The Force

Oh, this made me happy! Be sure to pause the Playlist Music...

Fantasyland!

Today I was listening to the Fantasyland Ride Medely in the car. I decided to drive REALLY slow (3 mph) around our community park and imagine I was on the rides. It was AWESOME!!!!!! Truly brought a bit of magic into my Disneyland deprived heart!!!!!

Thought you'd all get a kick out of that. Oh the simple pleasures in life!

Highlights of 2010

It really could not have been a better year and ended with one of the GREATEST holiday seasons I've ever had!!! Thank you 2010 for all the AMAZING memories!

Disneyland Glimpse

This is the talk I gave in church this month! A few have wanted to read it, so I thought I'd post it here. Enjoy!

Today I want to share with you a glimpse I experienced on July 17, 2005. If any of you know the significance of that date, then we share something in common. Now to get the full affect of this “glimpse” I want to take you on the journey that led to it.

First off, you must now that I LOVE Disneyland! I was raised to love it. Disneyland to me is soooo much more than an amusement park. It is Family. My brother said,“When we were at the park, we were together. No bickering, no friends or phone calls, work or school obligations to pull us different directions, we were simply, One. One family running around a magical Kingdom for several days, acting as though they were 5 years old without a care in the world.” It is also Fond Memories, Happiness and Laughter, Magic, and truly a place where Dreams come true! Where else can you witness a flying fairy conduct a firework show, a little mouse by the name of Mickey defeat a humungous dragon, become immersed in Fairy Tale adventures, and visit lands of Fantasy, Adventure, Frontier and Tomorrow? Truly, Disneyland is special.

There is a quote in Splash Mountain that reads, “Everybody’s got a laughing place…and where it is for one, mightn’t be for another”. Disneyland is my laughing place. And while I can’t really understand it, I do realize that it’s not everyone’s laughing place. But we all have one. It may be on a quite lake with fishing pole in hand, in red rock canyons, on a sunny white-sand beach, or zooming down the side of a mountain in fresh new snow. Wherever it is, I want you to picture it as I take you on this journey, making the journey your own in a way.

The date is July 16, 2005 and my family and I are attending a family reunion in Brigham City, UT. It’s not long into the reunion that the conversation turns towards Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary the next day and what a shame it was that no one in the family would be there to celebrate in the magic. It just wasn’t right. Soon my Dad was telling my brother’s to take his credit card, get plane tickets and head to Anaheim. The excitement started to grow. But same-day plane tickets turned out to be very expensive, so they decided to make the 12 hour drive. If they left now, they could be to the park by 3 AM. And the excitement grew! Soon my sweet husband was whispering in my ear, “Go with them…I want you to go with them! I’ll take care of everything here, just go and don’t worry!” And so I did. My brothers and I left the reunion early and made our way to Anaheim, driving all night until we reached Disneyland around 3:30 AM.

The line was already wrapped around the whole of California Adventure. It was AMAZING. People had been camped out since the previous day, and the excitement and anticipation was tangible as it was shared by thousands of Disney lovers awaiting the park’s opening. 7 AM soon arrived and the line slowly inched its way into the park. At the gate, Golden Ears where distributed to everyone! Once we hit Main Street we saw cast members lining the entire street waving and yelling to the sea of Golden Eared gusts, “Welcome Home! Welcome Home!” Are you picturing your laughing place right now? Experiencing something truly unique and wonderful there? My brother’s were jumping up and down and there were tears in all of our eyes. Can you imagine what I was feeling at this moment, brothers and sisters? Well, as I looked around me and took it all in, my heart ACHED. And here is the glimpse I was privy to at this moment. In my minds eye, I was no longer at my earthly laughing place…I was instead at my eternal laughing place. And as I looked around me, it was painfully obvious that I was not with EVERYONE that I loved, experiencing this most special “Homecoming”...I was incomplete. The glimpse was brief, and the feeling of sorrow passed, and I went on to have one of the most glorious days in the park I’ve ever had, with 2 of my greatest friends, but this glimpse, and the feelings that came with it had a profound impact, and have stayed with me ever since.

