California Love!

Survival Tip #12: Whenever possible, return to your homeland.

We were unable to go to California at Christmas time this year so we decided to go at the end of January. Things had slowed down and everyone could get together. It was a really nice trip for a variety of reasons, but getting to California included. a few "Jontal Tragedies". 

I tend to be pretty forgetful. With that forgetfulness often comes some comical bad luck. Vander has coined these instances "Jontal Tragedies" and it's too true to not call them such myself. Upon arriving at the airport Vander and I made it through security easy, but as we were waiting to have our carry ons scanned, I realized my bag looked a LOT bigger than everyone else's... That's when I realized I'd always referred to my bag as a carry on, but never checked to see if it really was. It fit on the scanner thing, but it was a bit tight. When we got through I began to panic, just looking at all the other, very small bags. We made it to our gate eventually and I tried to shove the bag into the frame that shows if your bag is too big, under the watchful eyes of the not-so-perky attendant... and it BARELY fit... like I was shoving it in, pounding on it to slide in, when the attendant said "Don't worry about. It'll fit." with a tone that really conveyed "Stop wasting my time and just get on the plane." One tragedy avoided! Unfortunately, just before this we realized tragedy number two was  totally unavoidable: I remembered to bring my DSLR (unlike our last CA trip), but had left on the zoom lens. Drat. It did make it possible for me to take some pictures of the cool art in the food court of SeaTac. 

Jontal Tragedy #3) Forgot to turn off my laptop (aka my electronic device) before take off. The plane didn't crash, but my battery was drained. Enough said.

We made it to SJC safe and sound and were promptly whisked off to In-N-Out. We then returned to my parents house and said our hellos as family members trickled home. Jackson, Nate and Diane's son, is beyond adorable and when we walked in he looked up, pointed and said "Uncle Vandoo?" Jackson is 1.5 and we've spent so little time with him, but he recognized Vander! It was so sweet. Stefen and Chelsea arrived later in the day/night on separate flights so my parents went to every Bay Area airport on Friday. Impressive.

Also impressive: my dad bought a Kinect and XBOX 360 for himself this Christmas. We played sooo much and it was way more fun than I thought it would be! 

Saturday I slept it and felt wrecked for an hour after waking, but after a fabulous breakfast Stefen, Chelsea, Vander, Dad and I went for a walk. We originally just intended to go to Starbucks for a coffee to help wake up, but took a detour by a creek. By the time the walk was done we were so hot we couldn't stand the idea of hot drinks. The walk was nice and provided opportunities to use my zoom lens. 

Saturday afternoon Stacey, Marshall, Logan, Olivia and Krista came over and we celebrated a belated Christmas. We had homemade ravioli (YUM!), popped Christmas poppers, opened gifts and reconnected. It was so nice, I can't even begin to explain. I never realize how much I am missing as Olivia and Logan grow up, or how many general things in the lives of my siblings are happening until we come visit. Boo. Regarding gifts, Melanee had me for Christmas and sent a cute stocking of things from NZ. My parents gave me a memory card for my DSLR and a Nordstrom gift card! Vander got a cool lighter and thermos from my parents. We stayed up late, but it was still not long enough... It never is.

Sunday we went to church and got to see soooooo many people. It was such a blessing to return home and still feel at home. It was actually a good service to attend: Pastor John announced he is retiring this year, which is sad, but I was glad to hear him make the announcement and not just hear it through the grapevine. After church we chatted a bit but had to rush off so we could grab lunch (In-N-Out) and get to the airport. Cue Jontal Tragedy #4: I left my scarf at my parent's house. They were kind enough to mail it to me (Thanks Dad and Laura!), but the trip wouldn't be complete without a JT to seal at the end. 

I love going home to visit, but I hate it at the same time. It is never long enough, and trips home are so infrequent I want to spend all my time with family, which doesn't leave time for friends. If I was unable to visit with you, please know I wasn't leaving you out. I just need an excuse to spend a week at home. Maybe then it will feel long enough (... but it probably won't :) ).

I love you California. Your colors are muted in a beautifully relaxed way, your weather is warm, and so many of my favorite people live in your land. I pray the land on either side of Eugene, OR falls away in a massive shift of plate tectonics, and Washington and California rush to fill the gap, leaving the boring parts of the State of Jefferson behind. See you  in April!

Time Flew

Survival Tip #11: Don't forget about your blog.

I can't believe the last time I posted was January 14th! And it was a CHRISTMAS post! Geez.

I actually wanted to post more recently but was so excited about the upcoming trip to California (which was last weekend) that I didn't want to write about anything else. And it seemed a little lame to say "Well, we're going to go to California... and that's it." Really, I need to just get over myself and remember that I do have more to say. For example, all of you PW fans probably read the post about Kerianne Brown, a baby photographer. I find her story so touching and her photos so beautiful!  She is a new inspiration for me and I want to let all of you with babies know I would love to hone my photography skills by practicing on your child... Just let me know. :)

Next post will have details from the trip to the sunshine state. I actually left my standard lens at home, forgetting my zoom lens was still attached to the camera body. Just the standard "Jontal Tragedy" as Vander has coined them. Meanwhile, here are a few pictures:

I turned 26 at the beginning of the month. I celebrated with my class by bringing a pile of donettes and telling the kids if they weren't nice to me I would eat them all myself. 

