Nate and Hill's Adventures

Happy Easter

2011-05-05T20:34:00.009-04:00

We had a great Easter with friends and family. We are grateful to have celebrated the resurrection of our Savior.

We had some of our best friends over for Easter dinner. Please notice the AWESOME centerpiece designed by dad (we did have to escort out one or two bugs).

Claire and Mom made some awesome place cards!

Dad made a bang-up lasagna - "Nate's famous lasagne" if you will...

Funny story - Back when Hill and I were engaged, Hill's friends had a cooking club. Much to my dismay, I was not invited. At every meeting, I made Hill name the recipe, "Nate's Famous ..." A few months ago, our good friend Kerstin brought over some chicken and rice soup. It was very tasty, so we got the recipe. Well, the next week, I made the soup and altered the recipe a fair bit. I wrote down the recipe on a piece of paper and named it, "Nate's famous chicken and wild rice soup." I jokingly showed it to Hill. She subsequently lets Kerstin know that I had stolen her recipe and taken credit for it. I have never lived it down. I am working on the Nate's famous recipe book!

Emme could not have been any more excited, or focused, about the easter egg hunt.

Of course she sensed that there was something sweet inside those eggs. Once she got started, she was like a machine.

Emme is so sweet!

Claire of course was the veteran of the group - spotting plastic eggs in the most difficult spots.

Claire was not disappointed when her egg was opened.

Emme was very suspicious of anyone who came close to her precious eggs.

Claire and Emme absolutely love to play with Joelle. It has been such a blessing for them to have her as a good friend.

Of course mom had the girls looking all ready for the special day.

Emme is growing up so fast.
And Claire never disappoints.

Til' next time - hopefully not 4 months

Merry Christmas Again!

2010-12-26T14:42:00.017-05:00

We had a great Christmas season this year. I took some pictures (and our photographer neighbor John also took some pictures. We held them out because they were a Christmas surprise for family. I am happy to share some of them now.

Where's Emme Jane????

There she is!!!!

One last story to finish things off. Yesterday on Christmas morning, the girls were making a grand entrance to see the kitchen that Dad had spent three hours putting together. This conversation took place in the hallway.

Hill: Claire, you are going to be so excited. You are going to die.

Claire: Why am I going to die? I don't want to die.

Hill: Alright everyone into the family room.

Emme: (Crying)

Claire: But I don't want to die. I don't want to die ever.

Took the steam right out of the new kitchen. The steam has come back and they love it.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-18T20:07:00.003-05:00

Hey guys! Long time no talk. We hope everyone is doing well. We just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas! I PROMISE good things to come on the blog in the very near future.

We have already been questioned as to why we have Mater the Tow truck and why he is not still at Disneyland.

These three girls are the best!

I am thinking of trying out for MegaMind 2 and Claire wants to be an Ogre on the next Shrek (if somehow they break their promise to stop at 4).

It's been a great summer

2010-09-12T21:41:00.013-04:00

We have had a great summer here in Virginia. But I do have to say that it has been too hot - much hotter than past summers. Just a few pictures to wrap it up.

We had a great time (although maybe not evidenced by this picture) at the pool this year.

Em always enjoyed a nice relaxing day in the sun.

She also loves Pesto - and mom makes a MEAN pesto.

This scene actually depicts the princess (mom) coming to the young girls cucumber shop to buy cucumbers. I am sad I didn't get to see this whole thing play out. That's a good looking princess.

We mentioned Claire's shiner earlier.... Well here it is. She took a mean hit by a little guy coming through the waterfall.

We had some great visitors this year. We had my parents and brother, Hill's parents, Hill's sisters, and the Burtons. It was very nice to see everyone and it worked out great as most of these visits took place during the time when dad was studying. Here the kids are showing off their hotdog hats.

We had a great time at the fireworks.

Dad graduated from residency!!! Congrats to dad.

We went with Uncle Kevin to Kings Dominion. What you can't see in this picture is the pain that I am in inside. I no longer have the stomach for the big roller coasters. And these were some big roller coasters. The 100 degree weather did not help. Thanks to grandma and grandpa for some serious babysitting that day.

Amelia absolutely loved the Zoo. She was enthralled by the animals. Unfortunately Claire didn't feel well that day. But we do love the zoo.

We roasted marshmallows.

What is Amelia thinking in this picture? She probably wants to know if you are all going to become "Nate and Hill's Adventures" blog readers again. We all hope you have enjoyed this week of getting caught up (if this is your first time back to the blog in a bit, there has been a post a day for the last week). Dad will not be able to keep this up, but he hopes to be able to get back to 1-2 per month. Hope you all have a great day.

Go Utes!

2010-09-11T20:21:00.004-04:00

Always good to get a win!

Claire and I have been practicing the Fight Song! She would be happy to sing it for anyone who would like to call her.

Emme is now making her animal noises. Our favorite is her pig. She wrinkles up her little nose and snorts. She also does the horse, the dog, the cat, the chicken.

Family Night at the Football Game

2010-09-10T22:23:00.006-04:00

Consistency. But I am going to need alot of sticktoitiveness to keep going for 2 more days. Tonight was family night at the high school so we loaded up and went. Unfortunately the game was a blowout (38-0 at half - although in favor of the team we were cheering for). No problem, we had fun the same.

Claire was ready to cheer.

Emme was ready to get down and do some exploring.

The girls loved the halftime show.

What you can't see is Em's full dance routine. She starts dancing whenever she hears music. Cutest thing ever.

Big smiles.

Big smiles again. She's coming to get me.

Still Going

2010-09-09T21:25:00.003-04:00

This post a day thing is tough! I'll keep it up though. These pics are from this spring. I thought you guys would enjoy a couple more.

Emme is a champ. She is enjoying some nice time one on one with mom now that Claire is gone a couple mornings a week. Of course this isn't helping her lack of desire to be with dad (if mom is anywhere in the vicinity.

Claire did round two of preschool today and she was awesome again. Her quote to mom before she walked into school - "It's okay mom, don't worry. I'll be back in a couple hours. Don't be sad. I'll be back soon to play with you and Emme."

Labor Day Fun

2010-09-08T21:11:00.006-04:00

With only 10 months (most likely) left in Virginia, we are going to try to get out as much as possible to see this beautiful state. We love living in Virginia. It is so beautiful. So, we started out our tour on the Blue Ridge Parkway with a nice relaxing hike with the girls. Always an adventure with two little ones.

We started by walking through a replica farm on top of the mountain. Of course Claire and Emme were most interested in the three chickens running around. In order to keep Claire going we had to tell her that we had to look for chickens ahead on the trail.

Emme was not happy most of the time in her backpack. Actually, she was not happy anytime she was more than a foot away from mom.

Em did get some actual hiking time in. She did great (if by great we mean falling over many times and eating rocks and dirt). I think she is taking some time here to ponder the great outdoors.

Claire needed a break. She had a lot of fun.

So far so good

2010-09-07T19:35:00.003-04:00

I promised a post a day for a week. It turns out that I have at least one follower left out there. Thanks for your comment Kate!

Claire went to preschool today! She did awesome. She played games, did puzzles, read stories, and went to recess. Boy do I miss recess. I think I am going to try to implement recess at work. Anyways, we are so pleased with Claire. She had a great time. She missed mom just a little. Details were a little sparse about the day (you can imagine that from a 3 year-old). We just love Claire.

Here is Claire on her first day getting ready to fly!!!! It was a success.

Here is Emme Jane giving some last minute advice before the big day.

And not to cheat Emme out of equal face time on the blog.... On Friday night we went out to the downtown mall. The people just could not get enough of Emme Jane in her polka-dot rompers and her pink crocs. She brought out more smiles than we could count - of course she does that for us every day. We love you Em!

A post a day for a week

2010-09-06T16:05:00.004-04:00

That's my goal. Of course I have been waiting the past 3 months for Hill to post something. Unfortunately, we have probably lost all of our readers. Here's hoping to get a few back.

This is what happens when it's Dad's turn to do Emme's hair. Mom got ahold of her before we could get out the door. I think Em likes it.

Claire starts preschool tomorrow. We cannot believe it!!!! We keep telling her that she can't grow anymore - and she hasn't been listening. She is so excited for her new preschool. She will be going 2 days a week. Good luck Claire! We love you. You make us so happy and proud.

Happy Birthday Miss Claire!

2010-06-06T22:02:00.005-04:00

Can you believe she is three? I know that we can't believe it at all. She is growing up so big. She is so sweet. What a blessing Claire is in all of our lives and we are so thankful to Heavenly Father that she is our daughter. We love you Claire.

Claire had a great party on thursday with all of her friends from nursery. Pictures to follow (including the one of Claire with one heck of a shiner).

But dad wanted to post these photos. He has been trying to get some pictures lately and the timing was off. This last week he had off and he grabbed some beauties. Hope you all enjoy.

A friend of ours tipped us off to this great spot for some photos.

What you don't see is Claire's spray bottle as she is watering the plant.

Always good for a smile this one!

They are such good sisters

Two cuter girls in this world, there are not!!!

Of note, there has been some discontent lately about the frequency of posts. With dad currently studying for the boards, things probably won't get better for a while. We'll do our best.

Happy Birthday Emme Jane!

2010-05-10T22:01:00.008-04:00

Short but cute! Referring to the post and the little girl. It was so much fun to celebrate Emme's one year birthday with close friends who feel like family. Emme Jane has grown so much. We love her. She brings joy and happiness (most days) and we are so thankful to have her in our family. Today someone asked me what the big deal in celebrating a one year birthday. I told her that it was a celebration for the parents that they made it to one year. It has been a great year. Keep smilin' Emme Jane.

Emme finally gets her hands on processed SUGAR! She loved it.

It is going to be tough to tell those big blue eyes "no." I am already practicing.

Could we be luckier to have the two sweetest girls in the world?

I could get used to these birthday celebrations.

Claire is doing great (most of the time). We are working on listening and potty training. Last night she wasn't listening particularly well and she had to go to bed early. She said to me, "take a picture of Claire being sad." Well, here is that picture.

Cutest little teeth. We say that there is a three quarter gap in those upper teeth.

Emme is craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzy!

A little late, but some nice easter egg hunting took place this year.

The blossoms are amazing here in Chalottesville.

Just wanted to see if Em fits in the toy basket. She does.

She is still craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzy!

We love you Emme Jane! We look forward to another great year. Thank you for making us smile and laugh.

Amelia Jane!

2010-03-19T23:44:00.002-04:00

These last couple months have been so much fun with Amelia. Her personality is really starting to show itself. She has the biggest smile ever! Her nose crinkles up when she smiles really big. She laughs at all of our jokes. She loves to be tickled. She seems to sneeze every time she eats green vegetables. Amelia adores her older sister. It is so much fun to watch them start to play together.

Once Amelia gets her sights set on something, she goes for it. She is into EVERYTHING! She crawls from thing the next. She finds our shoes, she rearranges the game cupboard daily, she has read through dad's medical books more than he has. We wish you were all here to play with her.

The other day we walked into Claire's room where the girls were. Amelia had one puzzle piece in her hand and another in her mouth. Claire was yelling, "Fetch!" and throwing puzzle pieces. Nothing like a two-year-old playing fetch with her little sister.

Not to worry. We went back into their room later that day and she was trying "Fetch!" with the pacifier. We couldn't help but laugh.

Amelia Jane has big beautiful blue eyes! They put a smile on daddy's face every time he sees them. We love our Emme Jane!

Snowed In!!!!

2010-02-06T15:23:00.006-05:00

I am sure that most of you have heard about the storm moving through the mid-atlantic. We took a pretty good hit and right now it looks like we have about 15 inches or so on the ground. It reminds me of a good snowstorm back in Utah. I have to says that I did enjoy some some snow shoveling this morning. It was alot of snow to dig out. Charlottesville pretty much shuts down with even a couple inches, so this is a big one. Actually not even the biggest one this winter. But we have had a fun time.

Claire and I have had a great time sledding the last couple days. Claire sure is a champ. She bombed down the hill pretty fast all by herself.

Claire then decided to do some adenturing through the snow.

I have such a fun time with Claire. It makes me smile just thinking of the conversations we have. She is the sweetest!

This is some deep snow for a two year old. She did awesome!

This is her "okay dad, I'm cold and I'm ready to go inside and get a treat" look.

There was alot of digging out this morning.

I love the snow.

Of course we had to include some pictures of our little Emme Jane. I think she is going a little stir-crazy. She is doing real well.

We were holding out home that for some reason church wouldn't be cancelled. We were disappointed. This is actually the second week in a row that it has been cancelled. We miss seeinng our friends. Hopefully we'll be back next week.

It hasn't been all smiles this weekend. Emme pretty much cried through her nap this afternoon.

Yes, Emme is still in the "put everything in her mouth" stage. She looks cute doing it.

I am the luckiest dad in the world. Wish us luck on getting out of the house.

Christmas, Our Getaway, The Girls

2010-01-28T20:30:00.005-05:00

In keeping with a theme of posting about once a month, here we go.

We had a great time this Christmas

Tough to get a good family picture these days - especially with a timer.

Emme Jane, in particular, had a great first Christmas.

We love these girls!

This year for Christmas I gave Hill a getaway to a resort in western Virginia. It was our first time away from the girls. We were a little nervous, but things worked out great! Thanks so much to our good friends with whom we could trust our girls.

We went to the Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. It was beautiful (my picture doesn't do it justice).

It sure seemed quiet without Claire and Amelia around. We got used to it real quick. We sure did miss them though.

