Little Lee...

Marlo had her 3rd boy on January 12th, 2009. I guess that means she will be pregnant again soon. Zahrah really wants a sister. But for now, she's loving her new baby brother, Lee Edward Jones. He'll probably grow up to be some financial genius & start an investing firm, just a hunch.

He was named after my dad (also Marlo's dad) and his dad's grandpa. He kinda looks like my dad, from the top of the head view anyways.

Nah, Dad definitely has more hair than little Lee.

Since Marlo is already going to jail for stealing these photos I figured I'd better take advantage of her stupidity. This was taken by Jenny Cook, you can check out her work at http://jcphotographystudio.blogspot.com/

The Birthday Boy

Friday January 23rd was Andy's 10th birthday. The school wanted to give Andy a special gift for his birthday, so they called off school. COOL! How many kids can say that the school has ever liked them so much they gave everyone a no-school day? The teachers used this special day as an in service day. Most likely they all sat around talking about what a good, talented, smart, obedient, fun, happy & all around great kid Andy is :)

He was pampered by everyone and treated like a king! His day started out with a new Wii game he's been dying for. "The Legend of Zelda" Francine wanted to give him a special birthday surprise so she put it in his cake, (It was a secret though and I have no idea what it was)

At 3:00 his buddies from school started to arrive for an all night party at our house. There was 7 friends that made it to his party. 3 of them weren't able to spend the night and one got sick about 1 am and had his mommy come get him.

Back row: Colton Hughes, Casey Nelson, James Smout & Ben - Front row: Chad Stone, Tommy Anderson, Birthday Boy, Wyatt Williams & Dallen Gifford

From a mothers perspective, the party was a hit!!! I made them one of Andy's favorite dinners, SPAGHETTI & tater tots. I'm disappointed to say that my cake didn't turn out as planned. He wanted a chocolate cake so I made a sheet brownie cake & tried to decorate it but ended up scraping all the decorations off and just frosting it with marshmallow cream and choco frosting. If my mom were here she would have been able to decorate it like the image I had in my head with little people out playing in the snow, but she's in Russia and couldn't make it.

The boys that stayed the night were out playing in the snow till about midnight & were up and ready to party some more by 9 in the morning. So after a plethora of white chocolate chip waffles and running the snow machine out of gas, we loaded up in the Tahoe and went to the Jr. High to go sledding.

It only took a couple hours of climbing the hill before they were all too pooped to party any more. All in all, it was a fun event.

But the birthday celebrations didn't stop there. Sunday we went to Chris & Jerry's for dinner and a birthday party for Andy & Clancey. Andy got lots of money and a book.



Clancey, who's birthday was January 25th, got lots of cars, this really cool flashlight hat and more stuff.

Francine is holding Clancey's baby brother, Lee. Not only is it a blessing to have a new baby in the family, but almost as wonderful of a miracle is that Clancey, who just turned 4, is FINALLY potty trained & hasn't had a single accident since he became a "big brother"

WAY TO GO CLANCEY!!!

Andy the Artist

Andy recently got a really awesome recognition on one of his works of art. We received a letter in the mail from "America's Children Starts With Healthy Future Campaign" It said:
Dear Andrew Baird,
Thank you for sharing your artwork to be included in the America's Future Starts with Healthy Children campaign's art exhibit in Washington, DC. We were happy to receive over 400 pieces from diverse youth artists from across the country, to promote the importance of health care for themselves and their peers. Your artwork is one of about 60 that the campaign will be showing at two exhibit sites- on January 23 at the Rayburn House Office Building near the U.S.Capitol, and on January 26 at Union Station's West Hall in 2009.
Way to go Andy!

Shakespeare

This is the post I started out with, then got wrapped up in my memories of days gone by, that I really do wish would stay suppressed, hence the previous post, "Deja Vu".......

Nakia was in a Shakespeare play for her drama class. Isn't she an absolute beauty? I can't remember the name of her character, I just remember thinking, "My, how she's grown. She's the cutest one up there."

Deja vu

It blows my mind when I walk into the high school to check my daughter out of class. It's like deja vu, & to be quite honest, I don't really like a lot of the emotions, thoughts, feeling, images & insecurities that surface as I walk the halls of that building. 16 years sounds like forever ago, but in all actuality, it feels like just yesterday I was a student there. And let me just say I am SOOOOOOOO thankful I'm past teenage life. What an emotional train wreck that was. I sometimes wonder how I ever made it through high school.

Obviously I have reason to feel this way. I mean, check me out (sorry Lorraine, that I have to throw you under the bus to get my point across, but you look cute)
Here we have the mullet hair-do, thankfully hidden by the cheesy hat. The florescent orange accents on the shirt and socks that are totally visible due to the "peg and roll" pants era. And to top this stylish outfit off, we have the solid white high tops (LA Gear of course) And to think, this was the prime of my adolescence.

Happy Birthday Lucy in Costa Rica!

2 truths and a lie game.

1- It's her birthday

2- She currently resides in Costa Rica

3- Her name is Lucy

Today is her 35th birthday and the only thing I can think to get her for her birthday is an "Ode to Linda" post on my blog because she is living in the far off land of Costa Rica....

