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.

April Visit

Life has been a little crazy lately, so once again I'm a little slow to blog.

The weekend of April 18th was probably one of the busiest I've had in a while. On Saturday morning, I hosted a bridal shower for a good friend and former roommate. Then that afternoon, my sister Jill came to visit from Arizona with her two kids and good friend Susan. Nate was helping another one of my sisters move that day. Later that night my two sisters Megan and Jessica and brother-in-law Matt arrived to also stay the night. Bridget had a great time playing with her cousins, and sadly, we didn't take many pictures.

On Sunday morning, we attended church with Nate's extended family to hear his cousin speak about his mission to Chile. After we got home, I had to leave again to go to our church to fulfil my responsibilities there and then rush home to get ready for the dinner I was hosting for my extended family that night.

Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted after the weekend, but it was also fun to have a house full of guests. Hopefully it won't be too long before we see them again.

Easter

Easter Sunday this year was definitely more fun for us now that Bridget can participate a little more in some of the activities. After church, we headed over to Nate's Aunt Linda's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Bridget was a lot slower than the older kids at getting the eggs, but she didn't care and neither did we since we don't let her eat candy anyway. Luckily, she did acquire a few things she could eat and Nate and I get to enjoy the rest. She seemed to enjoy playing with the plastic eggs more than anything, and emptying and refilling her basket kept her very entertained. At one point, she was carrying around a small chocolate egg in her warm little hand, and when she squished it the chocolate gushed out of the wrapper onto her hand. It's a good thing she doesn't like her hands to be messy, so Nate was able to wisk her into the kitchen and get her cleaned up before she made a big mess or ate any of it. The Easter Bunny was also kind enough to only bring her crayons and Elmo bubbles instead of candy.

And in all of the time I have for my own hobbies (yeah right), I did manage to make the dress she is wearing.

Aquarium Adventure

Okay, so the title of this post is a little misleading which I'll explain in a second. On Saturday, we decided to go on a family outing with thought Bridget would enjoy so we headed to The Living Planet Aquarium. Until recently, I didn't even know there was an aquarium in Utah, and that should have been a clue right there as to how it would be. Nate's coworker had warned us that it wasn't amazing, but we decided to give it a try anyway.

My sister, Megan, joined us, and I'm sad to say that we went through the entire thing in about 30-45 minutes. Most of the windows were tiny so you had to wait for the person in front of you to move so you could see what was in it. The touch pool didn't have much in it, and even the shark tank was pretty lame. On a positive note, the jelly fish were pretty cool and there was a big aquarium that had some little crocodiles and good sized turtles in it. Even though I had my camera, the lighting was so dim that it wasn't even worth trying to get any pictures of anything hence the lack of pictures in this post.

At least we tried something new, hung out with Megan, and went lunch at Kneaders so the day wasn't a total bust.

Latest Obsessions

It never ceases to amaze me that toddlers can be fascinated by the simplest of things. Recently, Bridget has become absolutely obsessed with clocks. It doesn't matter where we are, if it's big or small, or if it's digital or a face clock - if there's a clock in the room she'll find it and tell you until you acknowledge what she's saying. Yesterday we went to a couple of home decor stores, and she had to point out and say "ca" for each of the hundreds we saw. And she made me acknowledge every single one. Her other recent obsession is light switches. About a month or so ago she learned to turn them on and off and has loved to point them out everywhere since then. She can't say anything close to light or switch, so she just has to point and make some other noise to get attention. In fact, every time we get out of car when we get home, she has to point out both light switches in the garage before coming inside.

Jessica's Birthday Celebration

On Saturday, we went to SLC to spend the day with my sisters (Megan and Jessica) and my brother-in-law (Matt) to celebrate Jessica's birthday. It was a gorgeous day outside (70 degrees) and very windy, so we went to the park to fly some kites. Nate and Uncle Matt did a great job teaching Bridget how to fly the kite.