The Homestead was founded in 1766. They had everything there - we just couldn't afford it. Hill continually asked for the Honeymoon Spa Package - that was a whopping $1200. Overall we had a great time. We can't wait to do it again.

Just some pictures from the other night so you all have the latest and greatest.

We love story time. Amelia Jane not quite as much. She just likes to eat the books. She likes to put everything in her mouth.

That book is headed straight for her mouth.

Emme Jane is very close to crawling. She can scoot all the way across the room on her bum. Should be fun when she is truly mobile.

Our sweet friend gave Claire this horse for Christmas - she of course named him Comet. Lots of fun.

Bye Bye Emme Jane! We love you.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-30T20:37:00.012-05:00

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

2009-11-04T20:57:00.008-05:00

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

Squirrels Beware!!!

2009-10-17T20:31:00.006-04:00

We got such rave reviews from our last videos that we had to post these. The girls are just so much fun. Today we had a great day as a family. Every time we look at these two, we realize that we are the luckiest parents in the world

A couple weeks ago we went out as a family on a friday night. We had a great dinner and then went over to the UVa Grounds (please do not call it campus) where we saw a bunch of squirrels. Claire had a great time chasing them around and we had a great time watching her.

Dad and Claire had a date today and boy did we have fun. Here is what we did:

1 - Stories (Mom was sleeping in)

2 - Pancakes (Mom still sleeping in - she deserved it)

3 - Chasing squirrels again on the Lawn (similar to the grounds). We had so much fun.

4 - Fall Carnival

5 - Lunch with Mom and Amelia

6 - Claire nap - Dad football

I also had some time this morning with Amelia (mom was sleeping - and she deserves it). She is growing up so big. Five months have passed quickly.

Enjoy the videos. Go Utes.

A Few Months Late

2009-10-10T21:07:00.009-04:00

Just some pictures from out time with with the cousins. Claire sure had a great time playing with all of them. She and Amelia sure miss you guys.

(The following pictures are in a random order, but I can't move them around for some reason)

Gabe enjoyes a nice ride on the merry-go-round. Nice work Gabe.

There is obviously an intense discussion about who gets to stick their head in the lion's mouth next.

These guys sure had a great time at the zoo.

That's a half-ton of Dahles.

Claire had a great time with Kiki during the trip. Thank you for your help with Claire Kiki!!!

Kins was also very good with Amelia.

Claire loves a great breakfast.

Seth and Leeah were the only aunt and uncle to make the post. Love you guys.

This is supposed to be the second picture in the series. Claire stared down Sam for a few minutes before the pitch was low and inside. I think she got him swinging.

Alot of mind games in this battle. Claire has definitely improved her throwing. We look foward to the next battle.

Everyone loves the Mad Hadders!

Great form Sam.

Strong smile Gabe.

Claire could not get enough of the sandbox at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Hi Kins.

Sam also plays a mean sandbox.

Was this post a little weak? Sure. Was the commentary lacking? Absolutely. Am I as good at blogging as I used to be? No. Do I have another cute video of Claire chasing squirrels? Yes and you are all going to enjoy it. I'll do my better to get it out soon.

It's a jungle out there!

2009-09-04T15:38:00.005-04:00

So we decided to brave a little piece of Virginia wilderness known as the Wild Safari on Monday...it was an absolute riot!!! I was in tears (from laughing so hard) from the moment we arrived 'til the moment of departure. What a blast! I don't think this little clip can do justice to the "wild animals" we encountered, but hopefully you'll get a small taste of our experience. Enjoy!

**Please note that I had a terrible cold, hence the raspy voice.**

You can't see the part where the animal (I'm not sure which one) bellies up to the trough and trys to yank the bucket right out of my hands!!! Then, I'm not positive, but I swear I saw him lick his chops at me, which is why I decided to save my own neck and toss the bucket out the window. Poor Claire. She was such a good sport.

The next clip gives you a feel for how clever and sneaky the animals were...you snooze, you lose!

You can't really hear Nate's scream, but scream he did when he was caught off guard by those terrible "raptor" birds. I'm not sure what their real names are, but they seemed like the sort of bird that might have been used in the filming of Jurassic Park. Sneaky little things.

It was such a great trip! We'll post our apple orchard trip pics soon.

We Love These Girls

2009-08-25T21:50:00.007-04:00

We just wanted to tell everyone how much we love these girls. Can you believe how much they are growing up?

Claire has recently started participating in tummy time with Amelia (including today on the sofa at Target). It is nice that Claire is now acknowleging her little sister. She now says, "This is my sister."

Very tender kisses by a big sister. The other day I asked Claire to go give Amelia a hug and she pretty much just went over and laid on top of her. It was hilarious.

Emme is such a good baby. She laughs and plays all the time.

And, she is now sleeping through the night. It was a long 3 1/2 months, but we made it!

Em loves the star! She just lays there and laughs and smiles. Claire never really went for the star. Em loves it. It is a great babysitter when mom needs to get things done.

During the first week of Amelia's life, the doctors worried about failure to thrive...

I dare say that after 3 1/2 months of mom's creamy milk shakes, that is no longer a concern. Every time we look at Ems, we think about how lucky we are to have her.

Claire could not be cuter these days. Just wanted to share some great stories.

Claire has a princess castle that she loves to play with. She also loves the movie CARS. As we drive around the city, she will see a red car and say, "There's Lightning." "Where's Sally?" "Where's Mack?" "Look mom, it's Mater!" So I bought her some small Lightning and Mater cars. I walked in to find her one day and she had the dining table set up like this (I went back in there tonight to recreate the scene and this is how she wanted it set up). Mater and Lightning are treated like royalty around our place.

This is what I found today when I walked into her room. "Claire, if Lightning and Mater are cars, why do they need a horse to pull them around in the carriage?"

These next pictures I took back in Utah and I do love them. Claire is so cute. A few more stories.

One morning I was watching Claire while Mom was taking a nap. I told her she could go in and wake her up. She came back a couple minutes later. Dad - "Hey Claire, where's mom?" Claire - Momma is not being very nice." (She was trying to get Claire to be quiet since Emme was sleeping)

Mom and dad have become master artists - mainly drawing animals. "I want a little kitty cat." "Mom, I want a big kitty cat." So we draw all these silly looking animals. The other day Mom and Claire were going through the checkout at Sam's club where they mark the receipt with a highlighter. The lady drew a smiley face for Claire. She looked up and her and said, "I want a kitty cat, please."

Claire has two dolls and she has named them Buttercup and Ladybug. She puts them to bed on mom and dad's bed each day before she goes down for a nap.

Our neighbor came down with her dad to grab something and he was introduced as Bob. A few minutes later they came back to return what they borrowed. They were greeted at the door by Claire. "Hey Bob." He was amazed by her memory. She continued to ask, "Where'd Bobby go?"

We hope everyone is well. I will post some more of the Utah pictures soon.

The Wedding

2009-08-02T21:34:00.009-04:00

I have decided that one update for the whole trip is just too much so you will get it in small bites. Hope it is more enjoyable that way.

The main even of this trip out west was Nick and Lindsey's wedding. And what a great event it was. Weddings are always alot of work, but always lots of fun. We had a great day celebrating with the happy couple. I had a dual role at the wedding - I was groomsman and photographer. This is my first official/unofficial wedding. Overall I think that it went okay, but I was missing some key equipment for some difficult conditions. I hope everyone enjoys a few pictures (I know there are a few of you anxiously awaiting all of the pictures - Marcie, we will talk).

The most important part of every wedding... and this bride did not disappoint!

Nick looking pretty dapper

A good looking smile. He must have said yes.

T-E-N-D-E-R

The happy father of the groom (what he is really happy about is that the deck is almost done).

Everyone can see how my first photoshoot with the bride was going. I had to think fast to turn it around.

Amelia Jane is sure happy to welcome Lindsey to the family. Boy is she cute (in the near future Amelia is going to get her own blog post to document all her fat rolls).

Claire was Claire. She had a great time and she brought smiles to everyone's faces. Yes Claire, we still love you.

Good form

The boquet is airborne and a mele is about to ensue. I will refrain from saying who got the boquet after a hardfought battle

Those are some good looking girls!

And some flowers to finish it off

We had a great day with Nick and Lindsey. Good luck to the newlyweds. We love you guys.

A Trip to Utah

2009-07-28T22:41:00.003-04:00

More pictures to come... But I just wanted to get the most important one up-

The Girls make their first visit to the U. Go Utes!!!

It warms a father's heart...

2009-06-24T20:52:00.003-04:00

Go Utes!!!!

Happy Father's Day!!!

2009-06-21T16:00:00.011-04:00

I love being a dad. I have the three best girls in the whole world. Thank you all for making me so happy. Here are a few pictures over the past month.

3 reasons I love being a dad!

The two who give me my title!

We have had a great Father's day. I just opened some great presents - I am really looking forward to my new sandals, and I can't wait to watch the Emporer's New Groove (one of my all-time favorites).

Looks like a little froggy! She is six weeks today. I can't believe she has grown so much.

She is now our chunky buddha. Couldn't imagine Father's day without her.

I can't say that Amelia really enjoyed being propped up on the couch. But she sure looked cute.

Check out Amelia's belly. Claire is such a good big sister.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!

Can you believe she is two? We had a great Elmo birthday party at the park.

Mom designed and created these amazing Elmo Cupcakes for the party.

We hope all your wishes come through!

It was s great swimming party.

Let's just say that those were some messy cupcakes!

Claire did a great job sharing cupcakes with Lucy and Mae. Thanks for coming to the party.

Aunt Alyson flew out all the way from Utah for this one. Thanks Aunt Al!

Sweet glasses Claire. If anyone is wondering if the 3D sidewalk chalk works, just come over and try it out (it is actually pretty cool).

Claire got her first tricycle. She loves it.

Despite the rain, we finally made it to the waterfalls.

Claire loved playing in the water with Heidi and Ashley.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you.

Memorial Day!

We had a great barbecue down by the river.

Claire had a great time in the river.

Claire had a pretty sweet diaper after playing in the river.

Dad will be finishing up in the ICU next week when we hope to get back to a better schedule before a trip out to SLC. Til' we post again.

Check These Pictures Out!!!

2009-06-05T22:43:00.002-04:00

We were so lucky to have one of our good friends, Mandy, take pictures of Amelia when she was just 5 days old. I have to say that she is by far one of the most talented Childrens Photographers in the business. Thank you, Mandy, for these wonderful memories. Please check out her blog post from June 5.

mandycarroll.com/blog (there is a link to the right under blogging friends: Mandy Carroll Photography.)

Enjoy!!!

Happy Birthday Claire!

2009-06-03T21:19:00.001-04:00

We had a great birthday for Claire today and we look forward to updating the blog with some fun pictures. Thanks for making our lives so great Claire! We love you.

Slowly Waking Up

2009-05-24T21:02:00.005-04:00

Amelia Jane is doing well. We are so happy to have her home with us. She is still very sleepy but surfaces more and more often throughout the day. She is so cute. On Wednesday we got the go-ahead to stop waking her up every three hours through the night and let her feed as she wants. Of course she woke up every 2 1/2 hours! She is doing what all babies do - poopin', peein', and eatin'. She is pretty good at all three.

Claire is such a good big sister. Every so often she becomes interested in Amelia (Emme), but it doesn't last very long. Occasionally she says "I want to hold it." I had to make this picture black and white because the contrast of Claire's white skin and Emme's jaundice was overwhelming.

Here is Emme doing what she does best - sleep! This picture was taken today to celebrate her 2 week birthday. You're doing awesome Emme Jane!

Same sleep. Different dream.

It always comes back to Claire. She has been so funny these days. She is really into repeating things these days, which at times can be difficult. For instance, we can't mention dinner to early because she won't stop talking about it. Today grandpa Dahle laughed when she got to the l-m-n-o-p part of the alphabet because she mushes it all together. She said l-m-n-o-p for probably the next 20 minutes. Of course the worst is when she is with dad and she realizes that mom isn't around. Today at church was a disaster - Mom? mom? mom? mom? mom? She wanted nothing to do with nursery. She wanted nothing to do with church. The fruit snacks held her off for about 5 min. In the end, it was just too much. She broke down and we just came home. I don't think mom was so excited to see us so early. But, we sure do love Claire. I think she is adjusting to having to share her mom.

Despite her meltdown, she sure did look cute.

I don't know what she found, but it looked like a pretzel and she did try to eat it.

Boy do we love you!

So sweet. I think this picture is actually her trying to avoid the camera.

There were alot more smiles before she face-planted on the sidewalk. She really is a champ though. She shook it off and got right back on the railing.

Of course "C" is, and always will be, for cookie. And Claire loves her cookie. She savored every bite.

Home at last!

2009-05-15T21:20:00.006-04:00

Boy are we happy to be home. We were getting geared up for discharge on Tuesday when they told us that they were not happy with her bilirubin level and her weight loss. She went from 6 lb 13 oz down to about 6 pounds. Those last two days in the hospital were rough. Amelia was so sleepy. She had to spend over 24 hours on the bilibed, which was not the most comfortable thing for our little girl. We were also supposed to feed her every 2 hours.... Are you kidding me. It would take over an hour to feed and then we would rest for 45 min and go for it again. Hillory has been a champ. Nice work mom! Finally on Thursday morning we got some good news that the bilirubin and the weight were turning around and we got to go home. We have wanted to get home so bad. We finally made it.

Last night was another rough night. Between feeding and supplementing and feeding and supplementing, the proverbial towel was almost tossed. But our doctor appointment was great. Her weight was up and her bilirubin was an acceptable level. We have had a great day at home.
Love you

Claire comes to visit her sister and gets distracted by a couple different things. Look at all the ways that Clarie figures out how to eat her ice cream while still keeping her eyes on the television.

