Family & Water Falls

Friday morning after we had breakfast we packed up our stuff and got it all put away in the car.  The hotel we stayed in didn't have any rooms for that night so we had to switch hotels.  Margie figured that if we had to switch anyway we might as well go to a hotel on the other side of Portland so when we started our way back on Saturday then we would already be past all the Portland traffic, she's so smart.

After we packed up the car we left Margie at the hotel to wait for Nate and Amy so they could all go and tour a mansion.  I decided instead of going with them that we would go over to Brandy (my cousin) and Ryan Blackwell's home and spend the morning visiting. They live about 8 miles away from the hotel we stayed at so it didn't take us long to get to their house.
The kids had so much fun playing with all their toys and kids.  Brandy has five boys so Tyler and Josh were in heaven with all the fun boy toys.  Brandy has a baby that just turned one so Megan had plenty of baby stuff to play with too.  We spent about two hours chatting away (really I could chat for days with Brandy) and then decided we had better go to lunch before the babies wanted naps.
Megan ended up falling asleep in the car on the way to Sweet Tomatoes.  It ended up being a good enough nap because Tony went the wrong way to lunch and it took us longer then it should have.  Lunch was good.  We all had our fill and enjoyed the company the most.  It is so much fun to be with family.  We really like the Blackwell's.
After lunch we met back up with Margie, Nate, Amy, and their kids at Costco (to get gas) and then we all headed to the other side of Portland to see the water falls.  It is a good thing that we didn't have to get anywhere at a specific time because the traffic was really bad.  It took us about 45 minutes more then it should have to get to the other side of the Portland.  Once we passed the airport the traffic got a lot better and we were able to visit a number of water falls.
We first stopped at Vista Point (I think that's what it's called).  It is a cool building about half way up the canyon that has beautiful views of the river.  It was super pretty and had bathrooms too (a must anywhere we go).
From there we stopped at four more water falls.  Some were really close to the road so you just had to walk a little ways to see them.  Others were further away from the road, but then you could take a trail and see them closer.  There was one that you had to walk on a trail a little ways and then you came down to see this awesome water fall.  It wasn't a lot of water that was coming down, but it came straight down and made a cool mist of water coming off the rocks.  Tony took both Josh and Tyler down by the end of the fall and they got a little wet.
We also found some really cool bridges as we would hike to the water falls.  Some were just little and then others we super big and high off the ground.  I panicked a little bit with the really big ones.  I was so worried that one of my kids would fall off the bridge and into the rocks and water.  They had rails on all the bridges but they were big enough that a small child could totally fall through.  So I was pretty strict about the boys holding a hand and Megan being held. 


The picture with Margie and the grandkids is at one of the falls where there is this cool rock to the side of the trail.  It was a perfect spot for a picture.  Margie really is such an amazing grandma and loves her grandkids so much.  We really are so lucky to have her in our lives.

This family picture is from the third fall.  You can kind of see it in the back ground.  It was hard to get the kids to cooperate for all the picture taking, but we did our best.

It felt so good by the falls.  The weather was pretty hot that day and you could totally tell a difference when you were by the falls.  I felt like I could just sit by the falls all day long and be perfectly fine.

It was surprisingly humid while we were there.  I love the dry heat so when there is any humidity I can totally feel it.  But we had such a good time it was well worth it.

On our last hike to the really big water fall that you can see off the freeway we found this really cool tree.  All the kids got in and liked the cool "hide out" tree.  It did make it hard to take pictures with such a small opening.  Josh was not working with us for a picture.  He was too busy exploring.

Oregon Zoo

When we first woke up Thursday morning it was sprinkling a little bit so we were not sure if we would go to the zoo that day.  But after breakfast it seemed to have stopped so we decided to go for it.
We needed to do some laundry before we went so we got it started before breakfasts and finished about an hour of so after we finished eating.
Nate and Amy met us at our hotel and then we all drove to the Oregon Zoo.

After driving around a while we found a parking spot and then got the strollers ready to go see some animals.
It is a really pretty zoo.  Lots of trees and fun paths to walk on.  We started walking through the trees and saw some cool birds and fun nests and big trees for the kids to play on.  The big tree was a slide for the kids to slide down.

My favorites at any zoo are the elephants and giraffes.  When we got to the giraffes Josh told me, "Mom here are your giraffes."  I thought that was so sweet since he heard that they were one of my favorites.  We did see a couple giraffes but they were kind of boring.  One was eating and the other was just hanging out.