And so you see, this talk is not really about Disneyland, it’s about gaining a small measure of how important our individual missions on this earth life are, and how important it is to succeed in those missions. Our life, our choices and actions, and I believe our individual missions are never just about us. In the “big picture”, it’s all about family…immediate, extended and eternal. In fact, everything that the church does is set up to build, maintain and promote families that will last throughout eternity!

Elder Packer said, “The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children might be happy at home, protected by the principles and laws of the gospel, sealed safely in the covenants of the everlasting priesthood. Every law and principle and power, every belief, every ordinance and ordination, every covenant, every sermon and every sacrament, every counsel and correction, the sealings, the calls, the releases, the service—all these have as their ultimate purpose the perfection of the individual and the family, for the Lord has said, “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

So you can see, that in a Church where family is so fundamentally important, success is everything! I feel we all have a part to play to insure that there are no “empty seats” in heaven on our account.

The conference talk I was given to speak on was Julie Beck’s And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit. The section of this talk that really stood out to me and that I’d like to focus on was about Measuring Success. Julie Beck says, “We are doing well when we increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek out and help others who are in need.”

Each of these three things will bring us success when done to the best of our abilities. First, we’re all responsible to get ourselves back home. The family cannot be complete without you. If you’re lost and struggling, fight your way back. The rewards will be worth the effort. Second, strengthen your family and home. No matter what role you play in your family, you can make a difference. One person can set the tone in the home for good or for ill. Be an active leader and participant in the things that will bring your family together. Conduct family prayer and scripture study, spend time with each other, become close, serve one another. Family will be the first faces we seek on the other side. Walt Disney will be a close second for me! And third, seek out and help others who are in need. Try not to forget that we’re all brothers and sisters. Acknowledge when it’s easier to ignore, lift a hand when it’s easier to be lazy. And let us not forget our dead. Attend the temple often to do the work that our ancestors cannot do for themselves. We need them just as much as they need us.

Julie Beck continues, “When we have done our very best, we may still experience disappointments, but we will not be disappointed in ourselves. We can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when we feel the Spirit working through us. Peace, joy, and hope are available to those who measure success properly.”

I truly believe that if we are successful and accomplish our mission on earth, then we will not feel the pain and sorrow of returning home “incomplete”. I can honestly tell you, that experiencing that feeling for but a brief second was profound in its sadness and emptiness. Instead, we will know that we have done all we could, and that will be enough. Our homecoming will be full of joy and peace and happiness, and we will be surrounded by those we love!

Happy Jack

We're so glad we captured this moment of Jack on Christmas morning. Know that he went on to have a fantastic Christmas morning and enjoyed all that comes with this magical day!

Merry Christmas

Aghhhhhhh, the Christmas Season is upon us!!!!!! I LOVE this time of year. I love the look of our house with the Christmas tree and the Christmas village up and glowing! I love looking at (not necessarily being in) the snow--especially when it's falling. I love buying and wrapping gifts for the children. I love snuggling by the fireplace and watching Christmas movies while we eat cheese, crackers, and beefstick! I love being with the family and attending parties!!!!!!!! I love making candies with my mom! I love Paul's free days at work! I love watching my children advance the many advent calendars we have all over the house (it's the first thing they do every morning!). I love sending and receiving Christmas letters. I love shopping Black Friday with my siblings. I love seeing Santa fly in at the University Mall. I love singing Christmas songs with my sister. I love seeing the Salvation Army bell ringers outside of shopping centers! I love sleeping in flannel sheets! I love participating in Sub-4-Santa! I love our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions! And I love reflecting on the meaning of Christmas; it gets more meaningful with each passing year! Merry Christmas one and all! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

Party in the USA

Never thought I'd be such a fan of a Miley Cyrus song, but I LOVE Party In The USA! It's a happy-making song!!!! Put your hands up!

Daily Affirmations from our little Jackerella!

Enjoy these fun new clips of our little guy!

