Las Vegas Trip

We finally took a little family trip and accompanied Hans when he was working in Vegas one week. We had a great time! The kids and I hung out by the pool while Hans worked in the mornings and after Claire's nap in the afternoon we'd go out as a family.



Claire loved just chillin' or should I say cookin' on my lap. It was 115 degrees while we were there.

One night we went down to the strip and did what has become a family traditon. We checked out what was new at the Belagio lobby. They have an indoor garden there that is amazing! Then we watched the water fountain show out front. The kids loved it! (Okay, so I don't have a pic. of it. I need to get it off Hans' phone first.)



Me and the kids at the hotel.


Hans and Claire Bear.


Our van had transmission trouble between Vegas and St. George, so....we extended our trip for a day and stayed the night in St. George while our van got worked on! Our kids had never been to St. George or seen the St. George temple, so we had to drive by and get some pictures. Isn't it beautiful?!

Harvest Time

We finally got a garden in this Spring, and now that summer is almost over the kids have been so excited to see the fruits of their labors, or should we say the "vegetables" of their labors.

Mt. Timpanogos Hike

Saturday 8.1.09 Hans and I hiked to the top of Mt. Timpanogos with Hans' dad, who is 70!, his brother-in-law, Mike, and his three boys. We hiked roughly 17 miles, and slid down a 1,000 ft glacier! It was intense. It took us 11 hours to do it. We were sore afterward, but what a rush!



Once we got to the top, we hiked along the summitt, slid down the glacier, hung out the lake for awhile, and then hiked down. You can see the glacier towards the left in this photo.


Me at the beginning of the hike. You can tell it's the beginning because I'm still smiling.


Towards the beginning of the hike. Dad up ahead.


About 1 hour into the hike we hit scout falls. They are so beautiful!


Me at the bottom. Gives a perspective of the size of the falls.


We crossed several little waterfalls like this on the hike. It was so green and lush; I felt like we were in Hawaii.




We saw a few moose about 2 hours into the hike. What magestic looking animals.




We called this the yellow brick road. Notice the little orange tent in the background. How fun that would be to camp out 1/2 way through the hike. Why didn't we think of that?!


Ryan Baker (nephew), Hans, Adam Baker (nephew), me, Mike Baker (brother-in-law), Grandpa Hendershot, & Joseph Baker (nephew)


A long shot of the glacier.


Me and Hans at the saddle, almost to the top.


From the top overlooking Utah Valley.




This is a shot of the glacier (from below) that we slid down on our backsides! Insanity! That was so scary! It's about 1.000 feet straight down. The black things on the top are people trying to get up the guts to go for it. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?! No one ended up with broken bones though. Just hands/arms that felt like pins and needles until the next morning.


This is Emerald Lake just at the bottom of the glacier.


Some mountain goats we saw. They were quite a distance away, but I've got a pretty good zoom on my camera. Cool.





Coming down. This was taken quite a bit below the glacier. There were several smaller snow fields like this we passed when we were up high enough on the mountain.


Amazing... the greenery, flowers and snow all at the same time.


The wild flowers were breathtaking. These pictures don't do them justice.




The backside of the mountain on the way down.

Throughout the hike Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" kept playing in my mind, and I kept thinking to myself, "What an incredibly beautiful world our Father in Heaven has created for us to live in and enjoy! We are so blessed.

Mitchell's 5th Birthday in May!

Mitchell turns 5 and gets a bike! Now, if we could only get him outside to ride it! He always says, "It's too bright to go outside. It hurts my eyes!" So, he also got two pairs of sunglasses for his B-day. He now has no excuses!


Mitch loves olives! And.. he loves to eat them off of his fingers like this, so we had to get a picture of it.

Easter at Home

Easter Sunday at home in American Fork... not too exciting. After church we just stayed home and hung out together.


This was taken with the timer on my camera. Of course I didn't even know how to use it, and in about 10 seconds flat, Hans had it figured out and was diving to be in the picture with us. It worked!

McKenna's Rock-n-Roll Birthday Party in April!

McKenna turned 9 in April and wanted a Rock-n-Roll birthday party with lots of friends! Well, being the somewhat delusional parents that we are, we said, "Sure, sounds like fun!" Whoever said having 16 screaming, giggling, singing girls running around your house was fun?! Throughout the party Hans kept giving me looks like, "What on earth were you thinking?" And I can't say I blame him. Fortunately, we all survived and the kids...well, they are still talking about it 3 months later, so I guess it was a hit.




This is the cake I made for the party. I found the idea in a Family Fun magazine. I was quite pleased with myself being that I DON'T decorate cakes and had no idea what I was doing!


We made a backstage curtain hanging between the dining room and kitchen. Too bad you can't see the bling bling, sliver star garland in the photos. Hans made these guitars out of cardboard (another FF Mag idea) and the girls decorated them at the party along with their (toilet paper roll) microphones! They had a blast! And...we surprised McKenna with a Kareokee machine at the party. She has only been asking for one for over a year now, so we finally caved. We're glad we did. McKenna, Meg and their friends play with that thing non-stop.
(L-R Back to front) Jaxlynn, Addison, Breanna, Chloe, Katie, Sayer, Abby
Jenna, Daisy, Cami, Janeca
Annie, Adi, McKenna

Claire Claire and All Her Hair!

Claire Claire, we love her hair.
It's big, it's crazy-it's everywhere.
Whatever we do, where ever we go,
her hair is there and it's sure to grow.
It's curly, it's fine--she looks like Einstein!
It's sticking straight up, or it's bedhead again.
Whatever the case she's sure to win.
Our hearts that is, with her locks so sweet.
They're more fun to play with than even her feet!
From dred locks to braids, to wigs and more.
There's always another hair style in store.
We hope you'll enjoy these original pics.
Of our crazy haired cutie,(the girls and Mitch.)

Hannah Montana move over! Your competition has arrived!

Claire 7 months The curly do.

7 months the not-quite-s0-curly do.

Claire 6 1/2 months The straight do.

Sporting a mohawk at 5 1/2 months

The mohawk profile- a must.

I'm feeling gooooooooood! Hey, ya think Willi Wonka has a need for an extra Oompa Loompa?

The curly do. 6 1/2 months

4 months The mad scientist do!

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!

It's the great stare down. Claire usually wins.

3 months Major bed head going on here.

3 months

Claire and mommy.

The Alfalfa look! 2 1/2 months

Cuddling with big sis.

Curly on top straight on sides look. One month old.

A few weeks old -the spikey look