Baby's 1st Christmas

christmas 2011

naomi's first christmas brought much anticipation and excitement. i, of course, went a little over board with gifts for her...good thing her birthday is just around the corner!

we really did have so much fun introducing her to all of our christmas traditions. we spent christmas eve eve with my extended family. the party included our trio debuting as mary, joseph and baby jesus and a visit from santa. 2nd time around with him went much better. she actually sat on his lap long enough to open her gift and only gave me the quivering lip look for a few split seconds.

next on actual christmas eve my dad, sister and her two boys came and we had a christmas sleepover! this has become our tradition going on 3 years since steve joined the family. i had big plans for a special christmas eve feast...everyone was going to have their own chicken! i made cornish game hens but... i am a dummy and apparently tried to give everyone salmonella. so we stuck those back in the oven and ate them for 2nd dinner around 9pm.

christmas morning was the best. naomi was loving every second moving from one thing to the next. new toy - wrapping paper - box - ammon's toy - candy - wrapping paper - rumbi's bone - new toy. she loved it. and we all loved watching her. especially ammon...he made sure he kept an eye on her the whole time, making sure she didn't actually eat any of his candy or open his new toys. haha. i'm so glad they were all there to celebrate the holiday with us! and nay, seriously, adores her aunt chelle. which is smart. because aunt chelle is "the fun" aunt.

we spent the rest of christmas day and night with steve's family. which i really love for 3 reasons. 1) steve's mom is THE best cook.
2) there are 4 little girl cousins. they are all close in age and they LOVE each other. so cute to watch them play.
3) steve's family gatherings are so calm. haha. don't get me wrong i love my family and all the kids and at first i felt so awkward around steve's reserved family. i am use to people talking and laughing over each other while kids run around in the background...but sometimes after a long holiday week a little calm is exactly what i need. :)

and then...we woke up monday morning with sore throats and runny noses. thanks, christmas.

mini me

Last week steve had to stay in salt lake for a work event so naomes and I got some extra special "mommy and me" time. We went swimming at the hotel steve was staying at and spent the day at the zoo with cousins.
I love that I get to spend every minute with this cutie. She is my favorite sidekick.

At the zoo we were practicing our animal sounds... I am determined to pass on my talent for all things involving sound effects. I even tricked Ammon into thinking the monkeys were really talking to him. Mwaha.
Naomi was bundled up rill good until we went in to see the giraffes...you see she has this obession recently..she drags her little stuffed giraffe everywhere. Holding it by the neck. Poor thing can't even stand up straight anymore..anyways. so we go in and I of course am making a big deal pointing to the stuffed giraffe stuck in her kung fu grip then pointing to the real deal just a few feet away. Well she got this big grin on her face right then! (See pic) it was adorable! Probably she had no clue what was going on besides me putting on a show but I'll take what I can get.
Can't wait to go to the zoo again...next summer..its pretty cold there in december. :)

Digital Christmas Story

Digital Christmas Story

love this!

wow...i am overwhelmed with all the love. you are all so dear. thank you for all the kind words and virutal hugs. i am so grateful to have you all in my life!

grandpa richard

Having a hard time sleeping...my dad called me today to tell me that he bore his testimony in church. He has always been really great about stuff like that. If I ever give a talk in church and don't tell him he requests a copy. Then promptly reads it to anyone who will listen.
Anywho after he told me what he said I asked him if he would write it down for me. Of course, he already had. Then he paused and said...I think I'm going to have it read at my funeral.
Sadly, this type of conversation has been the norm lately. You see, we found out in July that he has stage 4 prostate cancer. Meaning it has already moved to his bones. His hips first and more recently his spine and skull.
The dr said 2 years. That was before it spread from his hips.
He is doing radiation. But he's decided not to do the aggressive chemo treatments. As he said in his testimony today he has accomplished everything that he ever wanted to in his life. He was married and sealed to my mom. And he got to raise me.

About 20 years ago, just before my mom died, they had a conversation about this. My dad said back then that if the Lord were to take him then his only complaint would be that he didn't get to raise me.
He said to me today "this is one of the reasons why I know the gospel is true and that the Lord loves me. He has always kept all of His promises to me."

