Ramona

This baby is seriously the best baby ever. She comes with me to the office all the time and just hangs out--totally content wherever she is.

She just fell asleep playing around on the floor:


And she lets me dress her up in ridiculous outfits:


And she's adorable...



And this is her favorite position:



She's just so sweet. She's always happy and just gives me these smiles and coos at me--I love this baby!

I love the other ones too:

Visit from the family

My parents and Hediyeh and Darius made a quick weekend visit. I really miss not living close to them and I really hope we can eventually convince everyone to come out here.


On our block--going for a hike.


On the bonneville trail, which is just around the corner from us.


(ignore my scowl--not sure what I was looking at or for).



hiking around squaw peak:













(I love Cyra's pose with that shoulder.)

Cyra's Birthday

Cyra turned 5! My family all came to visit from New York. It was great.





She had a birthday chain and broke off a link every day. This was the last. We took cupcakes to her pre-school on her birthday and went out to dinner and the creamery.

Cyra is so mature and grown up these days. She is in love with baby Ramona and just very kind-hearted and thoughtful.

Lulu's birthday

Lulu turned 3!



We got her a Dora pinata, which was basically a pinata with a dora plate stapled on it. Nevertheless, she was heartbroken when people started hitting it. She has a point. Why get a pretty pinata and put Dora's face on it and then break it?


The birthday girl.


Cyra had no moral angst over it.





Lulu awaiting her cake:


The cake and the singing:


And the subsequent hysterical crying:


She's hiding from everyone and just sobbing.

Viewing these pictures makes it seem like she didn't have a fun birthday, but she had a blast. She ate candy all day and got great presents. Then, at night, she and Cyra "got married" in her new princess dress:

Our 15 minutes of fame

Article in Deseret News and me and Shima here.

And Jared in the NYT's here.

Ballerinas

These are their Ballet "uniforms" that they were trying out the day before their first class.













And this is the girls and me in bed in the morning:

The House

So we are finally done with construction and here are the results. Drumroll....

Before:


During:


After:


Before:


During:


After:

(note: the paper chain hanging from that light is for upcoming birthdays and not a permanent decoration. Actually, neither is the light. We still need to change those)

Before:


During:


After:

(another note: this left wall is not done yet. We have a temporary desk here now, but Jared is going to build a bookshelf/desk thing into the wall. I will put those pictures up when he's done with that.)

Before:


During:


After:


Before:


During:
'

After:


Before:

This is the view from the front door right when you walk in

During:


After:


So you can't see much of the view from these shots, but that's the main reason we got this house. There are huge windows and huge views of beautiful Utah Lake and the mountains. So that's why we did the construction to this main room--so we could take advantage of the views.

Before:


During:


After (kitchen):




More Afters:






And Lulu: