10 Year Anniversary

 I should have posted these a long time ago.  These are from June 16, 2011, our 10th Wedding Anniversary.  We had a family picnic at Shaw Nature Reserve by a lake and under some Bald Cypress trees.  Jonathan loved running around and playing with his Dad.  We went for a walk to see the lily pond, but Jonathan started having a fever, so we went home.  Later when he was feeling better J.D. and I did go to dinner together. 

The Cutest Cardinal

Saturday, May 14, 2011 we did the heart walk at Busch Stadium. The best part was walking the track with Jonathan. He was dancing, waving at people, and generally having fun.

I think he looks like the pitcher in this shot. He has that determined gleam in his eye and seems to be sizing up his competition. J.D. pointed out, he also has the long pitcher hair out of his cap, which is *much* cuter on Jonathan than most pitchers.

Father and son.

Here is Jonathan dancing. (Also my five and a half months pregnant self).

Playing in the Snow

Baby tracks.... (they tend to wander in circles).

Jonathan loved playing in the snow today. He cried when I took him inside for an outfit change and warm up. J.D. built a big snowman, and we made a little snowperson family. Jonathan most enjoyed the wall of snow J.D. piled up for him. It was a great time.

Idaho

Call and Answer

Taylor Family

John and Connie came to see us recently. J.D. and John worked on a lot of projects around the house. Connie and I had afternoon tea together. J.D. and I were even able to slip away for dinner out. And we all celebrated J.D.'s 32nd birthday. We really had a great time.

Connie and Jonathan on the front porch by the hanging baskets John gave me.

Reading stories and having fun with Grandma.

May 19, 2010-- Happy Birthday J.D.!

Somewhere there's a picture of me on the other side of this standoff.

Happy little boy ready to go.

Hugs from Grandpa.

My Funny Valentines

I fell in love again on Valentine's Day...

Today marks ten years since J.D. proposed. We've certainly come a long way. I love you J.D., and I love our life together.

This evening was a lot of fun. J.D. and Jonathan gave me surprise candy, flowers, and jewelry! They made me a "Hot Tamale" necklace! It's very cute.

And my favorite part of the day was all laughing together. So far, Jonathan seems to have my sense of humor, my love of the absurd. Now, granted he's just two months old, so most things are probably absurd to him, and it may be a wee bit early to "call it." But, we had a great laugh together.

We watched Iron Chef America. There was a crazy fast French chef on the challenger's side. His name was "Phillipe." J.D. dubbed him "Phillipe the bullet." I repeated "PhiLLLLippppe the BULLet!!!" to Jonathan, who burst into laughter. Soon we were both chortling in our joy. And J.D. had to laugh too, since there's nothing in the world so cute as a baby laughing.

It just makes me so happy to laugh with my two special guys. That was the best.

A magical first Christmas

We woke up this morning to a light Christmas snow. It was Jonathan's first snow ever. I saved some for him in an empty peaches jar because as everyone knows, Christmas snow as your first snow ever has magical properties. Speaking of magic, during the night Santa stopped by and brought Jonathan his first Christmas ornaments. And these pictures show Jonathan with his huge teddy bear stocking, in which Santa also brought him "Sugar Babies" candy because apparently Mr. Claus has a fun sense of humor. Very sweet Santa, thank you. Also thank you for my "Hot Tamales." Overall, we really enjoyed spending our first Christmas together in our new home with our new baby.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Love you! Hope you had a great day!

My Brother

This was June 13, 2009: Chad in his diesel truck at the Burley Tractor Pulls. :)

My Heritage

Information summarized from "The Life Histories of Wade & Afton Baker" Compiled by LaRinda Anderson

Afton Ethel Garner was born August 27, 1914 in Roy, Utah. She was the oldest of eight children. She had three sisters and four brothers. Her parents were William Charles and Hannah Ethel Bowen Garner. She wore gingham dresses to school and loved to read and sing. She also enjoyed swimming and dancing, but not riding horses. Growing up she had to help her father change water, hoe and thin beets, cultivate, drive horses, stack hay, and harvest grain. She picked potatoes and filled sacks even as a child. She would stay out of school during harvest in order to help. They would go on summer vacations to Red Fish Lake, but Afton only recalled ever catching two fish in her life. She got her first perm by electricity from a large machine and loved having curly hair. She played the piano and attended Brigham Young University for a year pursuing a business major. Then Afton served a mission to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Winnipeg, Canada. On her mission Afton helped convert Brother and Sister Cake in Winnipeg. She served a long mission. Instead of the 18 months like the rest of her companions, they kept her for 25.5 months. (pages 1-10)

Wade Baker was born January 20, 1916 in Roy, Utah. His parents were Thomas Parley Baker and Celestia Pearl Child. He had seven older siblings. His mother died when he was only six years old. His dad remarried a woman with two children, and they had four more kids together. Wade's oldest sister died when her fourth child was born, so his father and step-mother also raised this baby. He said of growing up: 'Work was plentiful but money scarce' with 15 kids (12). Wade enjoyed basketball, dancing, and rollerskating. He helped his father farm and worked for .18 cents an hour at the Roy Canning Factory peeling onions. He knew how to train horses and one winter broke 55 wild horses from Montana. (pages 11-13)

