Baker News

Hello Family,
 It's been awhile since I wrote. I couldn't figure out how to post, again. Kathi told me the way and it works. I hope to post photos too.
 We anxiously awaited Sam coming home on Nov. 30. On our way to the airport, Sam called from Miami to tell us he missed his flight because they took too long in customs so he'd be in later than planned. So we had 4 hours to kill. That just made the agony of waiting that much harder.
 We finally went to the airport after we went to dinner and brought in a balloon bouquet and a sign that said "Welcome Home Elder Baker". Waiting, waiting and then, there he is! Coming down the escalator!! I was the first to hug him. So skinny and tanned. He looked great. Colin had come in from Wisconsin and Holly from South Dakota to be with us so we had 3 kids together. Sam had a hard time with English, talked really fast and was happy to be home. We didn't get home till 2:00 am. The next morning, our Stake President came over to release Sam. It's always sad to see that, a missionary being released. They live such a high life for 2 years, and now they're given back to the world. Sam was a little lost for a few days, felt guilty for all the free time he had. But he enjoyed being home and the ward welcomed him warmly.

 

The Castros came up the next day to see Sam. Joseph didn't remember Sam, of course, but he did well with him. The kids set up the Dicken's Village. And finally after 25 years of collecting buildings and accessories, we are finally done!!! We don't have anymore room for more buildings so it's time to be done. And it's a great set up. We're really proud of what we have. We held off having Thanksgiving till Sam came home and had it the next Saturday.

Just days after Sam got home, Calvin and Colin drove back to WI to pack Colin up and move him to SLC for his new job at KTVX Channel 4 as a morning news producer. The drive went well, they were nervous about weather across NE and WY. But all went well with the move. Colin lives in West Jordan in a nice 1 bedroom apt, goes to a single's ward and is enjoying his new job. It took him a few weeks to working nights and sleeping days but has adjusted well. The weekend that Calvin was in UT, he planned to see Jacob and family but was hit with the horrible stomach flu that was going around and didn't get to see them afterall. That was a blow, very disappointing. Once Calvin got home and recovered, he got a nasty cold that laid him low for days. I've been grateful that I haven't gotten either so far (knock wood) this season.

 Holly was able to come back home for Cmas and we decided at the last minute to have Christmas at the Castros. Kelli had to work Cmas night so that was easy for us to pack a few gifts and head down. Joseph was so fun Christmas morning. He loved all his Santa gifts. We had a nice Cmas dinner and then went back home that night and opened more gifts waiting for us under the tree.

Holly stayed a few more days with us and then went down to Kelli's to spend a few more days there before she went home. Colin spent Cmas with Jacob.

Now Sam has gone back to BYU and is busy with school and a small part time job. He likes his roommates and seems to be doing well being back in school. He's taking Jacob's Philosophy class and is enjoying it. Holly is busy with not only teaching, but being the prose editor to an online blog called "Segullah", a blog made up of LDS women writers. She's very busy.

 Calvin has been out of town alot lately, which I guess is usual. I do ok when he's gone. I'm so used to it. I've been working on family history lately, filling out a huge 15 genereation pedigree chart from info I find on Family Search. Calvin's dutch line goes back farther than we ever knew, in fact, one line goes back so far into the 1400s that I ran out of room to put the names on this huge chart! Very interesting and exciting to work on. There's been a ton of temple work already done.

I'm enjoying teaching Gospel Doctrine for the most part. It's not easy for me to pull a lesson together. You'd think after teaching Seminary for 5 years that it would be s snap for me, but it's not. In my quilt guild, I'm the new secretary this year and run the guild newsletter online. I taught a class last night at our January meeting.

Calvin has been asked to be the Trail Boss for the Pioneer Trek the stake's youth is taking this June. I guess I'll be the wife! They'll be going up somewhere in Michigan for the trek. We have our first meeting this week about it. I've never been on a trek. Should be fun?

  Happy 2013!