Day at the Beach

There are only a few things you need at the beach:

1. A bucket

 

2. A big sand hill

 

3.  A lightsaber

4. A restaurant where the kids can play while the grown-ups eat

5. One adorable daughter

6. One amazing son

Our favorite beach: Pacific City, OR Cape Kiwanda

Life of an Eight Year Old

Bridger participated in his first Science Fair.  He insisted that we participate.  It was such a busy time for me but how could I turn down a desire to do school work?  He wanted to make Rock Candy.  He started out strong....and I completed my first Science Fair project.  We eventually found out that the main reason he wanted to do the Science Fair was that he wanted to earn the medal.  Next time we will do a project that can be completed quickly.   This one was a little long with little excitement. 

Bridger joined Cub Scouts in January of this year and by April he had participated in two pinewood derby's!  Luckily we were able to use the same car.  Because we have a few wards in the Stake that only had a few cub scouts, they decided to combine the troops.  One of the other wards hadn't had their derby so they invited us to do it with  them.

 

Spring Break 2013

Found these fun pictures on my camera.  Impromptu photo shoot by my kids. lol

For Spring Break we headed to Mt. Hood.  We mostly went swimming but we were able to pull the kids away on a few walks.  Bridger is growing up too fast;  he had his MP3 headphones in most of the time. 

A boy and his imagination.  I can't tell you how many trips we go on that we come back with sticks.  In Bridger's mind they are swords, guns, bow and arrows, lightsabers...you get the point.  It is him and I love it.

This is one way to give a piggy-back ride

Playing in the snow on Mt. Hood.  It was Lilly's first time sledding and she loved it.

Such a gentleman; carrying Lilly's sled.  He takes care of his little sister.

Lilly Girl

 

When I asked Lilly what makes her smile she instantly said, "Chocolate!"  She knows what she likes!  We have a little tradition that we do lately.  We go to the mall, we get chocolates at See's, we walk til we need a break (about 6 yards) and she finds a bench so we can eat our chocolates. And yes, she smiles!  Then we walk around and she hopes over the different color tiles.  We play on the playground.  If I'm lucky, I might get to shop a little.  But we have fun and it is our little thing.

Lilly has really taken an interest in cooking.  I buy cheap spices and other ingredients and she gets to "cook".  It is such a mess but she really enjoys it.  One night when she was sick we sat down together to watch TV.  I couldn't take another Barbie movie so I turned on Cupcake Wars.  She has a slight obsession with it now.  She loves to watch it, she pretends to cook cupcakes and we act out the entire show.  When I make cupcakes she wants to know if I used buttercream or ganache and she critiques my cooking.  Bridger is equally excited about the show, so we had a cupcake bake-off.  On one of the episodes their was a lady from Utah that won.  So the kids begged if we could go when we went to Utah...didn't have to twist my arm.  So we went and they were fabulous.

I don't know if her love of cooking has something to do with this or not.  She enjoys mixing things and has also taken an interest in chemistry.  She can spend the entire time at OMSI in the chemistry lab.  We bought a kit and she does experiments at home.  Fun fact:  Those were my strong subjects at school.  I scored top 5% in the nation in all science categories and a few others.

 She loves to be pampered.  Every time Bridger gets his hair cut, Lilly wants to.  Only problem is her hair hasn't grown much in years.  I know with curls, it takes longer to notice but I'm sure her diet hasn't helped.  She has been taking her vitamins and attempting to eat healthier so she can grow hair like Rapunzel.  She finally earned a trim on that gorgeous hair and she was so excited!

 My little nurturer likes to play that I am sick and she takes care of me.  This is what she brought me today.  The flowers were a nice touch.  She is the sweetest.  The other favorite game is to be pregnant.  Not sure why she is so obsessed with that.  She wants nothing more than to be pregnant and have babies.  I was doing a little interview for her scrapbook and one of the questions was: When you go to bed tonight what do you want to dream about? She got a little embarrassed and said you might think I'm weird.  After a little coaxing she told me that she would dream about being pregnant.  She would have one in her tummy and one that was already born.

Of course, being a princess will always be on her bucket list.  She is and will always be my little princess.

Bridger's Baptism

I am so incredibly proud of Bridger for the decision HE made to get baptized.  We spent a lot of time teaching him and then letting him choose what he wanted to do.  He has such a strong testimony and understands more than others his age.  He understands more than most people for that matter.

Grandma and Grandpa came to the baptism.  Grandpa gave a talk about the Holy Ghost.  It was a really special day for all of us.

Bridger's best friend, Ian Wilde, was baptized on the same day.  It made the day so fun.

Bridger's buddies that were there:  Rigby Lathen, Bridger, Peyton Boyer, Ian Wilde, Matthew Weslak, Taylor Starke, Nathan Mauery (in back)

He Melts My Heart

Bridger not only loves to play sports, he loves to watch them too.  He has really been into following teams since second grade.  It is cute to watch him try to figure it all out.  He is influenced by kids in school and always wants to know what my favorite teams are.  Since Derek doesn't watch sports he hasn't been exposed as much as some boys.  So he listens to everyone and then watches what he can.  Right now he is a huge Oregon Ducks fan and Portland Blazers fan for obvious reasons.  He has a little rival with his first grade teacher, Mrs. Albrich,  She loves the Oregon beavers and he loves the Ducks.  It has been fun for him...and me!  I had the same thing with my 7th grade teacher with BYU and Utah. 

We went to dinner awhile back and they had several TV's with different games on.  It was torture for Bridger to choose between TV's.  He tuned out and this was my entertainment; watching all his different facial expressions.

Most people know Bridger's love of sports.  Something you may not know is what a sweet tender heart he has.  He is always watching out for me.  If we are hiking he is the one to help me down a steep part.  He is the one to open my door.  He is the one to take care of me when I am sick (Lilly helps with this too).  He protects his sister.  He lets her play with him and his friends.  He thanks me after every meal for cooking or for taking him places.

He surprised me recently with breakfast in bed.  He brought me toaster waffles with Nutella and a sprinkle of...flour.  I was complimenting him on how fancy the powdered sugar was and he paused a minute and said, "Wait a minute.  What do they sprinkle on it?!"  He just thought it was flour.  So cute!

I love him more than words!!