When we got to the elephants they were just kind of standing around not doing much and then all of the sudden we saw a big ball come out from under the covered part and a baby elephant ran after it and started playing with the ball.  It was so cute.  We stood and watched those elephants for at least 20 minutes.  The baby would kick it right to the other elephants and get it stuck under them and then he would have to figure out how to get it back.  Adorable!

They had a little area where people can pet some different animals...some might call it a petting zoo.  They had some saddles for the kids to sit on like they were riding a horse.  Josh liked that.  They had a chicken and a bunny out for people to pet.  The bunny was on a "petting break" so we only got to bet the chicken.  I would have rather bet the bunny, but what can you do.

They also had some goats in a closed off area for people to pet.  We had to wait our turn and then we got to pet three different goats.  The kids seemed to like that, but didn't go wild for the goats.  But all three kids did pet the goats.

They were doing a lot of work on the zoo so they had a lot of animals missing from their homes.  They did have like four black bears and a couple polar bears that were fun to see.  We got to see them pretty close and they were fairly active.
We had a pretty fun bunch of kids with us...who is as tall as the bears?  I think Josh sitting on Daddy wins.  Silly dudes.

This was so much fun to watch.  There were these things...I forget what they are...penguins?  Josh totally loved them.  They were super playful and would follow the kids around.
Josh and Matt would start out at one end of the glass and then move and the penguins would totally follow them.  It was so cute.

I think that Josh could have played with them for hours.  These animals totally like people and have learned how to play with them.  Totally adorable.

We saw lots of different types of monkeys and apes.  This one sat and looked right in front and just watch the people as they came by to watch him.  He was really cool.  Josh had enough of the monkeys at this point and just wanted to sit in the stroller.

This was a fun statue that they had.  The boys liked climbing on it.  We had to wait for some older boys to get down who were on it for what seemed like a very long time.  But waiting is just part of life.

They had the funnest bird enclosure where you can buy some sugar water and then the birds will come to you and drink out of your cup.

I guess you are not suppose to pet the birds because Josh tried to pet one and it bit him on the finger.  It was pretty sad for Josh but I was too excited holding this beautiful bird and feeding him to pay too much attention to him.  Luckily Josh got over it quickly and was ready to try and feed them again.

We tried to have Tyler hold one a couple different times but his hands were just too small so the birds wouldn't climb on them.  He did get to hold the food and the bird would drink out of it while being on my hand.  It was so much fun to feed them.  One of my favorite things from the Oregon Zoo.

Newport - The Aquarium - Tillimook

We got into Newport around dinner time.  We checked into our hotel and then went to get some dinner at The Chowder Bowl.  Nate and Amy had heard good things about this little restaurant so we tried it out.  I didn't have any chowder my self, but the others said it was super good and Tyler was pretty much licking the cup clean and asking others for some of theirs. Everyone was happy with their food and it was a fun meal.  It was a little chilly after dinner so my boys just wanted to get in the car and Tony didn't want to get in for a picture but lucky for me Nate, Lydia, and Margie humored me and got a picture by the restaurant.

After dinner we went to our hotel for some more swimming.  We all enjoyed the swim but the babies were tired so Amy and I ended our swim early to put the babies to sleep.  Then Tony wore out the boys swimming so that they had a good night sleep.

After breakfast and check-out we headed to the Aquarium.  It was really close to our hotel.  It was nice weather and we got to see lots of different animals.

Megan really liked being able to get really close up to the bigger animals and watch them swim or play around.  Well, really we all liked getting as close as we could to the animals to see them play.  It seemed like so many of them liked to play with us and would show off their skills so we'd watch them.  Super cute.

They had some animals outside in water holes or enclosures and then a bunch inside - like fish.  I my self like the bigger animals better.  Like the sea lions, penguins, and such.

We did get to see some really big fish and sharks.  We all had a great time seeing all the animals at the aquarium.

They had a fun touch and feel area where you can touch the star fish and other sea life.  Tyler and Josh didn't want to touch anything, but Megan was willing to try.  So she touched some star fish and seemed to like it.  I thought it was good fun touching the sea life that you don't usually get to see or touch.  

They also had a fun area for the kids to play. They had a big boat that had a slide that Megan really liked (Josh too).  I tried to get pictures of her on the slide, but they all came out blurry.  Since Josh doesn't stay still long enough for me to take a good picture all his were blurry too.  But Tyler will pose for me.
Tyler liked to play captain of the ship and owner of the store.  With the store the kids bring you fish and you can weigh them and then give them money for their catch.

They also had big bins for the kids to go fishing in.  Josh really liked fishing.  After you catch a fish you put it on a big conveyor belt and then move the crank to make the fish move up the belt and fall into a bucket to be sold to market.
It was a fun play area and the kids really liked it.  They could have stayed and played longer, but we were ready to keep going.

