Birthdays and Parties and Pictures, oh my!

Eek.  I'm now a quarter of a century old.  Which is very odd for me as I've seen myself as 24 for the past two years.  Why?  Well, in Korea I introduced myself as being 24 years old.  Which I was in Korean.  Children are considered a year old when they're born and they turn another year older at the beginning of the new year.  So I was 2 when I was 2 weeks old.  As was Violet, coincidentally.  Anyway, when I got back from Korea and was in Korean class at the U, I also said I was 24.  Which was true at the end of my first semester.  And now I can't say that anymore.  Sadness.

It's amazing how fast and how slow time can go depending on what you're pondering, isn't it?  When I was younger, December used to drag by so slowly I felt as though it would never end.  As did the months before, actually.  Now that I'm older, time seems to be paradoxically slipping and dragging away.  I blame the government.  No, Phil does not have his interview date yet even though the embassy has had his paperwork for like 20 days.  Grr.  This whole immigration thing is taking way too long.  No wonder so many people come in illegally.  Not that I'm suggesting people do it, but if it's this hard to get a visa to get married, it's got to be ten times harder to just immigrate.

Right.  That's my rant for this post.  I'm hoping that this rant will somehow encourage the embassy to make his appointment and tell him about it tomorrow.  As long as he's got an interview in January, we're planning to get married February 18, 2012.  Which isn't the November date we originally wanted...but you can't always get what you want and never in a timely manner from the US government.  Now I'm done ranting.  Honest.

Luckily for me, my birthday is a week before Christmas Eve (actually, I hated hearing Christmas music before my birthday as a child, but now I really don't care), so that means the annual Oates Christmas Party is near my birthday.  And on my birthday when my birthday is a Saturday.  Like it was this year.  Woot.  Tasha picked me up early on Saturday and we saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows before she treated me to pancakes at Ihop (I'd filled up on too much popcorn to eat more). I think I like the second more than the first Sherlock Holmes and am very appreciative to Robert Downey Jr. for putting out such a good movie for my birthday like he did for Tasha's with Iron Man 2.  Apparently he likes us, as I already know part of Tasha's present for next year as the Avengers comes out near her birthday :p  But I digress.  We played on the Kinect for a bit and then she had to go to a wedding.

I got to see both of my grandmothers this year on my birthday, which was a very sweet treat.  I was stupid and didn't take a picture of either, though. But I did take them of my adorable nieces!

Violet was in a very good mood during dinner.

She kept making adorable faces

My favorite is her new standard "smile" when you ask her to smile

Lydia actually let me take a few pictures without hiding her face!

Of course they were silly pictures...  Gotta love her

Adelle really enjoyed the toys that Aunt Sharon and Uncle Forrest handed out to all the great-grandchildren.  I love her new haircut.

I gave the camera to Adelle and ended up in a picture!  Aaah!

She got one of Liz too.

And doesn't Wes look great?  You can see Uncle Forrest sitting by the fireplace in the background.  This was during his fun game time.

Liz won another jar full of quarters!  I guessed way high.  For future reference, there was like 700 something in there.

Mom won the overall total for the jars of candy/quarters this year.  Go mom!

I had a great time and won some money to use to pay for my wedding cake. I'm having my cousin Shontelle design it and I'm super excited to see it.  I just wish I didn't have to keep waiting...

Anyway, on Sunday I got to sing with the ward choir.  Woot.  It was fun.  Especially since I didn't have to work (though as a result I get 6 days in a row this week...)  After church I had Adelle and Lydia over to play my Disneyland game for my Kinect.  I wish I'd taken pictures...but no luck.  Adelle and Lydia did a great job dancing like princesses.

I took them back at 4:30 and got to spend some time alone with the birthday girl before all the other people showed up.  Violet made cute faces for me again.  I got a few pictures.  Not many of her actual party, though, as I was taking video.  Which I've included for your viewing pleasure..And some pictures.

Lydia is a great older sister.  She was helping Violet see the ornaments better.

Isn't she just a cutie?

There's her cheesy smile!

Adelle was very cute too.  I like the ribbons in her hair.

Violet loves her grandpa and her grandpa loves her.

What a helpful daddy!

It was a fun party for everyone, especially since Violet clearly had so much fun with her presents.  She wouldn't get off the trike in order to eat her cupcake.  Little kids are so much fun on their birthdays!

Look for a new post sometime soon about Christmas.  And Merry Christmas to my handful of readers!