Good focus Claire.

Number 3.

Finally the ice cream wins out and she makes every effort to get out every drop.

Here is our little glow worm on the bilibed.

The nurses said that bili-bed babies are paci-babies. Since they cannot be swaddled, they need something else to calm them down.

Finally the bili-bed was turned off and Amelia settled in for a nice nap with out the lights.

That last meal was real good - real good I say.

Amelia feels very comfortable about the thought of going home.

Every so often Amelia looks around. I know she must be thinking, "am I really still here?"

Mom has taken such good of our little girl.

She's tucked in and ready for the car.

Welcome home Amelia!!!! We love you.

Sisters

2009-05-12T07:52:00.006-04:00

We were all so happy to see Claire yesterday. We have missed her so much during our time at the hospital. She came to visit yesterday morning and she was sure excited to meet Amelia. She kept asking for the baby. She was so sweet they did great together. We can already tell they will be good friendsIt was such a tender moment for us to have them meet.

Of course Claire was easily distracted by the many things going on. She of course wanted to return to her jumping spot. That also happened to be the same spot where the helicopter would fly by. She saw it once and couldn't stop asking for it again. I tried to explain that if the helicopter kept coming, that meant badness for someone. She didn't seem to understand. Plus, when the helicopter would land, she immediately wanted it to repeat the performance. "Do it again?"

Amelia Jane is doing pretty well, being on the early side of full-term, she has been very sleepy and has not been eating like the little piggy we would have hoped for. She has lost a little weight and her bilirubin is a little high. We are supposed to go home today, but we will have to wait to see what her next bilirubin level is. We really would like to go home.

How could you not want to go home when this little girl is waiting there? We miss you so much Claire. See you soon.

Could you ask for two sweeter girls? I'll answer that for you - No way. I have the two best in the world (three if you count Hill - she just isn't in the picture). Seriously what could bring more joy to a father?

Claire loved Amelia's hat and specifically her ribbon. She correctly pointed out her ears and her nose and her mouth and her cheeks. Nice job Claire.

I don't know how, but Amelia was able to bring the kitty cat piano along with her as a gift to Claire. Claire didn't seem to have any questions about the logistics, so we just kept silent.

What a beatutiful family. I count my blessings.

Nice job mom! You were amazing. What a beautiful Mother's Day gift.

Amelia's cousin Kinsley picked out the fabric and helped her mom make this beautiful blanket. What a sweet surprise. Amelia loves it and we love it. Thank you.

Sweet, sweet baby.

Sleep tight little one. We love you and promise to take good care of you.

Amelia Jane!

2009-05-11T01:00:00.006-04:00

What a ride!!! First and foremost, mom and baby are doing great. At about 9:50 we were just settling in for what we thought would be a long night. Hill started to complain of some much stronger contractions and just like that she was fully dilated. She pushed for 15 min and out she came. Hill was a rock star, a champion. She did great. The stats:
Weight - 6 lbs. 13 oz.
Height - 19 inches
Hair - yes
Born at 10:18 pm on Mother's Day!!!!

Everything went great. The epidural was perfect. The OB's were awesome. What a perfect Mother's day. Now for the pictures.

I absolutely love this picture!

Just a nice snuggle with mama and a thanks for all of her hard work.

Dad is hard at work putting on the first diaper. This is what put him over the edge. He is exhausted.

"Amelia, give me your best Bitter Beer Face! Excellent."

You get in fight with someone? The delivery was so quick that she got a little bruised up.

Nice job mom! You did it. It was all worth it in the end.

Nice and Clean after her first bath.

Lookin' good little girl. We love you.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T19:08:00.010-04:00

Before the full update, no Amelia Jane yet. We are all still hanging in there.

Since the last post, many things have happened. Of course yesterday we found the little Stinker to be breech and they had to turn the baby. They started the induction at 9 and we had a night of intermittent sleep as Hill's contractions were getting stronger. She was started on Pitocin and the waiting game began. She slowly began to dilate, but then she just kinda hung out at 3 cm for a while. Early this afternoon, they decided to repeat the ultrasound just to make sure that Amelia was still head down. Well, she wasn't - this time she was transverse. They stopped the Pitocin and repeated the version. They got her head down, engaged it in the cervix, and broke her water. Everything going well... The next check, at 5 cm dilation, there was little Amelia's hand on top of her head. She just wanted to wave and say hi. So now they have to keep checking and pushing it back in. On the last check, at about 8:50 pm, she was dilated to 6-7 cm. Slowly buy surely.

Can you believe this little girl? First the Cholestasis, then the induction. Amelia is going to get a good stern talking to as soon as she gets here. We love her so much. We will post to the blog and to facebook as soon as we can after she is born. And if it isn't too late, we will text as many people as we can. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We have received great care from our doctors and nurses. We trust that Heavenly Father will continue to watch over and protect us. Keep checking back!!! Now a few pictures.

This is what Hill has looked like pretty much the whole day. Given her lack of sleep for the last couple months, combined with the pain medication and a well placed epidural, Hill has pretty much been out cold for a while.

Of course we had to include a picture with our anesthesiologist, Karen. She did an awesome job.

Of course, the best part of the day so far has been Claire's visit to the hospital. She looked so cute in her Mother's day dress. She has been such a good little girl for Grandma. Thanks Grandma, you are a life-saver.

No pictures of Amelia yet, so here are some more of Claire.

Claire found a great window to look out of.

Hello Claire! The staff here had a great time playing with her.

Claire, stop stealing mom's food!

Claire obviously enjoyed the jello.

This next series of pictures is awesome. Claire was standing on the heater and I told her to jump. The following endsued...

Nice Crouch

Good form

Nice explosion

Great Air

Good balance

Sticks the landing.

Of course, she already jumps higher than her dad. We love you Claire. Thank you for making us smile. She repeated over and over, "I'm jumpin!"

Induction Day!

2009-05-09T20:06:00.006-04:00

Well, it has been an interesting day so far. Dad got up super early this morning to see his patients in order to be ready for the induction at 8 a.m.. Unfortunately, the Labor and Delivery floor was packed so they had us come in a few hours later. We got up there and the floor was still packed so we had to hang out for a while. Finally, they checked Amelia's head position and it turned out she was breech. After a few more hours of waiting until six hours had passed since Hill had passed, they performed an external cephalic version. Luckily things went well and she is now head-down! We were a little nervous, but our doctors were great.

Of note, the Anesthesiologist has just been in to meet us and Hill is looking forward to it.

It is now 9 p.m. and the induction is under way!!! We'll keep you updated.

Claire came by to visit. Luckily she has grandma to take such good care of her. She has been asking for mom all day. We have missed her so much today and pray she will do well with our new addition.

Here we are at the beginning of the induction.

Last night we had a great night with Claire. It was so weird to think that when we came home again there would be two Dahle girls. Mom and Claire are the best of friends. I guess they will have to make room for a third in their circle. Hill has just declared that she is the ringleader, and Claire will do what she says. Amelia will be the needy one for a while.

Dad, you will never believe what I just found in there. I wouldn't go in.

Quick Dad, run as fast as you can!

Yea! We escaped.

Nevermind. Gotta keep running!

Ta-da!

Just a few more pictures at home.

Claire kept saying, "Be careful. Don't fall."

We love you Claire. Thank you for being such a good little girl.

Lots of exciting things!!!!

2009-05-03T14:29:00.005-04:00

Alot can happen in a month. Here are the highlights.

1) Hill is being induced on Saturday!!!! Can't believe it. She developed an itching fit (treatable only with four leaf clovers, rabbits feet, and calamine baths while watching "Little House on the Prairie") over the past month. It is actually a condition called Cholestasis of Pregnancy. We have renamed Hillory "Itchy, Itchy, Ichabod (those familiar with Dr. Suess' ABC book will know who that is)." Due to some risk for the baby, they have been monitoring closely and are inducing at 37 weeks. That means we will meet our little girl within the week (original due date May 30). It has been a little bit of a rough go, but Hill has been a CHAMP! We love you mom.

2) We moved. Down one floor. Yesterday. We have the most amazing friends. It was kind of a sudden move. We were expecting to move to a 3 bdrm apartment in June. An apartment opened up just below us and we moved in. Since it was very quickly, dad couldn't switch work and therefore missed all of the fun. Granted he was having his own fun putting in epidurals in laboring women. Dad made alot of "best friends" over the past month and he relieved alot of pain. Thank you so much to everyone who showed up to the move and took such good care of my girls. We are going to cook up something real nice to say thank you.

3) Dad loves Chocolate Chip and walnut cookies. He has the best recipe ever if you are interested (Claire also loves Cookies - shocking).

4) Hill's Brother Jake got his mission call to Houston, Texas - Spanish speaking. Hola Amigo!!! Felicidads (I learned congratulations while up on the OB floor this past month).

5) Last but not least, Claire is absolutely the best little girl in the whole world. This last week she learned about thunder. Now, she will at random, look to the side, cover up her mouth, and softly say, "Oh thunber, I scary." She also does it when she wakes up. Absolutely the cutest thing you have ever seen. She continues to be our little joy. We can't wait for her to meet her little sister and are praying she does well.

Here are some pictures that we hope you enjoy. Unfortunately I have been unable to rearrange the order of the pictures. Enjoy them as is.

A couple weeks ago the pool opened up. We had a couple days in the 90s and decided the pool was in order. It was FREEZING! Claire still loved it and she was never happy to leave.

Claire decides to make one last lunge for the wall. She hasn't quite figured out the whole going under water is not good at this stage of the game.

She always wants to jump. Whether on land or in water. I just had to chase her around the pool because she kept trying to jump in on her own.

You may not be able to tell, but Claire's lips are blue. Absolutely freezing. We love you mom.

3......2.........1 BLASTOFF!!!!! Claire loves that game. Try not to be blinded by the whiteness of my back.

We had a great easter this year. We still need to get some pictures of Claire in her easter dress. With early church, treats in nursery, lunch immediately after church followed by a nap, we missed out on the easter dress pictures. For dinner we went to our friends the Evans. What a great afternoon. Claire had a blast. Throughout these next pictures, keep your eye out for the tick that is crawling onto Claire. We found him the next day. Mom said, "ewe gross." Claire repeated that for the next few days. Thanks to Em for helping us to pull it off.

Claire is very focused on the egg. She had a great hunt. Loved the candy.

"Gotta get this one to the basket, ASAP!"

(This picture is supposed to be above the last one) "Got it mom!" Just before someone snatched it out from under me."

"Boy are these Easter egg hunts fun!"

"Mom, check it out. I am not sure, but I think there may be candy in these. I'll let you know"

There's mom! We sure love you mom. Thanks for making us so happy!

Off to hunt.

Happy Easter! We love you.

For those of you who stuck with us to the end of the post, here is a little tidbit of information. We plan to name our little girl Amelia Jane. We cannot wait to meet her. We are praying that Heavenly Father will send her to us safely. We will definitely update the blog as soon as she is born. I will have our camera and computer with us at the hospital.

A Post with no name...

2009-04-01T22:06:00.011-04:00

It has been an interesting week here in Virginia. Dad is smack dab in the middle of a Staycation!!! And, "doo, doo, doo, doo, doooooo, I'm lovin' it." Every vacation over the past 3 years has involved some type of travel somewhere. Don't get me wrong - each of those vacations has been a wonderful time. It is just nice to be able to be at home, in my own bed, on my (and Hill's and Claire's) own time shedule - just relaxing. I have already been golfing and mountain biking and hope to do each again before the week is done. Just what I need before a busy 4 months starts (stay tuned for some announcements).

Claire is doing well. Very well. In fact, here are some brief updates.

1 - I started speaking to her in Italian again. The other morning she woke saying, "Ciao Winnie." We had recently received a Winnie the Pooh balloon. Another favorite is when she counts in Italian, she pronounces the number 4, which should be quattro, as "taco." It makes me laugh every time. My favorite is when she says "Ti amo." Most of the time she doesn't understand what I am saying, but I think she is learning.

Claire received this hat from Uncle Seth and Aunt Leeah. She loves to wear it and we finally had our camera out. Claire says diduch ("Thank you" in Claire's language)

Claire is always up for hugs and kisses. Everytime I ask she comes over and gives her daddy a hug, then a kiss, then an eskimo kiss, and then a butterfly kiss. We recently added the fish kiss.

The other day I was wearing my UTAH sweatshirt. She pointed to it and said, "Utah." I was so proud of her. She even points out the U and the T and the A. I immediately started working with her on "Utah Man."

Claire loves go to the lake to throw rocks. In fact she was recently voted "Most Improved Rock Thrower." She is hoping to compete in the "Best Overall" category later this year.

Claire is quite the singer and she loves her Disney songs. We have some CDs with a bunch of Disney songs and that is pretty much all we listen to in the car. I would like to both thank and curse Aunt Alyson for sending out those CDs. Claire just loves to listen to the music - Belle, Ariel,Jasmine, Rella. In fact she pretty much know all the words to "A whole new world." The problem is that so do I - and all the words to Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin, and Little Mermaid. I pretty much have those songs stuck in my head all day every day. It drives me crazy. Although I have grown to enjoy some of the songs.

Claire is the best little girl in the whole world. She brings us so much happiness and joy. She listens to mom and dad. She lets us brush and floss her teeth. She goes to bed and sleeps through the night. She goes to nursery. She just makes us smile and melts our hearts. She is going to be a great big sister.

