Out and About

We didn't bring much with us to our new place and the kids and I were getting a little bit of cabin fever the first day. We decided to go out and explore the neighborhood. Our place is right at the front of the neighborhood, so we headed deeper in. The street we live on has "no outlet" and at the end we discovered this park. It has a couple of baseball fields and a lot of open area with a gravel path running through it.

The kids chased a squirrel up a tree.

It sloped up a few feet to a big black plastic covered barrier running along one edge of the parkwith a narrower paved trail right next to it. Standing on the gravel trail it looked like it was just a big wooded gully that is so common in the northwest. So, we mainly stuck to the gravel path. After a few minutes of walking, chasing squirrels and picking up rocks and sticks we noticed a space in the barrier above us, so we decided to check it out. We found a staircase and pathway leading down to the river which had been running along the barrier the whole time!

 At the end of the path was this little beach.

It is not sandy, it's just mud, but the kids still had a great time drawing in the mud with sticks.

(Note to Nana: whenever we get a chance to go to the beach, Josi wants to take watermelon. She tells me everytime she thinks about watermelon or the beach)

Here is a shot of the staircase when we headed back up. It was so fun, like a secret little path. You feel like you are in the middle of the wilderness until you get back to the top of the stairs. I decided the path along the river would be perfect for running and a few days later I went running and discovered that there are several of these little beaches along the river. Looks like it would be a good place for tubing.

On the walk home the kids dragged sticks and hands along the fences.

Wear Your Seatbelt

Thought this was an awesome video.

Awww Factor

I love living in the country. Growing up my siblings and I were lucky enough to experience lots of baby animals over the years. Being here with my parents my kids have been able to experience a little of that. At Easter, my dad bought 4 little chicks to increase his egg laying brood and allow Josi and Hyrum the opportunity for a little responsibility in taking care of them.

The kids have been enamoured by the cute little fluff balls, which have since turned into smaller versions of a full grown hen.

Early Wednesday morning some new babies joined the crew here at the Baird household. Their beagle, Aero, gave birth to 6 little butterballs. Two little girls have the black, white and brown coloring; one little girl has what they call "lemon" coloring. The other three are little boys and two of them are nearly white. They may get a little darker as they grow, but for now they look almost albino.

Here it comes.....

 "Awwwww"

Josi and Hyrum were so excited when they woke up and found them in Alysha's room (for some privacy, since Lou isn't currently using it). Josi ran upstairs to wake me, bubbling over with excitement that the puppies had finally come. She has been asking everyday for the last 2 weeks when the puppies would be coming. She has already stated that she is stealing the black ones to keep as her own.

Now, because the parents names are Beau and Aero (say it out loud) we are looking for good archery related names. We will be taking votes.  So far we have Archer, Fletcher (puts the feathers at the end of an arrow), Quiver (the case for arrows), and Artemis (goddess of hunting), Aphetoros (god of archery) or Apollo for a nickname, Bolt, Quarrel (another name for a bolt) Bodkin, Bowyer (one who makes bows), Daikyu (Japanese long-bow), Hankyu (Japanese short-bow), Gungdo (Korean archery), Nock (which to me just sounds too much like what happened to Aero to result in the puppies), Riser (handle of bow), Stave (wood a bow can be make from), Bracer (protective strap for archers forearm). Keep in mind, these names may not stick once a puppy is purchased, but at least they will have good names for 8 weeks or so. Artemis and Apollo are pretty much definites. So cast your vote in a comment!

Heard today

Josi: Mommy, I know everything about dogs. They don't wear shoes and they don't wear clothes.
Me: That's right.
Hyrum: I'm wearing clothes!

Seen and Heard today

My 3 year old walking to his room with his underwear around his ankles to change them. Then Grandpa asking, did you pee or poop in your underwear. The 3 year old searching through his underwear then saying, "I think I drop it ".

Running Blog

So Kris gave me the idea to keep a separate blog for my running. I love it. I will make it private though, so anyone that wants to be kept informed on my running just comment on this post with the email address you want it send to and I will send you an invite. I will also get rid of past posts about running on this blog, but they are all on the other one now.
(I accidentally deleted the first post, so I had to re-post this one :)

Worth 1000

She is going to kill me when she grows up, but this is one of the privileges of being a parent!

She was in the middle of changing into her jammies when nature called. I snuck up on her and was able to get this picture. This is definitely one of those that is worth 1000 words. She can't read them, but she loves to look at them because Papi does it. He actually had left these next to the loo.

Ireland in a Minute

Jayme is way better at blogging and sharing everything. I'm horrible with details and just assume sum it all up. So here is Ireland from my perspective . . .

Ireland- Day 3

Sunday, Jan. 24th


We attended the Limerick branch sacrament meeting at 11am. Then we took our sack lunches and headed up north to Cong and Galway. We intended to use most of the day as a "Sunday drive".

Our first stop was Ashford Castle in Cong, County Mayo. This was the largest castle we stopped at. It was built in 1228, but was turned into a hotel in 1939. Only those staying at the hotel can go inside, but the grounds were vast and so beautiful. This was pretty high on my favorites list.


This is a shot from behind the castle. It doesn't do it justice.




This is a view of the castle through the trees. There was a path through the heavily wooded grounds that you could walk around. It was perfect for a nice Sunday walk. I think the temperature was perfect as long as you were wearing a coat and gloves. Ben was freezing though and got bored pretty quick. Mnisa and I were perfectly content to casually stroll and just look at all of the fauna around us.


This was looking back through a cute arbor that we walked through. I can just imagine how awesome it would look in the summer when it is all green and probably flowering. I just loved this shot though.



This is Eric standing in front of Squire Danaghers Home from "The Quiet Man", a John Wayne movie filmed in Ireland. This home was actually only half of the full building and we walked past it on our walk.

This was a guard tower you walked through to get onto the grounds. You could go up through on side of it and look out over the river that goes under the bridge, just past the gate.


Here are: a stranger( that kindly smiled for our photo), Mnisa, Jayme and Ben from the top of the guard tower.




Next we went to Cong Abbey. It was really neat.


It was just ruins, but had many graves around and inside of it. There was even a headstone as recent as the 1970s. I wondered who you had to be to be able to be buried in such a place. There was some beautiful stone carving that could still be seen in places. (I will add the pictures later).

















This also had a little path to walk around and there was "The Monk's Fishing Hut" that we saw too. Mnisa got much better pictures than I did, which I will put on here when she shares them :) I am a horrible photographer, in that I never remember to take pictures of my favorite things, because I am to captivated by them.

This hut was right on the river and diverted the water directly under it, so that fishing could be done through the floor. There is a fireplace there to the left of Ben (peeking through a window from a narrow ledge outside the hut).







Here Ben and Mnisa are coming back from walking the ledge outside the hut. Ben is standing on the part the diverted the water under the hut.

Dinner that night was at a Lohan's in Salthill on the coast, near Galway. Galway was rather disappointing. It was too "urban". I had crab claws, Ben had prawns, Eric had bangers and mash and Mnisa had chicken strips. We all liked it except Mnisa. I guess that's what she gets for ordering chicken strips in Ireland! (Just teasing Mnisa) Ben also had a non-alcoholic beer. I don't think he will ever do that again.