Looking back at 2012

Now I know January is almost over, but as you can clearly see I haven't exactly been on top of the whole blogging thing lately.  I did however want to post a little bit about the whirl wind that has been our life this past year!

The year stated out with us in Minnesota, and my little brother Dustin was staying with us for a month or so. He shared a room with Tate in our 2 bedroom apartment. Let me tell you it was cozy!

We went to the redbull crashed ice event. Very entertaining, but very cold!

Tate and I went to Florida with some of my family. Tate's first beach experience and Disney World and Sea World.

We went out to Georgia for Memorial Day to visit Aaron and Kens and Mayce.  Love them, they are wonderful hosts and we loved seeing their new life down south.

As most of you know we were living in Minnesota for 2 years while Donny was in school at the University of Minnesota.  We loved it out there and we miss it so much!  While we were there we did lots of fun things together, we loved our ward and we made some really great friends....And Tate fell in love with his little Madie.

We really miss our friends! And we really miss our little home, but we made the decision to pack up and make the trek back west and move in with my parents in Montana while Donny finished his PhD and I worked at the hospital in town.

So from there Tate and I flew to Utah and spent some quality time with the Baum family. Tate loves his Grandparents and cousins!
From there we came up to Montana. Poor Donny and his fantastic Dad drove all our stuff, yet again, cross country! We are so blessed with families who are will to do anything for us, such as drive our stuff around in U hauls and let us live in their homes.

Donny and I hiked the Bear tooths with my dad and sister. I started a new job at the hospital.

We found out that baby Baum #2 will arrive in May.

We went back to Georgia for a fabulous thanksgiving with the whole Bingham family (minus Dust...he's in Russia on a mission)!  Sorry I don't have pictures of this event.
And to finish off the year we had a huge Baum Christmas with all 20 of us.  Sorry also don't have any pictures of that on my computer, but I'm sure you can imagine the holidays were magical this year with being able to see every bit of family!

2012 was a crazy year full of fun and moves (not so much fun), but we had a great time and we made wonderful memories.

We look forward to 2013 which as we see it will only be crazier and packed with more new opportunities than the year before it.  We hope to have a new job for Donny, and a sweet new little baby!  We look forward to what this new year will bring!

Coming May 2013

That's right! Baby Baum #2 is on the way!  We are so thrilled to be parents to another sweet baby. Mostly everyone already knows but I guess it's not official until it's on the internet..right? We also found out over Thanksgiving vacation in Atlanta that Kensie is pregnant too and due a week after me! A lot of excitement in this family!

An outing to the lake

I'm a little late in posting about our Labor Day, but so much has been going on in the family it's been hard to find the time. Well really there isn't much to even talk about...... we had a pretty quiet Labor Day actually. We decided to go for a little picnic at the lake.  I got some cute pictures, so I thought why not blog about it. It was a great day at the lake, good food, a shovel and a bucket, and plenty of rocks to throw and skip.
Grasshopper cookies! Yummm!!! And he said "No Mom I no need a drink!"

I love a relaxing day outing with my little family.

VIDEOS!!!

There has been requests from family members for some videos of our character filled Tate. Tate loves my mom's piano, well he just loves music, and he always plays it on max volume. My mom calls this his Ray Charles.

Tate loves, LOVES to sing! And he learns songs really fast. I can sing him something once and the next time I sing it he is filling in the words. Lately some of his favorites are Oh My Darling, "Toy Story Three" which is you've got a friend in me, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, and this song that is in the video is a song my mom use to sing to me when I was little. I don't know what it's called. I always called it the Angel song. I'm very embarrassed to post a video of me singing, but Donny insisted on posting it, and Tate is so cute in it. SO just listen to him and tune me out please!

Daisy is Tate's new best friend....well I guess his only friend nowadays. Anyway everyday he has to give her "fresh water" and he continues to say "Daisy fresh water!" until she comes over for a drink. One day he discovered he could do the hose all by himself and was having a ball.

