Megacolossal Post - Canada, Christmas, New Year's & Payne Lake Lodge

We had a wonderful time during our holiday. Maggie and Chloe were good, they didn't get sick and they got to spend some great quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Evanson, Aunts and Uncles, and lots and lots of Cousins...what more could you want? I've posted many pictures, but as I've been going through them I realize that there are many more that should have been taken. I didn't get any pictures of Maggie playing with Jovi & Erica, or any of the girls with their Great-Grandparents. My Mom isn't in any of my pictures and I seem to be missing too. I guess I was either behind the camera or off nursing a baby. Oh well, there always next visit :).

Chloe and Daxon, sometimes I think she looks a little bit like him.

All bundled up. Chloe and Grandpa getting ready to walk over to see Grandma and Grandpa Tanner. Chloe was not impressed with the cold weather. She gasps the entire time she's outside.

All ready for the Christmas Eve party. I just think they're cute...maybe I am little biased.

Seriously....so cute

Acting out the Christmas Story. Chloe got to have a big role, playing Baby Jesus. She loved being in the little cradle. She was so content looking up at Joseph (Regan) and Mary (Maren).

Maggie, Tanner and Davin as the wisemen. She had to have a less prominent role since she had a really hard time staying in one place for more than 2 seconds. It's a miracle that we were even able to get this picture...she is one BUSY girl.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!

Santa definitly found the girls. Maggie was excited about all her new toys.

Chloe and Grandpa playing with the Animal Train

Getting the hang of this present opening stuff.

Lots of new things to chew on.

She was very excited about 'Melmo'. He get lots of hugs and kisses.

They kind of like eachother.

And More Chewing....

Maggie's Favourite Activity

This girl LOVES water! Grandma and Grandpa's hot tub was a hit.
'...More swimming...more swim suit...more water....more swimming....'

Tubbing with some cousins and Daddy, Maggie's paradise.

Coco's Teeth

My sweet little baby.

NEW YEAR'S!!!! Bringing in the '010.

This is one of my favourite pictures of the trip. I just love this girl.

Maggie had a blast our New Year's Bash! My Mom and Dad got everyone flashing light sticks, hats and noisemakers. The kids had a dance and Maggie 'busted a move' until she was about ready to fall over. She was exhausted, check out her rosy cheeks, but she just kept going, it was so funny. She stayed up 'til midnight and enjoyed every minute of it.

Dancing Queen

HANGING OUT AT THE CABIN

Maggie, Emily, and Kwynci playing with the blocks. My Dad cut hundreds of blocks for us girls to do some craftin'. These 3 found a better use for them. They built quite the city.

Bonding.
-This picture makes me teary. I love my parents so much and I wish we lived closer.

Playing in the snow.

Maggie's first toboggan ride, she did well. (Check out Dave's shorts, he's crazy.)

Playing outside at the cabin.

HOLIDAY INJURIES

On Boxing Day, Jeff was playing in an Alumni Basketball tournament. He ruptured his Achilles Tendon and had to have Surgery. Poor guy has a long recovery ahead of him.

This is a picture of Ryan's wipe out. Ryan and RoxAnn didn't get to the cabin until New Year's Day. They hadn't even been there for 20 minutes before Ryan decided to go down the hill on my Nephew's toy snow board thing. Notice how Ryan's heel is in an unnatural position under his butt....

Yep, he broke his leg.

Back Home

It was hard to leave everyone. Maggie is missing her cousins. She asks for 'more Jovi, more Erica'...We've been a little lonely. Chloe has been such a Momma's girl and it was so good for her to spend time with other people. She was very happy with anyone holding or talking to her....big smiles for everyone, it was great. I finally feel like were getting things back to normal around here. I've got everything put away and I'm working on getting the girls back on some sort of sleep schedule. I'm already looking forward to our next trip....

Maggie is missing the Hot tub. She came out of her room wearing this. At least she knows to put on the swim diaper.

Unexpected Words

Last night after we finished reading a conference talk for our Family Home Evening, Maggie was jabbering away as usual, sitting on Laura's lap. She kept saying "mah-sanh". (Think of a soft "n" in French words for a clue to Maggie's pronunciation.)

Finally I figured out what she was saying.

