Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

Our original plan for Christmas was to go to Phoenix and spend it with my sister Jill and her family, but with plane tickets being more than we wanted to spend, driving was the better option for getting there. We knew that Bridget wouldn't be able to do that long of a drive in one day, so we would have had to split it into two days there and two days back. Ultimately we decided that Nate didn't have enough time off from work to make it worth the drive, so we ended up staying here and celebrating as our little family of three.

On Christmas Eve I fixed the traditional turkey dinner complete with green bean casserole, home made rolls, and sweet potatoes.

Amazingly, Santa did make it to our house that night considering Bridget decided to be very naughty all day on Christmas Eve. She's normally very happy, obedient, and helpful, so it made for a rough day. When I told her I might have to call Santa and tell him not to come because she was being so naughty, she didn't seem to care.

So here's a snippet from Christmas morning:

And here's just a few of the other gifts she received:

Disney Princess hoodie

Sesame Street CD player and song book

This bike is just a little too big for her at the moment, but she still manages to scoot around on it, and will probably be able to reach the pedals by spring.

She loves this tea set and all of the noises and songs it makes. She's served me lots of tea, and we've heard all the songs so many times already that I think we all have them memorized.

Her naughty streak continued throughout Christmas Day with multiple tantrums and time out sessions, so it wasn't quite the pleasant Christmas I imagined it to be. It also didn't help that Nate woke up with a pretty severe migraine. Luckily, she seems to be back to more of her normal self today. I'd like to just blame it on the molar she's been getting the last few days because it's certainly made her crabby and affected her sleep. At least she loves all of the fun toys, and we'll just have to hope things go better next year.

Winter Wonderland

This morning Bridget finally had her first chance to put on all of her snow garb and go play in the snow while Nate shoveled the driveway. Not that this is our first snowfall of the season by any means; it's just the first time she's been able to play in it since I finally finished purchasing all of the necessary items just yesterday. She loved it, but she only lasted about 15-20 minutes before she was ready to come inside. It's just too bad this snow was a little too dry for making a snowman, but I'm sure we'll still have plenty of opportunities for that this winter.

Bridget's 2nd Birthday

The birthday cake - carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and decorated with two of her favorite things...Sesame Street and M&Ms.I tried to upload the video of her blowing out her candles but it wouldn't upload, so here's a picture. If you want to see the video, it's on Facebook.Her favorite present from Mom & Dad - a doll that drinks a bottle, laughs, and cries. She loves babies and pretending to be a mommy.
In case you're wondering why she's wearing 3 different outifits in these birthday pictures, it's because she got to celebrate for 3 days (Thanksgiving day with the family that was here, her actual birthday with us, and Saturday with more family).Up until recently, Bridget didn't really enjoy coloring. Now that one of her favorite activities so the crayons and giant coloring book from her great grandma were a hit. Even Grandma and Grandpa had to get in on the action.

We wanted to do something special with Bridget on her birthday, so we took her to the Treehouse Children's Museum. She certainly loved running around exploring everything, and didn't want to leave when it was time.

Here's her 2 year stats from the doctor's appointment:

Height: 36 inches (94th percentile)

Weight: 33 pounds (96th percentile)

Head: 20 inches (99th percentile)

And Bridget is finally pacifier free! For weeks beforehand we prepped her by telling her that it had to go away when she turned two. And on the night of her birthday when took it away she had a total meltdown to the point that it was almost breaking my heart to do it. After several minutes of her crying in her bed, I cut the pacifier and took it into her to show her that it was ruined and see if she still wanted it. She was devasted and kept saying, "Mommy fix it. Sewing stuff." or "Daddy fix it." She's seen me fix her stuffed animals with my sewing stuff and assumed that I could fix the pacifier that way too. When other things are broken around the house and Nate has to fix them, I always tell her that Daddy has to fix it. The amazing thing was that I told her to stop crying so I could talk to her, and she did. Then I told her she had 2 choices. She could either stop crying and go to sleep so she could wake up happy or cry in her bed all night. And it worked. She chose to go to bed without crying. So it was a much easier transition than we were expecting, and she now sleeps much better and consistently through the night.

