lots of leena: November 2009

Eggnong Testing

Today mum had Mika and me setting up all the Christmas decorations. Mika wanted to be the first person to decorate the tree so I allowed him to.

Then it was my turn to make the tree pretty.

End result for our American tree.

Then mum had me decorate our Finnish tree.
Me and my work of art.

Every year our family, the Smiths, and the Merrills get together and sing Christmas carols. Then we have Eggnog testing. We take this very seriously! Somehow without rigging it the girls like the same eggnog and the boys all like the same eggnong.

Emily

Mitchy trying to hide from singing

Stephanie lighting her candle

All the goodness Stephanie brought :)

Tanner Noble. He was super happy about the singing...

Our little photographer Casey. He took pictures for me allllll night :)

I was braiding Mitchy's hair (hehe) and it took him a long time to figure out what I was doing

Me getting ready to make popcorn

Eggnog testing
5 different types

Only one can win!

Craig tallying up the results.

This is serious stuff!

We have the results from the last 7 years.

Ellie with eggnog all over her face

Craig with the FINAL results

Can't wait for next year!

Turkey Week

Day 1

Well on Tuesday after class M-dog and I headed down to Gma's house. I drove and like a king M-dog sat in the back and had his Nintendo 64 set up and was hard at work trying to beat a game. There was lots of yelling involved. hehe Once we got to Gra's house we straight way left for LA to pick up the cousin's. But we made a quick stop at the Cheesecake Factory. I got the Burrito Grande. I had NO idea how big it was!

BUT! I ate almost all of it. :)

Gpa and his food.

M-dog got the burger and he also had no idea how big it was.

But he was quite happy with it.

But couldn't quite figure out how to attack it. So he decided the only way to go was "full throttle"

Gma and food.

Once at the airport I made a sign for Jakie Do and Jamie Sue. I was quite proud of it. :D

Day 2

M-dog and I got to help Gma make all the Thanksgiving goodness. Of course I made my cranberry salad. It wouldn't be tradition if I didn't!

All the fam

M-dog doing what he does best

Jakie Do and Jamie Sue

Gma and Ruth

Cousin Tara and Gpa

Tara and boyfriend Scott.

Scott so far is doing very well in the family, and he responded very well when I called him Lance (Tara's ex-boyfrind) by accident. Whoops! My bad.

After dinner had all been cleaned up the girls left for their annual shopping trip. We drove down to the Westin and once there Tara, Jamie, and I decided we wanted to go see New Moon. So that we did. Tara had never seen it and was squealing with delight right along with me whenever Taylor Lautner was on the silver screen. :) Jamie kept leaning over and telling saying

"Leena your waaaayyyy cuter than Taylor Swift! You should be dating him! Thats it, while I'm here were going to find him for you!"

Jamie all I have to say is....WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!! With words like that you'll win the way to my heart!

Jamie also kept saying "Soo ummm where would I find Robert Pattinson in LA?? Cuz his limo forgot to pick me up at the airport."

Ohhh Jamie.

Day 3

On Friday morning Gma, mum, and Tara went to the temple. Jamie and I went and got the Jambe Juice. :)

Infront of the Temple waiting for Gma to come out

(Excuse the look on my face. In my defence in was BRIGHT!)

Tara where's your Jamba???

After the Temple we headed to DownTown LA and had a wonderful tim! Found AMAZING deals and had bundles of fun!

Later we went to South Coast Plaza and ate at Maggiano's

Jamie, Me, and Tara

(Pardon the crazy eyes)

Tara and Jamie

Of course we needed dessert and for that we went to the Rainforest Cafe!

Me, and Tara

Of course we got our usual Volcano mud pie with extra fries on the side. We couldn't believe it cause we had the same waiter we had last year. He said he couldn't forget us cause we were the "the lovely ladies who order fries with ketchup with mayo. Something I've never heard of!"

Obviously he's never been to Utah.

Me, Tara and Jamie

Day 4

On Saturday we went to the OC Swapmeet. That place makes me happy!

I found this tiara that I wanted SUPER bad but was too cheap to buy.

But a picutre satisfied me. :)

Gma found this sign and could't stop laughing over it. haha

Somehow the Tara's boy and Jamie's boy joined us at the swapmeet and then we ventured over to the Cheesecake Factory in Fashion Island. Jake, Scott and I all got the burger that M-dog had gotten.

