Happy Birthday Bridger!!!

Today is Bridger's 3rd Birthday!

Wow, it goes too fast!

I still remember planning the delivery day when I was pregnant with Bridger.

Brittany did my hair, I got glitter toes, and I made sure that he would be born in July.

I was induced on July 31, 2008.

I wanted each of my kids to have their own birthday month.

I was due August 5th, so it worked out to plan Bridger in July :)

We had Bridger's name picked out since I first got pregnant with him.

We had said, "if it's a boy, he'll be Bridger."

He just felt like a Bridger.

The day we went to the hospital, Brittany, Andi, and Holly met us there.

Holly had embroidered some burp cloths with his name on them.

He's my only kid that I had the name picked out before he was born.

Once we got to the hospital, Bridger was born 3 hours later.

He was anxious to make his appearance and join our family :)

Three days later, he had his first photo shoot...

my precious little baby with the crazy hair :)

Bridger's 1st birthday:

Bridger's 2nd birthday:

Bridger's 3rd birthday:

Bridger is our sweet, funny, spunky, little guy!

He's hilarious and he doesn't even mean to be.

He has a million questions all the time and loves to sit on my lap.

He LOVES books and stories and games.

When he's happy, he growls at me :)

Everyone loves the way Bridger talks.

It's both what he says and how he says it.

It's funny since Bridger didn't talk at all until he was 2,

now he has so much to say and entertains everyone with it.

When we were in CA, everyone kept trying to record him talking and post it on youtube.

They were sure he'd get millions of views on it because he's so funny all the time.

Today, Bridger is officially 3.

We have him signed up for soccer, and he wishes that he were going to preschool.

Bridger is just happy-go-lucky sunshine all the time.

Bridger, we love you so much!  We love the way you talk and the things you say.  I love at bedtime, when we put our faces close and talk.  I love listening to what goes on in your little head.  I love that you always tell me "just one sip" and then you guzzle my whole diet coke.  I love that you will try anything.  I love that sometimes you change your name to "blub blub" or "roly poly" or "bubby" etc.  I don't know how you think of the crazy things you do.  We love watching you on your new "motorcycle" from Pops.  I have to admit, I'm a little jealous that you're such a Daddy's boy.  I keep trying to win you over.  When Daddy went out of town for a week, I thought I finally won you over.  But no, I'll have to keep trying :)  I love how opinionated you are.  You were determined to have a "Bumblebee party" and no amount of convincing would change you mind.  I love how smart you are.  You remember EVERYTHING.  We went to a reptile show and they talked about frogs.  The next day, you told me "metamorphosis...that's a tadpole to a frog."  I was so stunned, I didn't know what to say.  You are AMAZING!  You are our own little sunshine in our house.  You make us smile and laugh all the time.  We LOVE you LOVE you LOVE you more than I could ever say.  We're so excited to watch you keep growing and learning and exploring.  Here's to being 3!

We LOVE Shaver Lake!

Spaghetti Face

Baby Dalton loved Aunt Janet's chicken spaghetti!

Of course, he needed a bath after:

 

Saxon Stories

One morning, Saxon found a fish.

A dead fish.

He was so excited!  He begged to keep his new little friend.

Someone gave him a soda cup that he filled with water and let his little friend float around.

He was bursting with pride as he showed off his new little friend to everyone.

Then he came up to me and whispered:

"Why does everyone keep telling me that my new fishy is gross?"

Nate suggested that he smell his little fishy and see what he thought.

After taking a big whiff of fishy, he decided that it was gross and he let it go, back out to sea...

One morning, Jenna took Saxon and Cailey frog hunting.

Jenna is the best with things like that.

She knows every animal, every plant, every trail, etc.

The group of them finally tracked down a huge bullfrog and Jenna reached into it's hole and pulled it out.  The kids were so excited and put it in a bucket.

The thing was so huge, however, that it kept jumping out of the bucket and making it's escape.  Finally, the kids decided to give the frog it's freedom back.

Another morning, Saxon woke up really early.

Too early.

The sun was barely starting to rise.

For some reason, he was full of energy.

He asked if he could get out of the tent an play.

We said he could if someone else was out.

If not, he had to stay.

Right as Saxon went out, he saw Jenna getting up to go on her morning walk, and he asked to come.  She said yes, and he walked almost 3 miles with her.  They went to the fields, the helicopter pad, and all over the campground.  He was very proud of himself and LOVED every minute of his one-on-one time with Jenna.

Jenna always brings a bunch of candy to the lake.

Every day after dinner, the kids get to visit the "candy store" and pick some treats.

Grandpa doesn't like it when the kids come in to the camper though.

Saxon (the smart little guy) started asking Jenna if he could come in and "help". 

She would always say yes. 

Every night he would sneak into the camper and help Jenna do dishes :)

She usually gave him an extra treat for being such a good helper.

Saxon had been watching the big kids do all kinds of cool things on the trip and decided it was his turn.  He told us he wanted to Jimmy Jam.  I was so proud of my little guy!  He did everything the big kids did.  He leaned and crossed the wake, and then...he got up on his knees!  He was knee-boarding!!!  I couldn't have been more proud.  Seriously.  I was gushing with pride.  Check him out:

On one of our last days, Saxon followed Jenna into the camper to "help".

Then he asked if he could see her room.

She said yes.

He asked what side of the bed she slept on.

She showed him.

He asked if he could climb in and try out her bed.

She said yes.

He asked if one of these nights, he could have a sleepover with her.

She laughed and said "maybe" :)

Then she finished cleaning the camper and Saxon re-made the bed for her.

She said he did a better job than Grandpa :)

The 4th of July

For the 4th of July, we went out on my mom's boat to watch the fireworks right over the lake.  I put the boys in their cowboy hats.  It seemed very American if not patriotic.  While we were out, some guy had a remote control airplane, all lit up, that would take off and land back on the water.  It was so cool!  He was right next to us, so the kids could could see it all happening.  

The fireworks were really amazing this year too.  It was like a "grand finale" the whole way through and was a full 1/2 hour long.  Each display took our breath away.  

It was a little scary trying to navigate our way back after.  It was 10:00 at night, the lake was black, there were hardly any moon, but a million stars.  The trees blocked a lot of the light as well.  You really couldn't tell what was shore and what was water because it was so dark.  Luckily my Aunt Janet had a really bright flash light, and my mom is a fabulous driver.  We all made it back safe and sound :)

More from Shaver Lake

Here's some more pictures from our trip to Shaver Lake:

The boys both went tubing,

and loved every minute of riding in Grammie's boat :)

Saxon tried out the Jimmy Jam and he was amazing and SO BRAVE!

It was a week of swimming, playing, spending time with family, boating, skiing, wakeboarding, etc.  Does it get better than this?

Shaver Lake 2011

We just got back from taking the kids to Shaver Lake for the 4th of July.

We had a blast! 

Most of the pictures are on Brookie's camera, so I'm just waiting for copies of those.

But until then, here's some fun ones of playing in the water: