Christmas Festivities

Wow.... we sure had a wonderful relaxing Christmas!!! I cannot believe how blessed we are to have such wonderful family and friends, we got so many fun Christmas treats, cards, and gifts. I can't believe how spoiled we are! My parents of course take a BIG part in that! This Christmas was a little bit different than the others because my parents came to me this year! So we celebrated a quiet Christmas in Spokane. I was originally scheduled to work the day before and after Christmas so that was the reason for my parents flying out here instead, however, due to some new hires at work and last minute changes, I only had to work Christmas Eve 'till 2 PM, and then had Friday through Monday off!! Whoo! So we starting celebrating Christmas right after work on Christmas Eve! Shad and I made them our new favorite dinner, homemade pizza! Delicious! And we had our regular Christmas Eve tradition of opening presents.

The delicious pizza... Mmmm.

Cooking pizza:

The Traditional Family photos by the tree:

Since we already had the tripod set up, Shad clicked some photos while we were opening gifts!

Our Christmas Loot... we were VERY good this year! I got a Wii from Shad, and Shad and I got a video camera from my parents!! (For when baby arrives of course!) Plus all this other good stuff...

On Christmas Day, we had a relaxing day together playing with all our fun new gifts, and spent the day making Christmas goodies, and cooking a delicious christmas dinner. Later, our wonderful friends came to join us for an awesome Christmas dinner prepared by my wonderful mother and I helped a little bit. We visited, laughed, and played some games. Here is how we spent most of the day:

Naturally most of our Christmas weekend was spent playing the Wii!!

Eating some of our delicious Christmas goodies:

Talking with friends via Skype!

Spending time with family:

Having good friends join us for dinner!

And then eating a wonderful dinner:

Then Saturday we went out and about shopping at some after Christmas sales, and went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It was actually pretty good. Shad really enjoyed it. My parents left Sunday night back to Seattle, so overall a wonderful and successful Christmas weekend together as a family. Weird to think that next year at Christmas we will have a little guy crawling around joining in on the Christmas festivities!!

Hope your Christmas was just as wonderful as ours, and you got everything you wished for! What a sweet time of year to gather together, remember our Savior, and spend quality time with family and friends. We are truly blessed!

Baby Shower!!

Over the weekend my wonderful mother, and previous YW leaders in my home ward threw me an awesome baby shower! They starting planning it in October, and everything came together wonderfully. I flew over Saturday morning, Shad couldn't come over because of finals, so it was a quick, girly weekend trip. My mom, of course, went all out on the food and desserts; it was delicious! (with tons of yummy leftovers!) And the girls made all the decorations, favors, and invitations so adorable! They went with the jungle/giraffe theme that I love so much... so cute! We ate good food, played a fun matching game, all about boys! And we even had a name suggestion bowl, where we actually got a lot of good ideas. :)

Lots of my old YW leaders were there, some family friends from the ward, and a couple friends from high school. I got so many clothes, my little man is going to be the best dressed baby around! I feel so blessed to have so many friends who were so generous to give such fun, cute gifts. It was a great, successful shower, and I loved it... the food, the company, the decorations, and the gifts! Our little baby room is really coming together, and the baby stuff is slowly piling up! We're so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family!! We cannot wait for this little guy to come.

My mom's delicious food spread:

Blue Chocolate Covered Strawberries!

My mom, and my second mom:

My dear friend Michelle, I hadn't seen her in SO long!

The ladies who put the whole thing together, love them!

Alyssa, my old friend from high school!

Some of the gifts:

Baby's Room

Over the weekend, when Shad had a small break from studying for finals, we put together some stuff in baby's room!! We had been collecting baby stuff over the last couple months including a crib, stroller/car seat, swing, changing table, Herman, and misc. toys/clothes, etc. We had no other place to put the stuff except for in our dining room, so our dining room was getting a little lost in the mess. A couple of weeks ago we posted our old Ikea couch on Craigslist to try and sell it to make room and money for the baby. At first we didn't have any takers, but suddenly over the weekend we had numerous people interested! Then Saturday afternoon we had a couple wanting to come and pick it up right away. It was a bittersweet goodbye, because that was our first real piece of furniture, and it was sad to see it go. But now, we had room for the crib and baby stuff! So after a long day of studying (for Shad), we put together the crib, moved out the computer and desk, and got started on baby's room!! Its so exciting.

Shad and I got this idea from our friends Jay and Courtney to set up the camera on a tripod and take pics as we were putting the crib together. I must admit it turned out pretty good. Enjoy our little movie of putting the crib together:

The beginnings of our baby's room, it's a work in progress:

Our old couch, you will be missed!

