Chase is 15 months

 

On Jan. 19 Chase turned 15 months!

He is quite the active little boy these days and seriously makes me so happy.

Here are a few highlights:

*He is eating with a fork and spoon a lot. He doesn't mind getting dirty, so by the end he usually is at it with his hands. If you remind him to "use your spoon," or "can you stick it?" he'll go back to using the utensil.

*He has started to get into cars and trucks. We live on the end unit and there is a dirt pile behind our house where trucks have again started going in and out, dumping their loads. When he hears the back up beeping sound, he points and says truck, then he runs to one of the windows. Seriously cute. He is also picking up on the train, he doesn't have a word for it yet but when he hears the whistle he points his finger and grunts.

*He loves to look out the window to look for daddy, Aspen or myself when I am unloading groceries or coming home. He gets so excited and waves and smiles and it is the cutest and warmest welcome ever.

*He loves to dance to the music on his Lightening McQueen car. He spins in a circle and stomps his feet and it's super funny.

*I love that he understands what I'm saying now. He looks at the fruit basket if I ask him he he wants an orange or avocado. He gets excited when I ask him if he wants his milk. He will go find his shoes if I ask him. I feel like his development has just multiplied recently and it is so fun to be apart of.

*He is beginning to be able to stack things and he loves to push over towers, probably more so than stacking.

*He loves wearing his new shoes and thinks they are really cool. They are the first ones with a real sole on the bottom.

*Words he is saying: socks, shoes, ball, mom, dad, truck.

*Favorite toys: Little Tikes car, Lightening McQueen push toy that he can now scoot on with his feet, Turkey baster and serving spoon.

Chase is the light of our life and we never thought being parents could be so fun. We love our growing boy.

Sledding with the Hamps

The Saturday after Christmas, we joined the Hamp family (Jon's cousins) for breakfast and sledding at the Heber Valley Girl's Camp. It was beautiful and super cold up there. Chase was a champ for how cold it was and how bundled he was. He didn't really cry but he was a little fussy. His favorite part was riding on the sled by himself going up the hill while daddy pulled him. That seemed to be the only time we got a real smile out of him. It was sure fun to be around family and enjoying the outdoors. 

Christmas Day

 Chase was pretty cute about opening presents. He enjoyed opening every one. Santa Clause gave Chase the tunnel, which he thought was really cool and mommy and daddy gave him the rocking horse. I think his favorite part of the horse was his mouth because it moves when he sings. He liked to put his hands in his mouth to feel his lips move. Thanks to our sweet families, he was quite spoiled when it came to opening presents. 

It was a really fun and low key day. Jon had to work at 3pm and it ended up being busier than we had hoped, so he wasn't home a ton that evening. We skyped and talked with family and enjoyed watching more snow from the window and eating left overs from our feast. It was a great day.

Christmas Eve

We decided that our Christmas dinner will be on Christmas eve and that it will be the whole shabang, much like Thanksgiving. We started prepping the turkey on the 23rd. Jon and I have gotten pretty good at cooking a turkey as this was our 3rd or 4th bird together. Pretty impressive. And I have to tell you we always use the Good Eats Turkey brine recipe and we are never disappointed. Oh how delicious it is!

These pictures are a little out of order...

 Pictures by the tree after we read Luke 2 and sang songs. I love family tradition.

 Christmas Eve morning, Chase actually snuggled with me and watched a good portion of The Polar Express. I couldn't believe he sat still for so long. I was eating it up.

Chase spent the day carrying around his laddle, playing in the car the Harris' gifted Chase (there little boy had out grown it), and playing with packages and lights on the tree. 

 

 And then we feasted! It was so good!

Our cute tree after Santa visited and before Chase awoke.

Magical.

Chase started walking then running

Chase started really walking the night Grammy left (Dec. 11). It just seemed to happen. By Christmas time he was all over the place. The just walking phase seemed to be pretty short because now he just seems to run.

Chase also loves kitchen tools, especially spoons, measuring cups and measuring spoons. Even with safety locks on the cabinets he can still fit his little hand in the drawer and get them out, so they are always on the ground at our house. He got this ladle from Aunt Caitlin's house and carried it around for a few days, including during bath time. He was seriously so proud of himself. Such a cutie!

Snow and Packages

Grammy & Grandaddy did the 25 days of Christmas for Chase and he really got into it. He knew that every morning he got to open a present from the garland of stockings and he got really good at opening presents. I think that's why Christmas morning was so fun for him, he had so much practice opening presents throughout the season.

 "Okay, can I open it yet??"

We got quite a bit of snow before Christmas and it wasn't super cold, so it made it really fun to play in. The first day we played in it I covered Chase's hands and feet and he couldn't walk or play in it. He also got knocked by Aspen and face planted in the snow. Round #1 didn't go so well.

 Chase loved playing in the boxes that family sent with packages. He also loves milk jugs and any other kind of boxes. He appreciates the little things in life:).

 I think it was confusing for him to be allowed to open some packages and not others. It was hard keeping the presents under the tree wrapped.

 Playing in the snow round #2 went much better. It was a little warmer and I didn't bundle him as much. Look at that smile. He really enjoyed playing with the snow. It was super cute.

 Even daddy came out to play with us.

Date Night

 One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season is to go to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It never fails to be a spectacular event. I haven't been in a few years and I was super excited when I got tickets for it on a night Jon was off of work. It was a beautiful and touching concert. Favorite song by far was Bring Him Home from Les Miserable, that was sung by the male guest soloist. It was amazing. We enjoyed seeing the lights again before the season's end.

And it was my friend Heather that made it possible for us to go because she watched Chase. So nice, huh? Can you tell Chase was real upset we left him with her? She's a super fun babysitter.