Bear World

With as many road trips as we've taken between Utah and West Yellowstone, it amazes me that we never stopped at Bear World near Rigby, Idaho...until now. On our way home this time, we planned to go because we'd heard such wonderful things about it from many different people and knew our girls would love it and the break it would give them from the car. It was well worth it. And as an added sidenote, you can save a dollar per person if you buy your tickets online. Here's a few pictures from the couple of hours we spent there.

The first part of the drive-through section is a bunch of deer and elk including this very rare white elk.

The second section is the bears. They have over 45 different bears including 3 grizzlies. Before the guy opened the gate to let us drive through that section, he warned us to keep our windows up at all times and not to stop for very long because the bears will climb on vehicles if you do, and they'd been doing it a lot that day. That's comforting. It was pretty cool though. My favorite were the 5 bears playing in the pond together.

Every time we go to West Yellowstone, Nate's always wanting to see a moose, and it's been a few years since I've seen one myself. Nate got his chance at Bear World. They have one moose named Rumplestiltzkin or "Stiltz" as they like to call him.

They also had a stream with fish and ducks to feed which we all enjoyed. The ducks were pretty quick and it was fun trying to see if the fish could beat the ducks to the food.

Both of the girls love animals, so the petting zoo was fun too. They had goats, deer, chickens, and a peacock.

Last was the "amusement park" rides. They only had a handful, and they're geared toward kids ages 3-10. Bridget loved them enough that she kept wanting just one more ride. It wasn't very busy while we were there, so she had plenty of rides and no waiting in line.

All in all, it was a pretty fun place, and something I'd definitely recommend to others. I'm just glad we finally took the time to check it out for ourselves.

July West Yellowstone Trip #2

Our two weeks in-between trips flew by, and before we knew it we were loaded in the car headed for West Yellowstone again. Felicity hated the road trip two weeks before, so I was dreading being in the car with her again, but it went much, much better this time. I couldn't resist taking this shot of her napping:
The purpose of our trip this time was for Nate's family's annual "family reunion" with his parents, siblings and their families. Alysha and her family couldn't make it this time, but the rest of us got to spend one day all together. Bridget and Tanner (who are only 5 months apart in age) were practically inseperable for the short period of time Tanner was there.

One of the favorite activies at Grandma and Grandpa's house is going for RZR rides. Nate took the kids on lots and lots of them. Even Felicity loved it.

The one day we spent all together included a trip into town for lunch and checking out the new ladder truck Grandpa just got for the fire station. The kids loved going up, but only went up 30-40 feet. I got to go up 80 feet with Scott, Brant, and Matt.

And here's a view of the town from up there:

After that, Grandpa took the older grandkids to the IMAX theater to see a movie about bears and then for a round of mini-golf at the town's 9-hole mini-golf course.

Everyone but us left Saturday night and Sunday morning, but we stuck around until Thursday. We mostly just relaxed and ventured into town a few times. We were hoping to let the kids play in the lake a little, but it was so high that there wasn't really any beach for them to play on.

As far as our next trip, we'd love to go up in the fall when the Park and town are much quieter, but I don't know if that will happen this fall. If we don't make it back, at least we'll get to experience it in winter for the first time when we go for Christmas.

4th of July West Yellowstone Trip

Even though we have another trip planned to West Yellowstone later this month, we wanted to make a quick trip over the 4th of July so we would also be able to spend some time with my extended family at the cabin. We got there on the afternoon of the 4th, and spent that afternoon at the cabin letting the girls play on the beach and visiting with family. Sadly, we didn't get any great pictures there, and we thought we'd be doing more of the same the next day. Too bad cooler temperatures and rain ruined that plan. We headed over to the cabin the next day anyway since Nate's mom had to work and his dad was out of town on a forest fire.

On Friday the weather warmed back up enough to be outside, so Bridget got to help Grandma mow the lawn with the tractor.

Later that day we headed in to town for dinner and a trip to the Grizzley and Wolf Discovery Center. We went last summer, but it was fun to go again. The wolves were much more active this time and even howled for us.

We had to take advantage of photo opportunities like these while we were there: (Notice Felicity was more interested in touching the animal statues than smiling for the camera)

And just to prove that I was there too and not always hiding behind the camera:

We look forward to coming back again in a couple of weeks!

