Christmas Chloe

Well, since our Christmas cards should have arrived at their destinations by now, I thought I would post the pictures we decided not to use. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got everything they wanted and more (I did...but you'll have to keep reading to find out what it was).We started off Christmas Eve by going sledding with the Cummings. We went last year on Christmas Eve morning as well, so it seems like this could very well become a new fun family tradition. We had a great time this year except for when the wind would blow and our faces would get pelted with snow. Chloe didn't like that part too much, but she didn't seem to mind going down the hill...she didn't scream, that is.We spent the rest of the day with Aaron's family and it was decided to have a non-traditional Christmas meal...we went Mexican style and let me tell you it was delicious. That night, Chloe got to open her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Searle. They got her this fun table that has all sorts of buttons she can push and it sings songs and lights up. I have never seen her play with one toy for so long. She loves it.
On Christmas morning we packed up the car and went to my mom's house to open presents with my family. We wondered how Chloe would do, but she loved tearing into the packages, boxes and yes, she even loved playing with the toys that were inside of the boxes, too!
This year, my Uncle Darrell and his family came into town and spent Christmas here. This was a fun treat as we got to revive an old tradition in which every Christmas morning after we opened presents we would get together and eat breakfast casserole. It was fun to have them here with us.Santa brought Chloe a rocking horse and she loves it! The morning after Christmas she woke up and looked around her room and first she pointed to her pony and asked "What's that?" Then she saw her table that Grandma and Grandpa gave her and asked "What's that?" It was so cute to see how excited she was about her new toys. She also got 2 new pacifiers in her stocking. All day she carried them around and would suck on one for a minute or two and then pop it out and put the other one in.Most years, Aaron and I know exactly what we are getting for Christmas because usually go shopping together and pick out what we want. However, since it is always more fun to have a surprise under the tree, we always find a little something smaller to get each other as a surprise. Well, this year Aaron went above and got me a BEAUTIFUL diamond necklace! I was totally shocked. He asked me for a couple of ideas a few weeks back and I jokingly said a diamond necklace...well, I guess I have to be careful what I say from now on :).Overall, it was a wonderful and very white Christmas. I just love this time of year--the trees; the lights; the treats; the gifts; seeing family; and most especially, remembering the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope you all have a happy New Year!

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

This past Saturday was Aaron's 27th birthday. We started the day with a delicious breakfast from Mimi's Cafe with Aaron's parents and ended it by watching BYU lose in the Las Vegas Bowl. We won't go into details of the game because we weren't too happy with the results. Oh well, that's life and there is always next season.

Chloe had a blast helping Aaron open his presents, which made us even more excited for Christmas this year. While we are on the topic of birthdays and Christmas, I want to publicly apologize to Aaron for his first birthday we spent together as a married couple nearly five years ago. I wrapped his birthday presents in Christmas paper instead of birthday paper and I found out the hard way that that was no no! I'd heard that people with birthdays close to Christmas could be a little sensitive about the whole merging of birthday and Christmas into one, and it turns out it's true. :)

I want to tell Aaron how much I love him and how grateful I am that he is my husband. The past four and a half years of marriage have been so wonderful and now that we are parents and I see what a great father he is, I feel even more blessed!

Happy Birthday, my love!

Chloe Meets Santa...

