Portland Day Four

That about sums it up...

Pretty Starfish at the aquarium.

Cannon Beach

The cute seals...oh I love them!!!

In front of the million flavors of jelly beans.

My last day in Portland Jade made us yummy waffles and we went to sacrament meeting. After sacrament Ashton and I headed to Cannon Beach, where the beautiful rock formations are and Seaside, where all of the cute little shops and boutiques are. We enjoyed our day walking the beach, visiting candy shoppes and wandering through the cute boutiques. We also made a stop at the aquarium where the obvious highlight was feeding the darling seals!!!

I had the best time with my sister, I couldn't have asked for a better trip. Thanks so much Ash, love and miss you!!!!

Portland Day Three

Saturday we slept in super late which was heavenly! After we got ready we drove up to the Portland temple, it was breath taking; just a gorgeous white temple nestled in the forest. If you can't tell, I am officially in love with Portland, we should probably move there.

After we looked at the temple we headed down to the Farmers' Market. It was ridiculous compared to our Farmer's Market, they had everything you could think of. Lots of yummy food, homemade soaps/oils, and lots of fresh fruit and veggies. I noticed while I was there how green everything is, like tree-hugger green, and I loved it!! They have recycle bins all over the place, places to refill your water, dim lights in the grocery stores and lots more that I wish Idaho had.

We ate some food and sat by Lake Oswega and enjoyed basking in the sun.

After we were done there we got some things to plan Peyton's 2 year birthday party. We made a cute happy birthday sign and got some really fun things for her.

Portland Day Two

Ashton planned a fun day for us on Friday. We woke up and had breakfast with Peyton (she's soooo cute!!) and then headed over to Ashton's sister in-laws yard to see if there were any baby deer. Jade had told us the night before he had seen some so we had our fingers crossed that they would still be there, and they were!! After we saw the baby deer we went to the museum OMSI, it had lots of stuff to keep us entertained. They had earthquake simulators, light refraction displays, and so many other fun things. We went to the physics lab and the chemistry lab, which are surprisingly much more fun than the physics and chem labs from college classes. OMSI is right on the river, so we went out on the dock and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine. After playing around at OMSI we took P home for a nap and while she napped Ash and I oiled up and laid out and read our books.

Everday I was there was absolutely gorgeous and warm!! After Peyton woke up from her nap we headed up to the Zoo. Our first exhibit we went to see was Africa, it just confirmed my desire to save up to pick Kaid up from his mission, the animals were so pretty!! We had a blast looking at all the different animals and hearing Peyton talk about the "baby animals" she called everyone a baby, it was the cutest thing ever!! After we were done at the zoo we were SOOO tired; Ash had a babysitter coming a little later, so we called her and told her to come even later because we needed a nap. We tried to have Peyton nap with us, but she would not have it, so she went in her room for quiet time while Ashton and I were dead to the world until the both our phones rang (Abby, the babysitter's mom and Ry) luckily they called to wake us up, or who knows when we would have got up.

After the babysitter got there we got ready and went to dinner at PFChangs, it was so yummy! We were going to go to a movie but missed the first time and then decided shopping would be more satisfying than a movie, and we were right. We both found a few things we could not live without and went home full and happy. We definitely slept well that night...

Dinner at PDChangs...delicious.
Napping polar bear, love him!

The mama deer and her two babies!!

The view from the OMSI dock, gorgeous right?

Besties in front of the Zebras.

In the Chemistry lab at OMSI.

Peyton "riding" the earthquake simulator, she could not get enough!

In front of the elephant exhibit.

Portland Day One

I went to Portland this weekend to visit my bestfriend Ashton, we haven't seen each other in almost two years so this was a much overdue trip. I flew into Portland Thursday evening and could hardly contain my excitement while I was waiting for my bags. Ash picked my up from the airport and we headed to downtown Portland to a famous donut shop called VooDoo Donuts. They had the most insane flavors you could ever think of; for example, sour grape, dirt, maple bar with actual bacon on top (sick), lots of different ones sprinkled with cold cereal and tons more. After tasting the three we got we headed to her house, Peyton was already asleep, and I haven't seen her since she was a tiny baby so I was sad I had to wait until morning to see her little face. We stayed up talking and catching up on each other's lives.