Belly Shots for Kirsten and Kjirstin: 30 weeks!!!

Shad was making me laugh in this one, so I look dorky:

I'm looking large these days, I'm not sure how long I'll be up for these belly shots. NOT feeling too cute.

A Quickie Thanksgiving

Shad and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! After lots of debating wether or not we should make the 4 hour journey over to my parents house for the Holiday, battling weather, and potentially snowy passes, we decided to go for it! We made a speedy trip over to Auburn from Spokane for a day! Unfortunately, I had to work the day before and AFTER Thanksgiving, so we drove over to Auburn Wednesday night and got there about 10:30 PM. Thanksgiving morning we made a quick trip over to Shad's sister's, Heidi, house and spent a couple hours catching up with them. Lucky for us they also live in Auburn! Then after a nice, but quick, visit with Heidi and her family, we headed over to Thanksgiving dinner with my parents at our dear friends the Lomeli's house. Our families have been best friends for my entire life, so its like my second home. It was so wonderful to see them and be together for Thanksgiving. Kambria lives in New York now, so I NEVER get to see her, and oh how I missed her so! Plus this Thanksgiving was like the Thanksgivings we used to have when I was younger, so it was a sweet, perfect reunion. After chatting, catching up, and stuffing our faces and bellies with delicious food and PLENTY dessert; we headed back to my parents for the night and played some games. Then EARLY, EARLY Friday morning (about 5:30 AM!) Shad and I drove back to Spokane so I could make it in time for my 11:3o AM shift at work. Phew!! It was a quick trip, but Shad and I will both agree it was totally worth the drive. It was a little crazy, but nothing beats being around family and friends on Holidays. :)

Shad and I with Heidi's girls: Our adorable nieces.

LOVE these girls!

Excuse the large pregnant belly!

Kambria and I, she's pretty great!

The family, our Thanksgiving bunch:

Introducing Herman

Wow, I have been a complete blogger slacker lately!! So here is a little update entry on us:

We've been busy, busy, busy, but not a whole lot of interesting things have been going with us: Shad has been plugging away at school, and is getting ready for finals this week. (Yes they are ALREADY here!!) So please remember him in your prayers, because this semester has been a tough one! And he could use all the support he can get. Its going to be a rough couple of weeks. And I'm still working, what feels like all the time! And we are slowly getting ready for baby as the due date quickly approaches! I cannot believe this little boy will be here in just a couple short months!! We've gotten a lot of the big stuff like the crib, stroller, car seat, swing, etc. But babies sure come with a LOT of stuff!! But we are gearing up to meet him, and bring him home.

In gearing up for baby I decided a couple weeks ago to expand my sewing "skills"... and well, anyone who really knows me, knows that I am NOT a talented sewer or real "homemakey." But my dear friend Marilyn volunteered her time and talents to me one Saturday and we spent a couple of hours sewing these burp rags, we made about 10 ( I wanted to start off small and simple!):

They didn't come out perfect by any means, but the more I look at them, the more I like them. Not too bad for a beginner... I guess!?!

So in reading the title, you might be wondering who Herman is. Well, Herman is our newest family addition, our pet Giraffe. He comes along with a pretty funny story, but let me preface it with the fact that I LOVE giraffes, they have always been my favorite at the zoo, and slowly I have been accumulating giraffe/jungle stuff for baby and baby's room. ( As you can see above in the burp rags, and the stroller/car seat set we bought.): Last week I came home to a Fed Ex sticker on the door saying I had a package to pick up in the office. I was a little puzzled, but then I remembered I had ordered some baby stuff online a while ago so I assumed that was what the package was. I waited for Shad to get home and on our way to run some errands we went to pick up our package. We get to the office the the lady there says "Oh yes, its a good thing that BOTH of you came to pick this up" and them proceeds to come out dragging a large box. About 5 feet tall, and 3 feet wide. Umm.... excuse me?!? Shad and I look at each other in pure confusing and give out a nervous laugh. I'm thinking this cannot possibly be the package that we are supposed to pick up! But sure enough it was address to Krista McOmber, coming from 'Benefit Healthcare' in Great Falls, MT! (Still even more puzzling...WHAT!?!) The lady seeing our sheer shock and confusion laughed and said, "Maybe its something for baby!" So Shad and I hauled the large package back to our apartment, it wouldn't even fit in our car! (Luckily it was quite light!) As soon as we walk in the door Shad and I in utter confusion and curiosity ripped into the package immediately to find this:

A five foot Giraffe!?!?! First we laugh and laugh so hard, but eventually I put the pieces together: my father is a regional manager and travels often to Great Falls, MT for work and had called me last week for my address. I call him up, and sure enough he had seen the Giraffe at one of his hospitals' gift shops, and knew it would be perfect for babies room! What a great Grandpa! We love him, and thought Herman was the perfect name. Dignified, yet playful. We've accepted him into the family, and know he will be a hit with little baby McOmber!! Love it!

