Chase and Joel's First Home Movie

We got a new video camera for Christmas. We are experimenting with how well this will be "published" on the blog.

June - Telluride

The annual Telluride Bluegrass trip was fun as always.
Our hike. It was a fun way to spend the morning. But, man, was I tired afterwards! I hate this photo of myself...but it's not how good you look, but the memory it brings...right?!

The fathers day photo. Hard to believe that all these kiddos weren't in the picture 6 years ago!

I know the lighting is bad in this photo. But I love it. Chase was HARD to contain this year. He is an explorer and pretty much wanted to hi to everyone and interrupt/participate in any form of "ball" games.

And finally a picture that sums up the festival. Happiness and (empty) drinks!

June - Backyard Photos

Here are some fun backyard photos of Chase. His hair has grown so much since then!

Catching up - Locket Meadow, May 2010

For memorial day weekend we went to Flagstaff. That Friday we had planned to hike Locket Meadow. When we got there the road was still closed for the season. So we parked the car and hiked our butts up to the meadow's camping area. We had the entire area to ourselves until some forest service workers got there. They came to clean up the camp ground and open it for the season. It was a lot of fun and gave us some great photos of Chase! We ended up hiking down right when the road opened. Both of us decided we should camp there next year. Sadly a few weeks later the area was involved in a big wildfire. I don't think this area was burnt, although I'm not positive. Maybe we will make it our first camping trip as a family of four!
I have a frame that has an 8x10 everyday picture of Chase that Joel or I took in it. I decided that we will update it every year. This might be this year's picture!

Family photo

Chase enjoyed climbing up and down on several rocks and logs. This has a good picture of the peaks in it.

I love this picture! I just wish Chase wasn't blurry...otherwise it would definitely be our yearly photo!

Chase's 2nd Birthday

This year for Chase's Birthday we decided to celebrate it at a local play area. I have decided to start making a big deal out of my kid(s) birthdays. Not with presents so much, but more in celebrating that day to the max. On his actual birthday we opened mom and dad's present first thing in the morning (which made the whole day feel a bit like Christmas!) then had pancakes, went swimming, met nana and grandpa for lunch and shopping. Home for more present opening and finally spaghetti and cake for dinner. I think Chase's favorite part of the day was the spaghetti...the boy loves noodles.

We had the birthday party on Saturday. And again I think the boy enjoyed eating more than the actual party. I think he had fun. He was very spoiled thanks to everyone's generosity!

Chase has been to this place a dozen times or so. This is the first time he got on this motorcycle and pushed himself! He seemed to have fun. I love the look he is giving the camera!

These pictures best capture the day! FOOD!!! All he did was eat the icing no cake for him....takes after his mom!

He loves using a napkin. And he does actually use it....he just gets really really messy!

And here is a week old picture. It is amazing how far they come in two years. For some reason the second birthday was much harder on me than the first. I guess it is just the realization that my baby is truly a toddler. He is turning into a really amazing, loving boy. And I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for all of us!

Happy birthday sweet baby boy! You bring so much love and joy into our lives. Much more than your dad and me ever thought possible.

We are back!

So we decided to get Internet and tv for the winter months. We have had both for a week now...and I haven't been able to post! So that goes to show you how little you "need" Internet. :)

I will be trying to catch up on posts throughout the week/month. We shall see just how long it takes me.

Goodbye World

Welp, Joel and I took the step of cutting ourselves off from the outside world. We shut off the Internet and cable about a week ago. It was a good time, since I am out of town for two weeks anyways.

So blog posting will be far and few between. Probably about what it has been now. I will just have to wait until I'm at a house with internet to post.

We were in Telluride last week. Which is always such a fun trip! Now I'm at my Grandma's enjoying being spoiled. We head back to Prescott on Thursday. I am NOT looking forward to that car trip.

Not much else to say. I will try and get some photos up in the next month.

The Backyard

Well, we are almost there! The playhouse, play set, concrete are all in place!!! All that is left, well for this summer, is irrigation and grass. Which will hopefully be happening soon!

Here are some pics! Joel's mom and dad came and helped with the play set. We were so happy they came up! We really appreciated their help...it would have taken us at least twice as long!

The playhouse. The doorbell is Chase's favorite feature.

The massive play set...didn't look so massive once it was up. It took Chase a day to figure out how to get up the ladder.

The lower part of the swing set.

Playing in dirt and water...pretty much the happiest boy in the world!

On another note. The test blog below was an accident. Joel and I were checking out ipads and that was accidentally posted. I could delete it, but that maybe Joel's only contribution to this blog!