15 Months

Our little Miss Felicity continues to keep us busy these days, and even though she's still quite a handful, she's actually improving slightly when it comes to staying out of trouble. She's pretty good at leaving the toilet paper alone now and staying out of the garbages which is nice. On the other hand, her climbing has improved so that she can climb up on couches and chairs (including our counter height kitchen chairs) which sometimes leads to more trouble like playing with the window blinds. She's also able to go down the stairs proficiently and even tries to walk up and down them while holding on to hands or the banister.

Here's a few more random tidbits about her:

• She continues to be a picky eater but is starting to expand her food preferences a little. Her favorites include cheese and any kind of cracker.
• Her vocabulary is limited to about 4 words (and the fourth is kind of a stretch but I'm counting it): dada, mama, hi, and uh-oh (this one actually comes out sounding more like a monkey sound "oo-oo-ah-ah-ah" but she says it for uh-oh)
• Rather than increase her vocabulary, she relies on pointing and other sounds (such as "eh" or "da") to communicate what she wants. Hopefully more words will be coming soon.
• She continues to love stuffed animals and blankets. She tends to rotate through which one is her favorite. For a while it was Pooh Bear, but for the last month or so it's been a Curious George that she stole off a shelf in Bridget's room.
• She loves to drink from straws which was helpful in the transition of getting rid of bottles completely.
• She loves to close doors and cupboards - even if you don't want them closed.
• Her sleeping patterns continue to be a mystery to us, and can be a great source of frustration at times. When she does sleep through the night, it's for 12-13 hours (Woot! Woot!), but when she doesn't, she'll scream for 2-3 hours in the middle of the night. And there's absolutely no reason we can determine why she'll sleep through the night some nights and not others. She's transitioning to one nap which may be playing a part in this problem.
• This one's related to the previous comment. Felicity is as stubborn as can be. I'll be honest and admit she gets that from me, but I'm pretty sure she's worse than I ever was. The screaming in the night is one prime example. And unlike most kids her age, she is not easily distracted when doing something naughty. If you tell her no, she smiles, laughs, and tries even harder to do whatever it is she was doing. I'm pretty sure she's the stubborn child my mom wished upon me many years ago as payback for my own stubborness.
• Even though she's a challenging toddler, she can be a real sweatheart too. She loves to give kisses - especially at naptime and bedtime. She also loves to say "Hi!" when you walk in a room or even to strangers. With her big personality and sweet smile, it's hard not to love her which helps makes up for the stubborness.
• Just like her sister, she loves to play outside, so we spend a lot of time in the yard.
• She loves water - taking baths, showers, playing in the wading pool. etc. If there's water to be found, she's playing in it.

Here's her stats from her checkup:

Height: 32 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 22 lbs. 7 oz. (43rd percentile)

Head Circumference: 17.9 inches (36th percentile)

So she's tall and skinny (due to her picky eating). And she didn't cry a bit when she got her shot. Yea!

6th Anniversary and 80th Birthday Party

This month Nate's Grandma celebrated her 80th birthday. In honor of the big ocassion, she wanted to have all of her family together so she made everyone save the date a year in advance. Ironically, she had to change the date two more times a couple of months beforehand due to conflicts people had. The final date for the big party ended up being on our anniversary (not ideal to me but oh well). So everyone got together at Brant and Kirstin's house for lunch, visiting, and playtime for the kids which included a bounce house.

Here's the birthday girl with her husband and three sons.

Here's Dorothy with 6 of her great grandchildren (she's holding baby Walker who's kind of hard to see in this picture).

The kids had a great time in the bounce house. Even Felicity got in on all the action and loved hanging out with the big kids in there. I love how this picture of our girls turned out.

Notice the long pants and jackets people are wearing. We've had gorgeous spring weather and it even got up into the high 80s last weekend. Sadly, today was very windy and cold which put a bit of a damper on our outdoor party.

With the party taking up the majority of our day, we didn't have much time for an anniversary celebration, so we dropped our kids off at the hotel where everyone was staying so they could go swimming while we went on a hot date to Applebee's. Not exciting or fancy, but it was nearby and we needed to get our kids to bed at a decent hour. Happy 6 years of marriage to us!

Trip to the Zoo

With Nate's family in town for his Grandma's 80th birthday party, we decided to all head to the zoo the day before the big festivities. We hadn't been for a couple of years and were planning on taking our girls this summer anyway, so it was nice to have grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to go with too. It ended up being in the high 80s that day, so it was plenty hot. Apparently, everybody else in the state decided to go that day too because finding parking was a bit of a nightmare and the zoo was more crowded than I preferred. I'm assuming the reason for the crowds was that school just let out and that a new arctic exhibit just opened up a couple of weeks ago.

