Arizona Trip

I had a great time in Tucson visiting my family. The only downside was that Casey was not able to come. Hopefully he will be there next time! We spent a lot of time playing with kids, eating, playing Wii and board games and just having fun.

Claire really enjoyed playing with her cousins. She love little kids. Here they are helping her walk. She is getting much better and yesterday walked across the whole bedroom on her own.
I tried to get a picture with all the kids, but as you can imagine, its a little tricky. 5 yr old is holding 18 month old's head still and I'm trying, unsuccessfully, to keep Claire still.
Claire and her buddy cousin enjoying a meal together. If they sit too close, they will steal each others food.
Another attempt at a group shot.
I also got to see an old mission companion who lives in Tucson now. Her little boy is super cute and just a few months younger than Claire.

I thought this was a funny shot. She is just going to rip the keys away in one second.
The weather wasn't perfect, but it was so fun to see all the kids and my parents, and my brothers and their wives. I wish we all lived closer, but I guess we'll just have to enjoy the moments when we have them.

Funny Video of Claire!

Suzy and Claire recently returned from a trip to Tucson, AZ to visit family. Pics from Suzy will be coming shortly, but in the mean time I want to direct you to two blog posts about the trip so you don't miss them. The first here, from Suzy's brother, Ryan's blog, is a really amusing video of Claire and a Tigger toy (scroll to the end of the post). The second, here is from Suzy's mom's blog.

And just as a bonus... a complementary picture of Claire folding herself in-half.

Nick's Wedding

The main reason that we went to Utah for Christmas was to see my brother Nick and Jessica get married. Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Addie, Claire and Suzy trying to stay warm while we waited outside the temple for Nick and Jessica to show up.

Cory walked into the shot right before the picture took. I love the look on his face as I am trying to wave him out of the way.

Claire and grandpa.

Nick and Jessica and their three nieces.

My siblings.

Christmas Recap

We traveled out to Utah for the week leading up to Christmas. We had a wonderful time and we want to share some of our pictures of the trip.

We went to visit my grandparents and let them see Claire again. It was good to see them, but also sad because their health is deteriorating, and my grandmother's dementia is getting worse every time we see her. Most of the time now, she has no idea who any of us are.

A nice family picture with 4 generations represented.

After my grandparent's house is Salt Lake we wanted to take Claire to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. It was really cold so we bundled her up nice and tight. We were not able to find a parking space so my parents dropped Suzy, Claire, Addie and I off and we took a whirlwind 15 minutes run around Temple Square to see the lights. Claire seemed to enjoy the cold wind in her face more than anything else. But Temple Square at Christmas time is one of the most beautiful sights, and Suzy and I would have been disappointed it we had missed out on it.

Claire had her first real introduction to pets while we were with my parents. At first she was very afraid of Chloe, a 6-year-old toy dachshund, but over the week Claire warmed up to her, and Chloe was very gentle the entire time, what a good dog!

Claire in her new Christmas Eve pjs.

Claire enjoying some Grandma time!

Christmas morning. Claire got some great new toys that she absolutely loves.

She even got into the present opening!

California

It has been almost a month since I went to California with Claire. It was really great to see my Grandma and Grandpa and lots of other family members.

The four generations.

Claire and I got to meet my newest cousin, Jared. He was born a month after she was. It was so fun to see them "fight" over toys. Neither one really cared who got it, but they both like to grab everything in sight, including each other.

Claire with her great-grandma. Isn't this a sweet picture?

I also got to go to my cousins wedding. This isn't a very good picture, but its all I've got.

Unfortunatly, my grandpa was in the hospital the whole time we were there. We did get to do a few things to help my grandma out since she was at the hospital with my grandpa most of the time. We also got to take a few walks around the neighborhood in the beautiful California weather.

Overall, it was really good to get to see my grandma, grandpa, cousins, aunts and uncles and introduce them to Claire. I wish it hadn't involved a 5 hour flight with a squirmy 8 month old who doesn't like to sleep anywhere but her bed, but we made it through and it was well worth it.

On Top of Old Smokey

And no, its not covered with cheese, but it is covered with fog. We went to the very top and couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of us.

We went to Tennessee two weekends ago and went to the Great Smokey Mountains. I had no idea how beautiful and fun it would be, so I'm glad we went. We were worried it would rain, but it turned out to be a nice weekend weather wise and it wasn't hot at all, in fact, on top of the mountain it was windy and a little cold.

Casey on top, you can see how foggy it was. It was about a half mile paved hike to the top, but it was very steep.

On top they have a big observation deck. If it was a clear day, you could see four states.

The fog parted for just a minute on one side, you can see the difference it makes.

