First things first!  My husband, Brian, has ventured off.  We

We just celebrated Christmas. Brian’s parents are taking an early flight out of Portland to Phoenix tomorrow morning, so we did dinner and presents tonight.

Chance got totally spoiled. His Uncle Kevin got him this HUGE red wagon that takes up half the house.

Brian’s parents got him clothes and a really soft teddy bear. My sisters got him clothes that are WAY too cute. I’ll post pictures once he wears them.

My mom got him a Tigger Helicopter Rider. He LOVED all his gifts so much he was pretty much quiet the rest of the time we were opening our gifts. He enjoyed playing with the boxes. Go figure!

Brian got a pair of cowboy boots from my sister, Renee. He totally digs them. She got them in Mexico. The only problem is there’s a stud or something poking thru the bottom of the shoe, so he needs to figure out a way to get rid of the pokiness.

I got diamonds from my husband. THAT’S RIGHT… DIAMONDS!!! Diamonds ARE a girls best friend. He added 7 small princess cut diamonds to a wedding band so now there’s even more bling on my ring finger. I will be flashing that to all my friends. LOOK AT ME!!! Yes, you can be jealous!

This Christmas season has been great for Brian, Chance and me. I feel like we’re a real family. I look at my two men and can’t understand why God would choose to bless me the way that He has. Today was the perfect day because I received a kiss from the one I love. How lucky can a girl get?

Chance was giving out free kisses too. He loves his Uncle Kevin… and Uncle Kevin loves Chance in return.

Family drama has been light. Mom and Dad have been great. That’s a really nice surprise. I really like having my Dad here. And my Mom just loves Chance so much. It’s really cool to see her interact with my son. It gives me a glimpse of how she cared for us when we were babies (though she spoils him WAY more… but that’s ok… that’s what Grandma’s are supposed to do). Renee’s boyfriend, Jason, comes in tomorrow. I’m looking forward to meeting him. Helen is ALWAYS a blast to have around. She is so intelligent. I love listening to her heart and thoughts. She’s also one of the funniest people I know. Oh man… she cracks me up!

Helen and I are going to go bake some cookies now and then we’re gonna watch a movie. Life is good.

We woke up this morning and I made breakfast for my family (Brian, Chance, Mom, Dad, Renee & Helen). This may not have been a big deal for the rest of you… but it definitely was a great memory for me. This was the first time we’ve had breakfast together since I was maybe 7. I made tofu scramble, turkey bacon, toast and orange juice for my family. Not anything super special… but it everyone helped a bit. Well… everyone but Renee. She was curling her hair. LOL.

After breakfast, we headed out to Pioneer Place. We did some light shopping and headed home so Chance could nap. We were barely home for 5 minutes when we headed out again (minus Brian and Chance) to hit a couple other stores and Costco.

I love Costco 100%… especially the book and movie section.

My sister, Helen, treated us to a pizza at Costco (yes, we ate it all)… then we did some shopping. We lost my Dad for about 20 minutes. When we finally found him, he was pushing a cart (with peanuts, chocolates, Bayer and Extra Strength Tylenol in it) and headed for the meat section.

I said, "DAD!!! Where were you? We’ve been looking for you for a really long time!"
And he replied, "Shopping at Costco… where were you?"

That’s funny.

Anyway. I’ve been out from 10am till about 4:30pm. I’m glad to be home. My sisters bought some movies that we’ll enjoy soon.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Tomorrow’s the "BIG DINNER" with everyone. How exciting.

I hope all of you are having a superlicious time with your families.

And… they’re all here now. We have just doubled the number of Asians in Portland. My Dad decided to hop in the car with Helen and my Mom. We just came home from dinner at Pho Van.

I’m excited to have my family all here. It’s the first time Chance has met my Dad and they seem to like each other fine. Chance pointed to his Gung-Gung’s nose and laughed. It was pretty cute.

We’re gonna take an early night and figure out what to do tomorrow. I think we’ll bundle up and go for a walk to Starbucks tomorrow (I like that stuff). I also told my Dad that I’d let him clean my house and mow my lawn. He gave me "that" look. It was sweet.

Seriously though… what else could we do?

Any ideas, friends?

