Tagged by Sara

Six names I go by:
1. Mom (and every variation of it)
2. Red
3. Hon
4. Sister Waite
5. Laura (thats original)
6. Annie

Three things I am wearing right now:
1. Maternity sweat pants (depressing, I know)
2. anklet socks
3. my wedding ring (I can finally fit it back onto my finger)

Two things I want very badly at the moment:
1. My husband to be home! ( he left for work today)
2. To fit back in all of my clothes!!!!!

Three favorite things I did last night:
1. Went on a double date with my husband and my Mom and Dad to P.F. Changs.
2. snuggled on the couch with Lance while he worked on the computer.
3. got up with Cory at 2 (maybe #6 makes you appreciate how short a time this lasts)

Four things I ate today:
1. Peanut Butter and Honey sandwich w/milk
2. hot homemade rolls (from my visiting teacher)
3. an orange
4. graham crackers w/milk

Two people I last talked to on the phone:
1. Lance
2. Spencer (Rachel pulled him out of his primary class so I could give him a good talking to)

Six things I plan to do tomorrow:
1. take Cory to the doctor
2. write thank you notes
3. juice our hundreds of lemons
4. continue my organization project on my house
5. drive my kids to their various places
6. dust the armoire in my room (this has been on the list for at least 3 months)

Five things I am grateful for today:
1. my visiting teacher (she brought me dinner, even though Cory is a month old)
2. the rain (I love it)
3. a freshly cleaned bathroom (another thing I love)
4. Fox news channel
5. my husband (who didn't want to go to work as much as I didn't want him to, but does what it takes to take care of us)

It was a lot of work to think through all of that! I tag Kristi, Rachel W, and Jenna

Three weeks old

Cory at three weeks old. We have been a little worried about him, because he hasn't been gaining any weight. At three weeks, he only weighs 7 lbs 3 oz. Its a good thing he was big at birth!

He's finally here!

Cory Keith Waite was born on January 7, 2009 at 6:35 AM. 8 lbs 1 oz. He is so beautiful and perfect. What a great blessing it is to have a healthy baby. The c-section was a bit of a shocker though. Every one that I talked to about it, acted like it was no big deal. Wrong! I thought it was so hard the first few days. But as always, the end result is so worth it, that nothing else matters! I forgot how fun it is to have a new baby in the house. The best part is watching all of the kids loving him. He might be a little confused as to who his mother is though. Rachel has him in her arms as much as me. Its a good thing, Im the only one willing to get up in the night with him or I might never get to hold him.

My Favorite Family tradition

Every Christmas Eve, the girls and I make a fancy dinner. It was so fun this year because both my girls were a huge help. We had so much fun planning the menu and setting the table. It is the only time we use all of our nice dishes. The best part is that the boys do all of the dishes and cleaning up!







Lance made us show off our work. Nine months pregnant is not my favorite time for pictures, but the girls were all too happy to comply!



For once in her life, Sally thought it was fun to set the table!


Rachels creme brulee was fabulous and beautiful!




A sight seldom seen. Lance doing the dishes! We had to have a picture for documentation!

our early christmas

Being a junior captain, Lance had to work this year on christmas. Santa Claus came to our house on Monday the 22nd. We e-mailed him and asked him to visit our family a couple of days early. He was so accomodating. When this happened last year for the first time, I was heart broken about it, but it wasn't so bad. We never thought about it again for the whole year. This year was actually great. It didn't seem any different than a regular christmas morning. In fact, when we forgot batteries for one of the gifts, it was no problem. Our Baker Family Christmas Eve party last night was very stress free. I didn't feel like I had to hurry out of there, or be up until 3 in the morning. The longer I live, the more I realize that life is what you make of it. Your attitude is everything. It doesn't really matter what exact morning we used, but it does matter that the Savior is the center of our holiday. How grateful I am to him for his life and example. Without all of the opening of the presents today, I have been able to reflect a little more on the Saviors birth. It wasn't so bad to separate Santa and the Savior. I am always a little melancholy at the end of the Christmas season. Another year of life just flew by. Time sure seems to be speeding up. Christmas is the perfect ending to any year, good or bad. Nothing comforts or makes us more grateful than feeling the love and joy that abounds at Christmastime.

Our disneyland vacation

Christmastime at disneyland is my favorite. I love all the decorations and I love when it is cold there. Although as you can see from this picture, it wasn't that chilly. At night it got there though. It reminds me of growing up and singing at the candlelight thing. I cant remember exactly what it was called. Where's Amy when I need her? Those were good times. Anyways, we went right before Thanksgiving. Our passes were running out and we needed one more hurrah before they did.

They opened Its a small world for a short time on the next to last night. Much to the kids dismay. I was really happy. Its one of my favorite rides. I love to watch Jeffrey look at everything and sing along. They got all new boats, that were alot nicer also.

San Diego with Matthew

It was Matthews turn for a trip and Lance had a long overnight in San Diego, so Matthew and I flew out to meet him for the night. We didn't end up staying overnight but we had a really fun time. There is an aircraft carrier across the street from Lances hotel that we went over and toured. They have turned it into a museum. The guides on the ship had either served on that ship or other aircraft carriers and they told really cool stories and knew everything about the day to day operations. Since we didn't get to stay overnight, we decided to treat Matthew to a really fancy dinner. Lance also wanted to take me out to get some steak, since I am really anemic and need to bulk up on iron. We went to Ruths Chris steak house. Its been two weeks and I am still dreaming about that steak. It was so good! When it was time to leave, Lance walked us down to the van, then as we were driving away and Lance was walking back into the hotel, Matthew said, "Thats really sad to watch Dad walk in by himself." It was sad. Alot of his life is spent in hotels alone. Such is the life of a pilot. If we think about it too much, we wont be able to do it anymore. It was so great to be able to spend a few precious hours alone with Matthew. We haven't laughed that much together in a long time. He is a really funny kid. No wonder so many people like him! It was nice to remember how blessed I am to have him as my son.