Violet and Davi

I hope you aren't tired of posts involving solely pictures of Violet and Davi looking cute together! I'm back with another one. Already the girls seem so much older than last time we got them together, and that was only two weeks ago! Behold:

Last time we saw Davi she couldn't sit up at all, and now she is doing it practically by herself! They smiled a lot at each other and were just cute all around!

Bookmans! Bookmans! Bookmans!

One of the things I've missed the most about Arizona is Bookmans. Even finding The Last Bookstore did little to ease the longing. We went to Bookman's yesterday, and it was awesome!

We had lunch:

And although their cafe is smaller than it used to be, they blessedly still serve their heavenly pasta salad. It is SO GOOD!

And I found some books!

I had heard of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and I was so excited when I found it. I've started it, and I love it so far. I will let you know how I like when I'm done. Just in case you are wondering, I did not blur out the title of the DVD because it is x-rated and therefore inappropriate for this blog. It is actually the Christmas present of one of the two avid readers of this blog.

Merry Christmas! I love Arizona!

Arizona

We are back in Arizona! Even though we were just here two weeks ago for Thanksgiving, it feels like we've been away for too long! We are here for almost three whole weeks, so we are settling in for some serious fun.

I plan on posting while we here, but we'll see how well that goes. I didn't post even once last time we were here! I'll do better this time!

I had a Party

Last Thursday, I had a party! I invited 8 girls from my ward, and it was a cookie exchange. Only one person that invited couldn't make it, and we had such a fun time! I was a little (a lot) nervous to have a party because I'm so new in the ward. But everyone just seemed really happy that there was going to be a party! I should have taken some pictures of every one there, but instead you just get to see the cookies:

Lest you think that someone brought a plate of pretzels and graham crackers as their cookie, I should tell you that that Is what I served with what I made.

Here is what I made:

Chocolate chip cookie dough dip! I have recently looked on Pinterest for the first time, and this is what I saw. I knew it would be perfect for my party, because gave a little variety to the table full of normal cookies. Later, Glenn and I ate it with apples, and that was definitely the best! But the pretzels were amazing too.

It was so fun preparing for this party. I got to use all my pretty things! I have some Christmas plates that I had never used before this party. I put out both my cake plates and two of my pretty pitchers and a table cloth I never use. Basically, the success of this party made me think I should have parties more often!

Saturday Morning

A sweet naked Violet spent her morning reading the magazines with her dad:

Happy Weekend!

3 good things

1. I'm having a party! Today at 1 o'clock! It is a cookie exchange and I invited like 7 girls from my ward. So excited! I can't wait to show you what I'm making for it.

2. I'm reading a really good book. It is called Sister Carrie and it was recommended to me by Sister Courtney.

3. THREE DAYS til we go home to Arizona! And we'll be there for three weeks! It is going to be awesome.

What are three good things in your life today?

Shots

Guess who got her shots today?

Miss Violet was so brave. She only cried for about five seconds after they finished giving the shots, and has acted fine and happy since! It is still so sad to watch her cry during the shots though. Good news though, Violet is average! 50th percentile in height and weight, that is. I'm so grateful for such a happy, healthy baby!

p.s. The doctor was totally charmed by her.

Violet Sits

As you can see in this picture:

and this one:

Violet sits up now! She LOVES it, but unfortunately is not great at it yet. If fact, as soon as something catches her eye that is not directly in front of her, she usually ends up in this position:

If fact, in church on Sunday we were letting her sit on the floor by our feet, and we were TOTALLy watching her, but she sneakily tipped over and hit her face on the chair. And has a teeny, tiny shiner. She only cried for like one minute and then fell asleep, and hasn't noticed the bruise since, so I'm pretty sure she is fine!

Some Harry Potter Thoughts

1. This weekend on ABC Family they played the Harry Potters movies over and over again. We ended up watching parts of every movie, I think. And they were the extended versions so there were parts I'd never seen before! I was reminded that Hermione was a way better actor in the early movies (in Glenn's words, "so spunky!") and that the sixth movie doesn't follow the book at all. That scene where Ginny and Harry kiss in the Room of Hidden Things? I hate it so much I want to throw something at the TV. However, I enjoyed the earlier movies a lot, and realized I haven't read those first three books in ages. We actually don't even own them! I'm definitely going to need to get those soon and reread them.

2. Pottermore. Is anyone else really excited for it to finally be up and running? And not really understand what it is, but still excited? And wondering what a "beta-user" is and why there are one million of them for Pottermore and I am not one of them?

3. Steven King is smart:

4. I really, really want this t-shirt:

5. Oh yeah, one last thing about the movies. In #4, Cedric doesn't really act creepy at all. Why couldn't he act that way in Twilight?

More Christmas Deco

I love to make paper snowflakes! Like I make them every year. I think maybe next year Violet can help me make them! Or at least be interested when I unfold them and show her how pretty they are.

Our house is looking a little more festive every day!

In other news, I think I found the dress I'm going to wear to Courtney's wedding. I just called J Crew, and they are holding it for me to come try on. Here it is:

I'm going to get it in red though. And I definitely won't look like that girl in it. Also, dresses with pockets are the best!

Phone Pics

Violet and Food.

Those are apparently the only things I take pictures of with my phone. Today I will share with you the phones pics that have never made it into a post:

I left out the really pointless pictures. Like about 15 closeups of Violet.

Christmas is here!

I am totally all about waiting until Thanksgiving is over to start celebrating Christmas. Seriously, Thanksgiving is the best holiday. Very little build up, and then on the actual day, all anyone expects from you is to eat as much as you possibly can!

However, now that Thanksgiving is over, I can get to enjoying the Christmas season! We didn't want to do a bunch of decorating because we are leaving on December 12th for Arizona, and won't actually be here for Christmas. So no tree. But we didn't want to look like total scrooges!