Halloween 2009

This little chef wanted to wish everyone a happy Halloween!

I'm so glad I decided to make Bridget's Halloween costume this year because she makes the cutest chef ever! When I was trying to decide what she should dress up as, nothing seemed more appropriate because this girl loves to help me in the kitchen.

Feeling Like Fall

I really can't believe how fast the leaves changed this year and that one of our four ginormous trees is almost done losing its leaves already. For the next several weeks I'll get to spend a good chunk of my time cleaning them up, but at least Bridget doesn't mind because she thinks running through my piles and throwing them in the air is loads of fun. In fact, she was having so much fun that I couldn't get her to look at the camera long enough to snap a good picture, so here's the best I could do. What a difference a year makes! Last year she spent most of her time crawling through the leaves because she was just starting to learn to walk, and now she's running through them and all over the yard.

I should also mention that Nate got me a blower/mulcher thing for my birthday to help make my job easier, but after trying to use it the other day I've decided I might just stick with a good old-fashioned rake. The thing is so heavy and awkward to use plus I burned a hole in the bag when I got it too close to the motor (nothing a little duct tape can't fix).

The End of Confinement

This past week, Bridget decided to work on her skills as an escape artist and figure out how to climb out of her crib. We knew this day would come, but I was hoping it would be later rather than sooner. In fact, I was hoping she would at least be 2 before she figured it out. So last night we converted her crib into a toddler bed complete with a safety rail. She thinks it's pretty great, and was standing at her door saying, "Mommy" while she waited for someone to come get her this morning. Last night she slept better than she has most nights this week, so hopefully this will be a good change. It also makes us realize yet again that she is now a little girl and no longer a baby.

Miss Independent

Yes, that's Bridget pretending to talk to someone on Nate's cell phone. She certainly thinks she's grown up these days. In fact, as we left the house this afternoon, she had her purse on her shoulder and her keys in her hand so she could be just like Mommy. And every time we go to get in the car she says, "self" meaning that she wants to climb into the car and into her carseat herself. She's getting to the point where she wants to do many things by herself so "self" is something we hear mutiple times a day every day. I must admit that I actually love watching her gain more independence since overall it makes our lives easier, but it also makes me realize that she's definitely a little girl now and no longer a baby. In that respect, it's a good thing she's finally bottle free as of the last couple of weeks!!

Birthday Dinner with Dad

Last week was my father's birthday (not to be confused by Nate's father's birthday which was the week before as noted in Bridget's video a couple of posts back). Since my father has been recently working not too far from our house, Dad, Megan, Jessica, and Matt came over to our house to celebrate with a birthday dinner.

The Gang - notice how thrilled Nate looks in this picture to have his picture taken. :-)

Cutting the spice cake that Jessica made

Labor Day Weekend in West Yellowstone

For Labor Day weekend this year, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go visit Nate's parents in their new house just outside of West Yellowstone on Hebgan Lake. Sadly, we didn't take many pictures because we weren't very exciting, but we had a great time relaxing and helping on a few projects around the house. Friday night, we got there about dinner time, so we pretty much just ate, visited, and went to bed. Saturday, Nate helped his dad work on the basement he's gutted, and a then all of us helped move firewood. Saturday night, Nate and I went to see The Secret Garden at the Playmill Theater while his parents watched Bridget for us. We rarely go on dates, so I had a great time. Nate, on the other hand, was kind enough to go even though it wasn't something he really wanted to do. Sunday we went to church, ate dinner, played a game, and relaxed. And then Monday we headed back home. We were also fortunate to be able to spend some time with Nate's Grandma Waldron who was also visiting that weekend from St. George. Anway, it was a great trip, and it went by too fast as usual. Bridget loves playing with her Grandpa. She also LOVES dogs, so she was in heaven going on a walk with Grandpa and Izzie.

