Everything's A-okay.....

With 7 days left of Quinn's mission and counting I thought I would do a little tribute to him and his service to the people of Vanuatu. Quinn was very excited when he received his call to Fiji. It was not a place ANY of us guessed he would be going. He thought Arizona. I hoped third world--(Quinn needed a little humility). We then realized he would actually be serving his entire mission in Vanuatu. The only time spent in Fiji was the flight in and the flight home.... His call said he would be speaking English. Not true! The people of Vanuatu do not speak English. They speak Bislama.. A combination of English and French. Ne blong mi Elda Baka. Wanum nem blong yu? (My name is Elder Baker. What is yours?) He has learned to adapt. He hated fish and pineapple and coconut. He has eaten and learned to love much fish, coconut and pineapple. He has had companions that did not speak English or Bislama. He has had companions that have not known how to read. He has lived without electricity and running water. He has loved the people and served faithfully. Apparently Quinn has gone with a thumbs up sign to say, "I'm Okay..." and taught the people the same thing. We love you Quinn!!! See you soon!

Happy Birthday Caitlynn.....

I've sorta stayed away from Birthday posts this year, except for my own kids....but Caitlynn is just about that and besides I wanted to post this picture. I've known Caitlynn since she was three. I met her and her mom at the dance studio. She was adorable then and always dressed perfectly from head to toe and still is. Those days she was by far the smallest in the class and the least coordinated. It always took some extra help to make sure she knew the moves and stayed on beat and I think her mom did lots of practicing at home. Well those days are gone, Caitlynn is the best dancer I know in any class she is in (but still the smallest). We took this picture at camp this summer. She had on some very stylish HIGH heels and it made her almost my height in flats.... She was so proud. I am so proud of you Caitlynn. I love you!!! Good Luck with all you are doing this year.

Road Trip....

I've wanted to see Odyssey's Thriller for years now. It just never works out that I can go. So this year I decided I'm making it work. Thriller is sorta like sitting down and having a haunted house perform around you. There are mummies, and vampires, and Frankenstein monsters and murderous scarecrows. There are hockey masked maniacs and plenty of witches. But it's mixed with great music, a tribute to Michael Jackson and amazing dancers. I invited a car load of friends, I cancelled drill team practice, abandoned my family (I left them with a warm dinner, their favorite desserts and a completely clean house) and headed out. We left Monday afternoon and drove to Boise. It rained the ENTIRE way. No trouble for Peggy our fearless chauffeur. First stop was Boise Town Centre and when they locked all the doors to the stores we went to 'Cheesecake Factory' for a delicious meal, and to go 'cheesecake' of course, which I finished for breakfast.





Tuesday morning we headed the rest of the way to Salt Lake City. Lots of us have kids going to school in Utah so we met up with them, took them to lunch, did a little shopping and sent the boys on their way.






All the girls headed to Thriller. It was a snow storm in Utah and we arrived just as the show was starting so we didn't get a good group picture. WE had great seats on the front row. Since I was only in Utah for a total of 8 hours I wasn't telling my family (except Jordan). Guess who was at the show? My sister and her daughters. Hope they'll forgive me for not telling them I was coming. After the show we all went to PF Chang's for a delicious meal. Do you know they fry green beans there?




Wednesday morning we jumped back in the car and headed the whole way home. With 22 hours in the car we had plenty of time to plan all our kids lives and discuss all our problems. We talked politics and health care and reality tv and grandchildren and religion and dance and drill team and everything in between. We all wish our kids lived closer, would hurry up and get married (Tyson and Jordan), have more grandkids, and that dieting was easier. Thanks for coming with me LADIES!!!

Fall is for Football......

