A few precious moments

I feel like I probably always make Chaser sound like a little stinker, and a bit persnickety (that's my nickname for him when I want to say something mean in a cutesy sounding way. He is none the wiser yet! Aren't I terrible?) , so I decided to share some of his sweeter side. He really can be sooo sweet! And hilarious. I do LOVE him soooo much! Can't imagine life without my Chaser race! The other night we were all eating chicken noodle soup when I happen to notice HOW Chase is eating his soup. Photo opp! Take a good look at his utensils. I guess he thought he could get the veggies out with the fork better (yes, he ate out all the veggies first!) He definitely gets credit for that one! And the spoon is for his broth. Anyway, I thought it was rather cute! He definitely has his own personal style!

Chase frequently is irreverent and sneaks out or talks during prayers, but is getting better. Well, one night this week he came and climbed in bed with me and Wade in the middle of the night and said in a sleepy voice, "Did we have a prayer?" We chuckled and told him that in fact we did have a prayer that evening and then Wade proceeded to tell him we could have another if he'd like, and Chase said, "That's ok, I was just checking."
Wow! In that moment I felt so touched! I realized right then and there that the little things do make a difference and that we are doing okay. I must say I often beat myself up and think I need to do better. But, I truly felt so happy in that moment knowing that bedtime prayer is even important to little Chase. (sigh....)
Another cute thing he said today at church was when the choir got up to sing. Chase asked Wade, "why are all those people getting up?"
Wade- "They are the choir"
The choir began singing and Chase piped up, "They sure are a loud quiet!" :)

Then the last thing I can think of (there are seriously too many to think of) is that Chase is very fascinated by the new little smart cars. He told us one night that he wanted a toy smart car for his birthday. Wade's mom said to him, "I don't know if they make toy smart cars. I've never seen one." Chase emphatically said, "OH--you will on my birthday!" And BTW, they do make them- my dad had seen them at the dealer. Too funny...

9 Months Old

Can you believe our little pixie is 9 months old now? Time truly does fly when your having fun, because our baby girl is so much fun! We all love and adore her soooo much! I can't imagine my life without this sweet angel! She is such a mama's baby lately, very clingy, but I love it! At 9 months, she is still so tiny, but such a little fireball! She is saying lots of words very clearly- with pointing and actions too. Mama, Mommy (so sweet!), Dada, baby (she uses this term for all babies, baby dolls, and puppies and kitties, bye-bye, ocy (octupus). She babbles others of course, like all babies, but the list above are her most popular. She also LOVES to sing and dance! She brings such a sweet spirit into our home. We are so grateful for our little blessing. :)

Our Beach Memories

Here we are at Laguna Beach & Crystal Cove in Newport Beach. We went to California with Wade's parents, his sister and her family. We had 6 adults and 9 children there in all. It was such great family time together! Like I said in my previous post, this was my favorite part of our trip- going to the beach! As was for Wade too! Disneyland was fun, but I would have been content going to the beach every day! We had such a wonderful vacation. I took so many pictures! The first day we went, Livvy was actually sick so she was scared of the sand and waves. In one of our pictures, you can see her burying her head in Grandpa's chest and crying when we set her down. Later in the week when we went back, she did great and seemed to be really happy to be there. No tears at all. Braydon did great learning to body surf and Sommer and Chase just loved exploring. Here are some of our precious memories. The posted pics are some of my faves, and then there were lots I put in the slide show since there were lots that I wanted to share...

Happiest Place on Earth!

This was our very first trip to Disneyland! We had so much fun! The kids absolutely loved it! It was exhausting but so worth it! The characters were sooo sweet! They were so cute with Livvy. A few came over to her from crowds just to come kiss her and she loved it, too! It was such a great year to go because a lot of rides had a height requirement of 40 inches, which on our last day, we realized Chase was exactly! So, he got to ride soarin' over California- twice! That was the best ride in California Adventures! Many of you know, but it is a flight simulator and it was so realistic! You really feel as if you on a hang glider, and Chase, my little aviator, just loved it! He always tells us he wants to be a pilot like Daddy and I think he just might! Braydon, my little dare- devil rode all the scary rides, even the Tower of Terror! Of course, however, he wouldn't go back on it a second time with me. :) Wade hates roller coasters so Braydon rode them with me! We did convince Wade to go on Space Mountain- which is fast, but not scary, and that was also a favorite for most of us!!! As a jeeping family, we loved the Indiana Jones ride.. It was sooo cool! The scariest ride for me was when everyone told me I could take the baby on the Pirates of the Carribean boat ride, so I did and I had no idea that it had a 2 drops! I was freaking out, almost in tears because I thought it was a little too intense for a baby and we had to just sit there and endure it til the end. I was so afraid she was going to be traumatized. However, she never cried or screamed like everyone else (ummm... me), she just closed her eyes tight and sucked her two fingers (like always!). Sommer loved the Pirates, Indiana jones, and Space Mountain. She was quite brave as well! We really had a great time with our kids! I loved just having fun with them and leaving all the everyday worries behind for a while! My kids are the best and I am so thankful for the fun we had with them! It was a busy week, but we brought back great momories! I feel so blessed!

Beautiful Scenery

One of my most favorite parts of our trip to California was the beautiful scenery! I've craved the tropical feel for oh, so long! We were so fortunate to stay in the Marriott Newport Beach Villas, which were incredible! I'd never stayed anywhere this nice and I soaked up every minute! We had an ocean view room that we all loved gazing at from our patio. Chase was out there every morning! I LOVE the ocean so much, probably since I grew up near one and as we'd look out or drive by the ocean each day, I kept telling Wade that I felt like I was "finding" myself again. This long- lost part of my inner being, manifesting itself. I felt so happy to be there- blissful! It was so awesome to be reacquainted with my love of the beach and ocean. The sound, the smell, the waves, the sunsets, and all the fun! The greatest part was sharing that with my dear sweet little ones! They loved it so much and I have probably never had more fun in my life than playing with them on the beach, in the water, finding seashells and smiles along the way. It was definitely the greatest trip I've ever taken, and I can't wait to go back! Here are some pictures I took of our view:

Halloween

I thought we were going to have to forfeit Halloween this year because we were taking a trip to Disneyland, but that ended up not being the case at all! Thanks to school, church, and neighborhood parties held earlier in the week, the kids had a plethora of Halloween celebrations! In fact, Sommer dressed up as a monster one night and a vampire another! Braydon was also a vampire, Chase was a furry green monster (so cute!), and Livvy was a bear. I really didn't put too much effort into her costume, since we were leaving town Halloween morning and I didn't want to spend a lot on Halloween this year. I just used Chase's old baby costume, actually. Next year, I'll have to do something a little more feminine. But, she was cute anyway. :) Then on our way through California, we stopped at Calico Ghost Town- they were having their big Halloween shindig, so the kids got to go through the haunted mine, decorated houses, and they even had trick or treating. Kinda cool that the kids got to spend Halloween in a ghost town! Even though we didn't dress up Halloween day, they had a blast! My only complaint was that many of the employees were dressed as clowns- a lot! It made me physically sick. Other than that, we had a great Halloween!