Here's a view of the lake from their front porch. It's great to have such a beautiful view and be up off the lake just enough that the mosquitos don't eat you alive.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

Bridget wanted to wish her Grandpa Scott a happy birthday today!

Trip to the Zoo

On Saturday, we braved the crowd and took Bridget to the zoo for the first time. Bridget LOVES animals, so it was no surprise that she enjoyed it. The only thing that would have made her happier was if she hadn't been confined to a stroller during much of the outing. We did get her out several times to get a better look at the more interesting animals (the ones that weren't just sleeping), but she wasn't happy about having to get back in it.

Sadly, the elephant in this collage was the only one we got to see because the other elephant had just had a baby a couple of weeks before, and neither were out for public viewing yet. My favorite was the family of orangutans mostly because they're kind of cute and more lively than many of the animals there. Nate really like the silverback gorillas even though they're a little scary. And Bridget loved the penguins. She loved watching them swim in the water, and wasn't so happy when we decided to move on to other animals.
Top left: Checking out a tortoise. Top right: Nate and Bridget enjoying the penguins. Bottom left: Bridget wanting to get closer to the peacock. Bottom right: Bridget and me in front of the giraffes.
I just liked this shot of one of the adult giraffes with the baby giraffe. The baby is doing some sort of contortionist thing with its neck.

Family Filled Weekend

The past fews days provided the opportunity for lots of family activities with my side of the family. My sister Amy and her family were in town visiting from Maryland which was fun since we don't get to see them very often. This was also Bridget's first time meeting her cousins Sophie and Hugh. My sister Jill and her family also came from Arizona for a visit.

Thursday night we got together at the Weight's house for dinner. The Weights are just like family to us because of the many holidays we spent together over the years while they were our neighbors in Great Falls. It's always good to see them even though it's not as often anymore.

My brother-in-law Stuart's birthday was the day before, so we put a few candles in the pie and sang to him.
The kids had a great time playing together.


My brother-in-law Rob thought it would be a great idea to have an ice cream eating contest, but my brother-in-law Matt was the only one who took him up on it. Rob may have won, but it should be noted that Matt had his appendix out just the week before and that Rob was eating fat free frozen yogurt and Matt was eating ice cream.

One of the big reasons we were all together was my youngest sister Jessica's graduation from BYU on Friday morning. She's the 6th of the 7 Wilkinson children to graduate from BYU. Too bad she has to finish Fall semester before she really graduates. :-) You can see that trying to get kids to pose for a picture was no easy task after they'd just finished sitting through the graduation.

Yay for Jessica!

All the cousins together (minus one that was just born a couple of days before).

Friday night I was too busy playing hostess for our big family BBQ to take any pictures. This shindig included extended family, so we had over 30 people in our backyard. Thankfully the rain held off because it would have been more than a little cozy if we'd had to move indoors.

It was fun to see everyone even if the visit was short, and it's just too bad we're so spread across the country that we don't have opportunities to be together very often.

Birthday Fun

Earlier this month, I celebrated yet another birthday. After a typical day at home with Bridget, Nate's mom got into town, so we spent a little time with her before heading to Salt Lake for dinner. Being the thrifty person that I am, we opted for Buca di Beppo mostly because I had a coupon and also because Nate loves the gnocchi there. My sister Megan joined us for dinner, and you can see how excited she was to have her picture taken.

Nate practically fell out of the booth so I could get this shot of him with Bridget.

When we were done eating, Bridget decided that the bread basket made a great hat.

And Megan thought so too.

My yummy birthday cake

Nate always worries about gifts because he wants to buy me fun things but I prefer them to be more practical. I convinced him that I wanted a blower/vacuum/mulcher for the yard because I'm the one that always ends up cleaning up the tons of leaves in our yard, so that was my gift from him. Bridget got me a pretty sterling silver necklace with a tiny heart pendant that says "Mom" on one side and "I remember all the hugs you gave me" on the other side.

