My personal restaurant

To my delight, I woke up this morning to the cutest little waiter wearing my apron and presenting me with this:

My very own menu for breakfast, which he then cooked up (with his daddy's help) and called me to the table when it was ready.

What a fun way to start the morning off.

Sledding down the driveway

 Although I plan on never buying a North facing house again (think piles of snow in our driveway while the people across the street have NONE!) one benefit is a sledding hill right at our house.  After shoveling the drive way after this last snow storm the neighbor kids came over and found it plenty slick so they ran home to get their sleds.

 Chase had so much fun with them I didn't dare tell them they probably shouldn't be sledding out into the road so I went and stood at the bottom of the hill and stopped them before they went out into the road.

This is Liam.  One of Chase's favorite people.  Liam is 6 and in Kindergarten so he doesn't get to spend a lot of time with him, but he just loves it when Liam does come to play.

Another bonus is that when Liam comes to play so do his two older sisters that treat Chase just like a little brother (probably even better!)  They push him in the sled, pull him in the wagon and just make sure that he is taken care of.  Chase always has a blast when they come around.

Chase says...

Chase comes running excitedly to tell me that he found a lost toy and his throat failed him.
"Mom, why did my voice sound funny?"
         "You must have a frog in your throat."
Shakes head emphatically. "I don't eat frogs with skin on them."
          "No?"
"No!  Just fish with my dad..... cuz I like fish."

Chase says...

"Mom, why can trains hurt you?"
            "Because they are big and hard and can go really fast."
"Like when Chief got hurt?", (referencing The Fox and the Hound.)
             " Yep."
"Is that what they mean when they say :  loog at bell owe?
    (play mad gab with that to find out it strikingly resembles the phrase "look out below!"
               "Yep, that must be why they say that," wondering why he was talking so strangely.
Chase states emphatically, "That's Spanish."



Driving through the outskirts of Tooele Chase sees an LDS church building.
"Is that OUR church?"
              "No, ours is in Stansbury Park."
"Who goes to that church?"
              "Probable the people that live here in Tooele."
"Like Macey, right?"  (referring to the grocery store)

    Lately this kids is all about basketball.  The one in the picture is a special one his dad picked up as a surprise birthday gift/ souvenir from his Las Vegas basketball trip.  He dribbles it all over the house and loves to try and shoot hoops through my arms forming a basket.
    He's still all about hoses and vacuums (even more so than the basketball.)  He is drawn to any sort of item that even resembles a hose: vacuum hoses, air compressor hoses, the hoses you put balls into at the children's museum, straws,  cords, snakes, the list goes on.
     He is very smart and is doing very well in preschool (after a short episode of not allowing me to leave him there.)  He is also doing really well in his primary class, also after a period of not being willing to stay without me or Daniel.
     He is very persistent.  When he decides he wants to do something he will do it.  It's just a matter of time and effort, but he will master it and won't give up trying until he does.  Along with this he has little patience.  When he can't get things to work out immediately he starts to get very frustrated, very much like his dad in both of these aspects.
      He loves trying to make Brody laugh and Brody loves to laugh (sometimes fake laugh), so they make a good team.
      I feel so lucky to get to spend time with him everyday.  We usually have time to hang out in the afternoons when Brody is taking a nap and I really enjoy getting to know him better and enjoy spending that time laughing with him and answering his incessant questions.
      He really challenges me on some really simple things.  He wants to know everything about everything: the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY of EVERYTHING are very important to him.  I have always been very trusting to the point of being naive and gullible.  I ask about something and accept that, that is that.  It's never really occurred  to me to care about WHAT or Why.   So some of his most simple questions require some thought and searching for answers of my own and I love that he is teaching me so much.
      Chase brings a lot of thought and happiness to our home and we just love him.

Chase (while watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving) :  "You're not going to die because you are married."
Me: "Really?"
Chase: "Yes, and I'm not going to die because I went to the kid's temple and the kid married me."
Me: Really?!?"
Chase : "Yes, well actually I still need to go to the kid's temple."
Me: "Do you know where one is? Because I don't"
Chase: "hmmmm.... no but maybe we could ride a really fast cycle to get there."
Me: "Well, how are we going to find it if we don't know where it is?"
Chase: "We could get a map!"
Me: "Ok, that's a good idea, but where are we going to get a map?"
Chase:  "At the store.  There is a kid's store on this Earth!"
Me: "Where is it?"
Chase : "I don't know, but maybe we could ride our really fast cycle to that store."
Me: "How are we going to find it if we don't know where it is?"
Chase: "We could get a map."
Me: "Where's the map?
Chase: "At the kid's store, of course!"

Me (to Brody who was mad I was changing his diaper) :  "Sorry Brodes,  I gotta change you because you pooped."
Brody screams.
Chase: "I guess we'll have to get that other baby."
Me: "What other baby?"
Chase: "Just a different baby."
Me: "You mean you want to trade Brody in for a different baby?!?!"
Chase : "Yeah.  Because he just keeps on pooping"
Me: "Well where are we going to get a different baby?"
C: "Where the babies are."
Me: "Where are the babies?"
C: "At the hospital."
Me: "You want to go to the hospital and trade Brody in for another baby?!?!"
C: "YES!"
Me: (Jokingly for the record) "Ok, let's go."
C: "...Or maybe I'd rather keep him just a little longer.  I'm not ready to let him go yet."
Me: "Ok."

I hate painting...

I can't pick out paint colors, and while trying ended up with 8 different colors trying to find the right one.  I had painted splotches all over the boys room trying to find the right color combos to the point that the walls were almost covered, just with different colors in patches.