Christmas Get to Know You

My cousin Jen sent this to me in an e-mail and I was supposed to respond via e-mail, but I thought this would be more fun. So here is my Christmas Getting to Know You questionnaire.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for Christmas but gift bags at birthdays...I don't know why that is.
2. Real tree or Artificial? We had a real tree the first year we got married but our tree stand had a leak so about two weeks before Christmas we had to take our dead tree down, clean the carpet and find somewhere to get rid of the tree. We got an artificial tree the next year and that is what will stay (until our kids get older and then we might get a real one...nothing beats the smell).
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the first week of December. Any later than that and it just isn’t worth the hassle.
4. When do you take the tree down? After New Years.
5. Do you like eggnog? NO WAY!!! Aaron likes it...a lot, but it is not for me!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? One year my Mom got Tawna and I New Kids on the Block concert tickets. It was my first concert and I screamed every minute of it.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes- I have the Willow Tree one (you know, the statues with no faces...that's what Aaron calls them).
8. Hardest person to buy for? My dearest husband...he is very picky and if I do get something for him as a surprise he usually guesses it by Christmas. He knows me too well.
9. Easiest person to buy for? My sisters. I just find something that I want and get it for them instead.
10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail for sure! I love getting cards in the mail so I figure other people must like them as well!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received. I am not sure, but my dad has given me some pretty creative gifts- Q-tips, tacks, etc…(I love you Dad!)
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Babes In Toyland.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I usually start in about October. It helps make December’s budget not look so bad.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yep- but I’ll never tell what and to who!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Sugar Cookies!
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I'm a white lights girl!
17. Favorite Christmas song? I love them all but right now I am hooked on everything from Josh Groban’s Christmas CD.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It doesn't matter to me where we are, I just want to be with family, all of them
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.
20. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Always on Christmas morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day everyone! We had a wonderful day at my Mom's house eating, playing, cooking and sleeping...you know, the regular Thanksgiving activities. This year my Grandparents and my Uncle Darryl's family came out from California. It was so much fun to see them and show off our cute little girl. At first, Chloe didn't know how to react to Great Grandpa, but by the end of the evening she couldn't get enough of him.

Chloe also learned a new trick today: climbing up stairs. We just put her there and the next thing we knew she had climbed all the way to the top!

Since it is Thanksgiving and all, I am going to post my top 10 things that I am thankful for:






1. The Savior and His Gospel
2. A loving husband and daughter (What more could one ask for?)
3. My family
4. Mountains
5. Chocolate
6. Games...even the silly ones
7. Employment
8. Education
9. Health
10. Music

We hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving too!

Christmas on Thanksgiving

While my sisters and I were at BYU, we would always go to California for the holiday break to spend Christmas at home. Usually, there wasn't enough time to go home for Thanksgiving too, so we would always go to my Dad's house in Salt Lake for Thanksgiving.

This gave rise to the tradition in which we would go up to my Dad's house the night before Thanksgiving and decorate his Christmas tree, then on Thanksgiving day, we would celebrate Christmas by opening up our stockings and presents. That evening we would then have our traditional Thanksgiving feast and sometimes, if the timing was right, we would even celebrate my Dad's birthday, which is on the November 24.

Since Aaron and I have been married, the tradition has changed a bit as we now do everything on the day before Thanksgiving so we can better divide our time between my Dad, my Mom and Aaron's family, but it is nevertheless quite an event and kind of strange, but it works. So this year, we found ourselves once again at my Dad's house celebrating Christmas the night before Thanksgiving.

Chloe is Standing!

Well, our little girl is just growing up so fast! Chloe has learned how to balance quite well and she loves standing up. She can stay standing independently for at least 10-15 seconds before she loses her balance and gently sits down on her bum. I just know that she is going to be walking before we know it. Here is a picture of her standing and enjoying her tasty shoe before church this morning.

Why does this stuff always happen to us?

This morning Aaron and I decided to take a nice Sunday walk. Since it was early morning and still freezing outside we got Chloe all bundled up and we went down stairs. We got our shoes on and I then used the front door to push the closet door closed (bad idea) and this is what happened.

What is the likelihood of that? The door handles lined up just right, got hooked together and neither would even turn. So, there we were with our front door stuck wide open at 9 a.m. with all the cold November air just flowing on in. After trying to squeeze our hands in between the doors to try and jimmy them apart for a few minutes, Aaron realized that the only way we could get them unstuck was to take the front door off its hinges and that is exactly what he had to end up doing. I am sure glad that I have a handy hubby who can do things like that! And I promised to never again push the closet door closed with front door.

Five Inches!

Well, I finally did it! I cut my hair more than and inch or two and had a lot of layers put into it. What do you think? For those of you who don't remember how long my hair was before this cut look at where my hand is placed in the second picture...that's about five inches!

Chloe is Crawling!

Chloe has started crawling and it is the cutest thing ever. Well, she has actually been crawling since October 23 (exactly nine months from the day she was born), but I just haven't had the time to figure out how to get a dang video off the camcorder and onto the blog until now.

