Crews Big Day

Kade sure loves his little brother, he spent all day teaching him how old he was.



We went and saw the movie Monsters vs. Aliens. Afterwards, we were going to go to Red Robin for dinner but, the wait was forever. We went next door to Wingers. The boys had a fun time but, mom and dad quickly remembered why it is that we don't take the entire family out for dinner!



The cake is mine! All mine I say, and you can't have any. And by the way, why does it take four people to open up a dang toddler toy?

Happy Birthday Crew!!

Two years ago I gave birth to our last son. Jared Crew Baxter. I can't believe how time has flown. He's the perfect ending to our Baxter legacy. What a joy he has brought to our lives! He was the only child that had any hair, and boy did he have a bunch. I always joke that Heavenly Father couldn't send me a girl, but he did the next best thing and sent me a boy, with hair! The best thing about it is ,that his hair stayed with him. My favorite moments are still the times that we rock and sing and read stories and I can just sit there and run my fingers through his hair. I have him primed for some lucky girl! Did I mention that he has curls too? We had the hardest time coming up with a name for him. Jared gave a talk in church two weeks after he was born, and he announced that his name was Ryder. I love that name, but you will find out ,that the more children you have, the more of an imput they all seem to have in choosing a name. We finally chose his name on the Sunday of his Blessing. His three most favorite things right now are his blankie, cars and balls. He has all three of his brothers under his little finger. He can call them all by name and if he sees them he will yell their name and run to them for a hug. It's so fun to watch them take care of him. They will even read him stories and put him to bed. He will put their baseballs on the tee for them at batting practice. He is trying to teach them patience and I do see glimpses of it in my boys every so often. He is our little glimpse into what heaven is and I thank God for him every day. He has the ability to make me stop and slow down in this hectic life, to see things that I have forgotten existed. Snowflakes on your tongue, doggie kisses, robins nests, blue skies, running streams, fish tanks, how easily an "owie" can be fixed with a simple kiss, the pure delight in catching a ball, the lovely orange stain that puffy cheetos leave on your fingers, flour footprints across a dark wood floor.......Happy Birthday baby, I love you.

Play ball!!!

It was so nice to have four fabulous days in sunny St. George doing our favorite thing...playing baseball. The boys did well considering they have yet to have a practice on a dry field. Tag actually got pulled from playing catcher to help out on the mound. It was the fourth inning and the Angels were up by one. There was a runner on first and second with no outs. Tag got on the mound, after having played catcher for three hours straight,and bailed the other pitcher out of a jam allowing no hits or runs. They had Tag pitch the following two innings. He pitched a no hitter with only one walk. His teammates backed him up by scoring 5 runs in those three innings. They were going to have him close the game, but we were told that if a pitcher pitches more than three innings in a day, they have to rest for 48 hours.I don't have any pictures of him pitching because of course, I was a nervous wreck! Besides baseball, we had a fun time of swimming, playing and disturbing the peace. I think Jared's favorite part was eating at In 'n Out Burger. A total of four times! Well, that's how we roll.......

Benefit Concert for Paul Cardall

Have you heard this guy? He is amazing. I have his music playing on my blog. They are having a benefit concert for him on April 6th. Hope to see you all there. The following is from his website.

It’s a wonderful thing to have good friends. Internationally acclaimed musician Paul Cardall has been blessed with great friends over the years, including other artists who are coming together to help their friend through a difficult time.
Kurt Bestor, Peter Breinholt, and Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband, along with other talented artists will perform a benefit concert for Cardall on Monday, April 6 at Cottonwood High School. The “Living for Eden Concert,” so named in honor of Cardall’s 3-year-old daughter, will get underway at 7:30 p.m. A silent auction will precede the concert beginning at 6:30 p.m.
“It is a rare opportunity to see these three popular artists on a single stage,” said Jeremy Barron of the Baron Group, another friend of Cardall’s who is producing the concert. “I have produced a lot of concerts, some of which have been benefits. Never has a concert hit so closely to home as this benefit concert. Paul has helped a lot of people through his music, benefit events and work with other musicians. I think I can speak for all of us involved when I say that we are honored and excited to help one of our own."
Cardall, who was born 35 years ago with a severe congenital heart defect, has been on the waiting list for a heart transplant since last August. He has been limited in his ability to support his family and to meet escalating medical expenses during his prolonged illness. Seeing their friend’s condition, Cardall’s colleagues decided to do what they do best – make music and use their talents to benefit Paul, his wife Lynnette and their daughter Eden.
“Each of us wanted to do something to benefit Paul,” said Peter Breinholt. “Coming together as we are is our way of paying tribute to, as well as helping, one of our own. A hundred percent of the proceeds will go to help Paul with his mounting expenses.”
"I’ve known Paul for many years,” said Ryan Shupe, “and we are honored and excited to help him in his time of need, not to mention we get to share the stage with some other incredible musicians. It’s going to be a great night!"
Tickets for the concert are available online at http://www.livingforeden.com/ beginning Wednesday, March 11th and they can also be purchased at the door the day of the concert. The cost will be $12.00 per person, while those buying groups of five or more tickets can get them at $10.00 each.
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Where's The Grass?

