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.