2008 Review

2008 was a great year for our family. Here is a short summary of some of our favorite highlights. - Brace yourself, it'll be a long one.

January: Was pretty uneventful. Aly turned 18 years old. My feet were so fat a swollen from my pregnancy I wasn't able to wear shoes for a couple months now.

February: Kelsie turned 10 on the 4th and on the 29th we welcomed our newest addition Chase. Chase is such a fun and energetic little guy. He is so mellow, happy and just easy going. He is almost 11 months now and is crawling, standing and getting into everything. He can't sit still and is constantly on the go. I now has 4 teeth and will eat anything and wants to eat everything. We love our little guy, he brings us so much joy.

March: John was able to take a couple of weeks off from work to help me out and spend some time with our new little guy. John's parents came up from Southern California. Chase was blessed on Easter sunday. We also celebrated John's 31st birthday.

April: During a large wind storm we lost the back part of our roof. We ended up replacing the whole thing and helped with a lot of the work in an effort to eliminate some of the cost. We lost part of our antenna too and kept it off. With the switch to digital TV we didn't put a new antenna back up. We went about 7 months without TV and it turned out to be a really good thing. We were able to spend more quality time with one another and get more done.

May: Kelsie danced in a dance competition in SLC. She also was on her schools track and field team. She is such a fast runner and did the long jump as well. She participated in 3 track meets and will probably run again this year. Aly graduated from Orem High.

June: We took a short trip to the cabin and enjoyed relaxing. We also saw the Manti Pageant and Kelsie was able to stay awake through the whole thing. Kelsie danced in her summer recital, her last for now. We took her out of dance after that and are enjoying her at home with all her new found free time.

July: John and I celebrated our anniversary. And we just hung around home. Chase and Kelsie were growing and changing so much.



August: Kelsie started school again, she is now in 5th grade. She is doing so well in school. She is a straight A student is in 7th grade math, is in a 9th grade reading level and was placed in the gifted and talented program which she loves. We also got a new dog, Cody.

September: Aly moved out and up to Rexburg for her first semester at BYU-Idaho. We missed her so much but she came back for a couple weeks in December before moving into her new apartment. She is now going to BYU and we like her being a lot closer to home.

October: We love fall and welcomed the cooler weather. Our central air conditioning went out last year and we weren't able to replace it. This summer we bought a large window unit to place in kitchen. Well, we ended up having to need an electrician come in and install an 240v socket and also found out we needed to replace our whole electrical panel box. This happened about a month after our roof was replaced and it wasn't cheap. Here are some pictures I've been wanting to post for while of the kids playing of the leaves.



November: We went to California and spent Thanksgiving with John's parents. We had a wonderful trip and although we were gone for 10 days it wasn't long enough and a lot of it was spent driving. We stopped in Mesquite on the way done and back. Chase did pretty good in the car and we were thankful Kelsie was in the back seat to help entertain him. I can't wait until we can go there again.


December: Well, I guess it is last the best, right? On the 22nd we got the best Christmas present. Kelsie was able to be adopted by John so she is now "officially" a Bonnett. We enjoyed a small quite Christmas at home and spent some time at the cabin with Aly, my brother and his family. We enjoyed sledding, snowmobiling and staying up late playing games until 3:00 a.m. to welcome in the new year.



We hope that 2009 brings us just as much joy and can't wait to see what is in store for us.

Halloween

We had a great halloween and had a lot of fun taking the kids trick or treating. Here are a lot of pictures:

Chase was Charlie Brown for Halloween. I couldn't let the idea pass my by. He has the cutest round bald head.

Kelsie was Wednesday, the little girl from the Addams Family movie. It was a perfect costume from her.

Kelsie with Frankenstein at the "scary house"

It was such a warm night perfect for trick or treating, but it did rain on us a little bit.

John went as Wolverine man from the X-Men.
I think it's time for a hair cut.

Chase got the "Cutest Costume" award at one of the
Halloween parties we went to. Kelsie got the "Most Unique."


