BYU Basketball vs. Air Force!

When we were in Utah at the end of January, we went to the BYU basketball
game vs. Air Force. We had a great time! Naomi hadn't been surrounded by 
that many people before, so we wondered how she would do. She whimpered 
when the first roar went up, but calmed down after that and was fascinated by
the basketball players, the GameTron, the crowds, the guy a few rows back who
kept yelling idiotic "advice" for the team, and everything else that went on!

And yes, her BYU hair ribbon is upside down. I don't think she noticed.

Utah in January

 
In the end of January, we went for a little drive and ended up in Utah! Kenny
(Matt's brother) and Echo blessed their little boy Nolan, and we were excited
to be there for it. We really had a great time, which was evidenced more than
anything else by us not wanting to leave when the time came. (Come on, admit
it; there are some vacations where you have a great time but are completely 
ready to go home when it's over!!)

Highlights:
  - Nolan's blessing and lunch afterwards
  - CAFE RIO!! (We have yet to find anything comparable in Tucson)
  - Jaunt up to Bridal Veil Falls (lots of snow and ice up there)
  - BYU basketball game vs. Air Force
  - Probably some other things I am forgetting
  - Watching Naomi and Nolan interact
  - And just seeing lots of family!

The pictures above are:
Brittany and Naomi
Matt and Nolan
Naomi reaching to touch fingers with Grandma Merrell

One more picture for good measure

I apologize for not putting up pictures for so long...we finally
upgraded our internet connection, and I completely 
blame the S...L.....O.......W connection we used to have for the
lack of info posted. Anyway, we're up and running again!
I hope you enjoy the pictures.

For good measure, here's another picture of Naomi. It was 
a bit chilly in the house one morning, so Naomi wore 
my socks for a bit, although they look like thigh-high boots 
on her! 

Snow in Tucson?

Yep, it has been confirmed: Tucson received some snow in January! 
Matt dashed outside to take a picture, and I thought you might enjoy
the contrast between the first picture (snow 
in Tucson) and the second picture (snow in Utah).

These pictures tell you why Val loves Utah and why Matt loves Arizona!

At the park

Naomi is a huge fan of the park and enjoys eating grass and dirt. In fact she enjoys it so much that I wonder if I am missing out! We've discovered she loves swinging - it makes her giggle! 

Rocky Point

We were invited to spend a few days in Rocky Point, Mexico 
with some friends, and 
we had a great time there! Naomi hadn't spent much time around other kids, and there was a 5 month old and a 1 year old in the house with us. Pictures attached are of the group at dinner, Matthew and Naomi on the beach, and the two of them feeding the birds. Naomi LOVES
watching birds, so she enjoyed the "bird show" each time it happened.

Grandma and Grandpa Jones

Grandma and Grandpa Jones came to Tucson for a week around New Year's, 
and we had a great time with them! We played cards, visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, 
got some work projects done, etc. We loved having them here and can't wait for them to come again! 
The picture above is us outside the Desert Museum.

1st Birthday!!

Naomi has turned one year old! Her birthday was on Saturday, Feb. 17, but
we had the party on Monday, Feb. 19th. What a big girl she is!! 

It took some convincing to get Naomi to leave her hat on, and in the end that didn't work anyway. As you can see in the group picture, she was not interested in picture-taking; she just wanted that hat off!

She made a lovely mess with the cake and had lots of fun!

Christmas Fun

10 month update

Naomi hit the 10 month mark on Sunday! No one reads paragraphs anymore (or so most of my family implied over Thanksgiving when they told me they only look at the pictures on the blog), so here are the main highlights:

• Naomi flaps her arms and occasionally waves hi or good-bye, but never on demand.

• She can stand up by herself until she realizes our hands aren't supporting her, then she sits right down.

• Naomi's favorite treat is a banana (not in the pureed form): I whipped out a banana for her during church today (not our usual church snack fare, but today was a rough day for her so I thought she deserved a treat), and she vocalized her excitement so much that we finally hid the banana and pulled out the veggie puffs.

• She loves dogs and absolutely goes berserk with excitement when she sees our neighbor's dog. Since the dog is familiar with kids, I let Naomi touch the dog and she just giggles and loves every second of it, even when she accidentally gets whacked by the frenzied tail-wagging!

• At her 9 month well baby appointment, Naomi weighed in at 16 pounds, putting her at in the 10th percentile for her age group. For height, she's in the 25th percentile. Other moms are blown away by how much Naomi eats, but obviously she's putting it to good use!
  

• Naomi's current favorite game: unloading all the items off the changing table. That includes diapers one by one, then clothes from baskets, changing pad covers, etc. It's still entertaining to me, so you can tell I'm a first-time mom. When she picks something up, she generally flaps it around to see if it does anything interesting or looks like food, and then drops it on the floor while moving onto something bigger and better.

Naomi is as huggable, sweet, beautiful, astounding, and intelligent as ever a baby could be...she put a fake rosebud in her mouth and tried to hide it from me, she is entertained for great lengths of time by the grocery ads (mostly tearing and waving them around), and she LOVES her toothbrush. She is enchanted by our Christmas tree and the sparkly lights on the houses in our neighborhood. All in all, with her heritage, she can't escape being highly intelligent!

Good cheeks

...almost there...

Little sicko

Fun with fruit puffs

Fun with cousins

Fun with friends

Jail Bird

Here's our jail bird.  When it's time for a nap or bedtime, we lay Naomi down in her crib.  Since she's learned to pull herself up, though, she stands up, works her way around to this end of the crib (which is the end closest to the door) and babbles or cries in an effort to get us back in the room.  
 

Lady Bug

Kick'n back

Naomi consistently works her way to the side of her stroller and sticks her feet up on the "dashboard".  She's so laid-back in general that this picture seems to capture her attitude about life!

Bipolar Baby