The new exhibit was certainly our favorite. The polar bear was very active and constantly in and out of the water. We even got to see him eat as they threw fish to him in the water. On the other side of that exhibit was a seal who speedily swam all over the place.
When Bridget saw the carousel, she begged for a ride, and cousins Jaxon, Tanner, and Saydee went too.

When we saw this rhinoceros statue, we thought it would be fun to get a picture of the grand kids on it which turned out to be a bit of a comedy with two of them under the age of 2 and trying to get everybody to look at the camera at the same time. This was the best shot I got.It certainly was a fun afternoon, and both of our girls were so wiped out after that they napped most of the way home.

Bridget's Preschool Graduation

The whole concept of "preschool graduation" is kind of funny to me since they didn't seem to exist when I was a kid, but now they seem to be all the rage. And Bridget actually still has one more year of preschool before starting kindergarten, but all of the kids "graduate" even if they still have a year left. It would make more sense to just call it an end of the year program and let those kids who are moving on to kindergarten "graduate," but then you might have a bunch of kids having meltdowns if everything isn't equal. Oh well. It was a fun event nonetheless.

Here she is ready to perform

And here she is quite proud of herself afterward

Here's a video of the Macarena Months song they sang:

And here's a video of her getting her graduation cap while sharing her answers to some questions her teacher asked her beforehand. You may need to turn your volume way up to hear it well enough:

Congratulations on finishing your first of MANY years of school, Bridget!

Memorial Day Family Outing

It's been a couple of years since we've visited Temple Square, so we decided it was time to go again. Here's the girls in front of the Salt Lake Temple

The four of us in front of the reflection pool
In front of the Christus statue at the Visitors Center (I should mention this was Felicity's favorite part because she loves pictures and statues of Jesus. She kept running up to it and pointing and even tried to climb up a couple of times before we pulled her away).

We even went on a tour of the Conference Center

Overall we had perfect weather and a great time together as a family.

Bridget's Half Birthday

Bridget is now officially 4.5 years old. Most people assume she's at least 5 when they see her because she's so tall for her age, but sadly she still has another year before she starts kindergarten thanks to having a fall birthday.

Right now, she loves playing outside and riding her bike, playing games with anyone who'll play with her, dancing, singing (including making up her own songs), and drawing. She continues to be a great big sister and loves playing with Felicity, although there's starting to be a little more fighting now that Felicity expresses her dislikes and frustrations to her often bossy older sister. She also loves to have books read to her and is really into the Berenstain Bears right now. She prefers spending time with Mom and is into doing everything I do such as cleaning, putting on make-up, carrying a purse around, helping in the kitchen, and getting her nails painted. As girly as she is, she still enjoys wrestling with Dad too. She loves treats and chocolate, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to make some cupcakes to celebrate her half-birthday. She picked chocolate with peanut butter frosting. Yay for being four and a half!

Nate's 3rd Half-Marathon & Bridget's 1st Race

Once again, Nate completed Ogden's Half-Marathon! His goal was to complete it in under 2 hours and he did it! Here's his official stats:

Time: 1:59:15

Overall: 1070 out of 3193

Men: 567 out of 1132

Men 35-39: 145 out of 286

Here's Nate with the girls after the race. Felicity is so wiggly these days that this is the best picture we got.

Personally, I think I deserve a medal for getting myself and both girls ready (including breakfast) and to the finish line by 9 am. It was a very stressful morning for me, and I drove like mad trying to get there in time to see him finish, I had a feeling all of my effort would be in vain and we wouldn't make it. Amazingly we did, but just barely. I was pushing the stroller and trying to get Bridget to walk as fast as she could as I tried to find a place for us to stand when I happend to see Nate about 50 feet from the finish. So I saw him cross, but the girls did not.

After Nate's race, we headed home for a couple of hours so Felicity could get a good nap before we had to head back for Bridget's Kids' K. For over a year, she's been begging to run a race, and she finally got her wish. She kept changing her mind about who would run it with her, but in the end, I convinced her to choose Nate since he informed he was going to feel bad about it if she didn't. That was fine by me since I don't really love running.

Here she is in the middle of her race (Nate ran a few feet ahead of her several times to take some pictures):And here's the shot I took of both of them just before the finish while Felicity and I cheered Bridget on:Since Bridget didn't get a medal for her race, she decided it would be okay of she and Nate shared his.

