"Love Her Mother"

I know I know, it has been like a jillion months since I last updated you all on the happenings in the Baer family. 

Let's just go through the updates:

So Dev and Britt had a GORGEOUS baby girl named Emeri Brinn Baer born on Feb. 5 2014. She is the sweetest little bundle of adorableness ever... And yeah, that hair is ALL real. We've had such fun shopping for little girl clothes...oh my gosh. It's the best!

Kelsey has been loving her mission. She has just been made a Sister Training Leader which means that her and her companion are traveling to various parts of the mission! She loves visiting and serving with the other sisters! She is scheduled to return home on August 22, 2014. We are so proud of her and grateful for her service, but we miss her like crazy and are kind of super duper excited for her to come home.

Also in February, Mama Baer had her 25th birthday! Happy birthday Mama! 

(I know, not Mama Baer but still)

Papa has been doing AMAZING lately. He has been getting a bit adventurous and has started taking turns about the house WITHOUT his walker! (which is freaky and exciting at the same time) He has found a wonderful new project, which he LOVES doing. So for Occupational Therapy they are working on tuning his fine motor skills back up, and have him doing a lot of things to strengthen the dexterity in his fingers...so Papa has taken to building model cars! He LOVES those things man! And he is doing great putting all of those rascally little pieces in there. He has also been getting ready and going to Church on Sunday! He looks SO dapper in his suit, and he LOVES getting to leave the house too. :) He is still trying to regain his swallow, which has been quite the battle. :( It is hard for us to eat in front of him, but he is a good sport and has actually taken to smelling everything we make...hopefully this triggers something. Aside from that, Papa still has some clotted arteries leading up to his brain...he is on blood thinners to help this, but he still gets some bad pressure headaches because of it. We are hoping and praying that the heal, but of course, we will be ready for whatever happens! 

(the car lot)

Our kitty, Holly, is LOVING having Papa home.

Papa all ready for Church.

So anyways, the title of this post is "Love her mother" which is actually a quote from an LDS talk given in one of our semi-annual General Conferences. This talk was especially meaningful to my Dad. He has raised three girls, and the talk starts with a question. "How do you raise a girl?" The talk goes on to say that the best way to raise a girl is to love her Mom. Which is SO true. There has never been a doubt in any of our minds as to whether or not my Dad loved my Mom. I know as a kid we all groaned when Mom and Dad were being all mushy...(what kid doesn't groan?) Dad always came home from business trips with gifts for Mom, he'd surprise her all the time with flowers, pajamagrams, and the occasional combo pizza from Dominoes. 

Aside from that, the type of man that my Dad is, he shows his loyal love for my Mom. My Dad has always been a faithful Christian. He has always been active in his beliefs, exercising his faith and looking for opportunities to serve. He has always been worthy of  his priesthood and has always looked for ways to bless others because of it. My Dad loves my Mom deeply, and I have benefited greatly from that love. I think I turned out ok, and I think I have some good values and beliefs, but one thing that I can DEFINITELY attribute to my Papa is the high bar that has been set for my own eventual husband. 

Which comes to MY update....so coincidentally it was my 25th birthday this year too! March 21 was an extremely happy day for me...and I definitely got WAY more than I was expecting. I GOT ENGAGED! I know, shocked me too. Let me tell you a little about this guy that reminds me SO much of my Dad. Cameron Smith is from South Jordan, Utah. He comes from an AMAZING family who I love very very verrrrrry much. He served a mission for the LDS Church in Portugal...which was where I served! :) Though serving at the same time, we never knew the other on the mission, we met after through mutual friends. 

Cameron is studying Neuroscience at BYU, he graduates next year and is working on applying to medical school. 

I first met Cam summer of 2013, about a month after I had returned from Portugal. Cameron took me out on a date soon after we first met, and I knew I had found a very dear friend. There was something so wholesome and endearing about this young man, and I knew that I wanted to be around him more and more. Later during the summer, a sweet friend of mine passed away, and it was very hard for me. Cameron was there for me then as a friend I could lean on. He ended up moving into my apartment complex, and was over at my apartment EVERY day as we did stuff with our mission friends. Movies, games whatever, and I was ALWAYS glad to see him. Our friendship continued to grow. Cam came up to Alpine a few times to watch BYU games with all of us, and he got to know my family a little bit. Then Papa went into the hospital, and he was the first person I told. He came to the hospital lickity split, and stayed the night with us that first day. He went to school in the morning, then came back. Every single day. 

