Oregon

Caleb's mission farewell was supposed to be on the 14th of this month. After my parents, Al and I had bought our plane tickets to fly to Oregon for his farewell, his mission president called and did a Spanish test over the phone. He speaks Spanish better than they expected, and so they moved his report date up to January 1st. The plane tickets were going to cost a significant amount more to change to New Year's weekend, so Al and I decided to keep our tickets as they were and just spend that weekend with Gary and Julie's family anyway. I felt so bad not being there for Caleb's farewell, but hopefully he knew that I wanted to be there! My dad ended up coming to Oregon that same weekend too since Jacob was being ordained a deacon and given the priesthood. He bought his tickets much later than Al and I did, but we ended up in the same row on both flights. That was nice!

Gary and Julie picked us up from the airport Friday night. I got a tour of their house and then we visited for a while. It was so fun to see them again! And it's so different visiting without any kids. I got to be a sister, a daughter, and an aunt, instead of doing all the mom stuff that consumes my time usually. It was so fun to play hide and seek with my nieces and nephews. I got to know Lindy, Jacob, Ammon, and Ashley so much better on this trip. I absolutely loved that! Ashley was Al and my little buddy all weekend. We loved that she would come hang out in our room and talk with us. I'm bummed I didn't think to take more pictures with the kids though. 

On Saturday, we all loaded up in the van and headed into Portland.

We walked along the Willamette River and looked at the cool bridges.

We walked halfway across the one pictured above. A boat needed to go underneath it, and so it started signaling that it was going to raise. We jogged off just in time for the boat to pass under.

We walked down to a food cart corner for lunch. Julie, Lindy and I tried some Gyros from a Mediterranean cart. They were yummy.

  

Then we took a ride up and down the Willamette River on the Portland Spirit.

The first hour of the ride was absolutely beautiful weather. Sunny, warm, and no wind. We sat at the front of the ship and soaked in the sun and beautiful views.

Grandpa got rocked right to sleep. :)

The ride back up the river was much colder and much windier. We went upstairs where there was a little more cover. Next, we drove into Washington to hike Beacon Rock, the tallest standing monolith. It was still freezing, so I decided to leave my jeans and leather jacket on over my hiking clothes. Not the best way to hike, but I guess I was glad I had them. :) It was a very steep hike with tons and tons of switchbacks. 

 The views were beautiful everywhere you looked.

Hiking warmed us up, but it was freezing again at the top, so we didn't stay very long before heading back down.

Lindy and I had a nice chat on the way down. She is an amazing teenager!

We went to Sweet Tomato for dinner and then pretty much just crashed that night. We went to church on Sunday and got to see Jacob ordained to the priesthood. We had a birthday celebration for Jake that night, played more hide and seek, and watched family videos. That was so much fun. I got up early Monday morning and went running with Gary and Julie. I have always loved running in Oregon! The air is so much easier on my lungs than Utah air. It was fun to have that time to talk with Gary and Julie. We got to see Ashley dance a couple of her clogging songs that morning. Super cute! We shopped at Costco and then Julie, Lindy, Al and I went to lunch and to Menchie's before we needed to leave for the airport.

I'm so grateful to Paul for taking care of the kids all weekend and supporting me going on this trip. It was very good for my soul. I was definitely in need of a break, and this was a great way to get one. There was a funny text waiting for me when I got off the airplane Monday night. Paul said this was probably a sign that it was a good thing I was almost home. During dinner that night, Paul told Tessa to finish her 1 waffle for the billionth time and Tessa replied, "Dad, I wish you would go on a long trip. And if you went on a trip, I wouldn't go with you." Haha! It was wonderful to get away, but it's good to be home too. I feel refreshed and ready to Mom again. :)