A mask Kelsie made at a party. We had our ward Halloween party the night before and we colored Kelsie's hair black, ran out of color and it was a mess. So Kelsie went as a blonde Wednesday to this party the next day party.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins last night. It was a lot of fun. John carved the Eiffel tower, which was an idea from a carving book and Kelsie her scary face. I got to take pictures, supervise with the knifes and watch.


The final results:

Kissing Cousins?

We had a family party on Sunday for Kristen and Wylin's birthday.
Chase kept trying to eat or kiss Parker. I was too late to get a
picture of him doing it but caught a picture of his attempt.

Kelsie and Addy jumping on the tramp. I can't believe
how much they look alike, they could be sisters.

Chase is so adorable, he is always smiling for the camera.

On the Move Video

Today we put the chair down to keep Chase from going into the kitchen. At first he would crawl all the way around the table and try from the other side. When I blocked him that way too he tried a different approach, to crawl through the legs even they are raised a little from the floor, he just kept going right over them.

On the Move

Not only has Chase taken off crawling recently but his is not pulling himself up on everything. Nothing is safe anymore and you have to keep a constant eye on him. Here are a few pictures I have taken the past week or so

Chase pulling himself up on the fire place. It scares me to death because of the stone. I don't want him to fall and hit is head.


He fell but no injuries (yet).


Chase is constantly pulling him self up on his bed, I love this picture.


He is always crawling in, out and under everything.


#1 - Chase pulling himself up.


#2


#3 - He did it!


Crawling through the chair legs.

New Room

Aly moved out just over a month ago and we are just finishing up remodeling her room and moving Kelsie over. We gave Kelsie a lot of control in what she wanted to do. We also set a budget for her and allowed her to pick out what she wanted within the budget.

A somewhat before picture.


Removing all that wall paper, yuck!


It's getting there


We decided to redo the closet. You can see all the holes and damage in there and this is a picture of the good side.


Painting, Kelsie chose the color to match the bedding. I have to admit I was nervous with the color once we we getting the paint but I have to admit it looks good in here room, better then what the pictures show. Oh and she LOVES LOVES LOVES it!


A quick photo, not all of the furniture is in yet but you can see her bedding which matches the green wall and the blue carpet. Oh, and the curtains. We don't have a rod for them yet but I hung them up so I could see what they would look like. They sparkle.

Teething???

Chase has been drooling so much lately. Here are some pictures taken today. You can see how wet his shirt is. It hasn't dried at all today even while he was sleeping. Do you think he might be teething?



Here Chase is trying to eat the camera, you can see
the drool hanging off his chin. Isn't he so cute?

Wii are sleepy

Last night I was playing the Wii for just a few minutes and had Chase with me. He was sitting up by me and then laid down and was just rolling around. After a while he just stopped because he had fallen asleep. Maybe he was just tired because of his shots the day before or maybe he was bored because I am not so good at golfing on the Wii.

Check Up Again

Chase went to the doctor today for his 6 month check up. He now weighs 17 lbs 12 oz. which puts him at 65% for weight and is almost 28 1/2 inches long which puts him at 93% for height. He is still growing and changing so much so fast. We love this happy little guy!

So Long, Farewell

My sister Alyson left just over a week ago to start her freshman year at BYU Idaho. She has been such a great help around the house we are really going to miss her, especially the kids. Here are some pictures of her just before she left early Thursday morning. And some pictures of Aly and Chase just for you Aly! We miss you, good luck in all you do!

"I think I am excited to go, maybe it's just lack of sleep from staying up all night to pack."


Aly and Chase saying goodbye


"Ok, am I ready for this? I'm leaving!!!"