My mom gave me this nativity last year for Christmas, so this is the first year I've gotten to use it! I think it is so pretty.

There is no Joseph, so we have old shepherd man stand by Mary instead. Crazy Catholics.

(Don't tell, but I use this wreath year round and just change the ribbon)

Happy start to the Christmas season!

Davi and Violet - Part 2

I hope you didn't think yesterdays post was going to be the only one featuring Davi and Violet together! No way, they are back again today for more cuteness.

The most amazing thing happened on Thanksgiving. Davi and Violet came in the SAME dress! We didn't plan it, I promise! We didn't even know they both had this dress! So of course, it was time for another photo shoot.

Just so you know, there was another super cute baby at the festivities. Riki's baby, Emma, is just six weeks younger than these two, but somehow we never managed to get a picture of the three of them together!

Also, on Thanksgiving, I never said anything I was thankful for. I guess neither of our families do that at dinner? Anyway, the next morning as soon as Glenn woke up, I made him list of ten things he was thankful for as fast as he could. Then I did the same. Here are ten things I'm thankful for:

1. Violet

2. That Violet is healthy (Glenn thought these first two were the same thing, but they are totally different)

3. Glenn

4. That Glenn is in dental school

5. Our families

6. Our apartment

7. Our car

8. Our school loans

9. My healthy body

10. The gospel

I know, nothing ground-breaking on that list, but this is the time of year you say stuff like that.

I decorated for Christmas! Pictures tomorrow!

We're back! - Violet's best friend

We are home! Our trip to Arizona was wonderful. I didn't get close to blogging even once while I was there. Ever since we decided to go home for Thanksgiving, I knew the first thing I was going to do was go visit my cousin Roni and her daughter Davi. Davi is only 3 days younger than Violet! Prepare yourself, these pictures are so cute they are going to break your heart. In this first one, they are holding hands. It was like they remembered each other! They just snuggled right up to each other!

Now, for the cherry on top...

I can't help but smile when I watch that!

We are coming home!

We leave this afternoon for Arizona! I couldn't be more excited. Here's hoping we beat the worst of the traffic out of LA!

See you tonight Mom, Dad, Courtney, maybe Judson.

See you tomorrow Scott, Terri, Chris, John, Kenny, Annie (hopefully), Roni, Davi, Riki, Emma, Emily, Doreen!

See you on Saturday, Becky, Jessica, Kali, Ashley, Courtney, Kassi, Abby! (This day is going to be awesome.)

Can you tell I can't wait? Just a lot of packing and finishing milk left, and then we are out of here!

I love our family!

The Hike

Do you see it? (No, not the dumpster on the right. Look harder.)

We hiked Mt. Hollywood yesterday! Which is actually the mountain next to the one with the hollywood sign, so you get a lot of good views of the sign. It was a fun, and pretty easy hike. It was only about 1.5 miles to the top, and the trail was totally even and wide the whole way. It is definitely a tourist attraction.

This is about half way to the top, and there were a lot of people that only walked this far, in non-hiking clothes, because this is the best view of the sign. There were a lot of views much better than of the sign.

The mountains were beautiful, and you could see all of Los Angeles from the top!

(And all of the smog, haha)

Glenn carried Violet on his back all the way up. I didn't fully appreciate that until I wore her in the carrier going down, and we got on the wrong trail, and had to hike back up the hill a very short way. It was HARD going uphill with her added weight! Also, Violet got tired of being in the carrier, so Glenn carried her in his arms for about half of the way down. He is a champ.

At the top of the mountain, Violet expressed interest in drinking from our water bottle, so we gave it a try! She loved it! Although most of the water, if not all of it, ended up on the front of her shirt.

Doctor in the House!

Who is that? Is that a doctor??

It is Dr. Glenn!

He got his scrubs at school yesterday, and looks so awesome in them. He is just glad he can stop wearing button-up shirts and slacks to school everyday!

Two things that happened on Saturday while Glenn's parents were visiting

I had a soccer game scheduled for 8:30 on Saturday morning. Glenn's parents kindly offered to watch the Violet so Glenn could come watch! We drove out there, and my whole team was there. And no one else was there. None of the other teams for the other games, not the team we were supposed to play, no refs. We still don't know what happened. However, Glenn and I took advantage of the situation and went out to breakfast, igoring the fact that we had eaten breakfast before we left for the game. It was our first date in ages! We actually went back to Jacks and Joe, the place we went for his birthday a couple days before. It was delicious again!

Later that afternoon, we went out with Glenn's parents and Violet and explored a part of downtown I've been wanting to see!

It is called Grand Central Market. It is basically a huge food market, and it has been there since the early 1900s. There are vendors with TONS of inexpensive fresh produce, spices, dried rice and beans, etc. You get free parking if you spend $10, so we did! For our ten dollars, I got:

1 watermelon

4 red bell peppers

1 bunch of fresh basil

1 zucchini

1 chunk of fresh ginger

like 5 heads of garlic

2 pints of black berries...

I can't think of anything else. Maybe that was it. Oh yeah, like 3 bananas. Maybe some other stuff.

It was so fun, and I love whenever we get to know this city a little better!

A Birthday Comparison

As I was looking at the pictures from Glenn's birthday this year, I noticed something.

Glenn's birthday cakes: 2009 and 2011

Glenn's wrapped present from me: 2009 and 2011

(Why don't I ever have wrapping paper when I need it?)

Glenn's birthday gifts: 2008 and 2011

(Blue Planet and Life = very similar movies)

Glenn's birthday pancake breakfast: 2009 and 2011

Things that are different from 2009 to 20011? We finished our undergrads. I taught for a year. We had Violet! We moved to LA! It's nice that some things stay the same though. :)