Happy Birthday Linda (I've yet to figure out the meaning behind Lucy)

I know you are totally and completely loving your life of luxury right now, so I won't wish you home just yet...... But I will wish you a happy birthday........ SO......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Here's a few images I dug up from the basement for you to ponder on : )

Clinton Anderson vs. Pat Perelli

Battle of the horse experts, that's what goes on in our house. Tello is a Clinton Anderson fan and Nakia is a Pat Parelli fan. I'm just here to encourage both of them to be their highest & best self and if either one of them finds fulfillment in adopting a specific trainers technique, more power to them. It is really a thing of beauty to watch a skilled rider on his/her horse. The horse is such a majestic animal and I truly admire people who work so well with this animal that they appear to be joined together as one.

Tello took Nakia to a Clinton Anderson clinic in Ogden on Saturday. Tello thoroughly enjoyed it, as did Nakia, she just didn't want to admit how much she enjoyed it because that would be betraying Parelli, but by the look in her eyes and the bounce in her step when she got home, it was obvious she loved it!

-Well trained horse, lady in the 4 year Clinton Anderson Horse Training College, Tello, Nakia, Super well trained horse & Clinton Anderson-

Coincidence?..... I think not

How's this for a modern day prophecy?

In august of 2001, President Henry B. Eyring said that LDS youth cannot just "go with the flow" anymore and expect to remain righteous. He then prophesied of what is to come in the future: "The flow has become a flood and soon will be a torrent. It will become a torrent of sounds and sights and sensations that invite temptation and offend the Spirit of God"

Just a few short months after President Eyring prophesied of the torrent of sounds, sights, and sensations about to hit our youth, the first iPod was introduced to the general public. Two years later, the first video iPod came out. The youth of today are the first generation to be able to carry thousands of songs, images, and videos in the palm of their hand, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Talk about hitting the nail on the head.....

I got this bit of information from a new book that will be released in April by one of my favorite youth speakers, John Hilton III, called "WHY? Powerful Answers & Practical Reasons for Living LDS Standards" co-authored with Anthony Sweat.

I went into Beehive Bookstore in the Pocatello mall today and John Hilton III was signing books and promoting this new book, I'm anxiously awaiting the release of this book now.

(the picture turned out so horrible because I asked a lady who was much older than I am to take it. I should have know better and asked someone else to take it when she had my phone turned the wrong way asking what she needed to look thru to see us.)

About a year ago Nakia told me something that shocked me and left me in disbelief. She said, "Mom, you have no idea what it's like to be a teenager, your old, out of it and not cool."

WHAT? That's BS! I have vivid recollections of life as a teenager and it wasn't that long ago. I'm still a young chick, aren't I?

So I will admit things have changed a bit in the past 16 years (Holy smokes, it's been almost 16 years since I graduated high school) And I remember when I was a rebellious teenager thinking my parents are so old, it's been so long since they were teenagers they probably can't even remember being that young. But now as my daughter verbally accuses me of not knowing what teenage life is like I want to laugh in her face, HA, I do know, & according to God's time line it WAS just yesterday that I was a teenager dealing with the same garbage she is now. OK, things are different now then they were when I was a teenager, but the bottom line is still the same, -Freedom, Fun & Friends- Like that will ever change in a teenagers world. However, the tools accessible for today's youth are quite different then When I Was A Kid.....

Technology, technology, technology..... Gone are the days of "party lines" In my time a party line was one phone line for 3 or 4 of the neighbors. When I was really young if we were really quiet and sneaky we could listen in on the neighbors (usually Vicky Vail) long enough to get the low down on all of her kids, friends, relatives and the current events. Not that we cared about any of that, it was just my first act of intentional rebellion that I can recollect.

Now days every kid who is past the 3rd grade (with the exception of mine, cuz my kids are abused) has a cell phone with unlimited texting & free mobile to mobile minutes, & they take full advantage of that. Now days 3 way calling is the new party line.

How about the music contraptions... back in the late 80's early 90's the Boom Box was the cats meow! You could judge a kids coolness by the size of the boom box he had propped on his shoulder, & the bigger the better.

My boys got mp3 players last Christmas that they could clip onto their shirt pocket & unless you knew what you were looking for, you would never know they had hundreds of songs plugged into their ears.

How about the computers? This will definitely age me..... We had 1 room in the school with 20 or 30 computers, all loaded with the hottest, newest technology know to man (we were a little sheltered) MS DOS. I think that's what it was called, ya know the blue screen with white typing and a full time teacher in there in case some stupid kid messed something up, there would be someone available who knew how to restart the computer. That's funny.

Angelea got an iPod touch for Christmas this year, which means she has full access to the Internet, so most of her time is spent sending and receiving pointless forwards, checking out her peeps on myspace (which I do not like) and watching every show, video and movie clip she can lay her eyes on from youtube.

Wow, back to what President Eyring said, "the flow has become a flood and soon will be a torrent. It will become a torrent of sounds and sights and sensations that invite temptation and offend the Spirit of God."