I was very excited for it!

But couldn't qutie figure out how to attack it.

But to no ones surprise I finished it ALL! And then continued to eat everything else that was on my plate. And then moved on to Gma's food. By the time I was done I was fuuu-ullll!

Jake said his was a "cute helping". He downed his in 5 minutes. No joke.

And Scott....well he finished his burger but nothing more. Though the only reason he finished his was because he couldn't let me, a girl, beat him.

Jake and food

Somehow there was a mess up with all the burgers and so our waiter said we could have 2 desserts on them. We were super happy bout this! BUT Jake wanted it to be 3 cause there were 3 mess ups. So with all the muscle he could muster up (which wasn't in any way, shape or form difficult for him) he stood up, walked right over to our waiter, towered over him, and said "Umm is there any way we could get 3 desserts on you?". Our waitor was a smart guy and also terrified and agreed to this. Only Jake. :)

Fun, Fun, Fun. . .

How is one supposed to spent their Thanksgiving break?? Some would sleep. Others hang with friends. Me?? Oh well I have just spent the last 12 hours on the computer working on a project for my G-ma. This involves scanning family pictures. Allow me to repeat. 12 hours. Me on the computer. I've left the chair maybe 5 times. My mum fed me food down here in the office. I feel like I'm in prison. My brain is turning to mush! On the bright side I have caught up on some reading. I read a WHOLE blog. Post to post. I have watched the last 5 episodes of Saturday Night Live. My favorite being the one Taylor Swift hosted. Watched ALL of T-Swift's music video's. Facebook stalked all my friends. Watched EVERY SINGLE YouTube video available on Taylor Lautner. On top of many, MANY other things. G-ma I love you dearly and you also owe me dearly for this. :) I'm thinking those $1,300 shoes we were looking at the other day. :D

Team Lautner

As my sister so kindly put it

"Last night I left my window open just in case Taylor Lautner and his 12 pack want to scale up to tree for a visit to my balcony."

I agree with her %100! I also have been sleeping with my windows open just in case cause you never know what the night brings. Our allegiance lies strictly with Taylor Lautner. Not Jacob. Not Edward. No no with Taylor Lautner. We plan on having "Team Taylor" shirts, and wearing them at the next midnight showing which is rumored to be in June 30 2010. :D Kirsi and I also like the skinny tie. :)

TEAM JACOB!!!!

Dear Taylor Lautner,

Although I am not at all a Twilight fan I thank thee with all my heart for gaining those extra 20 pounds of muscle so thou could continue to play the role of Jacob. The $11 I spent last night was the BEST $11 I have EVER spent all thanks to you. In every scene you were in I was squealing with delight at the sight of you shirtless. When you first come on screen and take off your shirt I let out a rather loud and heartfelt "HALLELUJAH!!" and got many "AMENS" in return. You are a HUGE slice of heaven sent to earth to let girls of all ages adore you and your golden face. You have converted me to team Jacob and I will always have your back in debates concerning sides.

Your BIGGEST fan,
Your FUTURE wife,
The LOVE of your life,
Leena

All I have to say about this picture is PLEASE YES!!!!! :D

Twilight or New Moon. . .Whatever It Is

Over the past couple of years I have watched my friends become infatuated with the series Twilight. I have heard them debate for hours on end about which team they are on Edward, or Jacob. I decided to read the book to know what in good heavens name they were talking about. I read the first one and couldn't bring myself to read the second. I have quite a mouthful to say on the topic but thats another story. Although I am not a fan of the books I go to the midnight showings with everyone to be with them. Every year there is always a treatful story to tell. This years is about a Miss Molly Dobbs.

Molly was having Miss Megan do her makeup while waiting in line. Molly got through the first eye with no distractions.

And then quite out of no where Molly got the church giggles and for 20 minutes couldn't sit still for Megan to finish the other eye.

But the finished result was her wanting to look like Bella. Did she achieve the desired look??

As the night went on Molly started looking like a hobo and fell asleep with a bottle tightly grasped in her arms. No worries folks it was Martinelli's.

Miss Mariah

Incase you are wondering what is written on her face it says "Twi-hard"

There was one dad who was a lil on the overboard side and was dressed up as a vampire with face paint to seal the deal. We asked for a picture and. . . .well he bit Molly.