Laura had put the conference Ensign face down on the TV tray next to the recliner. Maggie was responding to the small photo of President Monson on the back cover. "mah-sanh".

Neither Laura nor I really expected that word from Maggie. The last time Laura had pointed out President Monson to Maggie was in November in a homemade Gospel ABC book.

Surprises every day.

What We've Been Up To

We've had a fun couple of weeks. Through the winter, Hogle Zoo offers free admission on the last Wednesday of the month. Dave and I took advantage of this the day before Thanksgiving and took the girls to see the 'amels'. We met up with Dave's sister and her 2 kids. It was so much fun to watch Maggie. She LOVED it. She recognized most things and was signing the entire time. It was a wonderful day to be at the zoo. All the animals were out and most of them had babies, they were so cute. I took lots of pictures, here are a few.... or more than a few.

She's doing the sign for Cat.

We spent a few days up at Dave's parents over the Thanksgiving break. We were the only ones there for most of the time, and we had a wonderful time with them. Maggie has mastered their stairs and it was so amazing see how independent she has become. She would go to the basement to play with the toys all by herself, I was so proud. We played some Rook, and ate a lot of good food. I really enjoyed the time there.

Since we will be in Canada for Christmas, Maggie got her presents early from Grandma and Grandpa Betts. She is wearing her new 'boops' (which she loves and wants to wear all day) and holding her new dolly.

Gotta love Grandma time.

Decorating gingerbread houses with her cousins

We've had some pretty good snow fall this past week. Maggie likes to walk around in the snow while Dave shovels the sidewalk. She seems to love the snow, I think Dave is hoping to have a couple of Snowboarding buddies in a few years.

We've also just enjoyed hanging out at home. Chloe is getting so fun, she has quite the cute little personality. She is really starting to respond to the world around her. She thinks Maggie is great and will laugh and smile at her, it's so cute. I love watching them together, I hope that they will be good friends.

Popcorn with Daddy, what could be better?

And last, but not least...Coco has a new tooth. I know it's hard to see, but it's there. Tooth #2 is just about to break through. She is growing up so fast.

So there you go, that's what's been going on in the Betts' Family.

Genetics...or all about Chloe

After having Maggie and seeing how much she looked like Dave, I was certain that all our kids would be little Dave clones. I was sure that the Betts' genes must be stronger than Evanson's and I would be surrounded (not that it would have been a bad thing). I was wrong. I am now the proud owner/parent of my very own 'mini me'. For better or worse, my little Chloe looks like her Momma.

Oh, how I love this sweet little girl. She is so content and happy through most of the day. She likes to hang out in her swing or bouncer and just watch Maggie and I. She doesn't like to be left alone in the room, she starts to fuss if both Maggie and I leave the room...but I guess that's not asking too much. She is DEFINITELY a Momma's girl....she absolutely adores me. I know that sounds a little conceited, but it's true. She doesn't like to be held by anyone else but me, she'll put up with it occasionally, as long as she's turned out and doesn't see who's holding her. She's getting a little better with Dave, which is nice, but she just wants to be with me. This is kind of hard and exhausting thing for me, but the payoff is I get to see her eyes light up when she sees me. It's seriously one the most amazing things I've ever seen. She looks at me with such love and adoration in her eyes and her face just bursts into a huge smile. I feel so much love from this little person, good thing the feeling is mutual.

There are only 2 things that upset Chloe...riding in the car and bedtime. She hates her car seat. With Maggie, that was a sure fire way to get her to settle down...not Chloe, she screams and screams, I hate to see her get so upset. Bedtime is another hard thing, she gets really fussy starting around 8:00 and it usually takes me until 11:00 to get her settled down for the night. Once she is down, she'll sleep a good 8-9 hours, but those 2-3 hours beforehand are quite frustrating for both of us. Even when she is crying and so upset, she still will look at me and smile through her tears, my heart melts every time.

She has been in our lives just over 4 months. In some ways it's hard to believe that 4 months have past already, but in other ways it seems like she's just always been here. I can't imagine life without her. Getting pregnant with Chloe was NOT planned and I was NOT excited. I was very scared, but this little girl has been such a joy. I feel bad about all the bad feelings I had before she was born. I am so, so grateful to have her in our family. I love my little Mini Me!