Daddy is so proud!

So when Chris came home today I showed him how well Chase was standing. Chris had me take a video and put it on the blog and said, "I could not be a more proud Dad..." Needless to say, Chris is impressed by Chase's new interest in standing on his own....ALL THE TIME! He was even more proud when he saw Chase take one step. (And so was I....Another proud Mommy Moment) He stated, "Jen he is totally going to be walking in a week." In which I replied, "It will take him awhile to really figure it out and get his balance. Then he got really serious and said, "Jennifer he totally is...." I know he is serious when he calls me Jennifer, but I think this is just one of those times that I will be right!

There are many of those! :)

So Spoiled

Chase is 8 1/2 months old and as spoiled as an can be. He loves to play with his toys and stand up all the time. He is walking against the couch and any table that he can lift him self up on. This has proven for a lot of goose eggs now as he is still getting his balance. We have moved the tables out of the way, but he seems to still find ways to bonk his head. He follows us all around the house now and is like lightening when he crawls. The other day I ran to the restroom and by the time I got back he had taken all the wipes out of the package....what can I say...he is all boy! He loves music and his favorite show is the Backyardigans, and I have to admit it is one of my favorites too. We love the singing and he dances and claps when watching the show. It is just amazing to me how fast he is growing up. He just makes Chris and I smile with all the little things that he does. He definitely loves music! When we sing the hymns at church Chase always stands right up and begins bouncing and joins in with his loud squawks. Once the song is over he will sit back down and read his books, so I can only think that he seems to think that he is joining in the song. Again, another proud mommy moment! Like I said he is one spoiled baby, and is loved by so many. His Aunt Melissa and Grami Cami (CC) are always buying him new books and he just sits down and enjoys looking at them. His favorite are the touch and feel books and it amazes me that he always knows where to touch. Alright, well there is my blog on Chase (What can I say he is the best thing that has happened to Chris and there is always new news to share on him.)

Chases new toy....Thanks Grandma!

He loves his blanket and bed time. It is so nice because we can just lay him down and goes right to sleep...Sometimes you can hear him in there jumping up and down and then he will just zonk out...it is SO cute! (No more little monkies jumping in the bed...I can't help, but laugh it is just so cute!)Chase loves bath time!Chase has really been working on standing on his own. He will be standing against something and then let go and start clapping. He can usually stand for about 30 seconds on his own, but is still working on his balance. I just love that he claps when he does it! I am a proud mommy!

My Least Favorites!

Well, as many of you know Chris and I love American Idol. The love of this show probably came before we even started dating and he would come to our house and watch it with us every week. We are big critics and as far as I am concerned I should be filling in for Paula as a judge since all she does is comment on the way they look. I know it is so silly and sometimes the show just drives us crazy, but we cannot get away from it we are addicted.... I mean one of my favorite female singers came from American Idol. (A little shout out for Carrie Underwood) So after watching the top 24 perform I thought I would let everyone know who I feel should be voted off. I have some favorites as well, but at the beginning just find it easier to say my bottom two. For those of you who are Idol fans, let me know what you think this year!

I just do not ilke this girl! I was shocked at the judges responses when they stated that they loved her. I have not loved her since the auditions and hope that she goes home. I would not buy a CD from her ever.....Just not my style!

I just did not like her performance at all and agreed with the judges that it was just not good enough....

What can I say...I just don't like him and really I have not liked him from his first audition. To make it fair, I did fall asleep and did not see all of the boys, but I havea feeling he would still be in my bottom two.

Once again I just am not a big fan...There are others that I would much rather here.

Presidents Day at the Lehi Pool

With Monday being Presidents Day, Chris had off from work. We decided to head over to the Lehi pool and enjoy a little swim time as a family. It was lots of fun! Chase loves water and loved the pool! It was perfect and I have to say that I was very impressed with the Lehi pool. There were lots of slides and it is a perfect activity for babies and kids. Chris and I both decided that we had to go down the slide and that we were going to take Chase down the big one, but with it being so dark decided not too. I have to admit it was kind of embarrasing standing in line with a bunch of 8 year olds, but the slide itself was fun. Chris took Chase down the baby slide and then we sent him down by himself. Going down with Chris was fun for him, but I do not think that he liked going down by himself very much. We had lots of fun and will go there more often during the alst of these winter months. The funniest part of the whole day was when they cleared the pool because of a poo incident. I did not see anything, but it was pretty funny watching the people with nets in the pool looking for what may have been a floater. After that incident they closed the pool for an hour so we headed home.

I liked how they took care of that situation, and responded very quickly to a mom saying her kid had a little accident.

