Happy New Year!

There will be few who will be able to make it all the way to the end of this marathon post. We just wanted to get everyone up to date on the last couple months. Needless to say, they have been busy! Here goes. Have fun. I know that we have.

To the Temple/Zoo


Em loves her little bear suit. Keeps her snug as a bug in a woofy dog (that's Claire's version)

The Zoo Crew! Our trips to the temple are a real adventure. This most recent one demonstrates why we don't make it up as much as we would like.

8 am - Leave House

10:45 - Arrive at Zoo

11:15 - Meet friends at Zoo - take their kids while they go to temple

2 pm - Make the kid switch

3 pm - Arrive at temple

5 pm - Back to Zoo

6 - Finally back on road after multiple stops

7 pm - Eat dinner at Q Doba - Both Claire and Amelia with blowout poopy diapers.

8 pm - Back on Road

9:30 - Arrive at home

Time spent in temple 45 minutes. Time from door to door - 13 1/2 hours. We loved it.

Claire and mom didn't realize that the tiger was locked in. They were scared.

Some may recognize this picture. We did have a great day at the zoo and at the temple.

CLAIRE gets a big girl bed ( and aunt Alyson visits (but we have no pictures))

Claire has done great with her transition to the big girl bed. We received assurance that she would take a while to figure out how to get out of bed on her own and come find us. That wasn't the truth. The first couple nights were rough. Now we are trying to teach her not to shut the door and wake Emme. She is the cutest.

We love you aunt Alyson. Thanks for all of your visits

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Grandma and Grandpa Dahle came out to visit and Dad had some great time off. I love Thanksgiving. Definitely my favorite holiday.

This year we went to see the Blessing of the Hounds. There is a ceremony at a local church where the give a sermon, bless the hounds, and go on a fox hunt. It was so much fun to see the horses and the hounds. Claire loved it. She even got to sit on a horse named Comet (every horse she has met since she has named Comet).

I thought this was a cool photo. This lady was all decked out in the english riding garb - with a side saddle, and a face net.

The horses were beautiful.

Wake up Em! You are missing the horses.

Thanksgiving dinner was PHENOMENAL! Every dish was superb. I just love Thanksgiving and it was so good to have family out, and be with those we consider family. The highlights include:

Pomegranet/Grapefruit/Kiwi/Lime Salad, Coconut-Pecan pie, Blueberry Salad, Turkey, Pumpkin Pie, Stuffing, etc.

Grandma brought out some farm animals for Amelia. Of course Claire is sharing them with her (Claire's idea of sharing. She takes something from Amelia's hands - "Look mom, I'm sharing with Emme!"). Here she is conducting a very important lunch meeting.

Claire had a great time with Gramps! We love you guys. Thanks again for coming out.

And what visit to Charlottesville would be complete without a trip to Monticello? This is a beautiful place to live. We will miss it when we leave.

I love this family!

Dad and Claire go sledding

Our 97 year old neighbor and friend called up and invited us to come use her sled when it snowed. Claire and I had a great time.

We were all smiles

Em came down to play

Afer a fun night of sledding, Em takes a much needed bath.

Then she goes for some much needed nourishment. This was in the early stages of her eating solids. She is doing awesome now.

UTAH

We recently had a great trip out to Utah! We love seeing family and friends.

A great day sledding lead to the making of the three-headed snow monster.

That's a scary monster.

They were really buried!

It took a while for Claire to realize that this was a tough sized snowball to throw. She really wanted to get daddy.

Sam was the tubing king!

Claire wasn't too bad on the sled. I was proud that she wanted to go on the sled by herself.

Kins and Claire had a great time together.

The Nativity

With all the cousins in town, we decided that the Christmas story should be reenacted.

Kinsley played a great Mary. Mike won the award for best actor in a supporting role - he plays a mean donkey. We love you guys.

Sam was indeed sore afraid

Claire loved her role as the angel.

Hadley, not so much.

What a great crew of cousins. We can't wait to add one more in April (Ann is due in March). Amelia will lose out on her role as the baby Jesus, but it is something I think she is willing to give up. I don't think they had pacifiers and polka-dots back then.

Nice job guys! It was a memorable night. We are going to take a look at it soon on the video camera (assuming it still works after Hill dropped it in the bathtub - from what I can tell though, putting it in a bag of rice to dry it out really works).

We had a great time with the Carters. I am not sure exactly what the pose is, but I like it.

Ems, it's okay, she's your aunt and she loves you.

Every two year old girl deserves a Tinkerbell Seat. Thanks Grandma. Can't wait to get back out there and sit on it.

Looks like sleeping beauty just got a lot shorter and alot fatter! We love you Emme Jane.

We love these princesses. We had a great time out there. We even got snowed out of Charlottesville for a couple extra days and that was fun. But getting home to 2 feet of snow was also fun. Thanks to the customer service rep at Delta who finally understood why I didn't want to get stuck in Atlanta for two days with two kids.

And Finally...

Claire decided to help dad brush his teeth a couple weeks ago...

It was not a success! (This picture is not photshopped - I am waiting for my tooth implant next week. Hill won't kiss me until I get my tooth back.)

It has been fun. Making a New Year's Resolution to post more often in 2010. We love you all!

Halloween, Fall dresses, Go Utes!, and Watermelons

Hey guys! Coming in strong with some great posts. We had a great Halloween this year. Aunt Alyson has just got home from China and brought home some great silk kimonos.

Check out these Chinese Princesses!!!


We love these princesses.

We went to the UVa Lawn this year again to do some trick-or-treating. It is great because you walk ten feet to get to the next house. Claire, as usual, put on a great show. We would walk up to a door and I would ask Claire to say hi in Chinese. She would put her hands together, bow, and say "nee how." Everyone loved it. They would then proceed to load her up with candy. Claire had no idea what to do with herself.

Of course the best was when we went to the door of a large group of Asian students. They let out a loud roar of approval. It was so cute.

This is one authentic outfit.

Hey Amelia - you'll get your candy one of these days.

What a sweet family. We had a great Halloween.

We snuck in some cute pictures after church one day

Hill has become very crafty these days. She made this cute flower bow.

Try not to get distracted by the rolls on Amelia's arms and focus on the sweet hug.

Every once in a while dad sneaks in a picture with his girls.

Love these three girls.

We have had some close games this year (most of them when Claire is asleep) but Claire is happy to be at 7-1 on the year. She is a true Ute.

When we were out in Utah this summer, Aunt Ann made the cutest matching skirts for all the cousins. The girls loved wearing them through the summer and fall. Thanks Aunt Ann!!!

Love Amelia Jane!

The question is... what is Claire pondering? The depths of the universe... what to be for Halloween... what to put on her Christmas list.... We are open for ideas.

We are looking forward to a great Holiday season. We cannot wait for our visitors to come (and Hill cannot wait for the movie "New Moon" - I come home every day and that's what is up on the computer).e