Fun with Cousins in Utah

After Christmas was over we flew to Utah to spend the New Year with more family. Chase had a ton of fun playing with all of his cousins.

Don't worry I was only in the drivers seat for picture purposes. Jonathan being the kid he is loves taking the buggy out for a spin any chance he gets. I thought it would be a good idea to let Chase enjoy the thrill as well. Jonathan drove and Chase rode on my lap. He wasn't super excited but didn't hate it either. I think we all would have enjoyed it more had the snow not been coming down, it was flying straight at our faces! Chase and I gave up quickly but Jonathan was the trooper who took all the kids for rides. Riley was my little helper the whole time we were there. Being she is the only girl in her family I think she has naturally been deemed a nurturer. She loved taking care of Chase and let him have his way with her. Chase, who never sits still mind you, sat like this on Riley for a good hour. She didn't look very comfortable but every time I asked her if she wanted me to move him she said no. What a great big cousin.

Couldn't resist a picture of these two cuties getting clean rather than making a mess for once!

One night we had my sister Angel and her family up to the house to play games. The kids loved crawling in the fort above the closet and making their mark on the wall. I finally made the climb up the ladder with Chase and he loved drawing all over everything.

Lizzie, Sam, Zander, Maddie, Chase, and Harm
I was a little apprehensive about taking Chase my super busy boy to a movie but I am glad we did. He absolutely loved it. We went to see the Chipmunk Sequel and we honestly had more fun watching Chase than the movie. He loves music and would bounce in his seat or stand up and dance anytime they would sing and dance. He sat really well as pictured for the most part but would also walk down the aisle stealing the other kids treats.

We always have a blast spending time with family and wished we lived closer so he could play everyday. I guess we have to be thankful for the times we do have and remember that we have eternity to be together. Can't wait for the next time!

Christmas!

This year we spent Christmas in Texas. It was fun to see Chase truly be a part of the festivities because last year he was just too little. We let him open his gifts from us early so we didn't have to travel with them and he did a great job of opening his own presents, which I don't even have one picture of. However, once we were in TX there was just too much excitement happening for him to concentrate on one thing. We couldn't even get him to sit to open a present. Once he started he would very easily be distracted with something else and get up and walk away.

While doing some last minute Santa shopping PaPa and Daddy bought Chase this cute Santa suit. The only problem is that is was a 6-9 month outfit and he was actually almost 14 months old! They were soooo excited about it that there was no chance he wasn't at least trying it on. I have to admit even though it was several sizes too small I am happy we got some pictures. His head is in the 95% so the hat was a real squeeze as you can see. With the small hat and his dumbo ears he actually looks like a little elf!

A family picture from Christmas Eve

It is a Hoyt tradition to get matching pj's and is one tradition that Jonathan and I have done since we've been married. We couldn't get us all matching but I think that's a good thing because at least Chase looks cute and not like a big green blog like Jonathan and I!

Uncle Tay Tay was getting a little bit jealous of all the pictures we were taking without him so here is a fun one for the memory book. Thanks Tay!

Bridger, Chase, and Maddie on Christmas Eve. Aren't they adorable?!?!

This is a picture of Chase on Christmas morning. Santa brought him a miniature bounce house! He loved climbing in and out of all the holes and climbing on the slide, that is until we had it shipped to us in KS where Jonathan quickly caused an irreparable hole along a seam . However, the gift that took the prize of favorite would have to be the cheap, plastic tools also pictured. Go figure that the $1 package of tools from Wal Mart would be the big hit.

Santa's Little Helper

Our home teachers brought us a basket full of goodies for Christmas and Chase thought the basket filler was pretty cool stuff. At first I was a little bit worried about the mess it would make but when I saw how much fun he was having I turned it into a Kodak Moment! I stripped him naked, put my socks on him, and attempted to put our crazy Santa hat on as well. Here are the results of that moment. He sure looks like a cute Santa helper!

Holiday Fever

Every holiday season brings a ton of hustle and bustle. With this being my first season as a stay at home mom I was able to feed my holiday fever in many new ways. Chase and I enjoyed listening to Christmas music while we played rather than sitting in front of the TV and he loved the Christmas lights I hung. Our apartment actually felt more like a home with all of the decorations! Chase's favorite decoration was our Scooby Doo stocking that talks and sings.

I also tried my hand at baking some holiday goodies. A few years back I made some ginger snaps and literally turned them into small balls of flames in the oven and set the smoke alarms off. I really felt the need to redeem myself! I tried and really didn't improve a whole lot. My ginger snaps made it out without flames but were really hard. Jonathan called them "break your tooth hard"! My sugar cookies I made from a Betty Crocker bag and still managed to mess up. They cooked for too long and were hard as well. I made a second batch a few days later and they turned out a million times better. I even made my frosting from scratch! Jonathan claims I still need to work on my baking so we will see what the future holds. Hopefully one day I can esteem to making a cookie!!!

Me decorating the "better" batch of cookies
A few of my favorites
Chase decided he wanted to help me and somehow managed to get the green food coloring off the table. I caught him under the table dying his hands and the carpet! This picture was taken after scrubbing with soap and water for several minutes.

A family pic taken at our Ward Christmas party

No Christmas would be complete without a chance to sit on Santa's lap. This Santa is the nicest jolly old fat man you could ever meet. Who would be afraid of him?!?!?