It's been relatively mild this January. Even our one snowstorm wasn't awful. The worms aren't liking the rain much though.

Vander's brother Nate and a friend got 2nd place at the SPU Talent Show. They did a mime act. Sooo fun!

Christmas (part 3)- Christmas and Leavenworth

Survival Tip #10 (cont.): Spend lots of time with family.

Finally! Christmas! I have been telling my students for weeks "Isn't it great that on Jesus' Birthday He lets us get the presents?!" And this kept coming to my mind all day. It is so amazing that we get to exchange gifts with family and friends, but Christ gave us the ultimate gift of all! Praise God!


We started the morning opening gifts at our apartment, just Vander and I. This was the first year I was more excited for him to open his gifts than I was for mine :), but Vander was so generous and thoughtful with his gifts for me. We then took a walk around our neighborhood and spied as we could on other families. I know, we're creepers, but it was so fun to see kids running around their Christmas tree, squealing so loud you can hear them out on the side walk. Then we headed up to Vander's parents. We opened presents with them and then had a fabulous brunch, (cinnamon rolls and bacon) and hung out until June's brother and his family came over for an early dinner. 

Quick side note: Vander's family finally found the "joke" we left for them in their tree. We bought this... ornament, I guess, when we were in San Francisco for Christmas. It sat in their tree for two days before they noticed it. :)

Sunday, after going to church we left for Leavenworth, WA. It is the most fabulous winter vacation in Washington. It's only a couple hours away and is magical. Several decades ago when the town started to lose it's industries (pear and apple processing primarily), the town decided to go Bavarian to revitalize the economy through tourism. If you prepared, knowing you're going to some where that is super touristy, you are going to love it. We always go for a few days after Christmas and stay at the Enzian hotel. We love it sooooo much! Everyone except Shawna was able to make it, (we missed her so much!), and Big V and June were kind enough to divide their two-room suite into girls side/guys side rooms, so Joel could come! We went tubing, cross country skiing, the guys went shooting and the girls relaxed. We sat in the outdoor hot tub while it snowed... and threw snowballs at Emily and Joel while they were in the hot tub :). I'm trying to convince my family to make a trip out some winter so they can experience the joy of Leavenworth.

Before Cross Country Skiing

The Enzian Tree. The real bottom is on the 1st floor;
the tree goes through a hole in the 2nd floor!

What did you do this Christmas? What are your favorite traditions?

Christmas (part 2)- Christmas Eve

Survival Tip #10 (cont.): Spend lots of time with family.

Every Christmas Eve that we spend in WA, we go over to Grandpop and Aileen's for Dinner and fun. The night always begins with Vander and Nate trying to get the toy train to work. 

After that dinner begins. Aileen always has a nice dinner for us that normally includes a Christmas Goose, but since no one shot a goose this year we had turkey and roast. Aileen does a lot of her cooking on their wood stove, and June brings some yummy sides down. Have I ever mentioned The Grandparents live next door to Big V and June? A few years after Big V and June built their house the property next door came up for sale and Grandpop and Aileen bought it. ANYWAYS... Christmas Eve is pretty mellow. We sip wassail and eat "Sludge" (Grandpop's fudge), and sing some songs after dinner. We (myself not included...) also try to recite Luke 2 from memory. I need to work on my memorization before another year passes as I mumble through the verses. Aileen plays the trombone and a few grandkids accompany her  on various instruments.

  Then we try to find our gifts, which are hidden in the tree with our bells. 

When we find the bell we sing the first verse of this carol "Ring the Bells". Now, us Corley's are not known for our singing skills, but we try. This year we sang fast which helped.  We also open our gifts from Big V's sister Sefia and her family. They always send the guys something hunter-ish and the girls stuff from Sephora, which we LOVE!  

This year for Christmas Vander and I gave the grandparents a live raccoon trap. Yes, I did say a live raccoon trap. They actually really seemed to like it! (It's not so much surprising that they liked the trap, but that it can be hard to know what they will like when it comes to any gift). 

It's a funny tradition to check up on our National Geographic reading at some point that night, but this year June said she didn't want us to be anti-social reading NG. So when she went up to take dishes back to the house we ran and grabbed the NGs and tried to look as boring as possible :).

This year we rushed off to go to church for a Christmas Eve service of reading scripture and singing songs that went along with that part of the Christmas story. After all this we head back to Big V and June's to open pj's and play a game. Here are the guys and girls this year:

Finally, look for the last Christmas post soon: Christmas Day and Leavenworth!

Christmas Break pt 1- Boobie Prizes

Survival Tip #10: Spend lots of time with family.

Well, it has been a while since updating, but that is because Christmas break was so so SO busy for me... in a mostly in a good way, (the only sad parts were we went to a funeral, and then caught the stomach flu the next day. Boo.) 

