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. :)

Glennstorm's Birthday

The day began well - Happy baby, happy husband!

(That isn't foreshadowing for bad ending to the day. The whole day was good.)

Glenn's parents are in town for the weekend! They came over at about 8:30, and we left for breakfast!

We ate at a delicious place near our apartment. We hadn't tried it before, but it is called "Jacks and Joe - A breakfast all day kind of place". Just the kind of name that entices Glenn. He SUPER loves breakfast food. And this breakfast food was delicious!

You can tell it was good because here is what was left of my sausage, avocado, tomato, spinach, mushroom, cheese omelette. So good.

Glenn had to go to school for a few hours in the afternoon. For dinner, we had his favorite pasta and cake! He gave me specific instructions for his cake: Yellow cake, boston cream between the layers, chocolate frosting. Behold:

Delicious!

Glenn opened presents after breakfast, but I don't have the pictures on my computer yet, so maybe I'll share them later. Glenn says he had a good birthday, and he sure deserves it. He is such a great husband, a good dad, and a hard working student. I love you, Glennstorm!

Cookies for Two

I read countless food blogs every day, and the other day I saw this post. That's right. A cookie recipe for ONE cookie. For some reason, I love this idea. It seems SO luxurious to make one giant cookie all for yourself. I'm really into selfish things these days.

Also, the picture of the cookies cut in half looked so delicious I could hardly stand it. So I did the right thing and doubled the recipe. It was only fair that Glenn get a giant cookie too. Let me tell you... they were amazing. The consistency was perfect (as good as Romancing the Bean's, mom!). I just used tons of chocolate chips instead of reese's pieces. There isn't a lot of peanut butter in the dough, so they aren't overly peanut buttery (I realize that concept doesn't exist for some people. I'm looking at you, Annie. You can add as much peanut butter as you like).

When I started to form the cookies, I chickened out. Two cookies out of all that dough? I just couldn't do it. So I made three. Before they went in the oven they were the size of baseballs! See:

When they came out, I could tell they were perfect. I'm not sure you can tell just how big they are. They were bigger than my hand.

We each ate one for dessert that night, and then split the third one after lunch the next day. I will definitely be making these again. And I will probably make all of my cookies this big from now on.

P.S. Happy birthday to my main man! Glenn, you are the best husband in the world! I'll report on the birthday festivities tomorrow.

My sister is getting hitched

Courtney is getting married! (I loved their save-the-date)

Judson is her awesome fiance. They got their engagement pictures taken last weekend, and I loved how they turned out so much, I figured I'd share them here. They were taken by Amanda Snider, who also took our family pictures. Does Courtney look like a model or what?

(Did you notice her cool engagement ring?)

Baby Booties - Take 3

That's right, another post about baby booties. Notice how these ones are perfect? Fit her, look like shoes? That is because I didn't make them.

We got a package in the mail the other day from my sister-in-law, Cheeri, and this is what was inside! The picture doesn't even do them justice. Cheeri is an amazing knitter, and these little shoes are so perfect. She has also knitted Violet a sweater and hat in the past that I cannot wait for Violet to grow into! Thanks Cheeri!

Another picture for good measure:

Family Portrait

Happy Monday!

There is a website called Free Crappy Portrait. Here is how it works: You send them a picture of yourself, or your family, with a few sentences about yourself (or your family). Sometime within the next day to 10 years they send you a portrait drawn by one of their 20 or so artists. (If you want a good laugh, read the "testimonials" on their website). So...

I sent in a picture of our family! I did this about 2 months ago, and for about a month after that, every time I checked my email, I said to Glenn, "Maybe our free crappy portrait is here!". And it never was. So I forgot about it for a month. Then yesterday, when I was least expecting it, there it was in my inbox! I told them we had a new baby whose name was Violet Hermione LeSueur. I don't remember what else I told them, but they obviously picked up on Violet's middle name.

Enough talk, here it is!

I love it! But don't ask me why they made me look like Harry instead of Glenn.

Happy Weekend! - Violet Dances

Happy Friday to all of you. Sorry about no post yesterday. To make it up to you, and to hold you over for the weekend, here is an excellent video!

NINE HOURS!

I'm a little late posting today. That is because I was so elated when I woke up this morning I forgot to post. Violet slept nine hours straight last night! She hasn't done anything close to that in a month. It was wonderful! I fed her at 5, she woke up again at 6:30, I put her in bed with us, and we all slept in together til 8. Such a wonderful morning.

We hardly ever see Violet's bottom lip these days:

Halloweens Past and Present

Glenn had a new leading lady this Halloween! Every Halloween we have been together (except the first one, we were barely dating then) we have dressed up together. This year, I coordinated Violet's costume, so I excused myself from dressing up.

2008 - Peter Pan and Tigerlilly. Glenn looked good in tights. (Is my husband a good sport or what?)

2009 - Han Solo and Princess Leia (This was the year everyone asked if we were Luke and Leia. Of course we didn't dress up as brother and sister!)

2010 - Martin Hanzal and Peter Mueller. Haha, just kidding, we were just anonymous members of the Phoenix Coyotes. And unless you are a big hockey fan, you probably don't even recognize those names.

2011...

Harry and Hedwig! Glenn and Violet looked adorable! When we arrived at our ward party, Glenn taped a tithing envelope on her ankle for good measure.