A few more 18 month pics...

This was Claire on her very first official day in nursery!

On her actual half birthday we celebrated with cupcakes at the Sweet Tooth Fairy.

18 months

This blog post is all about little Miss Claire!  She is now 18 months old!  Where has the time gone???  I suddenly have a toddler on my hands.  She is at a very fun, curious and energetic age.  A few weeks ago I took my nice camera out and did some photo shoots with her.  One with Dan's help and one with my friend Stephanie's help.

me & my toddler!

she loves wagon rides!  we love those pretty blue eyes!

the sage was blooming, so we had to get some pictures! what we didn't realize is they were surrounded with bees!

precious

she loves her "daddy!"

smile!

we love this girl!

she loves the splash pad!

one of my favorite photos.

with her buddy, Darren!  they have so much fun together!

I haven't been the best at blogging month by month anymore, but here are a few facts about Claire at 18 months:

• Claire loves to give kisses.  She randomly walks up to us and kisses us.  We love it!  I think it's because we are always kissing her sweet cheeks all the time!  
• Claire hates sitting in the shopping cart and spends most of our shopping trips trying to get out.
• Claire can say lots of words.  She knows names of some family, lots of animals and animals sounds, some foods and some body parts.  
• She loves babies!  She likes rocking her baby dolls and feeding them, she also pats the heads of babies at church and kisses them.  She wants to facetime her new cousin, Hyrum, all the time!
• Claire loves to climb!  She climbs on the couch, the bed, the kitchen table, her art desk, and pretty much anywhere else she can find!  Luckily she has not figured out how to get out of her crib yet, but I'm sure she will.
• One of her favorite things to do is read.  We read lots and lots of books every day.  Often times she will go into her room, sit in the rocking chair, and read to herself. 
• Whenever she says "bye" to someone she usually also blows them kisses.  
• Lately she has really been into Elmo!  She discovered him in a book and now always wants to watch Elmo videos on my phone.  The other characters she knows are Abby, Cookie & Bird, as she calls them. 
• Claire loves ice!  She always asks for ice in her cup.
• Her favorite foods include bananas, grapes, cheetos, pizza, mac & cheese, popsicles, beans and cheese.  She also asks for "ookies" almost every day.  She even knows she gets a free "ookie" every time we go to Harmon's.  
• Lately she has started calling us "mommy" and "daddy" instead of "mama" and "dada".  
• Whenever we turn down our street she always knows where we are and yells "home! home!"
• She still likes Frozen and enjoys doing the "tick tock" sound just like Anna in the song "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman."
• She loves going outside and taking walks.  She also likes to jump on the trampoline.  
• Claire likes to go "wimming" and is always going into her room to get her swimming suit.
• She has now learned how to go down the stairs.
• In July she had her very first plane flight up to SLC and did a great job!  Luckily we had nice people surrounding us who were willing to help entertain her. 
• This last month we turned her carseat around and she seems to like it.  
• Claire likes helping with chores.  She enjoys dusting, helps pick up toys, tries to put away clothes and throws things away.
• Claire has started going to nursery and usually does pretty well.  Occasionally at the beginning she is a little sad but then she gets busy with toys and doesn't have a problem when we leave.  The only thing is our church is at 1 so she does get tired/cranky some weeks!
• A few weeks ago I was yelling for Dan to come upstairs and help me and Claire started copying me saying "Nan! Nan!" I then started calling "honey!" and she copied me again saying "oney!" It was so cute.  
• The other day we were facetiming with my mom and Claire thought it was hilarious to take the phone from me and run away.  She was laughing so hard as she ran with Grandma ("ma-ga") all over the house!
• She really likes animals, especially elephants "ellas." My mom and I took her to the zoo and she really loved it!  
• Claire likes to color and often asks us if she can "culla, culla, culla!"

She is such a sweet little girl.  She is so loving and we have so much fun with her!  She is always wanting to explore and learn new things.  I am amazed at how quickly she picks up new words.  We feel so blessed to have her in our family! 

Photo shoot

I'm trying to pull out my nice camera more often.  Yesterday we had a little photo shoot by the window as we tried some new techniques and played with natural light.  Claire doesn't love posing for the camera (she is just like me when I was little!), but we still got some cute shots!

My beautiful girl!

Check out those teeth!
 

These next two I'd like to call... Is Dad home yet???  

my favorite :)

Oh what do you do in the Summertime?

Here's what we do...

We go for an evening drive. 

We visit friends in Arizona and eat delicious food.

We swim with cousins.

We relax and watch a show.

We eat popsicles.

We walk around the Temple.

We take a break on the steps.

We roast s'mores with friends.

We visit the splash pad.

We eat snow cones while Dad's at mutual.

We visit more splash pads.

We play with friends. 

We stay inside and play with toys.

We go bowling.

Update

Dan with our nephew at Sand Hollow.

I suppose after Claire's update I should give a little update on Dan and myself.  As for Dan, he has been busy building websites and sending wrenches to truckers all over the U.S. (a side business he has).  He and his friend are also working on a new business called Tall Slim Tees which are t-shirts for tall skinny guys! So if you know any tall skinny guys, his shirts will be for sale soon.  He is still working on getting the sizes just right.  He is also busy working with the Young Men in our ward and the boys love having him as a leader.  This week the boys are coming over to learn how to grill.  In his free time he has been writing some original piano music, which Claire and I love to hear.

As for me (sorry no picture), I have been busy starting a playgroup in our neighborhood where we head to the park, pool, or splash pad each week.  I've also started walking with some friends in the mornings and love it.  The weather has been so nice!  I'm also busy planning reunions, trips, parties and more for this summer.  It seems we've got something going on almost every week!  I've also made a summer bucket list and we've already checked off some of the activities including the beach at Sand Hollow (pictured above).  I got called to Cub Scouts a few months ago and I wasn't so sure about it, but I actually love it.  It might be the best calling I've ever had.  I just help with pack meeting, so I only go once a month.  I like it because I can take Claire, it's pretty laid back and they do some fun things!  Usually I help with treats so the kids like me :).  Just last week we took a trip to Arizona to meet up with some of my old roommates.  We had such a blast and enjoyed being in a new place.  The weather actually turned out to be so nice and we ate at some of the best restaurants.  Aside from the long drive (lots of crying...) we had a great time!

We are busy and happy.  We love the start of summer and are looking forward to spending more time together as a family as well as seeing extended family and friends!