We started the Christmas fun by having our annual Boobie Prize party. This has become a Corley family tradition since the year Vander and I were married. The Zellar side of the family gets together quarterly to celebrate family birthdays, and at the November gathering Grandpa Zellar had something up his sleeve. Grandpa asked Aunt Terri for paper, a pen and scissors, sat down and proceeded to write out 2 sets of numbers: 1 through how ever many people were present. After being asked what he was doing, Grandpa indicated this was all for the "boobie prize". He slowly cut out each number, leaving us puzzled about what in the world a "boobie prize" is. Finally, he had cut them all out, had one set placed in a hat and had each person pick one of the other numbers. Grandpa then drew out a number and Big V was the winner! So now we are all eagerly waiting to see what he won. Grandpa reached into his pocket (someone whispered, I told you it was money) ... and pulled out ... A watch. And not just any watch. A watch he got for free with a magazine subscription. A watch that didn't even fix Big V's wrist, and did not seem to have a battery.

Now, in memory of this really odd event in family history, we get together every Christmas to exchange boobie prizes. The idea is that everyone brings a semi-dumb prize that is won by competing in a semi-dumb game. It's sort of like a White Elephant, but with a twist. Vander and I always host which is a fun way to get the family out to Tacoma, and we LOVE it! This year we expanded the group, with two foster kids and a fiance joining the fun. Because Paula and Kevin's foster kids are not supposed to have pictures online, there aren't many pictures I can put up for this post, but it was a really fun night. We competed in Christmas trivia, identifing what pictures we thought represented various months in a wildlife calendar based on description alone, de-tangling Christmas ornament hooks, racing to complete a holiday dot-to-dot (by 9's), and played Chubby Santa, to name a few. Here are a few Chubby Santa pictures:

Joel! The Big Winner! And Big V, a close second. Please note they both got the flu two days later.

Prizes included the DVD "What Women Want", a 6 foot tall Christmas Tree poster (this gift was given twice!), a (free) dog owners convention shirt, and a framed picture of Vander making his neck disappear. After games we walked down to look at Stadium Bowl before the party ended. It was a really fun night and I can't wait until next year!


Next post: Christmas Eve with Grandpop and Aileen Corley! 

10 days until Christmas!!

Survival Tip #9: If it is gray outside, enjoy decorating inside.

I am beyond excited for Christmas! This is the first year I have purchased my gifts for Vander before he bought mine... he has wrapped all of mine while I am still waiting for his to come in the mail, but that is besides the point. I am typically a last minute shopper, but not this year. Most of it is done, and the house has been decorate for a while now. 

We haven't been able to buy much in the way of decorations until this year because we've been more preoccupied with buying gifts than decorations, but this year I had the green light to go all out. After 2 hours at Target I managed to purchase some garland, a wreath, some little odds and ends and various hosting supplies (we're hosting 2 parties this year). I even made my own tree skirt (got to love felt by the yard). The thing I am the most proud of though in our center piece.

Now it is not normally on our floor, but I was trying to find a bad bulb so the 1/2 lit string was already plugged in. I bought a really cool vase and filled it with various gold and clear ornaments. I was inspired by the glass floats that people collect. 

I also purchase some frames and took pictures of ornaments and enlarged them to 8x12. The one below and the primary picture when you open this site (O Holy Night) are two of them.

I also framed this photo from our tree cutting adventure last week in a 5x7 frame:

Finally I couldn't help but print our annual "this is our tree we're about to cut down" picture.

It was really fun to decorate! We've already hosted our bible study party and tomorrow night is our family "Boobie Prize Party". I will explain more about that later :)

Hope you have had as much fun decorating this year as I have!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

Survival Tip #8: Help others to celebrate your friends.

I was just about to post a Christmas post when I noticed I never published this one!! It's a little old now, and since writing it Baby Colette was born! Congratulations to Dane and Christina!!

In November I decorated for a baby shower to celebrate friend from church, Christina. I've been given opportunities to help with decorations for a few events this summer and fall and I have discovered I really love it! It is so fun being creative and stretching myself to thinking up different ideas. Janet, the shower host, gave me free reign to do what I wanted to decorate which was so fun! From facebook I knew Christina and her husband Dane have a green, brown and pink nursery for their little girl so I used that as a launching point. I like to be inspired by phrases or songs when I decorate, so I used "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" in coordination with the colors.

Inspired by a friend's decorations for a 1st birthday party, I bought a pad of scrapbook papers that were girly and matched the nursery colors and cut them into circles. I then embroidered them onto various green ribbon and wrote "C" for what is the baby-to-be's tentative first initial, or cut letters out.

The vases you see are filled with sugar, tea (loose leaf), and candy to mimic the rhyme, which was written on circles on the table. I also used Baby's Breath for the flowers, which seemed appropriate for a baby shower : ). I also purchased some receiving blankets that matched the nursery to put under the vases. In case you are in need of cheap vases, these are only $2.99 each at Target!! Super great deal!!

The shower was a lot of fun, and lots of women from our church came. It was so fun to be able to celebrate Christina as she gets ready to welcome her daughter into the world!

 Christina with Mollee, and her mother in law Denise.

 Em, Lou and Olivia

Christina with a sweet gift! Baby girls get the cutest things!