McKaid's Mission Call

APRIL 23, 2010

Kaid was so eager to get his call, he checked the mail faithfully and would get SO mad/sad when it wasn't in there. So it finally arrived on Friday and we could not wait for him to open it!!! Guess where.... CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA!!!! He reports to the South Africa MTC September 9, 2010 and he flies out the 7th, Marcus gets home September 2nd, so it will be party central those four days they get to see each other.

OPENING THE CALL

Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo 2010

It has always been a tradition for us to go to the rodeo when it comes to town. We went to the Thursday night show with my parents prefaced with dinner at Mama Inez (this is also part of the 'Rodeo Tradition') which was fabulous. The rodeo was great, we love watching muttin' busting, the bucking broncos and my personal favorite, the bulls!!!

It was Tough Enough To Wear Pink night at the Rodeo to support breast cancer awareness; so they died the sheep pink! Cute huh?

Yeeee haaaa!!!!
Loving the Rodeo:-)

Craft Night With the Girls

I have super fun group of girls I get together with for craft nights monthly. This month our craft was vinyl lettering on any medium we chose. I have been wanting to make one of these since we got married, I bought the stuff for it literally years ago, and i'm so glad I finally got around to it. I should have taken pictures of us doing our crafts but between cutie kids and all of us playing with Crikets we didn't get around to taking pictures.

I'm still looking for some cute ribbon to hang mine with... so any suggestions would be appreciated.

I made this one for my mom's birthday, which is May 25th, but you know I already gave it to her because I could not wait!!

Happy Easter!!!

EASTER

APRIL 2010

Lizzy with her easter bucket, ready to go hunt for eggs; she tried peeking out the window the whole time we were hiding the eggs.
We had a very nice Easter this year, we enjoyed watching conference together and between sessions visited Ry's family. After the last session we went up to my Grandparents' house for Easter dinner and Easter Egg hunt for the little kids. Dinner was delicious as always and it was so nice to be with family and discuss our favorite talks from conference.

The two cuddle bugs, Kaid and Brekka...aren't they darling?

In Loving Memory...

While we were on our Vegas trip we got a call Friday night from my mom that our close family friend, basically one of my little brother had passed away in a longboarding accident. Austin Langhaim was between my little brother's in age and just felt like part of our family from the second he walked in our door. We have lots and lots of very good memories of him. He was an amazing kid with the greatest personality, he was getting ready for his mission and the Lord called him to serve a different one on the other side. He will be missed greatly, but he will live on in all of those whose lives were touched my him.

Lots of Catch Up...

I know I have been so bad at staying caught up on everything, so i'm going to attempt to catch up on the last three months...

VEGAS VACATION

MARCH 2010

Ry and I took a much needed vacation down to Las Vegas in mid-March. Ry loves AM radio and I love music; since we don't agree on either of those options we both went to the library and loaded up on audiobooks, something we both agree on. We left after Ry got off work and stopped out at my parents for dinner and then hit the road for a LONG drive. I try really hard to stay awake on roadtrips, but unless i'm fully engaged in conversation or really interested in whatever we have playing I fall asleep fast.

We made it down to Vegas Saturday morning about an hour before we could check into our room so we just wandered around for a while before we could check in. We stayed at the MGM Grand Signature, it was beautiful, private and exclusive---we loved it, and can't wait to stay there again. The first night we settled in to our room and got some food for our little kitchen, since we didn't want to eat out every night and got a redbox movie.