She even lets dad go camping with his scouts. I think she is just about to the point that she might enjoy camping. Of course, now that Hill is pregnant and getting uncomfortable, that is going to have to wait. This last campout would not have been a good one for her. Of course the day we left was the day it rained. But we had a great time - and the river/falls looked great. I did get a few good pictures, but my photography novice really showed itself on this trip. I hope to get back to the falls before the river goes down.

Hill likes this one.

I was pretty happy with this one.

We had a great time on the campout - in spite of the rain. Til' next time.

Outside go!!!

2009-03-12T20:43:00.006-04:00

Recently we have had a few days of good weather and have used that opportunity to enjoy being out of the house. Claire is now obsessed with getting out of the house. Her first words upon waking from her nap this afternoon - "Outside go!" First words upon finishing breakfast - "Outside go!" Unfortunately, after a great day yesterday in the 70s, we were back in the 40s today. It made for a cold "Outside go!" Once outside, Claire just likes to wander around, pick up dirt, run down the hill, look for dogs, etc. We just love her!

Here is a follow-up from the Zoo.

There was a baby gorilla born about a month ago. It was so cool. It looked like a human with a bunch of hair. It just clung to the mom - even as mom jumped through the trees.

A couple months ago, grandma and grandpa Dahle came out for a quick visit. We took a trip down to Appomatox, Va which is the site of the surrender of the Confederate Army. Grandma and Grandpa can attest to the family that Claire is a much better traveler.

"That's a long road Claire. Come back soon."

"You are right dad - it is a long road."

The house where the surrender was signed.

A couple weeks ago we bought a pass to the local children's museum.

She loves playing with the ball contraption.

We finally ditched Claire for a night out on the town. We had a live band playing at the ward and we had a great time... without Claire. Claire promised a video. That will have to wait.

Suby, or not, Suby. That is the question. We suby. As we were pulling into the parking lot after the valentine's dance, we hit the big 100,000 miles (granted I had to drive around the parking lot a couple times to get there. I was going to be gone next day and I wanted to be there for the milestone). We are hoping for another 100,000 more.

Hi Claire. Love you.

Way too long...

2009-03-10T15:42:00.007-04:00

I can't think of a decent reason for why it has taken us sooo long to post. Nate had a crazy schedule for the whole month of February and it seems like March hasn't been much better. So we apologize for the delay.

Moving on...we went up to D.C. for a quick trip toward the end of the month to visit my dad. We had a great time staying in Georgetown, visiting the zoo and attending the temple. Georgetown is so charming! I loved it...well, I loved most of it. I had to share a room with Claire and my feelings haven't changed from when she was only a few days old...we belong in separate rooms. She kept piping up all throughout the night about her numbers and "mommy, daddy, grandpa, daddy, grandpa, mommy..." on and on and on! Anyway, here are a few pics from the zoo.

Here I am looking tired and pregnant and from the looks of things Claire apparently didn't get enough sleep sharing her room either. We were about to enter the monkey house.

The elephants were amazing!! Even from behind.

This is Bonnie doing her Mission Impossible move...she spent most of her time trying to show off and I guess it paid off because we were definitely impressed.

Here's dad and Claire in front of the Lion's den. We didn't stay long because they started staring at us and licking their chops...

Stay tuned for our Valentines dance video and Nate's 100,000 mile marker in the Subaru!!

C is for...

2009-02-08T18:53:00.004-05:00

It has been a rough week here at the Dahle house. Dad is on night 8 of 9 in a row. We'll make it through. We got a new video camera for christmas and here are a couple of Claire's highlights!! We love this girl

If you listen real closely, you may hear Toots Mcgee (Claire) toot. We love your comments and hope everyone is doing well

Holiday Fun

2009-01-26T20:25:00.021-05:00

After what probably seems like an eternity to Claire's biggest fans, we are back with a great post. We had such a great holiday season including that great trip to NYC. Claire's Aunt Alyson gave her the cutest Christmas outfit. We were dropping off a friend from church the sunday before Christmas and we found a random piece of grass - perfect for a few pictures. Here are the pictures of our sweet little school girl...

How sweet she is!!! How we love our little girl.

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas season. Claire didn't quite know what was going on, but once Christmas morning arrived, she sure enjoyed it.

Claire gets caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Although Claire is yet to find anything sweet to eat that she doesn't like, she took a real liking to eggnog.

Claire got the cutest tutu from Kelly. Claire had learned from Sesame Street all about the pirouet. She had all Christmas morning to practice.

Looks like we worked Claire a little too hard on her ballet. She came back strong the next day.

Claire could not wait for Christmas dinner at out friends! So cute.

Later that week we all headed down to the park. It was warm enough, but a little muddy. Everybody loves a good superman...

Maybe not so much Claire now after a major faceplant!

She worked hard to get to the top of the slide (one of my favorite recent pictures).

Made it!

Claire loves to help mom in the kitchen. What an awesome team!!

Our holiday season was topped off by two special events.

1) The Utes!!! Claire was a little bit scared when she saw daddy get excited about the game. Could not be a better time to be a Utah Man. Gongrats Utes on a great year. You deserved a share of the National Championship.

2) It's a GIRL!!! We are so excited to announce the addition of a little sister. Originally I was pulling for the boy, but I am so happy to have another girl. I just thought how sweet it would be for Claire to have a friend. We can't wait to meet our little girl. We are accepting suggestions for names.

New York, New York!

2008-12-19T21:39:00.015-05:00

Hey Team!! Can't believe that December is more than half way over. And that means that it has been a whole month since we last checked in. I know there are some unhappy people out there. We have had a busy month to say the least. To recap a few things:

1 - I am proud of my Utes for the way they beat down the Cougs. I wish more than anything we could head down to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. But we will be cheering hard the same.

2 - Nate turned 32 a couple weeks ago. He celebrated with a night out with Hill at the movies - something that doesn't happen nearly enough. We went to Twilight. I didn't mind the movie, but I just couldn't get past the special (or not-so-special) effects. Deep down I'm a closet Twilight fan.

3 - Seth and Leeah visited for a few days. We had a great time with them, and if nothing else, they ate well. Seth and I had a bang up game of frisbee golf. Seth won.

4 - I am currently on vacation and enjoying a few days off. We just got home from an awesome trip to New York. Ever since we moved out to the East coast, we have wanted to go to the city. We hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the trip.

Grandma and Grandpa Carter flew in to Charlottesville and Hill and Claire drove up with them to NYC. Between weather, traffic, and an 18-month old, it was a long trip (taking 10 hours to travel what is normally 7). Luckily Elmo came along with his Sesame Street friends to keep Claire company. Claire has actually gotten much better in the car (for those of you who have bad memories of her earlier days). Luckily for dad, he was able to fly up to meet them the next day. And then the fun truly began...

Our hotel was in the heart of the big city - right on Times Square.

Mom and Dad in the Hershey's factory...without Claire. We loved being with Hill's family, and we were also happy to have a couple extra babysitters to give us a break. You would think that the "factory" would be cheaper than picking something up at the regular store. You would be wrong, especially since that "factory" is in the middle of NYC.

That's one big m&m! I guess that is why they call it m&m world.

Friday evening we went to the Metropolitan Museum. We had a very short amount of time and we tried to make the most of it. Claire was so much fun to watch at the museum. She just ran around looking at all the Egyptian displays and yelling. Just yelling for fun. She has so much to say these days. Unfortunately not very much of it makes sense. The words that do make sense, she repeats over and over. She is adding alot of words to her vocabulary.

The Egyptian display was amazing. They brought in a full temple ruin from Egypt. Highly recommend the Met.

Happy Birthday to me!!! For my birthday, Alyson took us to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes in the Christmas Spectacular. The show was so much fun. We had a great time. Thanks Al!

They did a great number when they dressed up as toy soldiers. At the end, they shot a cannon and did this whole fall down in slow motion. Very cool. Could not recommend the Christmas spectacular any more highly!!!

Thank you so much to Grandma Carter for allowing us a night out on the town. She and Claire had a great time at McDonalds.

Claire had a great time on the Subway. She was of course always moving around, wanting to sit by herself, wanting to stand up and grab the pole. Whe always made friends with her neighbors on the train. She even learned what the Choo Choo Train says ("choo choo" - in case you were wondering).

Claire had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Carter.

We took a trip down to south Manhattan to see the Statue of Liberty. It was FRIGID!!! The line was way to long to get on a boat. We just waved to Lady Liberty from a distance.

There are all kinds of strange things in NYC. Claire has never seen an Elmo so big. She liked him alot more from a distance.

"Popular! We're going to be Popular!" Being in New York, we had to see a broadway. At the top of the list was "Wicked." Of course the night we could go see it, it was sold out. We almost blew the bank and bought a couple tickets off of scalpers. Luckily that fell through. I walked up to the box office and saw a bunch of people in line. I found out they were waiting to enter the lottery for front row tickets. To make a long story short, luck smiled down upon us and Hill's name was drawn out. We got the tickets for $25 each. What an awesome night out. Thanks to Alyson and Cydnee for taking such good care of their niece!

Monday morning we made a trek out to Rockefeller plaza to see the tree. It was all we ever hoped and dreamed.

Claire had a great time in Times Square.

Lookin' good ladies.

The window displays were great - "Magical," according to Hill.

Aunt Alyson was a champ to carry Claire around through the night.

Come on Claire!!! This is the time for laughter and smiles.

Despite some great meals (and some that weren't so great), we always found ourselves starting the day out right - at McDonalds. They do have a pretty good breakfast menu.

On Monday we made a trip to the FAO Schwartz mega toy store. Claire was in heaven. That is a great store. What I liked the most was the gummy bear selection. I heard someone ask why they would add candy beads to the outside of the gummy bear. Obviously the answer is "More Sugar!!!" Al, we hope those gummy bears made it home like promised.

Claire had a great time playing with the stuffed animals. Aunt Alyson got her a small one to remember the trip. I said, "Claire, what do you want to name the dog?" She said "Woof." So, we named the dog Woof. Claire takes Woof to bed with her now. Sometimes in the morning we will hear her barking in her crib. So cute.

Just playing with the dogs!!!

After the toy store and a stop for lunch at Pop Burger, we headed to the legendary Central Park. The girls took a great ride in a horse drawn carriage. "Neighhhh, Neighhh." Claire does know what a horse says.

Daddy and his girl.

On Tuesday we got up and headed down to NBC studios to try to take in the Today show. We were of course too late to meet Al out on the plaza. This is the face that Claire was going to make if she met him.
Love my girls!!!

Of course their were many more details that I will spare you. We had a great time with the Carters (Grandma, Grandpa, Alyson, Cyd). The drive home was tolerable. The best thing about this trip... I still have (had) five more days (now two), before having to go back to work. I have been able to take a vacation from my vacation. Back to work on monday.

But not before I make my maiden voyage out into the woods tomorrow morning for my first shot at hunting. My goal is to shoot a turkey and eat it for Christmas!!

Poor Little Claire

2008-11-21T20:44:00.003-05:00

We'll be cheering loudly for the Utes tomorrow!!! Claire and I have been working hard on saying, "Go Utes!" She does pretty well. I am a Utah man, sir!!!

We had a series of unfortunate events yesterday. Claire has been so active lately - walking, running, climbing, etc. She made her way up onto a chair yesterday morning and proceeded to fall off. After crying for a bit, she seemed to be just fine. Except for the fact that she wouldn't walk. She was happy to sit and play, but she was favoring her right leg. Mom took Claire to the doctor and it turns out that she had a toddler's fracture (hairline). We were told that she would have a walking boot. They went to the orthopedist today and much to our surprise, she came home with this...

Claire is not happy about the cast. I think she is quite confused by it. She keeps wanting us to take it off. It has seriously been so sad to see her in pain. We are really hoping that in a few days she will adapt and the pain will resolve. We were so lucky to have some sweet neighbors bring over dinner tonight. Hopefully these three weeks go quickly.

For months, mom and dad have been planning a date for tonight. Mom has been looking forward to the release of the movie "Twilight." We bought our tickets last week, we arranged for the babysitter and we were excited for a night on the town. It would not have been a good idea to leave Claire in the hands of a babysitter tonight. So, mom called a friend and Dad and Claire hung out and watched Elmo. I have to say, before the injury, Claire watched almost no TV. Tonight she sat down for an entire movie of Elmo. We love her so much.

And finally...

We promised a picture of Nick and Lyndsie. We had some problems opening the pictures earlier, but we did get it figured out. Looks like July is the time. We are looking forward to it.

A Clarification

2008-11-11T21:49:00.002-05:00

While it is true that we are pregnant, the sex of the baby is not confirmed. Dad had a hunch just thought it would be fun to guess that it would be a boy. We will definitely let you know when we find out. The due date is May 30. We are thrilled!!! Stay in touch.

Go Utes!

2008-11-09T16:52:00.013-05:00

Well, to start things off we have a few announcements!!!

1 - Go Utes!!!! A gutsy perfomance on Thursday against TCU. Looking forward to Nov 22.

2 - Congrats to Hill's brother Nick on his engagement to his fiance Lindsay. We are waiting for pictures and as soon as we get them, we will get them posted.

3 - Congrats to Claire for her future roll as big sister.

4 - The reason there are no pictures of the Carter side is because Hill doesn't take pictures.

5 - Go Utes!

Now on to the pictures. Like I said earlier, we were so happy to add Natalie to our family just a few short weeks ago. Nice job Kevin. We knew she was a keeper when she shunned you to join us for an episode of Lost.

