Guitar Playin.

When I was little my mom put me in piano lessons... I hated it! So she didn't want to force me to do it and so I dropped out at about 4th grade. I have always regretted that choice, like she said I would. So when I got into high school I decided that I wanted to play the guitar! I had friends that played and I thought it sounded like a ton of fun! I also thought it looked pretty easy because my friends could just google a song

and then play it!

Right when I told my mom she enrolled me in guitar classes. My mom is a wonderful mom who wants her children to be culturally literate... or whatever the phrase is. So I went to guitar lessons and I loved it! I would practice all the time. What made it so great was that I could choose the songs that I wanted to learn, which made it a ton more interesting. After about 6 months, I had learned all of the chords. My teacher was really impressed because I was kinda a natural... if you will. So she asked me if I wanted to learn to read notes, and that made me think back to piano, and I immediately said no. So I quit. I had learned all I needed to know and that's all I wanted.

I played a lot for about a year after I quit lessons. It kind of wore off after a while. I still played at Girls Camp and at other things but not as much as I used to. I am so glad that I learned to play the guitar. It has become my new way to release emotion. Since I don't have dance anymore I use the guitar a lot. Music is amazing. It is such an amazing aspect of this world. I am so glad that I learned to play an instrument. I love the guitar.

guitar playin.

My First Job.

I remember turning 16 and being so excited about the fact that I could now get a job. After 4 weeks... I finally got one. I worked at Hogi Yogi, the corporate office in Provo. I had always had a love for Hogi Yogi and so I knew that this would be the perfect job for me!

I loved it! I honestly thought it was the best job ever! I remember going to work everyday and being so excited to go. I was earning money and working with awesome people! I also worked with some really cute guys... which I think helped a lot! I learned a lot from my new job! It was perfect for me! I thought I was a pretty good worker and I guess so did the Hoge because after about two months, I became a manager!

Becoming a manager at the age of 16 was kind of a challenge. I was over a lot of people that were older than me and they made my life difficult at times! I remember going to manager meetings and feeling so important! I loved working still. I really liked the lady over the managers and her name was Shannon. For some reason, she didn't really like her job so she quit and then they brought in... Jason.

I did not like Jason at all. First of all, I kinda ran the company by myself, with the help of one of my awesome friends Evan Monson. He was a manager as well and we would practically run the whole restaurant. The only thing we didn't do was make the schedule of who was working. Anyways, they brought in Jason and he changed everything around. He was not nice to us as workers and work was not fun anymore. I dreaded going to work every single day! I was only making $7 an hour and it just didn't seam worth it anymore.

So I did what I feel was right and what I felt I needed to do... I quit. Hogi Yogi was just not for me anymore but I am glad that I worked there. I earned a lot of money and I learned a lot about being in management! It was the perfect beginners job for me as an individual!

first job.

First Date.

My first date was with the awesome kid named Jarik Mudrow! And... I asked him! Which is kinda backwards but welcome to my life! Haha anyways, I had liked the kid a lot and preference was coming up in February, about a month after my 16th birthday, and so I decided that I would ask Jarik to go with me! Come to find out, it was his first date too! So that was really nice because neither of us knew what we were doing.

I was very creative in asking him to this dance! I put a bunch of starbursts all over his room and glow in the dark stars on his ceiling spelling my name! Then I made a poster saying,

Out of all the stars in the sky,

I choose you to be my guy!

Will you go to preference with me?

Creative I know!

I don't remember much about the date but I do remember that I had a blast! Jarik is such an awesome guy and he treated me like such a lady! We went in a huge group and I remember going to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Jarik didn't know like anyone in my group but he was still so nice and fun to be around! I remember thinking that it was going to be awkward because I asked and so it kinda makes things weird, but we turned it into a game! We kept track of who opened what doors and we would race to them to open them for each other! It was a ton of fun!

This is a picture of us before the dance! It is kinda distorted... oh well. I remember feeling so awkward standing in this position and Jarik cracking jokes haha! He is such a crazy funny guy! My first date was pretty much the best thing ever! I had a ton of fun and an incredible night!

first date.

Drivin stick-shift...

Learning to drive was one of the coolest things I had ever done. I remember my first time being behind the wheel and I felt so free. And then I remember glancing to my right and seeing my dad gripping his seat for his life and on the verge of tears! The hardest thing for me was keeping my attention. I used to look at the birds, trees, hot men... I wasn't used to not being able to look at these things while I drove... but I learned very quickly because my dad was very good at teaching... :)

Parking was the hardest thing for me at first! I could never get that dang car in between those two lines! We practiced and practiced and practiced! And believe it or not, I was actually pretty good at parallel parking... I am such a strange person, I know! Driving was a ton of fun and I passed my driving test on the first try! Little did I know... the worst was yet to come!

I remember wanting to drive my mom's cute black jetta! I thought it was the cutest car ever! But... it was a stick-shift! I was so deathly afraid of the stick shift! I remember going over to the church parking lot and trying to make that car go.... and failing about 25 times and then going home. And, to make matters worst, the car hated me! It literally hated me! Every time I would try and drive that car the 'check engine' light would go on! It didn't want me to drive it and I didn't want to learn to drive it!

