Little Lincoln

Nic's sister, Ashley, and brother-in-law, Dan, just adopted a little boy! It has been quite a little miracle. We are all so excited for them. Little Lincoln was born on Wednesday night and Ashley and Dan were able to bring him home Friday. Hannah was in bed when they got in, but I was able to slip over and see him. Then yesterday, Hannah and Nic got to meet the little guy. He is adorable with big cheeks and dark hair. Sorry I don't have a great picture of him (mine were blurry). We are so excited for you Ash and Dan! Congratulations!

Nic: What a Pick

funny and silly
likes to pick, bug, and tease all day
loving and kind
plays and plays with Hannah bean
such a hard worker
sincere
overall... great

I just have to write a little tribute to my great husband, Nic. On Saturday, he spent most of the day cleaning! With our focus on the basement and on youth conference... there hasn't been much focus on cleaning the house. Nic scrubbed the kitchen floor (not just mopped... but yes, scrubbed the floor, he even asked for a toothbrush!), cleaned and organized the pantry, organizing our tupperware cupboard, dusted, vacuumed, made our bed and picked up our room and closet, etc. He is such a good worker, get help, great husband and father. We sure love him around here!

Easter Parties

I came straight from youth conference to the annual Baird Easter party (that my parents are in charge of each year). Hannah was there sitting on Grandma and Grandpa's lap. When she saw me, she quietly said, "mommy" almost like she was in shock to see me. I was able to help her with the Easter egg hunt and we ate a yummy lunch. From there we headed home to find Daddy (who had to take youth and all there stuff back to the church). Hannah and I both took a 2 hour nap and Nic woke us up to go to the next party. We were off to the Roach's. There is a fun kid hunt and then when it gets dark there's a hunt for the adults. We are allowed one flashlight per couple. The eggs are filled candy or paper indicating your prize, such as toilet paper, a roll of quarters, movies tickets, etc. It is a very fun tradition. Here's some pictures from both of our parties:

Youth Conference

Well it was a success... and its over! Whew! I am exhausted. It has been a few days now, but I am still recuperating. Our theme was "What Happens to One, Happens to All" (from Brother Edgley's Conference talk, so basically unity) and if nothing else happened up there, the youth definitely got to know one another better, work together, and started becoming united... so in that I can measure success.

Cross country skiing was one of my favorite parts... and also the part I have the most to show for! It was not a beginners course! I fell countless times and have many bumps, bruises, aches and pains. We also built newspaper domes, and gumdrop towers, got across the room with only a few pieces of paper and rope, had some awesome speakers who sang and told great uplifting stories, felt the Spirit, played games, performed funny scripture skits, stayed up late, resolved some conflicts (get girls together for that amount of time with little sleep and there are bound to be some conflicts!), stayed in the beautiful mountains with a beautiful full moon, were each others' Liahona.... It really was a success! How grateful I am for callings that stretch us and teach us; for working so hard and yet knowing I'm not doing it alone! Heavenly Father helps us as we do our part. I'm grateful for great leaders and a great youth committee (they are the ones that really planned youth conference).

And I'm grateful to my parents for watching Hannah. What a relief to know she was loved and well taken care of while we were gone.

Signing Time! audition

We just auditioned for Signing Time! I got an email about auditions. Its for kids 3 and under. We had to submit a video with Hannah signing at least 4 of 8 designated signs: more, milk, apple, flower, cheese, wind, cloud, and star. Hannah did all of them but star. If Hannah is picked we have to go up to Salt Lake a couple days in May for filming. Here's our simple audition:

Our Break!

We took a much needed break to St. George this week. I've been fighting a cold, so it was wonderful to relax, sleep in, be warm, and be together. Youth Conference is this coming week and it was nice to take a little break from thinking about that and the basement. We also knew we needed to go before Nic starts working his crazy summer hours.

We arrived Monday afternoon and hit the outlets (which is always fun!) On Tuesday we went out to Zions. It was great hiking weather. We took 3 little hikes (about 4 1/2 miles total... not a lot, but plenty with a 1 year old and me not having a ton of energy with my cold.) We had borrowed a hiking pack for Hannah to ride in, but she always wanted to "walk." She even hiked up "Weeping Rock" which is a steep quarter of a mile (she wanted to go down too, but it was way too steep). It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun.

On Wednesday, Nic went golfing and Hannah and I went swimming. We had the indoor pool to ourselves! We both got to take naps (wahoo!) and when Nic got back we played at a park: swinging, running, and going down slides!It was wonderful to have a little get away and time to play together. Now back to reality. Is spring here yet?!

I can't turn off my head!

Its almost 1am. I tried to sleep, but as is all too common with me, I couldn't turn off my head. Youth conference, youth conference, youth conference! We leave this coming Thursday and I was laying there thinking of my mile-long "to do" list. After about an hour I decided to get up and start doing some of those things on my list. Usually after getting up, I still can't turn my head off when I go back to bed. I haven't seemed to have found that switch yet. Could anyone tell me where it is?!

Family Home Evening

One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to have better Family Home Evenings. We always did something but it wasn't real official. We now always start with a song and a prayer, but I've been struggling with ideas for a 1 year old. Mostly what we've done is pull out some pictures from the Gospel Art Kit, talk about them, and sing some primary songs that apply. On Monday, I bought the Nursery manual, a subscription to the Friend, and a book called 52 Weeks of Family Night (its for young families). Obviously our family nights can't be long or complicated (after all we have a one year old!) On Monday, we made a book about Jesus, from March's Friend. I had the pictures and card stock precut. We glued the pictures of Jesus to card stock, punched holes, and tied the pages together with string to make a little book, and then read it. It worked out great!I'd love any ideas or things that have worked for you and your families!

Daddy's Little Girl

Hannah has loved putting Daddy's shoes on lately and trying to walk around. She's walking in some pretty big shoes in more ways than one.