After returning from her mission, Afton married Wade Baker at 11:00 p.m. Nov. 10, 1937 in the Salt Lake City Temple. They were going to be married at 2:00 p.m. but had an Idaho Marriage License, so they hurried to the Utah courthouse but didn't make it back in time. They then wanted the 6:00 p.m. time. To pass a few hours they went shopping for a reception suit and dress. They also went to a car exhibition, which caused them to miss getting married until 11:00 p.m. that night (15). After their wedding they lived in a 12' x 12' granary with a coal stove and "furniture painted on the walls" (15). They parked a truck next to the granary at night to help prevent the wind from blowing it over. They were paid partially in grain. (pages 15-16)

Over the years they rented land and tried many farming / ranching enterprises. They raised 600 turkeys one year and then Hereford cattle for a number of years (17,18). Eventually they worked and saved enough to built a house south of Burley and settle over 6,000 acres of land. They took out the sage brush and plowed the fields with horses. They dug wells and were among the first to irrigate the Idaho desert. A lot of people were afraid to drill wells, but they knew there would be water. Wade prayed in a field one day and upon rising from the ground noticed his knee print in the earth and thought "Why not here"? (21). He drove a shovel into the spot and went to find Afton and show her. It turned out to be a wonderful well that still waters many fields to this day. They grew primarily wheat, potatoes, and sugar beets.
Wade and Afton had eight children, seven survived to adulthood:
Larry Wade
LeLand C.
Shirlene Afton
Dwaine Dale
Ronald Garner
Dennis Lee (died 8 years old)
Rell Dean
Loren Devon

Wade and Afton were very dedicated to the LDS Church. Over the years Afton served as choir director, drama director, mutual chorister, Stake Inservice Leader in Primary, and Relief Society President (23). Wade also had many callings including Stake President of the Cassia Stake in Oakely with counselors Tom Clark and Monroe Adams (23). He also served as Multi-Regional Director of Welfare Services, counselor in the Unity Bishopric for seven years, a member of the Stake High council for four years, and manager of the Stake Farm (26). General Authorities of the church would visit every few months and stay in their home. (This is why I have a copy of the Book of Mormon from my father with Ezra Taft Benson's and Thomas Monson's signatures, among many others).

My grandparents' family history ends with my Grandpa's death in 1992. I was 14 and don't have too many personal memories of time with Grandpa. I do remember him sitting happily at family events at the Baker Pool, watching over all his grandkids. By the 90s, there were 30 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren (27). So one-on-one time with Grandma and Grandpa was limited. I had one in-depth conversation when I was older with him, as Grandpa recalled his childhood friends that died from epidemics. Over the years, he would occasionally visit us at our farm in his tan pickup, B1, and we always got a big hug from Grandpa whenever we visited their house.

With my Grandma I remember a few more details. Grandma made the best pea and potato soup. She liked to watch Wheel of Fortune and discuss Vanna's (usually inappropriate) clothing choices. She always had the cookie bin full and would pack little bags of treats for us kids to take home. Grandma had purple irises by her bedroom window. And like me, Grandma had two baby teeth throughout her adulthood. Grandma loved to dance. She discussed dancing with fondness and animation until she grew quiet when her memory turned to dancing with partners before she met Grandpa. Grandma passed away when I moved to grad school. The last time I saw her was at my wedding. She hugged me and wished me a happy marriage.

Home Again

I'm back in Burley. Not much really changes here, at least not quickly. They're tearing down the Overland Elementary School that my father attended. I guess they're taking it down brick-by-brick to reuse. Burley as a whole fits that sort of general slow, brick-by-brick pace.

I love seeing my family. Everyone is doing well, and Madison is a little angel. She's sweet and cute with lots of lovely dark hair. She's a quiet baby. I sleep upstairs right above their room and have not heard her cry in three nights. Candice said she went to sleep around 11:00 p.m. and slept until 3:00 a.m., then until 6:30 a.m., and finally woke up at 10:30 a.m. Mom, Candice, and I gave her a bath today, and she didn't cry or fuss a bit. Candice is also doing very well.

Yesterday for fun Mom and I went to the grand Burley Museum. We bought a book they published that has a picture of my Grandma Afton harvesting potatoes in her high heels. She and my Grandpa Wade were among the first to really turn a lot of Burley desert into good farmland. They also had a picture of my Grandpa's truck hauling sugarbeets.

In the actual Museum they had old machinery, farm equipment, clothes, journals (I was interested in one woman's who quoted Matthew Arnold), arrowheads, multiple buffalo skulls, supposedly the train car that carried John Wilkes Booth's body (and was later used to raise pigs), and an early settler's log cabin with a dirt floor rebuilt log-by-log for display. They also had a lot of items that were random and somewhat junky. Mom and I laughed for quite a while over their "fabulous pencil collection." Of course it wasn't labeled that, but they looked like regular pencils from local businesses circa the 1980s. Ah, such is Burley.

I'll post some of the interesting information I found in the book later. But does anyone want to venture a guess about Cassia County trivia?

1. How did the town "Declo" get its name?

2. What was the full name of the college in Albion?

3. When was alcohol illegal in Burley?

4. What was "Diamondfield Jack Davis" accused and found guilty of?

5. When did Burley become the county seat?

6. The Chadwick building built in 1917 had a pool hall and cigar store on its ground floor; what was upstairs?

7. The corner of Main and Overland where men gathered to exchange gossip used to be known as what?

8. Intersections of roads used to have signs warning people against what crime?

9. How many known Jewish families settled in Burley prior to 1930?

10. How many children were necessary in a community before the state would send a teacher?

11. What was the original name of "Elba"?

12. What was the reasoning for the town name "Malta"?