The Answers...

Alright, I know some of you were on the edge of your seat! Here are the answers to our little project.

Here is the key, each column will be A, B, C, D, E, F, & G... then each row will be 1, 2, 3, & 4. Just like Battleship! :)

- Owen: F3, His handprint

- Winter: B2, Bare brown trees and snow

- Spring: A1, Green, grass, and flowers

- Summer: G3, The beach/ocean

- Autumn: F1, A pumpkin

- BYU Football: C2, Stripes from their uniform

- Disneyland: B1, Mickey ears and his shorts!

- Finland1: C1, famous Finnish designer pattern

- Finland2: C3, Birch Trees/Finnish scenery

- History: C4, Books stacked up. With both of us being history majors, we have TONS of books!

- Seattle: E1, The Seattle skyline and rain, this is hard to identify unless you're close up to it.

- The Northwest: G1, represents green trees and the rainforest.

- Violin: D4, Obvious.

- Utah: A3, Represents southern Utah and its Arches.

- Irish Symbol: F2, Irish Knot

- Scottish Pattern: B3, Scottish kilt/clan pattern

- 4th of July: A2, Fireworks.

There you have it folks! Like I said, some are obvious. I think the Finnish ones are the hardest to identify, if you've never been there or have a strong background in their culture!

The McOmber Paint Project

Shad and I are not very "artsy" for the most part, nor am I very "crafty." However, I was in desperate need of a project so I stole this idea from Shad's sister Heidi when we were there a couple of weeks ago. They have a similar wall painting with squares and rectangles that they had family members and friends help paint each. I LOVED the idea and so Shad and I immediately went out and bought a canvas. But, we liked the idea of doing it together with all things that represent us. Every night for the past two weeks after Owen went to bed, we would bust out the paint supplies and go to work. I actually LOVE the way it turned out, plus it was a great way to spend time together, and we had fun trying to think of all things "Shad and Krista."

Here is the project:

There are 28 squares, we tried to keep things somewhat abstract. Here are all the things that are represented:

-Owen

-All 4 seasons, a square for each (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall)

-BYU Football

-Disneyland

-Finland (there are two for Finland)

-History

-Seattle

-The Great Northwest

-Violin (Shad and I both played)

-Utah

-Shad's Irish and Scottish Heritage (A square for each)

-4th of July (Our favorite holiday)

Some are abstract, while others are OBVIOUS (i.e. the violin!)

All other squares are just abstract, that don't really represent anything.

Can you identify them all??? Let me know!

This is where it will be shown oh-so-proudly on our wall:

The Owenator

This blog has slowly turned into Owen-mania... I know this. I never thought I would be one of those moms that post millions of pictures of their baby. But alas, here I am at it again. He is my whole world, everyday I'm lucky enough to spend the day with this little man. Here are some pics from my little photo shoot I did with him this weekend. I love him!

7 Months Old!!

I love this face:

Teething Pain

I think these pictures pretty much explains it all... Heh! He makes this face all the time, bites down really hard, and breathes hard out his nose. It's hilarious.

Owen has been teething. He cut two teeth a couple of weeks ago, it wasn't SO bad. The first tooth came through no problem. The second one was a little more painful, he was a little cranky and a few days were a little rough. But then pop! it came through and we had our happy boy back. However, after the second tooth broke through, his sleeping pattern has gone CRAZY. We've finally had him on a wonderful night time schedule and naps were slowly getting better. But after the teeth, he started waking up a lot more at night, and wide eyed awake at 4 AM! No thank you. Then naps took a total turn for the worst, as in he totally refused to sleep at all. Argh! That makes for one grumpy baby (and mommy!)! After a looooooooong week of "re-sleep training" bedtime is back on track and he's sleeping better at night, he's still waking up between 5-6, but we're getting there. Naps... are a different story. We are starting ALL over. The only time I can get a decent nap from him is if I hold him the whole (the hour/hour and a half!) time. All you mommies out there have any advice?? I'm not sure I can do this with each tooth!

So far this week, he's been all smiles. (As long as he gets his naps!)

We love the Northwest

Over Labor Day weekend Shad and I planned a little family trip over to the west side of Washington to spend some quality time with family. Shad's sister Heidi and her family live over there as well, and we really wanted to spend some time with them. So a few weeks ago we all decided that we really wanted to hike around and explore Mt. Saint Helens together, Shad has never been there and it truly is an amazing place. However, the summer coming to a close, and the northwest being the rainy unpredictable place it is... the weather did not cooperate. We were just going to tough it out and go anyways, but after calling the visitors center and finding out it was a high of 40 degrees and too cloudy to see the mountain... we opted for another destination. Heidi's husband, Steven, came up with the idea of doing a nice short hike (due to the cold and rain) up near Mt. Rainer called Goat Falls. We packed a lunch and two cars and set out on our way. It was perfect. Although it was a little rainy and cloudy, the weather actually ended up being perfect hiking weather, and PERFECT lighting conditions for my camera. I finally wised up and brought along a tripod and got some really nice shots of the scenery. We had a great time with them, and it was beautiful there. Once again it reminded us of despite the rainy weather... we LOVE the northwest!

First, the candid family pics:

Owen was a trooper, he did pretty well.

Gosh, I love these girls!

The Group Shot:
The Gaffney Bunch:

My Cute Parents:

And what's a hike in the NW with out some behemoth slugs?!

Owen with cousin Julia:

Now, the scenic shots, I'm pretty proud of some of these:

Nice, right? I'll admit it was a little addicting to keep taking pics. The greens were just awesome and the lighting was just right!

Rise and Shout!

Well, its that time again folks.... college football season!! Fall... my favorite time of year! The BYU game opener was on Saturday against UW and boy was it a good game. With this being a rebuilding year for BYU we were all a little nervous, but the Cougs did not disapoint. It was a nail biter, but we ended up on top!!! Whoo hoo! But win or lose, Shad, Owen and I were all game-day ready in our BYU blue gear. It was a great Labor Day weekend, and a GREAT way to start the season!

We, of course, got about a thousand pictures:

Owen was very excited about his first BYU game!

Like father, Like son:

My BYU boys:

Mom and Owen:

We took lots of family photos to find one blog worthy (as you can also see above)

Even my parents showed their true blue spirit (my dad later changed into a BYU shirt!)

Some BLUE game day food, they didn't turn out as pretty and blus as I wanted, but still tasted pretty good.

Owen was just too cute in his outfit, seriously, look at that little guy!

Go Cougs!!!!!!!!!!!!!