New Year

A new year and new financial situation.  After months (and years) of hard work, we have finally paid off all of our school loans and what little consumer debt that we had.  We are officially DEBT FREE!  We plan to keep it this way too.  Now on to building up our savings :)

A new year and new resolutions.  Thanks to Trip's bright idea, we are setting goals in quarters this year.  Hopefully, we will be able to stick to them all year this way :)  One of my goals was to workout at least 3 times a week for the next 3 months.  I am hoping to do more than that, but since I am renting DVD's from the library for this purpose I wasn't sure how available they would be.

This week was the first week that I started on my new goal, and man, what a workout!  I am so sore, and I thought that I was doing pretty good at staying in shape through running and Zumba.  I can tell that this is going to be fun and challenging :)

A new year and new work.  Trip is still working for Domo, but has gotten a new position within the company.  It is more inline with what he where he wants his career to go, so we are both happy about it.  

A Look at 2012

2012 has treated this Baker family well.  We have experienced a lot of "firsts" in our family this year.  Makaila grew from this...

...to this.

She went from crawling for the first time,

to taking her first steps.

Kaila ate solid food for the first time,

And said her first words.

Trip ran his first obstacle course race (see this post for more) and got to see two of his young men from Malaysia leave to serve missions, which was a first as well.

I also ran my first race ever (more can be seen here), and attended a mission reunion for the first time in 4 years.  We took Makaila camping at Lake Powell for the first time (more about this to come), and we stopped at Zions Canyon on our way home.

Dan was the first out of my brothers to get married, and that made Alyssa (whom we love!) our first Doxey sister-in-law!

Trip and I went river rafting on Provo River for the first time with Dan and Alyssa this summer (unfortunately we don't have any pictures, just fond memories).  Makaila turned 1!  

She went to the aquarium for the first time...

we went to a pumpkin patch.

 We took family pictures for the first...

January 2012

second (click here to see more)...

April 2012

and third time this year!

November 2012

We sent out our first Christmas cards as a family.

Makaila had her first Easter,

Valentine's Day,

St. Patrick's Day,

Fourth of July,

and Halloween.

Our first nieces were born!  

Bean experienced her first snow.

She will also get to see the lights at Temple Square for the first time this year.

This picture is from Scott Sanders

We have been truly blessed and are forever grateful for the unique experiences, gifts, and love that each and every one of our family members and friends brings into our lives.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!!

5 Years

It's hard to believe that Trip and I have been married for 5 years now.  Time has flown by, and yet it's hard to remember life before we met.  We have had some sweet, tender, unique, exciting, and special experiences since we met.  From driving across the U.S. two weeks after our wedding, to living in Malaysia, to expanding our family with pets and then Makaila, we have truly been blessed.  I couldn't have picked a better companion for this journey!

1 Year Old!

Technically 13 months now, I am a little behind.  It is still so amazing to me that my little baby is a one year old now!  She has grown up so much, and I just love her to pieces.  As a one year old Makaila...

• Walks like a pro
• Signs "eat", "sleep", "milk", "book", "diaper", "all done/ finished", and "more"
• Says "Ma Ma", "Dad", "Ja" for Jack, "Da" for dog, "hi", "please" (sounds like "peace" or "peas"), "this"
• Makes dog and cat sounds
• Loves stuffed animals and books
• Eats just about anything and everything
• Gives big hugs and juicy kisses almost every time we ask for one
• Says "muah" when giving kisses
• Loves to be chased
• Loves to run and dive into Mom or Dad's arms
• Likes to play tug of war with Jack and toss his ball
• Likes to cuddle, hug and kiss both Jack and Tigger

She is so grown up, I just can't believe it!

We celebrated Makaila's first birthday in Park City with Dad Doxey, Scott, and Tobi Sanders.  We had a great time with the same people who were with us when Bean was born (except for Mom Doxey).  We met at the hotel on Saturday and spent the afternoon and evening at Swiss Days, a giant flee market that is Switzerland themed.  It was my first time going and it was pretty awesome!  Trip came away with a fun new game called "Swash Buckled".  I highly recommend it :)

We spent the rest of our time eating good food, swimming at the hotel pool, and of course, playing games.  On Monday (Kaila's actual birthday) we celebrated with an ice cream cake, which was Kaila Bean's first time eating both ice cream and cake!  It was delicious (sometimes I still think of that cake and wish I had more!)

In the car on our way to Swiss Days.  So happy and sweet!

Being cute in our hotel room

Singing "Happy Birthday"

The following weekend was her big party where we invited family and friends.  That was also a success.  We went to a park where we had a splash pool filled with water as well as water balloons.  Makaila loved it all!  I will go ahead and post the rest of the pictures from her party since that is what everyone really wants to see ;)

Chasing her shadow

The food

The presents and cakes

Makaila and Aria, walking and eating

Checking out the playground

The cake.  I was kind of proud of it 

I have some sweet video's from both parties too, but they are taking forever to upload so I will post them separately.