Bridger Student of the Week

One day Bridger came home from school and said that his teacher had a really bad day.  He said that she had a bad headache and the kids were being naughty and she started to cry.  I felt so bad for his teacher!  Bridger wrote her a sweet note.  It said "Sorry you had a bad day.  I hope you feel better."  He brought her a chocolate candy bar to help her feel better.  When Bridger gave it to Mrs. H the next day, she started to cry.  Bridger has such a tender heart.  He's very kind!  The next week, Bridger won the Student of the Week award for the first graders.  His teacher wrote"  Bridger is a thoughtful and caring boy.  He is concerned about others and is a wonderful student."  

My Baby Shower

My sweet friends, Kip, Michelle and Julie gave me a baby shower.  At first I fought them on the idea but they wouldn't give up.  Boy did they throw a party.  Julie did the darling invitations and did all the fruit.  Unfortunately she couldn't be there that day.  She also organized the group gift which was an awesome high chair.  Kip and Michelle went to town with shower.  The decorations were darling and the food was amazing!!! Michelle made homemade pretzel rolls, and tons of yummy desserts!  Sweet Kip had the shower at her house.  While I was getting ready that morning, I was worried that no one would come because Saturdays are so busy for people.  But it rained a ton that day so lots of people came because things got cancelled.  I was overwhelmed by everyone's love.  People in our ward are so excited for our family.  Angie and Mikayla happened to be in town, so Charlene, Amy, Ashtyn, Megan, Angie and Mikayla came to the shower.  Shantelle came too and was a big help.  There were so many people from the ward that stopped by.  We got a lot of good baby things.  We received lots of diapers and clothes.  We're so excited for this little guy to join our family!

Look at all those yummy desserts!!!

Matt showed me what Michelle posted on Facebook that night.  It made me cry.  She has been such a good friend.  She's cried with me during all the hard times.  I'm so grateful for her friendship!!!

Bridger's Silver Reading Triathlon Medal

Bridger has been working on the Triathlon reading challenge all year.  He earned his Silver Medal!  He had to read 8 books from the list, run 8 miles, and do a service project for one hour.  He helped clean Kaye's cabin the last time we were there.  He participates in the running club during recess.  He's becoming such a good little reader.  I think of how far he's come this year.  I love to listen to him read.  I'm so proud of his hard work!

Happy Easter!

The Saturday before Easter, we went to Grandpa and Grandma R's house for an Easter party.  They had a ton of eggs for the kids to find.  We had a yummy ham and cheesy potato dinner.  Everyone had a fun time!

The Easter bunny brought us a couple of surprises.  He brought us lots of candy, pi's for the boys and Despicable Me shirts for the boys and Matt.  After Bridger opened his presents he said "I wish the Easter Bunny would have brought me toys."  I told him he was lucky the Easter bunny brought him anything.  After church, we went up to the Adams for a yummy dinner.  Angie was in town for a quick visit so it was fun to spend some time with her.  The weather was beautiful so the boys played non-stop in the back yard playing baseball with Mike, Jake, Austin, Jordan, and Ashtyn.  It was a great night!

Is it too early for sprinklers?

The secondary water was finally turned on and it's a good thing because our grass is dying because it's been so hot.  It was in the low 60's but the boys thought it was 90 degrees so they played in the sprinklers.  Matt and I thought the boys were crazy but they had a blast and Sophie was loving it too!

Sophie has learned to drop her ball on the trampoline and then the boys have to throw the ball to her.

The Boys Open Savings Accounts

We finally took the boys to the bank and set up savings accounts for them.  They can use it for college or a mission.  They had to count out their change.  We carried on Mom and Dad's tradition and told them that we would match what ever they put into their savings account.  Chase has been saving for a few years so we decided it was time to put his money in a bank instead of a jar.  We're so proud of the boys!

Going to the Zoo

During spring break, we went to the zoo.  Mylissa's kids weren't on the same break as us but she pulled them out of school for the afternoon so they could come with us.  We had such a fun time at the zoo.  When we pulled into the parking lot, we were having regrets that we came because it was packed!!!  Mom and Marilyn brought lunch stuff for everyone.  We hauled it all in and had a wonderful picnic.  Mylissa and the kids showed up during lunch.  Around 2:00, people started clearing out and it wasn't so crowded.  We ended up having a great time!!!  The kids loved watching all the animals.  They had so much fun just being together.

We loved the bear exhibit.  We stayed a long time watching the seals swims.  They've made such great improvements.

Bridger was cracking me up.  He was on a kick that he wanted to have me take his picture "all by himself!"  He would walk past something and say "Mom! Take my picture!"  So we got lots of awesome pictures!!

