Merry Christmast EVERYONE!!

Our Christmas Card and Newsletter we sent out this year ~ We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2009 has been a great year for our family. Shortly after our late honey moon in Japan we found out that we were expecting a baby. On August 21st at 1:35 AM, our son Noa Donny Maris was born. He weighed a healthy 8 pounds 5.5 ounces, and was 19 inches long. His middle name Donny is taken after Chad's late grandfather, Don Kim, who passed away in July of this year. We have enjoyed every minute with our little one. He is the joy of our lives.

Chad has been going to school and working in Utah. In February, he was called to be the 2nd counselor in the Japanese Ward Bishopric. He is enjoying his busy life with school, work, church calling, and getting used to being a new dad.

Megumi graduated with a degree in Exercise Science and Nutrition from Brigham Young University last April. It was hard for her because morning sickness was the worst during her last semester of school. Now she is able to stay home with Noa dand be a full-time mom. She is enjoying her new role as a mother, and is rying hard to keep up with a very active 4-month old.

Noa is growing and changing everyday. He weighs close to 15 pounds now. He loves being with different people, talking, smiling, and laughing. He is very curious and has learned to turn over. Now he really wants to sit, crawl and stand on his own. He is the first grandchild on both sides of the family, and he loves all the attention that comes with it. He has two great grandparents in Japan, and two great grandmas and a great grandpa in America. He is excited to spend his first Christmas and New Year in Michigan with his mom's family.

We thank you for all the support and love that you have shown us this year. We are truly blessed to have such great friends and family in our lives. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
Chad, Megumi and Noa Maris

Happy 4 Month Baby!!

Happy 4-month Birthday, Noa!!

Noa is now: 15.0 pounds, 25 3/4 inches long, with a head circumference of 43 1/2 cm!
[all the numbers are pretty much in the 50-75th percentile]

Noa at 4 months:

• Can roll over onto his belly
• Smiles and laughs at everything and everyone - lots of *giggles*
• Plays with mommy's hands
• Loves toys and stuffed animals (starting to play with them a lot more)
  
• Grabs everything around him
• Drools a ton! and goes through several burp cloths and bibs a day
  - teething maybe?
  
• Tries to eat BOTH of his hands at once
• Is still soooo wiggly
  
• Sucks on his fingers AND thumb (just started recently)
• Loves playing with daddy
• Enjoys playing airplane/being up really high
  
• Is starting to get ticklish :D
• Sleeps better through the night - like 5 hours (YaaY!)
  ♥ Is still the JOY of our lives ♥

He's finally done it...

Two days ago (a few days short of his 4-month birthday), Noa rolled over by himself! and he's been doing it ever since....he absolutely loves it too!! The only problem was every time I tried to video tape him doing it, he would either take a really long time to be able to do it or he wouldn't do it at all...most of the time Id just look away for a few seconds and when I look back, there he was on his tummy smiling and giggling.... BUT today, I was finally able to get a few good clips of him rolling over, so ENJOY!

(look at that face...you can tell that he's so proud of himself)

Needless to say, babies get really tired in this position rather quickly (using all those baby muscles and such) and Noa still doesn't seem to be able to turn himself back over onto his back...so...he puts into use his vocal cords to let me know that he's done being on his tummy....he is definitely learning how to use those babies and he knows that he will get his way no matter what

(don't worry, as soon as I turned the camera off I helped him turn back over...)

It's AMAZING to me that babies just know/learn how to do things on their own, without anyone teaching them...and they hit milestones all by themselves! I still can't believe that Noa's reached this HUGE milestone already! It's so exciting, but at the same time, it feels like the time is just flying by...I really want to enjoy every second I have with this little guy

: *2009 Christmas (family and Noa) Pictures* :

A special thanks to Ai-chan and Yoko for these wonderful photos.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

With all the snow and cold weather outside and Christmas music on the radio - I am fully and completely in Christmas-mode! Chad, Noa, and I will be spending Christmas in Michigan with my family! I am so excited and cannot wait to see everyone, and for my younger siblings to finally meet Noa...it's going to be GREAT!
Christmas has to be one of the greatest times of the year. It's definitely my favorite holiday!.... It's not only the time we get to spend together with family, and share gifts with one another, but it is a time to remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is not a season of receiving, but of giving. Jesus Christ dedicated his whole life to helping and giving to others, so that mankind can have joy in this life. I am so grateful for everything that I have been blessed with this year, and I don't think that there is any better way of showing that gratitude other than giving to others.