Bathroom Renovation

On the 1st of July, we finally got around to one of the main remodeling projects we've had on our "to do" list since we moved into our house a year ago - completely renovating our main bathroom. I had all sorts of plans to take great before and after shots, but Nate got a little carried away in the demo process and started tearing things apart before I had a chance . Luckily, we did have one shot among some photos we took after we moved in, and here it is:

I have to point out the hideous wall of mirror tiles behind the tub and the not so attractive lighting and medicine cabinet. When we moved in, all of the walls and the ceiling were an extremely ugly peach color, so we painted everything white as a minor improvement until we could get around to the remodel. The sad thing this picture lacks is a view of the nasty vinyl floor tiles that had huge gaps where the sub floor was showing and they were chipping and peeling away in places.

Here are some after shots:

This was Nate's first tiling experience and he did a fabulous job on the tub surround and floor (with a little help from a couple of his coworkers). Notice the beautiful accent tiles in the tub surround. We did keep the original vanity but sanded it down and stained it a different color and replaced the vanity top and faucet. There's also a new mirror, lighting, towel bars, and toilet. The walls are now a light sage green color which we then accented again with the rugs on the floor.

We originally estimated we could do the remodel for around $1000, but the grand total ended up being closer to $1400 which is still cheap for a bathroom remodel. It's not super fancy or high end, but it's a major improvement from the eyesore that it was. The project is now complete except for a little accessorizing (something to hang on the wall over the toilet and on the opposite wall over the towel bar). The whole project took just over 2 weeks to complete since we lost a little steam at the end and it took a while to get around to finishing little things like caulking and paint touch ups. But we're done and very happy with the overall results!

Bikes and Beds

Obviously there hasn't been much to blog about in the last month since it's been about that long since I've posted anything. We just finished renovating our main bathroom and pictures of that are soon to come. In the meantime, this is just a taste of the crazy things Bridget likes to do.

A couple of weeks ago, Nate was home with Bridget and was busy doing something when he heard Bridget laughing hysterically in our bedroom. When he went to investigate, this is what he found:
Yes, she put her bike on top of our bed all by herself and was trying to ride it and obviously thought she was pretty clever for thinking of such an ingenious idea that she knew she probably shouldn't do but did anyway. Nate couldn't help but laugh (and take pictures for me to see when I got home). For the next several days she tried to do it again, but was unsuccessful. She seems to now understand that bikes do not go on beds and has given up trying.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

Today our little family and my sister Megan had the opportunity to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House in South Jordan. There certainly were a lot of people, but not nearly as many as what I was expecting. After watching a short video in a nearby tent, we headed inside for our walk through the temple. Bridget was pretty well behaved during the whole thing and loved looking at the many pictures of Jesus throughout the temple. Afterward we headed to another tent for water and cookies before leaving to get lunch at Paradise Bakery.

I always enjoy an opportunity to visit another temple because each is so beautful and reminds me of how fortunate we are to live close to so many. The only other open house I've been to was the Cardston, Alberta Temple after it was remodeled (I think I was around 10 at the time), and this was Nate's first open house. I also love the great opportunity they provide to teach children or those who would normally be unable to go inside a little bit about the purpose of temples.

Trying to get Bridget to look at the camera was nearly impossible because she was ready to run around by the time we were done.

Thanks, Megan, for coming with us!
I'm amazed Nate captured this great shot considering Bridget was ready to climb right into that fountain.

A Pool of Fun

Now that it finally feels like summer again, it was time to bust out the wading pool for Bridget. I finally got around to buying it at the end of May after we'd had some really nice weather, and then we didn't even get a chance to pull it out because the cold, rainy weather came and stayed for a while. Bridget loves to play in water of any kind, so she was in 7th heaven when she woke up from her nap yesterday and her pool was all ready to go.