Chocolate Goodness

As a child, and quite frankly as an adult too, one of the greatest things about making a cake is the licking of the whisk, bowl, and/or spatula. Cake batter is, in my opinion, even better than the cake! I love how my wee ones wait anxiously around the counter as I beat all the ingredients together, knowing that very soon, the whisks would be given to them to clean off. Jack has now been introduced to this most wonderful ritual. These little things amazingly stand out as happy moments of contentment and joy in childhood. Here's to the beaters!!!!!

Lydia's Preschool Graduation

Our Sweet Lydee-Bug graduated preschool and is starting Kindergarten in the Fall. Where does the time go? Enjoy the following from the Big Night!

Check it out! I loved this!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Pictures from DR

Greetings one and all. Below are a few pics from our time in the Dominican Republic. I'll post more information on our experiences there when I get some more time to actually write it down. In short, we had an AMAZING time and came back better than when we left. What more could you ask for than that? Life is great for the Baird clan! We saw Wicked last night and it was incredible!!!!! Absolutely incredible!!!!! We are looking forward to Spring Break next week and are spending the weekend in Mesquite for a conference Paul's attending. Then we're off to the Happiest Place on Earth with the Chan Clan!!!!!! Sooooooo excited!!!!!!! We love you all and hope you are doing well. Enjoy the pics, and check back soon for more information on our trip!

Wow, it's been a long time....

My last post was back in November!!!! My, oh my! In truth, I think blogging has become harder since I joined Facebook. And one of the real reasons I blog is for history-keeping sake. It makes for a nice journal in a way. So, I've decided that I need to not Facebook so much (I've limited my number of friends to 50ish-and chances are if you're reading this blog, I didn't deleat you!) and start back on recording (blogging) the goings on of the Baird Clan, and my silly random thoughts.

Life since November has been GREAT!!!! Christmas was truly magical. Nothing beats Christmas with your wee ones. It's better than I ever could have dreamed it would be. January found us aboard the Freedom of the Seas for a GLORIOUS week of laughter, family togetherness, alone time with my sweetie, incredible food, amazing ports and experiences, etc., etc. I really could go on and on about it, it was that fantastic!!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!!! And then we have February. February has just been. I truly think it's the worst month of the year. But we did have a SUPER candlelit dinner with the wee ones on Valentine's Day! Tradition!!!! So there's our recap of the last three months!

The next few months hold some fun and exciting things for us. In March, Paul and I celebrate 9 years together!!!! My how time flies! Also, Spencer will be performing in his school play. April finds us seeing Wicked (again!), vacationing at the Happiest Place on Earth with our dearest friends, and Paul and I are going to the Dominican Republic for a ChiroMission. If you're interested in what this is, visit www.chiromission.com. We're really looking forward to this and think it'll be a fantastic experience!!!!!

My random thought for today comes about because of the chiromission (in a round about way). Due to a miscommunication, Paul and I are paying a lot more for our airfare to DR than we had previously thought. What a surprise when the AMEX bill came!!!! After a long converstation with Delta, we learned we could do nothing about it, except share some choice words via the old fashioned way of pen and paper and the good ol' mailing system! It has always been my way to PANIC over financial hiccups. But today was a little different. Maybe I'm getting better! On V-day we watched Kung Fu Panda with our kiddos. I've seen it before, but the line, "There are no accidents [in life]" stood out to me this time around. And that's how I'm looking at this hiccup. With all the time and effort we made into searching out flights to DR and trying to find the best rate, etc., then to have this miscommunication happen, part of me feels like this is no accident. Maybe we're suppose to be on this flight. Maybe X amount of dollars is nothing compared to the experiences we're going have in DR. Maybe it's a learning experience. I don't know. But if I really believe that there are no accidents in life, then the little hiccups that we experience aren't such a big deal--in fact, there's reason and purpose to them. This little line delivered by a wise, old turtle brought peace and comfort to me today, and I'm okay with how things turned out. For those who truly know me, you know this is out of character for me. So I see it as a little accomplishment in my life!!!! There's so much fear in general right now. So many people are suffering from the failing economy and so many have lost hope. But I hope that, come what may, I can remember that there is purpose and reason for what happens in our lives. Then I can continue without fear and with hope.

