Short and Sweet Post

I don't have a ton of time to write details or edit pictures, but we have had a fun and busy summer and I wanted to post about some of the things we have been up to. So here it is short and sweet.

~Lily lost here first tooth~

~Grandma came to visit and we went to Six Flags~

~Then Grandma took us to Lake Tahoe for 3 days~

~We went to Utah for week with all the cousins and Matt's family. (We were supposed to go to Oregon, but Matt's day got in a nasty cycling accident, so we went to see him in Utah instead.)~

~ Lily started 1st grade~

We Are Alive

It's been a long time since my last post, but for good reason. A few weeks ago, we got a phone call from Matt's work. They had a job available in the west coast and wanted to know if we were interested. Interested is an understatement! Of course we're interested. We've been trying to get west for a while now, and FINALLY we made it. So where did we move? Sacramento, California. How awesome is that!. We'll be living in Folsom, a suburb of Sacrament. So as you can imagine, since the phone call everything has been a whirlwind. Between Lily finishing school, our anniversary, the 4th of July and then the move we've been MIA. We are currenlty living at the Residence Inn. Gotta love breakfast every morning and no cleaning. Our stuff will arrive next week.
We went to church last Sunday. I LOVE the wards out here!. Everyone has been awesome inviting us over for dinner, to the park and swimming. I think we are going to like it here. We met a great family who has invited us over to swim twice and to dinner. They have two girls Lily's age, which has been a blessing since she was so sad to leave her Erie friends. Here are a few pictures of the kids swimming.

Happy Birthday Matt

Yesterday was Matt's BIRTHDAY. Just want him to know how much I LOVE him. I'm telling you, he is the best husband and dad out there. Not sure what I did to deserve him.

Summer is slowly coming and we've been able to enjoy a few sunsets at the beach. Here are a couple of pictures of Jack and Lily enjoying the evening.

Finally, Lily has started soccer. She had her first game last week. It is a hoot to watch these 5 and 6 year olds run up and down the field.

Keys 100

The Keys 100 is not for the light hearted. Ninety degree plus heat, blistering sun, humidity soaking you to the bone and cars going by at highway speeds requires a certain dedication and awareness. Many racers have used it for preliminary Badwater training, and some runners have called it a “suffer fest”. ~ Lisa Smith-Batchen Blog

With that said, we had a BLAST! 100 miles, team of 6, from Key Largo to Key West, 15 hours and 51 minutes. It was sooooooooooo hot and so humid, but we had such a great time with our friends. We rented a 15 passenger van, called ourselves 'Buns on the Run', and packed the van with tons of yummy food and drinks. We each ran 2-3 legs of the race with a total of 15-18 miles each. I ate so much food and was never full. Thank you so much Cece and Chris who organized everything and let us stay at their hacienda.

Buns on the Run Team

The Party Van (check out our little buns with running shoes!)

My Man!

100 miles of THIS!

We took the boys along too (they had a babysitter the day of the race), but they had some fun too. Our friends Chris and Cece have two fun boys to play with, and we were able to hit the alligator farm, beach, and several trips the to key lime shake place.

At the alligator farm. There were seriously thousands of them!



This is the best shot I got of Jack with the gators. Sorry it's blurry.

New York, Mother's Day and Birdies, Oh My

Two weekends ago we went to NCY to one of Matt's high school friends, Todd's wedding. NYC is only about 7 hours away, so wee packed up the kiddos and headed to the big city. We got a lot in, in just 2 days. We went to the Manhatten Zoo in central park, went Toys R' Us, which is 4 stories and has a ride in it and a life size dinosaur. The kids thought they had died and gone to heaven. Then we went to the wedding which it down poured. I thought it was kind of fun, but I am sure Todd's wife , the bride, was devastated. Then we decided to go see Mary Poppins the Broadway. The kids loved it and we still have all the songs in our heads.Matt and his high school friends at the wedding. Todd is the one in the green tie.

Jack and Matt in Central Park

The kids in Central Park

On the subway

At Central Park Zoo
At Central Park Zoo

The Big City
Getting ready to see the big showSitting in the theatre
Mother's Day was so nice. Matt and the kids brought me breakfast in bed. Lily had buttered one of the pieces of toast and it still had big chunks of butter on it when they brought it to me. It was so cute. I wish I had gotten a picture. The kids gave me so many fun things they had made at school and Matt and the kids gave me a huge hanging pot of flowers and a huge sitting pot. They are so pretty. Here is a picture of me and the kids right before church on Mother's Day. I am a spoiled mom and have the best kids in the world. I hope that they forgive me one day for all my inadequacies and all the times I yell at them. I just love how Lily, Jack, and Cole have so much unconditional love towards me and can be sad at me one minute, and the very next minute are my best friend. I wish I could be more like them. I love being their mom and feel so blessed by them each day.

Finally, remember those Robin eggs from my previous post? Well, today they hatch...still waiting for one more. Here is a quick picture I took a minute ago. I'll take more as they grow.
We are heading to Miami tomorrow to run in a 100 mile relay from Miami to the end of the keys. I'll post when we return!

Baird Happenings

The other day we went for a drive with out friends the Johnsons and found this place "where birds walk on fish" . There are so many fish in this one spot that birds can literally walk on them. It is actually a quite disgusting site as all these fish pil on top of each other with their mouths opened, begging for bread from the tourists.. You can see by Cole's face that even he thought it was a little gross.
We also have been able to go to the beach as the weather has been getting better. It was still too cold to swim, but not to cold to play in the sand, throw rocks and find treasures.
And finally, we have this little treat in one of the trees in our front yard. I had been watching this sweet little mommy robin for the past couple of weeks build a little nest. Then one day I saw a blue egg in it, the next day two, then three and today 4 eggs. She is quite a diligent little mama sitting on these eggs. I'm sure she doesn't like it much as I make my daily visit to the nest to see what is going on. The kids enjoy it too. I can't wait to see the babies and will post pictures when they arrive!

Easter 2009

Easter was fabulous at the Baird's we had Mimi with us and the kids had a fun time. On Saturday we dyed eggs. This year I used real food coloring and vinegar instead of one of those kits, and we got the brightest colored eggs. It was a lot of fun, but now my kids won't eat them!


On Sunday morning, the kids came down the stairs and noticed the Easter bunny had hid eggs and surprises all over the house. The Easter bunny was very kind this year.
Finally, we got ready for church. The weather was beautiful, but cold, so we didn't get a lot of outside pictures. I love Easter Sunday at church. It is the first year Jack and Cole kind of understood the resurrection, and they were able to come home and explain it to us during dinner.
What is Easter without an Easter ham. Honey Baked Ham, funeral potatoes and asparagus is our traditional Easter dinner. It was YUMMY!