Bridget Update

Time for a post about this cute little girl...

Miss Bridget has been doing a lot of growing up and it is breaking my heart, but I must document it.

This is how I found her in the swing last week. Marshall and I both thought it was pretty funny and I figured she must have just fallen over sideways. Well, the next day this is how I found her...

Now I know what she was really trying to do...reach the fish!

We have since moved the swing down to the basement. :( She just hasn't really loved it since we got back from Utah the end of June and we had to make room for the exersaucer this last weekend, which she loves!

Marshall also loves it and they play quite well together when she is in it.


We have also moved Bridget into her highchair. Again, another milestone that almost makes me want to cry.

Love, love, love those big eyes.

The reason for the move to the highchair is that we have started introducing Bridget to solid foods. She loved rice cereal from the start and since then gets so excited every time she sees a spoon. We started her with sweet potatoes, which she loved. A few days later we added green beans, loved those also. And, just this morning we did applesauce. She wasn't crazy about it, but she still slurped it all up. For the sake of grandparents, and anyone else who is interested, here are videos from her first food experiences...

In other news, Bridget got to spend some quality time with little Max Hassell this last week. Max is just six weeks old, but they bonded and I'm convinced they will get married one day.

Despite their age difference their hands and feet are the same size and Max is definitely wider around the middle. Such a cute little guy.

Bridget started to get a little cuddly...she loves Max already.

Lastly, you may recall a video from earlier this summer with Bridget growling. After a few days her growl went away, but on Sunday it came back with a vengeance! She was growling like crazy at church and some people thought it was Marshall and his little friend Duncan, but then they realized that that loud growl was coming from little Bridget. :)

Family Home Evening

Today I asked Richard to do the Family Home Evening lesson and this is what he came up with. :) I shouldn't have expected anything else with BYU's opening game on Saturday. Oh well, its a great message and we talked about the good things we can do every day. For example: cleaning up, sharing toys, helping each other, making Bridget laugh, etc. All the things you would talk to a two year old about. :)

Mismatched Marshall

This is what Marshall wore to church yesterday. He picked it out all by himself and I could not persuade him otherwise.

White shirt with blue and green plaid stripes
BYU tie
Black and white checked pants
Brown shoes
White socks

Oh well, at least he's got a killer smile.

Trip to Michigan

Last weekend we took a trip to Michigan to visit with the good ol' Toney clan. My cousin, Shannon, actually got married in Tennessee the day after my brother Danny got married. We were obviously in Utah for my brother's wedding, so we missed out on her wedding festivities. But, her family lives in Indiana and they were having a reception in Indiana this last weekend. Our grand plan was to leave Milwaukee as soon as Richard got home from work, attend the reception in Indiana, and then drive up to South Haven, Michigan to spend some time with the Toney fam.

So, last Friday morning went excellently. Richard got home at 1:30, he changed, I fed Bridget, we loaded the car, and we were on the road by 2:00. Now I realize that this is a horrible time of day to try to drive through Chicago, but we didn't have any other option, so off we went. Of course we encountered awful traffic and it took us FOUR hours to get from Milwaukee to South Chicago. That is about how long it should take to get to South Haven! Those four hours, well, at least the last two were miserable. Marshall got carsick, Bridget was screaming, and I thought that Richard was going to break the steering wheel.

By 6:00 we finally made it to the McDonalds that is in the middle of the freeway in South Chicago. We stopped there to clean up Marshall, have dinner, and just take a much needed break from the car. We decided to skip the reception (we were still about two hours away and the reception would be ending in an hour) and just drive straight to my grandparents' house.

Thankfully our remaining two hour drive was uneventful. Bridget slept most of the way, Marshall was fine, and there was very minimal traffic. Whew.

We enjoyed our stay in South Haven, even though it was very short. We took a quick trip to the beach, had some excellent meals, and just enjoyed catching up with everybody.

I sure love my time in Michigan, I always have. It is so relaxing and filled with a lot of laughter. My Toney family sure is a great one. But, how I HATE driving through Chicago! Really, if it wasn't for that blasted city I would make that drive a lot more often. You know what I realized after Marshall threw up in the car and the bag I gave him had a hole in the bottom...Marshall has now driven through Chicago four times in his life and three of those times he has gotten carsick. The only time he didn't throw up was when he was two weeks old, but that time he was screaming his head off and I was an uptight new mom, not a good memory.

Anyway, despite my above complaints, it was an excellent trip, and the drive back to Milwaukee was much less eventful.

Thank you Toney family for an excellent mini-vacation! Next time it will be longer, I promise!

Don't let this picture fool you. Marshall was not liking the sand on his feet, and you know Richard and water, let's just say he would rather be surrounded by grass. Bridget and I; however, had a great time and she didn't mind the sand in between her toes.

My cute Grandma Toney. She is such a great lady. She loves, loves, loves the babies and this was her first time with Bridget.

Bridget and the girl cousins.

