Bridal Shower

Janie's wedding is in less than a week! But her shower was on April 14th. Because of her love and shoes and her new last name becoming Shoemaker, we themed the shower appropriately...

Janie's favorite food is bagels and cream cheese, so we of course had that at the shower as well :)

Instead of playing the usual groom answers, bride answers game, I instead interviewed Janie and Kevin and asked them to share their version of several important events in their time together. I also made them think hard and remember what shoes they were wearing so I could match the story to the shoes. It was no problem for Jans of course!

 Can't believe it's coming so soon! We leave for California in 4 days...

 On another note: Thesis is passed, Student teaching is completed, job applications filled out... I graduate on Saturday!!!!!

California!

Over Spring Break, we were able to go with my family to visit CA for a week. We sailed for 3 days, then spent the last 4 in Newport Beach.  The oldest of my brothers, Kyle, went through the Newport Temple while we were there. It was a fantastic trip!

 (Oh, this was the birthday cake that Janie made for Logan. He is a pokemon fan and we found this on Pinterest. I though the fire-breathing dragon was cute!)

 Newport Beach

 It was cold! but there was lots of sun.

Catch up

In the three months since I last posted, life in the Baxter house has been its usual busy!
I am student teaching this semester and writing my "thesis". Well, it's not exactly a thesis because I don't have to defend it or be passed off by a board. Yay! I just have to make my presentation to my committee. Student teaching is going well. I'm still at Humphrey Elementary and enjoying it very much. I am counting the days until I graduate on May 5!
Also May 5 is my sister's wedding! And a month after that, Kyle leaves on his mission. It is busy busy around my parent's house! There are so many exciting things going on. I'm glad that we are close enough to be a part of it all :)
Austin is doing well this semester. He is still working full time and going to school a few days a week. His design classes are going well and he is really thriving with all of these architecture projects. He builds models and creates site plans over and over and over again, but still claims to love his program! We will find out sometime this summer if he is accepted into the full program for the next three years.

Merry Christmas Card!

Merry Christmas from all of us current and future Sun Devils! We will potentially have family members there until 2024! (You can click on the image to read the sidebar text)

Happy Halloween!

So despite the fact that Halloween is a pretty pointless holiday, I do admit that I love to dress up and I love all of the fun decorations! Note my emphasis on fun: if it's creepy, drippy, gorey or otherwise gross, it's not my thing. But I do have some fun figures up around the apartment :) Yes, I "borrowed" them from my mom. She has wonderful taste :)

I grew up with these guys around my house and now I'm happy to have them in my own!

This cute project is another idea of my moms and in a rare crafty moment I actually made something for us (besides food)!

Although our actual Halloween weekend was taken over by MOUNDS (no joke) of homework, we went to a costume party a couple weeks ago and dressed up as some of our favorite characters. I chose Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter and Austin chose Sheldon Cooper from the show Big Bang Theory. The budget is tight and we had a lot of fun figuring out these costumes on a dime!

Can you see the resemblance?

At the party, our friend Chelsey put in hours of work and made some delicious treats for us! I especially loved this plate full of chocolate and carmel dipped items. Used Q-tips anyone? ;)

She is so creative!

Sailing Adventures

Last week we had the chance to go sailing with my dad and 2 brothers. It was a blast! We left out of Long Beach, CA on Friday and sailed to Catalina Island. We have had the chance to sail with my dad a few times since he has been certified and it is always a treat :) but this was the first time we sailed on a monohull, as opposed to a catamaran. The cat' that we usually take has two hulls, which provides more stability and balance. A mono, on the other hand, has just a single hull and while it is totally stable, it does rock a whole lot more. We hit some really high winds on Saturday sailing back to shore and oh man we were really rocking back and forth! It was an adventure. But lucky for us we had sturdy helmsman Quinton at the wheel!

What a tough face.

But the rest of the trip was spent scuba diving, rowing around in the little dingy, exploring Two Harbors (a tiny little town on Catalina Island) and of course fishing for Austin.

We found the coolest little bookstore in downtown Long Beach: a $1 bookstore! It was fantastic, we found lots of favorites. Austin got a few Jurassic Park books, I found a John Grisham and a some chapter/picture books for my classroom. I love used bookstores :) They are some of my favorite places in the world.

Oh, and by the way, we found out when we tried to leave early morning Sunday, that every year on the second weekend in October the Long Beach Marathon occurs. It's apparently been going on for 26 years and just fyi, it shuts down ALL traffic, in and out. We were stuck for a good four hours, just waiting for the event to be over. The city of Long Beach really needs a new media campaign manager because we had no idea we wouldn't be able to move. But oh well. Now we know!

Can you tell I'm on break?

What? Two posts not six months apart? Yep, it's true! One of the big perks of working for the Chandler School District is getting a two week fall break like the kiddos :) so I actually have some time to post.
Anyways, this weekend after Conference, my brother Kyle was ordained an Elder in preparation for his mission next year. We were so thrilled to have so many family members there :)

It just blows me away how old my family is getting. I don't dare post how old my dad will be this year :) I went with Austin to ASU institute this week and I was surprised to see both my brother and sister's cars there.

This is what we used to look like...

But not anymore!
Just look how tall everyone is! I'm cheating because I'm wearing heels, but Quinton is actually just as tall as me! (If not taller!) I just love these people :) even if they make me look like a dwarf.