Oden Adventures

In the past week, we had two baby showers!  We are quite overwhelmed by the love & affection & outpouring of gifts & time & energy & creativity.  Baby O. is being well provided for by our friends, co-workers, and families!

The first shower was thrown jointly by Academic Programs (my office) & Field Ed. (Patrick's office) from Fuller, and they were very creative with a Winnie the Pooh theme (since we're fans!).

 Biscuits with honey butter - so good!!

 Donut holes especially for Patrick - and delicious buttermilk mini-cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting!

 They gave us so many fun gifts - including an Ergo carrier (which has come highly recommended from many parents) and cute outfits, socks, hats and Pooh toys!

 My supervisor's mother-in-law (who helped me with this project awhile back) surprised us with beautiful crocheted blankets and hats, which we had to try on :-).

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The second shower was a ladies event - and thrown by some dear gals that I'm so privileged to call friends from church - a polka dot extravaganza!  Much like the Oregon shower, I didn't get as many photos as I'd like - but here are at least a few snapshots of all the cuteness.

This cake was amazing!

Cookies to take home

The gift opening begins - we got so many wonderful things!!  Our friend Rachelle, at the left.

L to R: Sharon (Melissa's mom), friends Carey and Andrea, cousin Sarah, and friend & hostess Jayme

Love Sandra Boynton!

The adorable sheep blanket from Aunt Diane, with Mom Oden, Kaizlee, Rachelle, and Melissa

A January 3rd wedding date was great for Patrick's school schedule three years ago, but as an anniversary date, it proves a little complicated to squeeze in, coming off a full week of holiday festivities already, then getting back into school & work.  So I think we've resigned ourselves to the fact that we'll celebrate our anniversary late every year - and that's entirely okay with us.

This past weekend was our belated getaway-for-the-day to our beloved city of San Diego, specifically to the San Diego Zoo.  We enjoyed a gorgeous sunny-but-not-hot day (a great advantage of celebrating in February in Southern California) visiting the animals & getting some much needed fresh air and exercise.  We had a wonderful lunch at Albert's Restaurant (to counteract the exercise ;) ) with a shared duck confit macaroni & cheese appetizer to start, pork loin in mushroom sauce for the lady, and sea bass in lemon sauce for the gentleman.  

All in all, a delightful day!

 Lovebirds :-)

 Duck Confit Macaroni & Cheese

 Sea Bass

 Pork Loin

 The polar bear was definitely a highlight - very entertaining!