After the aquarium we went and got some lunch.  After lunch we went to find my Aunt Cindy's house.  Nate and Amy decided to start driving north and would meet up with us later.

We found Cindy's house without too much trouble and had a good time chatting with her and Vikki.  The kids liked playing with Vikki's kids while I chatted with Cindy.  We didn't have much time so we said our good-byes and headed back on the road to find Depoe Bay.

We found Depoe Bay and the Whale museum where my Uncle Morris works.  We all looked around the museum for a little bit and then picked out some toys for the road.  Tony and Margie found some pictures that Morris had taken that they really liked.  So they picked out the size they wanted and bought them to take home.  They were really cool pictures.  Morris always does such a good job.  We said more good-byes and headed back on the road to meet up with Nate and Amy.

You can't go to Oregon without going to the cheese factory in Tillimook.  We don't go there so much for the cheese, even though it is delicious.  We go for the ice cream.
We did walk around upstairs where you can see them producing cheese.  Tony felt right at home and told us all about the different machines and equipment.
After we had our cheese samples we got our ice cream...yummers.  We pretty much had ice cream for dinner that night and we had no problem with that at all.  I had a chocolate peanut butter and utterly chocolate.  They were both very good.
After our ice cream was gone we walked around the store they had.  Josh wanted more cheese so Tony took the kids back through the cheese sampling line.  All three kids really like cheese.  We ended up only buying one meat stick and then headed on our way once more all the way to Beaverton to where our next hotel was located.
That night Tony went to play basketball with Nate's ward and Margie went to watch.  So I stayed back with the kids.  They were pretty wild at first and happy to be out of the car.  We had a busy and super fun day.

Coos Bay - Sunset Beach

 Before we headed to Coos Bay we stopped at a toffee store.  They had some good toffee but that is all they sold.  Then we drove a couple hours and made it to Coos Bay.  We checked into our hotel and then headed to my Grandpa Clark's house.
As soon as I opened my door the smell of Coos Bay overwhelmed me.  It was exactly as I remembered.  The blackberries were ripe and there were lots of bushes of them on the property.  I enjoyed my fair share while I was there.  Then when I went into my grandparents home it smelled just like I remembered too.  It made me miss my grandma and so thankful that we were finally able to make it to Coos Bay.  This was Tony's first time in Oregon.  So many memories from my childhood.  They had a lot of pictures of us when we were little, they were fun to look at.  We hung out there for a little while with Grandpa and Wendy and her family.  Then it was dinner time.

We decided it would be easiest to eat at Gino's Pizza for dinner.  It is my dad's favorite place to eat in Coos Bay.  The pizza isn't the best but it is a nice place to take a bunch of kids.  While we were there my dad's good friend from school and his family came in to eat as well.  It was fun to see them and we were amazed at the coincidence. Then we retired for the night at our hotel.





The next morning after breakfast and checking out, we went back to my grandpa's house.  Before we got there we noticed a candy store...so we stopped.  It was the best candy store ever!  They had samples of almost everything that they sold.  It was really good candy too.  I bought some taffy and then Margie treated us to some chocolate.  I wished that I would have bought some more of the peanut butter chocolate ones - they were so good.  But then again it's good that I didn't because I would have eaten them all.

After we got to my grandpa's we all packed up to go to Sunset Beach. It is a beautiful beach really close to my grandpa's house and we went there every year as a child.
We went on the slippery rocks and looked for star fish and crabs.  Then when we couldn't deal with the slippery rocks anymore we headed back to the beach to play in the sand and the water.
Josh went right for the sand toys to play and make a castle.  The rest of us went for the water.  Megan was the first to go in the cold water and did super good walking in it.  The tide was out and there were not many waves so the water didn't knock Megan down.  She went out to about her knees and loved splashing around.

Tyler didn't mind the cold water either and went back and forth from the beach and the water.  It didn't take Josh too long to join the water fun and I actually ended up putting him in his swim suit.  Megan got changed from her wet clothes and then pretty much got the second pair all wet as well.
Wendy and I went into the water to just below our knees.  It was so cold, but so pretty and nice to be there.

Tony and the kids at the docks with the sea lions.

After a couple hours of playing in the sand and water we got the kids changed and went to get some lunch.  After eating at my grandpa's everyone except Wendy and I went to the docks to look at the sea lions.  Wendy and I stayed behind to go through some boxes that my dad asked us to go through.  I got a couple things that were my grandma's, so that was good.  They enjoyed going to the docks and said that five or six sea lions came right up to docks looking for food. 

