I know it's not really Christmas now, but I know if I wait I won't have time until after actual Christmas...Here is our little newsletter we included with our Christmas cards this year:
2014 has
seemed to just fly by, but that happens when you are having fun and raising a
toddler. Here are some of our highlights from the year:
Brian is
still attending Claremont Graduate University for his PhD in Positive
Developmental Psychology. Studying and working on massive research projects
takes up most of his time. He has one more semester of coursework, which means
we could move away from California while he works on his dissertation, but we
will see what happens. He is still a professor online for BYU-Idaho teaching
psychology. He continues to enjoy
teaching the 12 & 13 year olds in our ward as well.
Teresa
continues to stay home and take care of Chloe. While it is a full-time job with
no sick days, it continues to be quite rewarding. Teresa still loves to read
whenever she can and Brian jokes with her that she is still reading more than
him even with all his schoolwork. In the end of July, Teresa was released from
her calling as Primary Secretary and was called to be the First Counselor in
the Young Women’s presidency. It has kept her quite busy, but has allowed her
to get her creative juices flowing and have more interaction with adults.
Chloe
continues to be the center of our busy lives. Every day we are amazed by her
intelligence. She is quite a talker and picks up new words daily. Chloe is also
very sweet, saying “Hi” and waving to everyone we meet outside of the house.
She loves going on walks and asserting her independence. Chloe has made friends
with the older kids in our neighborhood with her friendliness, they all know
her name and even come knocking on our door to play with her. Chloe is in a
constant state of motion, climbing and going everywhere her little body can
take her.
As some of you may know both Brian and I like to play around in photography, and we've always figured we can take pictures close to the equal of most professional photographers. That being said, getting pictures with an active toddler this year really made me consider getting a professional over doing the pictures ourselves. We ended up having to get dressed up two days in a row because Chloe had a meltdown and would not cooperate for a family picture...I love the pictures we got and I want to share, so this is going to be a little picture overload. :)
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This dress was a hand me down, and Chloe absolutely adores it.
Whenever she puts it on she will spin around in it. It's her "princess" dress. |
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| She's not looking so much like a baby anymore.... |
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| Being silly. |
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| I was joking with Brian that we look like we're doing engagements pictures. Lol. |
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| Love my lil girl! |
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| So stubborn, but adorable. |
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| One of my favorites! |
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| Tickling her to get her to smile! |
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| I'm done Mom and Dad.... |
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| Nemo! |
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| As she points to things she usually say "I see" |
This year we'll be spending Christmas in California again. We're already working on getting Chloe to say "Merry Christmas" and she's really close. She loves the tree that we have up, even though she keeps taking the ornaments down. And she gets super excited when she sees all the Christmas lights as we go on our daily walks. Brian's brother and his wife will be spending Christmas with us, so it will be fun to share Chloe's excitement with them. I have a feeling it is going to be a great Christmas. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and are safe in your travels. Merry Christmas!
