My Wittle baby brudder, Elder Mark Ensio Baker returned home from his mission in May from the San Jose California Mission (shoot! Has it really been since MAY that I posted something?!):
We've enjoyed torturing him as he's adjusted from the post-mission weirdness. Hehe. Whoever said big sisters were nice?
My OTHER baby brudder graduated from high school. He was valedictorian, by the way, Mr. Smartie pants, with a 4.5 somethin' GPA. Gave the whole speech at graduation and everything. Yeah, I know, sick, right?
As a side note, these baby brudders are suddenly looking not so babyish anymore. I can't believe how old it makes me feel that PAUL is graduated from high school! EEeks! He'll be leaving in less than a week to start school at Eastern Arizona on a football scholarship. Sniffle, sniffle. My baby brudder is all grown up!Oh, and by the way, said baby brudder graduated on my birfday... which... ROB WAS HERE FOR!! What a sweetie! He drove all the way out from Nebraska for my big two-four and made it in time for graduation. Awh!
For my birthday, Rob and I stayed at the Lion's Gate Manor. Its this freakin' sweet house up in the middle of beautiful Idaho mountains at Lava hot springs. The rooms are all themed, and Rob and I stayed in the Phantom of the Opera. It was amazing! We had a very good time enjoying the hot springs and our freakin' sweet room... which was complete with a mirror with a phantom behind it. Kind of creepy, but very cool at the same time ( : 
(By the way... bad hair day for this particular pic... ignore the frumpiness, it was a late night... heehee) Nat and her hubby Steve also came up from Utah JUST for my birfday! Okay... not really. They actually came to hear Mark's homecoming talk... BUT... I like to pretend they came just for me! As always, our time together was much too short! But Nat and I had some good times making cookies on Sunday, which were delicious Sour Cream Chocolate Chip yumminess!! 
In other happenings, I had a slew of mice that fell into my window well and subsequently DIED in said window well (seven, to be exact). The fearless leader in the mice escipades all started with this little guy, whom Lisa and I named "Chester":
There was also Cherish, Chex, Charlie, and Charlotte... we finally stopped naming after a while... there were just too many to keep track of! They were cute, but very stinky after dead. Luckily, I think I've finally fixed the problem because there have not been any mice sightings in over a month. (Knock on wood).
I also DE-junked the boxes I've had stashed at my parent's house for the past 6ish years or so since high school graduation. For those of you who know me, you know that I'm quite the pack rat.... I couldn't believe some of the junk I kept! This is me in front of only SOME of the trash:
And here are some of the more interesting items discovered in the boxes... INCLUDING my wedding boquet, which, by the way, looked like something straight out of Charles Dickin's Great Expectations:
Also, in other news, my Dad finally reached the big five-oh! Woot, woot! We all wore black and went out to dinner. Haha!
Paul also had a birthday. 18... YIKES!!
Natalie and Lindsey thought it would be nice to give Paul nail polish and braclets for his birthday... heehee. But not to dissapoint them, Paul, of course, graciously accepted his presents! Hopefully it didn't scar his big tough football image TOO bad!
And possibly the WORST part of the summer was my implant surgery. Ick. And please, no judging these pics... I was on drugs at the time!
Luckily, I got to see Rob for a second time this summer at a Hansen family reunion in Utah. The Hansen clan is starting to expand a little... hard to get everyone together now-a-days! But this time, everyone made it except Sara, who is serving a "mish" in Georgia. Here's some pictures from the reunion:
What fun times to be with family and see Rob again! Our 4th was WAY too short!
In other news, I've gone to a few wedding receptions, played with friends, gone to All Star/All State football AND baseball games for both Paul AND David repectively and just generally enjoyed being home for a summer. Here are a few more random pics:
Sooooo anyway, as you can see, it's been an eventful summer! I've had an enjoyable time, but I think it goes without saying that I can't wait for it to end!! I miss Rob WAY too much! Two weeks, five days and counting...
Until next time! (Which hopefully will NOT be two months from now!)
The parent's casa... my home away from home for the summer
And the second is called The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
Both are first time, debut authors, who have defied the odds and gone and gotten themselves on the best seller lists! I feel a weird connection to people like that... When I hear about the success of first time authors I want to point and say: "See! See! Look! People CAN do it!" Or more appropriately: "See, look if they can do it, so can I!" In any event, if you need a good read, I highly recommend both of these works. They are fabulous!
