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.

Cute Baby Contest

Our local Wal-Mart had a cute baby contest today and guess who won the cutest baby title in the 0-1 year old age group? None other than our beautiful little Chloe. There were about 20 other babies, but of course Chloe was the cutest. We won a $25 gift card to Wal-Mart which we will obviously spend on Chloe. I know it was just Wal-Mart, but it was still big news in our house.

6 Month Photo

We took Chloe in to get her six month pictures taken and here is how they turned out! She wasn't very smiley, but we got a couple of great pictures anyways.

Labor Day Weekend in Moab

So, we went down to Moab over Labor Day weekend with Bob and Barbara Ann and had a great time.

This first picture is of Chloe eating a baby biscuit we gave her to keep her entertained one night during dinner...though I think that we were the ones who ended up being entertained.

These next pictures were taken at the top of Hurrah Pass. We decided that on Sunday we would take Chloe on her first off-road Jeep ride on a nice little trail that took us up to a point that overlooked the Colorado River.

Here is a slideshow of of the guys hitting the trails in the Jeeps.