Chase, with all the sincerity only a child can have: "Thank you so much for painting my room these colors Mom!" 
.......I guess maybe I should have painted the boys room a little sooner...

I guess this weekend was the first time Chase has gotten sick that he remembers.  It started off with a runny nose and sore throat and we heard things like:

"My nose isn't working very good."
"Why is my nose doing this?"
"Maybe if I blow my nose I could blow all the germs out and get better."

It's so funny to watch these kids discovering how the world works and their bodies. :)

Chase: "Mom can we got to the Johnians?"
"Who are the Johnains?"
Chase: People
Me:"Ok, what people?
C:"They are kinda boys, can we go?"
Me: "Well I'm not sure where you are talking about"
C: "Come on, we'll walk there.  They live at Notgreekan."
Me: "Wow, that clears everything up."
C: "What?"

After a rough night between both boys and Chase sleeping on our bedroom floor he wakes up in the middle of the night and says, "Mom, Mom!" 
Me: "What Chase?"
C: "Was that just your imagination?"
Me: "Yes"
C: "O.K."
..........
Me: "Chase?"
C: (snore)

"Mom, I love you but....  you've GOT to get your hair out of my face."   -Chase as I buckled him in his car seat.

Wagon Train

One of Chase's very favorite people is Liam.  Liam is 5 and totally cool and he's not around very much to play with even though he lives just two houses down, and when Liam comes to play his older sisters usually come too.  They just baby Chase and he gets whatever he wants and has the time of his life.  When they play it usually involves pulling Chase around in our wagon or their wagon.

I thought it was pretty creative the other day when I saw the train they made.

Preschool

Chase had his first day of school (ever!) a couple weeks ago.  After finding out how much preschool costs, and realizing that our financial goals would not accommodate it, my neighbor and I decided to do a co-op sort of preschool.  We had three other moms in our neighborhood join us and it has turned out to be great.  I only have to teach one week every month and Chase is absolutely loving it. 

This is really the first time I have had some time away from Chase and he from me.  Today I vacuumed, dusted, and scrubbed the upstairs, without having to find out what trouble Chase was getting into every 2 minutes.  In Chase's defense he really is a pretty good kid.... until I get busy doing something and he finds out I'm not paying attention to what he is doing.  I'm enjoying my time away, and I start missing him just about when it's time to pick him up.

Ugh!  Again with the snow.  So we took Chase to see Tangled, which happened to be our first 3D movie in theaters.  Unfortunately it was too lovey-dovey for him and he just wanted to leave the whole time :)

I was in a pretty bad mood from being tired and waking up to snow, so I found a way to turn things around and enjoy the snow.

Chase says...

A conversation with Chase while chopping up some potatoes for dinner.  He kept trying to grab cut up pieces close to my knife.

Me: "Chase!  Keep your hands away, do you know what might happen if you get your fingers too close to    my knife?"
C: (very seriously says,) "Yea, you would cut me up into a potato."
(I'm thinking this sounds interesting, I wonder where it will go..."
Me: " ...and what would happen if I cut you into a potato?"
C:  Still serious, "Then you would cook me up and eat me and I would taste so yummy."
Me:  "Yes, I bet you would taste really yummy."
C:  "No mom!  You don't want to eat me, then you wouldn't have any more Chasers and then you would be so sad."
Me:  "That's true!  So do you think you can keep your fingers away from my knife?"
C: "Yes! I will!"

I love getting a glimpse into the mind of a three year old.

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam...

 I didn't really have a hard time when it was time for Chase to go to nursery.  He was still practically a baby and we were so grateful to be able to pay attention in our church classes again.  But last November Chase turned three and as three year old's do, he went to Sunbeams.

I was really worried about how it would go because he hasn't been too fond of nursery lately, but he was a champ.  He was a little hesitant for me to leave but didn't cry, and when the teacher asked his name he sat straight up, pointed with his thumb towards his chest and said "I'm Chaser!"

I had to fight the tears as I left him there.  Just one more reminder that these boys are growing up way to fast and I can't do a thing about it.

In other news:  Over Christmas break we spent a good deal of time at Grandma and Grandpa Torgerson's house.  Chase heard Grandpa talking about the garbage in an exaggerated hick accent sounding more like "Garb-ee-ge".
Chase said, "Grandpa can you say garb-ee-ge?"  
Grandpa, "garb-ee-ge!"
Chase: "Oh, GOOD JOB Grandpa!"

The lesser of two evils.

This year our circumstances left us with two less than ideal choices for a Christmas tree.  1- We could go get our own tree as tradition would have it, but it would have to be a juniper (gasp) or 2- We could go and BUY a tree (double gasp)!

We decided the memories of cutting down the tree would make it worth having a juniper and I think we chose the right idea.  Besides as Daniel put it " a juniper tree is no worse than a pinyon (the kind I grew up with)." And I felt the same about the Charlie Brown tree (or Blue Spruce as he calls them :) that he grew up with.  (Love you babe :)

We forgot Chase's gloves and he just couldn't resist playing in the snow, so we had to make do.

 It was an incredibly muddy road out the the area.  There were huge puddles of water to drive through and we slid off to the side of the road more times than I can count, but this ole' truck just gets us wherever we need to go.

 In front of the tree we picked.

Yep, we definitely made the right choice.

Snow Day

 After 5 years of living in the snow during the winter you might think I would be used to it by now, but every year I'm still surprised how long the snow can just sit there without melting away immediately like it did when I was younger.

I guess if the snow won't go away, we have no choice but to take advantage of it.

 And there just happens to be one perfect hill in Stansbury Park for sledding.

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's

 The Christmas tree that Porter found.

Grandpa's baby bunnies.

and playing on the horse swing