Good looking couple

Yes Nat, believe it or not, you did just say yes. We had no idea about all the break ups. Thanks for sticking with him. Can't imagine our family without you.

Great wedding lunch. No reception. Talk about the way to go. Best story was the one about Kevin wearing color-coordinated sweats - red, green, yellow, blue. He finally came to the realization that this wasn't cool (after some prompting from his loving siblings) when he exclaimed "I need jeans!" This story has been a family favorite for years. Nice job Kev.

With some careful planning, this could be you guys in seven years. Nat, you inherited some great nieces and nephews. We are excited to add another one next May.

Nat, the ladies of the Dahle fam welcome you with open arms (we appreciate Leeah for smiling)

Kev, that's a stiff wind you are walking into.

For those of you who didn't know, Kevin is a closet romantic. He delivered these flowers to Nat on the morning of the wedding. Luckily he did. I hear it was what finally put her over the top and made her say yes.

Strong work Kev on some very cool flowers.

Hill his missing her right leg in this picture. Luckily we found it later.

Of course Claire was sick on the day of the wedding. She ran around most of the day with a bib on to catch the drool and protect the dress. She was just plumb tuckered out come lunchtime. This is one of the rare times that she has fallen asleep in my arms in the last year.

I must be married to the most beautiful woman in the world!!!

Love my girls!

We had a great time taking these pictures of Claire before she finally crashed.

Claire loved trying on all of grandmas necklaces. Her favorite seems to have been the large gold money sign. Hill found it stashed in the suitcase as she was packing for home. We of course made Claire return it and apologize to grandma.

The ZOO Crew

The day before the wedding we took the cousins to the zoo. At this time in the journey, everyone may or may not have been having a good time.

Claire loves giraffes. She kept asking "what does the giraffe say?" Anyone? Anyone? Does anyone know what the giraffe says? I was stumped.

Claire had a great time with her cousin Kinsley.

And just a few more pictures to round out the post.

"Oh mom, come and get me!"

"Sorry Claire, I am to nauseated. Your little brother is making me sick!!!"

"Fine mom, but I'm not happy about it one bit. I am even less happy about this booger hanging from my nose."

We wish Kins could give Claire hugs more often. Come visit soon Kins. We love you.

And last, but definitely not least, we met our sweet cousin/niece Hadley. She could not be cuter. We love you Hadley.

Well, that about wraps it up. We love you all. And one final thing...

GO UTES!

Tinkerbell

2008-11-02T20:56:00.010-05:00

If this isn't the cutest little Tink you've ever seen, then I want to meet that Tink! My original intention was to update about the wedding, but I just couldn't resist posting these pictures. Aunt Alyson recently visited Disneyland, and I would have to say that Claire was the direct beneficiary. She gave Claire this outfit and we couldn't have been more appreciative. I feel like this is the perfect age for Halloween. She knows that candy exists, but she has no idea that it is being handed out willy-nilly at each door step. This year dad was lucky enough to get off work in time, so we packed up and headed to the lawn at UVa. There are a bunch of dorms there and everybody decorates their rooms and hands out candy. There are little kids everywhere. And, while I may be a touch biased, I dare say that Claire was the cutest.

One of Claire's favorite sayings (besides "see ya" and "di duch (thank you)) these days is woweeee!!! We entered the lawn and she took one look around and exclaimed "woweeee!" She had a blast

If you look and her hands, you can see her thumb and finger. This is how Claire snaps her fingers together. She moves them back and forth, back and forth while she dances. Cutest thing you will ever see.

"Oh Peter, come back to Neverland?"

"Never smile at a crocodile. No, you can't get friendly with a crocodile. Don't be taken in by his welcome grin. He's imagining how well you'd fit within his skin! This pesky croc has been chasing me all over the lawn." Luckily Tink had plenty of magical fairy dust.

"Oh I'll get you Mr. Smee!! And when I do I will sprinkle my fairy dust all over you and can escape that Captian Hook."

I believe in Neverland

"Now that I have got ahold of Peter and Wendy, I will fly them back to a magical place where dreams are made. It is just that Peter is so old!!! Plus he insists that I call him dad."

"Look how much fun 'dad' is when I get him out of 'work' to come play with me! I sure love this guy."

"Just touch my finger and you can fly." This is Claire giving dad a finger kiss. She is so cute and she just melts my heart.

Stay tuned. We have many more good things coming soon. We have got to reestablish our readership. We love you all. Check out the post below from yesterday for a good laugh.

So Silly!

2008-11-01T20:49:00.003-04:00

We had a great trip out to Utah. We had so much fun that we needed a vacation from our vacation. It is nice to have the last Dahle sibling married off. We couldn't be happier with Kevin's choice. Natalie is awesome and we are so excited to add her to our family. We will have some great pictures in the next few days to highlight the highlights. Dad of course had to get back early for work and he sure missed his girls while they were out for an extra week. He did make a quick trip to Orlando for a work conference which was nice.

Claire's personality continues to shine these days. She babbles constantly. She is learning so many words. She is always busy - always looking for something fun to do. The other night Claire was getting ready for bed and she found her sun hat. She then found one of her current favorite books and that was it. She was in heaven.

Dad, you up for a story tonight? It sure is sunny tonight here in the apartment. Luckily I found my hat.

Claire: Dad, why do you think I have this silly look on my face?

Dad: I can't wait to find out.

Whoa dad!!! Sometimes I just fall over for no reason. I think this book is pretty cool because one of my two favorite grandpas is named Norman.

There's an old saying that goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times.... We just can't get fooled again!"

Mom was eating some Kix (Definitely Kid tested and Mother tested around our house these days) yesterday. She walked into the kitchen to find Claire armpit deep in the box. She then moved the box to the other side of the table. Claire then squeezed through the chairs and successfully reached the box again. Did momma learn her lesson? Nope. Sure enough, later that day, Claire again got ahold of the Kix box. When you find something you like, you do anything to get it.

Pay close attention in the next few days for some great pictures which include.

1 - Our trip to Utah with the Kevin/Natalie wedding.

2- Claire is hands down the cutest Tinkerbell ever for Halloween.

3- Mom, Dad, and Claire go hiking in search of the leaves (don't worry, we missed the peak of the fall colors by a week.

Dad Goes Camping!

2008-10-07T21:53:00.003-04:00

Dad has been in Scouts for a while but has been not been able to attend many campouts due to his busy schedule. He was happy to make it out last weekend for a night in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Our troop rented an old cabin built in the thirties as an outpost. I thought to myself that it would be fun to rent out and take Hillory here. Then I saw the insects. I quickly squashed that idea.

It was a small group, but we had a solid time. There were some issues of snoring when I had to wack Alex with my sweatshirt at about 2 a.m. I couldn't take it anymore. Luckily I had my geomat for a comfortable night of sleep.

We went on a great hike on Saturday morning to the falls.

Great picture of the falls Stu!

The Blue Ridge is a beautiful mountain range. We just bought a year pass and look forward to heading back soon.

Just call me Hacksaw Jim Duggan!!

We are headed to Utah soon and likely won't be posting for a couple weeks. We hope you all are doing well.

Claire is back on the big screen

2008-09-28T21:37:00.006-04:00

Hey team. Our camera with video capabilities is broken... well, kind of. If you hold down the on button and keep pressing it, it works. So this morning we shot some fun videos of Claire that I think you will all enjoy. We have some other good things coming real soon - Grandma and Grandpa Carter visit Va, Nate goes camping with the scouts, Nate needs a haircut, etc. We are also planning some photos of Claire as well.

This video is Claire's first pop quiz. We want to prepare her early to succeed in school.

This second video is quite entertaining. The other day Claire picked up the Book of Mormon and for about 10 minutes just sat there flipping through the pages and expounding doctrine. We let her read again this morning.

The funny part of the video isn't so much her reading. That loud noise that startles Claire is tough to distinguish. It was just daddy sneezing. We just loved the expression on her little face and thought you would all enjoy it. We would like to thank grandpa Dahle for passing on what we fondly refer to as "the Dahle sneeze." Not to worry grandpa, Claire sneezes like a Dahle!

In the words of Neil Diamond...

2008-09-17T22:17:00.004-04:00

Hello, my friends, hello.

It has been a hard-working month at the Dahle household. Alot of threats have been made about getting a blog up. Hill took a few pictures today and I hope you like them.

Just getting ready for the day with mom. We don't see dad alot these days. But when we do we love it. Isn't she a doll? Isn't she big? My favorite thing is that she recently learned to say "thank you" - pronounced di duck. And we started early on teaching her to say yes.

Claire, if you could choose one place to play this afternoon, where would it be?

The gutter. Very interesting.

Claire has designs on becoming a witch for halloween.

Still in the gutter (just so you all know, it is not an official gutter. just a little strip of parking lot between two curbs).

Claire loves black beans. We were tempted to put her in the dishwasher.

Claire loves history and she loves James Monroe. Although she wasn't loving the tour. We had a great visit from grandma and grandpa carter and we are just waiting for them to get us the pictures from the trip.

We love you all. Dad finishes his long rotation this week and hopes to get back on the photography wagon and get more pictures of the cutest, sweetest little girl in the world.

P.S. We would like to offer up congrats to Grandpa Dahle on finishing LOTOJA last weekend. Check out the Dahle's blog on the right side to chronicle is ride - 206 miles. Way to go grandpa!!!!!!

Claire's adventures continue

2008-08-10T19:50:00.000-04:00

First of all I would like to thank Hill for taking over blogging duties last week. She got tired of her other duties - priestly duties, lunch duties, dead-guy duties, etc (fans of Nacho Libre will appreciate this reference), and she wanted some new duties. Apart from Al's visit a couple weeks ago, things have been pretty routine around here. But we scrape up a few things to talk about.

1 - Claire goes bowling.
2 - Claire goes to the fair.
3 - Nate is doubled over in pain and ends up with a root canal and is now awaiting a crown (as CFO, Hill was not very happy about this. Definitely NOT in the budget).
4 - Claire reads.

BOWLING

Our apartment complex gave out some bowling passes early this summer and we finally decided to take them up on the offer. It has been quite a while since we have been bowling and I was most shocked by how expensive it is. Unless we get some more passes, we definitely aren't heading back soon.

Needless to say, Claire had a great time

Mom and Claire were master bowlers. Watch out Ladies Pro Bowlers Association. There alot of things to start your kids out with when they are young - piano, soccer, dance.... None of that for Claire, she is going to spend her life at the alley. Maybe by the time she is old enough, it will be an Olympic Sport.

Just so you all know, that was a STRIKE!!! Hill was no match for my bowling brilliance.

If only Hill's game was as good as her look (s).

Claire was a very close understudy of her mama. She loves to follow mom around wherever she goes. She had alot of fun at the alley.

In the end, the scores didn't matter (although I more than doubled Hill), but time together as a family did. I love hanging out with my girls.

The Albermarle County Fair

Anyone looking to visit us should really try to correlate their visit with the county fair. It is really something that shouldn't be missed (fine, we may miss it the next year, but we would be happy to give you in directions).

Brilliantly we somehow forgot Claire's had and she ended up with a head full of sun screen. That didn't mix well with the 92 degree temperatures.

Our first stop was the petting zoo. Claire wasn't really up for the whole petting. In fact, she learned from one of the little girls there that if you put your finger up to your nose, it keeps the animals away (kind of like the smoke at the campfire)

Here is Claire trying to run with the lambs.

"Mom, why does that little girl have her head in the hay?"

"I'm really not quite sure. Possibly she is trying to be an ostrich? Maybe she is hungry."

We had to keep Claire from eating the prize winning tomatoes. She sure had a good time though.

Claire is a good reader

Claire loves her books. It is amazing how much time she can spend pulling books off the shelves. Moo, Moo, Who are you? is one of her favorites. We love to read it too.

When Al Comes to town

2008-08-03T21:53:00.004-04:00

Usually Nate is the blogger in our fam, but I'm taking over for this one. My sister Aly came to C'ville last week for a short visit, (too short in my opinion) and we had a blast! Now don't be too upset as the following pictures my provoke some strong emotion...

That's right...you're looking at a 2008 Sebring Convertible. Al swears that it was either this or a Dodge sedan. I'm still a little suspicious. The best part is that since we had a long drive ahead of us (Raleigh, NC to be exact) I had to use a dish towel in place of a glamorous head scarf since I don't own the real deal.

Claire looks glamorous no matter what...binky or no binky, she's so stinkin' cute! She didn't last too long with the top down though, we had to pull over on the freeway and put the top back on before we had even hit Richmond! She's never been one to do well on road trips...ask anyone in the Dahle family.

We had a great time on our drive singing along to Newsies (I had goosebumps from a couple of our performances:) and Wicked. The trip was short and we were on our way back home before we knew it. As luck would have it, we passed a Smithfields on the way back. Sigh. I wish the follow-up visit would have been as magical as our first time there, but I'm sorry to say that that was not the case. I give you exhibit A:

I'm not sure you can see the fine detail of that hot dog (if it is, indeed, a hot dog), but it was disgusting. When the waitress delivered the food to our table, Al's exact words were, "I can't eat that." Seriously, the hot dog looked like it was a pickled slim jim on a bun! Terrible. I hope Al will still consider a revisit after this heinous incidence.

Luckily we had the ward Sock Hop to attend the next night which put Al in a much better mood:) She also let Nate and I slip out for a few hours alone together. You're the best Al.

The only real downer to our trip was the elimination of Will from So You Think You Can Dance. I think America has learned its lesson...

Anyway, we love you Aly and thanks again for coming to see us so often. We hate to put this in writing, but you're definitely high on Claire's favorites list -this doesn't mean that there isn't any hope for the rest of you, but you've got stiff competition. Until next time...

