Happy 24th of Sept!

Just some fun pictures that we thought everyone might enjoy.



We set out for our first hike with Claire in Saturday. We got to the trailhead and realized that we forgot Claire's sunhat. We found this Onsie to be Multi-purpose. Claire was the hit of the hiking trail.
Claire loves her first hike. And she loves her hat!
Crabtree Falls, often described as one of the best waterfalls east of the Mississippi (supposedly 5 cascades with over 1500 vertical foot drop) , is obiously affected by the drought we are experiencing here in Virginia. The waterfall was underwhelming, but the hike was lots of fun. Claire did great. We will have to come back in the spring after the runoff.
This picture was taken before Hill fell (as noted by the smile). Hill was walking down the trail and all of a sudden just ate it. Luckily she had passed Claire off to me at the top. Claire started laughing and papa had to explain to Claire why it wasn't nice to laugh at people when the get hurt. She twisted her ankle and bruised her knee and shin. Nate then the next night tried to jump up on the stage at church and smashed his shin in order to have a matching bruise. That's how much Nate loves Hill.

Claire and Hill love Utah!

The delay in posting comes from a little theory I like to call Supply and Demand. By deacreasing the supply of posts we hoped to drive up the demand and therefore the interest. Actually, Hill and Claire were in Utah, and they had the camera. They had so much fun seeing family and friends. The only downside is the results of Claire's sleeping schedule. She is a disaster. She was sleeping through the night with one feed at 11 pm. Over the past week she has been waking at all hours of the night. We are slowly working her back to her schedule, but it hasn't been easy. Mom has been pretty tired having to wake up. Nate still manages to sleep through her crying (needless to say she is throwing a fit right now - it is tough because are both now in young men/women and our thursday night activity goes late and it throws off her bedtime - I am sure all of you veteran parents out there are just laughing). Anyways, Nate is so happy to have his girls home. He spent the last two weeks doing his OB anesthesia rotation. He really liked placing epidurals in laboring women. He was the most popular man on the floor (most nights he was the only man on the floor), and he brought about many smiles. He pulled the 24 hours on 24 hours off schedule for two weeks and by the end of it, he was worn out. It wasn't even the most hours he had worked in a two week stretch, it was just a bad schedule. But I digress, on to what most of you are interested in... the pictures. (I was just mentioning to Hill the other night that she is lucky to have me around as I am a much better picture taker than her. There are alot of gaps in the trip. I apologize to all those who feel left out).

Aunt Michele drove all the way up from Los Angeles on short notice to meet her great neice. Claire was ecstatic to meet Aunt Shell, and just couldn't believe she drove all that way to meet her. Thanks for making the effort to come up. We love you!!!
Claire still loves her Grandma and Grandpa Dahle.
Not to mention her Grandma and Grandpa Carter.

Tried and true. Hill's friends have been around for a lifetime and are such a wonderful support. Hill had a great time getting together with the ladies.

Uncle Steve loves to play with Gabe, Kinsley, and now Claire.

Claire made one last visit to Grandpa Carter's work before leaving for Virginia. Grandpa Carter interupted a board meeting at work to introduce the entire staff to his one and only granddaughter. They all loved her.
Don't mess with me!!! If this isn't one of Claire's best pictures ever, I don't know what is. She wears her sunglasses at night!
If there is one thing that Nate misses, it's a game of croquet in the backyard (by the way, the lawn is looking great grandpa). Nate left to Virginia with a win and is considered the number 1 ranked player in the family. He was jealous to hear that there was a game going on without him and hopes to be back soon.

Keep in touch everyone. We love to hear from you. We are planning a trip back to Utah as a family around Christmas and are already counting down the days.

Yeah Mom!

Yesterday Hill returned to the running circuit as she ran in the Charlottesville women's 4-miler. While she did not win the race (there is always next year), she did so well and we are so proud of her hard work. There were 2700 women who participated and over $220,000 was raised to fight breast cancer in Virginia.

Claire again sports the pink velour. She was hoping to be allowed to join the race, but there wasn't an age group for her. She cheered loud for mama. She was such a trooper and didn't even get too mad when we dragged her out of bed at 6:20 in the morning. Now that she sleeps through the night, she doesn't want to botheredWe love to be together as a family.
Hill ran the race with a couple of her friends - Jessica and April (an apology to April for calling her infamous in her last blog appearance- an honest mistake (thank you to kevin and betsy for pointing it out)). They all did a great job
What would a blog be without another bathtime picture of Claire? Because she doesn't grow hair very quickly on her head (her eyelashes are longer), papa tried chia head. It is supposed to stimulate growth within 2-4 weeks.
What? A night out on the town? That's right. Nate and Hill broke away from the old ball and chain for a night at the movies. We would like to thank Rebecca for coming over to babysit. Claire was worn out from the day and slept the whole time. She didn't even know we were gone - except for maybe she sensed it.