First Christmas in Utah

The girls got up early today, but were patient as we made them wait until 7:00 to open the tree. Sleds and shovels top the welcomed gifts list. Buddy slept late, but even then had difficulty keeping his eyes open all day.  Sonia and John made us Christmas dinner. The girls loved playing at their house, and forcing John to read Dr. Seuss books.  Everyone fell asleep in the car on the way home.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, and we are ready.  Stockings are hung by the chimney with glee, and so on and so forth.  Lily decorated some sugar cookies for Santa.  We've got carrots for the reindeer, and a quick note to the jolly old elf. Let's hope he gets here before morning!

Christmas Play

The early grades of Lily's sunday school put on a Christmas play after mass today. Lily was one of the 'stars'.

Santa's lap

Emerson Elementary's Christmas celebration.  Every class had a few different songs to sing, but Mrs. Tiburccio's class was the best!  After the assembly, Santa Claus visited her classroom, and all the kids got a turn on his lap. 

2 Year Olds can Sing, kinda

Wasatch Presbyterian Preschool's Christmas concert!  Sophie's class was the youngest and (obviously) the cutest. Every class had a different uniform -- here her class is in their golden halos :).

Fossils

Following in her mom's footsteps, Lily took a turn as teacher today.  She gave a 15 minute presentation to her class on fossils: the different kinds, where they come from, what they're made of, etc.  She did an awesome job, as we all knew she would.

Deck the Halls!

Everyone helped out decorating the tree.  The plastic plant is a few years old now, and 1 of her 3 built in light strings didn't work.  Chuck spent lots of time fixing them.  Now 2 of her 3 built in light strings don't work.  We put on an extra string of lights.  Those don't work either.  But Lily & Sophie had a fun time, and Levi was awfully excited trying to reach the ornaments on the bottom.

Knit Diaper

If you're looking at this picture and thinking, "Why is Levi wearing a sweater for a diaper?", you are not alone.  I caught Leah knitting something in secret.  When she wouldn't tell be what she was doing, I figured she must be making me a Christmas present, so I let it drop.  A few days later, I discovered that she was actually knitting a wool diaper and expecting my only son to wear it! It's all the same to Levi, and I'll admit that it does work surprisingly well, but it looks ridiculous.  I'm glad he's too young to be embarrassed.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Yesterday we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner.  Having a second (wife's) kitchen has advantages on holidays :).  Dan came up from New Mexico for the weekend.  It's been a great vacation for Chuck and Leah to have someone else for the girls to bother.

Memere!

It only took 6 months for us to get our first visitor in Utah.  Memere came out for most of a week.  We didn't do too much, but it was very nice for me to see my mom.  The girls loved it, Leah loved it, and I'll go ahead and assume that Memere loved it.  Wish she didn't have to go :(

Daddy's Home!

After a week in Finland, Chuck got home this morning.  Levi has figured out how to move himself around, but can't exactly crawl yet.  And we're still trying to potty train Sophie.  We force her to sit there forever, to no avail.

Go for the Gold !

Lily rocked her gymnastics meet today.  Hanging on bars, walking on beams, cart wheeling, the whole business.  We couldn't be more proud of her.

Halloween in SLC

Halloween in Utah seemed like Halloween anywhere.  Above, we have Dora & Boots, and Asoka (a girl Jedi apprentice).  We started with trick-or-treating in 9th&9th, a hip-n-happenin' commercial district 2 blocks from us.  The stores all gave away free treats, mostly in costume.

Coming out of this store, Dora fell down the stairs.  Leah rushed to her side, while Boots just kept monkeying around.  Thankfully, Chuck was busy documenting the events for this very blog.

Halloween at Emerson

Costume day at Lily's school.  There was a school-wide parade with Chuck video taped.  After the march, Mrs. Tuburccio's kids went back to their classroom, and we had a small party.

Let it Snow!

First snow in the valley.  It's been snowing for 6 weeks in the mountains, but it finally made it down to us.  After 5 years in North Carolina, Chuck's not looking forward to the shovelling this winter.

Big Boy

Levi can just about sit up on his own now.  Sophie is loving that he's suddenly able to play with her, somewhat interactively.

'Solid' food

Levi has started eating cereal.  He's still pretty messy about, but he has mouth-open worked out.  Mouth-close needs work. 

Oktoberfest!

Snowbird doesn't get many skiers in September, so they host 'Oktoberfest' to get people up there.  The beer lines were painfully long. (No Utah jokes, please).  Chuck & Lily rode the alpine track.  Then Chuck, Lily & Sophie took a chairlift to the top (almost).  Leah & Levi took the gondola to the top (actually).  Chuck hiked from the almost-top to the actual-top. It would've been a tough hike with his pack on by himself, plus he was carrying at least one child the entire time, and did a good chunk of it carrying two.

