A Short Post

Here are the pictures that wouldn't upload yesterday. We wish you could all be out here to experience her wonderful personality. She is having so much fun with her aunts. They have already spoiled her too much. As long as she doesn't realize it yet, we'll let it slide. Thanks Al and Cyd.

"Oh papa, I have a secret. I'll tell you when I get older."

Look at how good she is at sitting up. All by herself. She gets all the attention she needs from her toys. And then she gets bored.

If you haven't seen the previous post, there is a video of Claire. Hope you all enjoy

Claire's Reaction!!!

This morning we were talking to Claire and asking her all kinds of questions. This was her response to finding out that Aunt Ann is getting married and that we are coming out to Utah as a family. She could not be more excited!

We are having a great time. Right now, as we speak, Aunt Alyson and Aunt Cydnee are visiting from Utah. We would like to think that they came out to see us, but we know that they came out to see Claire. It is such a beautiful time to be in Virginia as the leaves are changing colors. We hope to take a drive to the Blue Ridge Mountains to see the leaves tomorrow. It is so much fun to have family out here visiting. They are having a great time with Claire and they did request and receive the famous waffles. Like I said, anyone who comes over and requests, will get the waffles.

Claire is doing so well. She is doing so many fun things. We finally decided that it is time for her to sit up. So we have been practicing that. She is doing so well. I was about to post some other pictures, but the blogger is not working right now. So, I will leave you with the video and update again soon.

Congratulations are in order!!!!

We just wanted to announce to the world (well, the readers of our blog), that our wonderful sister Ann has met an equally wonderful guy and they are getting MARRIED! We are so excited for them. I haven't yet met Mike, but Hill says he is fabulous. You can count is in for the wedding! We can't wait. We hear that it will be sometime in mid-december. Ann sends her love to all of her friends and family. We appreciate all your love and support through what have been some trying times.
Here's the happy couple
Mike, you are one lucky guy to pick up these three. They bring so much joy to all of our lives. Take good care of them. We love you

Boy Did We Have A Fun Day Yesterday

Hello All!!! Thank you for such a wonderful week of fun comments on our blog. We love to know who is reading the blog and we love to hear how everyone is doing. It has been a great week at the Dahle house. Dad hasn't had to be into work until 9 o'clock. 9 o'clock? Are you kidding me? That means that he has been able to see Claire and play with her every morning this week. If this little girl doesn't put a smile on his face for the rest of the day, I don't know what will.

Before we get any further, we need to offer up our congratulations to Kevin William Dahle. Age 23. Height 6'6". Weight $1.50. Nickname: Ratt. Marital Status: Single. Dating status: available. Current family intelligence ranking: #1. Place of residence: Cougartown (RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR). Other notable honors: Sam's favorite uncle. Greatest accomplishment: Learning to ride a bike. Classic statement: "I need Jeans!!"

This week he was accepted to medical school at the University of Michigan and Ohio St. University. Nice work buddy. And like I said this man is single.

Here is Kevin finishing up some pasta and sporting an inspirational message: Be Someone. If that doesn't scream "Quality Individual," I don't know what does.


Now on to our fun day. Claire is such a good baby. She sleeps through the night. She wakes up ready to play. She loves to take a bath. She takes good naps. She is starting to grow some hair. And she smiles at us all of the time.


Every time we bathe her, we wrap her up in her hooded towel and she is so much fun to cuddle up with. She uses the same joke everytime. "Luuuuuuke, I am your father. Do not underestimate the power of the Dark Side." Good one Claire. Daddy laughs every time.

After bathtime and getting ready, we headed over to the Charlottesville Chocolate Festival to visit our good friend Jenni. Jenni makes faux desserts and cake stands for decoration. Her display here looks amazing and everyone wanted to know how she made them. Obviously she can't share her secret. Especially since she was recently discovered by Martha Stewart. She submitted a video and there is a good chance that she will appear on Martha's show in the near future(Are we a little hesitant about a good friend mingling with ex-cons? Sure, but we will let it slide). Check out Jenni's website and her blog
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5215634
www.jenniboriginals.blogspot.com

Good luck Jenni!


After the Chocolate festival it was off to the Carter Mountain Orchard to eat some apple cider doughnuts and enjoy the perfect fall weather here in Central Virginia. It was the perfect day and we had such a good time. As an aspiring photographer, dad had to set up some pictures in the pumpkin patch. After seeing what good time dad was having, mom decided that yes, it is the right time to get a Digital SLR. Dad can't wait! Hopefully we will be able to get it in the next couple weeks in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hopefully everyone will be able to enjoy the beautiful pictures.

We found that if you stack enough pumpkins around her, she is able to stand up on her own. Actually she can hold herself up if we put her hands on the ottoman. She is getting so strong.


Just playing in the pumpkins.

Claire: Dad, I'm tired of sitting in the dirt so you can get a good picture. I don't seen any other kids with pumpkins stacked all around them. Now my pants are all dirty.

Dad: I know sweetheart. Remember, just humor me. I love you. I'll see if I can find you a wagon to sit in.

Claire is so much happier in the wagon. You should have seen us making fools of ourselves trying to get her to smile. Isn't she cute.

Careful dad! I think the wagon is starting to roll down the hill.

Thank goodness I finally found my fingers. I love riding around in my wagon
What a fun day for our family at the pumpkin patch.

After the pumpkins we ate nachos from our favorite restaurant, La Cocina Del Sol. Then we met some new friends and watched the Red Sox/Indians game. The Evans are die-hard Red Sox fans as they just moved down from Boston. We had a great time hanging out. Claire was sooooooooo cooperative. She fell asleep in her car seat on the way there, slept in her car seat through the whole game, and then slept all the way home. This new discovery of her car seat sleeping habits may give us some new liberties at night that we haven't had before.

