Christmas Festivities

**Beware this is going to be along post, December was a fun and very busy month**

On the 12th, Tempe holds a Christmas boat parade on the lake, so we went with some friends. I forgot my camera so sorry there are no pictures. We had fun and figured out what to do different to make next year even better. This is going to be a new tradition for our family.

On the 17th, we had the Collinwoods' and Cory's brother over for dinner and games. After we ate, we let Naomi and Caleb open their gifts to each other.

Naomi got Caleb one of those play cell phones and he was so excited. Caleb gave Naomi a bandana dress his mommy made. I was excited, but Naomi was more excited about the packing peanuts. Don't worry as soon as she wears the dress I will post a picture. We had lots of fun hanging out!

The next day I decided I would try and explain the reason why we celebrate Christmas to Naomi. She kind of got it I think. She was really excited when I told her the story of Jesus using our nativity. We spent the afternoon taking turns telling the story using the figurines. Here is Naomi's version (sorry the video is sideways, I couldn't turn it):

On the 19th, we went to a family Christmas party. We ate really good Mexican food. We had a gift exchange, and then Santa came with a bag a presents.

Naomi and Santa drew pictures together. And then she waited patiently, well as patiently as a 2 year old can be, for Santa to call her name so she could sit on his lap. She was really worried that he didn't have a stocking for her. But he did and they just sat and talked for a little bit.

Santa helped Naomi open her gifts from him. She got a harmonica and chap stick, which she loved.

Then after letting everyone else have their turn with Santa, Naomi and Katie (Naomi's kind of cousin) sat with Santa again.

Then they decided they wanted to go to the North Pole with Santa, so they got into his toy bag. Naomi had so much fun!

On the 22nd, we had fun playing at Naomi's cousins' house. It was a "scrap and wrap" party for all my scrapbook buddies at my sister-in-law's house. So while Naomi played with Caleb Cope and her cousins I worked on a Christmas present for Cory. I got the idea from Somewhat Simple, it's "The 12 Daytz of Christmas." It gives a date idea for each month of the year. Here is my final product:

I'm really happy how it turned out; I was worried I wouldn't like it. It was a fun day!

On the 23rd, we went to the zoo with Nicole and Caleb, Jill and her granddaughters, and Naomi's cousins Jessica and Riley. It was a cold day, but we had fun. We rode the train, went to the petting zoo, played in the play area by the wallaby's, and rode the carousel of course.

On Christmas Eve, I got to play basketball in the morning, which was so much fun! That afternoon, we decorated cookies for Santa. Naomi's favorite part was pouring on the sprinkles.

That evening we went over to Cory's twin's in-laws for dinner and then we went to see the lights at Mesa Temple. Naomi had fun and loved seeing all the lights and the nativity. When I asked her what the baby's name was in the nativity she told me Leo. She's so funny

She fell asleep on the ride home because it was late, so I set out the cookies for her.

Christmas day Naomi woke up at 8 and was happy to see that Santa ate her cookies and she was even more excited to see the presents. She loved everything she got and loved opening the presents.

We went to Naomi's cousins' for lunch and then to Cory's twin's in-laws' again for dinner, real Chicago pizza.

The next day, I hit the sales and got some new Christmas tree ornaments (that I am so excited about), this is the first time since we've been married that I've gotten new ornaments so I'm way excited for next year. That evening we went to my Grandma Taylor's house for dinner and saw family I haven't seen in a long time.

Overall, we had a great Christmas. Busy, but lots of fun. We hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

Project Ornaments

So I've been feeling crafty lately and I found a really cute idea for making Christmas tree ornaments out of toilet paper rolls. I got the idea from the muffin tin mom, follow this link to check it out: Muffin Tin Mom.

So here is my finished product.

The next time I do a project like this I will use acrylic paint instead of spray paint. Reason one: I can't stand the smell of spray paint. Reason two: in order to make sure that the paint was even all over I had to use my fingers to rub it all around and some of my stars still have spots without paint. But it was fun and I'm glad I'm done.

Ho Ho Ho

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we told Naomi that we could set up the Christmas tree. She was so excited. She helped us put lights on the tree and put a couple ornaments on the tree and then she started playing with the stockings and the Santa hat.

(As soon as Naomi put on the hat she started saying "Ho ho ho")

(Naomi thought the stockings were big boots)

(Here is the finished product. Yes I know our tree looks a little bare, but this year I will finally get new ornaments during the after Christmas sales.)

Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving was fun this year. My parents and my little brother came to visit us. Naomi loved having them here.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving we stopped by the ASU bookstore so my dad could get a running shirt to add to his collection. He convince Cory and me to get a shirt too so we could be matching for the race the next day. For lunch we took my family to Paradise Bakery (one of my fav places to eat) and they loved it, especially the cookies. We then went to my Aunt Jolyn's house and hung out with all the family. We had dinner there to celebrate my dad's birthday.

Thanksgiving morning my dad, Cory, and I ran in the Mesa Turkey Trot 10K. My dad was nice and ran slow with me.

(Here we are before the race)

(Here are Naomi and Brad waiting at the finish line)

(My dad and I are finally at the finish line, at 1 hour and 2 minutes)

(Cory finished 7 minutes after us, pretty good for not even training)

After the race we went home, showered, and made some pies. When we were all done with the pies we headed over to Cory's mom's house. It was a lot of fun because Debra (Cory's sister) and niece Zoey, Craig (Cory's twin) and wife Amy and Debra's friend and two sons came. We ate a lot of good food and just lounged around. That evening we went over to Amy's parents' house for pie.

Friday after Thanksgiving we did some Black Friday shopping, but we didn't go until 9 am. We got all but two items on our list (pretty good for not getting up at 5 am to shop). For lunch we took my family to Chipotle and they loved it. That afternoon we went to my Grandma Taylor's house (my mom's mom) to celebrate her birthday and hang out with all the family.

Saturday was my parents' and brother's last partial day here. That morning my dad wanted to go swimming. We warned him it would be cold because our pool isn't heated, but he insisted. Cory, Naomi, and I enjoyed the hot tub and watching dad get into the pool. After about 5 minutes of trying to adjust to the water he decided he'd come join us in the hot tub. We spent the rest of the morning just hanging out. Before they went to the airport we took them to In-N-Out for lunch.

Thanks Grandma Dorie and Papa Steve, oh and Uncle Brad too for visiting us.

Somesaults and Princess Crowns

A week ago Naomi told us she wanted to do her exercises and this is what she showed us.

On another day we made princess crowns. Naomi was a busy princess.

Sweet, Innocent Naomi

So my sweet little Naomi is going through that terrible age. Naomi was never really destructive and I never really had to worry about her. It first started a week ago. I had her color on the floor in the bathroom so I could get ready for the day, but she decided that the toilet seat lid needed to be colored. Luckily that wiped off. Then the next day she was coloring in the kitchen while I was cooking dinner, and then I suddenly realize that she is coloring on the inside of one of the lower cabinet doors. Luckily it was on the inside, but it still isn't completely gone. Since then she hasn't colored without me watching her every move. Monday morning we were eating breakfast at the table and there were playing cards leftover from playing games with Cory. I was reading something (I don't know what) as I realize she has bit a whole in the center of one of the cards and ate it.

Lately she has also been throwing more tantrums and laughs when I put her in time out. I'm pretty easy going and it takes quite a bit to get me upset, but Naomi has pushed all my buttons. But she made me laugh the other day when we were driving in the car. She had been whining and I tried to calm her down but she said to me, "I'm grumpy. Leave me alone." I know she got the "I'm grumpy" thing from me, but "leave me alone' part just made me laugh.

But I love her so much and now I'm going to go de-stress so that we can have a happier day.

Week of Halloween

To start off the week Naomi and I made some pumpkin decorations and a necklace which she used as a scary mask.

Oh and here are the decorations I made this year. I bought acrylic cube frames and made my own word blocks that I can change out the pictures and use them all year long.

Then Wednesday we went to Vertuccio Farms with our friends Karen and Caleb. They had barell train ride, bounce house, farm animals, hay maze, and more. Naomi and Caleb loved the hay maze, they kept running around in circles and loved choosing different paths to follow. Naomi loved the bounce house but didn't exactly enjoy being taken down by Caleb.

Wednesday after Cory got off work we left for Colorado for Cory's grandparents 75th wedding anniversary. We were planning on getting to Cory's dad's house by midnight but because of a major accident that had us backed up for over an hour and really slippery roads we stayed the night in a hotel and finished the drive Thursday morning. Naomi was so excited when we finally got to Papa Buzz's that the first thing she wanted to do was play in the snow. It was fun to see the snow, but it was so cold that I missed being in Arizona weather. I'm sad to say I didn't get any pictures at the anniversary party but as soon as I get the pictures other people took I'll post some. It was fun to see Cory's family (immediate and extended). Naomi had fun playing with cousin Zoey and especially loved her dog Jasmine.

