umbrella

I thought I had better throw this one in. It is a picture of Claire and her "umbrella." We get some good tumbleweeds in our yard and Claire thought this one looked like an umbrella. It certainly was the right size!

other winter fun

This winter we were also able to go and see the lights at Temple Square. We kept waiting for a warmer night, but one never came. We decided we had better go before December was over. It was fun and we all enjoyed seeing the many, many lights. Another thing we were able to do (many times) was play in the snow. Here is Claire all bundled up. She loves eating snow!

Christmas

Finally, some pictures from our Christmas. Claire and Jared worked on wrapping presents. As you can see one was really hard to wrap! The look on her face as she opened her presents was priceless. The big box was her juice cart that she had been talking about for a month or more. It was hidden behind the tree and brought out last. She was so excited that she got what she wanted -- and it only cost us $5.

Halloween

We had our ward trunk or treat on the 29 of October. Claire was a witch. We got there early, which was kind of lame. There was a bounce house, though, and so Claire was able to jump in there alone before all of the big kids came. Getting there early meant it was a really long time to do a few activities. We arrived at 6:00 and the trick or treating was at 8:00, so at 7:15 we went home. That was okay with us. We carved Claire's pumpkin and called it a night. The jack-o-lantern is pretty cute. She picked out the shapes and positions for the face parts. The first picture with her in it is really funny. I took it in the dark so I couldn't see what I was shooting. Pretty cute. On Halloween we went trick or treating around our neighborhood. It didn't take long for Claire's bag to fill up. We only went to a few houses, but they all gave her handfuls of candy. She had to drag her bag home it was so heavy. I think it was a fun time and Claire told us it was the best Halloween ever!

Snow

We had our first snow. I was going to put storm, but it really wasn't one. By the time we got dressed up and outside, the snow was melting fast. Claire still had fun pulling her sled and filling up her bucket with snow. She built her first little snowman without any help. She loaded it up into her bucket and transferred it to the driveway so she could use the snow from the cars because the rest had melted. As you can see, by the time we were done she was soaked. After that day, October was very nice. Most of the time we were around 70 degrees and no more snow.

Bryce Canyon

On the way home from our vacation, we decided to take a detour to Bryce Canyon. Neither of us had been there in a long time and I thought Claire would enjoy walking around outside. We stayed in a "little loggin house" that Claire thoroughly enjoyed. The next morning we got up early to hike around the rim. Claire had a little bit of a rough time, but I think it was worth the trip.

Las Vegas Trip

At the end of September we were able to go and visit Jack and Judy in Las Vegas for a few days. We had a lot of fun and it was great being able to visit with them. They have a duck pond near their house that Claire really enjoyed. We took her to Chuck E. Cheese and to Circus Circus. After talking about it for a month, Claire finally got to go have fun at Circus Circus. She went on a variety of rides. We all got to take a turn too.