5 Years - A timeline

Today is mine and Glenn's fifth anniversary!  To celebrate, I figured I'd recap the last five years - briefly :).  But with lots of pictures.  Here is what's been going on:

YEAR 1 - 2009 (We got married in 2008, but obviously at the very end of the year, so I'll start with 2009)

This was the year we got married and went to ASU together for the spring and fall semesters.  We have such good memories of those semesters being in school together.

(engagement pic)

(in Belize for our honeymoon)

YEAR 2 - 2010

This was the year we graduated together from ASU.  My last semester was student teaching, and it was a very stressful experience, and I was SO blessed to have Glenn along for the ride with me.  Also, that fall, I started teaching for real.  And also I got pregnant.  And Glenn get accepted to USC for dental school!  It was an eventful year.

(My first day of teaching!)

YEAR 3 - 2011

I finished my first year of teaching, and a few weeks later we had Violet.  And a few weeks later we moved to California for dental school!

(Glenn's first day of dental school!)

YEAR 4 - 2012

Lived in Cali and loved it!  

YEAR 5 - 2013

And continued to live in Cali and love it!  I guess there isn't much to say about the last couple of years beyond that.  Uh, I guess this is the year we realized we somehow ended up with the sassiest daughter ever, but also the smartest/prettiest/happiest one too.  Also I'm pregnant again, so that is a big deal.

Anyway, Happy Anniversary Glenn!  It's been the best five years I could have asked for!

Old Man Glenn Turns 28

Glenn's birthday was a couple of weeks ago!  His parents came to visit for the weekend; they've actually come to visit for every one of his birthdays since we moved here!  It is a nice tradition that has developed.  We had a great time, and Violet was especially happy to have her grandparents around.

They got here Friday night, and we spent the whole day on Saturday doing fun things.  We went to Griffith Park in the morning.  Violet rode the ponies again.  This time she kept her dad close and her eye on the man with the blue jacket, and reluctantly allowed him to put her in the saddle.  After that she had a great time!

Violet also got to ride the carousel, and afterwards, we had a picnic and played croquet in the lawn near the carousel.  This carousel is super old, and the fastest one I've ever seen!  Violet was a little shaken after getting off!

Saturday evening, Glenn and I went on a date!  We went to eat at La Barca, a Mexican restaurant very close by that we'd heard good things about.  It was delicious!  The best part was taking as long as we wanted.  We usually rush through dinner if we go to a restaurant with Violet.  Even if she is being really good, it's like we are scared she is eventually going to get bored, so we hurry through everything.  Since it was just us, we waited a little extra long to get a booth instead of a table, and then the waiter had to come back twice before we ordered because we were really taking our time deciding.

On Sunday, Glenn's birthday, we all had breakfast together.  Glenn didn't have any meetings before church, which was a nice birthday present!  Violet helped Glenn open his presents, of course.  I think she was as excited about some of the presents as he was!

Here's where I made my big mistake:  I didn't make the cake until Glenn's parents had gone.  They left to drive home right after church, and I made the birthday cake in the afternoon.  Well, Glenn ate one piece, and I was too full, so we were left with a giant cake in the fridge and no one to eat it!  We took it to our institute class a couple of days later and it was gone in about 5 seconds, so it all worked out.

Field Hockey in Santa Barbara

Glenn started practicing with the field hockey team at USC last week.  He was surprised when after just two practices, they asked him to come play in their game on Saturday!  They asked on Thursday, and the game was in Santa Barbara, so we made the last minute decision to head up there this weekend.

I'm glad we went, because it was a good thing for Glenn to get involved with the team, but I would rate the three main components of the trip as such:  the drive: terrible, the hockey: slightly disappointing, lunch: amazing. 

The drive up there was actually lovely.  We made it in less than an hour and a half, and it is a really pretty drive.  The problem was the drive home.  Ugh, we were in traffic for so long.  It was one of those drives that just makes you very single-minded to how much you hate LA.  (and I actually love LA, but the traffic is really something.)  I think it took us over two and half hours to get home.

It was fun to meet Glenn's team, and they were happy to have Glenn there.  But...turned out they didn't have an extra jersey for Glenn in the right color, so he had to be the goalie the whole time.

It was pretty warm, and I was glad I had my umbrella for shade.  Violet made her own shade.

Then for the best part of the trip:  Lunch!  We tried the place- El Super Rica Taqueria- the first time we went to Santa Barbara a couple of years ago, and loved it.  We hadn't been back since, and knew that is where we should eat this time.  We remembered that the best thing we had there was the chile relleno, so that is what we got.  I took a picture:

Violet chowed down on freshly made corn tortillas that had so much natural sweetness from the corn that they made your hands sticky.  Mmmmmm.

There was also sword fighting:

It was a good enough lunch to make the trip to Santa Barbara worth it!

Spider Pavilion (and also How Glenn Is Amazing)

Glenn did the most amazing thing this morning!  He participated in a race sponsored by the dental school.  There is a big pool of money that everyone who runs the race gets a share of.  If you finish the race in under an hour, you get two shares of the money.  If you also beat the dean of the school, you get three shares of the money.  The race is 5 miles, which I think sounds hard anyway, but it is also up a mountain the whole way!  So you race 5 miles to the summit, and then you can go back whatever speed you want, because the race is over.  ANYWAY, Glenn did it in less than an hour and beat the dean!  I'm so proud of him!

Since Violet and I had the morning to ourselves, and today they opened the spider pavilion at the NHM for members only, we decided to walk over there.  Here was Violet's reaction to the spiders:

And then she promptly turned around and left.  Haha!  I don't blame her though, the spiders were creepy.  Here is the best shot I got of one.

The big ones were about the size of your hand, including the legs.  Violet did enjoy making a spider crown after we left the real spiders, and wore it the rest of the time we were at the museum.  She kept telling me, "Mom, I look so cool!".  

I also managed to get a couple of pictures of Violet in parts of the museum BESIDES by the polar bear and dueling dinos, for once.

Sabertooth cats are one of Violet's favorite things right now, so I got a picture of her with one of those:

Fun with antlers:

Glenn loves Violet

Violet is a very lucky girl; she seriously has the best dad ever!  In honor of Fathers' Day, I'm going to try to think of some of the things that make Glenn the best. 

(These are all just random pictures of Glenn and Violet, and are not related to each thing that makes Glenn the best, although they do illustrate the same concept...)

Nothing makes Glenn happier then when Violet snuggles with him, but she is like the most uncuddle-y person ever.  But, when she watches tv shows, she loves to lay right next to him and put her head right under his chin, so Glenn will watch ANYTHING with her and just lay there with her hair in his face, the happiest guy in the world.  The happiest guy in the world who has every single Dora episode memorized.

He has an album on facebook with 128 picture of Violet in it.

He has an amazon wishlist called "For Violet" and I really have to convince him not to buy her every single present he thinks of.  "But she would love it so much, Afton!" This wishlist began when she was in my womb, and he started bookmarking baby girl clothes he thought she would look pretty in.

Violet and Glenn check the mail everyday together.  It is sweet.

If Violet and I are walking somewhere with no stroller, she walks most of the way.  If Glenn is with us, Violet takes about two steps and then reaches up for Glenn to hold her, and they are both happy.

Her favorite song is , "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home" and she does all the actions like "pat his cheeks" and "give him a great big kiss" right on Glenn, which he loves, of course.

Happy Fathers' Day, Glenn!

p.s. Happy Fathers' Day to my dad too!  The other best dad in the world!  And maybe I should get a new picture of us together, because I'm pretty sure this is the one I used last year on Fathers' Day...

The Zoo with Dad

Last week, Glenn took Violet to the zoo.  Hannah and Sofia went with their dad too, so Violet was basically in heaven.  Her 3 favorite people and her favorite place!  While they were at the zoo, Brittany and I got our nails done.  It was a good day for everybody.

Apparently the camel was the place for picture taking:

Violet likes to look at the animals, but we always end up spending plenty of time at the park too. 

The best Mothers' Day

I am the luckiest mom!  These two did a great job of making me feel special on Mothers' Day.

As soon as I woke up in the morning, I got to open my present from Glenn.  He got me a cast iron pizza pan!  I have been complaining about not having a pizza pan ever since we started our tradition of having pizza every Friday, and the one he got me was way better than what I would have bought for myself!  I can't wait to try it out.  Come faster, Friday!

Glenn is so sweet.  He made me breakfast and brought it out to me on a tray!  I made him pose for a picture.

Glenn and Violet also gave me a VERY sweet card.  And Violet colored a picture for me!  Behold:

I just love that smile.  And I know I'm biased, but is that a good drawing or what?  Take a closer look:

Thank you for everything, Glenn and Violet!