Sunday, December 27, 2009

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!

Monday, December 7, 2009

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.)

Sunday, December 6, 2009

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.