Fun Times with Bridger

Bridger put on his snow hat and gloves and was running around the house with his star wars gun. I asked him what he was doing and he looked at me like the answer should be so obvious. He said "I'm being a clone trooper."


Bridger still loves to play with his monkeys. He hauled this shopping cart up from the basement and put all of his monkeys in it. Then he pushed it around the house like a mad man. He has such a great imagination. Bridger and Chase play a game calling out slug bug cars. When they see a slug bug car they yell out "slug bug blue." The other day we were driving to Orem and Bridger had seen about 9 slug bug cars. He excitedly said to me "this must be slug bug territory!" That made me laugh so hard. I came home and was telling Matt about our day and I couldn't figure out where Bridger got the word "territory." Matt remembered that when we're in Yellowstone we'll say "this is bear territory." So I think that's where he got it from.




Bridger had his last day of Little Learners preschool on May 25. Instead of doing a graduation party they had a water party and picnic. His teachers gave him a water gun. Ms. Margo and Ms. Maurie have been wonderful. It's been such a great year for Bridger. He has loved going to school. They have made learning so fun.

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Women of Steel

On Saturday May 21st, I participated in my first sprint triathlon of the season. I did Women of Steel last year and had a great experience. I love being surrounded by strong women who are challenging their bodies and trying their best. I love that I'm racing right through my neighborhood. For the past two years I have been taking a swimming class twice a week taught by Jenn M. Jenn is an amazing swimmer/coach. Jenn always gives us a killer workout but what I love the most is the friendship. I have come to love the women in my class. They have been a tremendous support to me. We've laughed and cried together. They've turned into my sisters. I love each one of them. My friends include: Sarah, Krista, Kim, Jenn, Beth, Lisa, and Pam.



I bought my bike a couple of years ago. It's a joke that if my house were on fire I would grab my family and my bike. It's my baby. I love my bike. As for the race, I was happy with my time. Last year I put very high expectations on me and then I was really upset when I didn't meet them. So this year I wanted to focus more on appreciating my body and enjoying the experience. I still had a goal in mind. I wanted to be less than 1h20m. So I was extremely happy when my final time came in at 1:16:49. I was disappointed with my swim time. A girl cut in front of me right at the last minute that said her time was 5:30. She lied! She was a lot slower and when I tried to pass her she would purposely move so I couldn't. By the last lap, I was fed up so I just swam past her and hit her a couple of times cause she wouldn't move over. In practice, my swim had been around 6:10 and I was hoping for around 6. But my final time came in at 6:46 (300m) bummer!!!! My T1 was 2:20, bike was 41:31 (12.5), T2 2:00, my run was 24:10 (3.10). My pace came in at 7:47!!!! I was ecstatic that I was under 8. I've never run that fast. So my time actually came in faster than last year. I placed 18 out of 164 for my age group (30-34), and overall 50 out of 740 ( top 7 percent). Yeah!!!!!



We have such a fun time being together. Pam's 42 and can still do the splits! That's impressive. Sarah is always getting us to take silly pictures.




It cracked me up to see healthy Sarah drinking a diet coke after the race. Some things you just can't give up.

Chase's Baptism

Chase was baptized on May 14th. He's taken this decision very seriously. He's been praying for the past year to know if the church is true, if Heavenly Father and Jesus love him and if he should be baptized. He received answers to all of his questions because he said he had a good feeling inside. He was so excited to be baptized. Grandma and Grandpa R. took Chase shopping and bought him a new suit. He looks so handsome in it. He looks like a little missionary. Grandpa and Grandma A. bought Chase his very own scriptures and a case. He loves to read them and look up scriptures. He was the only one in the ward being baptized on that day. He asked Uncle Mike to give the talk. Mike looked at Chase the whole time and made it so personal. He had all the children come up front. He had a picture of Chase in the bottom of a bowl that he poured water over. He had Bridger shine a light on Chase's face. Then he added lots of pepper to the water to represent sin. Then he added a drop of soap and all the pepper moved to the outside. It was really neat. The kids loved it.

For the baptism, Matt took his time and made sure Chase was comfortable before he began. It was wonderful to see Chase being baptized. Grandpa R. and Grandpa A. were the witnesses. Matt did a great job with the confirmation. Chase said that it felt like he was holding up a ton of bricks with his head. I feel so blessed that Matt is a worthy priesthood holder. I know that it brings many blessings into our lives.