Mother's Day

This was the first Mother's Day since I've been a mom that we spent the day together just as our little family. Usually we get together for dinner with Nate's extended family, but it was nice to do our own thing this time.

We had church first thing in the morning, so I spent the morning trying to hurry and get us all out the door on time. At church they gave all the women pots with soil and Forget Me Not flower seeds along with the copy of a talk by the same title by Deiter F. Uchtdorf. I remember how much I loved that talk when he gave it to the women of our church and the way it made me feel. Sometimes I need that reminder to be more patient with myself. I need to be happy with where I'm at in life right now and not always waiting to find happiness when certain things or events occur.

The rest of the day we just spent together. Bridget was so excited for Mother's Day and had been asking me for weeks when this day would finally get here. I loved seeing her excitement and the special things she tried to do for me that day including wrapping my gift herself. It wasn't what she wanted to give me, but it was what I wanted (a hand vac). She was so sweet to think of a gift for me, but it was more money than I wanted Nate to spend. She remembered me telling her a while back that I used to play the flute, but that I didn't have it anymore. It got left at my parents' house, and from there I have no idea what happened to it. She really wanted to give me a new flute, and I must admit her thoughtfulness brought tears to my eyes just as it did to hers as Nate explained to her that it was too expensive of a gift.

That afternoon we made it to the cemetery to put flowers on my mom's grave. I must admit that it's times like this that I really miss her. I can't believe it's been almost 11 years already. I wish so much that my girls could know her, but pictures and stories will have to suffice. I'm just grateful she was such a wonderful example of motherhood for me to follow. I know that as a child, I wasn't always the best and certainly didn't always agree with her parenting, but now I see a lot of wisdom in the things she said and did. She must have done a lot of things right since all 7 of us seem to have turned out pretty well.

I love my girls so much, and am so grateful Heavenly Father trusted me with their spirits and allowed me to be their mother. Sometimes I feel like I'm far from perfect, but I'm so grateful for all that I get to learn in the process. I've certainly learned more patience and have a better understanding of sacrifice. More than anything, I'm grateful for the love I feel for them and from them every single day.

Baby Animal Days

Since both of our girls love animals (not sure where they got that from because Nate and I don't), we decided to go to a local event called Baby Animal Days. There were a ton of people there, so the lines were long and we didn't have a lot of time which means we didn't really get our money's worth. At least the girls enjoyed the little they did get get see and touch. Bridget's favorite was the ponies, and they even had a place for kids to ride horses and ponies. Sadly, that line was really long, and Bridget was disappointed that she didn't get to ride one. Here's a little of what we did see:

Felicity liked the chick and even tried to give it a kiss.

Bridget was a little afraid to hold the chick at first and gave it back pretty quickly.

Felicity loved the bunnies.

Favorite Play Places

Wouldn't you play inside a kitchen cabinet and toy box if you could fit in there? Felicity seems to think it's pretty fun. She can't always get out of the toy box by herself, so she hollers for help when she's ready to get out. And she's thinks she's pretty funny when she closes the cabinet doors while she's inside so she can play peek-a-boo.  We certainly love her and her little personality!

Easter

Trying to get a picture of the girls together in their Easter outfits was no easy task since Felicity is constantly on the move, so this was the best we got. With their size differences, I had a hard time finding matching dresses I liked, so I ended up making them matching skirts and buying shirts. They look pretty cute, if I say so myself.

 We did our usual thing for Easter this year - went to church and then to Nate's Aunt Linda's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Bridget loved the hunt, but Felicity didn't quite catch on. She picked up a few, but was happy to just play with them. Bridget, Megan, and I also dyed eggs the day before, but I forgot to take any pictures. Bridget loves to dye eggs so it was a good thing I had to make a bunch of deviled eggs for Sunday dinner.

Happy Easter!

Felicity's 1st Birthday

My baby is one!!!

My favorite thing about first birthdays is the whole cake part. I love making cakes, eating cake, and most of all watching my little one get her first taste of some sugary deliciousness. Her she is stripped down to just her diaper not knowing the mess that awaited her.

She wasn't quite sure what to think of the whole thing so Bridget stepped in to offer some encouragement.