Of course I hate even thinking about any of this. Of what he is really saying. Of what is going to happen. But although I want to be mad...I can't. I mean yes, I am sad. Heartbroken really. But not angry. Because thankfully I was raised by this amazing man who taught me what he believes. And he lived it. Everyday. The older I get the more amazed I am by him. I mean this man married a divorced mom with 4 teenagers. He was 38 when he found her. Then after only 10 years his sweetheart died. Leaving him to raise their only child together, alone.
And I have never seen him be depressed or angry about it. He has taken everything in stride. That's how he is.

And this is exactly how I know that my Heavenly Father loves me...I mean of course having two loving parents on earth would have been ideal...but I think it goes without saying that I wouldn't be who I am today if it weren't for going through the trial of losing my mom at such a young age. So I know God loves me because wow, I couldn't have asked for a better dad.

The Holidays are here!

Initial Wreath Christmas Card

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a little 5k on a very cold day

my friend emily and i decided to sign up for a 5k before the weather got too cold. well, when we signed up it was much warmer.. as the day of the race approached it got colder and colder. we started out freezing but by the end i was dying of heat.
steve brought naomi to the finish. emily and i were joking at the start about how the only thing we were nervous about was if the boys would remember to dress the babies up nice and warm. they did a good job! :)
we did it! next time i will not wear 3 layers.
or maybe i will just make sure to sign up for a race in the summer instead.

i love my little support crew.

baby chick

behold, the most adorable thing i have ever made.

okay two of the most adorable things - the child and the costume.
seriously, i can't get over how adorable she looked.
happy 1st halloween, baby!

lessons learned:
candy is not nearly as important and looking cute
comfort, also, not as important
and..babies like to eat feathers

that is all.

Lazy afternoon

With the weather getting colder my favorite thing is cuddling up with these two (and rumbi, of course) for storytime. And that face..please, someone tell me how to make her stay this age forever!

More of moab

Here are a few pics from our trip. We actually went for a funeral so it was kind of last minute so we didn't get to hike and introduce naomi to the true beauty of the red rocks.
The funeral was for steve's uncle. He lived in a quiet little town just outside of moab called castle valley. The funeral was in an lds chapel that was literally only 3 rooms. Before we left as we were getting into the car steve said "listen to that" ... there was nothingness. Complete silence in the middle of the day. In the middle of nowhere..of course steve loves that. Silence is his favorite. Silence and an open road...it got me thinking about what I would do in a place like that. I crave being "busy" and checking things off my "to do" list..maybe living in a place like that for awhile would help me slow down and savor lifes moments a bit more..but I dunno, I told steve I'd need a target within a 30 mile radius. Then I would be willing to go anywhere.

Yusss

I have finally joined the smart phone revolution! Hiphip! To commemorate the occassion I give you my first ever phone post and a pic to show how much husband loves my new obsession.

Best baby ever

We are in moab for the night and i just put naomi in her packnplay with her binki. Can you believe she goes right to sleep?..while i just sit here playing on my phone. Ohiloveherlittleface.

new developments

we took naomes up the canyon for the first time
she has now learned how to pull herself up to the standing position.
but can't quite figure out how to get back down...which makes nap time really fun.

someone was caught sleeping on the job

and look who is officially a red-head now!

baby and bikes

our excitement this summer consisted of...steve completing his first LOTOJA - a 200 mile bike race from Logan to Jackson.
we are so proud!!
naomi's first "road trip" and well trip, in general, to support daddy in his big race

our first ever family bike ride

nay was a bit hesitant at first... then she decided she would be excited

and naomi finally fits into steve's favorite onesie {that he actually gave to his niece 3 years ago} but we "borrowed" for a bit.

so as you can see the theme here is bikes! we are sad that summer has come to an end.

now steve will be hibernating until spring and making me watch football instead of cycling. believe it or not, i prefer the cycling. he's turned me into such a nerd.

nay and i are sad that our morning walks outside will cease

but i'm excited for these upcoming holiday "firsts!"

having a baby just makes life even sweeter.

