Christmas in Oregon!

My mom had a great idea to do an ornament exchange, white elephant style...here is the one given to Boston at the end of the night.

All the Corley's...Larsons..some Blakes ...and Friends!

Tev and her ornament...coincidentally, it was a little man, with a heart on his pants...meant to be!

Reindeer Ben

Tev and the hot pocket...at least that is what she calls him.

Me enjoying my 1 month old...much more alert now :) PS. he slept 9 hours Christmas eve night...it was his present to us! Already such a thoughtful little guy.

My little Xmas baby...

So much fun to have him during this holiday season...here are a few pics taken in the last few weeks.

Would not be Christmas without the laughter of Uncle Steve...here he is making baby faces.

Thanks Daddy for feeding me :)

Cutting down our Christmas Tree...I think it was 20 degrees or something that day, Boston is in my pouch, I was trying to keep him and me warm :)

Baby's first bath...

Okay so I am a little late...he is a month old now (well on Thursday) and obviously he took his first bath a couple weeks ago, but hey you know how it goes. Turns out the bath is almost his favorite thing besides of course my boobs :) In fact he takes one almost every day, when he explodes all over the place...my life is so fun now.

Our little Boss...

So he finally arrived on Thanksgiving about 5pm. My brother says that we were both popping turkeys out of the oven at the same time. He was 10 pounds, 4oz. and 22.5 inches long. All went well with the pushing only 37 minutes...although it was a whole different story with the labor part. I will not go into the whole long 2 day story, but in short, I had to have three different epidurals because they were not working and some local (toes to torsoe) sort of old school style epidural, that lasted only 2 hours. I did not get much relief and pretty much felt like it was by default natural childbirth. Not fun...until he finally came.

We call him Boss, short for Boston around here these days because that is what he is...the boss!
It has been the hardest adjustment of my life and I never knew how real sleep deprivation is. But I have to admit, I was an emotional mess for the first three days, partly because my milk was not coming in....now 6 days later, milk still not here, but is showing signs (finally have some colustrum) of arriving soon. Little Boston got jaundice and so we had to get the bili-blanket and have him wear it for two days...he is much better now and he finally got to eat with some formula.

I am adapting a little better everyday to the less sleep factor, we are all sleeping a little longer and better due to him having some food in him now. Ben has been amazing and very much a team player in our little family. He may not have the mothering instinct that I do, but he loves to bond with Boston and is the bottle making, diaper changing pro around here :) Thank you honey!

Here are a few pics for my friends that have not seen him yet...I am sure there will be plenty more coming soon.

Are we ready...?????

So in the final weeks before the baby arrives...we ask ourselves, are we ready? Since my first instict is to scream no, I have to somehow justify that we are ready in some ways...

Nursery...check...and on a very tight budget which is a fun challenge for me!

Dresser $25 (goodwill)-repainted, new knobs-Corner shelf $20 (craigslist)-Bench $40 (ikea)- recoverd, paintings ($30 for canvas and my time)

My nursing nook...for now...Chair $75 (craigslist), curtains $4 (goodwill), Bookshelf $25 (craigslist), lamp $29 (my fav piece! marshalls)

Clothes...???? Well they are washed and organized. I just can't put a price on having a fashionable baby boy. Diaper bag packed and ready to go...where? I have no idea, I guess I have to learn to leave the house with the baby? And thank you Mom, for the first baby gift back when we found out, the bouncy.

Crib $100 (craigslist), Bedding probably around $40 and my time, Boston flags ($20 of embroidery)


Carseat in car...check

Car...check...I know it seems silly that this makes me feel ready, but we only have one car and if you saw my earlier post my jeep was injured...happy to replace it with the #1 saftey rated car, the Acura MDX. Good thing we saved in the nursery...

Graduating Cake Class...

My sister and I took a cake decorating class at Micheals Craft store for 4 weeks. I missed a week, but my teacher told my sister that I had talent and nothing to worry about. Too funny!
Anyways we graduated last week, I even got a little certificate and everything. My favorite part every week was taking the cake home to eat it. I love cake :) It was fun to hang out with my sis too, we are always so busy even though we only live 10 minutes apart.

