Bits & Pieces of Christmas Cheer

Merry belated Christmas and a Happy New Year! My first New Years resolution is to post this before 2013, which I guess would be a pre-new years goal. Let's see if I can make it happen. 

So our Christmas adventures started out in Chico this year. In the midst of all the craziness we managed to throw up some decorations--meaning we quickly arranged them, we didn't barf them up. 

We also got poured on this year, which is always "good" for NorCal, but not for the clogged drain in our parking lot or for the 4th grade teacher who has to do inside recess. 

As our plate began to pile up with to-do's, we decided we had to cut back on some of our holiday traditions. This meant our tree-cutting date was transformed into picking a tree at Foodmax 4 minutes away. Not as scenic yes, but we were still lugging home a tree... and we managed to keep the tradition of having eyes that were bigger than our living room corner. 

We measured the height, but it was impossible to measure the width since it was all girdled up. 

We had to rearrange our whole living room to make it fit, but we still loved it in all its largeness. 

A week before break, a friendly face arrived from Turlock! We got to share breakfast and catch up on life. 

One tradition I couldn't let go of was our cookie plates. Despite the schedule crunch, we managed to bust out two different types of cookies this year and even deliver most of them. I'm convinced part of the tradition is being stressed since my roomies and I used to do this during finals week. 

Once school ended, we packed up and headed down to Oakland to spend a evening with some old friends from Thailand. 

The next morning we headed down to L.A. and spent an evening with my brother and sister-in-law. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture while we were there. 

Before we knew it we were driving into San Diego. My gramps took us straight to an pipe organ concert in Balboa Park~ which was pretty amazing. 

We spent a few days with Grampa (aka gung gung) cooking meals, traveling the coast, attending the Christmas eve service, watching movies and catching up. 

There was even a live manger scene at church. 

Christmas afternoon we took a hike in attempt to walk off all the yumminess we had devoured in the last few days. Gung gung took us on the sissy hike since I was out of shape. (don't worry it's already on my new years resolution list~ get out of "out of shape") 

We drove through UCSD~ here's the construction building: 

On Thursday we packed up our belongings and headed north to see Ry's aunt and cousins. We got to see some great galleries, and she made sure we got some gorgeous views of on the coast. We do miss the beach--that's one downfall to Chico. 

On our way up we stopped by my aunt and cousin's place in Cerritos, but again I failed at taking any pictures. 

And last, but certainly not least, we drove up to Turlock and stopped by to see Alyssa and her fambam. They took us weary travelers in and fed us pizza. We sipped on warm tea and munched on christmas cookies as we shared some of our recent adventures and shared in some good laughs. 

It feels good to be home in our somewhat scattered home, but we are so thankful to have gotten to see so many people that we love this Christmas. 

We are so blessed by our family and friends. We recognize how you represent God's love, perseverance, joy and hope. We pray we can do the same as we enter back into the craziness of this year. 

Much love, 

Naomi

Florida Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

This past week has flown by, but I have to say I do feel  more rested and ready to take on this last month of school before Christmas. 

Ry and I just got back in Friday night from our trip to Florida visiting his side of the family. 

We got in at midnight stayed up until 2am catching up and woke up at 7am to visit some of the parks at Disney World. 

Talk about jumping right into vacation mode:

A lot of the cherished moments during this week happened around the dinner table. Ryan & I enjoyed whipping up meals like sushi and Thai curry for everyone to share in, then we would listen to some stories from Grandma and Grandpa Fitz. Some were about pranks grandpa used to do to coworkers and friends others were about adventures and journeys of faith they had gone through. 

Even though many at the table had heard these stories millions of times, they were new for me and I was in awe of these two amazing people. 

On Thanksgiving more family came in to join us and we celebrated at a nearby community center which was decked out for the holidays. There was quite a spread and we made sure to at least sample each of the 6+ types of desserts. 

We are thankful for a time of rest and time to spend time with family far away. We thank God for the heritage He's given us and the way he has blessed us with such amazing family. We are inspired by the things he has done in our parents and grandparents and hope we can continue to bring his light to people around us. 

~to Him be the Glory~

Naomi 

Ashland OR

Why hello there strangers! 
Here's my monthly post! : ) Veterans Day has given me one more day to prep, so I actually have a moment to give you a peek into the get-away Ry and I just took to Oregon these last two days.

Obviously life has been crazy for me especially these last few weeks with deadlines and conferences and projects and such. Ry, knowing we had to leave in order to actually rest, found a Daily Deals special up in Ashland Oregon for us venture to. I played my part and got sick on Thursday so that I could be a zombie and sleep during our road trip. Typical Naomi. 
Our space was pretty sweet though, very comfy  and cozy. 

I was thoroughly in love with the complimentary breakfast. There were so many options, and of course I had to try them all. It was free--duh. Ry had to persuade me to leave the first day. This morning I got up especially early not only because my coughing but my excitement for breakfast. I unfortunately had to wait an hour and a half for Ry to wake up.  



We saw the sights..

Found our local used bookstore~ bought a gift and a C.S. Lewis classic that we've both been wanting to read: Screwtape Letters

Found our local bakery... and lunch.. pizza with artichokes, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and jalepenos. $2.50. dealio. 

Found our local coffee shop.

Read and graded papers for a few hours before we went to watch Perks of Being a Wallflower. It's interesting, last time we were driving up through Oregon, I was reading that book to Ry for one of my classes.  

Dinner was also compliments of our Daily Deals package. Most of the specials the waiter told us we couldn't understand, but dinner was delish and dessert was decadent. 

All of the elements to a good road trip! Despite my embarrassing coughing and snotting, it's just what I needed to get through this next week and on to Thanksgiving break. 

  

p.s. on our way home we stopped by a restaurant called dos amigos to eat. Ry enjoys texting these types of things to friends... What is "salidas diarias" he asks. 

When we walked in, both our waiter and hostess were Asian, which was somewhat surprising for a small mountain town in northern california. They seemed to notice, too, and even without playing the Asian card, the waiter said at the end of our meal that we didn't have to pay one of the additional charges because we're "good people and basically family, you know asian"... hahaha! yup.  

A good ending to a restful trip. 

Hope this finds you well. 

Naomi