What, you may ask was the first object that so desperately had to have that caused her to crawl for the first time? A fun toy? Mommy? Daddy? Nope, it was an old band-aide that she had gotten earlier in the day when she went to the doctor and got some shots. She pulled it off of her toe and I threw it across the room so she wouldn't play with it. I guess she really wanted it because next thing we knew she was crawling across the room after it with determination in her eyes.

She started off doing this kind of gimpy crawl where she would move one knee forward normal and then would straighten her other leg all the way out and stick it forward like she was trying to stand up...it was pretty funny to see. However, she has since gotten this crawling business down pat and we've had to install the baby gate at the top of the stairs and baby proof the rest of the house. It seems like she gets faster and faster everyday and just the other day she decided it was OK to crawl on hard floors, something she wasn't to sure of at first.

Here is a video of her showing off her skills.

Happy Halloween!

We had a very busy but fun Halloween. The day started off with Chloe and I going to my class party. Of course all the kids (and parents) wanted to hold Chloe.

After that party, we went to Aaron's work for their Halloween party. They invited everyone's families to come and take the kids trick-or-treating around the office. Chloe was the cutest little bunny around and she got all the attention she could handle.

In the evening we went to my mom's house for dinner, cookie decorating and games. While we were waiting for our "mummy dogs" to finish baking we went to a neighbors house to return some vanilla. Chloe took one look at the bowl of goodies and reached for one. She then realized she had another hand and that that one didn't have any candy. So, she grabbed another treat. Good thing she is so cute!

Here are some pictures from the day. I think one of the hardest things about this blog is trying to pick which pictures of Chloe to post here because they are all so adorable.

James and Megan Huntington as Bleeker and Juno

Playing games with our delicious wax fangs

Chloe and Daddy

Chloe and her pumpkin

Our little family

Happy Fall!

Aaron and I took Chloe out to take her 9 month pictures yesterday and here is what we got. Happy Fall!

Time to Lower the Crib

The other night, we put Chloe down for an evening nap, but after a couple of minutes we heard noises coming from her room. They weren't her usual going to sleep noises so we went in to check on her and this is what we found.

She thought it was so funny that she could pull herself up in her crib and that we couldn't do anything short of staying in her room and holding her down to keep her from doing it. As soon as we would put her down she would flip right over and pull herself up with a big smile on her face.

Ever since that nap, we can't get her to stay down...once this girl figures something out she doesn't forget it. For example, that very night she didn't want to go to sleep and we tried for hours to put her down. She finally went to sleep around 11 p.m., but around 1 a.m. I heard more noises in her room and guess what? She was standing up in her crib looking around and smiling in the dark. I put her back down and she once again fell fast asleep, but bright and early at 6 a.m. she woke up and by the time we went to get her, she had pulled herself up to take a look around again...it was a long night!

Needless to say, last night Aaron lowered the mattress in her crib so we don't hear any thuds coming from her room.

Halloween Party

This weekend we went to a Halloween party at Aaron's sister Heather's house and I can honestly say that is was a party to remember (I'll explain in a bit). In the invitation it told us to dress in our silliest dress so we thought it would be funny to dress up inside out. We turned all our clothes inside out and then put everything on in reverse - shirt, tank top, bra, etc. (well, I put my sports bra on since there were children present and I'm just not that crazy!) Chloe looked pretty cute with her diaper on inside out and on the outside of her outfit.

So, when we got to the party Bob answered the door wearing a wig, muumuu, lipstick and a lovely shade of red toenail polish. This was a sight that we never thought we would see nor do we ever want to see it again. Chloe didn't know what to think about Grandpa looking that way and she wouldn't let him hold her until he changed later on in the evening. Aaron's sister Robin made a comment about Heather's little girl Ashley being scarred for life by seeing her grandpa in lipstick, to which Aaron replied, "Ashley? What about me being scarred for life?" It was pretty funny.

Dinner was good except for the fact that there were rats in the beans, fingers in the fruit salad and eyeballs in the pasta. Heather thought of it all...great job!

After dinner we all carved pumpkins and Travis even carved a mini pumpkin for Chloe (Aaron would have done it, but he was busy...ummm...fixing mine). Barbara Ann's pumpkin got sick and needed some Pepto-Bismol (hers is the pumpkin on the bottom left).

Thanks to Heather for throwing a great party and inviting us all! Here are some other pictures from the evening.