Here are some ideas that i have come up with on how to give and share during this wonderful season:

• Donate to a charitable organization - examples of organizations that are dedicated to help...Toys for Tots, My two front teeth, and the Salvation Army.

But of course you don't have to have money to give:

• Invite an elderly neighbor or someone who lives alone to join your celebration
• Deliver a meal to a family in need
• Write a thoughtful note to someone special
• Bring your host a small gift to show your appreciation and offer to help clean up
• Donate clothes, food, anything you have...
• Volunteer at a soup kitchen
• Send a care package to a soldier, or missionary
  
• Visit hospital patients
• Shovel snow for a neighbor

This holiday season, share joy and love with others by giving of yourself in service to those in need. And Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

A wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

It's been such a fabulous weekend...well, week! On Tuesday, my sister Yoko drove in from Cali to spend the weekend with her in-laws, but before she did that she came and spent time with me! Even though it was short we got to catch up and do a lot together...we ate dinner, baked some yummy pumpkin cookies, and of course, took lots of pictures! here are a few that she has edited:

(believe it, or not, I took this picture!)

Noa enjoyed having Aunt Yoko here too!!

I realized that we dont have any good family photos, and my mom had been asking for some to put on their Christmas card this year, so....we decided to take some at the duck pond, they turned out really nice. Here are a few of my favorites:


We thought we would include Taka, who is the only other Yanagita left in Utah



...so precious...

We had a great time - and I think Taka did too...

Right after the photo shoot, it was off to LAS VEGAS!

We were able to spend the rest of the week with Chad's family and some friends from our ward.
On Thanksgiving Day, we had a HUGE family dinner at Aunt Konne's new house, and I got to meet some of Chad's cousins for the first time...and the family got to meet Noa.

We had amazing food...


...and great company


Noa's first Thanksgiving turned out to be a great one!

On Friday, we had our second Thanksgiving dinner...a KoReaN dinner (it's a Maris family tradition)...and the food was incredible! SO GOOD, we had leftovers the rest of the weekend!


we had: kalbi, dwagae bulgogi, beef bulgogi, kimchee-chung, shrimp cocktail, various assortments of numl and salads, and Grandma Betty's amazing pineapple cheesecake for dessert! YUM

On Saturday, we had the opportunity of going to the temple and doing some family names along with Chad's late-Grandpa Don's work...I am so grateful for the temple and for eternal families.


and for dinner, we had all-you-can-eat sushi with some friends that were visiting Vegas from our Japanese ward...[it's ALL about food on Thanksgiving weekend!]

We had such an amazing weekend, we can't WAIT for CHRISTMAS!!!

Elf-Yourself

I saw this on a friend's blog, and couldn't help but try it myself...a little freaky, I know, but it's pretty hilarious.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Holidays ~ Love, the Maris Elves ;)

My latest creation is...

...a Crocheted flower Hat...

I have my friend, Jess, to thank for getting me back into crocheting...she came over one day to learn how to crochet, and while she was working on her scarf, I decided to teach myself how to make a flower, which I've never tried before ~ I think it turned out alright...You can't tell from the pictures but I did a cool little pattern on the beanie too!

Next on my to-crochet list is: MITTENS

1/4 year old!

On Saturday, our little one turned a 1/4 of a year old!!

HAPPY 3 MONTH BIRTHDAY NOA!!

NOA @ 3 months...

• is starting to play with toys a lot more
• fits snugly into 3 month old clothes (that he's been wearing for over a month...)
  
• smiles at random people
• LOVES looking in the mirror
  
• tries to roll over - twisting his body while on his back (he has fallen out of his bouncy chair this way...)
• LOVES to laugh and have conversations :D
• "yells" when he wants something he's not getting
• has lost A TON of hair (except for his lovely rat-tail, of course!)
  
• sucks on his hand/fist/multiple fingers, NOT his thumb
• still has the CUTEST smile in the world!
  

