Some Eve Pics

To make up for the fact that I took no Christmas pictures, here are a few that were taken by a photographer in Lehi. She needed a baby girl to model some hats and hair thingies she makes and sells online. We got the pictures in exchange for the use of Eve's head. I think they turned out pretty cute:

She also let me have a few in an outfit of my choice:

Christmas, Eve, and Christmas Eve

I'm a really big loser and didn't take one picture this Christmas. I know other people took pictures, so perhaps I will obtain some pictures from them and post them later. I have never been good about taking pictures, but...I actually feel quite lame about it this time.

Keyvan's family came to our home for Christmas this year and we had a splendid time. Here is a rundown of our festivities:

We went to Cafe Rio (Keyvan's family always

goes to Cafe Rio when they visit Utah). This is always a funny experience because the employees always speak to Keyvan's family in Spanish, resulting in some confusion during the ordering process.

We went to see the movies Tangled and True Grit, both of which I would give an enthusiastic two thumbs up (disclaimer: I think True Grit should have been rated R, but it was still very well done and quite funny)

We went to eat at Five Alls (an old English restaurant in Salt Lake) to celebrate Heideh's (Keyvan's mom) birthday. It was divine. Simply divine. Five Alls is, incidentally, where Keyvan proposed marriage for the second time, and where we almost lost my engagement ring because it rolled under someone else's table as he was pulling it out in the midst of the proposal.

We went to a Merrill (my mom's mom) family Christmas party. We came home and ate chocolate cake in honor of Mama Nasi's (Keyvan's grandma) birthday.

We ate dinner with the Wise family (the family that introduced Keyvan's family to the church).

I made my first Christmas dinner, including a brined turkey and homemade cranberry/pomegranate/orange sauce. I was a little bit proud of myself.

We received lots of presents. Our favorites were probably the presents from "santa" (a.k.a. Keyvan's parents). Mine was the first 2 levels of Rosetta Stone's Farsi. I hope to get through them fast! Keyvan got an iPod touch. Eve got a crib for Christmas/Birthday. It is beautiful and Keyvan is looking forward to her sleeping in it. Eve and I...well, we are enjoying our last few weeks together in the parents' bed.

Eve got the stomach flu :( but is doing better.

I wish we would have spent more time thinking about and celebrating Christ. I was so focused on all of the other things I wanted to do that I forgot to make time for even a little devotional. We had a meaningful Christmas, full of good times and people, but it wasn't as meaningful as it could have been. This is the story of my life. I am going to try to do better, not just at Christmas, but especially at Christmas.

Here are a few pictures taken the night that we went to eat at Five Alls: