A Fond Farewell

The time has come.

It's been an amazing 10.5 years of blogging, but all good things must come to an end, right?

This is something I've been thinking about for months. 

When will it be time to say goodbye to blogging?

I have absolutely LOVED blogging. 

It has been such a fun & a creative outlet for me. 

I have loved sharing our lives with you, sharing recipes, printables, parties I've thrown and other day to day randomness with you.
When I started this blog in August of 2008 it was a way to keep our family updated about our lives.
It has changed and evolved the past 10.5 years in ways I never imagined.
I am so thankful for all the people I have met & friendships I have formed because of my blog.
It has given me amazing opportunities & for that I am thankful.

I want to thank you, my readers.
You are some of the most supportive women out there.
In the past 10.5 years I can count on one hand the negative comments I have gotten. You have all been so positive and supportive.
 I appreciate that SO much...thank you for keeping my little space on the internet a happy place :)

So why am I am saying goodbye?
There really isn't one main reason, I have LOVED this space on the internet.

But, my kids are getting older. The past few years you might have noticed that I haven't blogged that much about my kids & their lives to give them some privacy.

Our lives are busy and it's been harder finding the time to blog.
Maybe I will still pop on here every now & then with a new recipe or to share a new printable or share a party post, but for now it's time to say farewell.
Everything has a season and over 10 years of blogging is a long time :)
The time feels right to say goodbye.

I will still be on Instagram.

My handle is @mel_larson

My account is normally private, but I am setting it to public so you can follow along. 

You can follow it HERE

I will still be doing my 10 on 10, on the 10th of each month & posting them to Instagram.

Doing 10 on 10 has probably been one of my favorite blogging posts....it's been so fun to look back on over 10 years and see what we did on the 10th of each month...I just can't quit that :)
My January 10 on 10 is on Instagram last week.

You can follow the hashtag #LarsonLingo10on10

I encourage you to join my10 on 10 on Instagram and post a day in your life each 10th of the month.

I will also keep sharing parties I throw on IG under the hashtag #LarsonLingoParties

I have so many more recipes that I've written up but haven't posted on here, but don't worry...I will keep posting them on IG as well. You can find my recipes under the hashtag #LarsonLingoRecipes
I will post my weekly meal plans on IG stories each Sunday and hope to do more cooking  (especially with the Instant Pot on my Instagram stories) Stay tuned for that! 

You know I love reading, so will post all the books I am reading on IG under the hashtag #LarsonLingoReads

I'm still a consultant with Rodan + Fields and will still have specials each month that I will post on Instagram & Facebook, but if you ever have R+F questions or are interested in the products or joining my team, you can always send me an email:
melissa_larson17@yahoo.com

I will also keep my blog Facebook page active, you can click HERE if you haven't liked it already.

Don't worry...the blog will still be up so you can access any recipes, printables & everything I have on here.
 

It has been such a fun experience blogging these past 10+ years.
I have loved having this tiny piece of the internet.

Life isn't always easy and I wanted this blog to be a happy & positive place, but I also wanted to keep it real. 
My hope is that when you read my blog these past years you were encouraged, maybe got a recipe idea for your family or left with a smile on your face.

When I started this blog in August 2008,  Kate was just 18 months old & I was 8 months pregnant with Claire. My how our family has changed.

Thank YOU for being a part of our lives the past 10 years and watching all of us "grow up".

Thank you for taking time to read my blog, listen to my ramblings, try my recipes, or use my printables....I hope your time here has left you encouraged & inspired.
Thank you for your encouragement, thank you for your comments, thank you for supporting our family and following along the past decade.

From the bottom of my heart.... Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Signing off (for now) with lots of love.

XOXO, 

Mel

Dear 2018,

Every year I write a letter reflecting the past year.
I try to write it around December 31, but we are in Lake Tahoe and today was the first time I opened my laptop in over a week. No blogging in the past week just soaking up Christmas, New Years & Family time.....the BEST!
To read the other yearly letters, click HERE.

Dear 2018,    

You have been a year filled with good times & some hard times.
Here are some highlights:

January:

My highlight of January is always Kate's birthday!

 
 She turned 11 and we celebrated with a painting party.

After painting at the warehouse we came back to our house for pizza & cake:

 See the rest of the party HERE. 

February:

We also got ski passes for the 2nd year in a row and spent a few weekends in January & February skiing.  

 We went wine tasting in Sonoma:

We also visited more Missions.

 We also spent the last weekend in February in San Francisco celebrating my mother in laws birthday.

We had dinner at the Tonga Room, so good!

March:

More Skiing

School Auction...Boots, Buckles & Bling!

Always a fun night with our friends.

 Luke lost his first tooth:

 

Kevin and I headed to Giants Spring Training in Scottsdale, Arizona. 

 You can read all about our trip HERE.

April:

We celebrated Easter:

The kids and I went on a Road Trip to San Diego over Spring Break

Kevin had to work, but my mother in law came with us! We went to Legoland.....

 San Diego Zoo Safari Park (my niece lived in San Diego so she met up with us also)

 San Diego Mission:

  And of course spent time at the beach!

You can read about our trip Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE

 Luke started baseball. So cute:

We took a family trip to Yosemite

At the end of April Kevin and I went to Cancun. 

This was a free trip I earned with R+F and I was able to bring a guest, so Kevin was really excited to come!

  

We went on ATV, ziplined over the jungle & swam in caves

We went on a Catamaran & went snorkling

We had a blast on our trip.