*Funny Videos and Pics*

Here are some ( or A LOT of) funny videos and pics we have accumulated over the past few months...Enjoy!

sticking his tongue out...

Noa started copying Chad after a while, it was pretty cool (it takes a little while, so be patient)

wants to crawl so bad!

his legs are really strong...his arms, not so much. can't quite crawl yet

"This is what happens when daddy dresses me..."

...he's just so dang cute!

in this family, we like to...

....*zZzzZzzZz*....

...sleep...

...sLeeP...

...and...SLEEP!
(I found him sleeping like this one day and I had to take a picture...looks so uncomfortable...)

Noa screaming at Chad:

...apparently, he doesn't like getting his face touched...(please ignore the mess in the background! I promise our apartment is not always this messy)

Working out:

This is how Noa keeps in shape ;)

ok, just a couple more!

Playing with Daddy:

having a great time!

Laughing with Mommy:

soooo adorable! I LOVE his laughs!!

where is my hubby?

Chad began working at Nu Skin this week...on top of his job at APX and his calling in the Bishopric... basically, i NEVER get to see my husband! This new job has its perks (we get $250 worth of free product each month) <- that, I LOVE...what I don't love so much is that my poor husband gets NO breaks and we don't have any time to spend together as a family! with this new schedule, he will be working from 7-1 and 3-9, with sundays and tuesday nights reserved for his calling. I know that it is going to be hard on me and Noa, but I'm more worried about Chad getting worn out, and even worse, sick... :( ...it is just temporary, thank goodness, so hopefully we will be able to stick it out for just a few weeks!

I got it!!

I finally got a ticket for the H1N1 vaccine! I've been trying to for a long time to get it, but I always seemed to be a little behind...well not this time! I lined up at 8 in the morning at the Utah County Health Department and waited for an hour in the line. It was FREEZING, needless to say, but totally worth it! I love that they switched to a weekly ticket/voucher system... Now I don't have to worry as much about Noa getting the swine flu, especially now its going around in our ward.

Exactly 2 years ago...

Chad and I got engaged!

it happened right before we left for a cruise down the coast of Mexico...at a beautiful park in Las Vegas. He had the perfect set-up: a picnic under the stars and palm trees with candles, rose petals and sparkling grape juice. I will NEVER forget the feeling I had when he popped the question! It was the best day of my life! - well at least up to that point...

It has seriously been the BEST 2 years of my life! We have gone through so much together, and I can't wait to spend the REST of my life with him! :D

I am so truly BLeSSed to be married to the LOVE of my LiFE!

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween is such a great holiday! we get to dress up as whatever we want and no one can look at us weird. This year i decided to go simple...at least with me and noa's costumes...i was a black cat, and my little pumpkin was...well, a pumpkin (jack-o-lantern). Chad came up with his awesome golfer outfit all on his own! and it was so cute! - he totally looked the part!


My mom bought this costume for Noa, but it is actually for 18-36month babies...so it may have been a little big :D



We didnt do much but we did end up going to our ward party, and it was so much fun! the families from our ward are all SO creative when it comes to costume ideas...we had the Incredibles (minus Jack-Jack), the 5 stages of Michael Jackson...O, and cant forget the SWINE FLU family...



Swine flu family - they were definitely one of my favorites...almost as much as...


The Asian President Obama

(Noa was all candied out by the end of the night :D)

O how he's grown...

This is Noa at 1 week old:


and here he is at 2 months:


He is now 23 inches weighing in at 12 lbs 1 oz! (thats almost a 4 lb increase since birth) He's a CHuNK and I LoVe it!!

Happy 2 month!!

It's been exactly 2 months since our sweet Noa was born! I feel like it has just flown by soooo fast! sometimes I just want time to stop so that we can enjoy each moment we spend with our little guy. I want him to stay this little forever...although every new phase still becomes my favorite. I enjoy so much just watching him develop and learn to do new things.
I LOVE that he is interacting more with his surroundings and with us, making eye contact, smiling, laughing, and even talking a little ;) I LOVE that he is able to hold up his head better now and he doesn't seem so fragile. I LOVE that he is sleeping longer at night with less feedings and less diaper changes (more for Chad than anyone else). and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE watching him grow and experiencing LIFE!