Rainbow Birthday

Pumpkin's first birthday was about 10 weeks ago, so I figured it's high time I post something from the celebration. We just had a small gathering at our house, but I was pretty excited about decorating nonetheless. Once I found the invitation, I settled on a rainbow theme. Finding ideas for decorations was easy thanks to Pinterest and a few favorite blogs ...

Month-by-Month picture banner inspired by Kara's Party Ideas, via Pinterest.

Fringed number 1 inspired by Oh Happy Day.
(I made it on posterboard instead of taping to the wall.)

Streamers inspired by Oh Chickadee

Oreo Pop favors from Makoodle.

Pennants made from leftover paper from the photos at top, now serving as bedroom decor.

Since we were out of town for a few days the week before the birthday, I put the decorations up early, so it was fun to have the house look festive for a couple extra weeks. The most fun part, though, was watching Pumpkin dig into her cake. I can't believe how fast the first year went by!

A long overdue congratulations

My sister Mena met her boyfriend Miguel when she was going to Berkeley and they worked together at Ned's Bookstore. They became friends, and then began dating. That was in 2001. They have spent most of their adult lives together, shared some of their biggest moments both happy and sad, and lived together in Beirut while my sister pursued her master's degree. It's hard to imagine one without the other, and I think of Miguel like a brother. In the fall, as they celebrated 10 years together, Miguel proposed and Mena accepted. We are so happy for them, and can't wait for the wedding!

At the Plumas County Fair, 2002

Beirut, Christmas Eve, 2005

The Bay, summer 2006

Our wedding rehearsal, 2008

Lake Tahoe, 2009

The Mitten

A couple weeks ago, Team Gabel headed to Michigan for a wedding and Pumpkin's first (six) flight(s)! Chris's cousin Brad, who lives in our 'hood, was marrying Linda, who hails from Michigan, and so off we went!

Pumpkin was great on all of our flights. We changed planes in Oakland and thought we were flying straight to Detroit until the pilot informed us we would be stopping in Phoenix. This wasn't on our itinerary as it wasn't a plane change, but the even bigger surprise was that Rita was getting on the plane with us! It was fun to have Grandma on the flight to help keep Pumpkin entertained. We discovered the best toys are empty plastic cups and cardboard coffee cup sleeves.

This is maybe my favorite picture from the trip. Pumpkin enjoys looking at the mirror, but usually we have to hold her up on the sink - in the hotel, the mirror came all the way down to the floor - what fun!

The little charmer was pretty adorable (as she always is) in her little dress and bonnet for the rehearsal dinner. She met all kinds of new aunts, uncles and cousins over the weekend.

The wedding was in the evening and the ceremony and reception were beautiful. Here are the official new Mr. and Mrs!

Here we are with Alison and Rita at the wedding reception. We had lots of fun during our trip, and even found time to have some Middle Eastern food in Dearborn - a delicious excursion! It was really great to see the extended family and share in a beautiful wedding.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I realize we're a day late, but no one was reading blogs yesterday anyway, right? We had a great early Thanksgiving dinner at our house with friends before Chris headed to work and then Pumpkin and I stopped by cousins Brad and Linda's for seconds. Pumpkin can't wait until next year when she can eat some turkey! Hope you all had a wonderful day!

There in Spirit

I like it when the people that I love like each other. Like, when Chris can hang out with my friends from high school and college, even when I'm not there. So even though it's kind of a bummer that our good Yuma buddies the Nevins and the Volkmanns get to live just an hour and a half away from each other on the east coast while we are still out in the wild west, it is nice to know that they get along quite famously with my sister and Miguel and they can all hang out. It's always fun to get picture texts or phone calls or have Skype dates when they are together ...

It's kind of hard to tell in this photo, but Michelle and Olivia joined my sister Marina, Dad and Deb for lunch and a day of sightseeing while Dad and Deb were visiting D.C. in May. Later that night, Benny and Miguel joined the group for dinner.

Marina and Olivia share the same birthday. This was the first time they met!
Sisters! Chris's sister Alison met up with Marina while she was in D.C. for work in July.