I fell for Cam long before he was my knight in shining armor, but we started dating officially in November. :) And the rest is history. Cameron has all of the traits and qualities that I have seen in my Dad. I have found a man who honors his priesthood, and uses it often. I KNOW he will bless my future family with it. I have found a man who loves to serve. He ALWAYS lets others go in front of him if he is in line for food, he always opens my door, he makes me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world...but most importantly, he loves me, and he lets me know it every time he is with me. I am THE luckiest girl in the world, and I know that is cliche, but I mean it! 

I know that families are forever, and that is wonderful, because that means that I get to spend eternity with Cam... We'll be married in an LDS Temple on August 26, 2014. I love him more than anything.

And there ya have it, updates on the fam! (obviously we have all been a bit busy so that's why we haven't been writing!)

We love you, and although the last year has been hard, this year is turning out pretty well for all of us and we are excited for all of the good things to come!

xoxoxxoxo

The Baers

Guest Post: Sorella Baer

I'll be brief today. My heart is so full, but my thoughts are all over the place.

This week, Sorella Palumbo and I were in Pavia for maybe .2 seconds. As STL's, we just travel all over the place. I've mastered sprinting with a carry-on:) I love doing exchanges with these sorelle. Goodness, these women are incredible. Some of them graduated just in 2013, and yet, they're prepared, seasoned and so dilligent. I LOVE THE SORELLE OF THE ITALY MILAN MISSION! Ever since day 1, I've had a running tab of all of my dream companions, and well folks, the list just continues to grow... and I only have 3 transfers left... but all is well:)

The Lord has been giving me an added, and greatly needed, amount of energy to bring my A-game to these exchanges so Sorella Palumbo and I can train these sisters. I'm so so so so humbled and grateful these days.

In Italy, they have a holiday just for the women! it's called ''la festa delle donne''--yup. Italy rocks. But it's fine, because I didn't know it was a thing... and so yup. it went uncelebrated. dang. I'll have to create this holiday when I get back. 

Sorella Palumbo is the champ of the earth. She has the most beautiful eyes ever and we just bop around talking with everybody! Everybody! The florist in centro even, loves us, because we go and give her spiritual thoughts. In fact, last week, we walked by her shop, and she was like, ''Excuse me! You're leaving without saying a prayer!?'' I love that. People EXPECT us now to share the gospel with them EVERYTIME. 

People these days think I'm Italian. It's awesome. My italian is nowhere near perfect, but the Lord sure has helped me a lot, and so has my native companion:)

Parting thought?

In the hymn ''have I done any good in the world today'' there's a line that says, ''Don't dream of your mansions above'' or something like that... (disclaimer: haven't sang hymns in english for a year...) and that line in Italian says, ''non basta sognare il ciel'' which translated means that it's not enough to dream of heaven. 

DEAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS-- don't just dream of the Celestial Kingdom. make it happen! This life is not for us to sit around, talk about what we learned in Sunday School, e poi basta cosi. Nope. In fact, we're here to make it happen. 

I know it's not enough just to dream of these things. My dear loved ones, go for it! Read, pray, serve, make bringing your family to the Celestial Kingdom your top priority. We can make our homes an earthly heaven. Let's stop dreaming about heaven and make it happen! As we create that atmosphere and strive constantly to stay worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, we can feel the nearness of the Savior. 

Choose ye THIS day, whom ye serve. Take a side. Defend Him boldy. Forgive easily. and love sincerely. 

May the spirit abide in your homes and relationships-- 

con tutto del mio amore,

Sorella Baer

p.s. I love you.

p.p.s. HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY BRIDGER! you're the cutest little boy I know! Don't break too many hearts, dear nephew of mine!