Thanksgiving

Evan finally got home from Florida. We actually got back on the same night...Me from my brother's wedding and Evan from his long drive home. So a few days later we had our Thanksgiving feast. We celebrated at Evan's sister's house and his brother was still in town after their trek back west. Sara also had a few friends over so it was quite the low key party.

Sara and I split the cooking assignments, but I told her she could do the Turkey;)

My favorite part about Thanksgiving is not the stuffing or the pie it is the relish tray. As a kid my mom always put out a relish tray and cheese and crackers while we waited for the feast to finally be ready. It kept us busy and out of her hair, she's one smart lady. And of course the football game is on in the background!

Carving the turkey!

I wanted to take a picture with Evan before he went off to play Frisbee with his brother...and I fell asleep on the couch;) Not the most flattering picture of me...but that's what I look like right now! That night we attempted to go to bed some what early since we decided to go black Friday shopping. It was Evan's first experience. I was a little disappointed for him because it was so painless, or perhaps it was so painless because Evan is so lucky. We went to the one store we wanted to go to-found what we wanted and didn't have to wait in a check out line. We were out of the store in under 10 minutes. So then we wondered around Evan's favorite store Best Buy for a while-which was no longer crowded because we got there 5 hours after the doors opened.

Year of the Wedding part IV

My big brother Dustin tied the knot November 18th in Berkeley, California. It was so fun to have our family all together another time this year (minus Evan of course since he was still in Florida). I also got to meet my famous niece Alice (she was accidentally born on the bathroom floor at her house-her mom's just a rock star that's all)

The night before the wedding we had a "rehearsal dinner" in San Francisco. We didn't rehearse anything, but we did have some yummy Italian food.

The wedding was so nice. The couple said their own vows which were very thoughtful. And my ring bearer nephew and his "date" stole the show. They walked in first and people couldn't stop taking pictures of them. They were just so cute.

They had some really personal touches to the wedding which I liked. My brother really loves baseball, especially the Giants. So there cake topper was a groom pitching a baseball to his bride. The bride Jessica wore a black and orange garter and black and orange shoes (for the Giants). All the groomsmen and Dustin wore Vans. Dustin and Jess met in high school when Dustin trained Jess at the Vans shoe store in Tracy (Jess is now a store manager). Overall a great party!!!

Amber's Little Pumpkin

November 12 my "medical school wives club" threw me an awesome baby shower. The theme was "pumpkin." My friend called me up and asked what my feelings on pumpkins were...um I like pumpkins? I wasn't sure how I was suppose to answer, but they diffidently had a clear vision in mind. They decorated the tables with vases full of pumpkins and gourds, had yummy food for the brunch including pumpkin cinnamon rolls, passed out pumpkin seeds as the favor, and of

course this adorable banner as a decoration.

My camera batteries were dead so this is the only picture I have (which I took from my SIL facebook;).

We also played a few rounds of baby themed charades. My 8-year-old niece was fun to watch especially when she drew "going into labor" as her action to act out. I couldn't have asked for a better shower, great food and great friends-they really thought of everything!

Year of the Wedding part III

Yes this is the year of the weddings. My good friend from high school got hitched November 4 on a beautiful golf course in Northern California and became Lauren Gordon.It was a beautiful and meaningful ceremony centered around God and love.
I love this picture of her...could she look any happier?
I didn't mean to take this picture so close up I was trying to get a shot of the couple...But I really loved her dress so I can't complain. I assumed when the invitation said the ceremony would start at 5pm that it would start until 5:30 so we showed up at 5 and sat on the back row...perfect for picture taking!
My dates. Since Evan was still in Florida I took another great high school friend, Kristi, and her husband, Joesph, as my dates to the wedding.
Yup really pregnant...33.5 weeks
I only got a picture of the cake...But the decorations were very classy...just like the bride

Halloween

Evan's Dad's birthday is on Halloween. The night before Evan's sister made a lovely dinner for the family and I provided the entertainment. We made scary witch fingers (Pillsbury pizza dough rolled out really skinny with almond sliver finger nails and marinara blood sauce), caramel apples (my absolute new favorite fall tradition) and pin the nose on the Jack-O-Lantern.Since I work with kids I had a great excuse to dress up for Halloween. I wanted to do something pregnancy related-because who knows the next time I'll be 32 1/2 weeks pregnant at Halloween. So I dressed up as...


A Magic 8 ball. My friend Kendra helped me put it together...She is quite creative. I called her up one night and said "I want to be a magic 8 ball and you have to help me"! She came up with a clever way to make the fabric inside the shirt turn to have different answers on it. I only had time to make two answers so you either got a "No" or a "Yes." It was a fun costume and very comfy-I'm not a huge fan of discomfort these days;)

Pumpkin Carving

I haven't always been Halloween's biggest fan, but in recent years I have really been taken a liking to the holiday. Evan and his brother left for the 2.5 day drive to Florida on Friday October 28th and that night I went to his sister's house to carve pumpkins.

Before the fun began...Here we are carving the pumpkins. The boys shared one and the girls shared one. They were much more interested in carving this year then they were last year-they even helped get all the slime out.

The after picture. I think little Klinton was sad because we wouldn't let him use the sharp knife (he'll thank us later I'm sure)

Setting up the crib

Evan's brother flew down to Arizona to DRIVE with Evan all the way to Florida. Evan went to a medical conference in Orlando the last week in October and then he had a two week rotation in Largo, Florida. He was able to hang out in his home town for a few days and see old friends and his Alma Mater (Go Hawks).

Before the boys left with the help of Grandpa Norby (who also flew down-but to have a root canal) they set up the baby's crib. It turned out to be more of an ordeal then anticipated. We had ordered the crib months ago and let it sit in the box. Well when Evan opened it up it was the wrong color! So he called around to the different stores to find out which ones had the color we wanted in stock. But since we have a little car he also had to go to Home Depot and buy some supplies to attach the giant box to the roof of the car to be able to take it to the store and return it. When he got to the store they wanted to charge Evan for the exchange since we bought it on sale and online. Luckily Evan put his foot down and only had to pay a little additional tax for the exchange. So when I returned home from work there was a beautiful baby crib set up in our baby's room.

I asked Evan to take pictures of the men setting up the crib, but he misunderstood me so I don't have any pictures of the process of the crib assembly. However, I couldn't really complain after hearing how long it actually took to set it up!

Evan pretending to kiss our little bundle of joy!