One Tooth Down

Lily lost her first tooth.  It happened in the middle of class, and fortunately Mrs. Tuburccio saved it and sent it home.  She's very anxious for a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

High Chair

Neither Lily nor Sophie ever had a high chair; they shared a booster that we'd strap into our stool height dining room chairs. We decided that Levi was going to have a nice wooden high chair that would last, so we could have a nice wooden chair for our grand kids, like both Gram and Memere have.  The chair came in today and Leah 'assembled' it.  One piece is kinda loose, and Chuck can't even fix it.  It'll probably be okay.  (Two months later, the thing was in pieces.  The company sent a replacement part, which we put in, but it didn't fit right. Sorry Grandkids.)  Anyhoo -- Buddy loves it.

Joey

09 09 09 is a special day.  Joey is a special doll.

Pahbug grows up

Sophie's first day of preschool.  She's extremely excited to be a big girl like Lily.  Speaking for myself (Chuck), I wish she'd stay little forever.

First day of Kindergarten, Take 2

Lily's second, first day of Kindergarten.  Hopefully, someday, we'll look back and pat ourselves on the back for this.  Regardless, today she was beautiful, we met some of the other kids and parents, things seem good.

Antelope Island

We ventured into a very bizarre mountain island positioned in the middle of the Great Salt Lake.  It smelled, well, funky.  But other than that, we had a great time.  We saw lots of bison (they're BIG), all kinds of extremely creepy spiders, and one antelope from afar.  We visited an old farm house -- sort of working for tourists -- with horses and chickens and all kinds of antique stuff.  Lily and Sophie learned to lasso a saw horse.

First day of Kindergarten, Take 1

Lily's first day of kindergarten.  The muffin.  In real big kids' school.  Our Lily!  We know she's been ready for this for years, but it seriously hurts me so see her grow up.

The Hogle Zoo

Leah and the girls visited the zoo again today.  Here the girls are with a massive American flag, uh, um, bald eagle.  <S.Colbert> Sophie!  When you run from our avian symbol of national pride, the terrorists win. </S.Colbert>

Don't let it end!

Summer in Maine wraps up.  One last cook out at Memere and Grampy's with the cousins.  (Curtis, Preston and Levi not featured in this photo).  It's been an awesome summer, now we have to move to Utah for real.

Pioneer Day

While Chuck commemorated the 162nd anniversary of Brigham Young's arrival in Salt Lake City all alone in Utah, Uncle John lit fireworks for the girls back at China Lake.  Summer at camp is better than summer anywhere else.

Hamden (sp?)

Leah and the kids visited Julie and Ken's new house.  It's an awesome house to play in!  The girls love their cousins, and popsicles.

Aunt Bee's

Party with a bunch of second cousins at Aunt Bee's.  Lots of kids, lots of chaos, but Boothbay is beautiful as ever.  During this picture, 10 different adults were screaming for all the kids to look at 5 different cameras at the same time.

Cape Elizabeth

Reunion beach day with the Tennessens.  Hadn't seen them much since we moved to NC, what with them living in Minnesota. We had a great time with Erica, Nate and their kids: all essentially the same age as ours.

Happy Birthday Gram!

Gram Phillips' birthday at camp with John & Sara.  Mary & Roger came over, and of course Aunt Bee. Unfortunately, Chuck and the girls were out to sea  with Grampy D.  We had an awesome time on the Kennebec with Meg, Beck, Diana and Memere, but were sad to miss the birthday party.  Gram P. got by without us.

Welcome to the fold

Levi was baptized at St. Bridget's, just like his sisters.  He was a perfect baby through the entire ordeal, despite being dressed like an effeminate Pilsbury Dough Boy. As his Godparents in the Catholic faith, Uncle Dan and Aunt Diana are now responsible for making sure he feels profound guilt for everything he does.

Independence Day 2009

Leah bought the kids a sand box / water box.  It's lots of fun and filth for everyone.  Breckin came over to check it out.  In the evening, Breckin's dad lit off some awesome fireworks in the street just in front of our house.  It seems like the entire neighborhood was doing it.  Late night, Chuck and Lily went to Sugarhouse Park for an awesome Salt Lake City fireworks show.

Hogle Zoo

Salt Lake City has an awesome zoo.  Leah and the kids visited today.  The girls can't stop talking about the elephants, and gorillas, and tigers and monkeys and on and on.  Here my family is (minus me) with a giraffe.