Cody

Last Saturday we were driving through the parking lot and there were the cutest puppies for sale. John and I have been talking about getting a second dog for a while but I have always been against it. One is more then enough for me most of the time. We thought that it would be good for Sadie to have a friend. Sadie can be so needy most of the time and always wants to be around you. I had been thinking about a second dog a lot that week and day too. But we stopped to see the puppies, they were so cute. John was with a friend and I called him and asked if we could get one. Yes, I asked if we could get one. We talked about it and thought about it and it felt right. There were only 4 males left. I choose the one that seemed to like me the best and was a little less calm then the others. There you go, we now have a second dog. We decided to name him Cody. The first night was long. Cody was only about 7 weeks old and has to go out every couple of hours or less. Needless to say John and I didn't get much sleep. The next few days I was starting to freak out a little. What am I doing getting a puppy! I have a 6 month old baby! How am I going to do this! I can't take care of Chase and two dogs at the same time! Chase can't be on the floor with a puppy! Etc, etc. etc. We continued to pray and things still felt okay but I was still really scared. I am a lot calmer now and here is why. Sadie is a lot calmer. She isn't as big of a punk, as we call her. She can go outside for more the 10 seconds without scratching at the door and nows enjoys being out there. She has a friend. She is a little mother the Cody and is helping to train him. She plays with him pretty calmly for the most part. She will even play tug with him and bring the toy to him. She doesn't seem to bark as much. Cody is so calm and a mellow little guy. He knows when he needs to go out. He is going to be so easy to train. Tonight when I was having Sadie sit Cody will come and sit next to her. When I was telling Sadie to shake, Cody would lift his paw to shake too. It totally amazed me how smart he is. I haven't started training him yet but he is eager to learn. I think that I will be able to make it through another puppy but keep your fingers crossed for me.

Cody is a pure breed Yellow Lab and a beautiful dog. Isn't he so cute?

6 Months Old!

Chase is now 6 months old. I can't believe how time has flew. He is such a sweet little baby boy and brings us so much joy. He can now sit up by himself without me constantly being right next to him to catch him if he falls. He is scooting around and rolling everywhere. Look out he'll be crawling in no time.

One Cool Baby

Chase scratched is eye pretty bad. I'm not sure what scratched it with, probably just his fingernails. When you looked at his eye the iris didn't look round and it had a bump on it. We took him into the doctor and they gave him some eye drops and we followed up the next week since it wasn't getting better. We the had to take him to a specialist. It turns out that everything was ok. When he scratched his eye it caused the part of the cornea to fold which caused the iris to look weird and the bump was just part if it. He was given some sunglasses after they dilated his eyes because they would be sensitive to the light. Of course he didn't wear them but we got some pretty cute pictures later.

Horsing Around

My office had a work party/retreat today. We went to Huntsville, to an attorney's I work for parents amazing house and property. We ate some very good food, went horse back riding, rode in a surrey, bike riding and just hung out. I work with some amazing people and was glad we could get together with our families. Kelsie loved the horses. She loved being by them, feeding them and riding them.

Kelsie Age 8

This is the video that I put together for Kelsie's 8th birthday. It is a collection of some pictures of Kelsie from birth to age 8. Enjoy!

Reading

Kelsie has been reading so much this summer. If you check out her blog you can see some of the books that she has read. There are over 20 books and 1,600+ pages from one series alone in just the past two months. I catch her reading in the weirdest places. Most of the time she will go outside in the morning a read on the grass. She also likes to read to Chase. Here are a few places she has been caught reading including the bathroom sink!



Kelsie has been reading so much this summer. If you check out her blog you can see some of the books that she has read. I catch her reading in the weirdest places. Most of the time she will go outside in the morning a read on the grass. She also likes to read to Chase. Here are a few places she has been caught reading including the bathroom sink!

No Better Sound

There is no better sound in the world then baby's laughter. Chase is such a happy baby. He laughs over this funniest things. Today Kelsie got a new trash bag and was shaking it open and Chase burst out laughing. He thought it was the funniest thing. Last week he laughed at the squeaky sound the straw made when i pulled it out of lid of my drink. He will even laugh when you cough or sneeze. Here he is laughing each time Kelise shakes the bag and to make it even funnier is he still is bouncing in his jumper.