Chase was absolutely terrified to sit with Santa. When Santa walked into the party he shook Chase's hand and he was smiling from ear to ear. The second we handed him over for a picture Chase screamed and tried his best to get away. It was quite comical.

I really wanted a picture of Chase with Santa so I thought I would hold him and stand between the two to get a picture. Chase didn't like this either. As you can tell he continued to scream and wanted nothing to do with that jolly old fat man any more!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah this year. It seems to be a great meeting place because both Jonathan and I have family there. We spent Thanksgiving day with the Hoyt's. We spent yet another year eating a wonderful meal at a wilderness cabin in the mountains. I have a feeling it will be the traditional Thanksgiving location. It was a fun gathering of both friends and family. Not only do they have a great buffet but the log cabin feel made for a cozy afternoon. They have a ton of wooden statues all over and it seems that bears were the common theme. Chase loved climbing on a few of them.

Chase loves being around other kids and had a blast with all of his cousins.

We spent the following day with my family. My mom and dad made the drive and were staying at Angel's house. We had a fun time playing and watching many games. Mom, dad, Angel, and myself spent a few hours away from everyone while getting in a little shopping. It was fun to bond with just the adults even though I think my dad was ready to pull out his hair and was probably wishing he had been deaf! It probably didn't help his mood any that Angel completely pulled the back of his seat off!!! Let's just say he definitely paid us all back by taking us on a LONG car ride (supposedly on our way home but clearly not the case) to a neighborhood where he used to live. I guess it's the small things we do to make our parents happy. He really enjoyed showing us the house and telling us many stories.

My niece, Lizzie, also shared her pet rats with Chase. I didn't know how he would handle it but you can tell by the pictures how he felt. At first he wondered what the heck it was but after spending just a few seconds watching it he headed for some security, Daddy! Surprisingly the rats were kind of cute.

He also had fun learning a few new tricks from his cousin Sam. What a bunch of crazy boys!!!

Chase and I also had the fortune of running into some old friends and their daughter Blakely at church. Good thing I had my camera with me because who could pass up a picture of these two cuties!It was a great trip filled with the love of many close family members and friends. We can't wait to see what next year brings!

First Five Steps

Chase took his first five steps today. Where you ask?!?!? In the toy aisle at Wal Mart of all places. I have tried enticing the kid with chocolate, ice cream, his favorite toys and nothing ever seemed to work. It all started because Chase was not enjoying his time in the cart while I was picking up some goodies for my girls movie night. That's when I decided to push him over to the toys. By the time we got there he was fussing and trying to climb out. I just took him out and stood him up in the middle of one of the aisles. He hesitated and then took one step. This was not out of the ordinary but when he took another step as opposed to dropping down and crawling I knew we had made some progress. Needless to say I never imagined he would take five steady steps all on his own!!! Of course I freaked out with excitement and immediately thought I would try to get him to do it again, so I could catch it on video with my phone. After several attempts and no success I finally gave up because people around were starting to stare and laugh. (I wouldn't want to end up on the people of Wal Mart website) I am hoping that those five steps were the first of very many more to come. Jonathan is in Austin with all of the boys and I said to him before he left that he would probably come home to a walking big boy. Now the pressure is on and I will hopefully succeed at my mission!

All Aboard!!!

We celebrated Chase's brithday on Saturday afternoon with all of his close friends and of course his awesome grandparents that traveled from TX and NE. When Chase was about nine months old I saw a train cake on a parenting website and from that day forward I planned a train themed party. After about a month of planning and a week of pure chaos the party was a hit! The train theme was carried out in the invitations, decorations, cake, party favors and even Chase's conductor ensemble.This is the invitation I made which set the image for the whole party. As you will see the Chase Express and engine of the cake all match this invite.

This is a group shot of everyone that came to his party. The top picture is minus my dad and the bottom one is minus Jonathan's dad.

Chase did an ok job of opening the presents but still needed some help. He was quite the gracious gift recipient. He loved every toy and wanted to play with it right away. He would cry everytime I took one away, that is until he opened the next one!

This is one of my favorites pictures from the day. Chase really did enjoy being dressed up as a conductor and even shared his hat with all of his friends so they could get a picture inside the Chase Express!

Here is a picture of the train and cart I made and attached to his walker wagons. The kids enjoyed playing in them and getting their pictures taken.

Talk about a cake. This thing took three people (me, Grandma Ree, and Nana) several hours to decorate. I can say that while it was fun seeing the final product I will probably never do this again! I feel sorry for his next birthday and even more sorry for any future children we may have because I can guarantee that no other party will have as much time and dedication for hands on projects dedicated to them.

I guess all of my hard work paid off though. Here is the evidence that Chase loved his birthday cake! He was such a good boy. We stripped him down, put a bib on him and sat him and his cake on a trash bag. He dug in immediately and just sat there and continued to eat. Once he started moving around (after about 5 mins) we picked him up and cleaned him off in the sink. It was fun to watch and a suprisingly easy mess to clean up.

I forgot to get a picture of the party favors but they were really cute. I bought some snacks, suckers, a wooden engine train whistle, bubbles, and glow stick bracelets and tied them all up inside a bandana with ribbon and attached a balloon. They were our table decorations and when the children left they got to take one with them. I am extremely proud of my big boy and the first year we have had with him. I was thankful that so many people came to help us celebrate his big day!