Lily & Sophie's Room

We've been unpacking and setting up the rooms and so forth.  Except for the play room, we're pretty much completely moved in.  Here Lily is on her bed, freshly decorated with trimmings from Ikea. To hide the obvious fact that our daughters are sleeping in a dungeon, Leah has made sure the girls' room has 2 overhead lights, 3 lamps and 2 night lights.  She'd be upset that I'm telling you all this, but I'm sure she won't read this blog... so keep your mouth shut :-|

Wyoming

... needs a stimulus package.  At least that's the joke from Utah, and I know I'm contributing to statism with this picture.  Honestly, Wyoming is my favorite state of the trip so far.  Place is beautiful, mountains are awesome.  Wildlife is amazing.

Nebraska

... is very boring.  Corn fields corn fields corn fields. Nothing says we believe in capitalism like an American Flag camouflaging the patent socialism inherent in the government funded, government built and government filled water tower, used to provide essentially free water to a system of agricorporations to grow subsidized corn to make subsidized high fructose syrup.

Lewis & Clark

Nebraska City, Nebraska.  You may have never heard of it, but Lewis and Clark stopped here while it was just getting started. If they had moved as quickly as Lily did (when faced with a mounted bear) it wouldn't've taken them so long to reach the Pacific.

Missouri

... was not great to us.  Honestly, this is our fourth freakin' state today, and Leah and I are getting pretty sick of each other. So it wasn't St. Louis's fault, but from the traffic to the parking to the sleazy horse carriage scum bags, it just leaves a bad taste in our mouth.  Yes yes, crossing the Mississippi is always a blast, and the Gateway Arch is humbling. You can see it coming into the upper-right of this photo, just barely framing my baby girls.

Illinois

... was fine, but with it's most famous son claimed by Indiana (see below) not much was left to look at.  We avoided the interesting north, and just sort of shifted through the southern highway.  This is a picture of St. Louis from the Illinois side, in traffic.  It's actually the only pic we took in Illinois, if that's any indication of the scenery.

Indiana

... rocked!  We haven't gotten bored with the farm scene yet (see Nebraska).  More importantly, we stopped at the childhood home of Abraham Lincoln -- that's right, in Indiana.  It's a minimally functional farm, and a super cool tour guide (in character) taught Lily what working a 19th century farm would've been like.  Lily looks like she loves it, no?

Kentucky

... is amazing.  The fields around Lexington look unchanged in 100 years.  And we had a great time in Louisville last night.  This morning, on the way out, we stopped at the Louisville Slugger museum.  Lily and Sophie took some swings in the batting cage. Levi was pumped to hold the Babe's bat. On the way out, we posed in front of the world's biggest bat.

Virginia

... was better than usual.  We've been to VA frequently in the past few years, but never on the south-west tip.  In this photo, we're standing in Cumberland Gap in Virginia, and behind us you can see both Tennessee and Kentucky.

Tennessee

is, well, what you expect Tennessee to be.  I'm not going to shame this town by identifying it -- in it's defense, we slept in a perfectly fine hotel here last night.  However, after driving in circles for half-an-hour looking for a decent place to eat this morning, we ended up at a McDonald's inside this Walmart visible in the background.

North Carolina

Last morning in Durham.  We woke up in this hotel, grabbed some bagels, sold our house and hit the road. Happy to unload the house, happy to be setting out on a crazy new journey West, but sad to say good-bye.

2215 Alpine Rd.

Just shy of 5 years, and we're saying good-bye.  When we moved in, this floor was a nasty carpet, the patio was dirt, Lily was a few months old, and the Red Sox hadn't won a World Series in 86 years. I won't lie, it makes me cry to drag the girls from the only home they've ever known. We're excited to get going, but we'll always remember this place as our first home.  Good-bye Breckenridge, we'll miss you.

Epworth ends

Lily graduates from Preschool!  There was no formal graduation, but Lily's class had a final picnic to say good-bye. Everyone had a wonderful time, including the younger siblings. Many of Lily's friends have been with us for several years now, and we'll miss them all. 

Duke Family Fun Run

This is Lily's 5th consecutive Duke Family Fun Run/Walk. This year, Lily made a friend and took off running.  With Sophie (stroller) and Levi (sling) riding, Chuck and Leah hung back.  Once we got to the hard parts, and still no Lily in sight, I decided I'd better run ahead to catch up to her, see what was going on.  Turns out her new friend's mom was pushing her two children and Lily up a massive hill in a stroller. Apparently Lily was saving up her energy for the Toddler Race at the end of the 5k.  A few minutes after we finished, Lily and Sophie ran the Toddler Race.  They both did awesome.  In this pic, you can see Leah just finishing the 5k as the Toddler Race is wrapping up.