Happy Birthday Boy

Today is daddy's birthday, he turns 29!!!

Ben had a birthday weekend that started off over at Grandma and Grandpa Parsons for chicken tacos and the Olympic opening ceremonies.

Saturday it was off to school to help me get my classroom arranged.



It takes a lot out of a little guy!



Then we went to Murphy's for a birthday dinner (coupon of course!), Sunday it was off to church where Bridger did great he was awake for the whole thing. We did have to break out the picture books during the homily in order to get the little guy quite again, but he never cried just squealed with delight. Following church we came home and all got into bed and took a nice 3 hour nap together. Lastly it was off to Grandma and Grandpa for boiled dinner and some sand volleyball and water polo.

Since daddy has a business trip this week we celebrated last night with his favorite meal... steak and potato's and German chocolate cake.

It was Bridger's first time celebrating a birthday and we were excited to see his reaction to tissue paper! It was a hit. He loved the sound that it made and he was able to grab it himself, we did have to take it away when he tried shoving it into his mouth though.

To the best daddy ever, hope your day is just as great as you are! We love you so much and can't wait for you to get back home. Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mommy, Bridger and Gabby

The Finish

I am going to finish posting our pictures from our vacation that we took at end of June. Enjoy!

movin and shaken'

Around here we are moving and shaken. Bridger is on a "roll" literally. He is rolling like crazy all over the place. Today I sat him up to see if he could sit on his own and he did pretty well. He leaned quite a bit, so I wouldn't technically call it a full sit but it was close.

We are pretty darn tired around here. Baby boy is back to sleeping for 4 hours and then bright eyed and bushy tail ready to play around 1am. But in the big scheme of things I remember just how blessed we are. Nights are long and the days seem to fly by.

Grandpa Parsons stopped by on Tuesday night after his meetings. It's times like this that I feel so grateful that Bridger has family that lives in town. We shared lots of laughs and stories and Grandpa even had some of my homemade lasagna. Now if I could just conveince Grammy to move out here when she retires :)

The opening ceremonies of the Olympics are tomorrow and I can't wait! I love to watch the spectacle and all the athletes. We are pretty excited to watch swimming and gymnastics because I have watched quite a bit of background stories about the athletes on the TODAY show! My guess is that there will a little rivalry between Phelps and Lochte.

I am heading in to work on the classroom this weekend. Ben's coming in too help move the big pieces of furniture. Do I dare say that this summer is coming to an end soon. I am trying not to even let my mind go there. I know it will extremely hard to go back especially with Bridge going to daycare full time and not being able to see him all day everyday, but I just  keep telling myself that it will be good for all us.

Bull Trout 2012

 We had a great time up there this year.

It was little different from any other year in the past, first we didn't go up on July 4th since the fourth fell on a Wednesday this year and second we didn't stay over night since we have a new baby.

But we were still able to make it up there for the day!

 I'm so glad that Bridger got to experience it.

Daddy limited out on fish and couldn't have been any happier.

Being a new daddy he doesn't get much time to get out and do those things to often.

 He ended up finding a little meadow/brook and was there all afternoon.

He came back for lunch (a ham/turkey with horseradish cheese) and a diet coke, with 13 fish and then it was off again to catch another 12 before dinner.

Grandpa took a cat nap and when he woke he was off to find Ben. While the rest of us tried napping :)

The boys got back and wouldn't you know they both ended up catching a total of 50 fish.

 In turn it made for a great fish fry featuring Grandma Parsons coleslaw (from the garden), zucchini chocolate chip cookies and all the yummy fish you could eat.

Lots of chatting with Grandpa too!

 It was nice to relax in the warm cool breeze and catch up with everyone, we did miss B though!

Audrey, Nat and Bridger were best friends all day and played until they couldn't play any more!

We took lots of pictures, had lots of laughter and made lots of memories!!! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Parsons for having us.

Over the last few years!!!

 P.S. As I am writing this I must document that baby Bridge didn't take very long naps in camp yesterday so he is blissfully sleeping the day away.... hope I don't pay the price tonight. He slept like a champ last night after we got home and took baths.

All the grandchildren with the grandparents

What a difference a few years makes!

one more thing

got an email from one of my student's mom yesterday. She wanted to check in and see how summer was going and to tell me that Ruth misses me. It just reminded me of how lucky I am to teach children. there really is no better job then being a teacher....well except being a mommy,but i don't consider that a job!!!!! one month left!!!!!

hobbies

Bridger is growing so much everyday and I am finding myself trying to play catch up with every new thing that he is exploring and posting it on the blog .

Recently he has NOT been sleeping during the night which has made this mama one tired lady. I don't know if it is from teething, grammy not being here and our schedule getting messed up or if it is just one of those "baby" things.

But either way I am so grateful to spend time with this little guy.

This morning when I woke up I turned on the news and watch the unfolding of the shooting that took place in Aurora, Colorado. More then ever my heart sank when I heard that the shooter killed multiple people. My thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims and their family. I have done quite a bit of reflecting and can't even begin to imagine why anyone would do this and what these families must be going through. I know I will be holding my precious baby a little tighter today and keeping the victims in my prayers.

Onto hobbies, many of you know that I absolutely love photography, and the creativeness that it brings.

With the arrival of our new baby it has truly blossomed and I find myself reading more on it and practicing more and more.

For my on sanity this hobby keeps me focused and it calms me town when I go back and edit.

I am definitely an ARMATURE but love to practice on this precious guy. Aren't I lucky to have such a happy boy!