Carter Cole: 1 Year Old

I cannot believe that my baby is 1. The year has flown by and we can't imagine life without our C-Man, C-C, Carter Cole, Mr. C, little brother..take your pick what you want to call him. Bridger and Carter are best friends and enjoy each other very much. We love our cuddly, sheepish, serious little boy, his facial expressions and most of all, the joy that he brings into our lives. Happy Birthday, my big-little boy!

Carter's Cake:

Between the time that Ben put Carter in his seat and I grabbed the camera,

Carter had extinguished the candle... with his finger. Poor little guy with negligent parents.

Sugar always helps ouchies.

Sticky

Messy

Gooey

Yummy


Barret: "Thank you! why, Yes! I'll have some more..."

"Hey you- I'm still mad about the candle! "





Presents

Tool Truck and cars

Bubbles with Giant Bubble Blower

Huge Bubbles!

Toy Boat

Get-A-Long-Gang







A BIG Hooray!

Our next big step... it's started

Today marks the beginning to our next big step:

Choosing a job.

Ben had his first of six interviews today. It is exciting, kinda scary.. but really exciting... we are ready. Ben has worked so hard to get to this point and I am very proud of him. Who knows where we will be next year at this time. We just hope to find the best place to raise our family and have a job that Ben loves. And good weather.. and nice people and nice pay and a place that we can call home. (just to name a few must-haves) Wish us luck and we will keep you updated!

Sad times on Anthony Lane

A few weeks ago I walked outside my door to this:

Yep, that's right. My neighbor moved. Goodbye noisy street with a handful of kiddoes running every which way. Goodbye garage that Bridger rummages through daily to find whatever bat/ball/ bike he can find. Goodbye friends. We are in mourning and the street has never seen so barren. (except on the -40 degree winter days). Luckily we still have the neighbors next door.

And, luckily, they only moved 10 minutes away to a nicer, newer, and bigger house and they still see us and we play every Tuesday.

Barret insisted that he bring his bike today so they could race back and forth, back and forth, up and down, up and down the street. It was loud, crazy, fast, almost irritating and...... just like old times. Heaven. (well, ok, I am exajurating a little bit, but it was fun. and crazy.)

These two hooligans! I asked them to go in the kitchen and choose a snack,

and this is what they came back with.

Nice try.

My Latest Craves

You would think that I am pregnant the way I have been craving these little scrumptious goodies lately. I am salivating just thinking about them! Summer always makes me wants little sweet things. And these are my favorite for the month:

These delicious cookies from Trader Joes.

I have started to love that little store, so much that it almost makes the list of requirements for the next place live. Luckily, 17 cookies are a serving. I don't feel too bad scarfing them down.

See how they are almost gone... this is only after 3 days.

Delicious fresh raspberries, straight from the patch.
We have had an abundance this year already, and they ever bearing.

Too bad they rarely make it into the house before they are eaten.

Bridger is the best pickers. The berries are at his level. Bridger has spent 20 minutes in the patch at a time, constantly eating them. Luckily, he has started to share.

Green Lake

For the Forth of July, we went with our neighbors to their cabin at Green Lake, which is about an hour northeast of Madison. We enjoyed the drive through acres and acres of farmland to come to a beautiful lake surrounded by evergreens. They have a cabin on the lakefront and it was so fun to spend time with them and their family and we thank them for sharing with us! We got to play in the water, ride waverunners, (which Bridger absolutely loved...the faster the better) go boating, Ben got to wakeboard, I attempted (truly, are lakes THIS cold in Utah? or maybe the real question: have I really turned THIS wimpy?! ) then it started to rain, so we ran inside to the heated pool (Aaahhhhhhhh, warmth) and played some more. We finished with a great game of kickball and a delicious meal of smoked turkey, potatoes and every salad imaginable. (I'll take that over any 4th of July BBQ!) Our kiddoes were ready to hit the hay before the fireworks and were asleep on the ride home before the end of their driveway. We had a blast, Bridger I think (and hope) may be less scared of dogs now that he was surrounded by several for the entire day, and we got to explore more of Wisconsin. A great holiday!

Jumping on the water trampoline

Faster, Daddy, faster. WAHOO!!


Swim along

Swimming with Jamie and Aaron

Farewell, Zoran!

This is Ben and Zoran. Zoran is the other fellow that worked with Ben at the hospital and he just graduated and moved to Kentucky for a job. Hooray! A Job! As far as I am aware, Zoran is our biggest blog fan. He is the first to notify Ben when I had not posted frequently enough and I needed to add more pictures. We will miss him, and his reminders, and wish him the best at his new job.

My Two-and-a-Half Year Old

BRIDGER

I love this kid. He certainly makes our lives entertaining. People often talk about the "Terrible Two's" and I don't think they are terrible at all. I love that he is becoming more and more independent. I embrace and promote it. I love that he gets so excited and proud that he can dress himself, wash his hands, go potty by himself, get his own dishes and utensils, put on his own shoes and do his own buckles in his car seat. Go Bridger man!!

Bridger is also very good at communicating. He can really repeat almost anything we say. And does on a regular basis. I really enjoy that I can have conversations with him. He likes to talk about today, yesterday, this morning, last night, later and soon. He doesn't always use it in context, but it is fun to hear him describe his "tonights" that happened a few minutes prior. He also knows days of the weeks and doesn't use them correctly either. But he will try and convince me what we are going to do on Monday. He can tell time and it is always "Three minutes."

I also love that his attention span is GROWING! Hooray! He loves to paint, color with markers and he will read books by himself. He doesn't like TV unless it is Sesame Street, Baby Signing Time DVD or the scripture stories on DVD. His favorites are Moses, Daniel in the Lions Den and Lehi Obeys God. He also loves to sing. He sings all the time, when he is trying to fall asleep or wakes up in the middle of the night, when he is playing and especially at Family Home Evening.







Bridger is very social and has lots of friends that he sees pretty regularly and he will tell me what he did with them after playing. In his reports of a playdate he always includes, "And Bridger share and is nice and kind." ( Although I am not sure it is always true) Other parents from church tell me that their child knows Bridger name and it could be one of the few words that they use.



Bridger is 100% boy. He even has named all of his shoes according to what shoe he wears per sport. He has football shoes, hockey shoes and game shoes and big shoes and will only allow us to refer to them as such. He hates wearing sandals because he can't run "Super fast" in them. He loves all sports, is interested in all bikes, tractors, trucks and power tools. He loves riding his tricycle, daddy's bike, the neighbors bike, the neighbor's neighbor's bike....any bike he can find. He got a tool set for his birthday and now can fix everything. He came to me the other day and said that he was "fixing his bed" I went in his room and the blanket was perfect with his turtle placed right on his pillow and he was using his tools to smooth or "fix" everything.








He is growing up so fast!
We love watching it happen before our eyes.