I love the country.  Everything slows down and it’s nice.  I think I’m so busy going WAY TOO FAST most of the time, I don’t get to just sit and enjoy life in this very moment.

Yesterday (Thanksgiving) was super relaxing.  Well… it was relaxing in the end.

In the morning, I wanted to go for a walk (the air here is so crisp and clean… you feel renewed just looking at it) but Brian had a terrible migraine.  I was planning on just going with Chance in a stroller, but then Mom & Dad decided to come along and take our dogs too which was a WAY better plan.

Dad thought he would save me some time and put the BOB stroller together for me (I took it apart so it would collapse in the car.  It’s crazy packing two dogs, their crates, a baby and 5 days worth of stuff in a Durango.).  I don’t think Brian even knows how to put it together and take it apart since I’m the one that usually does all that.  Anyway… since Dad didn’t take it apart, he didn’t know that the front wheel actually had be "threaded" through.  He thought it was just a snap-on like the back two wheels.

Well… I was pushing Chance along and everything was fine and dandy till we hit the playground.  I started pushing Chance down the grassy hill when the front wheel unhitched itself, the front dug into the grass and the whole stroller flipped onto it’s open face.  Yes… that would be Chance’s open face as well.  I went flying over the stroller, basically landing on top of Chance.

We frantically tried to flip the stroller as fast as we could since Chance was screaming underneath it.  Fortunately, this is a heavy duty stroller so me falling on top of Chance didn’t do too much damage.  I was about to cry… but I felt I had to hold it together because I didn’t want to make Dad feel bad.  Chance’s face is a bit scratched up and I think he ate some dirt.  I pulled Chance out and just held him.  He cried for awhile.  Then I realized my knee was throbbing.

I didn’t check out the damage till I got back to the house.  I have a huge knotted bruise on my right knee (today, it’s every color of the rainbow) and took out my left shin as well.  Amazing how adrenaline helps you not feel the pain at the time.

It was a God thing that the wheel didn’t come off while we were on pavement.  Cement meeting Chance’s little head would have caused some REAL damage.

That was our only huge adventure of the day.  The rest of it was quite mellow and truly relaxing.

We were planning on having quite a few people get together, but everything fell through last minute.  I have to admit, it was kind of nice.  We had 10 people around Mom’s dinner table enjoying a meatless Thanksgiving.  It was absolutely delicious.

I pulled out my big Nikon D70 to take some pictures of the family to find it NOT WORKING.  Allison… I need to know where you took your camera in to get fixed.  I don’t even know where to start looking for help.  This is not ok!

Kevin (Brian’s brother) and Casie (his girlfriend) come in today.  I’m really excited because I like spending time with them.  We’ll probably play a whole bunch of boardgames.  Yay!!!

Anyway… I should go.  I holding up the phone line.  Even the internet access here is slower here (speed: 50.6 kbps).  At home… I’d be flipping out, but here… it all seems just fine.

My hunny-bunny is 32 today. What a big boy!!!

Though it’s his birthday today, we celebrated it with a few friends last night.

We started at Henry’s Tavern to play pool, have some drinks and eat a lot of appetizers, then ended up at El Gaucho’s. The boys smoked Matt’s cigars (the good stuff leftover from his cigar company) while the girls (and Aaron Soule) hung out in the bar area and ate Bananas Foster. It was so good!

It was a great time hanging out with good friends and family.

Today we celebrate Brian’s life. He’s grown so much since I’ve known him and I am SO proud of him. His life marks multiple accomplishments, including but not limited to:

* Married one HOTT and INTELLIGENT woman
* Owned and sold a business
* Bought and sold 4 homes/properties
* Provided over 250 home loans for people in the last 8 years
* Is the sole provider for this household (and I’m high maintenance)
* Will be graduating out his second caregroup of High School Senior Boys this year
* Could easily win the "Most Gassy Man Alive" award
* Has become a well-respected, trusted and loved person in our church, his work and our neighborhood community
* Is an understanding and committed husband and friend
* A ridiculously loving father to Chance
* Still cracks me up
* Is a good brother to all his siblings

I am a lucky girl to be a part of his life.

Happy Birthday, Brian. I’m SO glad you were born 32 years ago!