An Apostle of the Lord

 Last weekend we had the opportunity to hear the words of an Apostle. Living in Montana there aren't that many chances to see an Apostle face to face let alone shake his hand. Being that my dad is the stake president here in Helena we got to see quite a bit of Neil L. Anderson while he was here in town. Saturday morning there was a Missionary regional meeting and Elder Anderson was the guest speaker. My mom and I went early in the morning to help set up the breakfast for the missionaries. I have never been in a room with that many missionaries before. I couldn't believe the feeling that came over me being in the middle of them. The spirit was so strong it literally took my breath away. To be honest I had to get out of that room and just stand at the door, it was over whelming! After the breakfast was over mom and I started to head out to the car being that the meeting was for the Missionaries only. As we were leaving, and this couldn't have been planned more perfectly, the car with Elder Anderson pulled up. He got out and stopped us as we were leaving and shook our hands and asked us who we were and where we were going. (He actually asked me how old I was, thinking I was younger than I am. He looked a little embarrassed when I said 27 and that I was married with a 2 year old). It happens to me all the time so I wasn't embarrassed at all. He then invited us into the meeting, so of course you can't turn down an invite from an Apostle. The meeting was amazing!! I really can't even describe in words, I felt like I was beaming with sunshine, like I was on the edge of tears the whole time. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the real deal. I know without a smidgen of doubt that my Heavenly Father loves me and knows who I am. Elder Anderson is awesome! He was so funny and was literally glowing with the spirit! There is no denying that the Lord has selected these men to lead this gospel. Anyway I could go on forever about it, but I'll get on with it. So I went to work that night on a high! Then the next morning we had a Stake Conference that Elder Anderson was speaking at as well. After the meeting he came over to our house for lunch before his flight out. I honestly don't know how I made it until 1 o'clock before I went to sleep! He was so personable, genuinely cared about each and everyone of us. He remembered my name from the day before and everything I had told him. I like him (he was looking at my bridal picture and said I don't look a day older than the day I got married). Anyway, we ate chicken salad sandwiches out on the patio and had great conversation and some laughs. He's just like a regular guy, but empowered by God. I will never forget that weekend for as long as I live. I had so many confirmations made in my heart those two days, and I will never forget the feelings I had. I was truly blessed! On the way to the airport he wrote us all little notes on his business cards. He is so sweet.

Backpacking the Beartooths

The first week of August we went on a backpacking trip to the beartooths. My mom was kind enough to stay behind with Tate so Donny and I could go together. Amber and my Uncle Jason and cousin Ryan came up from Utah which was really fun. We left Sunday night and came home Thursday. It was so pretty, above the tree line and all those lakes! My dad got more pictures and better ones, but these will have to do. Donny didn't get any pictures of our glacier run off waterfall shower which I know everyone would have enjoyed, but oh well!
Donny taught me to fly fish......sadly neither of us caught anything Amber is the only one of us who caught one I haven't backpacked since I was young. It was great! Donny really enjoys it and we hope to continue to take trips like these with our children.

Moving to Helena

We have been here in Helena for about a month now. We miss Minnesota, but it has been really nice to be with family. Tate is loving it! He stays busy all day long playing and doing his duties around the house. He lets Daisy out in the morning, feeds her morning and night and gets the mail everyday, and picks up all the pine cones.

He is having so much fun with Gammy and Grandad! He loves being around them. When he's not getting what he wants he calls for Gammy or Grandad. He's getting quite spoiled!

We are enjoying having space. Tate loves the backyard. He wants to be outside all day everyday. He got a basketball hoop from the binky fairy and him and Donny play together. I love it. They have become so close. He really is a daddy's boy these day. Tate thinks soap is like chapstick... Donny is working hard finishing up his PhD and is also is the Stake seminary coordinator. He's been quite busy playing stay at home dad as well while I'm at work and trying to sleep after a long night shift! Things are good for the Baum Fam! We are happy and that's all we need!