After the baptism, we invited our families and friends back to the house for a BBQ. Chase wanted to eat hamburgers and hot dogs. Everyone was so willing to help out and bring some food. As usual, it turned out to be a feast. Unfortunately a little storm blew over right as we were eating and it started to rain. Some people stayed under the pop-ups and kept eating but most people had to come inside. Everyone enjoyed visiting with each other. At the end of the party, we played a little baseball. Bridger and Chase were in heaven.

Shantelle gave Chase a very special gift. She made him a quilt! It's to remind him of the Holy Ghost and how he always comforts you. It's an amazing quilt. She is so talented. The W's gave Chase his first Swiss army knife. His eyes about popped out of his head when he opened it. It's very fancy. Rob wanted Chase to have it for scouting. What a lucky little boy.

Chase's Dance

Chase had his second grade dance today. He's been working on the dances for months. His favorite dance was "fire fly." They turned out the lights for parts of it and all you could see were the necklaces. He also danced to "singing in the rain." He learned a country line dance, a square dance to "Johnny Oh." Another one of his favorites was "Thriller." He was very nervous during the dances. I think he smiled one time. But he did a great job remembering all the dances. Matt was on vacation so he even got to come. Bridger wanted to miss school to see Chase dance. Mom and Dad came down too. At the end of the dance, they invited a parent to come and do the "boot scoot'n boogie" dance with the kids. So Mom and I went and danced with Chase.

Bridger Playing Soccer

Bridger begged me to sign him up for soccer this spring. So he's on a little neighborhood team through the Rec center. His coach is Angie N. and her little girl, Faith is on the team. She is so sweet with the team. Brody, one of his best friends from school is on his team. Most of the kids are from the neighborhood. Bridger has scored 2 to 8 goals a game. When he starts to get a lot of goals, we encourage him to pass to his teammates and help them score a goal. He is so sweet about that. He is not intimidated by anyone. When I ask him about the bigger kids, he just says "I look at them and think I'm not scared of you." He does a great job of dribbling the ball. Chase has been a great coach to him. I think he's done so well because he's played a lot of soccer with Chase.

Happy Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's day. My sweet boys (and husband) made me feel like I was queen for the day. They had bought me beautiful flowers on Saturday. Chase made me a very sweet book that tells many things about me. It's a book I will always treasure. He says some really things in the book about me. He says that my favorite food is meatballs and shrimp. I get mad when he doesn't turn off the wii. He did a great job on the book. Bridger's preschool teachers helped him with a present. He gave me a bar a special soap that smells really good wrapped up in a pink wash cloth. He was so excited to give it to me that he gave it to me after school on Friday. I loved the big hugs and kisses he gave me with the gift. Matt helped the boys pick out a cute necklace that has a bike on it and I can celebrate my bike rides. Matt totally spoiled me and bought me an ipad. I was looking into another device but he splurged and ordered me the ipad. I'm so excited! It hasn't come yet, but I'm sure when it arrives I'll just sit on the couch for days and play with it.

We had Charlene, Mom, and Marilyn come down for dinner. Matt got an early Father's day gift, a grill, so we grilled turkey and had a wonderful dinner. Dad was holding the umbrella over Matt while he grilled because it was pouring rain. One of the best gifts Matt gave me was doing the dishes after our feast. He was so sweet about cleaning up everything. Mom brought Maddy and Julie with them so the boys loved playing with their cousins. Shantelle and Robby came over too. When Aliyah came it was raining. She looked so cute wearing her new rain boots running up to my house. She's such a happy little girl.

Go Goldilocks!

Today I rode 100 miles in the women's only Goldilocks bike ride. Last year Mylissa and I did the 60 mile bike ride and it was a huge accomplishment for Mylissa. I loved spending the day biking with her. I was so proud of her and how hard she had to fight to finish the race. But this year Mylissa is pregnant so she can't do it. All of my biking friends were busy so I ended up doing it all by myself. Luckily half way through it I made a friend, Amy, and we stayed together till the end. When we stopped for lunch we saw some ladies that had made some really funny costumes showing off their "bums." It made me laugh! The weather turned out to be a little hot. My arms got sunburned during a bike ride on Thursday so they were really sore. I put sunblock on three times during the ride cause I didn't want them to get worse. But the weather was beautiful! I was a little worried about the ride because the longest ride I had done was only 40 miles. Overall I felt really strong. I got a little tired around 50-70 miles but I ate some of a peanut butter sandwich and felt more energized. My goal was to come in under 7 hours and I made it in 6.5 hours so I was happy with that. I loved having a day just to bike and appreciate what my body can do for me.