Happy Birthday Dad!

Just a little shout out to my Dad, whose birthday is today. We love you so much!

Disneyworld

Our family vacation, or as Claire says, our "fun fieldtrip".

So, this is how we survived the 6+ hour flight to Orlando...


Miracle upon miracles, Stella slept nearly the entire way down, while Claire watched "Sleeping Beauty" on Matt's laptop and played with her friend Ashlyn. Blessings! :) We went down with some of our friends, who have a little girl Claire's age. The two girls had a great time together.

The first thing we saw when we arrived at the Magic Kingdom was one of Claire's favorite princesses, Snow White. They looked adorable together! (Side note: Claire wanted to take ALL of her princess dresses but I made her choose just one. She threw a fit but got over it eventually! She later told me that she didn't want to other princesses to feel bad.)

Claire and Stella loved all the rides at Magic Kingdom and so did we! There was only one ride that Claire could go on that Stella couldn't; that was the Goofy roller coaster. I think Claire went on it a total of 4 times! We were able to meet most of the Princesses, ride on Aladdin's carpet, eat yummy food, ride on the Mary Poppins ride (the Carousel), tour Micky and Minnie's homes and do lots of other fun things. All I can say is, they (Disney) have this thing figured out! Seriously, whoever planned these parks were geniuses!


The second day we went to Animal Kingdom; it was a lot of fun too. We enjoyed A Bug's life, the African Safari, and the water ride (can't remember the name) the most. Claire loved her Bug's life 3-d glasses but wasn't so sure about the whole 3-D idea. She freaked out when the bugs started flying towards her and then "spit" on her. Matt did a great job calming her down so she could enjoy the rest of the show.
The next day we went to MGM. It was rainy but not too cold. We went to Playhouse Disney Live, which is a show where some of the Disney cartoons are on stage but it's an interactive show. Claire liked it, but not quite as much as I thought she would because she was hungry. We fed her a snack and then went to see the Beauty and the Beast stage show (a shortened version of the Broadway musical - it was impressive), the Little Mermaid stage show (not quite as impressive), and waited in line for the Toy Story ride. It was like a live video game. I don't know how else to describe it but it was pretty cool.

Next year...

Matt doesn't believe me, but so help me, next year the girls WILL get Aggie jammies! Hey, it's only fair to represent both schools equally, ya know!?

Way to go Utes!

13-0 with a 31-17 Sugar Bowl win over Alabama. Check out those little girls in their UTAH jammies (a present from daddy, of course).

Family Picture 2008

Stella

This little girl is a delight and a handful! She is changing so much right now; I can hardly believe she is 10 months old! Some fun things about Stella:
-she will not eat one bite of baby food. None, nada, zip. However, she will eat any "regular" food you put on her plate. And she's a good eater!
-she can say dada, mama, and loves to hear herself babble
-She can crawl so fast! She's learning how to walk herself around on furniture also. She loves to pull herself up on whatever she can.
-She can climb up stairs but not down. Kind of a problem when you live in our house!
-She screams all the time - when she's happy, when she's mad, sad, etc. I think I'm losing my hearing!
-She has a special blanket that she sleeps with. It's tattered and torn but she doesn't sleep without it.
-She is still a thumb sucker.
-She loves to be held and cuddled but isn't a cuddly baby. Does that make sense?! I mean, she wants you to cuddle with her but she doesn't reciprocate.
-She has three bottom teeth and one top tooth.
-Her favorite part of the day is bathtime! I have to get some pictures of her in the bath because that is when she's the happiest. And yes, there have been days where I've put her in the bath to see if she'll chill out a bit.
-She is not a great sleeper at night; still getting up a few times a night. However, it's all usually between 7 pm and midnight. Then she does okay.
-She and Claire are beginning to really play together and it's so cute! They are going to have a lot of fun together.
-She loves to chew on anything; partially because she's teething but she's always liked to do this. She's especially prone to car keys and the bottom of our kitchen stools.
-Claire gave Stella her nickname: "Stellie" Claire also likes to call her Cinderstellie or Cinderstella.
-She loves to be carried while we run around and chase Claire.
-She enjoys being in the backpack more than the stroller. There have been days where I've put her in the backpack as I work around the house so I can get some things done.

We love you Stella and are happy you're part of our family!

catching up

Since we have so much to catch up on, I don't know where to start. So, here we go, in no particular order...

The first weekend in October we headed up Farmington Canyon to look at the leaves. They were still a beautiful shade of red and fun for the kids to play in. We took a few family pictures but I love this one of Claire playing in the leaves.


Here is a picture of Claire and Stella on Matt's birthday.


Our cute Stella. I still can't believe those big blue eyes!


Happy Halloween! This year we were going to dress up as a family. Well, I was a slacker and didn't get around to costumes for Matt and I. We were going to be the Cinderella story; Matt as the prince, me as the fairy godmother, Claire as Cinderella, and Stella as the pumpkin. Oh well, next year!