Back to real live (post family madness)

We're back!! Papa is up listening to the Utah game (Go Utes!) and he thought it would be a great time for some pictures. The biggest news is that Claire is officially sleeping through the night. On Sunday night we decided to cut off her 4 a.m. feeding. She did great. Only cried for about 10 minutes and then was back to sleep. She is such a wonderful baby. Her personality is showing itself more and more each day. She loves to laugh with mama and papa. She and mama have fun every day.

To the doctor for her 2 month shots. It turns out that mama took it harder than Claire did. It took 24 hours for both of them to recover.
Hill: "Nate, did you get her shirt dirty when you touched her with your foot?"
Nate: "No, my feet are clean. I barely touched her."
Hill: "What is that?... Claire!!!!"
Claire: "Whooooooooooooo. Heh, Heh, Heh."
Needless to say she got a bath

Claire loves her chair. She has three toys that hang from the bar that we call "gli amici" - the friends. Their names are Guster the bear, Frank the rattle, and Booky the book. Gli amici are lifesavers as they occupy Claire's attention for long periods of time so mama can get things done.

Is she not the cutest thing ever? Makes you just want to take a bite out of those cheeks. It is so much fun to play with her. She smiles and smiles and smiles. She will be sharing these smiles with friends and family in no time.

Who doesn't love pink valour? She's ready for a workout with mama. Mama is making her return to the running world this weekend in the Charlottesville 4-miler. Good luck mama, we'll be there to cheer you on. We love you.
Claire: "Papa, what are you doing with this silly flower?"

Papa: "Claire, just work with me on this. I promise it will be a picture to remember."

The Laugh

Were we taken back by Seth's long locks when when he pulled up at the airport? Sure, but maybe they are the secret to "the Laugh."



On the morning of departure from Virginia, Uncle Seth was getting one good last hold in with baby Claire. He was doing a fine job.
And then things took an unexpected turn. Seth began to tickle Claire under her chin and she began to laugh uncontrollably and loudly. Seth kept tickling and Claire kept laughing. From photo analysis, it appears that Uncle Seth located Claire's secret tickle spot which turns out to be her 4th chin.
And she just keeps on laughing. It was so cute to watch. We wish we had uncle Seth back to tickle her again. To date, despite multiple attempts mama and papa have been unable to duplicate "the laugh." A message from Claire to Uncle Seth, "I look forward to a good tickle when I come out to Utah. I love you so much. You will make the second best daddy ever (next to mine)."

The Dahles visit Virginia

We have been planning this trip for months and can't believe that it has already come and gone. When it comes down to it, it is family that we miss most about being away from Utah. There are some awesome deals right now at americanairlines.com from slc to richmond if anyone wants to come see us. Now for the highlights!



Everyone enjoyed the pool at our apartment complex. Seth in particular is now enjoying the comb-over on a daily basis.
Despite the bottle specifically calling for no advertisements, Kinsley hopes to submit this picture for consideration as spokesperson for no-ad. Kinsley never shied away from a picture and always looked so cute. More about Kinsley later.
Gabe takes flight at the pool courtesy of his uncle Seth. Seth tried to throw Uncle Kevin as well, but it was determined that he was unthrowable due to his length.

Here grandpa protects Claire from the wrath of T-rex at the museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. Claire slept well in grandpa's arms.

While we would never seek to rank people's excitement to be with Claire, Kinsley would definitely be number one if there was such a list. All week she asked to hold Claire and hug her and help anyway she could. Earlier this week we got a message from her stating that she would be out this Saturday to be with Claire and she just had to check with her mom. Then she stated that she would babysit everyday. Claire loves her cousin Kinsley!!! Thanks Kinsley for taking such good care of her!!!
Claire makes her first visit to the beach. It was about 105 degrees with the heat index, so our visit was very brief. It was so hot this past week. That made for a great day at Busch Gardens where the lines were short (you will notice no pictures from that part of the trip as I left my camera trusting that others would take pictures that day. I was wrong).


Claire dips her piggys in the ocean and got more than she bargained for. She let out a quick scream from the shock of the cold water. I guess we will try body surfing next year.
Uncle Eric and Cousin Sam. Killer farmer tan Eric. Killer diaper Sam!

The sting rays at the aquarium were exhilerating. Despite how it looks, Hillory is not actually touching the ray. She is much too scared to do that. This is a captured faux attempt. If you are looking for a classic Dahle story from our short time of marriage, ask her about snorkeling off the shores of Beliz.
Unfortunately the aquarium was quite a dud (as evidenced by Claire's face). This was the entire penguin display. Claire's exact quote, "Five penguins huddled on top of a rock? Real cool dad.

The ladies (plus Sam) hit D.C. for a night on the town. They had a great time at the monuments and the train station. It doesn't get any more exciting than two strollers and three kids
While the ladies were enjoying a night on the town, the guys drove up to Baltimore for a baseball game. It was actually quite amazing that we actually arrived - after being pulled over at the National Security Agency for an illegal U-turn, heading across the wrong toll-bridge across the bay, and enjoying the beauty of D.C.- Baltimore traffic on a friday evening.
It was a great game. And as we are from Utah, we had to get our picture in front of Eutaw street.

What a fabulous trip with great memories. We are working on uploading our pictures to a website for easy download and printing. Hope you are all still enjoying the blog!!!

