Happy Birthday Coco!

Today my baby is 1 year old!

Chloe is awesome, oh how I love this little girl. Her personality seriously cracks me up.

I love her goofy grin, her silly laugh, her slobbery kisses, her great dance moves and watching her learn and grow every day.

It is so fun to watch her and Maggie play together....they ADORE each other.

I just love her cute little face and expressions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY GIRL!

I LOVE YOU.

Chloe Dee Betts at 1 Year Old

Favourite Foods

- Blueberries, Quesadillas, Cheese.

(She does really good to feed herself, but then loves to stick her finger down her throat and gag when she is finished, my bulimic baby)

Favourite People

- MOMMY, with Maggie and Daddy as close seconds.

Favourite Activities

- Doing whatever Maggie is doing.

- Walking, she took her first steps at 11 months and is doing really good at walking around the house (She stood up in the middle of the floor, all by herself, for the first time today).

- Playing in the bathroom...especially the toilet, so disgusting...unfortunately her older sister is an inabler and opens the door for her.

- Sleeping in Mommy's bed.

- Climbing!

Words

Momma, Dadda, (and sounds for Puppy and Monkey)

Signs

Puppy, Hat, Thank you, Food/Eat, Monkey, Kitty, Hello, Baby, Want.

Teeth

8 and a quarter (one cuspid of a molar just popped through today)

Opening Presents

The Cake

My family has a tradition of letting the 1 year old attack the cake. Chloe really enjoyed this tradition. It was a lot of fun to watch her destroy the Monkey.

I think she did a good job of it :)

One Year Ago

I got a little choked up as I went through the pictures of Chloe's 'Birth' day. It's amazing how much they change and grow just in one year.

She's not a little baby anymore.

Getting ready for the Big Arrival.

Meeting for the first time.

She was Ticked

Her 1st few hours of life were a little rough. Her lungs weren't co-operating as well as they should have, so she got to spend a little time in the NICU. I'm sure they don't have many 9 1/2 pounders in there.

Finally able to relax with Momma

Meeting Her Big Sister.

Isn't she just about the cutest thing you've ever seen. I can't wait to see what this next year brings for our sweet little Coco.

Two more names

When Laura listed some names for Chloe (click here), she forgot two of the most important names.

The first name forgotten is rodent - Chloe loves to find and chew on cords. It looked especially rodent-like when she just had two top and two bottom teeth.

The more important name that was forgotten is Roomba. Coco is just like those little automatic vacuum cleaners. She scoots around on the floor and finds EVERY LAST bit of junk that may have fallen to the floor. You can finish cleaning up in a room and somehow she'll come in and find the one hair elastic that didn't get picked up. At least the floor is cleaner once she's been through the room.

The Big Day

Dave is defending his Master's Thesis today.

His shirt is a little gift from his girls. We are so proud of him and all his hard work.
(the shirt is a little 'shiny'...it's says 'He-man and Masters of the Universe' in case you can't tell)

Colton Guard Station

The past few days we have been up north of Vernal camping with Dave's family (minus the Moons). We had a great time. The cabin that we stayed at was built between 1920-1930 and housed the Guards that worked for the Forest Service. The Cabin was really cute. It had a gas stove, running water (flushing toilets is always a HUGE bonus for any camping trip) and room to sleep 4. Behind the cabin was a bunk house which had plenty of room for the rest of us to sleep. I really enjoyed the trip. The girls were really good and it was fun to just hang out with everyone.

The cabin

The Bunk House

Dave and I took the girls on a drive (hoping that they would fall asleep, but they didn't).
This is up on a ridge above the cabin. If you look closely, you can see a reservoir in the distance, Vernal is just beyond that.

Dave brought his new GPS. He and the kids did a little Geocaching adventure.
They found a great box full of exciting goodies.
They took a few little toys and added some treasures of their own.

Coming back from a walk with Grandma, Greta and the kids.
Camping is exhausting.

The best part of the whole trip for Maggie

'I wike a dirty'

Just relaxing

We even had a piñata (Dave did the fancy little accent over the 'n' for me).

The whole gang in front of the Cabin.

On the way back into Vernal we stopped for another Geocache along the side of the road.

We made a quick stop in Vernal to see the Temple.
We didn't get out of the car since Chloe was asleep already.

We had a fun, exciting, tiring trip.
(this picture was taken soon after Maggie covered herself and her car seat in puke.... good times, good times)

Home Improvements

I've been seeing a lot of blog posts lately of 'before and after' pictures of homes and rooms that have been renovated.
These pictures are beautiful and I would be thrilled to have almost any of the 'before's.
I thought I would post my own home improvement project, just so you can see what we've been up to lately.

(DON'T JUDGE MY MESSY KITCHEN, IT'S BEEN NICE OUTSIDE...I'VE BEEN PLAYING WITH MY GIRLS)

The Master Plan

It's official, Dave defends his Thesis on June 24th at 4:30pm. It's been such a long road, it's kind of hard to wrap my head around him actually being done with school. His 'official' graduation will be in August, but after the Defense, he will be ready to move on with life. Still no job prospects, but I'm not worried. I know that we will get something, even if he has to work at Walmart for a couple months.
I'm nervous about the whole 'day of Defense'. I know it's a big deal for Dave, but I have to plan some refreshments to bring for his committee and those who come and listen to him....I've got a big job too, wish me luck ;).

I Love To See The.....Obelisk?

Every time we pass by a church (which is a lot, seeing as we live in Utah), Maggie gets really excited and yells 'A Temple, A Temple'. We usually correct her and tell her that one is a church.
The other day while we were on a walk we passed by the Veteran's Memorial Monument, Maggie yelled 'A Temple, A Temple....nooooo....it's a church.'