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!