Being a Mom

It is amazing how much your life can change when you decide to bring a child into your life. When friends ask the ultimate pregnancy question "How should we prepare?" I almost laugh to myself. Of course I give them tons of advice...because I love giving advice (well I love adding my 2 cents at the very least). But the best piece of advice (and possibly the most hated) is "You will prepare and prepare but until that baby gets here you will have no idea." Oh how I hated those passive aggressive comments with a passion. No pregnant woman wants to hear the "just you wait" or the "you say that now, but when your baby gets here you will be singing a different tune". It is an almost holier than thou attitude that older more "experienced" mom's have when they talk to the brand spankin new moms. But, sadly, they are true comments. You really have no idea how much your world will change until that being enters it. And how much you can prepare, but still be so unprepared.

I guess in the long run you realize the mommy hood is a truly out of control race track. Yes you will do some steering but for the most part you are just a voice inside your little guys head. Telling/helping him navigate the roads and hoping to some higher power that he arrives at the end unscathed, happy, and the driver you have always known he could be.

But man a manual would be nice.

A flashback...the first week of realizing just how incredibly life changing being a mom is.

And that is my ramble for the day. :)

Test3

Big Shoes to Fill and Easter

Someone (Hi Brian!) mentioned that I hadn't updated this blog in forever. So I made a point to get some cute photos of Chase this weekend. Here he is playing with Shoooos.

We were brave/crazy and did two Easter Egg hunts on Saturday. The first was a big success and Chase managed to get 5 eggs!!! The other, well we were lucky just to get one. After the second though, we went on a treasure hunt and got a lot of goodies for Chase (and I) to eat. It was a fun day and I can't wait for next year! I didn't get any photos of the actual hunt. It was dangerous out there! Instead I tossed the eggs that Chase got and did a mini hunt of our own. He was very interested in putting the halves together and also with throwing.

On the home front we are still working on the backyard. Sometimes it feels endless. But, we have concrete, a sand pit, and a playhouse up and running. In the next couple of weeks we should have the playset up and maybe irrigation. Hopefully grass and some rock in time for summer. :)

We have also decided to cut off our (well my) world from technology. We will be going without internet and tv. The date is set for mid April....we shall see how long I can last. :) I'm hoping to update the blog from the library. It might get updated even more, now that I have an excuse to get out of the house.

Not much else to report. I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Bubbles, Numa and Papa

We met up with Joel's parents to celebrate Jeff's Birthday. We went to the White Tanks for a little hike. It was fun, but packed!

While Joel and I walked up to see the water fall. Numa and Papa stayed with Chase and helped him throw pebbles into the water.

The new shades we got him. He took them off 2.2 seconds later.

The new trike we got him. It's nice because he is strapped in and we can push him. This little guy loves bikes.

Numa treated Chase to a bubble making machine. He LOVED it. So did Murphy, the dog.

Trying to get the bubbles.

Helping Numa out. He took a big bite of the lemon!

I love this picture. It is just so Chase, always on the go with something in his hands.

On other family news. We have started the backyard! This is a huge undertaking! We plan on getting concrete done. And we bought Chase a HUGE playset and playhouse. I see a lot of outside time in our future!!!

Lots of Pics

This is from the snow storm that came through several weeks ago. Chase, I think, had fun. This is probably the most snow I have EVER seen in Chino.

Here we are doing Valentine's Day cards. As you can see there was a couple of times Chase managed to get the marker in his mouth before I could stop him.

THIS is Chase's favorite thing right now. He will climb into the truck and move back and forth saying some incoherent word that means Go Go GO!

I was fixing dinner one night and didn't realize I had left the bathroom door open. Chase managed to unravel a brand new roll of toilet paper.

Here I'm trying to get a good picture of him with the toilet paper....he just wanted to go.

Standing up in the truck. He is a climber and a mover....much like his dad.

This is a picture of him wanting the camera. He was pretty upset that he didn't get it.

We spent the morning at the park. Chase is an explorer and really could care less about the playground equipment. I would say 90% of our time was spent walking/running and looking/picking up rocks.

I have had such a hard time getting Chase to look at me when I take pics. UGH!

A general up date:

Life is pretty good. Joel was fighting a cold last week and I think Chase got it. So we have been battling snotty noses for a couple of days. Chase has mastered walking. He walks backwards and sits on things (which include a farm house, Avery, shoes, mom and dad). He is also "running". Seriously the little dude is fast.