A very funny video and another engagement???

2008-07-29T22:20:00.005-04:00

Maybe one of the funnier videos we have seen. Just getting ready for the Olympics in China!!

And...

Kevin and Natalie are engaged!!!!

We are excited for these two and we love Natalie. We knew there was something special when she ditched Kevin to watch LOST with Hill and me. And possibly the most exciting thing - we are coming back to Utah for another wedding (the third Dahle wedding in 10 months). We can't think of a better person to round out the Dahle sibling spouses. We will see you soon. We love you

Stay tuned for Claire goes bowling

Why we love Claire!!!! and other things to catch you up

2008-07-13T21:23:00.003-04:00

Claire is so much fun these days!!!

Here are some of my favorite things about Claire at age 13 months.

1 - The other day Claire and I were playing together on the floor with her animal cards. Out of nowhere I hear a little "roooaaar." I look over and she is holding the picture of the bear. I can't even describe how cute it was. She now knows the bear, the dog (you should hear her say roof, roof), and the cow. We are currently working on the pig and the duck.

(Here is Claire practicing her bear pose)

2 - Claire loves bathtime. She now loves to bend over, stick her face in the water, and blow bubbles. On Thursday, I was drinking a glass of water while she was playing in the bath. She of course wanted a drink. Since she was in the bath, and wet already, I handed her the cup. She took a drink and then she went for the big drink. She doused her whole face with cold water. You should have seen the look of shock that followed.

3 - Claire is getting better in the car. And we have grandma Dahle to thank. Last year for Christmas, she gave Claire a book called "Dear Santa." It is a board book with flaps that hide the presents. She rides along, with her feet crossed, giggling every time she opens a present. That book is the gift that keeps giving all year long.

4 - Claire loves to help mama pick up trash. Today, she picked up one of my socks, walked right over to the trash, put it in, and walked away. Luckily I saw her do it. Otherwise, I would still be looking for the sock.

5 - Claire loves to leave little hints for mom and dad. She loves to play in the drawers that have our tupperware and towels. We find many things that make their way from other parts of the house into those drawers - puzzle pieces, bouncy balls, silverware. Yesterday we found the picture of the pig in the drawer. We both wondered what message she was trying to send us.

6 - Claire may or may not be the playground bully. She had a play date the other day with RJ who is significantly smaller than Claire. She walked up to him, started squaking and then proceeded to push him over. Nice job Claire. Needless to say, there has been no follow up play date.

7 - Claire is walking like a champ. Does she fall over frequently? Sure. Does she have bruises and scrapes all over her body? Sure. Is Hill worried about Child Protective Services showing up at the front door? Again, yes. It is just so cute to see her stumbling around. But she is improving.

We had a great outing to the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. Claire loved the squirrels. She loved the ice cream even more

Claire is a Little Piggy!!!

Claire had a great time at dinner this night. I really can't telly you what happened other that she loved the watermelon. She really is such a good eater. She eats just about everything. She only recently learned to spit things out. The funny thing is that she will eat a bunch of stuff, and then she will eat some other stuff, and then about ten minutes later she will just spit out a big blob of food - mostly the stuff she ate first. I am guessing that she stuffs her cheeks and then has nowhere else to put food so she then swallows it.

The Burtons have left the building!!!!

It was a sad day in Charlottesville two weeks ago when the Burtons loaded up the car and moved back to Utah. We were so sad to see them go and we wish them luck out there.

Prior to their departure, Claire would see her good friends, Emma and Ellie, 3-4 times a week. Claire and Mama just haven't been the same since they left. Sam's Club just hasn't been the same since they left.

They made one last stop before they made their ways out of the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountians. Good luck in the Rockies. We miss you and love you!

Happy Birthday....

2008-07-06T21:08:00.002-04:00

HILLORY!!!

To the best mom and wife, we love you.

Continue reading below for our fourth of july fun!

The emotion is raw, but the hotdogs are cooked!

2008-07-05T21:31:00.012-04:00

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!

We had a great day yesterday as we celebrated the Fourth. It was announced about a week ago that President Bush would attend the naturalization ceremony at Monticello - the home of Thomas Jefferson. It was a tough ticket to get, but fortune shined down upon us. One thousand general admission tickets were available to the public and the line to get those tickets started well before I awoke on Wed morning. But, I thought I would drive by the visitors center on the way to work to check it out. My radio was on and they were interviewing people in the crowd. 6th in line was one of my attendings - who had the intention of getting only two of her four available tickets. I was able to flag her down and convince her that she should get me the other two. How often do you get a chance to see the President of the United States and hear him speak - unless you have a fortune to boot.

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Claire was just elated for her first ride on the bus. It sure was an early morning for the whole family. Every time we have to wake her up, she always seems so shocked and confused. She was very serious as she prepared for the president's address.

Claire contemplates the stars and the stripes. Obviously she will never remember this event, but it was so great to be there as a family to celebrate the birth of our country and the see the newest citizens take the oath.

Love being together as a family

You've seen them in the movies - and we saw the snipers in real life.

The entire morning I kept singing to Claire - duh, duh, duh-duh, duh, du-duh, du-duh, du-duh, duh. Regardless of your views of the current president, it is quite a sight to see him make an entrance.

Jefferson's home is a great place to visit on any day, but yesterday was quite a display. It was very well put together and an experience we will always remember.

Unfortunately President Bush's address was not without interruption. There were multiple outbursts of protest regarding the President's policies. Although not unexpected, it was in very poor form and a big distraction from the ceremony. There is a time and place to disagree, but this was definitely not that venue. Fools and Fanatics!!!

The swearing in of the new citizens by the judge. After the repeating of the oath, they were given the chance to get up and express there feelings. It was moving to hear of their love for the country and their hopes and dreams of success. At the end of the ceremony, Hill defined it as one of the top ten events in her life. It was very cool.

Claire was a champ. About midway through the ceremony, she got ahold of an apple core and just would not let go. She chomped and chomped and chomped for the rest of the ceremony. We tried to pull it from her hands when she fell asleep, but she would have nothing to do with it. As we waited for the bus at the end of the ceremony, she entertained the crowds with her big smile, her babbling, and her apple core.

After waiting for the bus for quite awhile (among the common folk), as President Bush and others made their way off the mountain, we finally made it home. Claire was exhausted. So were we. But, we were able to enjoy the national hot dog eating contest and see Joey Chestnut take down Kobyashi in a sudden death eat off. After taking down nearly 50 dogs each, it was the first one to finish off the next five. Pretty intense. We will make it a fourth of july family tradition.

In the afternoon, we were invited to the Old Trail Picnic and boy did it not disappoint. Crozet, Virginia is one of the most beautiful places we know. Claire was at her best during the party. Just a few pictures with the lush Virginia green with the Blue Ridge mountains in the background.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone. We love and miss you all. God bless the U.S.A.!!!

Back to the Basics...

2008-06-16T21:54:00.002-04:00

Things are great back in Charlottesville. We are all happy to be sleeping in our own beds and back to a regular schedule. Although Hillory is particularly enjoying the fact that Claire is still on Utah time when it comes to waking up in the morning (actually, both of them are).

My little girl is just getting so big I can't believe it. Given my schedule this week, I was able to go with her to her doctor appointment. She did great 29.7 inches tall, 20.1 pounds, and her noggin is still big (but cute). She is now moving all over the place and I predict she will be walking in the next couple of weeks. She is currently working on her 3rd tooth and she continues to be a bundle of fun.

With mama off to ballet lessons (yes, Hill is taking ballet), it was my turn to look after the little girl. Of course, we went looking for dogs and other fun things at our apartment complex. We had a great outing. Just wanted to share some pictures.

Just holding on for dear life, and trying to get taste of the metal on the swing. Claire was enthralled by the boy playing basketball. Maybe she is trying to me like Mike.

Claire just loves the swing. It is always nice to have a go-to activity when she is getting restless. Between the swing and the bath, we are in pretty good shape.

After our stop at the playground, it was off to the lake to look at the geese. To quote one of our favorite little girls here in Charlottesville, "I stepped in goose poop at the yake!!!" Claire is becoming so much more aware of her surroundings. She points at birds, and trees and she even has been known to chase an ant or two.
Claire here is very interested in the fishing line that she found on the dock. I just thought she looked so cute crouching down to pick it up. One thing that I love about her now is that I can get her to give me five.

Our little girl brings us so much joy. She is the best Father's day gift that I could possible imagine. I love to go out on our little excursions. Luckily, on the way back home we saw 4 dogs at the dog park. Now that is what I call a successful trip.

A Blogathon!!!

2008-06-10T10:54:00.011-04:00

Settle in Blogging fans and enjoy possibly the longest and hopefully the best post in quite a while. P.S. Isn't that a beautiful Virginia sunset above?

Happy Birthday to Claire!!!

Not only did Claire get to celebrate her birthday in Utah with all of her family, but she got to celebrate twice! Unfortunately dad missed the official birthday, but he was there in spirit. Claire is such a joy in our lives and we love her so much. I still remember Hill waking me up at 2 a.m. on June 3 of last year and letting me know that it was time. I am currently doing OB anesthesia, so I have alot of memories these days as I'm working up on the OB floor. We love you, Claire. Thank you to all family members from both sides for such wonderful parties. Claire loves all her gifts and is currently working on thank you notes. I currently have photos only from the first party.

Claire gets her hands upon the good stuff. Hill has an obsession with rainbow chip cupcakes with frosting. Claire loved them too.

Claire's face was priceless as she got the first jolt of pure sugar. Of course grandpa Dahle had already given her a few treats prior to help her build up to the big day.

Claire enjoyed more than just eating the cupcake.

Happy Birthday Claire!! Mom and Dad love you so much.

The Croquet Match

A Dahle family tradition is a post barbeque game of Croquet. This years epic battle did not disappoint. The hoops were placed in their traditional Sunday placement. The lawn was mowed to optimal length. The mallets were tightened and the balls were polished. The full Dahle family was reunited.

Team Captains with their current family ranking - 1- Nate 2- Seth 3- Kevin.

The team captains deliberate. I don't remember exactly how the teams played out, but I enthusiastically drafted the newest member of the Dahle family - Leeah.

The game itself did not disappoint. I wish we had some pictures. It was a nail-biter, but Nate and Leeah took the competition down. Shot of the game - Nate sends Kevin and Dad's ball flying over the sandbox, over the play house, and behind the wood pile - sealing the hard fought victory. Of course a drop was required. Nate and Leeah victorious. Kevin and Dad an honorable second. Seth and Eric a distant third (thanks Sweetheart, I owe you). Looking forward to the next round.

The wedding

One way to ensure a visit to Utah from the Virginia Dahles is to have a wedding. It was a perfect day (debate still remains as to whether that is from the wedding itself, or the fact that the day was done by 5 pm). In all my years I have never seen Seth smile as big as he did just after the wedding. It brings joy to see your brothers and sisters so happy and doing well. Leeah, we welcome you to the family (you can be on my croquet team any time).

Leeah looked beautiful on her special day. Thank you for making Seth so happy.

There's that smile. The groom was in top form. I also feel like I brought my A-game at the luncheon when Seth's life was compared with the history of the gospel. It is still a work in progress, but it went over well. What a great looking couple. We hope you guys had a great time in Maui!

(If you could all could have seen their wedding video, you would have seen how far they came - i.e. Seth at the science fair and Leeah with the Rupp family singers).

There are my girls. Looking cute. Great haircut Hill. It looks great.

Claire is just learning to walk. And what better place to practice than in the shadows of the temple. She is making some great progress. In fact today she took three steps before she ate it. Much better than the faith fall she we have gotten used to.

I love my brothers and sisters so much. It was a sweet day to spend together.

Kev, that's a stiff wind you are walking into. We loved meeting Natalie (even though she was adverse to getting her picture taken). We are sad that she had to study so much. What was most impressive was her willingness to ditch you to watch the Lost finale with us. We only wish she could have hung around long enough so we could get her thoughts on the ending. Strong work Kev. Keep us up to date.

There were some pretty flowers at the wedding lunch.

The Cousins

I'll be honest, Claire had a rough transition from Virginia to Utah. Maybe she just didn't tolerate the altitude so well. Soon enough she will enjoy playing with her cousins a little more. She talks often about the pending birth of her new cousin Hadley.

We hope for many more additions to this bunch. We love Kinsley, Gabe and Sam.

Two words - G-Q. Looking good Gabe.

Who let the monkeys loose at the temple? Sam couldn't figure out what to do - eat his cookie, or fully commit to the monkey face. He compromised. Don't stare too long at Gabe's eyes or you may go crosseyed too.

Kinsley is so much fun to take pictures of. She is so full of life and energy.

Nice face Claire. We will just add it to your repetoire.

Great balance for two years old. Sam is very difficult to get to hold still.

There we go. Good look, Sam.

This is just after Kinsley finished her bowl of ice cream. Obviously happy.
I love both these pictures so much.

Gabe and Kins!!! We sure miss you guys. You are growing up so fast. Keep on smiling. We love you.

To quote Peter Gabriel. "I'm digging in the dirt." Sam did a stand up job of taking care of Grandma and Grandpa's vegetable garden. What is most important is that he paid special attention to the newly planted rhubarb plant that will begin to bless the Dahle household with pies and cobblers in the near future.

The Graduation

While not a point of contention, it is a point of discussion in the Virginia Dahle household. The Dahle family has a long tradition of NOT attending their sibling's graduations. This is a most treasured tradition in our household. Imagine how many bad graduation speeches (except yours Kev) that we have missed out on by not attending each others graduations. Not to mention the reading of every graduates name together with their stroll across the stage.

