First Tooth!

I forgot to post this, but here it goes.  Arlee now has her first tooth poking through the skin.  I noticed it when she was just barely ten months and a week old.  My friends' babies, that I have told you about in the "Three Little Tikes" post have had their teeth coming in since they were six months.  I felt bad for my friend, Tanya who is nursing just like me and she was being bit all the time.  I kept telling her that Arlee can only gum me!  Well now that she has gotten a tooth she can now bite away.  Luckily, she has only done this once!  I am so thankful that she didn't get them sooner.  Only one month and a week left for the dreadful moments of being bit.  Like I said, it has only been once so far and that was awhile ago.  Knock on wood though right... right... right?  Well, no worries I will be sure to let you know.  ; )

Chels

Valentines Day at the Hoges

For Valentines this year Hans and I decided to get a Wii and the Wii fit.  This is a big purchase for us so we just thought we would combine it with our anniversary that is less then a month later.  We do this sort of thing often.  Last year we bought a video camera.  Most of these things we want to get anyway and with Arlee about to come into the world we decided to do that last year; and this year we continued the tradition. : ) 

We celebrated Valentines by watching the All Star dunk contest and eating Papa Johns pizza.  It was great!  The most romatic Valentines that I have ever had!  Hans was working until seven that night and time was limited.  We had a great time and Arlee was asleep by eight thirty which gave us some time to be by ourselves.  Don't get me wrong I love our little girl, but it is so nice to have her in bed and relax.  On
Sunday it was just like any other Sunday... church and then off to our parents' house for dinner. 

I love my little family and don't know what I would do with out them.  I am so grateful to have them and love the time that we are able to spend together. 

Chelsey

"Choo Choo Train" Adventure

Yesterday morning my mom text me and told me that they were going to go up and ride the Front Runner. The day started out that we were going to go and then we weren't and finally that we were going.

Arlee and I met a portion of my family at the Trax station and rode it to Salt Lake Central Station where the Front Runner was waiting for us (Hans was at school). We ran across the platform, pushed the button for the door to open so we didn't miss the train, the doors opened, we hopped on and quickly found our seats so we didn't get tossed around much like we did on trax when it was ready to go. Being the guy that my dad is he started timing as soon as I said that we only had three minutes left until we were to be leaving. Well.... we waited and waited the train wasn't moving and according to the schedule it was supposed to be moving at this point. After waiting for about fifteen the train started moving. My nephew was so cute. His eyes lite up and a huge smile on his face. Jayden loved riding on the "choo choo train". It was a forty-seven minute ride from Salt Lake to Ogden.

Once we got to Ogden we got off and had bathroom breaks and got some lunch. After lunch we went to the Train Museum- that was just next door to the train station and played around until the next train came. We made the next train with no problems and this time less time to wait. We did have to wait for the Trax train though this time and still are not sure why. Once we got going on Trax it didn't take too long to get back to where our cars were. Arlee and I said good-bye and then we went home. It was a fun-filled day and it was time to relax at home with Hans.

My mom holding Arlee on the Trax

Me and Arlee on Trax

Me and Arlee at the Train Museum in Ogden, Utah

 Me and Arlee at the Train Museum in Ogden, Utah

My parents with Arlee at the Train Museum in Ogden, Utah

Really cool looking black train at the Train Museum in Ogden, Utah

Caught my dad off gaurd for a picture as he was looking at the inside of the car

Right to left: nephew, Jayden; brother in law, David; Arlee; my mom; and my sister, Lyndsay. 

Me holding Arlee.  She fell asleep on the way back to the Trax station on the Front Runner Train.  So precious!

Thanks to my family for inviting us we had a lot of fun.

Chels

ADOPTION- PLEASE HELP!

My sister, Abbie and her husband, Matt are adopting!!!  They have been trying for over a year now and are still waiting for their day. Matt and Abbie are working with LDS Family Services in their adoption process.  They are two great people who are full of love and still have a lot to give to a baby or two. : )  They are completly out of debt, so more for the little one. ; ) Please help them find a baby.  If you or anyone that you know is looking for two great people to raise a child in a loving enviroment it is them.  The picture above has their contact information.  You can look at their profile, read their stories and see pictures of them on the website. 

Please copy and post this on your Blog so more and more people may find out about them.  Thank you in advance for helping them in this effort. 

Chelsey Hoge- little sister who is waiting to be an aunt again. : )

The Three Little Tikes!

