I am a little late posting about last month, but forgive me for the holidays are stressful and many and I am only human. December was an eventful month and it took me a few days to gather my wits and reflect. It was Tummy Mommy's birthday and her cousin's family had just moved close by so we took the chance to get everyone together. We introduced Otto to Stephanie and her family at a lovely dinner with Marissa, Doug, and James and LaRee's family as well.
I cannot tell you how much I love being a part of this family and feeling that we belong while we are so far from our own family in Utah. We had a fun time and I look forward to doing it again soon.
Meanwhile, we've been taking advantage of nice weather to go for daily morning walks. If we get this bundled up for 40 degrees, what will we do when we get to Utah?
We have enjoyed taking Otto's monthly pictures and making them themed, but we could help ourselves getting him all dressed up in his "Sun City" or "Snowbird" outfit for a little Christmas shopping at the mall. My Arizona baby:
Next on the agenda, we made our way to the newly dedicated Phoenix Temple to be sealed to Otto for time and all eternity! This is no small event! Now that the adoption is finalized and we had our big celebrations with lots of great friends, we decided to make this event very close and personal with only our bishop and his wife in attendance. It was a beautiful ceremony and Otto was an absolute angel. It felt like our wedding day all over again. Matt says I'm not allowed to say that anymore since I've claimed to have a few weddings already.The rest of the month was dedicated to the preparation for our trip to Utah and Christmas. We like to theme our gifts and I pride myself on picking personal gifts specific to their recipient. This year, we supported our artistic friends and relatives by getting gifts from them or by using my own artistic and crafty skills to make personalized gifts. Our family has always loved and supported our good friend and professional artist, Mirvia Eckert, so I found the perfect opportunity to get my mom an original painting from her small canvas size series and a print for my dad. In the past, I have taken advantage of Mirvia's talents to give her paper mache snowmen as gifts. She has so much available in prints and cards. I highly recommend seeing what she has to offer at www.mirvia.net if looking for some beautiful artwork.
Then, I also ordered a print photo of the Brigham City Temple taken by my cousin, John, as a gift for Matt's grandma. I think it went over well.
https://www.facebook.com/photosbyjohnreynolds
For a few other friends and relatives I took the opportunity to use my own talents and customize small paintings to fit their tastes specifically. I didn't get pictures of everything I did, but I did a copy of another painting I saw on Pinterest:The weekend before Christmas we packed up the car to the last square inch, the baby, the dog, the presents, our luggage, the pack n play, etc. I feared we wouldn't have room for everything and was in tears when I thought we'd have to leave a few things for Otto's Christmas behind. We managed to get it all. We stayed in Henderson (Vegas) along the way and arrived at my parent's house on Saturday, the 20th.
We completed this drive, all while Otto was cutting his first two teeth!
Matt and I both were so excited to give Otto his first Christmas with our family and our home-town traditions. Otto got to see Santa twice!
Once at my parent's house:
Sunday, we had Otto blessed in Matt's parent's ward. 1:30 sacrement was not ideal for naptime so he was hard to please and vocalized his displeasure during the ceremony for all friends and family to hear. Matt was terribly nervous to get it just right, but in the end it was short and sweet. It was such a spectacular event that we didn't think to get pictures with his darling blessing outfit! Many friends and family joined us for the event, including Tummy Mommy's sister that lives in Utah and her family!
We were so happy to see some of our long-time friends join us after for a chat and pictures:
Below is Chris, Jena and Jordis
It was so good to see them all together again after so many years!
Nana Ann (my mom) let Otto open a present early calling it a "Blessing gift" so he was able to enjoy his Johnny Jumper in the doorway for a few days before Christmas.Otto was spoiled rotten with attention during our visit. With so many grown ups to tend to him, so were Mommy and Daddy!
Aunt Megan babysat for a few hours and had a great time. However, having to change a poopy diaper she confessed she would never do cloth diapers for her own kids.
Christmas Eve we spent with Matt's family and their traditional gathering. My dad and sister joined us this year as my mom had to work.
Nana Rasmussen
Jordis saying hi:
He really enjoyed having so many pretty young girls to fawn over him. Kaydence and Teagan were just the right age to keep him entertained during our visit.
Santa came by for another visit and hand out some early presents.
I let Otto open his own gift. My dad commented, "If he's going to open all his own gifts, Christmas morning is going to be painfully long."
Our nephew Micheal was happy to get dinosaurs from us but he was just as happy to give us gifts in return.
I got fuzzy slippers and he gave Matt a new blue tie. Otto was spoiled with a plush Olaf, and many other fun learning toys from Grandma Becky.
Christmas morning Otto woke up to his present from Santa and a stocking full of socks. What else would a 6 1/2 month old get in his stocking?
Santa left him a travel Jumperoo.
He was overwhelmed with toys that light up, toys that sing, toys that roll. He also got some much needed clothing in a full 9 month size.
Our good friends and neighbors, the Days, brought over some adorable clothes to keep him warm and cozy while we froze our Arizona selves in Utah.
Lucy got a few bones in her stocking.
Otto got to spend a few hours with Grandma Becky and Papa Wheelie (Mike) while we went to our Christmas day movie, Into the Woods.
Then, we prepared for entertaining my grandparents and their friends at an assisted living establishment. The Days and Barbers performed some musical numbers. My mom, her co-workers, my dad, and myself performed a version of Elves and the Shoemaker, Frozen. I wish I had some pictures of our delightful performance as I played Elsa, the narrator. It was a load of fun.
The day we left, Matt fulfilled his gift to his dad by having Manly breakfast at Bert's with just the boys, Papa Wheelie, Michael, Matt and Otto. I think it is a memory making tradition they will have to continue every chance they get.
I cannot tell you how depressing it can be to spend a week being so well cared for and loved only to have a 13 hour journey home and back to real life. The drive home always makes me wonder how many years it will be before we can make that journey even a tad shorter.
Otto especially took a few days to express his displeasure at having to make do with only Matt and my intermittent undivided attention. Not to mention this "Bedtime"? What is this nonsense?
As we end this year, 2014, I can't help but think that it will be some time before we have so many changes and miracles happen in one year again. I am so grateful for the people we've made a part of our family especially./