7 month pictures

pictures from fotofly



i die.

separation anxiety

naomi is almost 7 months {on monday!} and we are now really starting to see the "stranger danger" reflex kick in. i have to admit, it kinda makes me a tiny excited to see her looking for me and reaching her little arms out to me.



she usually will go to women however, not willingly..but men, that's a different story. as soon as a man picks her up she gets that distressed "steve" face with the furrowed brow and starts to pout her nervous little pout. with women she will stare long and hard at the person holding her then quickly scan the room to find me. if i am close by then there's a quick sigh of relief and she usually goes right for the hair or jewelry next.



i know someday i might be bugged that she is so attached to me but for now i'm all about her wanting to be on team mommy.



hands down mom is the winner for #1 fave

{also check out those little teeths. she's had them since 3 months old!}

dad is a not-so-close second

she for sure would pick mom first but she does looove her daddy too.

its adorable to watch her look around a crowded room to find him.

looklooklook..find daddy..sigh of relief followed by a big smile.



and.. here's yet another strange sleeping position. i usually move her from this one because it kinda makes me nervous. baby needs to breathe! doesn't she understand that?!

sit, smile, roll over

i've decided having a baby that can do new tricks is really not all that different than a puppy. when people {mostly kids} use to come over i would say "wanna see rumbi do some tricks?" now i catch myself saying to anyone who will listen "hey, wanna see naomi do some tricks?"

well tonight was no different. we made a last minute visit to salt lake tonight and i was telling my aunts and cousins "look at what naomi can do now?" then i put her on her back on the ground and of course at first she wouldn't budge so my nephew yousef said "her can roll over?" like he didn't believe me cuz, duh, she wasn't doing it. so to prove him wrong i grab a toy and shake it by the side of her head and say "come on naomi, roll over." next thing i hear is yousef mimicking my command "rollover!" then a few moments later when i'm sitting her up he says "sit, naomi!"

hahaha.

Hey you guys!!!

*i totally did not write this post. this is all steve.

new tricks

naomi is 6 months old and has learned how to roll. i totally encouraged this new and exciting milestone until...she decided to practice it in her sleep.

i swear she is so restless and never looks comfortable. i find her sleeping in the strangest positions. for example, on her tummy with her head stuffed into the corner, on her side with her feet awkwardly resting on top of the bumper, or as photographed above, on her tummy with her hand peeking out underneath the bumper.

but all of these are better than when she is trying to fall asleep..goodness. first she rolls around for bit, practicing her new skills. then she lays on her back for awhile lifting her legs high into the air and then slams them both down onto the crib mattress. over and over. if listening to the monitor is sounds like an elephant is stomping around in her room. boom. boom. boom.
finally she ends up on her tummy and moves her head from side to side until it is all red and eventually she falls asleep in one of the aforementioned positions.

seriously, child. is this normal? i hope so because pretty much there is nothing i can do to stop it.

besides that naomi is really turning out to be a sweet and happy little girl. oohhhh how i love her. she loves to give smiles and hugs in the morning and after naps. and she's totally starting to appreciate my weird sense of humor, giggling when i jump up and down and make monkey sounds.

she is actually very mellow, especially in a crowd. she usually refuses to smile but just likes to take everything in. looking around an entire room top to bottom and observing everyone else while avoiding eye contact. no smiles for strangers, so don't even try.

she loves eating baby food! so far she has had rice cereal, avocados, bananas, peas, zucchini and cauliflower. she can even drink water out of a sippy cup but i don't like giving it to her because it makes her look too grown up...mama's not ready for that yet.

the next trick to master - sitting up all by herself. she's totally almost there. she's got some serious upper body strength.

cheers to 6 months! i am totally loving this age.

rumbi's birthday...i think

rumbi is 3! sometime around july 7th, 8th, 9th,
10th or 11th is his birthday. before you think i am a bad mom just know that his first owner told me one date and then the vet told me another date..so.. confusion.
whatev, he doesn't care/know anywho.
but look at that adorable puppy face...

he is pretty dang cute no?

and he loves to cuddle with me. which is always welcome.
and he has been so so good with naomi. slightly depressed at times but never acting out. i love having him around all day he is like my little shadow, following me in and out of every room, jumping in my lap any chance he gets and tilting his little head whenever i'm talking to him/baby/myself really. its just fun to feel like i have a little (somewhat independent) sidekick with me day after day.
love that puppy of mine.

and a few pics with nay to end the post. uhh..squish squishin.