Chris and Chase

The Johnny Jumper at the pool. Chase loved it....his two favorite things combined!Chris bringing Chase down the slideMommy and Chase

Jory's Wedding!

This weekend our good friends Jory and Anna got married. I wish I had some pics to post of the happy couple, but instead I got a lot of pics of other happy couples and long life friends. They were a cute couple though and I am so glad that Jory found a girl that is SO perfect for him!

What can I say...we can never get enough pictures of all of us!

I just had to add a few videos of Chase from this last week....I know that CC (Grami Cami) and Grandma Coates will love it!

Here is our little dancin man in the first video! He loves music and really loves when Chris plays the panio. I don't know who taught him to dance with these little pelvic thrust, but it makes us laugh! The second video is of Chris feeding Chase. I was not at home, but he was getting him ready for bed and as you can see our little tired man could barely stay awake to finish his dinner....As soon as I got home Chris showed me all the video footage and I just thought it was was the cutest, but hey I am the mom and I think everything is cute!

8 Months Old!

Chase is 8 months old today! I can hardly believe how fast time has flown, and how he has grown. He is the cutest little guy and has the best little personality. Chris and I have so much fun with him and just laugh at all the little things that he does. Latley he has started this little scream...I can usually lay him down in his bed for both naps and bed time and he goes to bed no problem. Well...when he wakes up he usually will just sit in his crib and play, but if it has been to long he lets you know with this new scream. I have to say the first time I walked into the room to this schrilling scream, I looked at him and started laughing, in which he started laughing to. Now, I am not sure if he is doing it because I laughed or just to get my attention. Probably all of the above. He is getting everywhere he needs to and is very fast on his knees. I think it is so cute because Chris and I will walk into the room and he just follows along. He knows where everything is at, and he gets where he wants. He pulls himself up on everything....Chairs, couches, legs, you name it he is going to pull himself up and is very fast. I have to admit my favorite thing in the morning is walking into his room and seeing him standing there with his cute little smile just waiting for me to get him, it just melts my heart.

Always on the move and standing wherever and whenever he canI just love his eyes in this picWith what little hair he has...check out his spikey do!

Baked French Toast Casserole

This is a Paula Dean recipe that we had Nalani's baby shower. It was very yummy and I have gotten a lot of request for the recipe. The only thing that I would recommend or this recipe is to let your bread be a little more stale, rather than very fresh. I think that is why it may have been a little bit soggy!

1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)

8 large eggs 2 cups half-and-half

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash salt

Praline Topping, recipe follows Maple syrup
Slice French bread into 20 slices, 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or bread crumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.
Praline Topping:

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Super Bowl "Snow Day" Sunday!

Well as you can see our Super Bowl Sunday started with LOTS of snow. So much snow that they cancelled church. As long as I have lived here that has never happened, so it was crazy when we got the call this morning. Once the news was out it was crazy to see all the men on our street heading out doors and helping each other shovel driveways. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, I will have to post that tomorrow.

The Superbowl was great! I was very worried that the Patriots would win since they were undefeated...I was really cheering for the Giants and to my great suprise....THEY PULLED IT OFF! I could not be happier! It was a great Super Bowl and I did not shed tears this time like I did after the Giants beat the Packers in the play offs! ( Too many people here, did not want to mkae a fool of myself.) What a great day it must have been for Archie Manning with both his boys winning the Super Bowl back to back, and getting the MVP award! Loved every minute of it! This year we had a pary with some people from Chris work! It was LOTS of fun and we had lots of food. My favorite of course were the wings....I think I had a little too many of those. Here are some pics from our little Super Bowl party!

Loading up our plates before heading down stairs.

Watching the game and the kids. :)
Tyler came prepared to watch the game and loved every minute of it.
Chase enjoyed the game too!

A Giant of a Man!

“The time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Today as I watched the services of President Hinkley, I reflected on the many things that I learned from him. I hope that I can be just a litte of the person that he was, and walk a little taller in the things that I believe. President Monson said it best today when he said, "He was a Giant of a Man...A giant of knowledge, faith, testimoney, and of vision...." What an example he was to us all. Small in stature, but a giant in his beliefs. It was said that he was the "People' Prophet". So true, he belonged to the people and to the churh and sacrificed so much. I am so glad that I was blessed in my lifetime to be taught by his example. His love for his wife was amazing and what a sweet reunion it must have been. I will never forget the words that he stated at her passing when he said, "The girl I once fell in love with, has once again become the girls of my dreams." What a sweet love they had and I am happy that he is with her again, and in the presence of so many who have passed before him. I will forever be grateful to him and will never forget his great example.

"God be with you till we meet again!"