Family Reunion so far!

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Glenn's family is in town for a family reunion!  It is going great so far, but I haven't taken any pictures.  Here is the only one I have, which I stole from Kari's blog:

Violet has been having a great time with her cousins!  This is Violet with her oldest cousin Mason.  Mason passed the sacrament in our ward on Sunday, and it was the first time our ward has ever had a deacon!  

On Sunday evening, we had a big family dinner at the church building, which was so fun.  Then Monday morning, we went hiking, and on Tuesday we went to The Grove (which is just a big mall, but it has the American Girl Doll store, so our niece Audrey, as well as most of the rest of us girls, were excited to go there.)  Some of the family who didn't want to go to the mall went to the Tar Pits.  For dinner a bunch of us went to eat in Little Tokyo, while Terri watched the grandkids!  Everyone has already been to the beach several times too.  I will try to remember to take some pictures in the next few days!

Newport Temple/Beach Trip

Last weekend we had such a fun trip with our ward, and I actually remembered to take some pictures!  First we went to the Newport Temple.  Since we had Violet with us and couldn't do the session with the rest of the ward, we "took turns" doing initiatories.  I say "took turns" instead of just took turns, because we were a little late to the temple and I went first, and by the time I was done, our ward was out of the session.  So basically Glenn just watched Violet outside the temple, and never got a turn to go in.  

(warning: this post contains A LOT of pictures.  I understand if Violet's grandparents are the only ones who actually look at them all.)

After the temple, we went to our Bishop's beach house on Balboa Island.  It was so beautiful there!  Glenn and I definitely want to go back and explore the town sometime.  This time we just hung out at the beach house, and ate the amazing lunch the bishop had waiting for us, and played on the beach.  Or, I should say, Glenn and Violet played on the beach while I took pictures from the shade of the porch while I chewed the fat with the others who never ventured into the sun.  (chewed the fat=talked.  Just in case you don't know what that gross phrase means.)  Normally I'm not so boring, but I was REALLY sunburned from the beach a couple of days before with Kenny and Annie.  Here are the rest of the pictures:

(Our bishop's wife with Violet, and the only other kid from our ward that came on the trip)

(This poor, poor dog.  Violet loved him so much.)

(It took quite a bit of coaxing from Glenn to get Violet to sit in his lap like this.  For most of the kayaking, she insisted on standing in the front of the boat laughing.)

It was a great trip!  We are already planning to do it again once school starts back up and our ward isn't so small.

Our little soccer player

So much is happening around here right now, I feel overwhelmed about posting about it all.  (My family has been in and out of town a couple of times, and Glenn's family all just got here for a week long family reunion!).  So instead of posting about it, I'll show you this.

We got Violet a soccer ball for her birthday.  I thought it would be a long time before she knew to use her feet instead of her hands.  She did use her hands the first time she saw it, but after showing her how to kick it a couple of times, she is getting the hang of it!  You still have to remind her not to use her hands once in a while, but her soccer career is off to a good start!

3 Girlies

We got to watch these two cute girls from our ward a couple of days ago, and this picture was so cute, I couldn't stand not to share it.

They thought getting rocked in the rocking chair was the best thing ever!

See Violet's bandaids? 

She had her one-year-old appointment at the doctor and got a bunch of shots.  She was so brave and barely even whimpered!  Incidentally, she is in the 30% for height, but still <5% for weight :(.  However, she did show the doctor where her belly button was, and he was properly impressed.

Last Weekend

My family came into town last weekend!  Everyone was here except Kenny and Annie, and they will be here tomorrow for quick visit.  And then on Friday night, Glenn's family will arrive to a week long family reunion!  We are lousy with visitors right now, and we love it!

They came into town this weekend to go to the wedding reception of my cousin Ashton.  It was so fun to see some of my extended family there that I haven't seen in years.  I didn't realize that I still had aunts and uncles and cousins who hadn't met Glenn yet!  

We were going to go on a fun hike with my family on Saturday morning, but my soccer league surprised me by having our first game of the FALL season on Saturday.  So instead, my whole family came out to the game to support me.  Afterwards we went to lunch and Yang Chows, a cool restaurant in Chinatown.  

On Sunday, they came to church with us.  Our four visitors just about doubled the size of the ward :).  Our ward is tiny right now because it is the summer.   Anyway, it was a really quick visit.  Glenn was a little busy with school stuff on Saturday, and when they left on Sunday afternoon, he said he felt like they were only here for a few hours!

I took a few days off from blogging because I didn't have any pictures of the visit, but my mom sent me these from her phone so I could get going again:

(At the reception on Friday night)

(At the soccer game)

(At the restaurant)

The day after my birthday

Today everything is happening an hour later than usual: Violet slept in an hour, Glenn was to school an hour late (on purpose), my run started an hour late, Violet's nap started an hour late, my meeting this afternoon got pushed back two hours.  A nice slow day that is the perfect day after my birthday day.

Can I just say that I have the best husband?  He tried so hard (and succeeded) to make my birthday be special. This cake, that he made from scratch, was to die for!

I may or may not be eating some right now as a healthy morning snack.  (I am.)

Thanks for all the calls and messages!  It felt good to be remembered on my birthday! 

Happy Birthday to me!

Here is a picture of my presents that I opened this morning!  However, I looked so awful in this picture, I found it needful to blur out my face.

The book and Sound of Music soundtrack are from Glenn.  I already started the book, and I am loving it!  The knife is from my family, and I AM SO EXCITED TO CHOP THINGS FOR DINNER TONIGHT!  I have been wanting a good chef's knife forever!  Thanks family!