Claire's Blessing

On Saturday, Aug 4th, The Dahle family joined the party as they also flew into Washington. We picked them up and were off to Charlottesville to start their adventure. They all loved meeting Claire for the first time. First up, Claire's baby blessing. The baby blessing was a sweet experience for all involved. It was such a special moment for mom and dad to hear the blessings that the Lord has in store for their little girl. It was the perfect day and the spirit was so strong. We give thanks to the Lord for blessing us with our sweet little girl. In the circle, Claire got a little, fussy and Dad started to get flustered. Grandpa Dahle, with some veteran savy, stuck his pink in her mouth and quieted her right down. Dad was so proud of his little girl.

Claire makes last minute preparations for the blessing. She is practicing closing her eyes and being reverent.
The Carters
The Dahles
Claire in her beautiful blessing dress. Could she be any more perfect? The dress was made by a sweet friend of ours, April. It was such a nice touch to this wonderful day.
The savy among you will notice that there is something a little different in this picture. Dad had some poor planning on the day of the blessing and had agreed to teach gospel doctrine. This left no time for pictures - which meant that we had no pictures of our sweet little family. So, a week later, we dressed Claire back up in her dress and made her take a few more pictures. Luckily she is not old enough to put up a fight, or this may have been a difficult task. Could these two girls be any more beautiful. I cannot imagine life without them.

Pasta is served!!! If I do say so myself, this is one of the best meals that I have eaten in a long time. Hill and I were transported back to the days on the mission. We served the red, white, and green (red sauce, white sauce (alfredo), and pesto) of Italy. The food was spectacular and the company almost matched it.

For those of you familiar with the post you will remember the infamous flag cake. Well, there were enough people who promised to contribute and we (I - Hill would never be implicated in this scheme) caved to popular request. Here, Ann, Betsy, and Hill display the beautiful cake. Thanks to all who contributed to the flag cake fund - you know who you are. The cake was just as good the second time around. Hill feels as though I should be ashamed of myself for collecting money (yet she was more than happy to take one check to the bank). I not quite sure I agree with her - yet.

The Cooks!!! We are selling our recipes to the highest bidder (for those of you who gave us the recipes for the alfredo and pesto, we promise a kick-back). We promise to make any of the three sauces for anyone who wants to visit!!!

The infamous April (The gift that keeps on giving)! We love April and her family. She is the one who made the dress (and the curtains). We spent Christmas and Thanksgiving with them last year and love being with her, Craig and their 6 kids.

Those are a couple of big smiles from Gabe and Kinsley. They must have just enjoyed some flag cake.
Claire wanted to be a part of the action. Aunt Ann held her and snuggled with her for over an hour to help her sleep. Thanks Aunt Ann!!!This being their first time with a little baby, Uncles Nick and Jake aren't quite sure what to do with her. They figured it out. Nice job guys.Claire's cousin Sam had had enough of the party. He wanted to play with the ball.

The Carters come to D.C.!!! Then Charlottesville!!!

Well, the day that we had been waiting for finally arrived. Nate was finally on vacation. Not counting the week he took off for Claire's birth, this was the first week off that Nate had had in almost a year. And boy did he need a break. What he got was a week full of activities that wore him out. The activities started in Washington D.C. when we met Hillory's family for some food, sights, and good ol' family fun. We stayed overnight with them on Aug 3 and then met my family and all headed down to Charlottesville. That post is to come.

Nothing says excitement like the first ride on the Subway. Luckily Claire was now 2 months old and ready to fight off the germs that lurk below the streets of Washington. The Carter's all just loved little Claire as evidenced by their excited faces.

Never fear, Grandpa is here! Here to protect Claire from the bad guys on the subway. To our relief, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, along with Master Splinter, were also patrolling the subways that weekend. Unfortunately they would not stop for a photo.
Claire was bored of the subway by now and just wanted to sleep. But the Carter clan has D.C. energy to spare. And they love the Nation's Capital. They wore Claire out.
Aunt Shelly goes big, and then she goes home (turns out that those two terms are not mutually exclusive). We would like to congratulate Shelly on her first plane ride. What a place to go and to see her great niece. The highlight of the trip in her exact word, "The ghost tour was really spooky!! But the cab ride home was downright scary."

What can you say, Claire loves la Nona. Here she lets out a boisterous cheer.

After hearing that the Mutant Turtles were in town, Claire just had to get to the Museum of fine art to see the works of Michaelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Rafael (There were actually a few of their works there). She loved it. In fact she has requested that we find a preschool where they teach Italian and offer A.P. Art History. We told her we would think about it.
Claire loves the Cheesecake Factory!
Hill loves it even more. Check out the size of that burger. This thing was awesome!! Steak, onions, mushrooms, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomatoes all on a quarter pound of american beef. If you will examine Hills neck very closely, you will see an artery bulging. That is her Carotid Artery begging her not to take another bite. Hill disregarded the advice and made everyone at the dinner table proud.

Jake and Alyson are all smiles after a fabulous meal (to be discussed in a future post).

Claire loves her aunts and Grandma (and she is pretty fond of her momma)!

One last picture before the Carter's leave town. It was so much fun to have them come visit and stay for a few days (Please read the next blog post for more details regarding their visit).We hope they come again soon.