Now it just makes a good story . . .

We had a lovely Christmas this year. Bria was rather excited about the presents, and we had a great dinner with Sam's brothers' families. My favorite part may have been Sam's three-day weekend.
On Saturday, we wanted something fun to do, so we decided to head up to Maryland to see the DC Temple. It was Sam's temple while he was growing up in Boston, so he's been several times.I had never been before, so it was exciting for me. Plus, I'd never been to Maryland, so that's just one more state I can cross off the list. Bria, on the other hand, was not thrilled to be there. She really wasn't thrilled about anything in life. She had only gotten a quick nap in the car, and it was cold, we made her wear a coat, and we insisted on holding her hand the whole time-- basically we made her life pretty difficult. But we persevered! And 2 out of 3 of us had a great time.

The camel in the outdoor nativity was the only thing Bria enjoyed. She was terrified of it, so she stood several feet away from it, but she admired it from afar.
pointing at the camel and saying hi:

The camel may have actually made things worse, because whenever we weren't standing by the camel staring at it, Bria would cry and scream for it. We've taught her that a camel spits, so she smacks her lips to make a camel sound. There was much smacking of lips to accompany the screaming and crying, which made it just a little funnier and not as embarrassing that our daughter was throwing a fit.
And that is how Bria says Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Just like the real thing

I had every intention of mailing Christmas cards this year, but . . . it's December 23rd. Clearly, it's not happening. Here's what you would have gotten in the mail:

Season's greetings to our dear friends and family! 2009 has been a great year of change for the Mangums. We survived another long Utah winter; Sam and I spent four months apart while he searched for jobs in DC; we flew a collective 26 flights; we moved all our belongings across the country; and we survived Blizzard '09 on the East Coast. After all of that, we are excited to spend Christmas together, just the three of us, in our new home in Virginia.

Bria has had a big year. She started walking, turned one in April, and exploded with language. It's hard to believe that just one year ago, she was barely starting to crawl. Bria is one of the best eaters I have ever seen in a toddler. Some of her favorite foods are tomatoes, olives, and black licorice (the latter two I gave her as a joke-- joke's on me!). Bria says new words every day, but the most common word we hear from her is "no." She loves to try to say anything she hears, and is very confident in her abilities. When we ask her if she can say a word, the most common response is an enthusiastic "uh huh!" She constantly dances and sings, and when she walks, she swivels her hips. She is a sweet, happy girl with enough personality to fill a small country.

Sam is currently working as an assistant editor at National Geographic Television. He works in downtown DC-- just a couple blocks from the white house-- and he rides the Metro to work. He is truly having the DC experience. He gets to work on several NatGeo TV shows, and he sees a lot of fascinating footage. He is eating up every minute of this awesome step in his career. He still has time to watch movies, see the DC sites with me and Bria, and watch football with his two brothers who live in the area. He's even taken up reading while riding the Metro to and from work.

I am still working hard as a stay-at-home mom. Most days I feel like I generally have things under control. Bria and I have a lot of fun together, and I finally feel comfortable driving around Virginia, which is quite the accomplishment. It's exciting to explore our new surroundings, which have so much more history than what we are used to in the West. I have also continued to work as a freelance writer from home. I am starting to explore my creative writing capabilities mixed with my love for cooking. I chronicle my journeys at poshganache.blogspot.com.

At the close of this year of change, we are overwhelmed with gratitude for all we have. We are increasingly grateful for you, our friends. Thank you for being a part of our lives! If you are ever in the DC area, let us know! We hope 2010 is a year of joy and peace for you.

Love,
Courtney, Sam, and Bria

It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I feel fine)

If you haven't heard yet, the East Coast got slammed with a record-breaking snow storm yesterday. We got about 16 inches of snow and are effectively snowed in. Clearly this wouldn't be such a big deal in Utah, but since DC isn't used to this much snow, everyone is in a panic. Sam was supposed to work yesterday, but the Metro shut down, and a lot of the roads haven't been plowed yet. I think some of the native Virginians are worried the end of the world is near. But I think the snow is kind of beautiful-- even though we're bored out of our minds. Even church was canceled! I think that happened once or twice when I was growing up in Colorado when it snowed FOUR feet. (Not a measly one or two-- you silly Virginians.)

We took Bria out into the blizzard, just to get some fresh air. She doesn't have snow clothes, but I just wrapped her in a large garbage bag, and plopped her down in the snow. She didn't even reach the ground, but the snow was up to her waist. She absolutely loved it. She was pretty sad when we had to come in because my hands were frozen.



You can see the snow creeping up our window in the bottom right. Some of our neighbors windows were half covered in snow drifts.


This isn't our car, but you can see how deep it was getting. This was still several hours before it stopped snowing.
Bria was definitely rejuvenated by playing in the snow.

She later expressed her enthusiasm by dropping an egg on the floor. Good thing we were out of paper towels (with no way of buying any).

We're just glad we weren't planning on traveling this week! I feel so sad for all the people whose flights were canceled this weekend. A lot of people won't be able to reschedule their flights before Christmas. Thank goodness we are boring and just staying put for the holidays!

Troublemaker

We got a Christmas box from my mom. Bria thought it looked like a cool chair:

So I opened the box a few days later, hoping Bria would like to just look at the presents. Instead, she interpreted this as, "hey! a smaller set of chairs!" I have since moved the boxes out of her reach.

I went to get Bria from her nap, and she had taken off her shirt and thrown it out of her crib. We tried to dress her again, but she ripped that thing off within 15 minutes. And, I'm not going to lie, we just let her go around like that until bedtime.

Ah, yes. She has discovered that, not only does her finger fit in her nose, but also small objects like crayons do too.

The real mischief is that Bria decided that she was too cool for sleep. Bria has always been a really good sleeper. She started falling asleep on her own, in her crib when she was only a couple weeks old. And she usually gets really excited to go to bed-- running to her room, turning out the light, snuggling her baby and elephant, reaching for her crib. But about a week and a half ago, Bria started SCREAMING whenever we put her to bed. In fact, she would start to cry if we even made it seem like it was time for bed. Or if I went in her room and went near her crib. And then, when we would finally get her into her crib, she would cry and scream for 40 minutes (if we lasted that long before getting her back up). And she would wake up in the night and not go back to bed. It breaks my heart to hear her cry so much, so one day, I decided I couldn't go through the crying and screaming and I didn't make her nap. We drove to the mall that evening, and she zonked within, oh, 20 seconds. Poor little girl is so sleep deprived. But today she may have turned a corner-- she went to sleep for her nap without a word. We're crossing our fingers it stays this way! In all honesty, I like to joke around that Bria is a troublemaker, but, really, she's not. (Other than this last little sleep rebellion.) She's one of the sweetest, most well-behaved little girls around. Sam and I consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have such a good kid.

Snow!

We got about an inch on Saturday.

Just enough to stick to the ground for a couple hours.

And just enough to make it really feel like the holiday season. Here's hoping the rumors of a white Christmas are true.

Dear Mom,

Sorry I spilled that leftover popcorn all over the kitchen/living room.

At least I helped clean it up by sweeping it off the kitchen floor onto the living room carpet.

Plus, I know you can't stay too mad at me, since I like to make faces like this:

Also, could you buy some more of that root beer stuff? I only siphoned a few drops from the empty bottle Dad left lying around, but, let me tell you, it was good.

You know, Mom, you sure are smart, but it seems the art of subtlety is lost on you. I don't think you get it that when I sit on the vacuum, I am trying to tell you to stop vacuuming.Same as when I put things in front of the vacuum or just stand right in your vacuum path. It's all the same.
I like it when you let me do my own thing. Like walk around looking like this:
Or play with stickers (and Dad!):
Or put on your deoderant (or Dad's!):

Or line up my toys on the couch:

Or pick my nose:
Sorry about that last one. I know you think it's gross.

Even though sometimes you tell me not to do things-- like pick my nose or play with the garbage and old diapers-- I have this sneaking suspicion that you have my best interest in mind. But I also think you should know that the tantrums I've been throwing lately (like when I scream and cry for Elmo multiple times a day) are just the beginning. Remember, I'm not even two yet! Ha ha ha. Just you wait until I'm 13!
But I sure love you Mom. At least, that's what I hear you telling yourself when I'm being particularly feisty. But don't forget this face:
I know it makes the frustrating things (like coloring on the walls, the floors, the tv and the doors) not so bad.

Love,
Bria