Ry jumped in the shower while I got the movie and popcorn ready. I ran to the bathroom after I put the popcorn in the microwave and came out to a room full of thick, black smoke!! Somehow, the popcorn had caught fire, so I grabbed the popcorn bag and threw it in the sink, yelled at Ry to come help me as I was jumping on the bed trying to flap the smoke away from the detector. All of my fanning effort failed and the fire alarm sounded, I called to the front desk and the lady said "there's a glitch in the system don't worry" and hung up before I could tell her I actually did start a fire. A little while later three hotel guys came to our door and had us evacuate while they filtered the air and cleaned it up, I felt like such and idiot. So much for our relaxing night in... we ended up just wandering around the strip and came back to a room that smelled heavily of smoke. Our first night was a great adventure thanks to me, OOpsy!!

These pictures are not in chronilogical order and I can't get them to move so I will narrate the pictures despite their jumbled order. Monday Ry and I went to the Hoover Dam, the new bridge was absolutely mind-blowing, it is HUGE!!! After we got back from the Hoover Dam we went to the Miracle Mile and shopped. After our feet got tired from shopping we went and laid out at our pool, it was soo nice and relaxing and the weather was perfect.

Our bestfriends, Randi and Chad met us our last couple days in Vegas. We went to Coke world and tried all the different flavors from all over the world...some of them were disgusting, and some were surprisingly delicious! We wandered the strip with them and did all the touristy stuff you can do in Vegas.

VIVA!!!!

HOOVER DAM

Hoover Dam pictures...

If you look closely at this pictures you can see a guy in the background belaying off the bridge, he's one of the builders. (He's in the top left corner).

KA

Wednesday night Ry and I went to the Cirque du Soleil show KA. The story was about a brother and sister who were bestfriends and got seperated when they were young, it told the story of both their lives and showed them reunite and the end. The music was amazing, the acrobatics were awesome, and the stage was hydraulic so it could rotate in every single direction, and it did! It was absolutely incredible!!!

THE STRIP

We did tons of walking, which is good considering all the food we ate. I think we ate at PFChangs at least twice if not three times, we ate at CPK twice (once with my cousin and her boy and once with Randi and Chad). We had such a great time just relaxing with no worries about work, school or anything else.

MGM GRAND

Since our hotel was attached to the MGM we would go down everyday and look at the lion exhibit. I loved the lions, they act just like my kitties, they were so cute!! They were sleeping most of the time, but we got lucky a few times and got to see the trainers feed them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI!

Sunday night we went to dinner with my cousin Nikki and her boyfriend. About half way through our dinner we figured out it was her birthday, she not super into birthdays, which makes me sad, because I love to go all out! If only I would have known... we had a great time with them and it was so fun to see them!!

THE BODY EXHIBIT

Tuesday, Ry and I went to the Body Exhibit, it was the best! We spent three hours wandering through the different rooms with the different organ systems and different cuts of the cadavers reading all the fun facts on the walls. I wish we could have taken pictures in the exhibit because words could never do it justice. The way they preserve the bodies makes them look freshly disected, and they had an exhibit where they had injected plastic into all the arteries and veins and then burned the rest of the body away with acid, so it was just a shadow of a body made by the veins and arteries, it was beautiful!

After the body exhibit we went shopping for some clothes for Ry, because he had already worn almost all the shirts he brought. We shopped for a while, laid out by our pool and then turned in for the night and ordered room service, pizza, wings and fries...so healthy right?!

COKE WORLD

Ryan tasting a concontion that we had mixed of all the grossest flavors:-)

DINNER AND A SHOW

After a day of laying by the pool, wandering the strip, shopping and most importantly...relaxing, we headed down to the mirage. The last night we were there we all went to dinner at CPK before Randi and Chad went to see the Beatles LOVE show. It was so nice to catch up and be with them, we wish we lived closer!

Free dessert anyone?! For some reason (maybe because they were extremely slow and we were very nice, and quiet,) they brought us free dessert...yummy!!!

Overall, we had a wonderful trip and it was so great to catch up with our good friends. Thanks guys!!!