Cabin Trip

This past weekend we had the opportunity to travel to West Yellowstone and visit with my family at our cabins and also have the added bonus of seeing Nate's parents now that they are in the process of moving there. It was a short trip and a little cold and wet, but we had a great time. This was Bridget's first trip there, and she especially loved it.

Saturday morning was sunny and just warm enough to play on the beach.

Jessica , Megan, and Lisa try to work on their tans while being eaten alive by the mosquitos.

Having lunch in town with Grandma and Grandpa. Going on a walk with Grandpa while waiting for our food.

3rd Anniversary and Il Divo

Today Nate and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We didn't do anything super exciting to celebrate - just the usual go out to dinner and then we picked up a Marie Calendar's pie for dessert (it's hard to resist when it's their sale month). For dinner we went to Famous Dave's BBQ, and it was delicious as usual. Bridget shares my love for the cornbread muffins and kept asking for more muffin (although when she says it, it sounds more like button). We also watched our wedding DVD which I think I enjoyed more than Nate, but at least he indulged me and sat through it.Our gift to each other was splurging on concert tickets for the Il Divo concert we went to last Friday. I've loved the group since it was formed 5 years ago and introduced Nate to them not too long after we met. As we walked into the concert, it was quite obvious that at least 90% of the audience was over the age of 50, and I'm pretty sure the ladies sitting next to me were close to 70. It was an amazing concert though. I've always wanted to see them in concert and truly thought I never would because most of their tours have been outside the U.S. Here's a picture from our seats (the quality's not so great because it's off of Nate's phone):

Happy Anniversary to us!

First Dentist Visit

While Nate was at his dentist appointment today, I had him ask the hygenist about Bridget's teeth because she's had some buildup on the front of her bottom teeth that's been bugging me for a couple of months. Brushing a toddler's teeth is no easy task, and she never lets me brush them as well as I'd like to so that's the result. Her pediatrician said not to worry about taking her to the dentist until she's 2, but I thought I'd have Nate ask about it anyway. The hygenist said to go ahead and bring her in that afternoon so she could look at it and try to clean them. In my mind I was thinking there was no way my super wiggley 18-month-old is going to sit still for that, but we can try. Nate and I each tried holding her and she was not going to sit still or even open her mouth to let the hygenist take a peek. She does like to "brush" her own teeth so we tried that, and she wasn't fooled one bit. Finally, we had her lay on Nate's lap with her head in the hygenist's lap while I held her hands and reassured her. Amazingly, that worked! She was able to clean the front of her teeth, but that was about it. I was so proud of Bridget for letting her do that much and will be interested to see how this goes again in 6 months.

18 Months

I can't believe our baby is 18 months already! Where does the time go? If I blink, I feel like she might be in preschool by the time I open my eyes. Bridget certainly is becoming more and more of a little girl these days as she continues to surprise us with the things she says and comprehends. We had a quick trip to the doctor for a check-up today, and luckily there weren't any shots with this visit. She's still over the 90th percentile in everything with the following stats:

Height: 33.5 inches

Weight: 28 lbs.

Head: 19.5 inches

With her vocabulary growing so quickly these days, Nate and I started keeping a list about a month ago for two purposes: 1) so we could remember to tell each other the new words she learned while one of us was at work and 2) so we could actually see how large her vocabulary was becoming. Now that she's learning words faster than we can keep track, the list isn't up to date but my guess would be around 100 words. She makes a good effort to repeat most words you ask her to (if she's in the mood) and some are more intelligible than others. The most common words she says on a daily basis are: Mama, Dada, Bridget, Bapa (Grandpa), Jess, Matt, Jesus, baby, kitty, pasta, cracker, bottle, pee, poopy, shoe, woof, paci, up, ball, clock, kids, boss (that's what she calls the remote control), and Eh-yee (a.k.a. Ellie her stuffed elephant).