Thanks for a great weekend Toneys! I'll let you know when I work up the courage to go back through Chicago!

A Happy Family

As a side note before I begin the real purpose of this post...

Last night after most of us were done eating but still in the kitchen, Marshall came into the kitchen carrying his pillow and blanket. He asked me to spread his blanket out on the floor, he laid down, and then announced that we were a happy family. :) It basically made my day. After a few more minutes of talking in the kitchen Marshall ordered all of us into the living room so that we could "be a happy family in the living room". What a cute little guy.

Anyway, back to the last post about our Utah trip...

The night before Danny got married my mom declared that from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm all of us had to be home and enjoy some time all together. This was great! We enjoyed a delicious dinner, giving Danny marriage advice, and watching old family videos. It was an evening spent in a lot of laughter and we made some great memories. It sure was great having this time with my parents, four brothers, and everyone else who has joined the family. Who knows when we will all be together again; those times are few and far between now.

Here are just a few random pictures from the evening...


This picture just makes me laugh: Danny's face and Jordan's hand. I love my brothers.

This is a completely random picture, but I just love my family (have I said that enough?!).

Ah, it was such a wonderful trip! I must admit this was my first time in four years of visiting my family in Utah that I didn't want to come back to Milwaukee; that's how good it was! Anyway, enough sappiness, until next time, who knows when that will be though!

A Trip To The Zoo

The day before the wedding we packed up and headed to Hogle Zoo for the morning. It was great fun!

The highlight for Marshall was probably the carousel. He loved it.

Every time we would pass my brother Jordan he would take a picture of us. After a few times of this I told Marshall to make a funny face at Uncle Jordan and here was the result. I made a crazy face and Marshall blew a kiss. :)

My brother and his little boy, Benson.

Marshall had no desire to touch this fur (I can't remember what animal it came from).

One cool dude.
It was a fun-filled morning at the zoo. Fun was had by all and all three kiddos were exhausted by the time we left. This is how the van looked about five minutes into the drive home.

We got a kick out of Benson with his sunglasses. So cute.

Polka Dots

My Dad and Bridget were matching one morning, both sporting stylish polka dots.

An Evening In The Mountains

While in Utah we headed up to Mueller Park for dinner one night. This is a family favorite spot and Marshall gets so excited to go up to the mountains. It was such a fun evening; love my family.

These four men tried for about an hour to get a fire going...

They were making very little flames, but a whole lot of smoke.

They even tried bug spray, no such luck.

Finally my dad arrived, and presto, there was a fire!

While the fire fiasco was going on, we just enjoyed time with each other.

Bridget has really developed an attachment to her toes. She can get all five toes in her mouth. She can do this laying down and even sitting up. Quite talented if you ask me. As a side note, on our flight out to Utah I had a man ask me if I had any toys for Bridget because she had been playing with her feet almost the entire flight. :)


We rounded out our dinner with smores, delicious. Marshall loved them.

It sure was a perfect evening up in the mountains.

The Best Place On Earth

Our second day in Utah consisted of Richard taking Marshall down to BYU for the day. They had a grand time and of course Richard was in heaven. They met up with Marshall Paxson and Richard enjoyed catching up with him. They visited the stadium (nice new paint job, don't you think?!), went to the Bookstore, the Student Athlete Building, and just walked around campus. Marshall loved it all and still talks about the stadium getting painted.

The Wedding

We just got back from a wonderful ten day trip to Utah for my brother's wedding. Richard was able to be with us for the entire time (that has not happened since December 2008) and we loved it. Our days were filled with fun activities and fantastic time with family. I would venture to say that this was our best trip ever to Utah; so good in fact, that I wasn't ready to come home (that has never happened before).

Anyway, back to the wedding of Danny and Stacie. It was a wonderful day! They were married on August 12 in the Bountiful Temple, the same temple Richard and I were married in. It was so special to be in the temple with them. I am so grateful for the gospel, the knowledge that we have of eternal families, and the sealing power that binds us together forever. What a blessing!

The happy couple.


My brothers (Ben, Kevin, and Jordan) at the wedding luncheon. They are a little goofy. :)


My cute dad with Bridget, his darling granddaughter. Love, love, love her dress. It was the most expensive clothing item we bought for this wedding, but I would say it was worth it. :)


Marshall at the reception with his bowl of popcorn. Every table had a bowl of popcorn; I am pretty sure that Marshall and Benson had their fair share of popcorn that night.


Me and my girl, love her.


Bridget and her dress. Darling. She isn't sitting up on her own so we used this can to prop her up. This picture was taken right before she fell over, but her smile is perfect.

We had to get a picture with this car in the background. I can't remember the make or model of this car, but it is from 1945 and it held all of Danny and Stacie's presents. Loved it.

My brother and his cute wife, Lisa.


It was a wonderful day. We are so happy for Danny and Stacie; they make one great couple!

More Utah posts coming later. :)