I love fall. I really love football. And even more than that I love wonderful fall weather for football season. We have had all three. Easton is a freshman this year. After a two year break we have a son back at High School playing sports. (Middle School is just not the same). That makes me happy. Easton has been playing wide receiver. Not the most exciting position on a running offense but he does run alot of plays in. With a little talking from his brother Jordan and myself he has started playing some defense...and realized it is much better than offense. His team has done great. They are 7-1 with two games to go. I took on the project of feeding the freshman team the day before home games. I had some wonderful help from some of Easton's friends moms. I even had my drill team girls perform at their last home game, and we dedicated the performance to Easton.

The drill team girls love performing at the football games. We had five performances. Each year it's fun to see what choreography the captains and lieutenants come up with. I think the captains were pretty nervous for the first performance.


Even they were surprised how well the girls did.





The new uniforms this year looked amazing on the field under the lights.




Congratulations to Shelby Johnson, Kiersten Redal, Kendall Earl and Kendra Moberg---this year's football Individual Achievers.






The drill team has moved on and are working on our competition numbers. This year we plan to compete in kick, military and dance. Two first for me at State. Never before have we entered the dance category and I have never entered a team in kick at state.

Easton has two more football games and then goes straight into basketball season. Jordan made the Freshman 'B' team and QUinn made the Varsity. We have expectations for Easton somewhere in between.

Yep, it's over....

Another Harvest has come and gone.....It's a real milestone in the life of a farmer and the wife of a farmer. You start thinking about next year's harvest as soon as this year's harvest is over. The weather is never quite warm enough, there is never enough rain, the potatoe's are never big enough and next year's price is sure to be better!!! In my experience (20 years as a farmer's wife) good years come along every 10 years. Ours was last year which means only 8 more....I think I can hold on.
We definetly look forward to seeing Reid a little more around the house....(or church, whichever comes first.)

No News is Good News.....

Quinn in the mission office

Wednesday morning while in New York we heard there was a Tsunmai warning for many countries including Vanutatu where Quinn is serving. I decided to not panic---no news is good news right? I received texts and emails from family wondering if everything was okay, and I just kept telling them, I don't know, but if something was wrong we would of heard.

Sunday in his email Quinn gave this information on the Tsunmai warning. He was sitting in their mission office and and one of the missionaries on the island called and asked about the earthquakes. Quinn and his companion did not feel them but all the other missionaries had. The phone rang again and it was Quinn's Mission President, President Ostler...he asked to speak to Quinn and told him about the Tsunmai warning. He told Quinn to take the mission van and pick up all the missionaries and head to the mountains. So they stopped what they were doing and immediately went and picked up all the missionaries. (4 sisters and 2 elders). Funny side note---this is the first time I even knew there were sister missionaries serving on Vanutua. Everyone in the town of Port Vila was doing the same thing. Quinn described it as a circus....stores closing, people running, he thought it was funny. When they finally got to high ground they stayed for about an hour and a half, no sign of any trouble and headed back down and back to missionary work!!!




Beautiful Port Vila, Vanuatu

Saturday was Quinn's 21st Birthday. Soon he will be home and we will celebrate. He always jokes that he was adopted because we don't have a lot of baby pictures of him....but in my defense he is the middle child, and he slept ALOT!!!! We have missed him every day he has been gone, but loved the dedication and service he has given to the people of Vanuatu. We are grateful to have him as a son and are counting the days and minutes until he returns....

Happy Birthday QUINN!!!

She makes me laugh......

Kenzie has been looking at old videos of herself and looking through her old school work. She has ALWAYS made me laugh, and still does almost daily. I appreciate her sense of humor and the way she looks at life.
She found this cute story in her file....She was 6 years old.
'This is a fun night.
The Earls are coming to our home.
Kylie is funny. I like her.
I am funny too. I like myself.
The Earls have a big family.
I do too. I got 7 people.
The Earls have 9 people.
I like my family.
My family and I like the Earls Family.
Bryan is funny too.
Courtney is funny too.
But Kylie and Courtney and I are the funniest.
We are funny.
We play funny stuff.
I am the funny one.
I do like that I am funny."

I like that you are funny too Mackenzie!