Good as GOLD

We've had such a fun week!  Micah had the opportunity to be in his school play, Good as Gold.  It was about two Olympic Athletes, Noelle Pikus-Pace and Steven Holcomb, who overcame a lot of adversity to make it to the Olympics and even medal.  I was so impressed with the talent of the writers, directors, musicians and producers who put this amazing production together.  I paid Micah $5 to try out back in October (some times we all need a little push to do what is good for us!)  I'd say it was well worth the $5 and he said would have paid me $5 to get to be in it by the end.  He loved the experience. 

Micah was one of Noelle's Siblings

 And Olsen, one of Steve Holcomb's teammates

Loved his face in this scene

Steve Mesler, one of Steve Holcomb's real teammates came to support the kids.  They thought that was AWESOME!!!

Micah was thrilled with his part, especially because he could do it with his friend Marshall.

Tommy is also one of his good friends.  Fun to see them shine!

Micah, you are Good as Gold to us!!

Arrivederci

We had the wonderful opportunity of having some house guests for a couple of months this winter.  My brother Jeff and his family were preparing to move to Rome for him to work on the Rome Temple and need a place to stay until they got their visa (or got sick of waiting for it and left on faith and a prayer that it would arrive soon:)

One of the things I love about our home is the space we now have for guests, and they took us up on our offer to host them.  It was such a pleasure to have them with us for the holidays and to get us through the dreary month of January.  We loved having them here and grew especially attached to the smallest member of their family, little Maisie Moo.  The boys got a taste of what it is like to have a couple of sisters, and I got to have help cooking delicious meals and cleaning!  Win Win!!

Alas, the time came for them to leave us, but this will be a fond memory for our family.  Here is some of the fun we had while they were here!

Lots of snow and sledding

Omar met Maisie!

 Ice Skating on New Year's Day! Irie was a champ!

Lot of play time with this girl! 

 And this one.

 Maisie got to know us pretty well.

 Even light sabered with the boys.  That's love!

We caught a Hockey game.  "HOCKEY!" yelled Jeff!

 We got to watch this little one learn to crawl and get around pretty darn good (when we weren't holding her!)

 Buds.

 We were pretty impressed the night Jacob got her to sleep!

 Midway Ice Castles.

Cute little sister!

Saying goodbye with a Bairds Family Party. I love this sweet picture of Irie. 

 Pretzel making with Kristin.  The boys loved creating fun food with her!  Pretzels, marshmallow brownies and even home made marshmallows!

 Irie came to cheer Micah on at the Raingutter Regatta!

 Maisie loved when the boys played their trumpets.

 She tried to get in on the action while the boys tried to reach their goal of beating Super Mario Brother's with Uncle Jeff before they left.  They came close, even stayed up past midnight the night before they left...they'll have something to do when he comes to visit!

Lots of bike riding to get out some energy!  She even got me up on a bike one day!

 Celebrating Chinese New Year!

 And a good bye cake!

 We love you guys and miss you, but are so excited for your adventures.  May the Lord Bless you and Keep you in the beautiful land of Italy!!