I love this picture of mom with the grandkids!!!  I love her big smile.  I feel bad we didn't get Marilyn in any pictures.  Mom sure loves her grandkids!!!

We had to get an updated picture of all the kids with the gorilla arms.  Every time we go to the zoo, we had to get a picture of the kids measuring their arms with the gorilla arms.  It's fun to see how much they've grown.  The first time we came to the zoo, Maddy was 5 and Chase was 4.  

Ice Skating

Shantelle was feeling very ambitious over our spring break and talked me into going ice skating with her.  We used our pass to get free skating. We only had to pay $1.50 to rent skates so it was a bargain!  I stayed off the ice and held Lillian while Shantelle braved the ice with Chase, Bridger, and Aliyah.  It was Bridger and Aliyah's first time skating and they did great!!!!  After holding on to the sides for a couple of times around, Bridger was off on his own and was staying up with Chase.  I couldn't believe him!!!  Chase had only been one other time but he did amazing too!

Towards the end, Lilly started to melt down if she saw Shantelle.  So I just tried to hide from her.  Aliyah got tired and came a rested her legs for a little bit.  Shantelle took Chase out and tried to teach him the tricks that mom used to do with us.  A lady was sitting next to me and she asked if Shantelle was a professional.  She and I had a good laugh over that one!!!!

They skated for about 90 minutes which was perfect.  By the end, everyone was tired.  When we first got there, it was really busy but the last hour the crowd cleared out and by the end it was almost empty.  It was a fun afternoon!!!!

Chase's First Molar Came Out

Chase has been anxious to loose a molar but they've been pretty stubborn until now.  Chase has been wiggling it for a few weeks and it finally came out.  Now he has a big crater in his mouth.  Chase said that it felt weird with the big hole.  He was very excited to finally loose a molar!

The Nursery

My work didn't need me on Matt's post call day and the boys were home for Spring break.  So we did some major cleaning and got the nursery all set up.  We found a bunk bed set for the boys at D.E. furniture.  We got a crazy good deal on everything.  We got bunk beds, two long dressers, two night stands, and two tall bookcases.  Matt spent Monday morning putting everything together.  I tried to help hold things while he assembled the bunk beds.  Once we got the boys room all set up, we hit the nursery.  Sweet Mylissa gave us her crib.  While we were putting it together, we noticed a couple of broken parts.  So we looked on-line at buying a new crib and were shocked by the prices.  So Matt used some zip ties and made the crib work.  We're so thankful for the W's generosity!  We cleaned the blinds, baseboards, shelves and even the rocking chair cushions.  By the time we had everything set up, we were exhausted!!!  I mainly did my shopping for the nursery on line.  I found this cute pirate bedding set on amazon.  It came with a complete set.  I didn't want to repaint the room so I was looking for something that had some green in it to go with the room.  I liked this one because there are several colors in it.  I didn't want something that was just green or just blue.

 We're all ready for the baby to come!!!  We can't wait for this little baby to join our family!

Matt's 43rd Birthday!

 Matt's birthday was uneventful because we watched conference all day.  I love the picture of Sophie sitting on the couch while Chase and Matt watch conference.  I asked Matt what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said "watch conference."  So we watched both sessions and then went to Texas Roadhouse for Matt's birthday dinner before he headed out the door for the priesthood session.  We left as soon as the closing song started so luckily we didn't have a long wait.  Bridger was very disappointed because Matt didn't want to tell the waiter that it was his birthday.  Bridger couldn't understand why Matt didn't want to sit on the saddle and have the whole restaurant say "Happy Birthday!"  We were in a hurry and Matt was all dressed up so the boys and I didn't pressure Matt to give in.

 After the priesthood session, Matt came back home and we opened presents.  Shantelle came over during the priesthood session and hung out with us.  Matt was very excited to get some water bottles, exercise clothes, a star wars shirt, and a medicine ball to exercise with.

 We had eaten chocolate cake a couple of times during the last two weeks so Matt was sweet and said that I could make him my favorite cake, the yellow cake with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting. Robby came up just in time for cake and ice cream.  Matt's been trying so hard to be healthy but he still wanted to have a little bit of cake.  Matt hates to go shoe shopping for exercising.  He really needed new exercising shoes so a friend told me about a running shoe company with free returns and a 40% off coupon. So I ordered Matt three different sizes to try out.  The company will let you try the shoes for 30 days and if you don't like them, you can send them back.  Matt had a good laugh when he saw three boxes of shoes.  He joked that I brought the shoe store to him!