate the larger, jetted tub that we were installing. Thankfully, Dad was a plumber in a former life. Doesn't mean it was easy, but he is a miracle worker and figured out how to make it work. We also had to add a breaker into the fuse box so we could install a heater for the jets. My brother Aaron was the hero of the hour there and managed to figure out all the wiring with input from his electrician brother-in-law.

THE FINISHED PROJECT

After a week of working non-stop, we had a new floor, new vanity, new mirrors, new lighting, new jetted tub, new shower surround, new paint, new medicine cabinets, AND we managed to come out $16.00 below my inflated budget! I LOVE MY BATHROOM!