 Read Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE

May:

Ran a Half Marathon & turned 39

Decided to run a race every month until May 2019 when I turn 40 :)

We went to Universal Studios because my kids have been dying to go to Harry Potter World & their cousin was graduating from college in So Cal, so we made a long weekend out of it:

 Read about our trip HERE

And a few days at  Disney:

 We surprised the kids about Disney...it was so fun.

Read about our Disney Trip HERE

June:

The highlight of June was the Oregon Road Trip we took to the Oregon Coast for a Larson Family Reunion.

On our way to the Oregon Coast we stopped in Ashland, Eugene & Tillamook.

The Oregon Coast is just gorgeous.

After a few days on the Oregon Coast, we dropped Kevin off at the Portland airport because he had to get back for work and then the kids and I road tripped throughout Oregon as we made our way home.

We headed to Vancouver, Washington and then explored Portland, Sun River, Crater Lake & Grants Pass.

 It was one of the highlights of my year!

Read Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE

At the end of June I had Skin Cancer Surgery...definitely the low light of my entire 2018.

Read more about my surgery HERE

July:

We hosted a 4th of July Party (I rocked a bandaid on my nose all summer!)

Kate went to overnight camp for a week in the Santa Cruz Mountains & had a blast.

We went to the Museum of Ice Cream in San Francisco:

The kids and I took a Road Trip to Santa Barbara to visit one of my best friends.

 We checked off a few more missions while we were in the Santa Barbara area.

On the way home we made a slight detour and went to the final mission...the Carmel Mission!

 

 

All 21 Missions!!!

August:

 I Finished 40 bags in 40 days!
 

Every single drawer, cabinet, closet & bedrooms were purged, cleaned and organized. 

The CRAP is out of my house & it feels so, so, so good. 

Everything in my house has a place now, so it makes keeping it clean so much easier.

I highly recommend doing a clean out like this....I have so much peace when I am home!  

I have kept it up since the Summer and 6 months later everything is still organized.

We went to Tahoe & enjoyed time on the lake.

Luke turned 6 and we had a Lumberjack Party

The cake my mother in law made was amazing!

 See the party post HERE

Back to School....Luke in Kinder, Claire in 4th and Kate in 6th grade...middle school at my school!

Kevin & I celebrated 16 years of marriage!

 September:

Claire turned 10 & we celebrated with a Unicorn Pool Party!

The girls also made slime...lots of slime!

See the party post HERE

Kevin and I headed to NOLA for the Rodan + Fields Convention. 

While we were there, we went to the Beyonce concert.

New Oreleans is such a great city & we had a blast.

October:

Soccer, soccer & more soccer

Kevin and I headed to Las Vegas for one of our friends 40th birthday!

Such a great trip....Beatles Love and also a Chainsmokers concert.

 Halloween with a Candy Corn Queen, Bumblebee the Transformer & a 50's girl! 

 

 On October 1st I decided to make a random goal for myself to run everyday in October (for at least 10 minutes) and to run 100 total miles in October. I barley made it, but I did it.

 

November:

When I think of November 2018, I will always think of  the Northern California fires. They were so devastating. Even here in the Bay Area we couldn't go outside because of the smoke for almost 2 weeks and school was cancelled one day.

Our family “rule” is you have to wait until you are 10 to get your ears pierced.
Claire’s 10th birthday was in September but it was right in middle of soccer season which meant she had to wait until soccer was over in November to get her ears pierced.

On Thanksgiving and we headed to the horse races at Golden Gate Fields with Kevin's family. They have been going on Thanksgiving Day for over 50 years.

The day after Thanksgiving I went to the Fleetwood Mac Concert with my Dad, Aunts, Uncles & cousins.

  So many childhood memories listening to them on family roadtrips!

December:

 December was filled with fun Christmas celebrations.

I also threw my younger sister a baby shower!
 
A Great Adventure Awaits!
 
You can see the party details HERE.

On Christmas Eve Eve, I took the girls to San Fransisco with my mom & sister for a quick 24 hour overnight.

 We saw all the beautiful Christmas decorations around SF...Ferry Building, Union Square, Neiman Marcus, Fairmont Hotel, Palace Hotel, Top of the Mark, Macy's & Grace Cathedral.
 
We had a wonderful Christmas & that week I had another skin check.
6 months ago to the day I had surgery on my nose for basal cell skin cancer. I get to go twice a year now because of my skin cancer history. 

They biopsied and found 4 more basal cell skin cancer spots on my back & shoulders.
 They also froze off 5 more pre-cancerous spots on my face and 1 on my hand.  My doctor said most of my basal cell skin cancers were caused from all the sun exposure I had playing soccer in my teens & 20s. Wish I would have listened to my parents and worn sunscreen regularly. 

So, let this be another PSA & reminder...make an appointment to get your skin checked and wear sunscreen, even in the winter....make sure your daily moisturizer has at least an SPF 30. And, if you have kids make sure they are using sunscreen as well.

We spent the last part of the year in my happy place...Lake Tahoe for 5 days to end the year & ring in 2019.

2018..... You were good to us & you have memorable.

When I look back on 2018, there are 3 things that stick out to me that defined this year:

1) Lots of traveling & road trips

2) Skin Cancer

3) The year I purged & organized my house

Lots of good times, some sad times, more laughter than tears. 

2019, you have a lot to live up to.

I am thankful to God for the ways he worked in our family this year and for the ways that He will continue to work in us and through us.

Happy New Year, friends.

Thanks for reading my blog!

I appreciate all of you!
May your 2019 be filled with joy & hope no matter your circumstances!