Birthday Fun!

I had a wonderful birthday this year! Actually, a wonderful birth month (I like to milk it for all it's worth). Jake had Young Mens on my actual birthday so he had a surprise for me the weekend before to celebrate. He took me to a nice dinner and then we stayed over at a hotel downtown while Bridger had a sleepover at my parents' house. It was a lot of fun!

On my birthday I just hung out with Bridger all morning and then that evening we went over to my mom and dad's for dinner, cake & ice cream, and presents. Corine and the girls and BJ came over and so did Blaine, Lori, and Weston. I was spoiled!

Look at all those candles! Yikes!

Brooke gave me lots of cute jewelry and the cutest picture album with pictures of us since we were just kids! It was so nice of her. My parents gave me that cute family home evening board, some decorative plates with a rack to put up in my kitchen, an ice cream maker, and some clothes.

Makenzie made me this beautiful necklace! It matched my sweater perfectly! What a sweetheart!

Eliza couldn't wait to give me her present but she also wanted me to open hers last. She also made me a beautiful necklace that is purple and yellow with a pink star in the middle. It is so cute!

Since we didn't get to go out to dinner on my birthday we decided to go out to breakfast the next day. We went to Little America and had a delicious meal!

Thanks for the great birthday everyone!

Ball! Ball!

Bridger's first word was "ball." It's so cute the way he says it too--it sounds like he's asking a question each time, "ball? ball?" What a cutie! His favorite ball is a basketball. Whenever he sees a basketball hoop he starts asking for a ball which means he wants to go play basketball. Jake and I took him to Sam's Club with us the other night and Bridger started asking for a ball. We couldn't figure out what he saw so we looked around the store. Sure enough, there was a basketball standard clear across the room and Bridger picked it out.

Here's Bridger and Grandpa Jimmy playing with Bridger's basketball hoop.

He was learning how to let go of the ball. He just kept holding onto it.

Brooke and Bridger

Bridger got to go to his first Jazz game last weekend thanks to Liz and Wes for inviting us along. He looks a little tired in this picture. It may or may not have been past his bedtime.

Oh, no! Bad pass, Boozer!

Liz, Bridger, and me enjoying the game. The Jazz creamed the Hornets so we had more fun chatting than watching.

Bridger's 1st tennis racket

My mom found this cute little baby tennis racket and bought it for Bridger a few weeks ago. It's his new favorite toy! The first day he got it we went out to dinner with my family and he had to bring it in the car with us and then he wouldn't leave it in the car--it had to come into the restaurant with us! He held onto it all night and even fell asleep with it on the way home. What a silly boy! It must be in his blood to love tennis.

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!