Marina and Miguel met up with Jeremy and Andrea in August to help welcome Jeremy into the 30 club.

We hope to take Pumpkin to visit all of these faces soon!

Well Loved

Before Pumpkin turned one month, she had already met all of her grandparents and her two aunties who all came to visit!

First Grandmama came from Quincy

Then Grandma and Grandpa from Phoenix

And Auntie Alison

Then Grandma Deb and Grandpa from LA

And then Auntie Mena from D.C.

There has been no shortage of hugs and kisses and cuddles for this little one!

This and That

After all of our shower company left, we got some more company for a few days ... Scoop's best buddies Sierra and Warren came to stay while Erin and Sandor went to a wedding. Scoop thought it was pretty great. Even though there were enough beds for all the dogs to have their own, she couldn't bear to sleep that far away from Sierra.

On Saturday, Chris and I took what is most likely our last little trip before the baby arrives and spent the day in Quincy. I went to a baby shower for my friend Julia while he hit some golf balls with some of the other husbands. Julia, another friend Jenny who co-hosted the shower and me are due in back-to-back-to-back months. I haven't seen the picture of the three of us yet, but I did get a picture of a deer as we left the shower. After that we had dinner with Mom and John and John's sister and brother-in-law who were visiting. The day before was my Mom's birthday - Happy Birthday Mom! The trip was too short to see everyone I wanted to see in Q-town, but hopefully we can go back with Miss G later in the summer.

We were also treated this week to a quick visit from Andrea on her way to D.C. by way of Elko. We had girls night on Monday and it was great to visit. Chris also got to see her before she left at lunch on Tuesday. It's always a good time hanging out with my old roomie and it makes me a little sad we won't see her and Jeremy as often now that they'll be on the other side of the country. Especially since our little ones will be so close in age (in the picture, I'm 36 weeks and Dre is 22). I am happy that she will get to be so close to the V-Team and my sister, though!
I guess that just about sums up our last week or so. Chris and I have spent this evening out on our patio, where I'm writing this now. It's been really hot this week but the evenings are cooler and right now we can see all kinds of stars and hear crickets chirping. It's really nice and I'm looking forward to many more nights out here.

Time

Once upon a time, my cousin Lindy and Scott were married, and Mena and I were lucky to be there as a part of their day (and, of course, Niana, Lindy's twin sister).

As it happened, Chris and I were married one week after Lindy and Scott celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary. Their son David, then 7, was our ring bearer.

And now, Chris and I are expecting a baby of our own and, wouldn't you know it? David's 10th birthday fell on the day of our shower! Can you believe the timing? (Also, I can't believe he's 10 already!)

He celebrated the weekend before at home, but we wanted to make sure his birthday wasn't forgotten in the chaos of the shower, so we got him an Xbox 360 cake, which was a hit! David's a great kid and it was really nice to have him stay with us for a couple days.

Showered with love

We had our Reno shower last weekend, and it was amazing. My Mom came, and my Dad and Deb, and my cousins ... and best of all, my sister surprised me by flying in from DC! Everyone kept it a secret from me, and I got a little suspicious on Thursday but I really truly thought Chris was going to play basketball when he left the house Thursday night and had no idea he was going to the airport to pick Mena up.

Saturday was the day of the shower, and Scoop greeted everyone in her new T-shirt.

Mom, Deb, Mena and Dad did a really great job with food and decorations and I didn't have to do a thing. My cousins helped set everything up, too, while I was getting ready, and I came downstairs to a room full of 100 balloons! It was great. Lots of friends came over from the shower, from here and from Quincy, and I know I've said it before but it's just overwhelming how much support Chris and I have had and how much love there is for Miss G already. She is going to be one lucky baby.

Isn't the welcome sign cool? It matches the invitation!

Cousins! Niana, me, Mena, Lindy and Tanya

Mom, me and Mena

Chris, me, Dad and Deb

We had such a great time seeing everyone and are so thankful for everyone who came to celebrate with us! We are now less than 5 weeks away from the due date - can you believe it! So exciting!