Hill's family, on the other hand, attends everyone's graduation with bells on. We just happened to be in Utah for Jake's graduation. No matter how hard I tried to explain why we should adopt our tradition, I was unsuccessful (on top of that, they charged money to get in). It was off to Weber State to see the Davis Dart class of 2008 graduate. Congratulations Jake!!! I wouldn't have missed it....

Claire just wanted to document her presence for future reference. I think her exact quote was, "You owe me Uncle Jake." Claire and I cheered loud for Jake when his name was read, despite the request to abstain from such behavior. I guess if you are going to be there, you should make your presence known.

Claire was a great excuse to get out of the full reading of names. We had a great time playing on the grass. This was the first time that Claire was presented with crawling down a hill. I have to commend her determination. She is on her way down.

Some of her attempts did not turn out so well. FACE PLANT!!!

"Dad, I had a great time at graduation."

Fine, it wasn't all so bad. We are glad we got to spend time with the Carter family. We love you guys.

The Carters - A family of graduation attenders.

(You will notice that there are significantly fewer pictures of the Carter leg of the trip. We implemented a plan to get those pictures and unfortunately, it didn't come through. Hopefully we will do better next time.)

I love you

One of these days I will have the opportunity to take my sweetheart to Italy. Until then, I will just have to enjoy a kiss in the Gelateria. It was a long week without you. I am so glad that you are home.

(If anybody wants any copies of the pictures, please let me know and I can email them. They will be better quality than copying from the blog.)

A great time was had by all in Utah

2008-06-02T21:33:00.006-04:00

These are just some preview pictures in order to keep my readership happy. I know that there are many blogs out there to be read and every reader is important. Dad is home in Virginia and Mom and Claire are still in Utah. He misses his girls and can't wait until they get home.

The reason for our trip to Utah... Seth and Leeah's wedding.

Now tell me that's not a good looking couple. They are currently honeymooning in Maui!!!

We just love being together as a family. Aren't my girls the cutest?

Cool things with digital SLRs. I have such a good time taking pictures.

Claire is getting much more stable on her feet. All of her current attempts to walk without support have pretty much been a faith fall. Maybe she will learn if we let her eat it.

Stay closely tuned for further details from our trip - including, but not limited to-

1- Claire gets a cupcake (She turns 1 tomorrow!!!! Can you believe it?)

2- Nate continues as the number one ranked croquet player in the family (Leeah joins him in victory).

3- Kevin has a girlfriend.

4- Hill gets a haircut.

5- Nate spends a whole vacation day putting up Seth's roof and burns his ears.

6- Claire continues as the cutest little girl in the whole world.

OBX!!!

2008-05-20T20:03:00.006-04:00

Ever since we moved to Virginia, we have heard about this great place called the Outer Banks, NC. We finally made it out there for a little bit of relaxation. We had a great time with the Evans, the McGlaughlins, and the Mitchells. We rented a massive beach house and settled in for a great week. Unfortunately our first three days were rain and tornado warnings. I didn't know that there were so many tornado warnings out here. But it was a great week of relaxation and fun (a week for mom and Claire and a few days for papa).

The drive down was rough. Rough I say. Claire did not bring her A game. But we love her the same. But after that, Claire did bring it for the rest of the week. We had a great mother's day. All the girls at the house repeatedly chanted, "Nate's in trouble." I convinced them that I had forgotten a mothers day gift. I had not. Luckily Rich was on the ball and organized Salmon Filet, CusCus, Asparagus, Rolls, and Strawberry Shortcake.

As I do have to get to bed now, I will sum up the pictures and hopefully edit the post later. If not, at least you have them.

I woke up a few mornings in hope of a great sunrise. One morning I woke up really early, got in the car, drove up the coast to take a picture of the lighthouse with the sunrise. It was a total waste. I found the lighthouse... about 1/2 mile from the beach in a location that I couldn't get to and definitely couldn't get a picture. I was tired.

Mom and Dad finally gave in and let me play in the cabinet. I love opening up drawers and cabinets and pulling out everything!
We had a great day at the beach! Talk about an all-star cast. Nice job team

In a total of 4 families there were 8 kids (luckily the beach house was three stories so we didn't go too crazy during the rain storms). All 8 were girls. I wanted to get a picture with all of them, but this was as good as it gets.

Claire had loved playing in the sand.

Yes, this is papa in action. Believe me, the ocean was cold. I made a sprint into the ocean and I am happy that Hill was able to document it. This is a shot of me high-stepping over the wave. I pretty much resurrected some of my long-lost high school football skills.

Claire wasn't as excited about the water as she was the sand.

After a very windy excursion to the sand dunes, we stopped for ice cream at Dairy Queen. Just so everyone knows, $5 WalMart kites do not fly. Just bite the bullet and pay the 12 bucks at the kite store to get a kite that flies. Frugality does not always pay.

It's a PicNic

2008-05-08T22:08:00.003-04:00

We are coming to you tonight from the state of Virginia where we are under an official tornado warning (we were just upgraded from the watch). We are currently experiencing one of the heaviest rainstorms that I have ever seen. It is really quite amazing. Hopefully the tornados hold off.

I have to say right now that Hill and I are addicted to the TV show Lost. We just finished up another intense episode. If anyone is looking to waste a bunch of time, or really looking for a new TV show to get hooked on, we highly recommend picking up the first few seasons and catching up. If there ever was a show with more twists and turns, I haven't found it. Definitely the most unpredictable show I know of. Anyways, two enthusiastic thumbs up.

I wanted to share this picture that Mandy Caroll took of me and Claire. Typically I am the one taking the pictures so it feels good to be on the other end. Thanks Mandy (her blog address is off to the left).

Yesterday I had the day off prior to working a night shift last night. I came up with a brilliant idea... a picnic at Pleasant Grove park. I had these visions of a leisurely stroll down to the river where we would find a nice grassy knoll and we would all sit down for a feast of pb and j, applesauce, string cheese, and teddy grahams with frosting. Things went well, but not that well.

Being the good parents that we are, we of course forgot both the sunscreen and the sun hat. Brilliant. We kept trying to hold the blanket up over her, but she wanted nothing to do with it. Finally we just had to tie it to her head. She didn't like that either, but we were able to get a good picture out of it. It was a hot, sunny day and it felt great.

This is Claire's reaction when I told her that this was our picnic spot. She laughed uncontrollably and mama wanted nothing to do with it. We weren't familiar with the area and Claire was getting wrestless (actually it was mama). Claire is always up for a good laugh.

This is now one of my new favorite pictures of Claire. She was intent on getting to the river, but of course her efforts were thwarted.

"Did you just see that frog dad? That was cool."

We quickly ended our trip to the river as I was being bit by bugs and Hill really wanted to eat (I am telling you, you don't want to cross Hill when she hasn't eaten). We made it back up to the car and found a nice piece of grass to enjoy our picnic feast. Everyone relaxed a little when there was food moving into their tummies. Funny enough there were actually a few ants crawling around on our blanket. Even funnier was watching Claire trying to catch them.

Just a few pictures of Claire that we wanted to share. She is so stinkin' cute in her overalls.

Hill thinks that she looks so much like me. Poor little girl. Thank you mom and Claire for such a fun family outing. Looking forward to alot more.

Here is a photograph to document a little run in that Claire and I had last night. I was in charge of feeding her and she was not cooperating. She had fallen asleep in the car on the way home from our picnic and decided that that was her afternoon nap. So by the time dinner time came around, she was done. You will notice food all over her and her high chair. She wont take a bottle. She won't take a sippy. So, in order to get her to drink water, I sometimes use a medicine dropper and squirt it into her mouth. She did well for the first few minutes, but then she stopped cooperating. So, I squirted her in the head. And then I squirted her again. She thought it was pretty funny. Luckily for me I was heading out the door to work right after that. Mom got to take care of the bath. Thanks mom. We love you.

Just so everyone knows, the tornado warning has passed.

We are so excited for the upcoming few weeks. We are off to the Outer Banks on saturday. Stay tuned for some fun pictures from our trip. Unil then....

It's a beautiful life

2008-04-30T20:56:00.004-04:00

"Dad!!! What are you thinking not posting in such a long time? You are going to lose your fan base and people will forget about me!!! I offer an apology on behalf of my silly father. I will make sure he gets back to the camera and back to the blog. I love you all." Claire

"Okay dad. It's cool. I'll forgive you this time, but only if you forgive me for eating everything that I can get my hands on. I love you." Claire

I have been wanting to post recently but we just haven't had the chance to take some good pictures. I feel like my blogging fans deserve good pictures. Right now, Hill is sewing pillows and I am updating the blog. We have an exciting life. We actually do have a very exciting month ahead of us so look forward to some good things. We go to the Outer Banks, NC next week and back to SLC for Seth and Leeah's wedding in just over 3 weeks. We couldn't be more excited for both.

Claire continues to develop such a sweet personality. I have to share a funny story. Moms will laugh. Last Saturday I dropped Hillory and April at the Stake Center for Enrichment and took Claire to Wal-Mart for a grocery shopping trip. Since we were near the Super Wal, we decided to buy groceries for the month - since the cost of everything seems to continue to climb. The first ten minutes went well, but after that, not so well. Claire has recently found her scream. She doesn't scream because she's mad or sad - she just screams. So I am just walking the aisles with this little girl screaming. Of course I can't get her to stop, so I pick her up. But then I can't drive the cart because it is completely full. At that moment I decide to just wrap up the trip and finish later when I have Hill's help. So we check out and make our way to the car where my plan is to feed Claire in her carseat while we wait for mom to finish. Claire the starts spitting out her food all over the car and she is still screaming. Dad then had a brilliant idea. I brought the shopping cart back over and plopped Claire down in the seat. I then proceeded to feed the little stinker in the Wal-Mart parking lot. It actually went pretty well. We picked up mom, went to dinner, and finished our shopping. Dad looks forward to further shopping trips with his little girl.

In fact, every evening Dad and Claire go on a dog hunt. We walk around our apartment complex and look for dogs. On a good night we see 2-3 dogs and if we are lucky we can get one to stop so we can pet it. Claire is actually kinda scared of touch new things, so getting her to touch the dog of her own accord is difficult (of note Claire has really struggled with the new shag rug we just purchased - she hates to touch it with her little hands). Dad looks forward to many dog hunts with his little girl.

Hill has so many fun moments with our little girl. This morning Hill woke up to Claire's crying. She went into get her and found her slumped in the corner of the crib, with grown-up tears streaming down her face and all 3, yes 3, of her binkies on the floor. Only a mama could console such a sad face.

Hill loves sea gulls. She wants to frame this picture for our room. Kinda strange.

I can't think of an excuse

2008-04-16T20:08:00.008-04:00

I wanted to come up with a good idea why I haven't posted in a couple weeks. I came up with a few. 1- Yesterday was tax day 2- I'm working in the Pediatric ICU 3- Claire has been really boring these last couple weeks... 4- Hill is always on the computer 5- Life is just busy

I settled upon #5 but then I realized that I owe it to my blog readers to fight through the mundane things in life and post. It is to my loyal readers that I dedicate this post.

Reason #3 above is obviously not tru as Claire has been the exact opposite of boring in the last couple weeks. In fact, about a week ago she started crawling FORWARD!!! At first it was a couple of small steps, but now she is getting around everywhere. For months now we have talked about childproofing the house. Well, it's too late, she is everywhere. She could not be more cute these days. She laughs all the time. She smiles at the simplest of things. She clicks her tongue. She has associated dada with me and mama with Hill. She is a great sleeper (11-12 hours at night and 2 2hr naps in the day). She is a great eater. She has the coolest hair. She smiles and waves at strangers. She finally will let dad put her to bed without screaming her head off. She is much better in the car than she used to be. She is so much fun to hug!

Here is Claire in Action! She is still working on picking up speed.

"Listen dad, if you aren't going to ride this thing, I am."

That whole child-proofing thing has been tough as 1000 sq feet of apartment space does not provide spacious amounts of storage and recreation rooms. I set my bike up a couple weeks ago on the trainer to promote my exercise goals. Not only has it not done that, but it has provided Claire with a very dangerous toy to play with. It is being taken down tonight for those of you who are worried.

Claire's mobility has increased the number of "Claire Bear go Bonkers." You probably can't see the bruise above her right eye from when she decided to go head-first into the door hinge. Believe me, it's there. Our goal is to not to have Claire require as many CT scans as her mom. Wish us luck. And just look and her hair!! It reminds me of a character from a Dr. Suess book. Can't wait to see how it will keep growing.

Claire cruised for the first time today (yes this is breaking news - we just finished a piece with cnn to be aired next week). She moved from the chair to the table to the other chair - maybe a total of 2 feet. She is really good on her feet. We are already preparing for her to walk. Also of note Claire is really beginning to appreciate books. She sits still in our laps for all kinds of stories.

For those only interested in Claire (I think there are a few out there), you can stop reading now. In an effort to improve my photography skills, I offered to take some engagement pictures. I made no guarantees, but I think things turned out pretty well. I thought you might like to see some of my work.

Nice job guys!! Hill and I had alot of fun.

More pictures

2008-04-01T14:33:00.002-04:00

We just wanted to let you all know that our good friend Mandy Carroll took some more pictures of Claire. She let dad tag along to learn some secrets of the trade. We had a great time and we really appreciate her taking the time to take the pictures and teach dad a thing or two. Check out her new pictures at:

mandycarroll.blogspot.com

Enjoy!!!!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-29T21:38:00.006-04:00

It has been another great week for the Dahle family here in Virginia. Claire has had a rough couple of days however. But she has pulled through like a champ.

