Future Seamstress?

The other morning Naomi got hold of Emily's Quilter's Measuring Tape and decided it made a great accessory. She played it with it for over an hour and walked all over the house wearing it. Here's a quick video.

Christmas Tree Hunt

On Saturday November 28th some friends of ours from church (Rick and Bobbie Green and Troy and Kimber Caldwell and their son Curtis) took us along for their annual Christmas Tree hunt. They drove us up with them into the Mendocino Forest where for a 10 dollar fee you can cut your own Christmas tree.

Here is a short video of us tromping around in the snow.

We had a lot of fun visiting with our friends on the way experiencing the snow and looking for the perfect tree. We found a beauty. A 9 foot silver tip fir, the biggest by far we've ever had. Naomi had fun too (mostly). Here are a few pictures from our hunt followed by a couple showing what the tree looks like set up in our house.

A family picture by the side of the road before starting the search.

Here we are with our tree, newly discovered, shortly before we cut it.

Matthew and Naomi pose in front of the tree set up in our living room right after we got it home.

Here's the final product. A beautiful tree fully decorated and lit. We've really been enjoying it.

November random pictures

Here's a few more random pictures from November

Naomi playing with the plastic flowers on the basket we received (filled with goodies) for Pastor's Appreciation Month in October.

Our growing kitties Misty (head on right) and Thunder (head on left) sleeping together on the Family Room sofa.

Naomi sharing her toys with her Great Grandma Hallsten.

Thanksgiving

After we bought our house we decided it would be fun to host Thanksgiving this year. We weren't sure how many people would actually be able to come but we went ahead and invited both sides of the family. Much to our surprise pretty much everyone within a day's drive decided to come. When we added it all up we ended up with 32 guests (35 total people).

That was too many to squeeze around tables at our house so we got permission to use Faith Bible Church to host the main meal. Everyone who came brought food to share which left us with just the turkey and whipped cream. All in all it wasn't much more work than putting on our own Thanksgiving by ourselves would've been. We had a great time.

After the main meal we took a break for people to visit and/or go to the park. Some of the guys even played some touch football. Then everyone met back at our house for dessert where we enjoyed a variety of pies and hot drinks (and cookies for the kids). The weather was beautiful which allowed us to use our back porch for additional seating and while it was a bit snug everyone was able to enjoy their dessert just fine.

We had a wonderful time. It was so great to see so many family members and have them meet each other. It was also neat that everyone got to see our church, our house and a little bit of our new home town. Thanks everyone who came for making it such a great celebration of God's blessings in our lives.

We were having so much fun we barely got the camera out. Below are a few pictures that Emily snapped at dinner. If any of you who were here have some good pictures from that day we would love to see them.

(from left) Emily's Aunt Laura, Dad, Keith and Mom, Beth

(from left) Matthew's grandparents (mom's parents) Alice and Don Gibbons with their son-in-law, Dave and middle daughter, Lori

Matthew's sister Christy and her husband Andy with Matthew

Matthew's Dad, Tim, Mom, Kathy and brother-in-law Andy
Emily's grandparents (Dad's parents) Hap and Beverly Hallsten with her uncles Roger and Tom.

Matthew's sister-in-law Shandela and Great Aunt Miriam.

Walking (for real)

Naomi took her first unassisted steps came on Saturday night, November 20th. By Wednesday morning (November 25th) she was walking on her own a fair bit. Here's some video of her walking while we were setting up for the big Thanksgiving Day shindig at the church.

Knee Walking

Between her crawling only and walking on her own stages Naomi went through a phase where she frequently would get around by walking on her knees. This gave her the stability that she was comfortable with while allowing her the freedom to carry something in her hands and keep her eyes looking around the room.

At first she would only go a few feet this way but eventually she got to the point where she would frequently "knee walk" across a room. She would still crawl and cruise a fair bit but knee walking was a big part of how she liked to get around.

When she started walking just before Thanksgiving we decided we better get some video of her walking on her knees like this before she gave it up altogether. A number of people told us that they had never seen a child move around in quite this manner. Here's a sample of Naomi knee walking from November 25th (the night before Thanksgiving).

Towel Walking

Naomi had been cruising along furniture for quite a while and loved to walk while holding Mom and Dad's hands. Once in a while she would walk holding only one hand but in mid-November she made a break through. Occasionally she could be persuaded to walk for a while holding on to nothing but the end of a kitchen towel held by Mom or Dad.

Here's an example of her towel assisted walking from November 21st. She took her first unassisted steps on her own initiative that evening.