Week 2 cake, we learned the star filler method.

Me and my week 4 cake

Week 4 cake, we mastered the "Wilton" rose and writing, it was no ones birthday or anything so I wrote Happy Un-birthday. Fun times!

Mourning Tippy...

Many of you might have seen my facebook post of a very important lesson learned this week.
About a month or two ago, I hit a pole, backed into it after a wedding I coordinated in downtown Portland. It was a long day and the dang thing was camouflaged. Well it did not do much damage, could not even really tell. Just could not open the back door very well, cause the tire was pushed in. So I procrastinated getting it fixed cause I did not want to make a claim, after getting an estimate and with a total of about $1200 worth of damage, we decided to make a claim about 2 weeks ago. Made the appointment for the body shop and rental car for 4pm on Monday (last week).
Ben came home Monday at about 2pm. Looked at me with sad eyes and said "honey, I got in an accident with the Jeep" after asking about his well being we went to look at the damage on the front end this time. He had rear ended a lady and I won't go into his story or driving skills...
I said no big deal, we are going to the body shop anyways, they will just fix both. Separate claims were made and by the way, you pay a deductible for each claim, not per year as I had thought. So we were looking at about $1000. Bummer.
Well, it just gets worse because our body shop called us a day later and said the damage for the 1st claim was up to $2200 after exploring a little more and the 2nd was around $4800. Because the claims/damage was too be fixed at the same time, did not matter that they were separate claims, that an adjuster needed to come out and determine if the car was worth fixing or totalled. Worth fixing...YES, tippy is worth fixing, she is paid off, we had just gotten brand new brakes, roters (the week before mind you), tires and a lifetime of alignments! We have only one car, no payments and a baby coming in 4 weeks...we do not need the stress of buying a new car.

Thursday, 1pm Tippy was declared dead and totalled....WHAT!!!
It was the most unexpected thing and I cried for hours. Maybe I just needed a good cry, maybe I am just pregnant and hormonal, maybe I am pissed I waited so long to get the back fixed, maybe I am mad at Ben for ruining my car, maybe I just really loved that car and wanted to keep it for much, much longer, for free! I am not sure but, she is gone.

Two days later...I was okay and had let go (after calling the adjuster and our agent at least 5 times to try and save her in anyway possible). We test drove some cars Saturday and our leaning towards a Subaru Tribeca, but we will see.

For now, I can only remember the good times in that car. The representation of my single years, trips to Seattle, many moves, fun times having Ben start driving her and me freaking out that we were going to tip over, a trip to California, the coast, Canada...So goodbye for now my devoted jeep, I loved and will always remember you.

Baby Shower time...already?!

It seemed so far away when we picked the date...I guess time flies when your having a baby. My sister, Cheryl threw me the most lovely baby shower. It was really fun to have old & new friends, family from near and far, co-workers and church mates all together to celebrate our little one coming soon. Boston is already so spoiled with all the wonderful gifts we have recieved. Lots of excitment is in the air... lately my mother is so giddy and happy it is really all she can talk about :) Anyways the day was perfect, I really was not feeling like being the center of attention which is why I can't wait for Boston to arrive (then the attention can go to him instead of my huge belly). My favorite part of the shower besides the company was of course the "frost/decorate your own cupcake bar"! It was scrumptious...here are a few pics, ending with the grand finale of me at 34-35 weeks.

My sister and the cutest decorations :)

The favor...my mom hand painted all of these, I think it took her 2 days!
The cupcake bar...yummy!

Me opening presents

The games seemed to never end..but this one was fun to see people who don't have kids change a diaper and dress the baby in the relay race.

More presents!

My neighbor Erin had the winning ticket & won the gift basket for bringing diapers!

Me at 34-35 weeks...almost ready to pop out my little thanksgiving turkey!

Cake Class...