When they all came back we got the kids together and took some pictures with my grandpa.  He is 87 years old and you just never know how much longer we will have him around.  He is the most selfless person I know.  I love him so much and it was so nice to go and see him.  We then said our good byes and started our drive to New port.

The Medford Temple & Rouge River

We drove all the way from Salt Lake to Medford, Oregon on Saturday.  We all slept at Tony's parents the night before and woke up super early to get on the road by six.  It took about 13 hours total to get to Medford.

Once in Medford we got the car unloaded, ate some dinner, and then went swimming.  The kids LOVE to swim and had such a good time every time we went.  Sunday we woke up and went to church.  After church we changed and had some lunch.  Then we hung out in the hotel waiting for Nate, Amy and their family to meet us at the hotel.

After the boat started

Once they came we all went to check out the Medford Temple.  It was hidden in a little neighborhood and right by a church building.  It was very small but still very pretty.  We couldn't walk on the temple grounds because it was locked up, but we did walk around on the outside.

Before the boat started

On Monday we got up, ate, dressed, check-out and then headed towards Grants Pass to go on a "speed boat" on the Rouge River.  We checked in and all went potty and then walked down to the docks to get loaded onto the boats.  We all fit in the very back row of the boat. I sat on the end then Tyler, Josh, and Tony held Megan.

Gotta love that wind.

When the boat first started going really fast it was hard to catch your breath, but we quickly figured it out and just enjoyed all the air.  Tyler and Josh liked the ride and didn't mind the wind too bad.  Megan did good at first but quickly started to not like the wind.  She was then super tired and so she just cried...screamed...cried some more.  Then she pooped too.  It was sad.  So Tony and I switched spots and I held Megan.  Luckily I was able to get Megan to fall all the way asleep while the boat was idling (the dude was talking about the spots on the river where the movie The River Wild was filmed).

Wind in your ears...weird.

Then we got to our lunch spot and we all got out and went to the big eating hall.  The food was pretty good and we enjoyed the break from the boat.  Megan slept through lunch but I had to wake her up to change her diaper before we got back on the boat.  She did MUCH better on the way back to the docks.  She enjoyed the wind and didn't cry at all.  Tyler and Josh like that the guy didn't stop and talk so much and just did tricks and made the boat splash.  They also liked that we played leader with the other boat.  Josh was sad that the other boat won and got to the docks first.  We all had such a great time.  Love the speed boats.

Back From Oregon - The Car

We got back from our trip to Oregon this evening.  We had so much fun.  I am so glad that we were able to go.  At first I wasn't super excited to go because I was so worried about the long car drives and how the kids would do in the car.
Turns out I really didn't have anything to worry about.  I got to sit in the front because I get so car sick.  Tony sat in the back with Megan most of the time.  When Margie got tired of driving then he would come up front with me and drive for a couple of hours while Margie tried to take a nap in the back with Megan.  Tony did a good job helping the kids with the snacks and games and keeping Megan entertained, that was the biggest job of all.

The kids did super good in the car almost the whole time.  Megan had the hardest time in the car.  Since she is still so young it was harder to keep her entertained during the long car rides.  But she did better then I thought she would.  She did have some diarrhea on the way there and home today so that was hard on her little bum.  She did good taking her naps in the car.  It did seem that she would always sleep around lunch time and we would have to wake her up when we would stop for lunch, but she was a good sport. She watched some of the shows, but mostly just played with her toys, ate snacks, and fussed.

Josh did much better in the car this time then just last February when we went to Disneyland.  He didn't have to stop as much to go potty and he didn't get as bored.  He watched movies, enjoyed snacks, played the InnoTab and Grandma's tablet, and took good naps.  On the way there he did get car sick with all the twists and turns and ended up throwing up three times, but didn't throw up again the whole trip (thank goodness).

Tyler did great.  He was in his own world.  He watched shows, played games on the InnoTab and tablet, colored pictures, ate snacks, and only took one nap on the way there.  He did such a good job in the car.
As soon as we got back into our car to go home from Tony's moms this evening Tyler and Josh started hitting each other...we decided we really need to get a van.  They didn't hardly fight at all in Margie's van because they didn't have to sit right by each other.  It's amazing what a little space will do.
Margie said we went over 2000 miles in the car this trip...that's a lot of driving.

Temple Trip With Some Sisters

On Monday Teagan, Julie, and I went to the Jordan River Temple to do a session.  After the session we went to The Cheesecake Factory and had lunch.  We had a great time together and it was super fun to go with my sisters.  We missed Sherri who wasn't feeling very good that day.  We will miss Teagan when she leaves next week for the MTC and then off to Japan.