A while later my mom's cousin Melissa and her family came over. Somehow, me not being able to drive the stupid stick shift came up. Seth (Melissa's husband) jumped to the cause. I tried to tell him that it was a worthless cause because the car hated me, but he wouldn't listen. He went over and go the Tinker Toys and started building something. I sat next to him and then he began to explain how the car works, what happens when you pull out the clutch, what happens when you put it into different gears, etc. He sat there and explained it to me and then... he made me get back into that retched car!

He drove down to the high school and made me get into the drivers seat. We sat there and he reminded me about everything that is going on inside of this poor car and why it hated me! I realized that maybe it was me and not the car... weird thought I know! So I tried it again, and guess what... IT WORKED! I drove that beautiful car and it was so much fun! Don't get me wrong... I was not a pro to begin with but it has definitely come overtime. Now I can drive a stick-shift with no problem! Driving rocks my socks!

stick-shift.

Mele Kalikimaka.

For Christmas of 2005 my family went to Hawaii! Ever since I can remember my mom has been saving up sky miles and money so that my family can take a trip to Hawaii! We finally decided to go right before Mike graduated High School. The whole month before we were all stocked about going! My mom was obsessed with the song "Mele Kalikimaka" because that is how you say Merry Christmas in Hawaiian. Looking back, I can honestly say that this is the best trip my family has ever been on!

This is the picture of us in the airport. Believe it or not, this picture was actually in the newspaper and talked about family's going places for the holidays! Yes... we are basically famous!

I remember the flight being the longest thing in my life! When we got there, it was night time. We took a taxi to our hotel and I remember driving by the ocean and being blown away by the beauty of this island! Our hotel was not the greatest on Maui but we had lots of fun! Below is a picture of my brother and me fighting! And yes... that would be Matt's finger in Spencer's ear!

We did a lot of fun things on the island of Maui. There are a lot of things to do and I would dare say... we did most of them! We took a day of "sight seeing" and drove around the island! We started at Pearl Harbor. It was so interesting and cool to see what happened there. We also took a tour on a battleship! I remember it being really hot but also very interesting! Below is a picture of the fam at Pearl Harbor!

We also stopped on our car trip at a lighthouse! It was off in the ocean and we stop and read a sign about it. As you can see in the picture below, the boys weren't very excited about it... Mike was just happy he had his beef jerky... and so was Matt! But I actually thought it was really pretty! You can actually see the lighthouse in the picture, it is between mine and Spencer's heads!

During the drive we stopped at some different places. I remember driving along the side of the road and being able to see guys surfing on these huge waves! It was fascinating to me! After a long and awaited car ride, we finally got to out last stop! The gorgeous Hawaii Temple! It truly was gorgeous and I was so glad we made the long trip out there! We went into the visitors center and they took us on a little tour of the temple! It was so cool to go there and see the famous temple!

We had a blast on the island of Maui but we didn't stay there very long... we actually spent most of our time on Kauai. It was beautiful! My favorite part of the island was the billions and billions of chickens! They were EVERYWHERE! It was so funny! Supposedly, back in the day they had a huge storm and it blew all of the chickens out of their pens. Then, chickens became wild and now they are everywhere! Our new hotel was a Marriott and it was really nice! There was actually a really cute hot dog place just down the street called Puka Dogs! They were delicious! I put mangoes on mine! Below is a picture of the fam eatin our dogs!

My favorite part about Kauai was the rope swing! Our friends the Blaylocks told us about it and then it was our quest to find it! We actually ended up talking to some locals about it! And eventually, we found it! It was in the core of the island and you had to hike a ways for it! Below is a picture of us on our way to the rope swing! When we got there I was blown away! It was absolutely stunning! There was a huge river which had a waterfall flowing into a huge pond of water. Then there was a huge tree with a rope attached to it! There was a ladder up the side of the mountain so you could climb back up! Since it was just a place for the locals, no one was there! A funny side story... we were walking across the river trying to go over to the tree and my mom, who was carrying all of our stuff, slipped and fell into the water. All of our stuff started floating down the river! We ended up catching everything and we laid out all of our electronics and luckily enough, nothing was broken!

Back to the Rope Swing! We (dad, mike, spencer, matt, me) were all standing at the top by the huge tree. My dad had the rope in his hand and asked, "Ok who's going first?" Everyone just stared blankly at my dad. A) We had no idea if it was safe and B) it was really high! So... me being the only girl and the only one scared of hights, finally volunteered to go first! Yes, needless to say I was about to pee my pants! But I gripped that rope tighter than anything in my life, said my prayers, and jumped! It was one of the biggest rushes in my life! The water was freezing but it was so worth it! We swung for a while and then, after we were all exhausted, we left.

On our way back from the rope swing, we stopped at Banana Joe's. It was a cute little shack that we had heard about. We went in and all got banana smoothies... they were actually really disgusting! Haha so we threw them away, but we got a pretty cute picture of matt and me in front of the shack!