A Day With Grandpa

My dad came down today from Salt Lake and we spent the day together. We met at my sister Tawna's house and went out to lunch. After lunch, we went to the Museum of Art at BYU and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful art. There was a modern art exhibit...and well, I'll be honest, I just don't get it! I mean a bunch of boxes sitting on the ground? But hey, who am I to say what is and isn't art.

After that we wandered around campus and the bookstore. It was such a beautiful day to be outside. Tawna works on campus so we stopped off to say hi again. Chloe found Tawna's mug of pens and had fun playing with them. However, some of the pen caps came off and Chloe ended up with pink and yellow highlighter all over her outfit. Oh well, at least she had fun.

We ended the day stopping off to see my sister Amber at work and then headed home. Overall it was a fun day spend with my dad!

Cascade Springs

This past Sunday we took a drive through the Alpine Loop to look at the Fall leaves. After the drive, we met up with Devon's family for a picnic dinner at Cascade Springs. Yes we know that it is Fall and cold outside but hey, that's what jackets are for!

The drive was absoutly gorgeous! I love Fall in Utah. The mountains are so beautiful and the trees are so colorful. Once we got to Cascade Springs, we walked around and waited for the rest of the family to show up...becuase if you know anything about her family, you know they are always late! By the time everyone got there it was about 6:30, the sun was setting and it was getting really cold.

For some reason Aaron and I were the only ones who realized that it would be cold in the mountains and thus we were the only ones who brought sweaters. So, during dinner everyone was huddling around trying to stay warm and enjoy their food. Luckily my mom had brought a blanket that we could wrap up in, but unfortunatley it fell on the ground and was covered with leaves. This didn't bother Tawna though, and she wrapped up in it leaves and all!

Amber (Devon's sister), Lisa (her cousin) and Kelly (a friend of Amber's) were so cold that they ended up wrapping themselves in the table cloth. Lisa was especially cold because while she was carrying down the jug of lemonade, the lid came off and it spilled all down her legs. But, overall we had a great time and enjoyed spending time with family!

The beautiful Fall colors

Aaron , Devon and Chloe

Peter and Janelle Ehat

Grandpa, Grandma and Chloe

Big Girl

So, Chloe is finally becoming a big girl...well, at least she thinks she is! Here are a few reasons why:

She absolutely hates laying down while she is awake and all she wants to do is stand up. She knows how to get us to help her up by looking for our hands, reaching out for them and then pulling herself up. It kills us how smart she is. If she can't see one hand you can see her trying to look all around and behind us trying to find it.

She recently outgrew her baby bathtub and now gets all of her baths in the kitchen sink. When we rinse her off, she loves to play with the stream of water coming out of the faucet and she always tries so hard to grab the water. Aaron and I can't help but laugh!

She also loves to eat! If it is something she wants to eat, her mouth opens as wide as it will go. After one bite, before we can even get more food on the spoon, her mouth is wide open again. It reminds us of a baby bird. However, now that she has her first tooth (believe me, I know...ouch!) all she wants to do is eat "real" food. She loves to eat Cheerios, bread and whatever else we give her.

It is so fun to see how she is learning and growing and we can't wait to see what she'll do next...our guess is that crawling will be her next big milestone.

Chloe's First BYU Game

On Saturday, we took Chloe to her very first BYU football game. When we left the house there wasn't even a hint of blue skies and in fact, one couldn't even see the mountains for the thick, gray clouds...so we obviously took cold weather clothes for Chloe. Well, about five minutes into the game the clouds gave way to clear skies and 80 degree temperatures. It was beautiful, but with no sunscreen and no hat for Chloe, improvising shade to protect her from getting sunburned was needless to say an interesting adventure throughout the afternoon.

The Cougars offense didn't play their best football in the first quarter, and this made Chloe quite grumpy. However, things started clicking for the Cougs in the second quarter and throughout the second half and this put Chloe in a much better mood...it was either that or the bottle and nap she got.

Overall, she did great despite a rough and fussy start and it ended up being a very fun family outing. We hesitated to buy season tickets this year, but I think Chloe did good enough at the game that next season we'll consider it. By the way, for those of you living under a rock, the Cougars completed their second straight shutout by smearing Wyoming 44-0 in front of a sell-out crowd.