Being the social butterfly that she is, she loved the opportunity to go into the nursery at church for the first time last Sunday. Nate was debating about taking her because she wasn't quite 18 months, but as they were standing outside the closed door he told her if she wanted to go in then go in. So what did she do? She reached up and opened the door herself and went in. She didn't miss her parents one bit, and had a great time interacting with the other kids.

I should also mention that we're getting very close to being completely rid of the pacifier. About a month ago we started restricting it only to naps and bedtime which she didn't like at first but has since adjusted. And now she'll even go without it if she's tired enough. Now we just need to work on getting rid of the bottle. She still refuses to drink milk out of anything else, but drinks water from a sippy cup all the time. Ugh!

Now that the weather's warm she loves being outside exploring the yard, collecting rocks, playing with her ball, and destroying my flowers. I'm just loving that she's so great at keeping herself entertained while I work in the yard.

We love our little girl, and even though she has her difficult moments, we're grateful she's happy and healthy and can't imagine life without her.

P.S. Obviously no picture with this post - that was one of her "difficult moments" today where she wouldn't cooperate and hold still.

My Name is ...

Bridget learned to say her name today! When she said it the first time, it was actually without any prompting, and I was so surprised I had her say it over and over again just to make sure that's what she was really saying.

Resourceful Climbing

Oh no...we're to that stage that I've been hoping would never come. This afternoon I was doing some dishes while Bridget was playing with some toys nearby, and all of a sudden I look out of the corner of my eye and see this. Somehow she decided it would be a great idea to use her drum as a stepstool and brought it right over next to me so she could see what I was doing. She was so proud of herself, and I actually couldn't help but laugh. Up to this point, she's used her drum for a chair, so I guess it shouldn't be such a surprise to see her standing on it too. I can't wait to see what she climbs on next.

Mother's Day Weekend Tradition

This year was my fourth year participating in Race for the Cure, and it was so much fun to have my sisters Megan and Jessica and brother-in-law Matt join me. I love how this race always falls on the day before Mother's Day and the opportunity it provides to reflect upon my own mother. It's hard to describe to anyone who's never seen it or participated in it what this event is like. Every year there's more participants and this year was no exception - 18,000 people compared to 16,000 in 2008. It's amazing to see so many families and friends walking or running together to support breast cancer survivors or remember those who've lost their lives to it.

Megan and I don't love running as much as some of our other siblings, so we chose to walk the 5k, but Jessica and Matt forced their way through the crowd and ran it.

Afterward we hung out at Megan's new apartment and Nate and Bridget came down to join us so we could also celebrate Megan's birthday a little late.

Megan and I also played a little Dr. Mario on her Wii, and she creamed me. I have many memories of my mom coaxing me into playing this game with her on our old school Nintendo. She was so addicted to it and would not be proud of how poorly I played on Saturday.

My First Wedding Cake

Yesterday two of my very good friends (Corey and Desaray) got married, and I had the opportunity to make my very first wedding cake for them. I was very pleased with how it turned out in appearance as well as taste, so it made all the labor and stress worth it. Making this cake was a definite learning experience and should I attempt to make any more in the future, hopefully it will be a little easier. One of the big things I learned is that attempting a time-consuming project like this with a toddler who constantly wants my attention is not an easy task. For this reason, I may have to postpone doing this as a possible side job/hobby until we're done having children and they're all a little older. I also now understand why wedding cakes are so expensive because they are extremely labor intensive in addition to the cost of the ingredients and decorations.

The bottom and top tiers were white cake with a strawberry mousse filling, and the middle tier was a white/chocolate marble cake with a chocolate mousse filling. The cake is frosted with a white buttercream and topped with chocolate ganache.

So, congratulations Corey and Desaray! And thanks for allowing me this opportunity to challenge myself and advance my cake decorating skills. I also have to thank Nate for being so patient with me the last few days when I was more than a little stressed. He pitched right in and helped me as much as he could, and I wouldn't have survived the last couple of days without him.