This just shows how tall Herman really is:

He's pretty awesome:

Our Thanksgiving post, yet to come. :)

Hockey Night in Spokane

So Shad and I haven't had too much going on lately... the same old work and school routine. I'm still working looooong days, and Shad is still overloaded with school! But once and a while we catch some breaks together. Last Saturday during the Halloween weekend my parents came over for the weekend to visit, and bring us the CRIB they bought for baby!!! They wanted to drive it over before the weather turned and the mountain passes would be impossible to drive through. It was so nice to have them here as always, and they spoil us all rotten (Me, Shad, and the baby!) On deciding what to do on Saturday for entertainment, my father being a HUGE hockey fan, we got tickets to the local Spokane Chiefs hockey game!! It was so much fun, since it was Halloween, it actually wasn't crowded and hockey games are so much fun to watch! We have some die-hard Spokane Chief fans around here, so its always crazy! Plus, it was Halloween, so there were people dressed up in all kinds of crazy outfits! It was a great way to spend the weekend together. Well, Shad and I had already planned a date night with our friends the Greens to go this weekend again to the Hockey game long before my parents came. So on that note, we went again last night! AWESOME! It was "buck night" so all hot dogs, popcorn, and drinks were a dollar! And it was a "Red- Out" so all the fans were supposed to wear red. Shad and I being the die-hard BYU fans we are, don't really don the color red very often. But we went to our local Walmart and picked up some cheap Spokane original gear. Shad got a Chiefs shirt, and I went for the Gonzaga gear (luckily both teams have the same colors!). Again, the game was so much FUN, much more crowded and loud compared the last weeks game, plus WE WON!!! (Which they did not the previous week). We feel like we are officially "Spokanites" and will proudly wear our local team gear!! Spokane Chiefs: welcome your two newest loyal fans! 'Go Chiefs Go!'

Our dear friends the Greens:

In addition, for those of you wanting to see, I have a grown a bunch in the last month or so. These pics are at about 25.5 weeks!! I'm starting to feel like a large pregnant lady. The really 'awesome,' insensitive comments at work from customers are starting to roll in: "Wow, you're huge!" and "Oh you poor thing, you still have a LONG ways to go!", etc. They always make me feel like a beast. However, other than feeling quite large... I'm still feeling good. I had a little re-lapse with the migraines this morning. But I haven't really been as diligent with my nasal spray, so apparently that really was the trick! I'm also SO tired all the time, especially after work, I come home and just crash. The fear is also starting to set in... of the whole labor and delivery process, and what to do once the baby actually comes!?!? Its especially scary since every mom has their own advice to give, which is more horrifying than helpful. Although I am completely oblivious, ignorant, and scared stiff so I can appreciate that their hearts are in the right place! Anyways, baby is still as squirmy as ever, kicking me in every direction possible. Shad finally has gotten a good feel of him kicking and rumbling around in there. And we're still as joyous and as excited as ever for this little one!

Shad and I comparing bellies, yup, I've finally passed him:

Fall Pics

Its my favorite time of year!!! I absolutely LOVE Fall: the smells, the weather, the leaves, the colors, baking pumpkins goodies...I love it all! So these last couple weekends, I have been able to really enjoy the colors and wonderful things Fall offers. Last weekend Shad and I went to the pumpkin patch with some friends, and enjoyed some delicious pumpkin donuts! (which we waited 30 minutes in line for!!) And then this past weekend we celebrated Shad's 27th birthday!!!! YAY! We drove over to Auburn to visit my family, and just had a nice getaway from work, school, and Spokane. It was so nice to just spend some time at home, and relax. For Shad's birthday he got his traditional pumpkin treats: pumpkins cookies, my mom's delicious pumpkin cheesecake, and of course pumpkin pie!! I also had some fun shopping for baby with my mom, and actually getting a roll on ALL the things we need for baby. Plus a head start on planning my baby shower! And oh man, Auburn had some of the prettiest Fall leaves and colors! Luckily I got some fun pictures. It was a much needed and nice break from everything...

The Pumpkin Patch:

Fall in Auburn Suburbia: