happiness abounds: kristin turns 30!

Life has been crazy for us lately. We've had nonstop visitors for over a month, we've traveled to Oklahoma and Kansas numerous times, and Kristin's sister got married! We finally hit a point where we could sit down and update the blog, and we noticed that there were a few posts from several (we mean several) months ago that just never got posted. So...we're playing catch up.

Ready for December? This post was written pre-baby, pre-new house, etc. Those days seem like an eternity ago!

--------------------------------------------------------

In December, Kristin turned the big 3-0. We had been planning on doing something really special that involved lots of food, lots of friends, and lots of celebrating. Then we moved.

Poor Nathan tried to come up with ways to still make the day special, despite the fact that we wouldn't be celebrating with any of our friends. He wanted to bake a cake, but the beaters are still packed (so there went that idea). There was no point in making a big meal because we were just going to go out of town the next day. So, instead, we went to one of Kristin's favorite restaurants, Logan's Roadhouse.

After a great dinner, we went home for the rest of the celebration. Nathan piled up Kristin's gifts on the coffee table and brought out a large jar candle for her to blow out.

The birthday dessert? Leftover crock-pot cake, ice cream, and grape juice from Castello di Amorosa in Napa Valley.

Despite having leftover dessert for her birthday, Kristin enjoyed reading her cards and opening her gifts. She was especially excited to get a box from her friend Katie in California.

Her mom got her a robe to wear in the hospital when she goes to have the baby. Ummm...little big, don't you think?

And Nathan did such a great job wrapping up his gifts, especially considering the wrapping paper was all packed away.

On Kristin's birthday weekend, we traveled to Oklahoma to visit family. While we were there, some good friends of our hosted a baby shower for us. Only a small group was able to come, but we were so thankful for their presence. One of our favorite gifts was a quilt and pillow made by Nathan's mom that featured some alphabet wall decor that Kristin loved. We were especially excited to see that the pillow featured the letter "R" (ironic considering that nobody knew what we would be naming our baby).

Following the shower, we went back to Nathan's parents' house to celebrate Kristin's and Nathan's mom's birthday (their birthdays are on the same day!). Nathan's mom made an incredible brownie cheesecake.

Nathan's parents gave Kristin some wine glasses...it's our first matching set! We're excited that we don't have to serve guests wine from our prom glasses anymore. :)