So there you have it...a recap, a "what's coming up", and a random thought! I'll leave you now with a few pics since that's what people really visit this blog for!

The Flow Rider was one of Paul's favorite things to do on the ship. He got quite good at it near the end!!!WE LOVE DINNER!!!!!!
Megan's Bay in St. Thomas was sooooo beautiful!!!!

Family Pic at Jackson Hole!

Look at those lips!!!!

Oh I wish I had a Nothing Box!!!!!

Halloween Fun!

Halloween was a success in the Baird home. I love this holiday. I love dressing up! I love looking at people's decorated homes! Such fun! We decided to have a little B-day party for Lydia with trick-or-treating as the activity!!! It was great fun to be in a big group with all the cousins and we had such a splendid time. Now our treat bowl is full to overflowing. And since we knew the kids would have PLENTY of sugar, we skipped on a birthday cake and made a "Nightmare Before Christmas" delight with doughnut holes! I'm not in any of the following pics, so I'll tell you that I was a witch this year (again!). Enjoy!!!!

These are the kid's masterpieces!!!! The "cheek" holes on Spencer's are actually ears! OOoooooo Scarrrrrrry!


Ryan, Nikki, Katie, Chris, Paul, Bethany!!!!


The wee ones!


What a cake!

The Hero of Ages--I'm Finished

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. And WOW!!!!! I loved it!!!!! WOW!

The Hero of Ages

I am currently reading The Hero of Ages and just had to say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. As I get closer to the end I feel sad that this is it in the series and soon it will be over for me. I don't know what I'll read after this. Brandon Sanderson is truly a genius. What a fun, exciting, amazing, incredible read!!!!

Jack in all his cuteness!!!!!

Here's some fun footage of Jack. He's in such a fun stage right now! Enjoy!

Summer 2008

What a wonderful, busy summer the Baird Clan had! Between 3 sessions of swimming lessons, a trip to Zermatt, a trip to the Tetons, many trips up AF canyon for hot dog roasts and smores, slip n' sliding at Parklane Park, birthday parties, playing with friends, family reunion, the Olympics (which were INSANE this year), visits from family, a few OWLZ baseball games, many a house project, watching fireworks from all the city days, Breaking Dawn (I had to add that one!), and all the normal summer life happenings in between, it must be concluded that our summer was a success. Now that school has started, perhaps I can start to get my house in order a little bit more! I do love summer!

Breaking Dawn

So this little post is to simply express how excited I am for Breaking Dawn! I'm going to be at girl's camp on Friday night, so unfortunately I will not be able to attend the Barnes and Noble party at midnight (so sad)! But as soon as I get home I can't wait to start reading! I really love this saga for many reasons. One...it's such a fun, creative fantasy. I think I love fantasy so much because it's exciting to read about a different world than the one we live in. I also marvel at people's creativity in creating these new worlds. SO FUN! It's also such a fantastic love story. Sigh. And with these books especially, it's just great to be reading something that so many people love and enjoy! I love that I can talk to people about Twilight in the beauty salon, at church, waiting for my tire to be repaired, at the park, at swimming lessons, etc., etc. The fact that other people are excited about these books, makes the adventure of reading them all the more enjoyable. I simply LOVE talking to others about what I read, and there's so many "others" with this series. Below is a visual example of what I'm talking about. This slide show is from a Twilight Party that a lady in our old ward put together. Talk about a FUN night. We played Twilight Jepordy, ate Twilight goodies, gave predictions on the meaning of the BD cover and the synopsis, and laughed our heads off. We also went home with a BD countdown chain, which I'm happy to say only has only 4 more chains left!!! It was great! Now some of you may say this seems a little obsessive, but to that I ask, what's life without the small pleasures that make us happy and get us excited? Alas, it would be dull and boring indeed! Enjoy the pics!