1) On thursday we were taking some pictures of Claire with one of our friends. She was standing up next to a barn when she lost her balance. Her face got to know the side of barn. She was a little scraped up.

2) Today she was standing up holding onto one of our chairs. Hill told me to watch her closely as she had just a couple days ago fallen over and pulled the chair on top of her. Well, right after telling me to watch her closely, Hill proceeded to talk to me and I was paying attention to her. Sure enough, Claire fell over and pulled the chair down on top of her. She has a mean bruise over her eye.

We promise we are trying to be good parents. I know that Hill takes her injuries a little harder than I do.

We had a great Easter weekend. We just spent time as a family.

Claire was so excited to wake up and see if the Easter Bunny had come. Turns out that only one Easter Bunny came and papa Easter Bunny didn't know that he was supposed to be Easter Bunny to mama Easter Bunny. Not to worry, mama Easter Bunny still loves papa Easter Bunny and papa Easter Bunny know that mama Easter Bunny loves a good Easter present (turns out mom knew that dad would fall through and bought herself a gift).

Here is papa Easter Bunny and his trusty sidekick Claire searching high and low for their Easter presents.

Dad and Claire enjoy the fruits of their Easter hunt. Mama found a great book about Small the fox who was grim and grumpy.

Claire looked so cute for church. We stopped at the grounds at UVa on the way to church for a few pictures(amazingly we were on time).

Our church services were wonderful. We are so grateful to be able to celebrate the Atonement of our Savior as a family. These holidays really make us realize how much we miss our families and how grateful we are for them. We did however have a fabulous Easter dinner with our friends, the Richins. Ham, potato salad, Gourmet mac and cheese, rolls, green salad. mmmmmmmm! And then we topped it off with some Strawberry Shortcake. It was a great Easter weekend.

A tribute to Seth and...

2008-03-25T21:17:00.006-04:00

LEEAH!!!!!!

We are so happy to publish to the www and to all of our readers the announcement of Seth and Leeah's engagement. They are getting married on May 27th and we could not be more excited for the two of them. We hear the proposal involved a staged easter egg hunt, a kite, and a magical leprauchan. How he was able to secure the services of the leprauchan is still unknown. How he convinced Leeah to marry him, however, is definitely not a mystery. Seth's best qualities include, but are not limited to - happy, dedicated, expert bracketologist, good speler, generous, good left-handed frisbee thrower (ask Seth to explain to you the greatest thing that happened to his frisbee game), athletic, motivating, a heartless tin-boy, adventurous, giving, fun, harvester of peaches, perservering, 2nd best croquet player in the family, strong, loving, often mistaken, full of energy... in short, just the best brother ever. We love you Seth and we can't wait to get to know some of Leeah's best qualities. We spent some time together with them in December and they are great together. We cannot to get out to Utah to see them and to celebrate their marriage.

Here are Seth and Leeah soon after the proposal. Nice job guys

Love those big smiles!

Not only did Seth recently get engaged, but he was also out in Charlottesville to see us. And boy was he a great house-guest. He loved playing with Claire and Claire just loved him. He is the first one to make Claire laugh uncontrollably. And he does the dishes (Leeah don't let him get out of that. He does a great job).

Seth and Uncle Claire are having a great time on the streets of Richmond. Seriously everyone loves it when they see Claire in her Lamb hat. Of course she didn't do as well in the car as cousin Sam does... as Seth pointed out. That cousin Sam, always one-upping us. One of these days Claire, one of these days.
This is seriously the cutest thing. For the three days that Seth was here, we slept with our door shut, which makes it more difficult to hear Claire. But each morning we heard her right outside our door. Seth would wake up with her every morning and play with her as long as she would, before bringing her to us so she could eat. Claire would last 15 minutes with him before she got upset. Let me tell you how long she lasts with me in the morning. About 15 seconds. Enough time to get her out of bed and get her to mom. Seth and Claire had a great time together and mom and dad really appreciated the extra 15 minutes of sleep. Seth will be a great dad (oh by the way, Claire still doesn't crawl but she does wave and clap and laugh hysterically and mom and dad, and she doesn't have any teeth yet, and she is the sweetest, cutest, funnest little girl ever born. we love her so much)

Good luck Seth and Leeah. We love you guys. We expect you to be starting your own blog soon. See you in May.

VACATION!!!!

2008-03-12T20:28:00.013-04:00

Let me start out this weblog with a few random thoughts to mix it up.

1)We got a slip in the mail telling us we had a package at the post office. On the note was written that postal worker was unable to bring it to our door because stairs posed a hazard. I asked Hill to ask the post office when they designated stairs as a risk that prohibited them delivering a package. She wouldn't do that. Isn't that insane that the postal worker would not walk up one flight of stairs? I was blown away.

2)After Hill and I nearly overdosed on sugar on our trip to South Carolina, we decided to take a month vacation from sugar. We are 4 days in and it is going pretty well. Wish us luck.

3)Our friends and neighbors just gave us a wireless router and it has changed our lives. I no longer have to sit on the floor with the computer on a chair right next to the tv because that is how far the cable will reach. My bum is much happier.

And now on to the vacation. We had a great time. Jeff and Jenni Bowman invited us to join them in Myrtle Beach for a week of rest and relaxation. We had a great time and created some great memories. We hope you enjoy the tale. We were nervous about Claire's first major roadtrip. With 400 miles of driving we knew it could get ugly. But,... Claire was a champ. She did great.

Saturday...

We found the best barbeque restaurant in North Carolina. It brought big smiles to everyones face. We wish there was one here in Charlottesville and we wish we could have eaten there again (story to come). We love NC style barbecue with the vinegar base.

Sunday... (no pictures)

We woke up sunday morning and got ready for church. We were running a few minutes late, but the church didn't see too far away. We drove to where the church should be and there was nothing. No sign of anthing that could have been a church. We asked the man at the gas station across the street if he knew what had happened to the church. He said that it had been moved to a new place that was about 25 minutes away. We looked it up in the phonebook and saw the address matched. After driving for another forty minutes we found nothing except... Kingdom Hall. Hosed again by the Witnesses. We then gave up hope and headed back to the condo. Driving home for another 30 minutes, Hill looks over and sure enough, sees the church. Turns out that Highway 17 splits. We took the wrong side. So, we roll into the church just in time for priesthood/relief society after having driven approximately 60 miles and almost two hours. Talking to the members we then found out that the address in the phone book was an old address for the missionaries. Priesthood and Relief Society were great.

Monday...

We made it to the beach and Claire had a pretty good time. Once we let her play on the beach, she of course...ate the sand.

She did great for about an hour or so and then she didn't do so great. Between eating sand, sunscreen in her hair, and all the seagulls, Claire wanted to go home. We did because we always do what Claire wants.
Claire is so stinkin' cute these days. She has a couple great new phrases.... Gia, Haia, and my favorite, Dada. These little piggys went to the ocean. She was not happy.

Listen Jeff and Jenni, this is a family beach. These two were seriously champs when it came to putting up with Claire and her needs. We hope we didn't scare them away from having kids.

Cool hat Claire. 50 Cents at wal-mart huh? Good deal.

Tuesday... Just relaxed

Mom, my diaper rash is flaring up.

I love my sweet little family.

Wednesday...

We continued south about 100 miles south of Myrtle Beach for a day in Charleston. Charleston was a very cool town.
See this bridge... 1/2 Billion dollars to build. Opened in 2005. Very cool. Very expensive.

We took a boat ride out to Fort Sumpter where the first shots of the Civil war were fired.
On April 14, 1861 Major Anderson of the Union Army surrendered Fort Sumpter to the Confederacy.

On April 14, 1865 the confederate army surrendered Fort Sumpter back to the Union in a big ceremony. President Abraham Lincoln was invited.

He turned down the invitation. He had tickets to Ford Theatre that night. Crazy huh.

You may not be able to see this picture well, but I thought it was a pretty cool shot of the city of Charleston. They had alot of very cool houses in the historic downtown that were fun to look at. The crew was running out of steam by that time, but I do regret not getting out for some cools pictures.

The flags over Fort Sumpter. If you look closely, you can see mama and Claire.

Thursday... The Aquarium

The aquarium in Myrtle Beach was awesome. It was the antithesis of the aquarium in Virginia Beach. There were some great fish.
Claire finds out that she has just been put down in front of the pirrhanas (spelling?)

Cool Jellyfish Claire.

If you remember the picture from Virginia Beach Aquarium, there was a picture of Hill pretending to touch the stingrays. This time I can attest to the fact that she did touch the rays.

This is some seriously breath holding.

Those were some funky crabs.

The fish aquariums were awesome. The shark tunnel was amazing. We had such a great time.

Friday... The disappointment of the trip.

We had decided to that thursday would be the aquarium and friday would be the nascar drive park. We checked the weather the week before we came and all the days looked great. The forcast changed and we didn't look it up. Torrential downpore. All day. Nascar park closed. Dad was bummed. He took full blame. But, mom and dad made up for it. Thanks to Jeff and Jenni who decided to babysit for us. We had a nice, quiet dinner out at Bonefish Grill. The shrimp, mahi mahi, and strawberry shortcake were just awesome. We got home and it turns out that Claire didn't stop crying the whole time. We felt bad... but not too bad.

Saturday...

Dad knew he had to do something big if he wanted to get this group home in one piece. He decided to go big with his hair. Unfortunately his hair failed him. He made a bad judgement call. He passed up Smithfields Barbeque in favor of trying out Ralph's (supposedly the best barbeque in NC. We'll never choose Ralph's again. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't Smithfield's. Mama wasn't happy. She was tired of staring Claire in the face and dad made a bad choice. Mama eventually forgave him.

We made it HOME!! No matter how fun a trip is, it is always great to be home. We couldn't decide who had better hair.

Aunt Betsy Comes to Visit

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A few months ago, Uncle Eric called Claire up and told her he wanted to surprise Aunt Betsy with a trip to see her just after Valentines day. Well, that trip came and went and Claire wanted to document all the fun she had. Betsy flew in on Wed the 20th and left a week later. We were so grateful that Uncle Eric and Cousin Sam were willing to share her with us for a week. Sam missed his mom so much and called her all the time. We hear by the end of the week, Uncle Eric had an upgraded appreciation for all that Betsy does. She does such a good job taking care of cousin Sam.

The girls had quite a week together - one fun thing after the next. Nate couldn't get Hill and Betsy to stop talking ever. On top of that, the girls kept giving Nate a hard time about not being cool. Can you believe it? Dad had a heart to heart with Claire and deep down she said that she just went along with mom and Betsy to keep things from being awkward (i.e. mom is still the source of nourishment), and she really thinks that dad is the coolest. The trip culminated with a couple days in the nation's capital. I kept hearing over and over how much better trips go when I am not involved.

Here is Claire on the subway. Looking closely you can read the title on the tube of stuff - Beaudreaux's Butt Paste. And boy has Claire been grateful that Beaudreaux took such an interest in butts. Without it, this trip would not have been nearly so successful. If mama would ever take that binky out of Claire's mouth, you would see her smile.

Claire: Hey Kermit! Ever figure out why there are so many songs about rainbows?
Kermit: Nothing ever fully materialized, but it always came back to leperchauns and gold.
Claire: That's too bad. By the way, what ever happened between you and Ms. Piggy?
Kermit: She ran off with a big pig wearing a "Bad to the Bone" t-shirt and driving a Harley.
She begged me to take her back when her world came crashing down.
Claire: Yea, she always did seem a little bossy and annoying. I think you made the right
choice. Have fun sitting here in this glass box. Nice to meet you

Hello Neighbor!!!! Who doesn't miss the good old days of kicking off the shoes, putting on the slippers and heading back to the land of make believe where all your wildest dreams came true? King Friday XIII, Henrietta, Trolly, Lady Elaine Fairechilde... Those were the good old days of wholesome television. Thanks Betsy for your tribute to a man who changed lives. Mr. Rogers Rules!

Claire loved the Aire and Space Museum. She had such a fun time flying with mom!
Betsy! Don't look now, but there is a huge elephant right behind you... No Claire, it is not Grandpa Dahle (She tried that same joke at the zoo)! It is an elephant and he is coming to eat Betsy!

I don't even know where to start with this photo. Yes Hill, I HOPE that the diamond in your ring grows as big as the diamond in that case. I tried to buy that one for you... uh, but it wasn't for sale. It is the one you deserve of course... of course.

Mama and Betsy wore little Claire out. That, or she needs a better angle to see the scary dinosaur.
The busy day comes to an end. What a great trip to Virginia. Love these girls.

Currently we are in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on vacation. Stay tuned in the next week for postings about our favorite barbeque, minature golf, and Claire's first trip to the beach. Let's just say that sand was consumed, and it wasn't by Hill or Nate. We love you all.

Why do we love this time of year?

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1. Cadbury Mini Eggs
2. Bunnies....

All Claire could talk about today was eating Trix.

Thanks for coming to visit aunt Betsy! What a fun surprise

Hill and Betsy have been having way too much fun on the trip. Tomorrow they head up to D.C. for more fun. Hill has more fun than I know what to do with. Here they are going through all the clothes that Claire can no longer wear because she is too big. Betsy's baby will be stylin'. Bets, I have taken a picture of all our clothes and I will get them all back.

A few weeks back the power went out and Claire loved the flashlight.

It was a cold, dark, winter night. Claire told a story about a messy diaper that was so scary.