In fact, they did such a good job she was doing it by herself before too long. It was just too bad her attention span was so short that she would just drop it and walk away after a minute or two.
Can you believe she's not even 16-months-old yet?
She loves to steal my sunglasses.

Can you blame her? She looks so cute in them.

And here's the birthday girl with the Barbie birthday cake she requested I make for her. Apparently 21 is not too old for such a cake.

The rest of the festivities included making and eating homemade personal size pizzas (sorry no pics of that) and eating cake with homemade ice cream. Yum!

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

Lately, Bridget has decided that she likes to sit on her toy drum because it is just the right height for her. When she was playing with it on Saturday, she decided to take the lid off and sit on it, and this picture is the result. It was so funny that I could hardly stop laughing and had to take advantage of the photo opportunity. Too bad she didn't find it as funny as I did. And her crazy hair in this picture is from the nap she'd just taken. I promise I would not allow her to go out with it like that in public.

15 Month Stats

Yesterday Bridget had her 15 month checkup, and all is well. She's now 32" tall (90th percentile) which means she's grown an inch in the last 3 months. I'm not surprised because most of her pants have started to look a little short lately which means spring needs to come so I can buy her a new warm weather wardrobe. She's slimmed down to 25.5 lbs. (80-85th percentile), so she only gained half a pound in the last 3 months. If I ran around as much as she does, I'd probably slim down too. And for the first time in her life she's below the 90th percentile in something. Her head measurement only changed a tiny bit, and she's still off the charts in that area. She only got one shot this visit and handled it very well. I was a little concerned she might have pink eye because one of her eyes was looking like it yesterday (minus the goop), but it seems to be better today.

Our Little Helper

We decided it was time for Bridget to start earning her keep around here, and laundry is one of those tasks where she's actually more of a help than a hindrance. Once she empties the clothes from the dryer into the basket, I carry it upstairs so she can immediately start emptying it onto the floor while I try to fold and put away as fast as I can. Once she's emptied all of the contents onto the floor, she puts them all back in the basket and decides she's done. It cracks me up how she does the exact same thing every time without fail, and I do appreciate her help.

Have No Fear, Her Hair is Here

For months, people have commented on Bridget's lack of hair, and I've been wondering if it would ever fill in and be long enough to do anything with it. Although it still isn't long enough for a ponytail of any sort (due to the fact that the hair on top is still really short), it doesn't bother me anymore because she has the cutest curls now! She definitely is her mother's daughter, and someday she'll probably hate me for giving her curly hair just like I've always hated mine. And I have to give Nate props because he's in charge of styling her hair during the week and does a very good job.

A Few More Milestones

So I haven't been blogging lately not because I'm lazy. Our lives have been fairly mundane, so it's a good thing we have Bridget to keep it somewhat interesting. Here's just a few of her recent accomplishments:

• She's finally mastered going down the stairs, and is so good at it that she goes up and down whenever she feels like it, carting all sorts of toys or random objects with her. In fact, we hardly ever shut the baby gate anymore. And one of her favorite things to do is go down one or two steps, sit, and flip through her books. Nate and I are both loving not having to carry her anymore!


• Another one of her new skills I'm loving is her ability to clean up after herself - somewhat. If I tell her to clean something up she usually does especially if I get her started. Our house is nowhere near as tidy as I'd like, but it's a little better.


• Her vocabulary is increasing and she's recently added "baby" and "cougar" or as she says it "ca-ga." I know it's a weird word to pick up on, but she loves the cougar on my BYU sweatshirt and loves trying to repeat it when I say it. Her favorite words are by far "Dada" and "yuck," and both are said more times a day than I can count.


• Currently, she's learning to climb up onto the couch but is only successful part of the time.


• Teething seems to be an almost constant event with her. She just got her 3rd molar and from the way she's been acting today I wouldn't be surprised if the 4th is on its way soon.


• She's also learned how to show people that she's one. If you ask her "how old are you?" she holds up her pointer finger (if she's up to performing and isn't holding something in her hand).