Hurray for baseball! Kade is getting all geared up to play baseball this year. He is on a Super League team and really enjoys it. They have been practicing in the high school gym because there isn't any grass to be seen. He has grown alot over the winter. I think he is the tallest kid on his baseball team. Kaden also won a gold medal in wrestling this year. Watch out Tag, there may be some competition on the horizon!

The Grass is Always Greener Up Top!

Crew is my first climber. If it is ever too quiet in my house, the first place I look is up. He will climb anything and if he can't , he will push a chair over to it and climb that way. If Dad is on the ladder fixing something, you can guarantee little Crew will be right up there with him. He can drag a chair all the way into the pantry, climb up the chair to the shelf and on up to find the one bag of cookie mix. Then you will hear this little voice asking for someone to help him get down and make the cookies. How could you resist a face that cute? That's why we only have one bag left!

Congratulations State Champion!

Wrestling is one of those sports that I am still trying to understand. You see first, you have to dye your hair blond or black. Well, last year we went for the blond look and it was pretty scary. This year we decided to go with black. Tag is wrestling on the Jr. High team and the state championship was in Richfield. Wrestling is alot of waiting. Sometimes you can wait hours until your child wrestles. Then, they call your childs name and your heart starts beating like crazy. There are no excuses in wrestling. It is just you and the other guy. You can't blame it on the team, or the weather, or the ball. It is the longest few minutes of a mothers life. I was in charge of video taping and it's hard to cheer for your child and video tape at the same time while your child is rolling all over a mat. Tag won all his matches and made it into the championship round. All the boys who made it into the championship round were announced one by one along with their parents name and their opponents name. The two boys run out through a smoke screen with the lights out and the strobe lights going . They shake hands in the middle and then return to opposite sides of the mats. Tag was wrestling another boy who had also won all his matches. This boy however, had beat Tag before in a Jr. High dual earlier in the year. Tag wrestled his heart out and ended up beating the boy 8-6. I was screaming like one of those crazy wrestling moms that I swore I would never be like. Also, took some video of the ceiling... The cool part was that they did an awards ceremony like the olympics. They were called out on the podium and were given medals by some cute girls. Well......my son... was dared by the coaches and team to try and get the girl to kiss him. They promised him dinner anywhere he wanted to go. So, my son asked the girl for a kiss as he bent down to get his medal. And I'll be darned if that girl didn't kiss him! He must get it from his father....

Watch Out World!

This is Garretts first day on the slopes! I am telling you that this child has no fear. He went all the way to the top of the hill, put his board on, and told us all to get out of his way. He started going down and gaining speed. Thank goodness, Tag had his board off and could run after him. He passed Tag ,and almost ran into the ski lift before doing a perfect toe turn and stopping himself! How does he reward himself? He sits down and proceeds to scoop up a handful of dirty snow and starts to eat it...He had a fun day. He is growing up. He still refuses to learn how to ride a bike because he doesn't think he needs to. After all, he has his scooter. Life is good..

Angel Avery

I have never been much of a journal keeper. That is until today. My friend sent her sweet little angel, Avery, back to her Heavenly Father on Tuesday. Though she was only here a few short hours, I felt as if I knew her through her very brave momma, Leah. Leah, kept a faithful blog of the months leading up to her birth and her flight back to Heavenly Father. I sit here with tears streaming down my face, as I still can't understand why these things happen. I can't even begin to fathom what their family will be going through in these next days, weeks, and years. I have learned this from my friend. She is one of the most faithful and couragous people I have known. I have learned alot about trusting God and loving life as I have read her posts. How amazing it will be for her to go back and remember things and moments she might have forgotten if she hadn't put them down. You never know what will happen in this life, thank you sweet Avery for helping me remember.....to remember.