And here she is near the end. Cake and frosting everywhere. :)

She didn't show much interest in the gift opening which surpised me (it was getting late and I think she was a bit tired at that point). Bridget was once again happy to step in and help. They both loved the alphabet train Nate and I gave her.
At 12 months she:

• Continues to be a monkey and climbs on anything she can. It was only a matter of minutes before she was standing rather than sitting on her train. She also loves to climb on the step stool in the main bathroom.
• Only sleeps through the night a couple of times a week but I'm really hoping that's going to improve once those 1-year molars finally come through. They've been bothering her for a few weeks now and the bottom two are ready to break through at any moment.
• Makes the sounds "Da-da," "Ma-ma," and "Ba."
• Still loves to cuddle blankets and stuffed animals
• Is starting to figure out how to go down stairs but prefers to try it forward facing. She's okay for one or two steps but isn't quite ready to master going down all of them yet. At least she's good to swing the baby gate shut herself if we leave it open, and then we just have to latch it.
• Loves being outside, going down the slide, and getting into mischief including running into the street much too often.
• Would live off of crackers if I let her but also likes sweet potatoes (only mashed not cubed), bananas, peas, and grapes.
• Has great comprehension such as walking to her closet and sitting down when I tell her we need to get her shoes on, walking to her bedroom when I tell her it's naptime or time to get pajamas on, and going into the bathroom when it's bathtime.

Her stats from her doctor's appointment were:

Height:30.5 inches (88th percentile)

Weight: 21 lbs. 13 oz. (62nd percentile)

Head: 17.6 inches (38th percentile)

Field Trip to the Childrens' Muesum

For this month's filed trip, Bridget's preschool went to the local childrens' museum. We hadn't been there since her 2nd birthday, and it really hadn't changed that much. Obviously, she was too little to remember it, so she was so excited to see and do everything. She truly spent the whole time running from one thing to the next, and sometimes it was hard to keep up with her.

At the end, the kids gathered together to act out and listen to the story of The Three Little Pigs. Bridget got to play the part of the 3rd pig (she's the one with her head down).

Lucky for us, the museum gave out coupons for free admission at the end which means we'll be going back again this summer.

Nature Center Family Outing

Several months ago I purchased a Groupon for the local Nature Center knowing that we wouldn't get around to using it until the spring. Nate hadn't been there since he was a kid, and I'd never been there, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect but it turned out to be a fun family afternoon.

It was nice weather, but since it's still early in the spring we hardly saw another soul the whole time we were there. We started out at the visitors' center where Bridget saw her highlight of the trip - a tiny owl named Gidget. Not only was Gidget the cutest little owl, but Bridget took a special liking to her simply because their names rhyme.

The rest of our time was spent walking the trails. The only wildlife we saw were the several birds they have in a caged area (eagles, pelican, owls, etc.) and a couple of turkeys that roam the grounds. Felicity didn't seem to mind the bumpy stroller ride too much until the last few minutes which worked out well since Bridget decided she was too tired to walk anymore. So Bridget squeezed into the stroller while Felicity road back on Nate's shoulders. It was nice to get a little exercise, get out and enjoy the weather and nature, and do something memorable as a family.

11 Months

I cannot believe my baby is almost one. I feel like I just gave birth to her. Sometimes I wish time would slow down just a little. Instead I have to savor each moment, including this one:
This girl will not leave anything in our kitchen alone, especially this cabinet. Sadly, I was standing right next to her making some cookies when it happened. I knew she was up to something when she was really quiet for a few minutes, and I couldn't help but shriek when I looked down and saw the mess she made. Then I decided it was better to laugh and grab the camera. My laughter continued even when she started to cry because she decided cake flour didn't taste that great...

Here's some highlight's from the past month:

• Her walking has improved even more, so she's speedy even with shoes on now.
• She learned to climb onto our brick fireplace hearth, much to my dismay. Several times every day she'll start to do it, and I'll tell her no. She'll get a huge grin on her face and keep her leg in position while I tell her no a few more times. Then she'll smile and put it down. I love how she thinks she's funny as she tests her boundaries.
• She got 2 more teeth on the bottom for a grand total of eight.
• She learned to blow kisses and almost always blows them (without being asked) while getting her diaper changed.
• She continues to love playing with Bridget, and Bridget loves playing with her. Yea!
• Her hair is continuing to fill in and is getting curlier every day. She's definitely going to have an afro just like Bridget did as a toddler.
• She's currently battling her millionth cold...okay, maybe it's more like her 8th or 9th, but it feels like her millionth. Poor girl, between teething and colds, she only sleeps completely through the night once in a while. She still tends to wake up once most nights, and we usually give her a bottle simply because it's hard to get her to drink enough formula during the day.

I love this video. Miraculously, she waved and blew kisses on command. She certainly is a sweetheart!