When I was thinking about getting pregnant I was trying to talk my friends, Tanya and Laura into getting pregnant with me.  They kept telling me that they would think about it or they weren't ready yet.  I gave up a little bit, but still hoped that they would join me in the quest of becoming a mom.  About a month later Hans and I found out that we were going to be parents on July 24, 2008. We were so excited and couldn't wait to tell our family and friends.  I told Tanya and Laura that I was pregnant and nothing was said about them being pregnant as well.  Come to find out later that Laura had already found out and she told me about it later.  Tanya found out after me, but waited to tell me for a little while.  When they told me that they were going to be mommys too I was so excited.  Laura's due date was March 24th, mine was March 30th and Tanya's was April... 6th I think.  It was so great being pregnant with two of my best friends.  We knew what each other was going through most of the time and we could really be there for one another to lean on. When it came down to actual birthdays for our little babies Laura had Gage on March 11th, I had Arlee on March 25th and Tanya had Aliya on April 9th.  Since our due dates were so close we thought that there could be a chance that we would all be a the hospital at the same time.  Of course, they were all different hospitals so there was no way of seeing each other if that happen.  It didn't though so I am glad.  We were able to see one another after we had our babies. 
Tanya, Laura and I have talked about taking a picture of the three babies together.  Last night we finally got one.  I know it was about time, but hey... we got one. Well actually I got a few, but it is really hard to get three nine month olds to hold still.  If you know what I mean!  Anyway, take a look below...

Aliya, Gage and Arlee

We love our little ones.  They are so cute and fun to be around.  Thanks Laura and Tanya for being such great friends and marrying great people too.  Love you!

Chels

Make Up Pictures of 2009

As many of you may have noticed I have not been very good about posting pictures with a few of my blogs. I am now going to make that up with this set of pictures:

Arlee sitting in front of her first Christmas Tree

Arlee in the army crawl stage.  She was about to fall right here and she was just tooooo fast for my camera!  ha ha

After putting up the Christmas Tree at what used to be my grandpa's house and then we were renting it. We found out that we were needing to move.  We were packing up in this picture and now we are gone from there as mentioned in an earlier post.

This was the process of packing up the kitchen.  Trust me we are not messy people.

This is how we stayed organized: stuff on the left was going to our new house and the stuff on the right was going to the storage unit.

Here is a picture of me and Arlee in our old house with her new beautiful orange dress on.

Arlee and Hans in our old house.

Hans giving Arlee a tender kiss... AWE!

FUDGE MAKING DAY!!!   I love this day.  I get together with Hans' sister- in- law, Amy (right) and her sister, Shelly (middle) and her mom, Judy (left).  We have done this for three years now and I have enjoyed the time that we have spent together.  Judy even gave me her beloved recipe.  : ) Thank you Judy!

ME!  I borrowed this apron in hopes that I would look like Betty Crocker or something... Honestly, I think that I look good. : )

Hans on his 27th birthday.  I made him a very special cake! His birthday landed on a Sunday this year.  We went to his parents' house for dinner and then my family and his came over to our house to eat the awesome cake that I made him.

Hans' cake.  I opted for the number candles in hopes that I wouldn't have to light a lot and I mean  A LOT of candles.  It worked out very nicely.  By the way, I decorated it myself!  I am selling my secrets if anyone is interested.  ; )

Hans and Arlee on his birthday.

Arlee helping out Hans with his presents. This got her going for Christmas; which was only five days later.

Wow I was really happy about something, but Arlee sure does look cute!  This is on Christmas morning at my parents' house.

Well... there you have it!  Some of the pictures that I have not added to other posts. Let's just say that I am going to be working on this the whole time that I have the blog going.  Oh well. 

Chelsey

After the Holidays and reflecting on 2009.

After the Holidays:

As many of you my have realized... the holidays are over until next month.  Crazy huh?  With the holidays being over that means back to reality.  Hans is back in school and working.  Nothing has really changed with me or Arlee, but we don't get to see Hans as much as we were.  It was so nice waking up and still having him home.  We were able to run errands together and with a little baby that helps out a lot having the help.  I am sure that he enjoyed all the time that we got to spend together while still getting things done around the house. 

Reflecting on 2009 (in a nut shell):

Hans and I were able to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary on March 1st. Arlee was born on March 25th- best day ever and almost ready to think about doing it again.  ; ) My grandpa passed away on June 6th. I turned 22 on July 13th. Hans started is second year of pharmacy school the end of August. First Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's with Arlee in our family.  Lets not forget that Hans turned 27 on December 20th.  Such an old man... Just kidding I love you!  Haha.  Arlee's present to him on his birthday was crawling!  It was great.  Hans was so happy to be able to have her crawl to him.

It really has been a great year for our little family.  We look forward to more first with Arlee and eachother.  Happy New Year everyone!

The Hoges