We also went for a six-mile round-trip hike up to rainbow falls. It was a nice hike and Claire seemed to like it. She slept the whole way down. There was a nice creek that ran by part of the trail. It was really beautiful.

This is us at the top.

We also saw a black bear! It was really close too. We were in the car, otherwise I would have gotten freaked out, but it was just on the side of the road. It didn't react at all to the six cars just sitting and watching it. It was just looking for worms or bugs in the grass. We were probably less than 10 feet from the bear.

We had a great weekend trip and can't wait to explore more cool stuff in the South.

Arizona Part II

We've been back for two weeks now, but I still haven't posted about the rest of our trip, so lets see what I can remember.  We spent a lot of time just relaxing or planning with the kids, so not too many interesting pictures, but here are a few.

We went to the zoo.  Claire really liked the giraffes.  At least, I decided that she did.  She was awake for them, so that was a lot more than I could say for most of the animals.  

5 year old really enjoyed the zoo, especially seeing it upside down.  

Claire did go swimming for the first time, but I think the pictures of that are on a cd, and I'm too lazy to go look for it right now.  She did amazingly well and didn't scream at all.  She seemed to like it.  She's been swimming in GA as well, and did great again.

Here she is playing with Ya Ya.  It was a great trip and so fun to see family since we are so far away from them.  Thanks for a great time everyone.  Hope you can make it to Georgia sometime soon.

Arizona Part 1

I have been in Tucson for over a week now. I am having a great time with my family, although I am really missing Casey a lot. Here is what we've been up to, in no particular order...

Swimming with YaYa...well, Claire didn't really swim, but she slept by the pool while we swam.

Claire is perfecting her laugh and smile. I just love this purple onesie too, I think its her color. She is also starting to reach and grab things so I have to watch the hair and glasses.

My two year old Nephew is now my three year old Nephew. Happy Birthday Buddy!

My cousin Jill came down from Phoenix to visit. It was so fun to see her as I haven't seen her since my wedding. I'm so glad she got to meet Claire and we had a blast talking and catching up.

9 month old cousin and Claire "playing". Ya Ya is protecting Claire from very curious hands.

Soccer game for 5 year old. The silver team was blazing fast.

Claire and Bompa going for a walk. Bompa is walking, Claire is sleeping. I think the heat really puts her to sleep. She seems to zonk out whenever she's stuck somewhere warm.

It has been so fun to see my mom's new house and my brother's new house, as well as all the kids. I haven't been here since before I got married, so it was nice to come for a visit. Wish you were here Casey!! Claire and I miss you. :)

Trivia and our Last Trip to Boston

Knowing that we would be leaving Massachusetts for a long time, we thought that we should go explore Boston one last time. The weather looked like it would hold for us, so off we went. Our first stop was at the Boston Temple. We thought it would be fun to take a picture with Claire there to add to our pictures with her and a few other temples. As you can see from the sky, it was a gorgeous morning. The sky was bright blue with little white puffy clouds. Claire was not the most cooperative she has ever been while taking these pictures.

This is in the car of the temple parking lot. I love the look on Claire's face in this picture.

Next we took the T into the city and decided to walk the Freedom Trail again. Here is Suzy (and Claire) at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (click on the name to learn what role the building played in gaining Independence). 

The Paul Revere statue and the Old North Church. This statue was sculpted by Cyrus Dallin, 100 bonus points for the person who can name another one of his most famous sculptures there are several to choose from (hint: several are in Utah and Massachusetts). No cheating and looking it up!!!

On the trail we stopped at Mike's Pastries, a famous pastry shop in the North End, the Italian area of Boston. We bought this huge German Chocolate brownie to eat for lunch. It was very good.

Here is Claire perfectly content chilling in the stroller.

Suzy and Claire looking back at the Old North Church.

Casey and Claire on top of Bunker Hill, the end of the Freedom Trail. You can see from this photo that the skies are starting to look a little less friendly. We jumped on the T from here and headed south to Castle Island and when we got off the T, things were pretty cold, windy and misting.

Luckily Suzy had packed some warmer clothes for Claire in the diaper bag, what a great mom! We bundled Claire up nice and warm, with her extra pair of socks as gloves. It was cold and foggy. We could hardly see more than 50 feet in front of us. We wanted to go to Castle Island, which has Fort Independence on it. It is also no longer an island, but has a causeway out to it. We got off of the T, and jumped on a bus to get there, except we were not quite sure what bus stop we needed to get off at... and we guessed wrong, way wrong. We would up having to walk about 2 miles to the fort instead of maybe a quarter mile if we had gotten off at the right stop. Opps!