Red, White and Blue!

Every year, for July 4th, Jer's mom has a tradition of getting her grandchildren cute patriotic outfits. It has been really fun, but I am starting to feel bad for her--it seems like every year there is yet another grandchild added to the bunch, we might just have to scale it down to socks soon.....

Anyway, here are some pics of them in their new duds, they are looking really cute!

Bridger and Kennedy's cousins--Jordan and Madison. We LOVE Jordan and Madison, they are the best cousins. They are so good to play with and look out for Bridg and Kennedy.

Little Miss Photogenic, Madison

Saratoga Splash!

So, I am late in reporting our fun Saratoga Splash weekend, but better late than never... On Saturday morning (of last week) I ran a 5k with my group--it was really fun, perfect weather but a ton of hills--oh, well--I accomplished my goal and then got to eat extra dessert that day :)

That afternoon, we had Jer's family over for some BBQ--we didn't cook but we went over to that shack on Main Street--it is really really good...Then the kids played in the pool for a few hours. Pool? you ask? Yes, we have one--it's inflatable, but you may still find me sitting in it (fully dressed of course, since we don't have a fence...).

After the pool...we went to the parade. It was small, but we had a great view of the lake from where we were sitting, we got tons of cool stuff (I love free stuff, I don't even care what it is. Free shirts are the best, though--and toothbrushes..) It was the perfect length, really--Bridger and Kennedy didn't lose interest and were just thrilled at the fact that people were throwing candy at them. What a wonderful world they live in...

This was Bridger's most prized posession--he showed everybody--none of which we knew. But he was so proud to say that he caught it at the parade.

Then, we headed over to the concert--we LOVE Ryan Shupe--he is the best! It was so great--Bridger danced (and I have never seen such hip action from him before in my life) the whole time and Kennedy had great fun playing with the Hyde's. Bridger loved playing with his glow stick, but I kept getting wacked in the face with it, so we had to confiscate that after awhile...We didn't get home until around 11, and the first thing Bridger said when he walked in the door was: "I love hot dogs, they are so good to me!" (that's from one of the songs--it is actually about corndogs, but Bridger adapted it to suit himself)--I thought it was so funny that I burst out laughing, then Bridger got embarrassed and started crying (can we say, exhausted?)

I love that cheesy grin!

Yeah, Ryan Shupe!!!!

Oops

Sunday night, as I was getting ready for bed, I noticed something really funny about my hair--it looked like there was straw or something all over the top of it, it was the same color as my hair but really brittle and flaky and weird looking. Then I noticed the same thing on my right eyebrow. I was brushing it out and wondering what it was...I thought and thought about it...then I realized it was my hair. I guess I was a little careless when I lit the barbecue--I had the gas on for a little too long and it kinda puffed out when I lit it. I definetly remember feeling a warm breeze....yeah, I burned my hair. I am such a dork. Luckily, I have hair to spare--it could have been much worse. So, in talking to Jeremy later, he informed me that you are supposed to light the match first and then turn the gas on. I am just sharing this with the rest of you folks who may not be the official "grill master"at your house (like myself). It was kinda scary---and it also smelled really gross! On the bright side, at least I didn't use any hairspray that day!!!! :)

My Birthday!

Last Tuesday, we decided to go bowling for my birthday--I don't think we've been for a couple of years, so it sounded pretty fun. Of course, we went down to good ole BYU--at the Wilkie. (It's just more fun there for some reason)

Anyway, Bridger had a blast rolling his ball all by himself. The only problem was that his ball literally took 4 minutes to knock down a pin. The first few times, we sat there and cheered the ball on for a while, but after a while, we just left--had Bridger eat more of his dinner, played pat-a-cake with Kennedy, a couple of arcade games--then we would come back to watch the ball finish a pin off. It was pretty funny. I was shocked the ball never stopped. Slow and steady...

Kennedy had fun, but she only got to watch. Although, I was able to bowl a strike while holding her (impressed? don't be--the bumpers were up...I actually got 5 strikes this way--it was a great boost to my bowling self esteem!!!) :)
After bowling, we went to Dippidee-it's the yummiest bakery with the biggest cupcakes--I have had red velvet and key lime--they are so good (and so very evil...)
This is the closest thing I could get to a smile from him all night.


The first few times the ball popped out of the thingy--Bridger jumped! It scared him (poor guy)--but he loved rolling the balls all over the place--he was pretty strong too, I was impressed. For my birthday, I get to go to the Dave Matthews Concert in August--I am so excited!!! I think they will be soooo great live--can't wait!