Halloween day was fun. Our family dressed as the Flintstones. My costume I bought, but Cory's and Naomi's costumes I made, and for not being a seamtress they turned out really good. So we went to Bashas to do a little trick-or-treating with Caleb, Karen, and Brandon. Naomi got a pumpkin painted on her face. Then we went over to Aunt Sondra's to join them at their ward party. They had carnival games to win candy, they had dinner, and music. Then after we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood with Cody, Jessie, Nicole, Gene, Caleb, Karen, Brandon, and Caleb. After ward we went and played games over at Brandon and Karen's. We had so much fun!

He Thinks My Tractors Sexy

On the 23rd, we went to the zoo with Nicole and Caleb. The kids had a lot of fun. Naomi loved sitting on the tractor and was very upset when it was time to move on.

Naomi was so busy driving the tractor that she wouldn't look at me for any picture.

After looking at the animals and playing in the water area, we went on the carousel before leaving. Naomi chose the lion.

Thanks Nicole and Caleb for a fun day at the zoo.

From the mouth of Naomi

Yesterday Papa Buzz came to town and Naomi was so happy. So we went to dinner with him, Aunt Sondra, Uncle Eric, Aunt Amy, and Uncle Craig. On the way home Aunt Amy and Uncle Craig rode with us. Aunt Amy and I were singing songs with Naomi, but then Naomi got sick of it. We were naming off songs and starting to sing another song when Naomi said, "I don't want to. I'm grumpy." It was so funny.

A couple days ago I came home from running and Naomi was already awake, which she usually isn't, and Cory had put on a movie for her in our bed so he could sleep more. I go into my room to say hi to Naomi and she says to me, "Mommy, get out of my room." I laugh and say, "No this is mommy's room." Then Naomi says, "No (long pause) it's my room."

What we've been up to

Warning: This will be a long post. So enjoy.

A week ago Monday, I put Naomi's Halloween shirt from last year (which was big then) on her and it fit. But definitely won't fit next year. So I told Naomi to say cheese and this is what turned out.

The next day (a week ago Tuesday) we thought it would be fun to put on her tutu and dance. She was spinning and hopping and doing yoga moves.

Once she got bored of dancing, she thought it would be fun to play with her beach ball. She especially enjoyed throwing it up in the air as high as she could.

The next day Naomi helped make cupcakes.

On Saturday, we went to a baby shower for my cousin Jessica. Naomi loved playing with all the balloons. And then we had a barbeque with our friends the Millers and the Smiths. We watched the BYU football while our kids played. Then we played sword fighting on their Wii and the kids had fun mimicking us. I wish I had taken pictures because the kids were so cute.

On Sunday we had dinner with Great Uncle Dale and all his family, Great Aunt Mary, and Great Grandma and Great Papa Taylor. Before we went over there we had to make mashed potatoes and Naomi wanted to help.(I'm sad because I forgot to pull out my camera while we were there visiting)
On Monday, Naomi went to a dance class that a lady in our ward has put together for our ward. The class was small that day but Naomi had fun.





After the dance class, we headed to the outdoor mall. We played at the playground with our friends the Hilton's (sorry no pictures). Before we left we went into the Build-A-Bear store and then the Disney Store. Naomi had fun trying on a princess dress and shoes (which I totally forgot to take her picture) and then she tried on the Winnie the Pooh costume. She looked so cute.

That night we had Family Home Evening. We haven't been very consistent since moving here, but we've been consistent for about the last month or so. Anyway, Naomi gets really grumpy when we say it's time for FHE. But this time she actually participated and mostly understood what was going on. Lately we've been having a hard time keeping the house clean, it's like no matter how much I clean it's never all done. So our lesson was based on the scripture Doctrine and Covenants 88:119. I drew a picture of a house and Naomi said it was our house. Then I split the house into different parts and told her if we wanted to have a House of God, that we also needed a "house of prayer, ...fasting, ...faith, learning, ...glory, ...order" and that we would focus on order. Then I took another paper and drew a picture of Naomi, me and Cory; and next to the pictures I drew what our chores were for the week. She really liked that, and so far we have followed through with what we talked about. It's nice to know that at least one of the last four or five lessons Naomi actually learned something from it.

Yesterday we had fun playing around the house and at the park. (She loves to cheese the camera)

(In the above picture she is building a "fire." The fire is a pile of wood chips, what an imagination.)

After quiet time, Naomi wanted to make a treasure map. So I drew one for her to color and I made her a pirate patch. She had fun being a pirate and searching for treasure with her map.

I know this was a long post, but I hope you enjoyed.