Visitors!

When I made the decision to serve a mission, there was no way to comprehend the ways it would bless my life. Aside from the many spiritual blessings I have received, I have also made lifelong friends with Anna and Buck Harrison. In our time since we've been home from Armenia we have built a great friendship and Anna became our life photographer. We've felt lost once we moved back to Oregon. Luckily we have made multiple trips to Utah and they (Just Anna and June last time) have made time to visit us in Oregon. Who knew such a blessing would come from missionary service?....anyway.  I picked up their whole family from the airport on Friday night after our boys were already sleeping. We got home and put the girls in bed while we stayed up for awhile longer to catch up...

The next day we did some typical Pacific Northwest outings. First we went out to Marissa's parents property to pick blackberries.  It turned out to be drizzling on Saturday which we thought was crazy because we haven't seen moisture in months! It just gave Buck and Anna the ultimate Oregon experience. Miles started screaming about ten minutes before we arrived and continued screaming through the whole outing. Anyway, Marissa's parents greeted us and got us all suited up to pick blackberries in the rain. Miles continued to scream so I didn't take many pictures but we always get tons of photos when Anna is around. Also, I don't think I've ever loaded a blog post this full of photos...so you're welcome!

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

There was no consoling him, we still have no idea what was wrong. Max carried him after this but he continued to scream more than he's ever screamed before. We picked some berries but with the screaming baby and the rain coming on, we didn't stay too long.  

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

Max eventually got Miles to sleep in the car and he slept on the drive home and while we transferred him to his bed. We got home and dried off  and ate lunch.  Shortly after the kids woke, we were off to our favorite local forest. 

Dirty Rumps

Here's a little comparison shot from Anna's Oregon trip 2 years ago. 

Miles is my timid child and would constantly stay next to Daddy's leg.

Photo by Anna

 At one point, June decided she was done walking. So this led to them deciding to build a house. They got so excited about this, and took on the challenge whole-heartedly.

Max shook the rain off of the leaves onto Miles head and he thought this was hilarious.

And Charlie sat and fell off this root then laughed hysterically.

Posing by the house that they built!

We showed June and Hazel our favorite climbing root.  

Photo by Anna

I love when Anna comes and captures the beauty in our home town that I have so often overlooked.

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

We then went back home and started BBQing some burgers and cooking sweet potatoes.
This was the closest that Miles had gotten to Hazel.

After dinner we gave the kids some treats and got them to bed a little early so they could recover from lack of sleep and the adults could play more.

Anna and I ran to the store to get some of our missing s'more supplies. We then cooked doughies and s'mores on the deck and enjoyed laughing and story telling and planning our future trip to Armenia. All fire pit photos are from Anna. This was a highlight of the weekend for us. 

 

The next morning was Sunday, It was a wild morning. Max had meetings all morning and our children were wild and crazy, terrorizing the girls all while I tried to cook and pack for the beach, and get my kids ready for church.  Hazel wasn't a huge fan of Charlie after he ran a toy bus into her head.

Photo by Anna

Church was wild as I taught Charlie's primary class. After church, we stopped by our house for a couple more items then went straight to the beach. Charlie slept the whole ride. Miles was decently happy. We checked into our hotel then went out to dinner at Lil Sambos. June picked it because of the pancakes and the Tigers.

Photo by Anna

The highlight was this awkward tiger....what?

Photo by Anna

He does a lot of "science projects" at restaurants. 

Photo by Anna

Photo by Anna

We then went to see the ocean. We were worried it was just going to be cold and rainy and boy were we surprised. There was a perfect sunset and the weather was pretty warm. It was here we did our family photos, so you can look forward to that in a future post. 

But seriously, it was the perfect sunset.

No rain at all!

And the following beach photos are from Anna, at least from her camera, it was passed around quite a bit!

We then took the kids back to the hotel to put them to sleep, we stopped for a brief hot cocoa family date in the lobby then went up to our room. Since Charlie had such a long nap, we decided Max could take Charlie swimming while I put Miles down to sleep, we ended up having an issue with the pack n play so Miles and I went down to watch them swim.

We took selfies to distract him from wanting to get in the pool in his pajamas.

Miles fell asleep easily while Charlie took a long time due to his long nap. Eventually we all were sleeping. Miles woke up early and since I couldn't sleep I decided to take him down to the pool since he didn't get a chance to swim. He didn't like it at first which surprised me because he like freezing rivers but eventually he enjoyed it.
When we went back to the room Charlie and Max were still sleeping so we showered and they were still sleeping when we were done. we decided to go down to breakfast and they finally woke up just as we were leaving. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast. And here's a funny story I wanted to document, when Charlie came down to breakfast he went and sat by Anna and saw some froot loops on the table he got excited and exclaimed "Colorful cheerios!...I saw these at the store...Mom said we couldn't get them...because they have too much sugar..." Needless to say, we enjoyed some delicious Froot Loops. After breakfast we packed up our bags, watched some sesame street, Max braided my hair, and we left to go visit Captain Dan's Pirate Pastry Shop.

I spy a wee little sleeping pirate...

Pirate face eating an octopus!

Photo by Anna's camera with Max as the photographer

We then went to spend more time on the sandy shores. We decided to check out a new beach that we had never been to. We went to Neskowin. It was absolutely beautiful!

We loved that the tide was low and we could go out pretty far and collect these jelly fish! June and Charlie (and Max) had a hay day with this.

Charlie got a time-out...He was mad, but if someone forced me to sit on a beach with an excellent view, I don't think I would mind...just like I wouldn't mind if someone forced me to take a nap, or eat a fresh cooked dinner. Oh toddlers!

And the following beach photos are from Anna.

I can't even handle how adorable these girls are!

After awhile when it was time to eat again we made our way up to Tillamook to check out the cheese factory. We did this with Anna when she visited 2 years ago but Buck had never been so we made our way back there.

Photo by Anna

CHARLIE AND THE CHEESE FACTORY!

Charlie and I made our way through the cheese sampling line twice then decided to order some lunch. After we finished our lunch, we could finally get our ice cream!


This is how we eat at restaurants these days...

Photo by Anna

We went in to wash up and Charlie got a quick turn on the cheese bus!

We then had an uneventful drive home. Once we were home, we somehow ended up turning on some Bollywood music...and then Armenian music and had a dance party! I think Hazel and Miles had the best moves. We then gave all the kids quick showers and put them in bed. We spent the evening with me picking Anna's brain about photo editing and Max and Buck talking about their dream houses. It was a great night for us, but eventually we got tired and had to go to bed. 

The next morning we loaded up the van and had to take our wonderful friends home. We were sad to see them go but feel constant gratitude that we have friends like them and that they would choose to vacation with us.