My sales pitch

Okay, I just wanted to share the greatest blogging tip ever. I just learned this from Tiffany and if you're like me, this will save you a ton of time. Do you spend too long checking other people's blogs to see if they have posted anything new? Do you wish there was an easier way? Well, there is. It is called Google Reader. Simply insert all of your friends blogging adresses and it will notify you when something new has been added. You can also do this for your favorite web sites, or whatever.

Are you sold yet? (Although, probably everyone else has already caught on to this--I'm usually the last one to get on the bandwagon). Hopefully it helps!

7 Things

Bridger and Kennedy have been tagged. I am supposed to write seven things about each of them:

Bridger:
1. Bridger loves treats! He goes nuts when he hears the ice cream truck, loves to get a cookie at the grocery store, and at the sound of a 'crinkle' of plastic looks around to see who is eating candy. It's really a sixth sense of his.

2. Bridger loves trucks, trains, and construction! Thanks to the aid of a new construction movie, he has been telling me all this morning what pipes are used for in your home: "There are pipes in our house, mom--one for cold water, one for hot water and one for waste water"--scary, isn't it.

3. He is very curious of Heavenly Father. He is always asking me if Heavenly Father can see him, if he can hear him, where he lives and if he wears shoes or no shoes.
4. Bridger loves to play outside in the dirt--enough said.
5. He loves to be rubbed--this is his 'kryptonite'--if ever he gets too crazy or upset, i just lay him down and rub his legs or his belly or his back and he will practically fall asleep!
6. He loves birthday parties--he doesn't care whose it is, just as long as he can open the presents and blow out the candles---he was also very disappointed that I didn't get any trucks for my birthday--I think he felt sorry for me!
7. Lastly, he loves his family--all of us--aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. He loves his mom and dad and especially Kennedy. He says; "oh, little Kennedy, your are just so cute! I just want to bite your little cheeks because they are so cute!" He calls her sweetheart and is very protective of her. He saved her yesterday from burning her little had on my birthday candle--what a hero! This is not to say that he hasn't sat on her or pushed her down, but he really does love her :)
Now for Kennedy:
1. Kennedy love food! She will eat anything, and an adult portion at that! She has the cutest rolls on her legs because of it. She loves lasagna, but also really loved the chinese chicken salad that Lindsay made the other night she had a huge bowl of it!
2. Kennedy loves to be held, hugged and kissed. When I kiss her all over she just laughs and smiles at me--I love it!
3. She loves to take baths or go swimming--she will just splash in the water and laugh, she especially loves to splash Bridger.
4. She loves her mom--she only wants me to hold her, but she is so much happier when I'm not around. Does this make sense to anyone?

5. She loves to tease! She is always looking for an opportunity to tease Bridger--it is really funny now (probably not so much when she gets older). She'll turn the t.v. off while he's watching it (I know this is on purpose, because right after she will look at him and laugh). She also loves to pull his hair, she thinks that's pretty funny too.
6. She loves to be chased. She goes up the stairs all day long in hopes that I will come and chase her. It gets old fast, but it is worth it to hear her little belly laugh!
7. Lastly, Kennedy love to dance, play pat-a-cake, give kisses and she is finally learning how to feed herself, and she is enjoying her new-found independence! I can't believe how big she is--it has gone by way too fast!

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Father's Day to Jeremy and to our two wonderful dads!

I cannot express in words how lucky and blessed I am to have Jeremy, such a wonderful father. He does so much to serve our family. When he gets home from work, he takes over changing diapers and doing dishes. He is great about putting Bridger to bed (it's quite the routine some nights...) and Kennedy adores him! When he comes home from work, Bridger, Kennedy and our cat hear the garage door open and they all run (or crawl) to the door. They are each greeted--Scout wants a rub down, Bridger wants to talk ("what should we talk about...hmmm..let's talk about airplanes. My favorite ones are blue. What's yours?") and Kennedy wants to plant a big wet one on him. We love him so much and hope he knows how much he is appreciated!

I am also lucky to have such a wonderful father. My dad, Ricky, is a great example to me. He taught me how to work and how to be honest and how to set and achieve goals. He is naturally just a little bit competitive.... :) so it was fun growing up trying to beat him in sports or achievements. He usually won in a race, but there were a few times when he had to fake a sprained ankle or pull me back just so he could get ahead. :) He's probably the world's best wrestler. I remember the first time I invited Jeremy over while we were dating, we walked in and my dad was sitting on the floor with my younger brother. You wouldn't know it unless you looked closely, but my dad had my (6 foot) brothers feet and hands tangled together with one arm. I know that's hard to visualize, but my brother was completley immobile. Although, looking back--this was probably a calculated scare tactic on Jeremy's behalf (lol)!My dad has worked really hard for our family and has made a lot of sacrifices for us. I love him and hope he knows how much!