Springtime

Last week, it felt like spring might never come to Reno, so it was a good time for us to take a trip to Arizona. The timing was also nice because Gabels wanted to throw us a shower, and Chris was going to be there for work already. We left Thursday night during a snowstorm, and arrived to temperatures in the mid-70s. It was great! Grammie and Grandpa came down from Illinois for the weekend, too, and it was great to see them. While Chris worked on Friday Alison and I got pedicures and then all of us spent Friday afternoon walking around the Tempe Arts Festival before Chris joined us out for dinner.

Saturday was the shower. It is overwhelming (in a good way, of course!) how much Baby Gabel is already loved by so many people. We are so blessed!

It was so nice to be able to spend time with Chris' parents, sister and grandparents during our trip.

So many of our friends made it for the shower, and stayed late into the evening hanging out and visiting. We wish we could see everyone more often, and we're glad we were able to spend some time with everyone, and finally meet Kaitlin (Marc & Kristin's daughter) and Ben (Kelli & Kyle's son).
It seems that ever since I've been pregnant, so many people I know are also pregnant, but it's kind of a bummer that only one of my expecting friends lives in Reno. Kat and Jeffrey, who we met working at the paper in Yuma but are currently living in Phoenix, are also expecting a girl and are due five weeks before we are. It was great talking pregnancy and babies with Kat!

On Sunday, Alison and I headed to Camelback Ranch to catch the last Dodger spring training game of the season before the team headed off to L.A. I think the baby is going to be a baseball fan, because as soon as we sat down she was just kicking and kicking!

It was really a great trip. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I'm saving up all my PTO for when the baby arrives. Chris stayed a little longer to work, and gets home in the morning. Luckily, it's been mostly sunny with temperatures in the 60s since I got home, and 70s expected at the end of the week. Let's hope winter is over!

Life

Chris and I took advantage of the long weekend to visit family in Southern California. The trip, as it turned out, started off differently than we had first envisioned it. After our flight landed, we headed to San Diego for my great Aunt Roz's funeral. Aunty Roz was my grandmother's sister, and we had spent a lot of time with her as kids. She owned a boutique, and when she closed it she gave my sister and I all kinds of costume jewelry that we loved to play dress-up with. Years later she discovered a box of brand-new scarves from the store, and she gave us those as well. I still have them. She took us shopping, and sometimes she, my grandmother, sister and I would play Yahtzee together. I will miss her, but I am glad that she no longer suffers. I wish I had seen her more often in the last few years. And though we didn't plan it this way, I am glad we were there for the service, to say goodbye, and to see family members we otherwise might not have seen, and share memories together.

Back in L.A. the next day the weather was quite toasty for January - 80 degrees! - so a visit to the beach was in order.

That night Dad, Deb, Chris and I went out for a nice dinner to celebrate my Dad's birthday.

And on the final day of the trip, we spent the afternoon and evening with at my cousin Jen's house, where we met the newest addition to the family, her daughter Josephine, who is too precious for words, and played with Juliette, who is getting so big and talking up a storm and kept Chris busy playing all night.

It was a nice trip, and we wish we could visit everyone more often.

Layover

Here's how well my family knows me: On the long plane ride from Tokyo to L.A., I told Andrea that maybe I should have specified that I'd want a burger when we grabbed a bite to eat during my long layover before my flight to Reno. Not only did they choose a burger place without my having to request it, but they picked a place that lets you build your own.

Gruyere Cheese, roasted red peppers, grilled onions and garlic aioli? Yes, please!
As a bonus, some people outside the restaurant were working on an Elvis sand sculpture.
Dre and her friend Kim joined me, Dad, Deb and Mena (who happened to be visiting from D.C.!) for lunch, and then headed home to Oxnard.
And the four of us headed over to Jen's, where we joined Juliette for a tea party. Uncle George and Jim came by, too.
Even though I was tired from traveling, it was so nice to see everyone, even just for a short time!