Our little Virtuosa!

I found this violin ornament in my mom's junk-filled garage. Eve immediately knew what to do with it! She must be paying attention when I teach :) My mom said I can take home the violin on which I learned to play...it's only slightly bigger than this ornamental violin. Maybe I'll give Eve a few lessons when her attention span increases beyond 1 1/2 seconds.

Oatmeal is Yummy!

Hey Friends,

Here's a little video to say we're still alive. Eve enjoys repeating over and over and over any words she can pronounce, the most recent of which is "yummy". Here she is, ranting and raving about my oatmeal:

Pictures

Here are a few pictures depicting Eve's adventures over the past week, which was an eventful week because my dear, sweet grandfather, Harry Robert Fox Jr., flew in from San Diego to celebrate his 90th birthday with us! Here is the cute little man now:

Happy Birthday, Poppi! You are very loved!

The night before the party, we all gathered at my aunt and uncle's house for a bonfire and to hear Poppi share an Easter message (for those who don't know, my grandfather is a preacher). While he was speaking, Eve kept herself occupied:

with a mirror,

toys,

nose-picking,

and enthusiastic bite/kisses

The day of the party, we all gathered for group pictures. Eve almost got carried away by the wind:

but I saved her:

and we managed to get a nice picture of the two of us:

The following day, we went to temple square. Leilani (my sister) managed to snap a few pictures. I think Eve looks a lot like Keyvan here:

and more like me here:

Gotta love this model shot:

Eve loves chocolate cupcakes:

and insists upon feeding herself with grown-up silverware:

She tried a lemon:

She decided against it:

Stacie was kind enough to accompany us to the temple to watch Eve while I went inside with my cousin, Kitti. Stacie has a talent for getting Eve to sleep. Whenever Stacie is around, Eve will find her and cuddle up, like so:

Eve and Stacie strollin' around the town:

playing in the fountain

and yet another fountain

view from the Garden Restaurant on the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

The Zoo!

So, for those of you who didn't remember (shame on you), the Persian New Year just came and went on Sunday. As per usual, the Vasefi family traveled to San Diego to celebrate, and this time, we also made an eventful trip to the San Diego Zoo. Here are some highlights:

Eve and Mom being silly:




First ice cream cone:
















Falling asleep whilst riding on Dad's shoulders:

































Playing piano with lovely ameh (aunt) Tara:
















Unrelated but still cute, Brock and Eve getting bundled up to go see the "doggies":
















Eve sitting in her toy box in the nude (she climbed in there herself):

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:

The things babies find hilarious...

Sometimes Eve finds the most random things to be funny. I love when she totally catches me off guard by cracking up at something unexpected. For example, an empty yogurt container: