Remember when....

Ok, I had to give this a try!

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Nice Genes!

It's been a lot of fun to run each week with my cousin Denise. In our long runs, we have time to talk about, well, pretty much everything!! After living away for so many years, it's been great to get to know her again and learn more about what's going on with my extended family. We often talk about our dear Grandma Baird who is slowly aging in her 94th year. We recently laughed about her stubbornness and how we're grateful that she's passed some of it along!

Grandma has always been spunky. She's known to ask you if you want more dinner after she already puts second helpings on your plate. She is a very hard worker and would probably die if she could see well enough to see the dirt in my house!! Apparently she once cleaned the walls in a hotel that weren't quite up to her standards. Grandma tubed down snowy mountains and sped by on jet-skis, long after her hair turned white. After grandpa stopped driving, Grandma decided she'd earn her driver's license, at the age of 85!! I was lucky enough to be going to school in Logan when she earned it and watched her go through the process. She obeyed all the traffic rules, and let us know when we weren't! I was very proud of her and amazed as she set her mind to it and accomplished her goal.

My boys used to be a bit frightened by this "wrinkly" old woman. We would come to visit once in a while and they didn't know her very well at all. Since my parents left for their mission in France, we've tried to make it a point to get up and visit grandma a bit more. It has been great. The boys have really gotten to know her. After our last visit, as soon as we got home in Micah's prayers he blessed "grandma great". He also now has a picture, at his request, of her displayed proudly on his bed. I hope many of her great qualities will rub off on them, and on me. We love you Grandma Baird!

Wah, wah, wah.

That's supposed to be the sad sound you make when something disappointing happens like one of your brand new fish dying. Make that 4 little fish. This is going to be rough.

Graduation!

So I graduated from College today!!! I didn't walk or anything, but this Spring I finished up a few classes to earn my University Studies degree from BYU-Idaho, with minors in ElEd and Home and Family Life. I'm glad to finally have a degree after all these years...

On a much more exciting and eventful note, we've graduated from bugs to a real pets now. I ran a race last week at the "Farmington Days" celebration. The perk for the boys coming to cheer me on was coming home with two African Dwarf Frogs. We got the family special which included 2 frogs, a tiny tank and 3 months of food for $10. Well $200 and a week later, we now have a 10 gallon tank with 5 little fish and our two frogs, Swimmer and Monopoly (the frogs were cramped and lonely :o), complete with water filter and heater. We're not quite sure how this happened!!!!! But the boys are thrilled!! Definitely my most expensive race to date, but I feel our quality of life has really improved now that I'm a college graduate and can use my degree to teach the frogs to read and to evaluate how the differences in socioeconomic status affect the community fish.

Check out Swimmer (Ben picks very practical names) peeking through the coral reef...


The proud graduate!!

Happy thoughts

Benjamin ended up in our bed with us last night for the second time this week. As he was lying next to me, he whispered that he was scared. "What are you scared about Benjamin?" "I can't really explain." "Can you try?" "I'll try. I have a scary thought about a big fish with sharp teeth, eating a little fish."

Now, I'm one who needs my sleep. I don't wake up well in the middle of the night, and I'm quite proud of myself for not going off on Benjamin for waking me up about a fish with sharp teeth. My response in my comatose state was, "Well try and think happy thoughts, like a fish without sharp teeth or a maybe a dolphin." Benjamin thought for a moment then said, "I know, I can think about Jesus." Then in another minute, "Another way to think about Jesus is by praying." He rolled over on his knees and said a prayer that he wouldn't be scared. At this point I was wide awake and a bit embarrassed that I hadn't thought of it myself. And a little child shall lead them...

new jake, old shoes

Last Wednesday, Jacob turned 7! He's looked forward to the day for a long time and ended up celebrating the entire day. We went to Lagoon, Sports-of-all-sorts, the neighborhood bbq and swimming. He lived it up and had a lot of fun!!

Among his gifts, was a new pair of running shoes. As I examined his old running shoes, I nearly burst with pride.
These shoes show all signs of a new, more active Jacob. Equipped with their second pair of shoelaces, there are holes in the seams and threads are coming undone. The soles are worn down, and the white is more of a gray by now. These shoes have been used to kick (many) balls, run, jump and ride bikes. I even caught him trying to wear them to bed one night, because they have essentially become a part of him.

Having spent some time in running shoes, I can relate. Every-so-often, you find a pair of running shoes that feel better on than off. They gradually shape to your feet and it feels like home when you slip them on. Until, alas, the sad day when they no longer offer any support whatsoever and must be passed along as garden shoes. Well, Jacob had no problem moving on, he had picked his new ones out a month in advance. He has now entered the stage in life in which he actually likes getting things like shoes for his birthday!! But, I just may keep them around to remind me of our new, active Jacob and all the miles and hard work that have been spent in these shoes. (Before I could post this, I found Jacob bribing Benjamin to try his old shoes on. Looks like we'll get some more use out of them after all!)

Bite of Seattle

Since we left Seattle, 7 years ago, it has been a sweet, distant memory for me. Arriving 4 days after we were married, it was basically a two-year honeymoon as we experienced life on our own in a new, enchanted city. So as we approached my beloved Skyline this weekend, I suddenly feared, after all these years of longing to go back, that the spell would be broken!! Now accompanied by 3 kids and caravaning with my sister Emily's little family (who now are lucky enough live in the great NW!) we drove into the city and the memories flooded back! I wanted to go and see everything and do everything we'd done before! With too little time and too many appendages, we had to pick a few sites to see. Wandering through Pike's Place Market with 3 little boys was not quite as relaxing, and the excitement of Big City life is a bit different once you have kids in tow (please don't ask what that sign means!). However, our 4 day road (and may I emphasize ROAD - we drove over 2,200 miles in a rental car!) was full of wonderful, new little memories that will add to the Seattle Magic. Here are a few of my favorite!

Swimming at 10:00 pm in the hotel pool -yes we got a few dirty looks, but the boys were in heaven!
Jamming to the music with Phil (XM radio in the rental - pretty cool)
Telling the boys to watch for a rainbow and then seeing a double one
Passing "Tow Mater" under our double rainbow!
The BEAUTIFUL NW!!!!!
Getting to meet baby Leah
Benjamin dancing at Pike Place to the banjo man
The flowers at Pike Place - I love those!
Eating our yummy carmel apple with mini m&m's
Cousin time with James (and Em, Barry and Leah of course!)
Geo-caching with Uncle Barry, then Jacob getting to go up on stage at the zoo show and actually geo-cache with the zoo keepers
Walking through Olympic National Park (our rain forest)
Watching the boys run from the waves at the beach
Getting to see one of my best friends from high school and college (Sarah Tanner!) and her cute fam
The boys beating each other up after about 30 hours of car time - I can't help it, it was funny!