Christmas was on a Sunday and we attended church! It was an incredible experience to go to church in Hawaii! The members were so welcoming and even made us leis (you can see in the picture below) We even ran into our friends The Smiths and went to church with them! It was such an awesome experience and I am so glad we decided to do that!

Since it was Christmas, my mom packed a cute little tree and stockings! The day we got to the island of Kauai we stopped at Wal*mart and picked up presents. We all drew names and then we bought a little goofy gift for our person! We also picked up a boxed Christmas dinner! Christmas was a lot of fun because it helped us realize the true meaning of Christmas! We went to Church and then we invited the Smiths over for dinner! They even brought a cute cake that said "Mele Kalikimaka"! So funny!

The rest of the vacation was pretty much spent chillin on the beach! It was gorgeous there! The water was so blue and the sand was so white! The sun was awesome because it made you really tan... it was weird actually! And it was winter in Orem so that was nice coming back and all!

Hawaii was amazing! I loved everything about it. I now understand why it was my mom's goal to get the whole family there together! It is still my favorite family vacation and whenever I look back on it, I always want to go back! I would dare say it is the greatest place on earth!

HAWAII.

Zoe...

A couple of years back my parents told us that we could finally get a dog! We went and looked at the newly born puppies and I loved them all. But there was one dog whom I just fell in love with! Come to find out, she is the one we picked. She used to be so small, she could fit into the palm of one hand. I loved her!

Zoe is a Bichon Frise.

We have trained her to do just about every trick in the book: sit, lay, roll over, play dead, dance, shake, high-five, G.I. Joe, bunny (hop up and down on hind legs), ask nicely (sit on hind legs), and go to your spot (go lay in your bed). She is one of the smartest dogs I have ever met! One of the funniest things that she does is she buries her "puppy" named Doby! Every time after she eats or at night time before before bed, she will go and bury him somewhere in the house.

Zoe and Doby!

Another thing that Zoe loves is her bed! She lays in it almost constantly! It is so funny to me because Zoe is a ton like our family. We have our moments when we love to be active and go play but we also have our moments when we like to just relax and be still. Zoe is this to the T and I love it haha.

Zoe and her bed.

A couple of years ago Zoe was playing with me and Spencer up on Spence's bed and Zoe ran and jumped off, she yelped really loud and then she couldn't walk. We took her into the vet and come to find out she tore her ACL. So yes, Zoe had to get surgery on her ACL :( it was the saddest thing I have ever seen! She was so sad and was just in pain all of the time. My mom stayed up with her the first night and just held her all night long. We love our dog so much and would do anything for her!

Zoe and her cast.

She loves us too! She is one dog who loves to cuddle! I would dare say it is one of her favorite things. If you are at home sitting on the couch or taking a nap on your bed, Zoe is always right there beside you! If you are sick, she will not leave your side all day long! She is such a sweetheart! Matt calls her, "Fluffy Pillow". Because she is so soft and loves to just snuggle in.

Zoe and Dad on the couch.

So if you cannot tell... we love Zoe! She has brought me through thick and thin. She is such a joy to have in our house and in my life! She is getting old and we are all so sad! I cannot picture my life without this little fluff ball!

This is just a little clip of Zoe... it cracks me up! Her toy is under the hutch... She brings so much laughter into the lives of the Baker's!

I LOVE ZOE.

The Junior High Years...

Junior High was an amazing time in my life! I had an incredible experience and I learned so many things! In 7th grade I shared my locker with the one and only Kaitlyn Swenson! We both made the cheer squad and so we would dress up on game days together! We also both decided that we weren't going to take PE and would count dance for that credit. So we would leave school early together and then carpool to dance! Loved it!

8th grade was my all time favorite year! I was a cheerleader once again and it was amazing! I think what made it so great was because I knew a lot of people. Don't take that as being cocky... haha but I had just taken the time to get to know a lot of different people and I think that made everything more fun! I shared my locker with the amazing Lauren Craig! We had been friends since about 4th grade. She was also on the cheer squad with me and so we saw each other a lot at school as well as away from school. I remember when I tried out for the cheer squad, me and my friend Jordan McKell made the 9th grade cheer squad. But we both made the decision to stay on the 8th grade squad with our friends. I made Jazz Club at the dance club 8th grade year as well. It was just overall an incredible year!

This is a picture of dress up day for Cheer! We all dressed up crazy and took crazy pictures!

9th grade year was awesome because we ruled the school! We were the oldest and had learned the ropes. I was also on the cheer squad and we didn't cheer for Oak Canyon anymore but had the opportunity to cheer for Timpanogos High School, which was a ton of fun! I also liked my first boy and he was on the football team! His name was Taylor Atkin haha. We sat by each other in Geology and it was so funny! We like never talked but everyone knew we liked each other... oh the good old days!

I also had a math teacher named Ms LeBlanc, yes she was related to Matt LeBlanc from friends! Anyways, she was the person who inspired me to become a math teacher! She was incredible and I learned so much that year! I gained such a love for Math. 9th grade year was amazing!

I had some awesome friends and I loved everything about it!

GO EAGLES!