It was a great day to end a great week. We'll post again soon!

Claire Rolls Over!!!

Well, she did it!!! Last saturday, as we were getting Claire up for the morning, Hill walked in and mentioned that she had found Claire in her crib on her stomach. But we never put her to sleep on her stomach. So we brought her in to the room, placed her on her blanket, and sure enough, she repeated the feat. Currently, she can only go from back to front (we hear that is the more difficult maneuver). We have been trying to capture it on video, but she has been quite elusive . Needless to say, papa was very pleased with his little girl.

Claire post roll-over. She couldn't be happier with herself.

Papa and Claire love to read the mail together. Claire always asks if anyone sends her mail. Instead of disappointing her day after day, we decided to hand her some junk mail and tell her it was from loving friends and family. She is only going to believe that for so long. She is going to start thinking that grandma and grandpa run a credit card company. Papa loves mail time with his girl.

Playing with the girls! The young women came over on Sunday morning for waffles and conference. Claire had a great time. Her favorite talk was President Eyring. She has been talking about it all week. What a wonderful conference weekend. We truly felt the blessings of the gospel in our lives.

I keep hearing from the Carter family that Hill sucked on her two fingers for a very long time. We find her all the time with her fingers in her mouth. She even tries to put our fingers in her mouth. I always pull those fingers out. Every once in a while I find Hill sucking on her fingers. Like mother like daughter - but that's not such a bad thing.

Tonight we went to the stake picnic and had a great time. One of the members has a farm in the rolling hills of central Virginia. It was seriously the most beautiful place. The kind of place that dreams are made of. The only thing more beautiful was my two girls. Hill got a new haircut and we love it. Doesn't she look great?

After a grueling game of horseshoes, we took a family hay ride. We had so much fun riding through the hills of central Virginia. We live in such a beautiful part of the country.

Love them!!!! Sunset on the farm. It was so peaceful and so beautiful.
Claire slept through the hay ride. She was wrapped up snug as a bug in a rug. But here she is obviously awake tucked away safely in papa's arms.

Papa at times has dreams of becoming a photographer. This is a pretty sweet picture of our baby girl. I wish we could know what our sweet Claire Bear was thinking (probably "if I could just get both these hands in my mouth, then I'd be happy."

We love you all! Thanks for supporting our blog. Until we blog again.

Claire does community service

It has been a great week here in Charlottesville. Mom and Dad snuck out last night for a fun night on the town. We went to an Italian Restraunt called Al Dente on the downtown mall. We enjoyed a fabulous meal that included the following: Cured filet mignon with parmesan on arugala; Insalata Caprese - fresh mozzerella, tomatoes with basil-seasoned olive oil; sweet potato gnocchi, with bacon in tomato sauce, Lobster and cheese ravioloi in a creamy tomato sauce; for dessert, italian torta. Needless to say, it was so good. Hill and I met a good friend of ours there (turns out he has some connetions at the restaurant), and we had a great time. He was running a little late so we got some great quality time to reminisce about our time on our missions in Italy. Remember, if anyone heading to Italy needs a translator, just keep in mind. We come pretty cheap.

We have been enjoying conference today and we are blessed to get it in our home without having to go to the church. We loved Elder Wirthlin's and Elder Holland's talk. It is the one time we let Claire watch TV. I think she liked it. We are having the young women over tomorrow for waffles and conference. I'm telling you, all you gotta do is ask and we'll make you some waffles.

Now, on to the pictures

Claire accompanied Mama and the young women of the ward to the old folks home. Many of the patients have Alziemers. All of the residents just loved having Claire visit. This sweet lady was carrying a baby doll around and once she saw Claire, she just had to hold her. Our sweet Claire just loves to do service and she brings joy to everyone around her.
We decided that we needed something to keep Claire's attention so that mama could get things done during the day. Therefore, we decided on the mega saucer. Can you believe she is old enough for a mega saucer? I caught mama trying to climb in the saucer this morning and had to remind her that the saucer is only for Claire.
It looks promising, and we hope that it provides hours of entertainment in the future. Granted, we caught her picking her nose today, and if that provides the same amount of entertainment, we are willing to take it.

She is our little sailor girl! She was a hit at church. She keeps asking if she can go to nursery. She is such a good baby. I can't even tell you what a joy she is in our lives. We wouldn't trade her for anything. Yesterday she asked when she could get a baby brother. I said, "Wo, take it easy (just like Nacho Libre would have said)!!!" All in due time.
For those of you who remember our last post, this is another picture from that sequence. As I was working with Claire rolling over, she got to a point on her side and she was stuck. She just layed there babbling and eating her fingers, mocking me. If that doesn't make a father upset, I don't know what does. Hill took Claire to the Doctor this week for her 4 month check up. Everytime she goes the doctor comments about how healthy she is and how wonderful it is to see someone enjoying motherhood as much as Hill does (he brings Hill to tears every time). The doctor said that Claire is perfectly strong and will roll over when she is ready. Also turns out that Claire is still a chunk (for those who couldn't tell from the pictures). 16 lbs. 8 oz (double her birth weight) and 26 inches. Nice job Claire and Mom.

Claire already needs an attitude adjustment

" Hey Dad, here's what I think about you trying to make me roll over. I'll do it when I am good and ready." Needless to say, Claire spent more than a few minutes in timeout.

Happy 24th of Sept!

Just some fun pictures that we thought everyone might enjoy.



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

Claire and Hill love Utah!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah Mom!

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

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