Road Trip

Last Tuesday we headed out to Portland.  Hallee saw this sloth at a gas station and just had to have it! We weren't in a huge rush to get there so we didn't leave until 7AM.  It was nice not to start out exhausted!

We decided to stop at Multnomah Falls on the way in.  I'm surprised I have never been here before.  It is right on the way, so it was a great place to stop and get some exercise after sitting in the car all day.

It was a short walk up to the bridge.

The boys ran up ahead of us, but the girls walked up with Keith and I.

If you turned around you could see the Columbia River Gorge.  It was beautiful!

We took a few pictures on the bridge.

I didn't dare ask anyone to take our picture because most people had masks on and seemed like they just wanted to be left alone.

I loved taking some pictures and just enjoying the view for a while.  

We were all hungry for dinner and ready for some real food so we went to a restaurant, Shari's.  The food tasted great and we were all excited to be out of the car.  After that we went to our Airbnb. Portland is an expensive area so we booked the cheapest place we could find.  It was the basement of someone's house, but it had a separate entrance. The place was nice enough, but it was old and definitely smelled old.  Caitlyn didn't realize that we were staying in someone's house and she had a melt down and panic attack because she was sure we were going to be murdered.  Wyatt got emotional as well and I did not handle it well.  Luckily, Keith was calm and patient with the kids.  The place had two bedrooms so Keith, Caitlyn and Wyatt slept in one room and I slept in the other one with Hallee and Jonah slept on the couch.  Caitlyn and Wyatt felt better once we offered to let them sleep with Keith.

The house was surrounded by trees, it was really pretty. The kids calmed down after the first night and they weren't as nervous after that. We weren't at the house much, so it wasn't a huge deal.  Julie's brother offered to let us stay at his house and we were all kind of wishing we took him up on that! Oh well, the place really wasn't that bad and it was nice to have two bedrooms. 

Wednesday morning we got up and went over to Gary and Julie's.  The kids were so happy to see their cousins. Jonah left with Jacob and some of his friends to play air soft.  Wyatt and Ammon had fun on the trampoline and Ashley and Caitlyn love to play games together.

Mom and I drove with Julie and Lindy to the temple.  Keith stayed with the kids and worked hard to help get the yard ready for the reception the next night.

I was so excited to be in the temple again!  I loved being in there with Lindy.  She is so amazing and is going to be a fantastic missionary. 

I always forget how beautiful and green Oregon is.  It has been so cold and dreary here lately, so the sunshine and flowers were so fun to see.

After the temple we went back to Gary and Julie's for a barbecue.  We were all excited to see Caleb! My three older kids went to YM/YW with their cousins that night.  I had some time to visit with Gary, which was so fun.

Later Gary made a fire and we made smores.  It was so fun to visit with the Ham's while we sat around the fire.  Kyle and Paige came into town that day, so they were there too.