I am equally lucky to have such a wonderful father-in-law, Alan. I have the best in-laws in the world--they are amazing. I have never heard Alan say an unkind word about someone and I have never seen him without a smile on his face (or a diet coke in his hand...) :) He loves his family is such a great granpa too. Bridger loves hearing stories about how Grandpa is converting big trucks into Natural Gas Vehicles (in fact, now all of the trucks in Bridger's room run on natural gas..at least that's what he says...). I love how Alan can't turn down a cookie (because neither can I) and how the candy jars in their house are always filled (one in each room, in fact, Bridger loves this too and so will Kennedy!) I am thankful that he raised such a great son (and two daughters--they are amazing and are also great examples to me). We love you! Happy Fathers Day!

Last Night....

So, it was an interesting night last night as I was putting Bridger down to bed. He seemed to go down okay--after an hour of silence from his room, I decided to go outside and weed the flower bed. Jeremy was gone, but I opened the front window so that I could (hopefully) hear him and/or see him if he needed me. However, I was confident that he was asleep at this point. About 30 minutes into my weeding, I look up to see Bridger running towards me from the direction of the backyard. What??? I was in shock. Why was he outside and for how long??? He started talking right away...something about how a little boy was playing with one of the trucks he left outside--apparently it needed rescuing.

Well, I took him up to his room--hardly speaking--(been trying the super nanny approach), laid him in bed shut the door and left. This time I put up the safety gate on the stairs. At least so I'd know he wouldn't escape again! It was quiet for a long time--probably an hour again. I thought he was asleep until he started calling my name...over and over and over again. For twenty minutes he called my name, so I finally decided to check on him (but I wasn't planning on talking to him... :) ).

I wasn't prepared for what I saw when I opened his door. He had gotten into the $10 jar of brand new diaper rash cream--spread it everywhere. It was rubbed all over the carpet, door, walls (blue walls are a great canvas for little white handprints...) bed, blankets, pajamas, toys and mostly him. He was a greasemonkey at its finest--covered from head to toe with the white greasy stuff. He could tell I was steamed. The jar had been completely cleaned out. There was nothing left. So, he decided to help me clean up. He was handing me wipes-- "here you go, sweetheart.", "here's another one sweetie." Don't ask me why he was calling me 'sweetheart', but it was a smart move on his part, cause it was difficult for me not to laugh.

I cleaned his room silently, wiped him off, got him dressed again and placed him in his bed and left. Ten minutes later, I went up to check on him and he was sound asleep in the very same position I left him. Wow, I must have been quite frightening, I scared him stiff... He has never gotten into anything quite like that before--I'll have to Bridger-proof his room from now on. Oh, well, at least I know now that I'm his "sweetheart".

Bridger's Birthday Cakes

I just thought I would post some of the cute Birthday cakes that Bridger has been able to eat through the years. He had a cowboy party for his first Birthday--unfortunately he could have cared less about how his cake looked. Oh, well... I thought it was cute...

For his second Birthday, it was all about dump trucks.
And for his third, well--he got three fabulous cakes. All of which he loved (to eat that is...)

Here he is with his roller coaster cake--sooo cute! My mother in law made this for him and he loved it!

My family had a 'bob the builder construction party' for Bridger--complete with real road and construction signs, reflective vests and hard hats. It was really fun!

Bridger loved his backhoe cake--it was just for him (thank goodness he didn't eat the whole thing!!) He did finish off the wheels though--and who can blame him?? Chocolate donuts...mmm....

Happy Anniversary!

Well, just wanted to wish myself a Happy Anniversary today. It has been 7 glorious years--I cannot believe it has been that long! Jeremy and I only knew eachother for 5 months--and then were engaged for 1 month before we got married. Looking back that seems so crazy, but it was meant to be--I wouldn't have it any other way.

We have been on a lot of fun adventures--there are so many fun memories to look back on. 2 kids and a cat later, life doesn't get much better than this! :)

I am so lucky to have Jeremy--he is the most wonderful husband and father, he is always serving me (and never complains)--He always lets me sleep in on Saturdays and insists on me taking a break from the kids every once in a while. I love that we love to watch the same t.v. shows and movies (most of the time...) and that we have the same dumb sense of humor :) I love it when we both have a good book to read--and its fun to have an arm-wrestle every now and again (I can hold my own, just so ya know... :) ) Jer is such a great example to me---he is such a hard worker and always fulfills his duties at work and church. Have I mentioned how lucky I am??? Love you, Jer!