Ellie's adoption

On November 19th we made a quick trip down to Roseville to celebrate our niece Elizabeth's adoption. We were so glad that the adoption was final after almost 2 years of prayer, waiting and bureaucracy. Congratulations Ellie and the whole Dane Brooks family.

Naomi had fun watching her cousins play and playing a little bit herself but you could tell she wasn't quite sure how to fit into the chaos, being used to playing by herself or with a grown up. Here are a few pictures.

Ellie's adopted parents Dane (Matthew's brother) and Shandela with their kids Emmaleigh and Koen along with Elizabeth (Ellie).

Naomi taking in the chaos around her.

Elizabeth enjoying playing dress up with one of her gifts while big brother Koen pouts in the foreground.

Naomi looking up in awe at her big cousin Emmaleigh.

Koen enjoying some time on his Mommy's lap.

Jean Quilt

Emily recently finished the Jean quilt she's been working on (off and on) since we got married. Taking a quilting class on Monday nights gave her the dedicated time to finally finish it off. She's really enjoying her class and is already full speed ahead with her next project. Here's a picture of how the Jean quilt turned out (it's huge and will be great for picnics).

Halloween

This year we finally got to use the Halloween costume that we asked Shandela (Matthew's sister-in-law) to hold for us for "someday" since well before Emily was pregnant. Here are a couple of pictures.

Emily dressed as a bee holding Naomi in her Dumbo costume.

Here's Naomi posing with Julianna and Julia, two girls from Faith Bible.

Random Fall Pics

Here's a couple of pictures of Naomi that Emily took around the house in late October.

Stair Project

We've been fortunate that even though we bought a bank owned home earlier this year it hasn't really needed all that much work. The one major projected we decided to take on this year was to replace the carpet in the stairway area and get a new banister for the staircase.

To save money we ripped out the old carpet ourselves. Here's what it looked like.

Emily dismantled the metal banister and this is what we had for stairs for several days.

A contractor in our church recommended a guy to build our new banister for us. We decided to go ahead with the all wood banister event though it was a bit more expensive.

A couple of days before the carpet install guys came we ripped out the rest of the upstairs carpet.

Finally the carpet was installed (a day before the Open House that Faith Bible threw for us).

It was a lot of work and used up most of our home improvement budget for the year but it really looks great and we are very pleased.

Naomi's 1st Birthday

Emily's parents graciously offered to host a party for Naomi at their home on her first Birthday (September 26th, 2009). It even fell on a Saturday this year so many of Naomi's biggest fans (at least those in the Roseville area) were able to attend.

Here Naomi sits on Uncle Eric's lap next Christina and Brooklyn while her Grandpa Brooks plays with her cousin Ellie while cousins Emmaleigh and Micah and Aunt Shandela look on.

It was also a great chance for Naomi's parents to catch up with some of their family and friends. Here Emily visits with Aunt Jean, Aunt Miriam, and Grandma and Grandpa Brooks.

Thanks to the Shupe family (pictured here) for coming all the way from Folsom to celebrate with us.

Grandpa Hallsten manned the BBQ while Grandma Hallsten handled the fixings.

Mom ordered Naomi's cake.

Everyone (including Naomi) enjoyed the delicious BBQ as well as the cake and ice cream.

Mommy helped Naomi open her presents.

Grandma Hallsten was apparently too busy throwing an awesome party to be photographed. Thanks for everything.

Here's a little video of Naomi playing with her Birthday Balloons toward the end of the party

Peter's Baptism

On September 20th Emily and Naomi went down to Roseville to see Emily's brother Peter get baptized (Matthew had to work).

Some of the onlookers who witnessed the baptisms of Peter Hallsten and Kelly Burns.

Naomi with Aunt Krista waiting for Uncle Peter to get baptized.

Peter with Pastor Tim (Matthew's Dad) at the baptism service in the Hallsten's back yard.

And finally here's a brief clip of the actual submersion. Congratulations Peter!

September Pics

Here are a few random pictures that Emily took of Naomi from around the house during the month of September.

Naomi watching TV, very interested.

Naomi saying "hi" to Misty who had been resting peacefully on the piano bench.

Naomi showing off some tired cuteness for her Mommy.

Naomi enjoying a kitchen sink bath (she has since graduated to the bathtub).

Naomi out cold during the time she was sick in mid-September.

Climbing Down the Stairs

Here is some video from late August of Emily coaxing Naomi to climb down the stairs in our house.

It's kind of long but is a good picture of Naomi at that stage.

Sorry

Sorry to everyone who may have been checking in on our blog over the past few months. We've been really slacking on it. We have been taking some pictures and videos so we'll try to post some of those now (or over the next week or so at least). We're hoping to be a bit more up to date going forward.