fall fun

Last time I tried to post these pictures, they weren't showing up, so I'm trying again. Fall is my favorite time of year. I love going to pumpkin patches, harvesting gardens, feeling the cool air, and anticipating the holidays. It's nice to be back in the routine of school and homework hasn't even been too horrible so far - such a relief for all of us! The kids are enjoying their new classrooms and activities. Brayton and Ethan are on a Robotics team with Shawn as coach which they are loving. Orion is still drumming, Meri still gymnastic-ing, and Jessi started ballet which she is loving! I'm back to teaching piano 3 evenings a week and doing pre-school a couple mornings a week. Shawn is still executive secretary and I'm still 2nd counselor in YW. Between scout camp outs and Meri going to activity day girls and all the rest of it, we stay really busy. We are looking forward to General Conference next week to relax and listen to the words of the prophets. And after conference Zachary will be 18 months - going to nursery! yay! Hope you all have a wonderful fall. Here are a few fun photos: Meri with our neighbors puppies, Jessi enjoying her corn on the cob, and our sunflowers. Hope the pictures come out!

back to school

Well, the kids are back in school and it's quite peaceful at home now during the day with it being just Zac and I at home - especially when he's napping! The kids have awesome teachers this year including our middle-school boys and we are off to a great start. Homework hasn't even been too horrible. :) Hooray for wonderful teachers and wonderful kids!

meri's new look

Well today was the day. Meri got her braces. She was very brave and enjoyed picking out the colors for them. Just in time for school so she can show all her friends. This is just phase one. It's mostly to fix her underbite so she doesn't get a Jay Leno chin. Since I know nothing about braces this is all new to me, but she does look super cute with them.

4th of July

For the 4th most of our family was still here so we went to church, had a big BBQ, and watched the fireworks from our front yard. Yes, it was a happy 4th. And the only one who cried during the fireworks was Jessi. Our kids have in the past been very sensitive to loud noises. One of these 4ths we'll have everyone enjoying the fireworks! :) And now on with the rest of the summer...Last week Orion had cub day camp an hour away so it was lots of driving for me. ( I was counting on a bunch of boys from his den to go so we could carpool, but no such luck, hence the driving, ugh.) But he had a great time, so it was worth it. So today was our first day of a real summer day with nothing to do. And it was really nice. Happy summer.

dressed in white

Meri's special day was last weekend. She got baptized on her birthday. She got to wear a dress made by my mom from one of her temple dresses. My Dad came and practically all the Teares came. It was such a great day for her. So nice to have so much family here. For one night we had 22 people sleeping here in our not-so-big house! But we did it and it was super fun! We were so happy to have everyone here. Thanks so much for everyone who came to be there for Meri and thanks Mom for the beautiful dress. We love you all so much.

cousin swap

So in Arizona we swapped kids. We took all the boys, Cody and Shannon took all the girls. We had a ball. I love that my kids have all these awesome cousins to be friends with and grow up with. My favorite things were watching Lucas eat tomatoes like apples and seeing Shawn and all his creativity and the boys creativity with the PVC pipe marshmallow guns. what an awesome uncle and dad. He even spray painted them! And by the way, Happy Fathers Day to you Shawn! You are the best!

Jaidyn's baptism

Our travels finally took us to Arizona for our niece Jaidyn's baptism. She looked so precious on her special day. What a treat is was to be there. Cody and Shannon, thanks so much for having us!

the Mayan Adventure

I have to put this on here because it was really cool. I got to see my dear friend Shannon while in SLC. What a treat it was. We met at the Mayan Adventure. We had never been before. The food was decent and the company and the entertainment was absolutely wonderful! We were seated on a balcony area and before we know it these divers come up behind us and start doing flips and jumps into the water way below us. They were even high fiving the kids before they did their dives. We loved it and I loved seeing you Shannon. If only we lived closer our kids could be best friends too!

Temple Square

Then we went to Temple Square. We visited the old Tabernacle (Jess loved that little seat in there), the new one (the tour was way too long, but very interesting and amazing), and the Joseph Smith movie in the Legacy theatre (awesome). I love Temple Square. And we got to see Josh and Sarah for a brief visit amidst their packing. We can't wait to see your new house! It was great to see you guys even if it was just for a few minutes really late at night. :) My only sadness in visiting SLC/Provo area is that there are so many relatives and friends there that we didn't have time to see. We love all our Utah family and friends so much. Hugs to you all!

The Gold Room

I have to put this picture on here because this is the coolest room ever. After our super duper family reunion we stopped by Fillmore to see Shawn's Grandma. She has this room called the gold room. Everything is gold and/or glass. She has lots of little tea setsa and glass slippers. Very cool to look at, but not so cool to bring your toddler to. While we were there he kept constantly wanting to go in there. After our visit I was exhausted from trying to keep him from breaking stuff and having fits about it. Jessi counted 18 glass slippers in Grandma's gold room. :)

Zion's

Our giant family group went to Zion's National Park together. It was amazing and so beautiful. The pictures I took of the scenery don't do justice to it, you just have to go see it. So I put a few pictures of us there instead. It was really fun to wear our red "incredible baird's" shirts together. Tyra did an awesome job designing them and she made adorable capes for every single kid in our family. I am utterly amazed by her. Thanks so much Tyra! We got lots of compliments from people on the trail on our shirts!

kiddos at the temple

When the kids were little they used to get really grumpy with me when I'd try to take lots of photos of them, but I guess they've resigned themselves to the fact that that's just what mother's do becuase they/ve cooperated quite nicely the last few years, even in the St. George heat!

My Family

Right after school got out we headed to St. George for a family reunion. My Grandma lives there so we all gathered. All my sibs and their families were there and all my Dad's sibs were too with some of their spouses and kids. There were over 50 of us all together. It was so wonderful to see everyone. I wish I could have had some one on one time with each of my nieces and nephews. They are all such terrific kids and adorable wee babes. The first picture is my Grandma, parents, and all my sibs with their families. The next one is my parents and my 5 sibs who I love dearly and wished they all lived on our culdesac.