So my sister and I recently signed up for the Wilton Cake Course I. We have only gone one week so far and really have not learned anything yet. But I was inspired to make a cake for our ward girls night out halloween reciped exchange. There were lots of fun goodies there and at the end of the night we all loaded up our plates with each other goodies. I thought it was really funny when I friend of mine requested to take the spider home and then we realized it was half the cake. I was happy cause the less sweets I eat right now the better. Here's to a scaaaarrrry Halloween!

I feel so special...

So my new company/client wanted me to send a bio for their website and they put me at the top! I am currently only under contract for the next year...but they have suggested I stay on after that. If anyone is interested in learning about ecotourism, here is a great way to read up and learn!

Click here to read about The International Ecotourism Society and my Bio

Babybump and Bryan in Brazil...BBBBBB!

8 months (32 weeks to be exact) and counting down!!! Do I feel ready...not one bit! When does the nesting start? I still have unpacked boxes from the move three months ago, not feeling like they will ever be unpacked...oh well!

One of my nephews, Brian Larson (my sisters oldest child) just left for his mission on Tuesday. He has been preparing for this opportunity for so long. All grown up and ready to leave we got together to see him get set-apart.

The Larson Family (Cheryl, Bryan, Ron, Riley, Elizabeth and Zach)

California Trip...the End!

Finally we get to go home...Although we have one last stop.. Uncle Bert and Bev's in Redding, CA.


When I was growing up, my grandparents (on my fathers side) lived in Redding, also my fathers' brother Bert and Aunt Bev. We would drive up to see them at least once a year, most of the time, twice a year usually for Thanksgiving and Easter. I then went off to college, my grandparents passed away, and my parents moved to Arizona, since then we stopped visiting Redding. Therefore it has been a while since I had seen my aunt and uncle. Ben really wanted to meet them, so we went to visit.


In the past 10 years, my Aunt Bev has become a famous artist. I actually have two of her watercolors hanging in my house. So I was really excited to see what she has been up to lately. Here is an article about her work.... Bev Corford, Canvas Calling

Bev's Art Studio

Aunt Bev & Uncle Bert

Their backyard has so many memories!

Koi pond, this used to be a standing swimming pool we used to swim in all the time.

Ben and I heading home now...yay!

It was so nice to get away for our little adventure before the baby comes. We also had the chance to visit with the Allison's (Emily, Margaret and Don), a family we grew up with and one of my mom's best friends. We also got to see my old boss/mentor, Del Owen and her family. It was a quick stop in Los Altos, but it was cool for Ben to meet some important people from my past. When we were driving home Ben said it was nice to see where I came from. He now knows his other half a little better. Until next time...Hasta la Vista California!

California Trip...Part 6 - San Francisco

Are we done yet? Do you see why we had to do this in parts?

This I think was Ben's favorite part of the whole trip and it was actually unplanned. We extended our trip for a day/night so that we could see the city. I thought he had been there before but really he had just been to the airport which is actually in Burlingame. So we could not pass up seeing this historic city together.

Funny growing up only an hour away from it, we did not venture into San Fran too often. It just seemed so big and crowded compared to San Jose. But once in a while we would go grab some yummy clam chowder at Pier 39 and go shopping at the big Macy's during Christmas time.

Ben really wanted to drive across the Golden Gate Brige...toll $6 bucks! Hope it was worth it Ben :)

We got to go under it on our afternoon trip around the bay. Also making an appearence was that San Francisco fog.

Driving down Lombard street, the curviest street in the world. Ben likes curves...

View from the top...Coit Tower

I love this building!

Ben's favorite part of the whole day was the view around Alcatraz, on our boat tour I think we went around 3 times at least. I was over it after one time, not my favorite type of island. Funny how men are facinated by prisons or maybe it was just the history.

Now were talking...we split a sunday at Ghiradelli Chocolate factory. I am suddenly revived enough to go check out China town. We even took public transportation there.

Ben was very proud.

Love these two shots...so much color!

Ben had to try something wierd, he said it tasted like a fish meatball....mmmmmmmm....not!

We finished off the evening with dinner in North Beach, bascially little Italy. I was so excited to get some real Italian food. The Bruscetta was amazing!