Bridger's 1st year pictures by Jenny

My cousin, Jenny, was nice enough to take pictures of Bridger for me for his 1 year old pictures. She claims she's not a professional but I think she's just as good! Here are a couple of my favorites:

Happy 1st Birthday, Bridger!

Wow! Where does the time go? I can't believe one year has actually come and gone since Bridger was born. It feels like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital! Now here it is a whole year later and we just keep loving him more each day!


Bridger had a fun day! The morning started off with Jake and I singing "happy birthday" to him and surprising him with a bouquet of balloons which Bridger loves. He could play with balloons all day if we let him.

After lunch Bridger and I went over to Grandma and Grandpa Hart's to get ready for his birthday party. My mom and I made a dinosaur cake for his dinosaur party. It turned out pretty cute!

The party started off with dinner at Cowboy Grub with G & G Hart, Grandpa Nielsen, Brody, Corine, Makenzie, Eliza, Ivy, baby B.J., Barry, Brooke, me, Jake, and the birthday boy, Bridger. I didn't get any pictures of us eating but here's one of Bridger and the girls riding the horses.

After dinner we went back to G & G Hart's where Great Grandma Hart, Great Grandma and Grandpa Smith, Cookie, Steve, Zach and his girlfriend, Brittney, and Madie joined us for cake and ice cream, presents, and games!

Here we are in our dinosaur party hats except Bridger took his off because the elastic snapped his face and made him sad.

Makenzie, B.J., Ivy, G. Grandpa Smith, Eliza, me, and Bridger

Lots of guests at the party

Mmm...cake!

Bridger was so funny eating his cake! He must have been tired because he was so serious about it. I wasn't sure how he'd react to the cake but he dug right in and made a mess! I had to help him figure out that he could eat it though.

Jakey helped Bridger hit the pinata and all the girls had their turn too but in the end we had to have Zach bust the pinata open so we weren't waiting all night for the candy!

Happy birthday, kiddo! We love you more than anything. You are so smart, sweet, happy, fun, energetic, funny, and cute! We have had the best year with you and we look forward to having you in our family forever.

Welcome Brody James Jr.!

Corine and Brody had their baby boy! They named him Brody James Jr. "B.J." He was born Saturday, Jan. 23 at 7:38 pm, He weighed 9 lbs. 11 oz. and was 22 inches long! He's a cutie! Jake, Bridger, and I got to visit him at the hospital on Sunday and then Bridger and I went out to his house on Tuesday night with Grandma and Grandpa to see him again. We are so excited to finally have a Hart boy cousin!

B.J. is chubby and has lots of blond hair. He's adorable! I think he looks like Makenzie.

Doesn't Corine look great? She makes labor look like a walk in the park.

The proud big sisters and their favorite aunt Brittney.

Jakey taking his turn holding B.J. Get in line girls!

Grandpa Jimmy with his two grandsons. He is a baby hog!

What a sweetheart!

Grandma Laurel enjoying her new grandson

Congratulations, Mom!

My mom found out this week that she was accepted into the American Watercolor Society! In case you don't know what that is, it's the most prestigious watercolor society in the world. My mom is only the second person from Utah to be accepted into the society. She has been trying to get in for years now. The rules were you had to get a painting accepted into their show three times is 15 years. My mom had already gotten into two shows (in 2005 she won the gold medal of the whole thing) and she just got accepted again this year. Wahoo! She gets to go back to New York for the show and ceremony where she will become a member of the society. Way to go, Mom! I knew this was the year!!

To celebrate we all went out to La Caille for dinner. It was such a fun night with just the adults and no kids. Here are a few pictures from the dinner:

The famous artist and my dad

Brooke and the famous artist

Jake and Me

Corine and Brody. Corine's due date was in just a few days and Brody joked that even if she went into labor they weren't going to miss this dinner at La Caille.

Barry

Craig and Lynnadele are moving to Salt Lake!

Jake's dad, Craig, got a job here in Salt Lake working for the State of Utah as a general manager over a warehouse. We're happy he got a job here so they can live closer to us now! He moved back to Salt Lake on January 9th after a nice long road trip across the country from Indiana. Craig is living with us until he can find an apartment. Lynnadele is still in Indiana working and trying to sell their house. She will move out in April after tax season is over. We can't wait! Bridger will now be so spoiled to have both sets of grandparents in Salt Lake!

Bridger's first Christmas

What a fun Christmas we had! It was so fun having little Bridger to share it with. He was, of course, more interested in the boxes and wrapping paper than the actual gifts but it was fun watching him open his presents.

I woke up around 5:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep so we decided we'd start Christmas early and we woke Bridger up around 6:00 am. I love this picture of Bridger! He's thinking, "Who the heck woke me up so early and what are we doing?!" He only lasted for about a half an hour and then we put him back to sleep. We let him finish opening his presents later when he was in a better mood.

Jake and I opened our presents next. Jake got me a really nice camera that I've been wanting and some clothes. Bridger got me some makeup and his dad a game. What a sweet boy! I got Jake a car stereo since his has never really worked all that well. I didn't have it installed though because I knew Jake could do it. Later on that day he got it in and it sounded great! It's more fun to drive his car now because we can hook our ipod to the cd player and listen to our songs. Jake always guesses his presents and he knew that one but I did surprise him with our family picture. It turned out really nice thanks to my mom!

After Christmas morning at our house we went to my parents' house to open more presents and have a yummy breakfast. We had so much fun! Bridger gave Grandpa Jimmy a Snuggie because he has always made fun of them. Doesn't he look good in it? Bridger was spoiled with toys, clothes, and treats. Jake and I got some great gifts too! Jake got a fun sled that we'll have to try out soon.

Our breakfast was delicious! Grandma and Grandpa Smith and Sandy came over to visit. Then Jake went out to work on his car stereo. It took him longer than he thought but he figured it out (like I knew he would). After that Jake, Bridger, and I went home to get ready, finish opening Bridger's presents, and talk to Jake's parents on Skype. Later on in the evening we went to dinner at Grandma Donna's and then visited Grandma and Grandpa Smith and our Smith family. It was a great day! Too bad it has to come and go so quickly. I vote we turn Christmas into a week long holiday! Wouldn't that be fun?

Happy Anniversary, Jakey!

I can't believe we've been married for four years already! Where did the time go? I have had so much fun being married to you. You're the best husband in the world and I'm so glad I chose to marry you. Thanks for being so good to me and little Bridger. I love you so much!

Family Picture

We finally got a picture of our little family! We took it over Thanksgiving while we were up in Idaho with Jake's family. We took pictures of the whole Nielsen side (which I don't have yet, but I'll be sure to post them) and we took individual family pictures. Bridger is so cute in this picture! I love it!